BADOLBILZ

I thought the moves at guard were uninspiring and that they certainly overpaid for McGovern based on his production.......but they raised the floor on the position a bit and got younger, which are the positives. That might be plenty if they had something close to a Jamar Chase/Tee Higgins kinda' 1-2 combo. As far as the draft they should go BPA at premium positions regardless of which side of the ball. That's the way the draft should be executed. I don't subscribe to the "well this draft is bad so let's take a non-premium position guy". I understand the logic but I don't agree with it. Trust the draft process. My preferred option is to acquire a difference maker via trade as their second pass receiving option (or the more remote possibility a stud LT).

I don't care about anyone's money.....let alone some broke-ass who can't accurately calculate the difference between 3 and 1. 😂 I care about cap space. Veteran minimum for the 31 year old Phillips would be $1.165M. Phillips contract is reportedly $3M-$4.6M. That's $1.835M to $3.435M more. That is in addition to being paid about $4M last year when he should have been receiving league minimum. Hell he already accounted for $1.25M in dead cap space on the Bills 2023 cap from his voided contract dummy year. Paying $4M-$7M above minimum over two years is not an inconsequential amount of cap space given the Bills limitations.

I'm more in on the playmaker aspect because the unfortunate reality is that you can't keep offensive lines together. There is a reason that there aren't any memorable offensive line driven teams in the past 20+ years. The closest thing to one is the Patriots........and while they had maybe a HOF level line coach they were more a product of a QB who got the ball out lightning quick than they were some kind of dominant blocking unit. And that's it. We just saw a tremendous OL in Philly last season........but two years from now they could be trash(like Tampa last year versus their SB unit). QB and receiver combo's can be kept together for long stretches........making them all the more worthwhile to invest in. On the OL the clear formula for not being undermined by that unit seems to be a good LT and two solid guards gets the job done. C and RT can be JAGs or even a bit less as blockers.

Yep and the first thing that went around the league were the offensive lines.........which made quick hitting west coast offenses almost a necessity........which allowed the DC's to bring out concepts like "zone blitz" that would have been laughable against say, the 1983 Redskins offense. Imagine if this board existed back when UFA first started and the NFL immediately awarded the Cardinals a 1st round pick for not even attempting to re-sign safety Tim McDonald........and initially gave the Bills nothing for losing stud LT Will Wolford who they had tried to retain but were duped by an escalator clause that required Wolford to be the highest paid offensive player on the team. A year later the Bills got a measly 2nd round comp pick for a stud LT out of that fiasco. TSW freaks out about 3rd round comp picks now. 🤣 Incidentally, there was an Ed Kilgore thread on here recently. Anyone who feels bad for those old farts who are casualties of the internet and 24 hour news cycle needs to remember that those days SUCKED when it came to following the league. Nobody talked about that Wolford BS at all. There was a passing mention that the Bills would get some kind of comp pick next year then nothing in the media thereafter. It got close to that draft and there was still nothing. So I called Ed up at his desk and he was pissed that I asked him to look into and mention such an inconsequential issue. He had no clue about it. Imagine the local news not knowing if the Bills were going to be awarded a draft pick now. 😆

And unfortunately Jim clearly doesn't want to accept that the structure of the modern game makes it ill-advised to go back to his glory years formula. Those happened right before the full onset of unrestricted free agency when you could keep players in development forever because there wasn't freedom of movement. This was huge for the quality of offensive line play. It allowed the lines to be better and more cohesive. One of my favorite examples from that period was OT Ray Brown. The Redskins kept him around on the bench mostly for 4 years(after 4 years prior as a reserve elsewhere). Then in year 8 he became a full time starter and started almost every game for the next 11 years! That kind of development simply could not happen in todays NFL. Because of things like this there was an entirely different rhythm to the game back then and it was much less complicated. Free agency fractured the continuity aspect of the game and created openings for the more diverse and complicated game we see today. It's not necessarily better but everything happens A LOT faster nowadays. From the personnel side to the on-field play. Jimbo needs to recognize.

