BADOLBILZ

Cyrus says "Can you dig itttttttt!" and gets killed like 10 seconds later in that movie.

Woods may have great workout numbers but he runs like an old man........when his knees go up his shoulders go up........it's very disco-esque........lotta' wasted motion. He is the opposite of a smooth athlete and definitely doesn't play anywhere near those speed and agility numbers on the field. And for an ex-QB.......he doesn't handle the football well........shaky hands. He is huge and can block so there is hope. But he was on NFLN the other day and they were interviewing him and talking about Kyle Pitts comps.

I think he will be a very productive receiver in the NFL.........lotta' catches from the slot..........but IMO he's more in the Jamison Crowder category than a WR1. If you are going to draft a WR in early rounds they need to be a WR1 type, IMO. Feels like a case of a guy getting pushed up the board........at least of draftniks........because of the perception of the class as a whole(strong). If I am drafting a 5'9" WR in the first two rounds they better have Steve Smith kinda' juice and be a legit threat as a returner.

Agree...........Justin Zimmer is a good example of this...........he was a playmaker and seemed like he had a good chance of being in Buffalo for a couple more seasons. Injured his knee.......

I don't recall that.........most of the rest of the board was fixated on another more high profile safety whose name I can't recall. But Hyde was a pretty easy pick to sign to fix the Bills lousy safety situation, IMO. He was dynamic in the last couple months of the season for Green Bay.........arguably their best player on defense...........if you watched big NFL games you saw him because GB was a contender playing in meaningful games.........but there was virtually no love for him going into FA on TSW. The only love I saw for him was from myself and Bandit. In general the board is getting a lot more familiar with the league now that the Bills are a contender...........it's much appreciated..........a lot easier to read when there are so many more knowledgeable fans.

I think you may have paralysis by late stage draft over-analysis here....... .......have a process and trust it. Like you do wrt not drafting interior OL early(that's a good one, IMO). When you start looking at the draft like players in late round 3 are really going to tip the scales in the upcoming season.......it's easy to rationalize a lot of decisions that will look laughable in hindsight.

I don't think they will use their first round pick on a player to specifically replace any of their pending UFA's or cuts in 2023. That's not how they have operated. That is how the 90's Bills would have done it though..........it was literally how they did it..........and what happened was they eventually went broke making those small profits. A lot of defensive backs....in an era when they weren't as impactful........and high floor/low ceiling/easy evaluations that didn't have the potential to possibly replace any of the Bills aging stars. Now in the second round.........anything goes with Beane.........I am FULLY expecting him to go LB to replace Edmunds in 2023 there..........probably Troy Anderson if he is still on the board. Beane has had 4 years of his own second round picks and the results have not been pretty........a lousy guard and 2 DE's that have averaged just a sack every 10 regular season Bills games(5 in 49 opportunities). They could have scarcely gotten less production to this point. The most productive use of his own second rounder by Beane was the one he traded to move up to get Allen. My confidence in him in round 2 is low.........I think he fixates and celebrates in round 1 and then loses sight of the BPA objective in round 2 and swings at needs. This is a common problem in business in bid scenarios........the euphoria of getting what you were most focused on then followed by a series of less than ideal decisions. It takes a good deal of discipline and cool to keep your head. Whaley had the same issue.......as have a number of Bills GM's.......it's why the second round has been quicksand for the Bills in their history.

I disagree that the WR market is just going to keep rising that quickly. We've seen spikes and plateau's in every position salary except QB. I stated before the offseason starts that I think the WR market is a bubble that will burst when some of these elite talents of the past couple drafts........and this one.........increase the supply in the market. I think the Bills just bought Diggs at the top of the market. They could have gotten the same deal or better next offseason if they so desired. And if they had drafted a WR that blew up this year and/or Gabe Davis broke out they would have been well positioned to move on from Diggs and seriously unburden their cap. I also think that there will end up being either a great deal of dead money or a couple years of bad football on the back end of his deal...........this contract will not age well. As for the fallout in the locker room...........I'm just noting that it doesn't alleviate all issues.......there will always be new ones and this deal likely has some direct impact on that. I couldn't care less if Jordan Poyer is happy with his contract. He has issues with addiction and chaos in his personal life........."not happy" has been his normal. He doesn't have to be happy to play well. Hyde, like Poyer, has a very limited remaining shelf life. Edmunds hasn't taken the next step to warrant a new deal. None of these players contractual satisfaction should be Beane's concern in 2022. You can't be a good GM and keep everyone happy.

