billsfan89

Interesting enough I also like Hoecht in that flex role across the defense. Solomon I don't know too much about as far as a fit in that way but I think he's got some pass rush upside and is less of a power rusher than some of the other DE's on the roster.

Jackson is a 3rd round rookie, he's gonna be in line to get those Smoot snaps but if Solomon proves to be having a better camp/pre-season he could jump him.

With Hoecht suspended there's gonna by some time for Jackson or Solomon to slot into that "Dwyane Smoot" back end DE rotation role.

Wouldn't draft picks be exactly what you need? Cheap cost controlled talent? This is your first round pick too, your best asset in the draft a player that if you do need some pass rush help might be able to make a big difference or at least provide something positive for a desperate defense and develop into a key player? Why spend the 17th overall pick on a player to just not invest in them?

If other teams don’t do this then why are the Bengals hell bent on it?

Josh deserved the win but dam what a great MVP race this was in hindsight. Lamar and Josh put together seasons that in most years would be MVP's by a mile but credit to Lamar he put up an amazing season to put the thing in doubt also Barkley had an amazing RB year that got him into the conversation and Burrow's stats were also incredible.

Didn't Davis have to sell a minority stake in the team to be able to afford to keep up more? I'm sure the move to Vegas helped but I do think they got some liquidity by selling 15-20% of the team at a good evaluation.

The depth at LB is not great. He is gonna compete for those last two LB’s spot with Ulo and Buffalo Joe neither of whom are great backup LB’s. The Bills needed a good vet LB for back end Competition

I like it, Bills needed some depth at LB they didn’t draft anyone there so after the top 3 it’s Spector whose a decent backup and then Ulo a 5th rounder from last year who didn’t have an impressive rookie campaign. Adding in a vet to the back end depth mix is smart business.

I give Burrow if he's somewhat healthy and not damaged goods two years before he asks out of Cincy similar to Carson Palmer. The Bengals owner is one of the most broke and notoriously cheap in the NFL. If they can't put together a good coaching staff, good offensive line, and decent defense around him and he's stuck for the next two seasons playing behind a bad O-line and a defense that can't stop anyone with a lackluster coaching staff Burrow's gonna get 31 after 2026 I can't see him wanting to spend the rest of his prime in that situation. If I were a team looking for a QB in the 2026 NFL draft I would be very interested in trading down to acquire picks for 2027 to make a play for Burrow. Any extra picks esp a first would be insanely helpful to facilitating a trade.

Bills could use some depth at LB. They didn’t spend a pick there and the Bills run through LB’s so having a vet in there won’t hurt if he fits the scheme.

Get R Done Beane. In all seriousness I wouldn't mind seeing Alexander if he's a scheme fit come here. But I think the Bills likely view themselves as "good" at corner. They swapped Douglas with Tre as the "veteran" option and drafted two players at corner and for insurance brought back Dane for backend competition. Adding Alexander while I would like it as I think he's got a better chance than Tre at producing starting quality play I just don't think the Bills staff is gonna move around or have the money to pay Alexander more than a team that's got the cap space and is a little more thirsty at corner. Tre/Dane were the Bills vet/depth additions while adding two picks including pick 30 also solidified the spot. While I think Alexander would be better than Tre it just isn't a move I would see the Bills making.

I think he's a ST player whose gonna get some snaps as a situational pass rusher. My hope is that he can play some more meaningful defensive snaps as he secures a situational pass rush rotational role. Ideally getting 2-4 sacks in a limited role and continuing to play solid on special teams would be a good year 2 for him. Getting him on the field for a more limited role consistently would be a big win and it would put a lot on tape for him to work with going into year 3. I think with AJE on the final year of his contract there's room for Solomon to push himself into that role in 2026.

A lot of sports piracy comes from people just now knowing where the games are on.

These memes are always so heavily inflated. For one you don't need YT TV at all. You can get Sunday Ticket by its self early bird for $399 and the rest of what you need YT TV for can be obtained for free via a broadcast TV receiver that will let you watch all the local FOX/ABC/NBC/CBS affiliates. Secondly you also don't need a year of Amazon or ESPN+. 6 months is all you need. The real cost to watch all the games is around $600 for a season which is still vastly too much but also nowhere near 1500 dollars.

It's funny because you can "lawyer" things in so many ways but that sack on Mahomes to force a field goal was about as clutch a play you could get by Phillips. I actually love the idea of Phillips being "on retainer" for a late season vet PS spot because he showed he's still gonna pop in a few "splash" plays over the course of 2-3 games before getting hurt likely doing something stupid haha. If you can get him to come in and have 1-2 splash plays while being a solid back end rotation DT late in season when a fresh body might be needed I think that's a good idea.

That 2022 season was the "Season from hell" for this team. Even beyond the Hamlin situation. They had a lot go wrong off the field and a bad injury situation on the field combined with the Hamlin situation. Overall the fact that they somehow went 13-3 that season and won a playoff game despite all the injuries let alone the bad off field stuff let alone the Hamlin situation tacked on top of all that is a testament to that team not a detraction. 2023 was another odd one, but that was more so boneheaded self inflicted stuff as opposed to 2022 that was largely outside of a handful of roster decisions (lackluster offensive line and WR2) out of their control.

