billsfan89

Given the massive WR market in free agency I think Gabe's agent is not going to take the "hometown discount" deal that McBeane would likely want. Also, a Gabe Davis extension would likely not yield any significant cap savings. Whereas Ed Oliver was a top-10 pick playing on a pretty big fifth-year option. I think Beane in addition to keeping Ed long term and not having to fully turn over the DT room next season also wanted the short-term cap space an extension would provide. Likely I think they want the cap space to make a last move or two either to chase after Hopkins or add a vet pass rusher getting some space now was an added benefit to the Ed Oliver extension that does not really exist for Gabe Davis who has a tiny cap number.

I generally agree with your assesstment. I do think that Harty and Sheffeld will represent a small upgrade over Kumerow and Mac but nothing major. Kincaid is a nice add and will help add a dimension to the offense. But Kincaid is still a rookie TE and rookie TE's historically don't have major impacts. Still like the add and still think that even if he gets 50+ receptions 600ish yards 4-5 TD's while not tanking Knox's production will be a significant positive to the overall offense. If the Bills are able to add Hopkins pairing the add of Kincaid/Hopkins with the massively improved interior o-line and O-line depth (although I would still like to the Bills add a true backup LT as there is no one behind Dawkins in my opinion) the offense overall should be massively improved. Even without Hopkins in the mix I still think the offensive line additions plus the moderate moves the made in adding Kincaid and Harty/Sheffeld should lead to a more consistent offense esp against better defenses or in shootout situations. Hopkins would be a nice "final piece" to add I think he would solidify the offense and its depth at WR, it would allow Shakir to come along at his own pace for one more season and take some pressure off of Gabe short term.

This is a contract year, Ed should have all the motivation and opportunity needed to have his best season. If he isn't going to be dedicated to the mental craft of his game in 2023 then it just isn't going to happen ever.

I don't see there being cap space/money out there. OBJ signed with the most WR-thirsty team a lot earlier in free agency when teams had more cap space.

Although I wouldn't mind kicking the tires and having a nice mentor for Cyrus I think for once the Bills are both good and deep at guard. so I doubt that the Bills will go after another guard. Between Bates, Edwards, McGov and Cyrus the Bills have 4 at the very worst decent guards on the roster. I don't hate more O-line depth but I doubt Norwell wants to be the 5th guard on the roster.

The Bills were hoping to get one year of decent guard play out of Saffold and without any real fallback option the Bills had one of their biggest holes on the roster/offense.

Decent addition should push for some reps at RT, still concerned about not having a true swing tackle/Dawkins back up. But more competition for Brown and Queese is good.

I would say there is likely very little controversy for LT-LG-C. Dawkins and Mitch are the vets and the best players along the O-line and McGov was a fairly big off-season signing and a proven in his prime player at guard. RT and RG right now are where the intrigue is. Brown barring a vet signing should be in line for RT. While I would prefer Brown has competition the organization seems to mostly believe in him although I would suspect Queese and Bates will get some snaps with the first unit to kick the tires so to speak. RG is also a bit of a battle between Bates and Torrence but while I do think McBean has shown a reluctance to play rookies I simply have a high degree of faith with Torrence that he will show out in camp. I love the O-line a lot more coming into this season. Edwards, Bates and Queese are a much better first three off the bench and the guard position is much better stocked. If this team can add a vet swing tackle who can compete with Brown at RT I think they go 9 deep in a good manner.

The offense in general is a lot better equipped to win against better defenses. Diggs and Allen are still there and I think it's reasonable to expect Diggs to still be a quality WR1. But the offensive line is massively improved, both guard positions are better and the depth with Bates moving to the bench and the addition of Edwards and the resigning of Queese is much better (although I would like to see a swing tackle added). Kincaid also adds an additional passing dimension. On top of that Hines will be here the whole season and can add something to the offense. The supplemental WR/RB's are also still a solid bunch. Gabe Davis's development as a WR2 and Spencer Brown's ability to develop at RT are going to be big factors but even if both don't go great Dorsey should still be in a better positon to open up his playbook and get this offense going come post season time and be more consistent in the regular season.

Would be a nice piece to add to the DE rotation. Esp if Von might not be 100% to start the season.