They used a first rounder on Diggs..........they didn't draft him. Drafting an unknown is being willing and confident enough in your ability to evaluate personnel to take more risk.........which is what they've shown wrt defense........probably because McDermott is a defensive HC and they have more trust in themselves on that side of the ball. And frankly, none of us should have trusted their eye for offense based on the offenses they put on the field in 2017-2018-2019............it was easy to understand why they would trade for an expensive proven commodity. Understandable but a reflection of weakness nonetheless. What is the opportunity cost of not being more offense-centric? Well, everyone knew that 2020 was a tremendous WR draft..........and the player that was selected with their traded pick was almost instantly the equal of Diggs......surpassed him last season.........and is playing on a contract with just a $4M aav.

No, extending Diggs just opened up a can of new issues. Players understand when free agents get paid...........but once you start re-doing players with years remaining on their deal and rewarding them as if that player is an actual free agent.........ie not "team friendly"...........then it's invariable that guys like Poyer/Hyde/Edmunds .........whose values are unlikely to ever be higher........are inevitably going to feel jealous or mistreated and angry with the team. None of those players should be extended any further than they are right now and they had peace on that front IMO because of the fact that Diggs deal was below market. Said it many times this offseason.........you don't re-do Diggs deal until there is only one year left.

He didn't work out in some gym off site..........it was the middle of Giants training camp..........not everybody that works out at team facilities has to be under contract.

It's not just the first round.........most of Beane's second round picks have been exhausted on defense as well. Edmunds was a 1 + 2 Epenesa Basham Ford is the outlier And yes they wheeled and dealed picks away to move up for Allen...........but how did they gain extra capital? All of the draft capital they acquired in 2018 to get Allen and Edmunds was done by trading 3 offensive players and moving back out of the Mahomes pick spot with KC. You can argue that those trades worked out so they show how smart Beane is...........but by the same token NONE of Beane's MANY notable defensive free agent signings have panned out........Star/Murphy/Vontae/Norman/Jefferson/Butler..........nothing but busts with the exception of Mario Addison who was underwhelming at best. And look at it this way...........when they need a 1 Tech to play 40% of the snaps they pay Jones $7M aav on a multi-year deal......when they need a slot receiver they pay $2M.........when they need starting guards they pay $4M and $6M. I mean Bates deal is closer to backup slot CB Siran Neal's $3M+ or backup LB Matakevich original $4M aav deal than it is what they played Jones to play 60% less snaps than him. Quality on defense has been consistently prioritized over offense. It's hard to argue otherwise............so why doth you protest so much?

You were both wrong. Edmunds was a first round pick.........in fact, he was a 1st AND 2nd round pick because they trade up for him...........you "pretended" he was not, for some reason. But the greater point that the Bills under Beane have put a much greater emphasis on defense early in the draft is quite literally indisputable. And nobody has made a greater financial investment in their DL in the past few years than the Bills. They also have 5 secondary members under long term contracts and both starting LB's on $10M+ aav's at this point. They are FULLY invested in defense. Offense not so much yet.

You don't have to think it, they weren't. But do you think the 2017 team that got trampled twice by NE and had the worst point differential of any playoff team since the 1980's "was a playoff team". Well, they were. Somehow. The 2013 team had a better PD and played NE a whole lot tougher..........I'd actually say both of Marrone's teams were better than that 2017 unit.

Said it on here before..........but Frank Gore was a more physical version of Marshall Faulk before he tore up those knees............he was never anywhere near the same player. He'd be talked about like Jim Brown or Walter Payton..........not just mentioned with them on the yardage list.

The NFL turns a blind eye to the juice to allow some of these players to have long careers.............but Mathis took juicing to a new level that year.