Bishop and Rapp will likely be the starters, Forrest and Hamlin are quality depth both of whom will compete to start and while I'm not sure about Forrest Hamlin plays special teams decently so Hamlin adds value there. Then you have a mid round pick in Hancock added to the mix. Likely it will take an outstanding camp performance and pre-season for Owens to "force" the Bills to make room for him or it will take an injury there to open up an opportunity. Plenty of room to make the PS however...

Offensively I think they want to use screens and gadget plays more while taking shots downfield slightly more while retaining the "ball control" ground and pound offense. I would love to see the data on the screen game the Bills incorporated in 2024 as while it seemed to be there a bit more than in the past it was also still not that much of a staple of the offense. I think Brady will make that more prominent. Defensively I wonder if the system is gonna be stress tested early in the season. See how the new look secondary plays and how good the pass rush is and adjust accordingly. First 4-5 games of the season do they kind of do the more bland disciplined McD zone coverage rush 4 defense to see how good their D-line is and how good the secondary and LB's cover. Then if LB's and secondary are crushing it they can blitz more knowing there's solid coverage back there or will they adjust the philosophy if there's some growing pains there to have more in coverage consistently? What I would like to see from both sides of the ball is to see if they can "reserve" 10% of the playbook for the playoffs. It always seems like KC in particular almost has a small portion of their playbook they leave off film but practice behind closed doors for the playoffs. Like they save their best plays and concepts for big games in particular ones with the Bills. It would be one interesting to see if that's the case and two can the Bills do something similar?

I wouldn't be shocked if he does the old "hold in" where he shows up but claims some sort of ankle sprain to avoid the fines for missing mini-camp but still not be an active participant.

Possible but there were some throws were Dalton was open and Josh either missed him or made it a very difficult catch that it doesn't seem to the casual eye was a misread or bad route. I don't think that accounts for all of the lack of production he had in the 13 games he played either. I think the coaching staff is going to have to work with him to get him involved in the offense and fix his issues. I think health was the primary factor to his dip in production, a few bad throws being better could have bumped up his totals 5-7 catches 50-70 yards which wouldn't have massively moved the needle for him.

It's funny because the Cowboys actually operate in a fairly "boring" manner outside of Jones antics with coaching. They haven't been massive spenders in free agency or made big splashy trades for the most part. Their massive contracts (Dak, Lamb, Diggs, and eventually Parsons) have been all players they drafted and developed by them. Their fans have been on Jerry for not spending much in free agency. The issue with the Cowboys is that despite being a top 10 drafting team in recent years and their owners willingness to spend money they will never attract a good coach as long as Jerry Jones insists on not only running the team but micromanaging it. They also have the Dak issue where he's a good QB getting paid like an elite QB. For me with Jerry the issue that's most in his control is his constant presence and meddling is going to lead to the Cowboys never having a good coach because only 2nd and 3rd tier coaches are going to want to put up with that. The top up and coming coordinators and the best most proven retreads have options where they can take a job that's not gonna feature an owner whose constantly making themselves the center of attention and is also the GM. Jones has actually improved as a GM as shown by the teams drafting and prudence in free agency. But with a not so great QB situation relative to what they are paying him and a owner whose kryptonite to a good coach the Cowboys are likely to be a good team that never gets past the divisional round going forward. The Giants are a easy team to be one of the 2-3 random teams that sneak into the playoffs. No one last year expected the Broncos, Vikings, or Commanders to make the playoffs and that happens every season where you get those 2-3 teams that overachieve. It's what makes the NFL so great for fans because any team can vastly over achieve. Personally I think the Giants are a 7 win team. Nice draft classes the past couple of seasons, decent free agency, but lackluster QB situation and a coach walking a fine line to being fired as well as still having offensive line issues is just screaming 7 maybe 8 wins with some luck. 5-6 wins with some bad luck type team.

Pitts had a lot of good attributes in addition to his size and speed. He ran a full receiving route and was a willing blocker in college. It's not that he's been bad as a pro if he was picked in the 20's instead of 4th overall he would be looked at as a draft "hit" instead of someone whose underperformed. Pitts had 1k as a rookie and after a injury in year two has back to back 600 yard seasons in years 3 and 4. So it isn't like he's unproductive. He's just not really lived up to highest drafted at his position ever billing thus far. He's only 25 and Vernon Davis who was drafted 6th overall at TE got off to a slower start to his career as his first 3 years were underwhelming. And Davis had a break out in 2009 at age 25. So I wouldn't write Pitts off just yet. Is he a fit for the Bills? No, I don't think he makes sense but I think another TE hungry team could come calling and get a good player for a 3rd round pick or so.

There's a good "eye test" case for Kincaid who in 13 games still put up 435 yards (26th best for TE's although if you projected out his production to 17 games he only moves up about 6-7 spots) that he was both hurt and unlucky. There were several times I remember as a casual fan where Josh just missed Kincaid or put Kincaid in a tough catch situation. It seemed like 75% of Josh's bad throws were to Kincaid for some bad reason. Then you throw in the injury and there's a case for a good bounce back season. Would I rank Kincaid in the top 10 going into the season? I would say probably not. Bowers/Kittle/Kelce/La Porta/McBride are firmly ahead then you have a ton of other borderline guys out there. So it would take a very generous take on Kincaid and a very sour one on the rest of the TE's to really put Kincaid top 10.

Solid career in the NFL. 98 starts, a Super Bowl Ring, and 40 million in earnings. Getting out at age 31 also seems positive for your health. Had a very promising start here in Buffalo as a man to man corner. He simply didn't fit the McD zone system so they traded him and it seems to have worked out for both parties.