BADOLBILZ

I don't know.........what I tend to see are worse behaved parents and better behaved kids. But the greater investment in the kids by the parents.........along with easier access to information and instruction........has created better, more prepared and predictable behaving, polished players. As for things like players slacking on grades and being allowed to slide? That's always gone on. In spades. I can remember the day of the biggest baseball game in my HS history numerous members of our team skipped school, showed up for the bus, no questions asked and then we won that night. 🤷‍♂️ I went to a D1 school and had star athletes in classes with me that never came to class and there was no discipline so I assumed they were passing. This was the 1980's and 1990's. In general, kids can get away with A LOT less bad behavior nowadays and their lives are a lot more structured.

Admit it........you thought it was impossible that Cody Ford wouldn't AT LEAST be a good starting guard. The problem is that offensive lineman like the lumbering Ford are generally the least athletic players on the field all during those HS and college years.........just throwing picks at these lesser athletes because they played a lot in college or looked good surrounded by great players doesn't necessarily translate to "problem solved". That's why teams are always taking chances on athletes at the O Line positions even if they know they need years of coaching up. The Bills OL room is actually full of very high RAS guys at various stages of their careers like Dawkins, Saffold, Brown, Doyle, Bates and Morse. Saffold has been an All Pro. Dawkins and Morse have been very good player in their careers. The others are works in progress. I suspect if they were all in their prime together it would be an excellent OL..........but that's why it's hard to put together 5 good OL........they are typically one of the least if not the very least pro ready groups of prospects.......and fans think it's the other way around. It's actually quite possible that the Bills could throw 4 picks at OL and not get 1 even average starter out of the group as rookies.

Free? They already had Morse under contract. What good is being cap inexpensive if Humphrey was a backup or you had to eat a fortune in dead money by releasing Morse to give him the job? The assumption people make around here is that a good center can just move over and play guard well.............my point is that good centers are usually lesser blockers than good guards. In general, guard>center in terms of pure blocking talent required. For all we know Creed Humphrey wouldn't be worth a sh!t at guard. Same with Morse. The highly athletic college LT Ryan Bates might be a pro bowl level center for all we know.......it's said to be his best position(of course)...........but we know he's just meh at guard.

Yeah, that sounds about right. But they aren't going to give Higgins a $100M contract.........they aren't likely to franchise him next year with a new Burrow deal done and Chase eligible for extension either.........so trading 1 year of Higgins for 5 years of a promising OT is a business decision with some potential upside.

The way this draft lines up they could get a better LT prospect around 15 than the quality of WR prospect, IMO. Then they would have their second first rounder to go after a WR where the available option might be as good as anyone in the top 15. It's a good time for Cinci to make that move and I agree with @GunnerBill about the order.

This is not a newly raised concern. I've seen mock drafters hypothesizing Higgins trades since early this season...........because common sense tells you that notoriously cheap, "relatively" cash-poor Bengals ownership isn't going to be putting half a billion in outlays or in escrow for guarantees to Burrow, Chase AND Higgins.

I wouldn't just compare him to Rivers.........but I made a similar point here last week...........there are a lot of parallels between these Bills and the Schottenheimer/Turner Chargers for whom Brees and Rivers were the QB's. A LOT of them. Vegas loved those Chargers too, strong regular seasons, lauded rosters, defensive minded "culture" driven HC and of course, the QB whom unnamed GM's would all say "he's going to win a SB in the next few years" and.........then they would fall flat in the playoffs. Those Chargers teams are long since forgotten. One difference though is that Schottenheimer got fired after a season like McDermott had this year...........which didn't work out well for San Diego because Norv Turner was a sloppy HC like Wade Phillips and their program steadily deteriorated.............but part of Schottenheimers firing was likely tied to that being the 3rd culture driven re-build he had overseen and the prior 2 times, in Cleveland and Kansas City, things hadn't gotten better so I believe the Spanos family felt he had proven he simply could finish.

I mean, growing up in the 1980's a high % of my friends parents(boomers) were divorced and/or were kinda' indifferent to their kids extracurricular activities. Numerous kids I grew up with just lived wild lives and there were lot's of deaths and accidents and it was a real survival of the fittest and luckiest situation. So starting with GenX we started to see a lot more helicopter parenting, IMO............and when you do that parents really start living "vicariously thru their kids" as you said and that takes everything out of perspective at the events. I've seen it coaching and officiating. It's a real issue when you are in those positions........but at the same time I think the kids themselves behave a lot better on the field/court then we ever did. The behavior of kids in The Bad News Bears movie actually bore a good deal of resemblance to a lot of games I played in back in the 70's and 80's. The parents are a pain in the ass.........but we are getting more dynamic and pro ready professional athletes despite much less participation..........so I suppose in some regards it benefits us sports fans.

Not really. It's been decades since the Bills passed on a RB drafted in round 1 and later regretted it.

Weren't a lot of prospects to see. Play was dominated by a bunch of very over-aged pass rushers and running backs. Some of them 6 or more years out of HS.

