billsfan89

Haha I don't know why I got so aggressive. I guess I look at the job Beane did of fixing so many issues on the offense with only 3 contracts of 7 million aav or more and think how is this not an A+ effort? I compare this to so many other jobs GM's in the past have done and think it was such an excellent use of resources. To fix almost every issue that plagued a young QB's supporting cast while keeping the team in a good cap situation is outstanding for any GM to do. It puts this team in a position to add those last one or two pieces to both sides of the ball.

He had to spend the first two years getting the team out of a bad cap situation and gathering enough capital to draft a young QB. In the one offseason Beane had with cap space he built the offense into a respectable unit (despite being helmed by a young QB with 9 new starters) with only three contracts above 8 million aav. He rebuilt the Oline into a top 10 unit with depth, found the starting running back of the future, added a pair of quality NFL receivers, and added a pair of young TE's with potential, all while preserving the team in a good cap situation going forward. I really don't know what else Beane could have done.

So in order to get an A+ you want him to fix every single problem with a 6-10 team in a single off-season while also not putting them in a bad cap situation? Seems a little unrealistic. He fixed the O-line with only one major FA contract (Mitch) and only one major draft asset (Cody), he found a good RB in round 3, found a good pair of WR's to improve that core, drafted a pair of TE's with potential, and added a big time piece to the D-line all while adding an All-Pro caliber return man to sure up the biggest weakness of the special teams unit all while keeping the team in a good cap situation but you know A-.

I think the Chargers playing in a small arena and not drawing well along with Oakland turning on the Raiders plus the Redskins fanbase completely abandoning them all have contributed to things declining. That's 3 markets that were usually good in attendance having their worst years. I also think that the cost of attending games going up hasn't helped other markets.

How much more would he have had to have done to get an A+? He found 4 offensive line starters, 2 wideouts, a starting running back, young TE's with potential, and depth. He also found a gem D-line player in the draft and did so without tying the team down in any long term contracts that are hard to get out of beyond 2020. So I don't see how much better he could have done without capping out the team or compromising their cap situation long term.

By your logic he also turned a middling defensive unit on a capped out team into a top 2 defensive unit with a long term great cap situation. The 2016 team McBeane inherited finished 7-9 with a bad cap situation. I can't exactly think he should be given a negative for gutting that "wild success."

Beane A+ - Completely rebuilt the O-line, had another draft that looks to be producing multiple starters at critical positions, and added some pieces to the skill position core including Brown and Beasley who are quality professional receivers. Also added Roberts who completely stabilized the return game which improved the ST unit. All without locking this team into many contracts that can't be out after 2020 and still saving a lot of space for next off-season. McD A+ - This team plays disciplined and always seems to have good composure. The only blowout loss was the Eagles game (and the Eagles were a winning team this year) and the team won many close games and ended up taking care of a lot of bad opponents. Just a fantastic Coach of the Year type job. Frazier A - The defense has played well, not sure if he is going the play calling but he is doing something right as the defense just plays so well and has adjusted its run defense after a lapse in the middle of the season. Daboll B - This is a slightly below average NFL offense. BUT when you take into account that the offense has 9 new starters, a young growing QB who was a bit of a project coming out and still lacks in some areas you can kind of call it a success to get this unit to play just below average. Allen has also taken a step up in year two even if he still has some more development needed. Allen B minus - Allen has come in and improved a lot but he still isn't a top 10 or possibly even top 15 QB. He needs to not miss as many easy throws and process the game quicker. But not everything is going to come year one and he played both clutch and cut down on turnovers a lot. So I give him a slightly above average grade. Let see how he does with another off-season in and a couple of extra weapons to go to.

The Special Teams unit outside of the kicker and punter have been mostly good. They don't give up many big returns and they haven't had many game breaking mistakes (the blocked punt being the only major one.) Roberts has stabilized the return game being one of the better punt returners in the league (dude always seem to put in one or two 8-15 yard punt returns each game and I can't think of him ever muffing a kick) even if his kick return game is ineffective most of the time. However Haush and Bojo have both been very inconsistent. Haush has seemed to stabilize things recently and Bojo ended the season fairly strong. But both are a little shaky. Hopefully they don't cost us the game. I think going into next season the team needs to bring in a punter and kicker to compete with Haush and Bojo during camp. When you are trying to build a contender you need ever edge of the roster to be strong, no stone unturned.

No, not yet, I wouldn't call Josh Allen a top 10 QB and arguably Josh isn't a top 16 QB. But I think he can get there. Give him 2 more legit weapons to throw to and give him another off-season to work on his mistakes and get comfortable with the offensive talent around him and I think he can take that next leap.

File this under duh. Gilmore and Tre have been the top 2 corners in the league this year no questions asked. PFF (and I actually don't hate PFF) doesn't understand context nor accurately understand their own research.

His knees have to be what infinity? That's a lot of milage.

Big Saturday lined up, me and the wife are going to go to Home Depo, maybe Bed Bath and Beyond, but I don't know if we are going to have enough time.

I really don't understand what team's see in Daboll's body of work to have HC whispers. Josh has developed but he isn't a top 10 QB (Is Josh now that much better than Trubisky was in 2018?) The offense isn't a prolific rushing attack either. This is a below average offense (Which isn't bad considering you have a young developing QB and a ton of roster turnover and still lack some playmakers) and I don't see what team's wouldn't want to see how the offense progresses in 2020 (can Daboll develop Josh into a top 10 QB with improved weapons and a year of having this offense staying together?) But why jump on this guy as a head coach for doing a good but not great job one year in? I don't even see Daboll's play calling or schemes as being that innovative. If I am going into the up and coming coordinator pool I would rather touch base with Gregg Roman or several other candidates who have had better more sustained offensive success.

