billsfan89

I worry Ivory is shot. He is 30 and has not had a good season since 2015. On top of that he has had injury issues. Overall I wasn't a big fan of the signing.

Probably not, the Eagles are hoping for a Super Bowl and Darby is likely to be their best corner if he has a good season. So I doubt that unless they are flushed with good corners (they are not) they would risk a chance at a deep playoff run to get value out of a good corner on an expiring deal. I think they stick with Darby and simply try to retain him at their price or let him walk. The Eagles aren't going to give up their best corner halfway into a season just to get a 4th round pick (What team is going to give up a pick in rounds 1-3 for a guy on the last year of his deal?)

The Eagles don't value corners they value safeties in their secondary and system in general. So I suspect if Darby has a strong year they might just let him go and keep the big money invested into their D-line and safeties. But I think the Eagles were OK with getting 2 years out of him for a 3rd round pick and a receiver they weren't interested in long-term.

Darby is on the last year of his rookie deal in 2018 so he will be on the Eagles at least one more season.

From what I read Darby was pretty good when he played, the SB might not be a good barometer for how he played since almost every defensive player was getting burnt on both teams.

Character could have been a factor but going from playing man to man all your years in college and 2 years in the pros to playing a zone scheme is a transition that not a lot of corners make. I think the front office simply saw a player that wasn't likely to be productive in a new system that could have fetched big value in a trade and pulled the trigger.

I don't think it played much of a factor. I think Darby being a man to man corner and the new scheme being zone played the biggest factor in deciding to trade him.

Colin Cowherd is a "Shock Jock" hack sports radio host. Cowherd knows controversy creates cash. Cowherd is the same guy that said LeBron James could never lead a team because he grew up without a father. He plays it up for controversy in a calculated way that he knows will get a reaction. It's the same thing guys like Howard Stern and Opie and Anthony use to do in the 1990's. Cowherd is just doing it with sports.

My grade is a D factoring in likely injuries, at best I can see the unit realistically being a C if everything lines up perfectly this unit could be a B but that's a lot of luck with injuries and a lot of squinting your eyes to see every player on the O-line having their best season. LT - Dawkins - I feel very confident here, probably the only position that I can have confidence in on the O-line as a whole. Situation grade (B+). LG- Vlad/Wyatt - A huge mess, a subpar vet or an unproven low round rookie. That's not to say that a 5th round guard can't be good and start but its hard to project confidence. Situation Grade (F) C- Probably the second position along the O-line that I can feel most confident in. Groy in my mind played well in 2016 when he stepped in for Wood and with Bodine as a starting option (although not a very good one but an experienced player) there should be a competent center in this bunch. Situation Grade (C+) RG- Miller was an above average Guard his first two seasons. Last year he regressed big time under the zone blocking scheme. This year we ditched the scheme and Miller is playing for his contract. This is a toss-up as you can project in realistic scenarios that Miller has both a good and bad season. Situation Grade (C-) RT - Mills is a piss poor pass protector but an above average run defender, Newhouse is a nice backup but not a starter. I suspect another year of Mills at this position which while not tragic (at least you get solid run blocking) is leaving a lot to be desired. Sittuation Grade (D-) That's two spots LG and RT where you have major issues and another spot in RG where you are taking a big risk on player improvement. Even Center is an unsure set of options. That's not inspiring a lot of confidence.

Out of all the rookie QB's drafted in the first half of round 1 I would say that Tyrod is probably the highest caliber veteran starter the big 4 QB's out of the draft are competing for a spot against. I think Bradford you could argue but Bradford has that massive health issue and is coming off of a huge injury.

You have to be a moron to think that where a player is drafted is a reflection of how good or bad a player is. The Bills were trotted out some pretty terrible QB's for 15 years before Tyrod got here. A middling starter like Tyrod looked like a world beater compared to the EJ Manuels, Fitz (outside of that half-season where Fitz was good), Trent Edwards, JP Losmans and past his prime Drew Bledsoe (Outside of that half-season where Drew was good) of the world. So in 15 seasons the team got exactly 2 good half seasons of QB play and the rest of their play out of the QB position was pretty horrendous. So when a QB came along and was pretty decent for a few seasons it made him look like a world beater just because what came before him was such trash. I like Allen's long-term prospects better than I like Tyrod's so I am glad they moved on. But there will be some short-term pain at QB due to Tyrod being gone, we will be much worse off at QB in 2018 as AJ and Peterman aren't inspiring a lot of confidence and Allen is a bit of a longer-term project.

