billsfan89

Why do people think the O-line was a liability? It was a decent unit last year, whose worst player (Ford) improved as the season went on. They also retained most of the starters and the same scheme (continuity helps oline play.)

It might hurt Josh if he was the only person in the league dealing with this situation. The whole league has to deal with this so everyone is going to be behind.

Injury is always the great equalizer in any sports but more so in the NFL. That's why I always say that catastrophic amounts of injuries can tank any season and you have to assume best and worst case scenarios based on factoring out the catastrophic injury scenario. But this season is just going to be more volatile for every team due to Covid. That's just reality and it tosses a lot up in the air. I get that every team is going to be dealing with it but unlike injuries Covid is contagious. Which makes a domino effect way more possible.

In a normal season I would say the Bills were posted for 11+ wins and a playoff victory but with everything going on it might be a bit harder to be so certain.

The center they brought in from Denver and Becton in the draft were solid additions. I am not a huge fan of Fant but he is at least better than what they had and Van Rotten and the rest were solid depth additions. I do agree that maybe the offseason was just too much to do a complete overhaul. But I do think they had a better approach to be less top heavy with their additions and go for more depth.

I actually liked what the Jets did for their Oline in the off season. It reminded me of what McBean did in 2019. They signed a high priced center to fill a big need, drafted a tackle up high, and then signed mostly mid level or lower contracts to round out the rest of the Oline and have some depth. But it seems to not be translating. I also think releasing Winters a decent player was a self inflicted wound. If you play sloppy or without urgency in any game against any opponent you can easily lose in the NFL.

It isn't like Murphy has the best track record with health. But I don't think McBeane is cutting Murphy, for whatever reason they seem to like him.

With the addition of AJ I am OK with what the team has. Murphy as a rotational DE is fine, Hughes and Addision are good starters and AJ comes in and adds depth.

The job was always Cam's to lose but I think Billy B was at least open to having Stidham take the job as a game manager if Cam looked washed.

The more I look into the Edwards signing the more I like it. Edwards was an at worst average punter and at his best a lower top 10 punter. Very solid nothing spectacular but certainly better than Bojo who every third game was due for a shank and even when he wasn't shanking it was average at best. I would much rather have a guy who will just be a solid punter and be consistent. Special teams is mostly about executing competently and limiting mistakes. Get me a punter who won't shank too often and will be more good than bad and that's exactly what Edwards is. PFF rated him well above average from 2017 to 2019 and Jets fans on Reddit and blogs seem to have thought he ranged from an OK punter to a really good one. It's these little attention to detail moves McBeane makes with this roster that makes the difference. I can see this being a move like Roberts was last off-season. A small move that can make a difference in winning a game.

No way on two punters, Bojo or Edwards should be good enough, I don't see either one being a good complement to each other. Bass and Hauch might be interesting if Bass can be a kickoff specialist and take on deeper kicks. I could see them doing two kickers but not two punters.

I would argue that these are make or break seasons for Mayfield, Darnold, and Josh. Lamar Jackson was the NFL MVP he has a bit more leash due to that and Watson has back to back seasons with good numbers and playoff appearances on top of a solid rookie year, he has more leash due to a proven track record over multiple seasons. It is make or break (so to speak) for Josh in the sense that he has no excuse for regression and that regression would result in him not being the sure fire starter in 2021 (most likely would bring in a vet to compete with him a kiss of death in most cases.) Josh has a solid O-line, a quality pair of young RB's, and with Diggs added a full complement of receivers. Josh is also in the third year of the same system so he has continuity and he has about two seasons worth of starting under his belt so he should have solid experience. I don't think Josh has to be in the MVP conversation to have a productive season. But at the very least he has to stay the same level in order for the organization to not lose some faith in him. I would argue that realistic progression would be for Josh to push himself into the fringe top 10 QB conversation and show better accuracy on the long ball and processing the game. Finally I would argue that for Mayfield with his complement of weapons and offensive line upgrades is just as much on the line as Josh is. Darnold has a baked in excuse of no weapons but I think he has to at the very least stay flat as the Jets did improve the O-line. Josh can't regress, he just can't, he doesn't have anything on his track record besides one season where he played like a mid-level QB on a team with a great defense. He can stay flat and I think the Bills hand him the reigns for 2021 as a true make or break but he can't take a step backwards without damaging his standing with the team.

