BADOLBILZ

Beasley and Brown were good signings at market rates. Williams was a bargain for one year. They got a solid season out of Kevin Johnson at CB in 2019. That's the beginning and end of the value he's acquired in UFA. Less than 1 good value per offseason for a team that has been very aggressive in UFA. Daquon Jones is a solid starter but the market for his services is more like what he got in Carolina in 2021, $4M per year. $14M for 2 was a big number. Yeah, he was a lot better than Star Lotulelei and the drop-off in that outlier game against Cinci to another failed UFA, tweener 1-tech/3-tech Tim Settle, was significant. But that is definitely not a reflection that Jones is an elite player. There wasn't actually a big elevation in his play last season, he's always been a very solid block absorber. Beane was once again extremely generous with the contracts to guys with questionable tread remaining like Saffold, OJ Howard and Jordan Phillips.........that latter two had limped their way down to what should have been league minimum offerings. His track record in UFA is undeniably terrible.

new articles added in OP

My theory is that his employer assigned him to a high risk account that will involve an extended period of time at sea.

It wasn't the X's and O's it was the Jimmy's and Joe's. Teams adapted to limit what the Bills had..........but the Bills didn't have the personnel to make the changes and be better for it. Add in the Allen injury and they never got all the way back but were still the league's second highest scoring team. I think there are just a lot of disillusioned fans who felt certain that Gabe Davis was going to be a stud and that Isaiah McKenzie was going to break out from the shadow of Cole Beasley and still can't accept that they were wrong about the talent. Organizationally, the Bills put too much stock in Davis and Dawson Knox raising their games and Jamison Crowder bouncing back. Instead they got very similar iterations of those players that had been seen in the prior year..........but instead of Davis and Knox being the 3rd/4th or 5th options in the passing game they became the clear cut 2 and 3. And they were good enough to score a lot of points that way but not good enough to be among the final 4 teams..........all who were loaded with playmakers.

That's really all that matters. This is a SB contending team and they just don't match up with the best at WR2. As much as we talk about offensive line........there has been a greater correlation in the quality of receiving targets in teams reaching the championship games and SB's in recent years than even the quality of the offensive lines. The Bills need to address both areas but anyone who thinks that WR2 isn't the most important individual player they can add isn't paying attention.

Interesting follow thru on swing from top prospect Volpe.

Did @BringBackFergy leave with Yolo?

Moments later........in private

Green Bastard........parts unknown

Oh no question that the presumption of success is leading to some of the overreaction.........but he actually DID get worse with more reps. And maybe he does get better if there is less physical play permitted in the secondary in 2022 and it have been more officiated more like 2020-2021. He got exposed at the catch point. I was with you on the expectations...........I said last spring that he'd have to put up over 1,000 yards to justify being given sole ownership of all of those targets.........and I didn't see where his past production and injury history warranted that trust. But I actually think his failure to excel was more than just Gabe 2022 being Gabe of the past. Things changed. We found out, he's not a contested catch guy because suddenly he was being contested because more obstruction was permitted. I think you see that change........ based on your assessment of Rashee Rice being a good fit for the Bills. A couple years ago........I think maybe he's covered a bit too much for your liking. Now, there is added value in excelling at the catch point.

Gabe got more opportunity..........and he did less with it. His yards per snap dropped from around .96 to .90 from 2021-2022..........which isn't a HUGE drop in itself but it's very notable because the assumption was that he'd get more productive on a per play basis and that would lead to him becoming a 1,000+ yard receiver ........like a Tee Higgins(1.36). Instead he's more of a Marquez Valdes Scantling(.88). The range between top end and low end WR2 options in the NFL is pretty significant.