If Fleming can play LT, I think he would make for a great swing tackle, he seems to have a good amount of experience and productive play. Kind of shocked he is a free agent unless his demands are super high which is likely. But if McBeane can add him with the promise of competing for the starting RT spot and at worst being the swing tackle it would be a great add. Doyle was never that great and likely will be put on IR to "redshirt" the year coming off a serious injury and the team hasn't really any quality backup for Dawkins as while I don't mind Queese as the 9th oline to play RT or kick inside if needed he isn't a LT.

Types of players you kick the tires on in training camp, not really likely to make the roster but could be a PS guy.

I hope that with Kincaid added in the mix and the hopefully better guard/o-line play leads to a more diverse offense. Better running and playaction and two TE sets.

I don't really see Miami as having that great of a roster. They certainly have a good roster, but their O-line is suspect and their depth isn't very good. I also don't like what they have as a coach. He calls good plays but his team despite the strength of the roster only finished 9-8 and most of their 9 wins came against bad opponents. To say that Miami with a questionable QB and O-line situation is better than Cincy and the Bills is outright absurd in my opinion.

Tack that on as well, so many different situations outside of the normal football adversity the 2022 Bills had to deal with.

This is just random ass backward speculation. It wasn't like the team came out sharp and Josh made a bunch of boneheaded plays or looked lost out there. Even then that's still speculation. The 2022 Bills had one of the toughest mentally exhausting seasons I can think of an NFL team facing in a decade or so. Even before the Demar Hamlin situation the Bills had to deal with the Topps shooting impacting the community, Dawson Knox's young brother's untimely death, Dane Jackson getting carted away in a scary-looking injury in the home opener, a snowstorm relocating a game while the team was suffering an flu/Covid outbreak and another snow storm killing dozens in the community and heavily impacting them during the holiday season. THEN the Demar Hamlin situation. That's in addition to a rash of normal football-related adversity such as the Von/Hyde injuries and the rash of nagging injuries that hit the team hard early in the season. The team was emotionally gassed for good reason. The whole team had been through a lot and it showed in how flat they came out. Josh's breakup had nothing to do with it.

Dalvin Cook is on a big contract that the Bills likely couldn't afford cap-wise and call me crazy but I actually like what the team has at RB. James Cook is coming of a solid rookie season, Stevenson is a bruising power back who makes for a quality RB2 and Hines is a really solid gadget player. The team also has some vet depth/insurance with Murray on the roster. If the Bills are going to make an "All in" type move to add one more piece to the roster I would rather go after a RT/WR to solidify the offense or a defensive piece like a MLB or pass rusher to reinforce the defense.

Dolphins number 2 is him trolling the Bills Mafia for clicks, don't give him the satisfaction. If I am ranking the top 5 I would put it KC (Defending Champs and they have the talent/pedigree to be in the spot) Bengals (AFC champs 1 year removed AFCCG last year with a lot of talent) Bills (strong roster, great QB and really no other roster on in the AFC as complete top to bottom besides KC and Cincy) Ravens (QB who can be dynamic, more WR talent to add with Andrews at TE and a solid defense) Jets (Solid all-around roster with a vet QB in Rodgers who still has something left in the tank a few holes on the roster but still a good team) You can't seriously make an argument for the Fins whose QB is both an injury concern and not that dynamic and a roster that has some holes.

This season I think it is better the Bills fly under the radar a bit. The Jets are getting a lot of headlines with the Rodgers acquisition and the Bengals and KC are getting a lot of hype as well. The Bills have quietly put together a nice off-season improving the O-line (and O-line depth) and adding Kincaid as a weapon to the offense while adding some smaller pieces like Hardy and Sheffield. The ST unit also will see Hines returning the whole season and Hardy returning as well and should remain a strong unit that might be modestly better given the upgrade at both returner spots to start the season. However, the inverse of last season I do have some significant concerns about the defense. Last year the only player coming off a major injury was Tre, this season Hyde and Von are coming off serious injuries and Poyer is coming back after being banged up a lot (Not to mention all three are a year older) and the defense lost Edumonds whose loss, in my opinion, will be felt. While McBeane did add some depth at safety with Rapp and made a nice signing with Poona Ford I see some questions on the defensive side of the ball. I think defensively the Bills will fall to be a good but not great unit. Edumonds absence will be felt and I think age/injury will show in some capacity with Hyde/Poyer/Von. If the Bills can get some good development from Groot/AJ/Boogie/Elam/Benford and a contract year performance from Ed Oliver and a bounce back from Tre (further removed from a serious injury) and the older players hold up decently then the unit can be a top 5 unit. But that is a lot to break right. In reality, not all the young guns will develop and some of the older players will regress or get hurt. Hopefully, more breaks are right than goes wrong. But I was more than willing given the limited resources of the team to have the offense be the focus of the off-season and it for the most part was. I would rather invest in Josh and the offense even if it meant the defense takes a step down.