The Titans and Bills present tough matchups for teams. Both have top defenses that are very physical and have offenses that know how to play in a style that complements their defense (good ground game, strong line play and turnover averse.) The Texans and Chiefs are both susceptible to these hard matchups as neither defenses scare you. Overall I think both AFC wildcard teams really present the possibility of an upset.

Didn't that play happen in 2009? I think God is getting a little old to play football.

10 drops on 50 targets is unacceptable I fully agree. However Knox was a very raw prospect who wasn't supposed to come in as the starter. He was supposed to be a backup to Kroft but Kroft got hurt and he was thrust into action. Knox didn't play much receiver in college so he is going to have some growing pains. I think after getting a full season in and getting another off-season to develop and practice his receiving Knox will be a more consistent player in 2020. I would still like to see them cut Kroft and bring in a vet receiving TE just to take some pressure off of Knox and make it so that he doesn't have to be thrust in over his head if he needs another year to develop.

24-21 Bills. The Bills go up 24-14 in the 4th and sit on the lead. The Texans score a TD late but the Bills grind out the clock.

It is all over the place, you have some guys like Myles Garrett on rookie deals who are beasts, some guys like Cameron Wake under performing and others like Matthew Ioannidis who is on a second contract similar to Murphy's who just notched 9.5 sacks. But if Murphy is commanding a top 30 salary at his position I think he has to be better than he was in 2019. At a top 30 salary you have to be a starting caliber player or a dynamic role player. Right now I don't see Murphy being an elite pass rush specialist or a reliable ground defender who can get some pressure. He to me is just a JAG who is getting paid a lot of money. If he was making 2-4 million I would love to see him as the 4th DE who can provide solid depth. But cutting him saves 5.5 million on the cap, money I feel the team can use to help resign Shaq and make other acquisitions easier.

Yeldon should only be used to spell Singletary in a limited number of snaps in passing situations. I don't see the need to make him anything more than a backup piece. I don't hate him as a backup receiving back but let's not get carried away with this. The Bills shuffling around Duke and the other backups are marginal moves that might not make a lot of a difference. This game is going to come down to how well Brown, Beasley, Knox, and Singletary perform in the passing game and how they can get the ground game going with Singletary.

There was also less concern about throwing INT's down the field. A lot of times QB's on third and long would take shots deep and force things into coverage because coaches felt that INT's 50 yards down the field weren't that much worse than punts. Of course coaching and the attitudes towards INT's have changed a lot since. Man were they right. Bills still had some success towards the end of the decade but that game was the end of that era.

He is the 28th highest paid DE in the league by aav. I don't hate Murphy but his production level is not up to his contract. He is a nice player to have as a rotational 4th DE. But he is paid starting caliber money. It is more about value vs. production. He isn't producing up to his value. I think they are better off cutting him and using his money to help off-set resining Shaq.

It was the right position to target at the deadline in 2017. The team was 5-2 and looking to end a drought. They had 2 third round picks and once again they desperately needed a WR who could command attention and bringing a big body to target was a plus. It obviously didn't work and I was shocked that McBeane knowing KB from Carolina didn't know to stay away from him due to his attitude and poor work ethic. I would qualify it as the right move in philosophy (getting some help to try and break the drought) but it was poor in execution that means it is a mistake. I think the Dareus trade was a bigger mistake as I think it basically exposed the run defense the rest of the season (as bad as Dareus played relative to his contract he was still a good run stuffer, he did improve the Jags run defense that season.) I think they should have cut or traded Dareus in the off-season but hey it all worked out the drought was broken.

I hope so, this team has everything in place to be 10+ wins for the next 2-3 years at least. But a lot rides on Josh who as much as I like him still needs to progress significantly if this team hopes to be truly great.

I wouldn't be opposed to seeing what is on the market. But I am not sure Barkely is that much better or worse than your average backup QB.

I want the Bills to keep Shaq and sign Yannick. However if Shaq gets a bit too pricy you have to let him walk. I think you are OK with paying retail to keep Shaq but you shouldn't be gouged. As good of a player as Shaq is, he only had 6.5 sacks this year and wasn't doing much the three previous seasons. 10 million aav for him is steep but I might be wiling to pay it if the guarantee is low and easy to get out of after 2 seasons. 10 million aav puts him as the 16th highest paid aav (although more around 20 by the time new contracts get handed out.) That is already a considerable overpay. Ideally I think he sits in the 8ish million range but the market can get crazy sometimes. So I wouldn't go anywhere over 10 million aav and even then only if it is a limited guarantee. I think that if you do keep Shaq and Phillips at a total of 20 million aav combined and you sign Yannick to a 15 million aav deal while cutting Murphy your D-line spending as a unit in 2020 balloons to over 60 million (Star and Hughes 20 million, Shaq and Phillips 20 million, Yannick 15 million, Ed 4.5 million, Phillips and Johnson both under 1 million.) That's a lot to spend on 8 players but you quickly can get out of Star and Hughes after 2020 so that number can come down and Murphy's 1.5 million in dead cap comes off so that helps. Once again this team I think can balance adding 2-3 starting pieces via free agency, while retaining our key players and keeping enough roll over to handle future extensions.