transient

I think the Chiefs the last 2 years have been a bit of an anomaly in that Kelce and Mahomes have been able to overcome an otherwise lackluster WR room. Without their defense last season they would have been a sub 0.500 team. Personally, I don't think the Bills came into the offseason intending to trade Diggs, I think something forced their hands insofar as if they didn't do it NOW he would have lost all value to them on the field in 2024 and as a trade chip next offseason. I think this WR room with Diggs would have been fine, even if Brady only used Diggs to draw coverage away from other receiving options, and I think the plan would then have been to replace him next offseason. Unfortunately, the Bills are going into 2024 with a Diggs size hole in their roster. I'm personally not down on them for not drafting more WRs in this draft. If they didn't have a 1st or 2nd round grade on someone and/or think they could contribute THIS season, with so many holes elsewhere on the roster, drafting someone they didn't believe in for the sake of shutting the fans up would have made things worse. I do think the WR corps is more well-rounded at the bottom of the group than in past seasons but given the lack of talent at the top of the roster I think this is destined to be a down year on offense. I think those assuming Shakir will make this meteoric rise to replace Diggs are going to be met with the same disappointment we had when Davis continued to prove he was not a legitimate WR2 when/if he's asked to draw the coverage Diggs used to. Like it or not, I think they're going to have to be more deliberate on offense and bleed the clock to some degree. I think Brady is going to have to be creative and use the talent at hand to the best of their ability. And I think it's going to be ugly for the first half of the season at least. This is obviously not going to be the most complete or deepest team of the Allen era. Hopefully they can put together a gritty, successful season despite that. I'm expecting a lot of white knuckle football this season. What do I know, though. Maybe their intent is instead of beating coverage in 2024 they'll just run them over at the line and WRs will be running free all over the field...

That's all well and good, but TBD seems to have focused too heavily on posters with low 40 stats, which is a measure of how many cogent thoughts can be articulated before spilling their 40 in their lap.

You know the difference between that WR corp and Shaquem Griffin? At least Griffin had one good hand.

You never know, she could have been a princess that turned into a troll after being kissed by a frog.

It would be interesting to know, if the Chiefs had lost the 2021 divisional round like they should have, would Mahomes have been as magnanimous in defeat as Allen was if Josh had tracked him down immediately afterwards to congratulate him on an awesome performance as Mahomes did... I thought it was a nice gesture of recognition by Mahomes, but I don't know that he would have received it similarly if roles were reversed.

This stupid "experiment" is likely a prelude to that. Gotta figure out the travel and impact to teams with actual fans before it becomes a permanent fixture.

2s are valuable depth. If I was the GM of the team that got hosed with that slot this year, I'm putting an ad in the local paper the day the schedule comes out advertising: The Buffalo Bills are offering a once in a lifetime opportunity for a select few fans to live out their lifelong dream of playing for their favorite team. Don't miss your chance to be one of 22 lucky people who will be selected at random, flown across the pond, and get the chance to suit up on gameday for one special regular season game this year. Imagine carving your name in the annals of NFL lore with those of your childhood heros. Why wear a foam helmet on gameday when you can wear a real one? This is sure to be a day the NFL owners and commissioner will never forget. Airfare, meals and lodging included. Must be 21 or older. Certain restrictions may apply. To participate a waiver of liability must be signed and will be strictly enforced.

The problem for the Dolphins is their home field advantage really only lasts through mid-October while it's scorching hot in Miami. Once the weather cools off to the point it's no longer baking the visitor's sideline it's the equivalent of a lovely day for football with a minimum of crowd noise for their opponent.

I think the Claypool signing means we signed a WR with talent who has one last shot to rehab a career on a 1 yr deal with one of the best QBs in the league throwing him the ball. If he strays you cut him. I'm sure there will be no mistaking that he's on a short leash, and regardless of his production, if he makes it the whole year I don't expect he'd be resigned. Low risk, high reward signing.

I think this is pretty optimistic. Only way I see him getting 1K at this point is cumulative and playing another 3 years.

Anybody else's mind jump to this every time they hear or see his name...

Honestly, that's probably the only solution that would overcome the competitive advantage that the Jags would otherwise have. Either that or have the Jags play successive West Coast games on their return to nullify the gift they were given by the league in the second of the back-to-back London games. This doesn't fix the stupidity of the problem created in the first place, but it would at least partly assuage my spiteful nature to see the Jags get screwed too. 🤷‍♂️

I would love to see the team that faces them second rest their starters and give a half-ass effort as a “yeah, well FU right back” to Goodell.

I'm still expecting a double digit win season, but I expect it to look ugly, especially early on, and I expect a lot of bitching about it in the process.

Watching interviews with Coleman really does make you wonder how much of trading Diggs NOW was all about a locker room reset. It will be interesting to see if Allen reverts to the locked in version that embodies a big kid having a blast that's been kinda MIA for the past 2 seasons now with a personality like that, among others, instead of Diggs on the sideline.

I remember when, as a rookie, he had to tell Kelvin Benjamin where to line up... man, I hate Kelvin Benjamin.

This seems like a TBD challenge to me... 🤔... accepted! Anorexic Kelvin Benjamin Rocket scientist Leodis McKelvin Mild Mannered Ritchie Incognito Overzealous Billy Joe Hobert The courageous Kyle Orton Thorough topic searching @NoName Edited to poke a little fun at the OP.

The passing offense was worse in large part because in addition to Davis, Diggs also stopped catching half of the balls thrown his way.