Wouldn’t hate bringing him back as a backup we could do worse for a sixth corner

The AFC is very stacked. You have several powerhouse teams KC, Bills, and Cincy all are about as close to "complete" teams as possible. Then you two teams in my opinion are just under the three powerhouse teams in the Jets, Jaguars and Ravens who while they may have a hole or two are not that far off. Then you have a large group of tough teams that can all easily win 10 games or more if things break right. The Steelers, Browns, Dolphins, Patriots, Chargers, Raiders and Broncos are in that mix. The only truly rebuilding teams are the Titans, Colts and Texans who are likely at least a year away from anything meaningful. It's a slog in the AFC but it was similar last year too.

Looking forward to seeing McD call the defense. I wonder how McD will compensate for the loss of Edumonds and possibly missing Von for part of the season? It will be interesting to see what goes on with the play calling.

2022 was Davis's first year being a true WR2 and he had his struggles. He wasn't tragic but he wasn't the 1000-yard WR2 we all hoped he could be. The nagging ankle injury certainly didn't help but I do hope that Gabe has a better year in 2023. Contract year will certainly be some solid motivation and I think having a year being a primary WR will help him. Hopefully, the coaches coach him up and he learns from the tape. The Bills certainly need him to step into that WR2 role more consistently. While I love the addition on Kincaid rookie TE's historically tend to have modest impacts and while I do think Shakir can develop more the onus will still be on Davis to provide a consistent threat opposite Diggs.

I definitely am feeling a lot better about the offense in 2023 than I was going into 2022. I was really concerned about the O-line going into 2022, mainly Saffold at guard and the overall depth was massively lacking. From 2019 to 2021 the Bills had solid depth along the O-line. They usually went 8 deep with at least 3 quality backup O-line players behind the starting five. Players like Bates, Ty Nesheke, and others were on the bench entering the season. Going into 2022 not only was there a questionable situation with Saffold being a vet stop-gap but also the only decent backup was Queese. Going into 2023 not only is the guard situation much better with Torrence and McGovern the depth is a lot stronger. Bates is likely moved back to the bench which given his versatility is a big addition to the O-line's depth then the team added Edwards who helps the guard depth and brought back Queese who is a decent backup. That is in addition to the players they are kicking the tires on like Ike. While I would like a swing tackle who can compete with Brown and backup Dawkins the depth is at least credible to start the season. While the starting O-line is much better at guard in my opinion. After the O-line, I do feel like having Hines in as a gadget player/third-down back for the whole is going to be helpful (along with Hines kick return abilities helping the ST unit). While Cook as the lead back with Stevenson as the primary backup/power back makes me feel like at RB the team will likely be slightly better. Then at WR/TE I think that in addition to Kincaid adding a big receiving body the additions of Sheffield and Hardy over Mac and Kumerow provide a small upgrade while I hope Shakir and Davis develop more. Josh should have a better complement of targets to throw to in 2023. I don't think Shorter will have much of an impact in 2023 but I could be wrong, certainly a body added there. Overall I do think that McBeane did a pretty solid job on the offensive side of the ball in the off-season given the limited resources. The O-line is significantly better while the pool of targets for Josh is better and the RB situation is slightly better as well.

To be fair to the Bills Ariza’s release may have been to his benefit, it gave him time and energy to clear his name. The Bills did not want to deal with the distractions and Ariza need to get the situation straightened out. I don’t think Ariza will play for the Bills but there may not be as much bad blood as thought