BADOLBILZ

Maybe but VERY reasonable to speculate that he might be past a full bounce back stage either way entering his age 40 season.

I'm a little surprised there are AS MANY as 31 WR's at $11M and above. As you well know......you can't stack contracts and say "well that's 31st and there are only 32 teams so that is a WR1 contract". There are lot's of players on rookie contracts who are top 2 WR and then there are players that were signed to deals when the cap was much lower. If you add those up and he falls in the mid WR2 range.........that makes sense for a veteran with good timing on his contract. As the past 6 years or so of SB history have told us you really want a WR1 as your WR2 if you expect to reach a SB. And you want a mid level WR2 as your WR3. Critically important position in the game today. As for Jakobi Meyers.........yeah I think he is a better WR than Parker. That doesn't necessarily change Parker's individual value to a team that thinks they can win a SB, which maybe the Pats feel like now. Maybe they thought for sure they were going to come down with a top WR on draft day but had to pull the trigger when such a talented CB was on the board. So their plans got re-arranged. And I didn't say I'd like the deal. Quite the opposite, if Beane made that deal I'd feel the same way I feel about paying a terribly rated guard like Connor McGovern $7M per year or a relative scrub WR like Deonte Harty above $2M flier level. On what they've done to this point in their careers? Big overpays. But in Parker's case you can at least point to the market for a 600+ yard per season veteran WR. I don't know where the market for Connor McGovern and Harty came from. That arose from thin air it seems.

You are correct but at the same time I'd hate it as a fan. Definitely one of those signings that can only be popular among the myopic in the fan base because AT BEST you might come close to getting your money's worth out of it on an individual player basis. But again.......that's the market that the Chiefs set with a guy like MVS. People spent years talking about how the Packers were Davante Adams and a bunch of garbage at WR and then a championship team turns around and gives Green Bay's WR2 an 8 figure aav contract. And then he played that role just like he always did......but as the 3rd option instead of the 2nd option........and they won a SB.

I think you have to look at Aaron Rodgers' drop-off last season. He was far from an MVP last season. Saying "two of the last 3" under those circumstances is like saying Tom Brady, Matt Ryan and Cam Newton have won 3 of the last 8 MVP's. It's proof of their ability if you believe they are still that level of player but just trivia if you think they've fallen off significantly.

In fairness the Chiefs drafted Kelce and Tyreek Hill during the Reid regime.........2 All Pro's........and they had them together until just last season. Sammy Watkins was an overpay. Mecole Hardman was overdrafted but produced like Gabriel Davis has for his first 3 years before getting injured. Since then they dealt Hill and then signed Juju and MVS and they both played up to expectations.......Juju finished 24th in receiving yards and MVS was who he always has been. And they have drafted 2 guys in round 2 and traded picks for a 2021 1st rounder.........so at least the cupboard is loaded with high pedigree young receivers to fill the Juju role. This Bills regime situation at WR is much different. They haven't drafted any stars. They haven't even drafted a WR early since 2017. They had to trade a 1st rounder and pay Stef Diggs big dollars because they didn't have a WR1 and couldn't wait any longer. They are short on cap space in part because they had to fill all their starting roles at WR with short-term-fix free agents between 2019-2021. They have since become increasingly reliant on journeymen and late round fliers and are asking too much of a limited player like Gabe Davis. Hopefully the Kincaid pick ends all that futility in the draft but drafting a TE to play slot WR is more of a projection than drafting receivers to play receiver.

Your definition is incorrect. The first definition of a sports journeyman is "technically competent but unable to excel". "Played for a lot of teams" is a secondary definition and more of a description of the tendency of such player to bounce around than the primary definition. Case in point.......you can play for a lot of teams and not be a "journeyman"........see LeBron James for example. Beasley, Brown and Crowder all excelled at points prior to joining the Bills.......each had had 800+ yard seasons and Brown had even had a 1,000+. Harty and Sherfield have never had a big season between them and have both averaged less than 200 yards per season over their careers.

Yeah some of the takes about the WR corps have been pretty comical. The objections to calling Harty and Sherfield "journeymen" was amusing. They are the very definition of such. Getting a proven WR2 who can run a full route tree started the offseason as the one position that could improve the team the most. Instead all our Bills WR takes gotta' end with "hopefully this TE can play WR at a very high level as a rookie".

