BADOLBILZ

Yeah, the brain drain in the coaching staff is the primary concern. On paper, they have a better combination of physical talent and prime age skill than the 2023 team that had the lead on SF in the second half of the NFCCG. And I tend to expect that either they or Washington ultimately end up with Trey Hendrickson. It's gotta' be one of those two......right? As much as I don't like that positional value for guys like Gibbs and Campbell........Tyliek and Ratledge weren't premium position players either. But they already have a lot of high end talent at premium positions. The Bills have the greater QB and that's the most important thing........but the Lions have upgraded versions of a lot of the Bills other best players. Hutchinson > Rousseau. Lions OT's > Bills OT's. St. Brown > Shakir. I'd expect those more recent, questionable day 1/2 picks to take a few years to catch up to them. Like when they gotta' replace a Jameson Williams, for example. The Lions aren't at the Eagles personnel level of course, but I think their starting 22 is more talented than they might get credit for on a Bills board.

So you weren't interested in parsing it further.........but then you parse it further and finish with 20-0hyperbole. Only way we know @Alphadawg7 hasn't hijacked your account is there was no ✌️at the end. Like I said, a lot of non-Bills fans(and some Bills fans) thought the Bills were poised to take a step back after losing Diggs, Davis, Morse and basically all of their captains. I couldn't care less if the Lions win or not. But as a fan I'd love to have just earned the #1 seed(something the McBills have never done) despite all the adversity they had and then to have difference makers like Aidan Hutchinson coming back after a lost season and Jameson Williams playing for a contract etc.. That and arguably the most favorable schedule of any NFL contender. We will see if the coordinator losses undermine what should be an otherwise improved team by default. Not having any of the top 4 QB's in the NFL in your conference certainly helps.

They had won too many games to tank at that point though. Bills fans weren't just talking playoffs at the time of the trade but also about winning the division and maybe even home field at that point. Dareus was basically a one man run defense that season. He left and they completely fell apart defensively and the Jags went from worst to first in run D overnight after the trade. We tend to think of the Bengals as an organization that has McBeane's number but between the Dalton miracle and trading for Cordy Glenn 4 months later they really helped save the regime.

I'm not sure why people don't recall why Kincaid fell out of favor. He was HORRIBLE in the playoffs. Even the one long catch he was credit for in the Denver game was clearly a drop that they got away with.

Darby was more of a non-fit of the scheme. Obviously, in hindsight guys like Gilmore and Woods went on to be big stars for SB teams and clearly not any kind of culture problem. Darby was the same but more of a good starter than a star. Watkins and Dareus were the flakes. Really what McBeane were doing was getting rid of the young, early round talent because those are the players with contract leverage that can undermine a no-name young regime's agenda. They only wanted players that would be beholden to them. That approach works but ideally you don't have to tear it down to that extent to build it back up. KC and Reid have always been able to stay a step or two ahead, despite never drafting as highly since 2013, because Reid didn't ever need to compromise on talent.

It wasn't a print story that I am aware of. It was verbatim from Paul Hamilton. He's repeated it numerous times on-air from his sources within what was PSE. Hamilton is about as reputable as anyone in the Buffalo media. Obviously, the fact that Pegula will let this drought drag on 14 years without ever turning everything over to some proven pro's speaks to his stubbornness. Even Ralph threw up his hands and gave up full control to Tom Donahoe at one point. However, it speaks well of Pegula's character that he promised full control to McBeane and has clearly honored that. That story is equally substantiated. Nobody has ever publicly admitted it but it's understood as fact. But the other story that has been making the rounds since 2017 was that Pegula and Whaley were both all-in on drafting Patrick Mahomes but McDermott wanted to wait until he and Beane had a full season of scouting QB's. So if you were an owner and the situation goes down where the player you wanted to select has personally eliminated your otherwise SB contending over and over........you might be inclined to think you could have done just as well if allowed some input.

Well we already knew they were going to be drafting a QB in 2018 well before the Darby/Watkins trades. That's why they handed Mahomes to conference rival KC 4 months earlier. To get another 2018 first rounder. I don't think you and the other BBMB refugees had washed ashore here yet but the general consensus was that the primary "signal" of the Darby/Watkins trades was that they were tanking. It didn't go over well when I explained how getting rid of the core young talent(players with leverage) but keeping all of the old vet talent meant they were going to try to "Jauron ball" their way to the playoffs. You couldn't pay me to re-watch that brutal 2017 offense.

