BADOLBILZ

Beane's game with fans is to set expectations low under the guise of "shooting straight with them". Then if they exceed the expectations he graciously accepts the accolades. This situation is no different. Game's over next year........when it becomes imperative to convince Allen to sign a new contract extension.

It's ultimately Josh Allen's decision. LA and SF beckon.

It's the inconvenient truth.

This was the "draft before the coach got fired" kinda' draft. Reaching for needs and perceived "readier" prospects to hopefully get immediate contributions. That rarely works. You really need 3-4 individual difference makers and you gotta' take healthy swings at them to get them. They chose not to. They only have 1 difference maker. If Josh Allen breaks his collar bone on opening day running the ball 9.2 times like he did over the course of Brady's run as OC last year.........this team literally has the makings of getting the 1st overall pick in the 2025 draft. They are the 2011 Colts. 2-deep at adequate players that a great QB can elevate to win 10-11 games.........but no individual difference makers.

Could be. I was optimistic about Arthur Moats and he's basically the same guy just 15 years later. Only notable difference physically or in their college production is that Solomon has huge hands. Maybe that's the difference between making it and being a journeyman special-teamer like Moats. Moats was an elite character guy though too, I don't know about Solomon.

Yeah the question then I guess is whether it is better to hate the team or hate yourself(the fan base). The latter is the @PromoTheRobot self loathing, fan-hating specialty. One time he slipped up and sloppy-drunk-posted from a bar going off on the team for being so incompetent and how stupid he was for letting them break his poor heart but usually he stays in character............that the fans are to blame for anything that goes wrong. He's the #1 overall pick of the fan-hater draft but there are ALWAYS a bunch of like minded self-loathers and they usually appear the moment the first draft thread hits the main board, preemptively complaining about future complaining. Fans are not only entitled to their opinions but the entire NFL draft money-making-machine is based on engaging people enough that even millions of fans that don't even follow college football at all in-season suddenly have an opinion about which college football players teams should draft.

Yep it has that 2016 Shaq-Ragnuts-Washington "off-the-bus-starters" draft feel to it. It shouldn't be a total disaster like that one because the players are actually walking off the bus into proven systems........but doesn't feel like they've gotten much juice for their squeeze.

The only thing surer is that some randoms will whine incessantly about posters being unsatisfied with draft selections.

Former Bills comp would be Arthur Moats.

Maybe so but better too much than too little. IMO, they will likely need a couple OL for the 53 that aren't on the roster by the end of August, IMO. And it's a great draft to get some. I expect La'ell Collins to retire in camp like Brandon Shell did last year........Collins was purdy washed the last time he was relatively healthy. What I really doubt they address is QB. But they should. Trubisky is a sh!t show. His confidence and the will to compete looked gone last year.

I know this much, Gabe and Josh Allen were not on the same page a lot last season. Must've worked too hard on it.

Yeah this seems like an "off the bus starter" kinda' draft so need seems very relevant to McBeane. Need(and maybe get in this order): Edge IOL CB WR LB RB OT and hopefully a backup QB prospect in there. Don't get too caught up in the numbers.........players will get injured or trades can be made in camp.

I asked Siri

It's paperwork and likely already prepared ahead if the possibility of a trade for a vet had been considered(which it likely has). For all we know everything could be done and agreed to.

Not to my knowledge but we've known about teams agreeing to trade players to specific teams weeks before they were allowed to be traded. Or, as in the case of Aaron Rodgers, his trade to the Jets became a foregone conclusion in February and finalized April 24. June 1st is 36 days away. No reason a place holder pick can't be used. But I think there are less involved machinations. Beane can get to $14M for Aiyuk pretty easy and likely has paperwork in place to address such a scenario immediately.

I think @NoSaint was alluding to this but I've talked about this scenario before with regard to trading Diggs...........the Bills could agree to trade their current pick(s) to the Niners or Seahawks tonight for a future pick(s) of theirs........and then trade it back to them for Aiyuk, Deebo or Metcalf in June. But I also think that Beane can pull some levers fast to make cap space. It's definitely plausible.

Patriots were the big winners, IMO. Love Drake Maye.

That was what I walked away from our draft party thinking. I've often compared the draft to an auction. Sometimes when items are bidding fast and furious it's easy to lose focus. That extra 24 hours allows teams to really think about how much they prioritize a player. I do expect Beane to trade again.

Let me put it this way.........second round "grades" are entirely subjective.........a matter of opinion. I don't take too much away from most teams having a similar number.........I think that's largely group-think........much like with the recruiting process where all the random services seem to come up with about the same number of 5 stars every year. (Around 35 every year, fwiw) Second round picks are an actual thing. Once the draft starts getting into comp picks it gets weird but the first 2 rounds are designed to give everybody 1 chance each and you know it's not going to be any more than 64 total.

Yeah it's really an old line of discussion for 40 years ago. Trade value charts were created to put a finer point on the value of picks. Those keep evolving.

By that leap of logic........the Bills second round pick is then like a 3rd round pick. The reality is that the success rate in general drops in each subsequent round so a first round pick is still worth more than a second round pick, etc..

Yep. The easiest way to look at it is "needs change fast". Nobody thought the Bills need DL help in spring of 2014.........when they could have just saved picks and selected Aaron Donald, the best DL of the first quarter of this century. By spring of 2016 they were reaching for Shaq Lawson and Adolphus Washington in the first 3 rounds of the draft.

Oh, I read it all. I clearly addressed your point about the import of WHERE players line up on the LOS. In real application, it matters. What you are talking about is compromising with regard to matchup advantages. That's a very "on paper" view of the game. And on paper Stef Diggs should have been putting up big numbers in the postseason in Buffalo. Unfortunately, on the field, his lack of physicality diminished his impact when the officials inevitably tucked away their flags. There are clear advantages to having both size and speed on the perimeter. Especially with the type of QB the Bills have. Whether you call that a "need" or not is just semantics. It's just unintelligent to not aspire to it.

They don't have the appetite to keep the team together. The Brown family have clawed their way from Paul Brown owning like 5%-10% of the team originally to now owning 97%. They could generate some serious cash without relinquishing any control. If they wanted to. They do not.

There is also this phenomena where the further fans get from the regular season the more they start to connect dots that they had known that the universe will not allow to meet just months earlier. "We don't need an X receiver" was once "sure, Trent Edwards probably CAN run a no huddle offense if you give him Lee Evans and TO". The deeper we get into the offseason the more people forget games aren't won on paper, they are won on TV......where it's much move violent. Mini-camps with their no-contact don't help quell the delusion.