BearNorth

I think either Hyde or Poyer will have the green dot. They both have a bit more game experience than MM.

I saw a similar situation with regard to O-Line, some of the highest ranking O-Lines play for non-contenders, and some of the lesser groups play for contenders [e.g. Bills]. The fact that the Bills have had sub-par O-line play and have still won 72% of their games over the past 4 years, is a real tribute to Allen, (Diggs for three of those), and the defense.

It does speak to the dismal state of offensive line talent that many pundits still say that Saffold is among the top 10 guards available. SMH

Quintin Morris - ranked 72 of 73 TE's by PFF, and some guy named Zach Davidson out of the football powerhouse called Central Missouri, who was a Vikings discard.

As a lifelong Bills fan, the best offense in the NFL today has to include (1) Andy Reid (2) Kelce, and (3) Mahomes, they are the new Brady/Gronk. Until you can matchup with that trio you're not the best. Reid's play design and play calling is on a whole other level than the rest of the league.

The biggest issues going into the draft and then post-draft free agency IMHO are: How to replace Edmunds ? How to improve the Offensive Line - we have 2 NFL starter caliber players and 3 question marks. Are Von, Micah, Tre White, going to be healthy game day 1? Is Elam ready to start against the elite QB's & WR's he will face almost weekly ? Our schedule has us facing 7 of the top 10 quarterbacks in the league [one plays for us] Can we get some consistent production out of our #2 wide out and #3 slot receiver ? Can we find an affordable 3rd down back who can get tough yards, so that JA17 isn't constantly having to? Can we start making big plays on D and forcing turnovers - we were 3rd highest in the league in giveaways. Can Josh clean up his turnovers, and stop taking so many risks with the ball? I will be interesting to see this all play out.

The Pats have McCourty with the green dot. Is this the year to perhaps have Poyer or Hyde be the defensive signal caller, to take some load off the newbie at MLB. With a new DC going to hopefully be a lot of changes in how we play D.

Neal makes $3.3MM with a $1MM dead cap hit, so he likely stays as he is ST core Lewis seems to be a favorite of the coaches in the ST room as well.

Does make you wonder about the Giants franchise tagging Saquon at 10MM +, seems like a lot given his injury history and the shelf life of RB's.

Third downs with Hines and Harty going to have some defenses figuring out how to cover these two and Diggs.

I liked Fletcher, don't think he ever was on a team that won a playoff game, which was my key for this exercise.

Hill is fast, but no football player of any accomplishment has ever been faster than Bob Hayes of the Cowboys. 1964 Olympic gold medalist only player to win an Olympic Gold Medal (2 actually) and a Super Bowl ring. His anchor leg of the 4x100 in Tokyo, with a moving start was clocked at 8.6 seconds for 100 meters - that's 26 mph over 100 meters.

If you are talking Middle Linebackers, and teams with great records, + wins in the playoffs your options are: 1964-5 - Harry Jacobs 1981 [3-4] Jim Haslett, Shane Nelson 1988 [3-4] Shane Conlan, Ray Bentley 1990-92 [3-4] Shane Conlan, Carlton Bailey 1993 [3-4] Mark Maddox, Marvcus Patton 1995 [3-4] Marlo Perry, 'biscuit [age 30 last year with Bills] 2020-2022 [4-3] Edmunds Not exactly a position of strength over the years for this franchise

Pacheco's performance tells me you can replace Motor with a bigger, faster RB, with more burst in a low draft round.

Hope everyone has the over. 35 points and counting.

I like only conferences, no divisions.

Kansas City has worse drafting positions than we do every year, but they rank 4th overall. That pretty much falls on Beane and his college scouting dept. We used a second on Cook when there were decent OL available, they found Pacheco under our noses [Rutgers] for a 7th.

With Morse getting a bit long in the tooth, I would love to see a C in the draft who can play guard until Morse moves on.

Obvious starting roster upgrades needed to me are: Saffold, McKenzie, Spencer Brown, Davis [Cinci proves you have to have 3 excellent wideouts]. On D, Poyer and Hyde, Von depending on Rehab from Injury, Pay Edmunds, unless someone ridiculously overpays, can't tag him because Edge are considered LB's for tagging. Looks like biggest needs are OL, WR, S, MLB if Edmunds leaves.