Torrence is not a pending free agent. He's under contract for $1.6M in 2026. If Torrence elevated his game dramatically and the Bills decided to pay him early, it would be at a discount compared to the unrestricted free agent market rate and the aav diluted by the fact that he's under contract for 2026. By contrast, Epenesa has unrestricted free agency next March. He is coming off a so-so season sorta' like Josh Sweat had in 2023. Then Josh Sweat had a better 2024, culminating with a big performance in the SB, and got 4 years $77M from AZ in UFA. That was with an 8 sack season preceded by a 6.5 sack season.

Yeah the Bills have tried to immediately fill premium positions with their top pick in the last two drafts. Didn't work out well with Coleman as a rookie. Hopefully Hairston does better but wouldn't be surprising if he struggles mightily and teams attack him as a rookie. Because you are much more on your own on those islands. It's much easier to get acclimated at center with help on both sides and a veteran QB to help with protections etc.. Especially in a league where there aren't many true nose tackles playing right over the center anymore.

Yeah we can only hope that Epenesa has refined his pass rush repertoire. If he turns into a good, right side pass rusher he could be looking at 3 years $60M+ deal next offseason. When you are a former early pick teams are just waiting for you to confirm their initial suspicion that you are good. Or he could repeat last season's play and go the way of Dawuane Smoot and become a one year deal guy on the path to league minimum salaries. Epenesa has the most to gain financially of any Bill that could be considered poised for a breakout.

No the value of an All Pro is absolutely position dependent. Centers have help on both sides and often spend the most important downs blocking air. And physically at least, Tate Ratledge is an upgrade on Ragnow. When you pick an interior offensive lineman in round 2 like that you are thinking he is going to be a stud. It's not like they have Colin Brown taking over at center. Maybe you thought the Eagles would miss Kelce too but they didn't. Jergens was just fine. I know the outside opinion was that losing Mitch Morse last offseason was huge but he was easily upgraded upon.

Maybe but they have a more favorable schedule this season. It's set up for them to get to the SB in much the same way the Bills schedule is. Their division is tougher but the Lions schedule has the greatest rest advantage in the league. It comes down to whether Campbell got the coordinator hires right and if they can stay healthier. Losing a center is no big deal. Just gotta' find a different body to block air on 3rd and long.

Yeah the Yankees are not in the Dodgers class. If NYY can get by the Tigers and win the AL they need to hope that San Diego or some other team who the Dodgers can't get erect for knocks them out in a 5 game series. The Yanks bring out the best in the Dodgers because LA is obscenely talented and deep but only beating the most storied franchise on the planet can get them focused enough to play to their talent. The Yanks aren't on that level because Hal Steinbrenner and Cashman use the "it works for the AL Central" model of just doing enough to get to the playoffs. This maximizes profit because the stadium is virtually sold out regardless now(unlike in the George era when fans would stay away if the team wasn't great). Their payroll is high relative to the rest of the league that aren't the Dodgers........but so much of that is sunk costs like DP LePew, Junkelbows Stanton, Aaron Hicks etc.. 1970's and 1990's-2000's George wouldn't accept being just good enough to win if he was this close. He wouldn't knowingly go into the season with one guy in the starting lineup with .500 OPS level talent like they have so often at positions like 3B or LF over the last decade. If they had 9 good starters they'd add Daryl Strawberry and Tim Raines to the bench. In the 1970's they did exactly what the Dodgers are doing now. George had a 4 man rotation with 8 highly paid starting pitchers under contract so that when 4 of them were injured they still had starting pitching for days. George would sign good starters from the Reds, Dodger and Red Sox in hopes of getting performance but also to weaken their competition. Sparky Lyle just won the Cy Young award? Go out and sign the next best, younger reliever in Rich Gossage and make him the closer. 1980's George got caught up in the collusion era and took the kind of half measures his son Hal is now......but for different reasons.........and that's why they couldn't win a WS. We may look back in hindsight on these Dodgers teams and not remember just how much talent they've acquired because guys like Snell and Glasnow may never be healthy but they've really stacked the deck and the Yankees should be doing the same thing. They don't have an excuse not to. They generate more revenue, they are a far bigger global brand etc..