That's not surprising. People **** on Tyrod here because they think that he was terrible but in reality, Tyrod was a top 22 QB in the NFL. Tyrod did not turn the ball over and he made dynamic plays with his legs both contributing with rushing yards and keeping plays alive. Tyrod made a lot of overly conservative decisions but he also made a lot of good decisions. Tyrod has been best described as a QB who plays up or down to his surrounding talent. Great QB's make the talent around them better bad QB's cripple an offense. The QB's like Tyrod in the middle are a reflection of the talent around them.

Lawson last season left a lot to be desired and getting hurt after 11 games does not help his cause much. However, there is no doubt that Shaq will get an honest shot to start on this team. Lorax, Hughes and Murphy will give him a good competition for playing time, they also signed that former Giants 3rd round pick to push him for a backup spot. There is a lot of competition at the DE position. Outside of Murphy who just signed a big deal I don't think any DE is safe to make the roster. Now it could be that no DE ends up having a good season. But if 1 player could have a "good season" (9ish sacks) and another have a decent season (6.5ish sacks) and 2 other players chip in 4 sacks then the depth will shine through. The Eagles were built in a similar fashion. They were 16th in the league in pass rush cobbling together 38 sacks with no double-digit sack players (Brandon Graham a former first round pick who hung around as a backup who never was a massive talent until this past season led their team with 9.5 sacks.) The Bills are designed that way in my opinion. It just looks to be Each player might be flawed but hopefully the new system of play takes advantage of the depth that could complement each player. Shaq and Hughes could stay in on run downs while Lorax and Murphy come in for pass rushing downs. Would any team be willing to trade for him if he isn't lighting it up in camp? Does he have a whole lot of value if he comes off 2 bad seasons and a training camp/pre-season so bad that his team is willing to trade him for a 7th? If Shaq is really bad I suspect he is more than likely cut. Unless that former third-round pick from the Giants (whose name escapes me at the moment) and the rest of the other 3 DE's outperform Shaq at an amazing level where the Bills are trading Shaq out of luxury. So in my mind this training camp is it for him do or die.

They would pull a move similar to what the Titans did the year after they drafted Marcus M. I will say this that the Bills do have the worst QB situation in the league and aren't very talented overall on the offensive side of the football. That being said the defense has top 10 potential. I am not sure the Bills will be bad enough for a top 5 pick unless injuries crush the team. But I do think that this team will likely be a 5-7 win team. As good as the defense could be the offense could be worse. That's not to say that I am not optimistic about the teams future. But rather that 2018 is a transitional year. There was significant draft capital given up to trade up for Allen (Glenn and picks 53 and 56) and the front office is eating a lot of dead cap this year to pay for the sins of the previous administration as well as some of their own doing (Wood extension.) But the foundational pieces are there at many key positions and the team will have a windfall of cap space to restructure the roster as needed in 2019 while having a shot at a long-term franchise QB. But 2018 my optimism is not there. The O-line, QB and skill position situations just aren't that good and on the defensive side of the ball the pass rush is a question mark. Overall I think the trades to get Allen, Edumonds and the dead cap have compromised the roster a bit too much for the team to be successful in 2018.

For the first time in forever the Bills might actually have a good coverage linebacker in Edumonds. Coverage LB's are really important to the modern game as they are the best defense against short and intermediate passes over the middle and in the flats. They are also key to snuffing out screens and stopping receiving running backs. In the modern NFL passing game tight ends, slot receivers and running backs are so critical to a passing offense and those are the types of players a good coverage linebacker can defend against.