If the qualifier is winning the whole enchilada, QB's can put up gaudy stats, but can they win BIG games? Here is the list of multiple SB winners: Tom Brady – 7 in 23 seasons 30% Terry Bradshaw – 4 in 14 seasons 29% Joe Montana – 4 in 16 seasons 25% Troy Aikman – 3 in 12 seasons 25% Roger Staubach – 2 in 11 seasons 18% Bob Griese – 2 in 14 seasons 14%* [DNP in Super Bowl] Jim Plunkett – 2 in 15 seasons 13% John Elway – 2 in 16 seasons 12.5% Eli Manning – 2 in 16 seasons 12.5% Peyton Manning – 2 in 18 seasons 11% Ben Roethlisberger – 2 in 18 seasons 11% But.... Bart Starr – 2 in 6 seasons he played during SB era 33%, also 3 NFL titles in 10 seasons 30%, so 5 titles in 16 seasons 31% and the aforementioned Otto Graham 4 AAFL and 3 NFL titles in 10 Seasons.

Great writeup as always FWIW, I took a look at the lineups between the 13-3 1990 team that lost in the SB and the 13-3 2022 team Thomas 1990 > Singletary Reed 1990 > McKenzie Hull 1990 > Morse Ballard 1990 > Brown Bruce Smith 1990 > Rousseau Talley 1990 > Oliver [3-4 vs. 4-2-5] Odomes 1990 > Dane Jackson Ritcher 1990 > Saffold Beebe 1990 = Gabe Davis Kelly 1990 = Allen Lofton 1990 = Diggs Wolford 1990 = Dawkins John Davis 1990 = Bates Biscuit 1990 = Milano Conlan 1990 = Edmunds Leonard Smith 1990 = Poyer Ray Bentley 1990 = Taron Johnson [3-4 vs. 4-2-5] Knox 2022 > McKeller Von Miller 2022 > Seals Daquan 2022 > Wright Tre White 2022 > Kirby Jackson [assuming fully healthy] Hyde 2022 > Kelso [assuming fully healthy] From this flyover, the 1990 roster had more starting talent that this year's version. Josh Allen would kill for some of those linemen, Wolford, Richter, Hull, Ballard. This year's roster had the loss of Von Miller and Hyde, and the limited play of Tre White. Obviously Bruce is a huge difference maker, and Reed light years ahead of McKenzie. HOF in Bold

In basketball, the shot clock is visible above the basket and a horn sounds when it hits zero [not one second after zero]. The only judgement is if the shot was in the air when the horn sounds, if it goes in it's good, if not if it hits the rim, it's play on, and clock resets to 20. If the shot is up and misses the rim, its a violation, and the ball goes to the other team. Football has enough officials and enough money that if the clock hits zero, a horn should sound and the back judge should get a buzzer cue like you do in a restaurant, signal e.g. horn or play clock lights up.

The second most cap benefit this year would accrue to KC, and if this came to pass, Andy would have $35MM to beef up his defense. No thanks.

After reading this thread, I took a few minutes. Pretty much everyone agrees that the offensive line has been in a word "offensive" In the entire history of the franchise [I was 12 yrs old living in Buffalo in 1960], here are the significant honors earned by Buffalo O-Lineman Hall of Fame Billy Shaw Guard 1961-1969 Joe DeLamielleure Guard 1973-1979, 1985 All Pro Billy Shaw 5X 1962, 63, 64, 65, 66 Joe DeLamielleure 3X 1975, 76, 77 Stew Barber 2X 1963-1964 Kent Hull 2X 1990,91 Reggie McKenzie 1X 1973 [Thanks to OJ] Multiple Pro Bowls Billy Shaw 8X Ruben Brown 8X Stew Barber 5X Joe DeLamielleure 5X Kent Hull 3X House Ballard 2X Jason Peters 2X Jim Ritcher 2X So out of 310 player years [5 players 62 years], we have had 2 Hall of Famers, 13 All-Pro's, and 35 years of players who went to multiple pro-bowls. I didn't count single pro-bowls, cause it's a popularity contest for the most part. That's an indictment of our scouting department and O-line coaching over almost the entire history of the franchise. The screwup with Peters is one of the most egregious front office mistakes along with Patulski and Cousineau. This is not just coaching, this is scouting and drafting effectively

Motor is still one of the best blocking RB's in the game, until we fix the O-Line, might be worth it just for that. AJ Dillon, and Motor are the only 2 RB's ranked in top 10 for both run and pass block. Longer term would be nice to have a thumper like Dillon on third and short to save some wear and tear on JA17