The chart is just for getting open against man coverage..........but the Bills aren't really going to face a lot of man coverage. Shakir has some size/length limitations outside that I think teams would really be able to exploit if he were to assume Gabe Davis' WR2 role. So ideally he'd be a slot receiver but you gotta' be very good against zone to be the slot for the Bills and he was not. McKenzie is oft-noted as not good when it comes to attacking zone defenses either..........which is why Beasley had to be brought back. It's not a given that Shakir will now be excellent against zone after a year in the league.........so I think you address WR with a good UFA(not a $2M flyer) and an early draft pick..........and then if Shakir rises and you actually have 4-5 good receivers you are back closer to where you were in 2020.

Man McCarron looks terrible. Perfect example of a QB who is looking at the pass rush instead of downfield. Can't play QB like that. Takeaway from first 3 games is that hiring these former players with little head coaching experience seems to yield terrible results. Wade Phillips just overwhelmed TBucks' team and Wade got caught on the sideline mic calling TBuck "not a coach" because of his choice to keep throwing the ball late in the game. Stoops kickedass too. This Hines Ward/Anthony Becht matchup is unwatchable. I know the pro football establishment wants ways to fast track retired players into coaching gigs but perhaps maybe people who become professional coaches at 22-24 years of age and work their way up the ladder can be good enough. Maybe understanding what it's like to not be an All American and NFL Pro Bowl player better prepares you to coach teams full of jabroni's.

I was skeptical of McDermott's ceiling as well but I have to admit he has improved in a lot of areas. He has become one of the best at deciding when to go for it on 4th down or when to kick the ball.........which I thought he was Jauronian at early in his career. He has mostly embraced being a pass first offense. I agree that he seems pretty stubborn about his defense but from an analytics viewpoint I suspect that ranking at the top of the league the past two years reflects favorably on that obstinance. What I am MOST disappointed in McD is his inability to make broad adjustments to certain opponents the way Lou Anarumo does with Cinci. The biggest argument for keeping an expensive back 7 intact for all these years should be that they should become great at adapting and confusing opponents. Instead, against the best QB'd opponents in the playoffs they've been fish in a barrel over and over.

Yeah he didn't last long after he left the game. Evans and Jackson not only had similar skillsets but they actually both had 1,000 yard seasons playing across from each other in Tampa in 2014.

They aren't the same type of investment though. Meyers is probably getting $40M or more guaranteed..........Evans in this scenario is $14M. Ultimately, I think you want to get below those kind of price points for WR2-WR3 in 2024.

That's kind of the point............the Bills don't need to be the #1 or #2 ranked defense..........they just need to be adequate like Cinci and KC and put more of their focus on the offensive side of the ball.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32925482/vincent-jackson-died-chronic-alcohol-use-medical-examiner-says

Unfortunately the complaint about accountability is also consistent with guys like Cowher and Reid. People get frustrated when you get upset year after year in the playoffs and don't make a lot of changes. And imagine this.........Andy Reid fired Sean McDermott as his DC after the 2010 season and yet another playoff disappointment. He seemingly held McD accountable and replaced him with Juan Castillo. Yeah....THAT Juan Castillo. 😂 Reid then proceeded to go 12-20 the next two seasons and got fired.........while McDermott's career as a DC took off and he became a HC candidate. I said it from the start........after the 2016 season I was all about hiring an offensive minded head coach and bringing in a good 4-3 DC and drafting a QB in round one in that upcoming draft. But once you go with a culture building DC/ST type Marty/Cowher guy you are in it for the long haul. McDermott signed a 6 year extension after last season..........he's going to be here another 3-4 years regardless of results, most likely..........so in the meantime I'm not expecting a lot of change in how they coach or their philosophies.........just hoping they benefit from experience and that they get a lot more efficient wrt personnel moves.

Beane needs to start nailing free agency, period. In the two UFA periods before he took over as GM the Bills were limited participants in UFA and absolutely hit it out of the park finding Lorenzo Alexander and Zach Brown on $2M deals and then adding Poyer and Hyde on value deals they enormously outplayed. Beane has been very bad in UFA. They gotta' evaluate UFA's better. No more Rodger Saffold and OJ Howard kinda' decisions.