And if all of this meshes in 2024 and the talent is there, they're a true WR1 away from replicating the formula they used in 2020 and 2021. One player, whether by trade, FA signing, or going up and getting the best one in the draft. And they should have the cap space and/or draft capital in 2025 to do it. Better yet, aside from Samuel, who's 27, and possibly Cook, who may not be offered a 2nd contract, they'll still have most of their careers ahead of them unlike Beasely, Brown, Sanders, and in the end, Diggs.

Indirectly, I did answer your question regarding winning the SB. I clearly stated "regardless of what fans want to believe, this Bills season is a retooling season. It's not going to look like a finished product. We're not going to compete for the SB unless this team unexpectedly catches fire late in the year." That would seem to suggest, regardless of circumstances, that no, I don't expect them to win a SB in 2024. If you're specifically asking if I think they're able to win with defense to get them there, not with the defense they've brought to the playoffs the last few years, both from a philosophical and from a personnel perspective. Re Kelce, I think Kincaid has the potential to be a similar player with time, but he's not there yet. Regarding Reid, no, I don't think Joe Brady will be on the same level as Reid, but you could make that argument about the majority of the teams in the league. Regardless of the points you think you're making about Kelce and Reid, I don't expect the Bills to compete for a SB in 2024 and while they would never point blank admit it, I don't think the organization does either. If there is a year to ask Allen to make do with an inferior WR corp, 2024 would be it. They're going to have rookies and new faces all over the starting lineup on both sides of the ball, and they're carrying 55M of dead cap space. If your point is to soley focus on my assertion that "it's a similar situation" and hammer at that because the organizations are not identical with respect to coaching staff and personnel, then you're being very concrete about this. KC gave Mahomes crap WRs last season and, gun to their heads, I would imagine they would have told you at the start of the season that they expected to be competitive but didn't expect it was their strongest team or their best shot at a SB victory. Thus, I consider it a very similar situation. Where it's not likely to be similar, KC has let most of their WRs from last season go because they truly were scrubs outside of Rice. With what the Bills have currently on the roster, I think they're asking a group of WRs to play a step above their natural slotting. If Samuel, Coleman, and Shakir can hold their own despite that, they may be a true WR1 from a pretty good WR corp and offense in 2025, when I do expect them to be in contention for a SB again.

It's not a lazy talking point, it's a similar situation. And asking fans anything with the expectation of a rational answer is an exercise in futility. Do you think the Chiefs organization went into the season last season expecting that it was their best chance to win the Super Bowl since Mahomes arrived? Are you expecting the Bills to compete for the SB this year? My point is, regardless of what fans want to believe, this Bills season is a retooling season. It's not going to look like a finished product. We're not going to compete for the SB unless this team unexpectedly catches fire late in the year. My point is, asking Allen to work with a less than ideal WR corp for a season is not "inexcusable". Drafting a few rookie WRs without filling out the depth on a team that just went through a cap bloodbath under the guise of competing this year at the cost of future seasons would have been inexcusable. If the value was there in the picks they made over whatever WR was left at the time I'm glad they did it their way. For comparison's sake, in 2019 the Bills WR corp was essentially John Brown, Cole Beasely and a bunch of scrubs at the rest of the skill positions, with Singletary as the feature RB. That's all Allen had to work with and they went 10-6. This season, they're likely expecting Shakir to fill the role of Beasely and Samuel to fill the role of Brown, except in addtion they have Kincaid and Cook to lean on as well, and whatever you can get from Knox. Those are the known quantities. Add to that the fact that Allen has much more experience than he did in 2019. Now add to that a big rookie in Coleman who should provide some assistance even if he's not the WR everyone wanted the Bills to draft, and a back in Davis that may also take some targets. If you get anything from the remaining bodies in Hamler, Shorter, Bocephus, whatever WR they bring in between now and the start of the season, etc it's a bonus. Yes, the offense will regress. It's inevitable. But they should still be competitive as a team. Now look ahead to 2025, which will hopefully be the equivalent of the 2020 season when they added Diggs. They have draft picks and cap space. Any one of moving up for the best WR on the board, signing a big-ticket FA WR, or trading for a WR1 would upgrade this to a pretty formidable WR corp assuming Samuel and Coleman pan out and Shakir continues to ascend. Now, if they suck this season and fail to do something along those line next season, then I couldn't agree more, they're clueless and they should all be fired. I think we need to temper our expectations for this season, though, look at the reality of the situation, and give them the benefit of the doubt. We've enjoyed some pretty good football since they've gotten here. So much so that we feel like every year should be our year and anything less is a fireable offense.

It is mesmerizing. So many questions go through my head... who's standing there recording this as that little monster is clearly deliberately tracking down her victim... what sort of counseling does the driver need to prevent this sort of behavior as an adult... is it humanly possible to have choreographed a more perfect take down and smooshing than that... why do I find this so horrifyingly funny... what kind of counseling do I need... is the victim alright... why is the health of the victim literally the last thing I wondered about... no really, what kind of counseling do I need? 🤔

Sooooo... you don't think other GMs would have known the relative value of the 5th, 6th, and 7th rounders that Beane would have been attempting to unload on them in order to move up? Kinda sounded like after the mid 5th round there was little difference between draft picks and UDFA's due to the lack of underclassmen.

I still don't like my odds... I think I'm going to wait until the midpoint of the season.

Pretty good receiver out of the backfield, both as an outlet and as a downfield option. Brady should be able to have fun scheming up some misdirection with the combination of him and Cook. Throw in the hybrid Curtis Samuel and they might even rediscover how to run a screen.