Problem is that LG spot and depending on how Miller fits with the new system the RG spot could both be big issues. Enough so that McBeane might have to take a chance on an O-line player if they offer an upgrade.

The Bills have a lot contracts that they could get rid of to open up cap space, if Shady has a really bad year they could also release him for another 6.4 million and Vald is another 2 million they could also cut. So the Bills have a lot of ability to open up capsapce. of Released Jerry Hughes (Saved: $7,500,000) Released Charles Clay (Saved: $4,500,000) Released Chris Ivory (Saved: $2,250,000) Released Russell Bodine (Saved: $2,375,000) Released Patrick DiMarco (Saved: $1,150,000) Released Andre Holmes (Saved: $1,450,000)

Allen is a project and you don't want to throw a project QB like Allen behind this O-line with a less than stellar skill position core. Throw AJ to the wolves and let him take the hits. Hell I would rather throw Peterman out there before Allen, I don't want to !@#$ up a player's confidence by asking him to save a **** offense.

There are 9 guards making 10 or more million now that this extension is in. That's directly a product in my mind of interior pass rushers rising to prominence and the lack of good O-line play due to changes in the college game. Guards used to be big maulers who didn't need to be dominant interior pass protectors. It was traditionally thought to be a fairly replaceable position. It used to be you could reliably get high-end starters in the 2nd and 3rd round to come in at a high percentage. Now that's not the case, the bust rates are higher on high picks and the importance of the position is higher.

Dawkins at LT you can have confidence in, I honestly have confidence in Groy at Center and I think it is possible Miller has a rebound year at RG. But LG and RT are still a mess. Mills or Newhouse at RT isn't confidence inspiring, both are good backups but neither is a guy you want starting. LG is the weakest point as you have a 5th round rookie and a mediocre guard in Vlad. At best you can squint your eyes and see 3 spots on the o-line where the team has above average play at and that's with a player having a rebound season and a good backup playing well as a starter. On top of that isn't accounting for injury. I wouldn't put a project rookie like Allen behind this O-line and with a suspect receiving core. See what AJ could do with this team and let Allen chill.

The defense would have been an elite unit for 2015 at least. I think that Schwartz gets one more decent year out of Mario, while Dareus, Hughes, and Kyle were playing at an elite level. The talent fits the scheme better and the defense stays a top 5 unit for 2015 and a top 10 unit for 2016. But the offense might still have been a mess. There is no guarantee that they trade for Shady, sign InCog (Who was huge in turning around the O-line) draft Miller (who was also big for the O-line in 2015 and 2016) sign Clay and sign Tyrod (Knock Tyrod all you want he was miles better than what Marrone was trotting out there) while also getting Roman to put together the offense. So as bad as Rex !@#$ed with the defense Roman and the big spending put together a pretty good offense. So if somehow Schwartz stayed and they put together the same offense then the Bills would have been an 11+ win team in 2015 but it is hard to project that forward.

Just because Carson Wentz and a whole bunch of other QB's came in and started right away and was super successful doesn't mean that QB's who sit their first year are doomed for failure as shown by the numerous super successful top 10 picks that didn't start week 1 and went on to be fantastic QB's. Context is king.

I am not too optimistic about the 2018 season, the offense is one huge issue and the pass rush on the defensive side of the football isn't inspiring. I think the 2018 season will be a so so one, 6-8 wins is what my expectations are. But the outlook for 2019 and beyond is great. The windfall of cap space in 2019 and the long-term prospects of Allen and the young talent on the roster makes me optimistic that once the cap sins of the past few years get cleared up that the team will have young talent and the ability to supplement the talent. So 2018 to me is a freebie year, McD was always a 3 year plan we just were way better in 2017 than everyone thought.

We were never going get good value out of Robert Woods with our QB and surrounding talent. Granted Woods would be a nice number 2 on this roster but I just don't think paying him 8 million or more would have resulted in the necessary production that the team would have needed to justify that cap number. Woods is in a good system where he complements the QB so the Rams over paying for him isn't nearly as bad.

I suggest you read up about the finical panics that occurred during the 19th century and the early 20th century when markets were very lightly regulated.