Well you are wrong about that. A lot of people aren't bought back in yet..........and if you think anyone outside of a 25 mile radius of the arena takes issue with being called not a "real" Sabres fan........they do not. The Sabres are still in easily the worst stretch of hockey in NHL history. They are again on the outside of the playoffs looking in at this point and have a difficult schedule. So I am not surprised when I walk into a sports themed restaurant/bar an hour from the arena and the Sabres game is not on anywhere. They have been a complete embarrassment to their fans and WNY in general and as such are largely irrelevant still. But you aren't here and going to games either so I guess you wouldn't know. You are a New England sports fan first and foremost. If you think having your co-favorite team be the Bruins doesn't keep you from being a "real" Sabres fan.......well, I disagree. 😆

Excellent post. The simple answer to why they drafted well from 2017-2019 was, IMO, because they had enough needs that it was still easy to align need with BPA. Since then.......less needs........but still drafting for need. 🤷‍♂️

You can not buy "the Sabres aren't good excuse anymore" all you want.........but they have been so bad for so long that a lot of fans aren't going to hurry back to see a fringy potential 1 and done playoff team. Their poor performance drought dwarfs the Bills 17 year run of futility because it's hard not to be competitive in the NHL. The Golden Knights enter the league and are quickly in the SCF.........the Kraken joined last year and are a top 10 team already and wipe their assiz with the Sabres every time they play. The distrust turns to disinterest when you are as pathetic as the Sabres have been. I know fans who used to drag me to mid-week games with them as recently as 5-6 years ago that aren't even back watching them on TV again yet.

Yeah there aren't many good offensive lines in the NFL so starting quality still begins below "good". People are reluctant to admit it but the standard for a centers ability to block man-on-man is clearly lower than that of a guard. I loved Creed Humphrey as a prospect.........he was All American quality as a freshman.......but the position is so easy to fill adequately that it's hard to justify using a premium pick on it. With rare exception the quality of an offensive line is seen in the blocking talent of the LT and guards. Even RT you can have a stiff like McGlinchey out there sometimes and still have one of the better lines in the league.

And center might be Bates best position. It's fairly common for guys who can't play tackle or guard a lick to be starting quality NFL centers. See Jon Feliciano.

Former Bills OL coach Karl Mauck projected as a first round pick for a Gilligans Island re-boot.

I know Boogie Basham was a bad pick but the obsession with Creed Humphrey on this board is approaching the obsession with runnin' bax. Center is the easiest position to fill on the line.........there is a good chance Creed Humphrey will price himself out of KC with his play.........just like Rodney Hudson and Mitch Morse before him.

Adding another very good WR2 is their biggest single "need" and I agree that waiting for it in the draft isn't a smart idea. If OBJ is right then he'd be a very good option. And I was never a huge fan of Michael Thomas because I like WR's who get open and he basically had the greatest contested catch WR season ever when he put up 149 grabs...........but with the NFL now allowing mugging in the secondary his skillset becomes more important...........he'd be a very good strategic add WHEN he is released and IF he will take a reasonable 1 year prove it deal. Then you draft a receiver to hopefully replace Davis in 2024 with some upside as a potential WR1 or WR2.

I love how fans want to spend owners money above and beyond the collectively bargained levels. The cap is there for a reason.........to keep the league competitive despite HUGE market discrepancies from team to team.........so creating a new variable where one team can spend $50M more at their discretion creates a competitive balance issue. Small markets like Buffalo, Cinci and KC don't want to end up like they would be(or are) in MLB (where my Yankees can have a winning record for 30 straight seasons). The system works great right now.........teams who luck into great QB's should have to pay a price to encourage competitive balance. And yes, while I give the Bills massive amounts of credit for taking the chance on Allen, they got lucky that he is this good.

OBJ workin out now https://www.tmz.com/2023/01/31/odell-beckham-shows-insane-speed-workout-sesh-video-nfl/

So it's obviously not a full tear if he thinks it can be re-habbed. So it wouldn't be surprising if Purdy opts not to have the surgery. Former Yankee pitcher Masahiro Tanaka had a significantly torn UCL but decided not to have surgery and has been pitching for about 10 years since. He had to limit the effort in his throws modestly because throwing a baseball puts a lot more stress on the UCL...........but since the motion of throwing a football rarely causes UCL damage on it's own........Purdy might not have to change a thing.

Demeco? He's been a DC for 2 years? What about Leslie?

I'm hearing glass 2/3 full

Purdy is a quick decision maker in an offense where not much more is asked of him...........I don't think that will change........but I do hope it does and that it gets harder for him because it was pretty ridiculous how good the 49ers were considering his lack of experience. I'm not opposed to winning a SB in part because other teams took a step back.

Purdy is one of the most arrogant young QB's I've ever seen............it's an interesting underdog story but I think he has a lot of Mack Jones in him so I'm not too broken up about his setback. If it were career threatening or something I'd feel different but kinda' don't care that he will find himself back in a QB competition at some point next season or the following.