I'm probably not as down as you and others on McBeane.........likely because I knew from the outset that the ceiling on McDermott was to become something like Bill Cowher.........a culture definer but not a particularly innovating or clever mind(like Belichick or even a Doug Pederson, for example)............so there were likely going to be irritating, demoralizing playoff disappointments. But in fairness longtime playoff chokers like Cowher and Andy Reid didn't get better until much later in their careers when they had both experience on their side AND the HOF type QB. McD was blessed to have Josh break out in year 3 for McBeane regime but I think he and Beane are still learning on the fly so Allen isn't getting the same benefits that Roethlisberger and Mahomes got. But it is what it is......they gotta' make better decisions than the competition to expect to beat the competition. And while they've drafted well........I believe they have more games started by own draft picks than any team since 2017.........they haven't drafted great so it hasn't been enough to offset their plethora of terrible pro personnel/free agency decisions. They have been truly awful on the pro side. If they get better at those things.........as they should and would be expected to considering they are so invested in their "growth mindset" approach.........then they can elevate in the same ways that similarly oft-criticized, slow starters like Cowher and Reid and Howie Roseman did in their jobs.

He interviewed for the OC position in Baltimore..........yes, there are a lot of vague factors to consider but why not lead with the most obvious...........he wants to go someplace where he is likely to advance his stock as an OC. Is that under SB winning, long time Andy Reid offensive assistant Doug Pederson with up and coming Trevor Lawrence and a fully stocked WR corps? Or with McDermott, under Dorsey(who has neither Reid nor Shanahan system experience) with Joe Brady already the likely successor should Dorsey move on? Seems like a pretty basic career move. His stock isn't likely to increase in Buffalo next season and by moving on he shows he is ambitious.

Very nice interview with MG.........he and his spotrac company provide a great service to fans. The Davis for Evans swap makes a lot of sense..........puts Evans back on a contender and sends Davis home to Florida.........but that $14M cap hit is harsh and the little that I watched Evans this year it seemed like his heart wasn't all the way into it. Still put up big numbers but the Bills would need to do a lot better dive into his outlook for 2023 than they did with Rodger Saffold. Still can't figure out how Saffold got $6M when he probably should have been bouncing around practice squads this past season. When Ginitti was asked to be critical of one of Beane's cap moves he couldn't come up with one...........but Saffold was definitely one. Agree with his point about interior OL generally being the best position to extract value from in UFA though..........been saying that for years.........there are usually good guards and centers available for very reasonable cap numbers...........which is why you don't draft them high. Just can't pull a Saffold. Fill premium positions early in the draft.........use your free agent dollars on the cheaper, and typically better stocked positions..........that's how you keep your cap in order. Miles Sanders...........don't really care to spend that kind of money on a RB..........but he makes a good point that a 1200 yard RB might come with just a $6M-$8M cap figure..........it's just crazy to expend a first round pick on a RB. That pick should go to a position, which should it pan out, can actually yield a $25M-$30M aav type player(in 2023 cap dollars).

Here is the link for this season to daily live and archived box scores for the Yankees...........and all their affiliates.........from AAA to the Dominican Summer League: https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=147 Two pitchers showed up injured at camp..........and surprisingly Injurino wasn't one of them. He already got tazed tho With Montas likely done for the year and the Yankees passing on inexpensive, proven arms like Michael Wacha for the back of the rotation because they don't want to pay the Steve Cohen tax(which they are just under)..........if German and Schmidt don't look good..........there will soon, inevitably, be questions about whether they should bring in 2020 NL Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer for the $720K minimum. Here is a good run-down on baseball's most controversial player: Update: Trevor Bauer heading to Japan to pitch the 2023 season. It's the best deal for him. Gets some innings in against a Triple A+ level of competition.......doesn't have to pitch for free in MLB where anything he earned would have come out of his Dodgers money. Japanese society a bit different so perhaps not as critical about his consensual BDSM relationship that went wrong.