The one player answer is obvious.........get him a star WR2. Another SB has passed and another team that won without a star RB.........it was a "trend" 18-20 years ago(when teams started going to split carry backfields)..........now it's blatantly obvious that you don't need or even want a star RB taking the ball out of your stud passers hands. McBeane should really clam up about Allen running too much if they don't intend to get him a better receiving corps............only an idiot thinks that Josh Allen running is a result of the RB's not producing.........he doesn't run on run downs he runs on passing downs...........he runs because the receivers aren't open, are dropping passes or the pass pro broke down.

Thanks for the data.......it's a reality that McDermott and Beane are inclined to draft defense early. As I've said before, defense is the matchup side of the ball so it always seems like you are needy there. When you have an elite QB........some teams(Ted Thompson Packers, for instance) just don't worry as much about matching up physically on that side of the ball(even if they should). I gotta say though.......Beane really wasn't actually involved with scouting in Carolina until AFTER he got promoted from DoFO.......which is basically an executive logistics job that really doesn't have much to do with actual football but is a great way to learn what everyone else's jobs are and how to run an organization from an executive standpoint. He was green as grass as a scout when he came to Buffalo and it showed, IMO. He was "in personnel" all those early years in Carolina in the same way that Smithers was in "engineering" at the Springfield nuclear plant.

Yeah things like that are the quiet reason why some players stay healthy and others can not. People around the league preach "100% injury rate" to brush off 100% of injury criticism....... because random things still happen........but there are ways to avoid many injuries. As discussed in his re-signing thread......Jordan Phillips is a good example of someone who has a knack for doing unnecessary dumb sh*t that gets himself hurt. His hamstring injury and his shoulder injury last season both happened unnecessarily.

Yanks win opener 5-0. Judge back at it.

The talk about Beckham getting big money and long term was always ridiculous.............but he was a 1,000 yard receiver in 2019 and then tore his ACL midway thru 2020. It's not like he's had a series of bad performing seasons. The last time he was on the field he was playing excellent football. He's probably a $5M-$7M aav 1 year deal player at this point but he could be a very good WR2 for that money if he returns to the form he was at in January 2022. He just has a higher level of skill than a guy like Gabe Davis who struggles even with basic catch mechanics as a WR2.

Pretty sure he's this guy

Yeah Eric Wood had to learn to control his competitive nature on the field to manage his health. He had his leg snapped under the weight of a DT that he was unnecessarily trying to win a wrestling match with and also tore his knee up chasing DeMarcus Ware downfield just in hopes of getting a big hit on him when he was clearly of no use to the RB in the play. Fred Taylor was the other player I've talked about who learned how to stay healthy. He and his agent gathered data to identify players who had managed to keep themselves healthy and reached out to many of them and found out how they took care of themselves and he modeled his behavior after them and suddenly he went from a 10 game per year average for his first 4 seasons to 15 game per year over his next 5 seasons. Part of the challenge is learning to keep themselves healthy BEFORE they've done irreversible damage. Hopefully Milano is in that category.

I am waiting for the @Chaos mind-blowing thread suggesting drafting both Jack AND Daiyan

You would think that for sure. It's obvious that he is no more than a league min type player at this stage........especially at a time in the offseason when young and productive players like Taylor Rapp and Damien Harris are apparently signing 1 year deals for south of $2M. But I thought Phillips was only going to get league min from Beane last offseason and Beane gave him guarantees(including $1.25M still on the books for 2023 in unamortized bonus from that deal).

Yeah I assumed Phillips would be brought to camp as the 5th DT or that he would be on a practice squad somewhere next season. The Ravens cut the productive and inspiring Calais Campbell because they felt like he was about to decline..........the Bills brought back Phillips with apparently some guarantees even though he washed out 3 years ago. Clearly different standards. The Ravens know that they are good at filling their interior DL roles.........the Bills don't trust their scouting, clearly. Phillips is(or was) a very talented player but I would not be surprised to see him beat out in camp by a healthier scrub and Beane having to eat some guarantees to cast him adrift.