Counting drafting a QB as simply an "offensive" pick is . You might as well not field a team at all if you don't have a good one of those. And good QB's don't sign on with teams because they want to play with those good DE's or CB's or LB's...........you already knew that. QB is a transcendent position for a franchise. Also..........just because Edmunds was the second first round pick doesn't mean he wasn't a first round pick. The actual count is 4 defensive players drafted in round 1............zero offensive players. The Diggs trade was a reactionary move after the team had failed to address receiver with ANY success in the 3 prior drafts............they had botched offensive drafting SO BADLY that they couldn't even afford to take the risk of drafting a WR and further short-handing their young QB at that point. Let's not pretend that there hasn't been more of an emphasis on the defensive side of the ball..........both contractually and in the draft..........it's indisputable.

Well in retrospect most fans tend to view things very differently after they see a QB go bust...........but that new Marrone team came out of the gate firing........new systems were catching teams off guard.........they should have been 4-0..........but for one Colin Brown, IMO. Getting out to a fast start changes everything for an upstart team.......see 2017. Having Colin Brown starting was like what would have happened to the 2017 Bills had they dumped Marcell Dareus in camp. The 2017 Bills were never the same team after that fast start that Dareus outstanding run defense helped them be..........they went from thinking home field in October to playing just one good game(in KC) the rest of the season and barely avoiding elimination at the hands of David Fales in Miami. Sometimes being utterly dreadful at one position........even one not associated with changing games.........can indeed undermine the whole show. An average LG in tow.........2013 Bills go at least 9-7, IMO. No Marcell Dareus........2017 Bills stumble out of the gate and finish far outside of playoff contention.

The average NFL career is just over 3 years. My first thought when I saw the title was whether the OP realized this. Most of the players that suffer ACL injuries are barely hanging on to an NFL job............because most players in the NFL are barely hanging onto a job. I'd also think that players who make a lot of money find it much easier to rehabilitate from injuries. I think the answer is that ACL injuries are much easier to come back from now than they were even 10 years ago. As for what @BruceVilanch said about Tommy John surgery.........the difference there is that A LOT of TJ patients actually come back throwing harder than ever before. I don't think there is any evidence that the ACL repairs have had a positive affect beyond getting players back to where they once were or close to it.

Jameson Williams Troy Anderson

Yeah it's important to have at least adequate players at every OL position..........if one is awful it can blow up everything..........that's primarily why the Bills allowed 125 combined pressures and sacks last year......TERRIBLE left guard play for most of the year. All the while an adequate 4 year vet was riding the pine just waiting to have his number called. That doesn't happen at QB or Pass Rusher or LT or WR. The most egregious example in Bills history of horrible guard play costing a Bills team games might have been when they let Andy Levitre walk and replaced him with Colin Brown...........who proceeded to make Benny Anderson and Ross Tucker look like John Hannah and Eugene Upshaw by comparison. Colin Brown literally kept that team out of the playoffs that year..........teams game-planned to cut him from the herd. But it isn't hard to find adequate talents at guard.

Bruce was sometimes mocked on TSW for his play in Washington........he was clearly physically diminished wrt run defense........but what his production there showed was how dominant he COULD have been in his prime if playing in a true 4-3 like he did with the Redskins. In his time in Washington he had multi-sack games against both Orlando Pace and Walter Jones........I believe the only one's they allowed in their careers. In Buffalo he often had multi-gap responsibilities in their 3-4........which tamped down his production significantly on early downs and lead to a false narrative that he couldn't beat elite LT's(specifically Tony Boselli).

I don't like the pick there either but he is an impressive athlete and a good coaching staff and elite QB might be able to turn him into a really productive player. You wonder what a guy like that would look like if he had had Brian Hartline as his WR coach and better QB play. I'm not a fan of Ridder.........he reminds me of a slightly juiced up Brad Kaaya.

Actually this wasn't the thread where the guy was banging the table for Imatorbhebhe so without seeing that one I admit that I may have conflated the two and falsely accused you of higher praise. Still, you actually were wrong about JI. And Fehoko. I likely mixed it up because I remembered your absolute dismissal of the idea that Fehoko would be selected. As someone who has followed the draft pretty closely since the late 80's.......I can attest that you should never deal in absolutes with fringe prospects like those two......it's irrational given the decades of information we have.