In 2018 he wasn't that good but in 2019 prior to his injury he was anchoring the rush defense and looking like he will have a breakout season. I think there was a big time reason that the rush defense went into a big recession right after Henry got hurt. Eventually Star improved his play and the scheme was adjusted but Henry was missed. He isn't the same kind of player as Kyle in my opinion.

Milano if I had to guess should be in the range of 8 to 9 million if he takes an extension now (the discount of certainty) if he turns in a strong season and hits the market I can see him getting a 10 to 11 million dollar deal. Overall I think with Dawkins signed the team can afford to play somewhat tight with Milano. Name a price you feel comfortable with (a modest amount relativey speaking) and let him and his agent decide if it makes sense for him or if they want to hit the open market.

The defense is a good collection of talent. Tre is one of the best if not the best corner in the league, Hyde and Poyer are one of the best safety pairs in the league, Edumonds is a Pro-Bowl Caliber LB who can ascend into one of the best at the position, Milano is a borderline Pro-Bowl Talent and Ed Oliver is a breakout waiting to happen. The rest of the defense are solid starters and good role players. But while the collection of talent is good, the way they play as a unit is outstanding. The D-line (barring an Ed Oliver breakout) doesn't feature any Pro-Bowl talent yet they consistently hold their own and the Secondary doesn't feature superstars at CB2 or CB3 yet they aren't a liability. It really is a well crafted defense.

You don't know how difficult the schedule will be even in a normal NFL season. So stop inflating the schedule.

With this team's elite defense, solid special teams, hopefully strong running game and solid skill position talent I think Barkley can game manage this team to .500. Context is key. The 2-5 record probably wasn't with nearly as strong a team. Is Barkley generally speaking a .500 QB? No but on this team he is.

If almost any team in the league loses its starting QB they are *****. There are very few teams in the league that have quality backup options. Outside of maybe a team with an established vet in front of a highly touted QB or a fluky situation like the Eagles where there is one QB in the league that functions so well with that team but nowhere else. The Bills even did invest a 5th round pick in the position this past draft to try and add a developmental prospect to the QB room. Is Barkley a top tier backup QB? No, no he is not, but can he be trusted to go 2-2 in a 4 game stretch managing games if Josh has to miss a month of the season? Yes, I think he is a serviceable backup. I also think beyond him being a decent backup QB, Barkley is beloved in the locker room and won't rock Josh's confidence. Backup QB is fine, Fromm is the long term guy 2 years from now, Barkley is fine for 2020 and 2021.

Maybe Long was just cooked mentally and physically?

I think 2020 will be an odd year for him, I think he will be a solid but unspectacular player in 2020, those ACL injuries are rough, they usually take a year to get back from. I think 2021 will be his breakout year as probably 2019 would have been.

It actually sounds like they are underpaid a little factoring in how rare an elite TE is.

He allowed just one sack all year, I think he is easily one of the best if not the best pass protecting center in the league. I grant you that he was average to above average in the run game but he was far from a liability in that respect. I also think that he was a big reason in the huge uptick in the cohesion of the O-line. The O-line just seemed much better organized and ran better as a unit in 2019 and I think Mitch was a big part of that.

I doubt he cost himself anything significant in 2018 as I think his regression was overblown by fans (he regressed but it wasn't nearly as tragic as many were saying), his 2019 play was going to determine his value on the market in terms of an early extension and his contract is in line with that of an above average young LT (which is kind of what he was in 2019.) Which is how he played in 2020. McBeane has had some stinkers outside of Star and Murphy but they were usually lower level signings under 3 million (Lee Smith, Chris Ivory, and Bodine) but even the larger contracts of Star and Murphy have at least been productive players in their own right.

The leverage NFL teams have with early extensions is that players don't want to risk getting hurt if they play out the last season on a deal. That's typically why so many players end up taking less than they would if they fully hit the market. If you are Dawkins it is best to take the 34 million guaranteed than risk an injury in 2020 and get a fraction of that on a one year prove it deal. The deal seems fair for both sides. If Dawkins plays at the same level he justifies his contract and if he excels beyond it, the contract becomes a complete steal for the Bills. What I like about the deal is that all Dawkins has to do is play at his level and it will be a fine deal.

I wouldn't lump Mitch in with Star and Murphy. Mitch in 2019 was a very good center top 5 or close at his position. They just paid retail for a position that was of desperate need. They paid a lot but they got good production thus far. Whereas with Star the team got a mid-level player at a top tier price and Murphy is paid like a quality starter and has at best been a decent role player.