Article is part of ESPN+ https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/37892244/2023-season-roster-rankings-starting-lineups-all-32-nfl-teams 1. Chiefs 2. Eagles 3. Buffalo Bills Strongest unit: Safety. Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer have been nothing short of elite since teaming up in Buffalo in 2017. Both are 32 years old and missed substantial time in 2022, so perhaps a slip in play could be in store. But Buffalo will have a healthy Damar Hamlin and newcomer Taylor Rapp (who played 90% of the Rams' defensive snaps in 2022) as quality depth. -- Clay Weakest unit: Wide receiver depth. Stefon Diggs is elite, but No. 2 WR Gabe Davis was limited to a situational deep-threat role for most of 2022. Davis is back, but Cole Beasley, Isaiah McKenzie and Jamison Crowder are gone and will be "replaced" by journeymen Deonte Harty and Trent Sherfield and Day 3 fliers Khalil Shakir and Justin Shorter. Buffalo will need a big rookie season from versatile tight end Dalton Kincaid. -- Clay X factor for 2023: Safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde. Two years ago they fueled the league's best defense, but in 2022 they combined for just 14 games played. Both are up in there in age, but do they have one more strong season left in them? -- Walder Nonstarter to know: WR Deonte Harty. In 2021, Harty was efficient with a 30% target rate and a 2.9 yards per route run that trailed only those of Cooper Kupp, Deebo Samuel and Davante Adams. Injuries limited him in 2022, but those numbers still have me intrigued. -- Walder 4. Dolphins

Yeah he's 30 and MVS was 28 when he got his deal.........but he's also been better than MVS had been in his career and in the last few years. Or Gabe for that matter. When healthy. That's the biggest key with him. They all track as 600 yard per season type of average type guys........Parker just does it in less games because he misses more time injured and catches a lot more of the passes thrown to him. The other two separate better on deep routes and get more yards per catch. I don't think it's a good deal........nor is the MVS deal and nor will the Gabe deal for whoever signs him. But that does appear to be the going rate.

That's the market for guys like Gabe and MVS. Big boundary WR who you hope will be your WR3 if all goes right.

That's what guys "you hope end up as your veteran boundary WR3 in a dynamic offense" money looks like. He's in the MVS and Gabe category. I don't think it puts them out on Hopkins at all.

He could buy into Daryl Williams offensive line camp business.........Trench Mob Academy........and make it "The Mob That Beane Built". https://www.facebook.com/people/Trench_Mobb_academy/100087945522389/

Star Lotulelei.........playing with his $350K covid pay on the couch during the 2020 season. Bills are fined a 3rd round comp pick in 2024 draft since he can't be suspended.

Who said the Bills offense is "in trouble or going to be bad next year"? I've literally never seen someone say anything like that here or anywhere in print (edit: THIS offseason). Unfortunately, the further we get into the offseason some people just forget that the games aren't played on paper. At this time last year people were assuming Rodger Saffold was going to be a solid veteran addition and dreaming on what OJ Howard and Jamison Crowder were going to do in the Bills offense. Some even thought Tavon Austin was about to come into his own. Seriously, they were. Maybe you were one of them?

1. The premise of tweet the thread is "according to PFF". So why are you taking it up with me instead of the OP? 2. Since the premise of the thread is "according to PFF".........McGovern was terrible per pff. Not bad as a pass blocker but totally unplayable bad in the run game.......and ya' know.........there isn't such a thing as a 3rd down guard now is there? 3. Yep Harty and Sherfield = McKenzie and Kumerow.........in enough ways that it wouldn't even be a surprise if they weren't an upgrade. I do think that since he's a name changer it would be a show of solidarity for Deonte to change his last name to "Sharty" since he's part of Sherfield, Shakir and Shorter WR's 3-6 unit. And it's not about being optimistic or pessimistic..........you can dream on James Cook rushing for 2,000 yards and not be proven wrong until January. It's about what is realistic to expect. After guys are 4-5 years into the league they very rarely change from a nobody to a star out of nowhere. It's pretty rare.

They *might* but it's definitely not "likely". Way too many other factors could make that not the case. No different than saying adding a player will make us win X amount more games. Can't quantify it like that. Or like Aaron Rodgers *might* return to being the league MVP now that he's away from the toxic relationship he had with Green Bay management.......and the Jets *might* then be a SB contender with Rodgers opposite last years #1 defense. I'm not just trying to point out the negative...........I mean, if Von Miller is back healthy or AJ Epenesa has a breakout year or Rousseau and Oliver make big improvements the Bills *might* have the best pass rush in football. Could happen too.