I agree that he is what he is.........but at 350# approx his lack of versatility is a matter of want-to not "skill set". This is a guy the Bills should never have to pay above minimum for because they are his only market. He talked his way out of Miami and Arizona couldn't get rid of him fast enough after they realized what they'd gotten into.

One of the issues with being a team that drafts for need is that defense is the matchup side of the ball..........you can always find areas on defense where it seems like you don't matchup with certain teams. On offense it is easy to rationalize that you don't need matchup winners if you have a great QB. That's what the Bills have been saying without saying it aloud the past two seasons. They gotta' change that..........they do need better talent on offense and it showed in the second half of last season and was a glaring issue in their playoff loss. But some drafts just don't align where the best talent is where you need it. They should go BPA at a premium position early regardless of the side of the ball........OR they should utilize draft capital to trade for proven commodities on offense.

Don't discourage him. This could result in better content than the time he bought goats because he didn't want to mow his lawn.

Yes Daquan Jones is the same $4M block-upier that he was when Carolina signed him away from TN. Why Beane had to pay him over $7M aav and $10M gtd for that role I don't know. But the standard for DT1T play got very low on TSW with all the fake hype that OBD gave that turd Star Lotulelei to justify paying him $40M+ for 3 seasons. In some places where they expect good DT play Jones might have been a pay cut candidate with his base salary over $6M this season........not an extend candidate.

Yes he hurt his hamstring running earlier in the season. He hurt his shoulder with a goofy diving lunge at Mac Jones later in the season. But it's easy to get them mixed up because at this stage he is probably always going to be in the process of getting injured. What has never changed is that Phillips IQ drops a good 50 points when he steps on the field. If that weren't the case he'd have been a star.

That "hustle" was just idiotic. The game was over and there was very little chance that lunge brings down Jones. It was eye-wash.......an attempt to make himself look valiant that backfired. What the guy needs to do is play smart and under control. He is more concerned with winning over the ball watchers. McBeane accept him for what he is.........but last year his market should have been league minimum and that was all they eventually got out of him. At age 31 I doubt the light is going to come on for him but even if it miraculously did.......pay him for that NEXT year........he simply hasn't earned more than league minimum with his performance in recent seasons.

How does this washed up gas giant keep getting more than minimum deals from Beane? I know fans like him because he plays to the crowd on the field and in social media but the reality is that he can't stay healthy and is a terrible run defender who basically refuses to use his natural size to be stout. I said it last year..........it's fine to sign him to a minimum deal but there isn't much of a market for his services.

Getting to that point where we are getting full 7 round mocks now https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/draft2023/insider/story/_/id/35958143/2023-nfl-mock-draft-jordan-reid-seven-round-predictions-259-picks: Bills choices for those without ESPN+: 1. Drew Sanders LB (Arkansas) 2. Keion White DE (GA Tech) 3. Byron Young DT (Alabama) 4. Jonathon Mingo WR (Ole Miss) 5. Christopher Smith S (Georgia) 6. John Ojukwu OT (Boise)

Campbell could very well be a deadline deal candidate next season. Win-win for him. He gets paid in a market that has otherwise dried up and then ends up in KC or Jax for a stretch run. Of course, maybe his good friend Lamar ends up in Atlanta after all.

In other news has anyone heard that people thought there were multiple QB's who were better than Josh Allen in that same 2018? Vander Esch started getting injured way back in 2019 and hasn't been the same player that he was as a rookie for chrissakes.........it's not a revelation that Edmunds got paid on an entirely different level in 2023. Now All Pro Roquan Smith went before Tremaine and All Pro's Shaq "Darius" Leonard and Fred Warner went after him in round 2...........all better MLB's than Edmunds. Let's not act like the Bills "nailed" the pick.........in hindsight they truly did not.