It's not 1996 anymore though. Back then the CBA allowed for 6 year rookie contracts. Cole Bishop is under contract for only 3 more seasons. If your first and second round picks aren't starting by year 2 of their 4 year rookie deals it's a greater concern than it was in the 1990's because your entire roster is turning over faster than it did then.

At the time of the McDavid lottery the Oilers were a much worse organization than Buffalo. Buffalo had picked in the top 10 just the prior two years. The Oilers had already had the #1 overall pick 3 times in the previous 6 years. They were the bottom of the barrel. It took work for McDavid to supersede their massive culture issues but he did it because players of that magnitude don't lose for long. And can you imagine the Bills if Allen had been a bust? McBeane get fired and Pegula never gives up full control of football operations again. Those Bills and the current Sabres would have been on parallel paths.

For not being sure that it was a cheap shot in your first sentence you literally described it as absolutely a cheap shot in your second. Poyer had the option of pushing him out of bounds or trying to knock the ball out legally. It was a garden variety cheap shot, but dirty nonetheless.

You made the mistake of getting into a real-world conversation with @MJS. Water is wet and NFL players need PED's to stay on the field. People do not want to see what the NFL looks like without them.

Picking a safety in the second round is generally a bad idea. It's a one contract position. Jairus Byrd was simultaneously an All Pro quality player for a couple of seasons and a bad second round pick. There are not many safeties in the NFL that end up being worth bypassing the annual chance to select a potential difference maker at a premium position. More day 1 and 2 picks fail than succeed but it's still the best place to find difference makers.

Yeah I've always rooted for McDavid. He really wanted to be in Buffalo and IMO he would have been to the Sabres organization what Josh Allen is to the Bills. Would have saved Terry Pegula from unfortunately and painfully embarrassing himself as a sports owner the way he has with the Sabres. That lottery announcement was one of the top 5 sports tragedies in Buffalo sports history IMO and THE worst moment for the Sabres.

The table turned completely during the Kelly era. Bills destroyed them in the AFC playoffs in 1991 and 1993. The Chiefs weren't really a road block again until Reid got there.

Yeah that was probably the worst of the bunch. Manny Lawson lost contain on that Charles TD. Those losses all stung though. They were quintessential "culture" losses and really hurt the Bills for AFC record tie-breakers. There wasn't a big difference talent-wise between the Bills and Chiefs teams. The Bills might have had deeper rosters in all of those losses. But the Chiefs won THOSE game and they've always been a step ahead ever since because the Bills tore it down to re-set the culture and KC hasn't done the volume of stupid things that NE did to allow the Bills to catch up to them.

It's been like this since Marrone and Rex era's. The key losses every year that were derailing the latter day drought Bills out of the playoffs started being those against fellow AFC fringe playoff contending Chiefs. Those Bills/Chiefs matchups were fairly even talent-wise but the Bills were just out COACHED time and again and they went the playoffs and the Bills did not. Manny Lawson missing tackles, Tuel's pick 6, the game where Sammy put up like 200 yards receiving in the first half in KC and they blew the lead in the second half......... We had a few years(2017-2019) where they weren't impeding McDermott's teams but once 2020 hit they got right back to derailing the Bills seasons, it was just later than sooner. A lot of Bills fans weren't feeling the rivalry aspect heading into their 2020 AFCCG matchup but those of us who realized how big those 2014-2016 drought season losses the Chiefs handed the Bills were did feel it.

Rehabbin' ain't easy

Yeah the Bills safeties aren't very good but the bar to get to average talent at WR is higher. Safeties are devalued. There were close to 30 starting safeties from 2023 on the subsequent 2024 free agent market. You'd never see anything like that at a premium position. So more teams have patched together safety rooms that look like the Bills than WR rooms that do.

I wonder if it's that or if it's because he was an interception magnet and Brady just didn't want him back because of that. They've already rolled the dice with Elijah Moore who was the target on 8 INT's last year they don't need another high risk target.