According to PFF they addressed their interior OL problem with 2 OL that were bad in 2022 and two rookies. I get that fans want to imagine that guys like McGovern, Edwards, Harty and Sherfield will all play SO MUCH better than they were last year because Beane's crystal ball has foretold it...........but they are just shots in the dark not an indication that they've surely made strides in those areas of weakness.

I don't think Beane is really a puppet to that level..........but no question that McDermott is the most powerful man in the organization so it stands to reason that things that he has a strong conviction on will take precedent over whatever personal vision Beane might have. If Beane is getting lead around more than it seems though.........then it only moves Beane further into the pack of NFL GM's.

That's super retro. Definitely a lot better than the grazer alone. The Buffalo actual has some action but the one on the guys helmet looks like a prawn. That style of carrying the football harkens back to a day when RB's fumbling was tolerated a lot more. How about this one?

These jerseys are excellent but the grazer logo on the helmet always kills it. That small period in time that they wore that target on their helmet holds a special place with old timers but the charging Buffalo has been around 50 years now. Sometimes with throwbacks it's important to remember they were thrown AWAY for a good reason. Just like the Detroit Lions ripoffs they wore at their inception.

Jefferson is the best WR in the NFL by a significant margin. Hockenson is a 900+ yard TE so way ahead of Dawson Knox as a weapon. Osborn is a proven 650 yard type slot. Addison is projected to be a WR1 level of player in short order himself. Perhaps they are a little highly ranked overall but compare them to the Bills and the Vikings look better on paper at all those positions. The unknown is Dalton Kincaid........but it's hard to blame people if they aren't as sold that he will be able to become a good slot receiver right off the bat as they are that a guy like Addison will transition more easily to his position in the NFL. I think Osborn-like production would be considered a success for the Bills by those outside of Buffalo. I think most Bills fans expect more than the Vegas over/under on all these receivers would be but the other guys they have in the slot are low pedigree guys who have proven a lot less than Osborn so if the Kincaid experiment unfortunately proves to be something more like Mike Gesicki in Miami last year........that position could be a huge weakness again.

Nah Barnwell isn't clickbait.........he's very thorough and one of the best minds in the media covering the NFL. But like everyone else he is hit and miss with predictions like this doozy: Bill Barnwell, ESPN AFC Championship Game: Bills 35, Chiefs 27 NFC Championship Game: 49ers 17, Buccaneers 13 Super Bowl LVII: Bills 27, 49ers 17

I think part of your confusion is that you think the Bills and Chiefs have had equal amounts of capital to invest in their teams since McDermott arrived. That's simply not the case...........the Bills have had much more capital to use..........they've always finished behind the Chiefs so always had earlier original picks. (Except in 2018 when they OWNED the Chiefs pick after trading them an all-time great kinda' QB in exchange for picks they used on a CB and MLB. See a pattern there? ) And the Bills spent $100M in UFA in 2018(grossly overpaying bad defensive players) and then went into 2019 with the better part of $100M to spend and yet have since spent much farther into the future than a KC team who had been to the playoffs year after year and had just won a SB and subsequently had a lesser budget to make changes with. It's pretty impressive that you can look at what the Bills have invested in money and first round picks etc. on defense in McDermott's tenure and not see the significant disparity. The entire starting defense last season was either a 1st round pick or on an expensive veteran contract(or both in Edmunds case). By comparison, the Chiefs have had a much more balanced approach despite having less assets at their disposal they've been well ahead of the Bills in addressing their offense with quality. They haven't clung to every defensive player of note and extended their contracts like the Bills have. They haven't given middling players inexplicable contracts for unrealistic roles on their offensive line like the Bills have. They haven't just assumed 4th-5th round picks or cheap flyers will be adequate as WR2 and WR3 like the Bills did last season. Now this is not to say that the Chiefs are the gold standard for offensive talent.........they've probably gotten a bit arrogant and I agree with Bill Barnwell at ESPN that they are back half of the league in terms of weapons available on offense. But part of their tradeoff is that they have a top 3 kinda' OL as well. And until proven otherwise the Bills are worse at both playmakers and OL than the Chiefs.

Yeah but Bar Bill isn't an exception. What local place has been like a Bills Backers bar? People have a misunderstanding about these local places and the area's connection to the Bills. It was much more of a love/hate relationship with the team when these places created their identities. I can remember sitting in those stands in the late 80's and early 90's and wondering how these 30-50 year olds could hate Ralph so much when they had assembled the deepest roster in the AFC and were going to SB's. It was very much an us against him mentality. Didn't change until the kids who had known nothing but winning started buying tickets in the early 2000's that it began to change. And then Ralph rewarded those suckers with a drought and cash to the cap.