BADOLBILZ

He's definitely in the top 6 right now. He looked more like he was pushing Davis for snaps than fending off Hodgins/Stevenson. The 11-on-11's were really not a lot of plays to judge upon but just watching all the drills as well he really stood out. Definitely been working on getting open quicker so he can fit in this offense. I had seen him as a long shot going into camp myself but he showed a lot of juice. I would expect we will see a lot of he and Davis at the Z in the preseason as Sanders probably won't be exposed much.

I really can't see them keeping 7. Keeping an extra at a position is really more about protecting players at tough to fill positions and the league as a whole is so deep at WR after multiple bountiful drafts in succession that I don't think Hodgins, Stevenson or Gentry are very likely to be immediately claimed at the end of the preseason even though Bills fans are high on those players. I was underwhelmed in my first look at Hodgins/Stevenson in practice setting. I wouldn't even be surprised if the Bills went outside for PS WR talent. The top 6 looked pretty defined.......the rest have catching up to do, IMO.

Today at least, the gap between Kumerow and Hodgins looked wide. Like two different tiers of players. It's worth noting that Hodgins got some run with the 3rd team in the last 11-on-11's. It looks like he's got an uphill battle. Stevenson looked unsophisticated in his routes on short throws..........so don't look for him as a slot guy to beat out McKenzie(who looked sharp all around). In the first set of 11-on-11's they also ran a play with McKenzie lined up as a RB offset to Allen's right..........they ran a designed QB run out of that set......but using McKenzie out of the backfield and not just on jet sweeps has been something some have mentioned as a way of getting more speed on the field.......so it's worth noting that they showed that at least. I know there was some line of thought that McKenzie/Stevenson was an either/or battle but it's hard to envision them cutting McKenzie with the experience he brings. If Stevenson makes the roster it will probably because he shows he can take the top off of a defense in preseason...........but I wouldn't give him that edge over Kumerow the way he looked today. Kumerow looked fast.......efficient footwork for such a big WR......and he's big and physical and showed some nice concentration on that tipped pass that he caught(but really he was excellent in all the drills, not just the 11-on-11's).

He looked more like WR4 or WR5 than a guy fighting for the last spot. There are A LOT of practices and preseason ahead but Hodgins and Stevenson look like they have a lot of catching up to do for either to edge out Kumerow.

What you don't see in this video of an Epenesa sack is Tremaine Edmunds dropping a gift-wrapped interception that was right in his grill......it bounced off his mitts and the deflection was almost caught by a DB. He's gotta' make those gift wrapped plays. Josh Allen had a rough day in 11-on-11's..........no doubt about it. Kumerow really stood out..........he looks like a different player.........crisp footwork and faster than I thought he could be. Looked way ahead of Hodgins and Stevenson. Obada and Rousseau looked good..........Obada got his tweets in this thread already but Rousseau had a nice sack of Trubisky that I haven't seen posted..........it was one of his patented moves where he maintains the level of the QB and when Trubisky stepped up Rousseau was left with a clean shot. Those are sack+fumble opps. McKenzie was by far the best looking of the punt returners. He was comfortable and confident. Stevenson and Powell didn't drop any but they weren't as smooth to receive it and quick after the catch.

"The most important addition could well be the return of run-stuffing defensive tackle Star Lotulelei"

Stanton literally should only bat against lefties. It's that bad. Even his 114 mph singles are mostly useless because he can't run the bases and he's always in the middle of a bunch of guys who can't move runners over. If George were still in charge they would have eaten the balance of the contract and dealt him to the Angels by now. When you figure in the $ he's owed......possibly their worst acquisition ever. But still........drop in the pocket when you consider the profits they are making under Hal versus George.

Yeah the deal got much better for me without Pereira (and Vasquez) in it. Pereira has been great so far this season, IMO he would have been prospect #1 in that deal. Would have not liked to see those two players dealt essentially for a sidearm lefty in an era of 3 batter minimum. And now it's reported that the Rangers are paying most of the money on Gallo and Gonzalez. I hate that they added another whiffer but they needed a power lefty to address the non-stop parade of slider throwing RH pitching that has been killing them for the past two seasons. Somebody has to go though. The lineup doesn't flow with that many rally killers. Gallo is particularly atrocious at driving in runners from 3rd with less than 2 out..........they can't afford to get WORSE at that. All the prospects they sent are having big years.........but the farm system as a whole is having a great year. By contrast, the system as a whole had a very down year in 2019. Then they really didn't use the alternate site last year to develop some of their top young prospects the way other teams did. And on top of that, they cancelled their fall instructional league. The farm came into the season on a cold streak but the players somehow came out hot. I follow them every day at this address: https://www.mlb.com/yankees/prospects/stats/affiliates Great way to check the in game progress on every team in the system daily.

So Fangraphs had Yankees minor league system ranked #4 in most recent list. Their minor leaguers have been on fire this season............so they actually had a lot of prospects to deal for Joey Gallo. If the package is Josh Smith, Ezqeuiel Duran, Trevor Hauver, Glenn Otto, Everson Pereira and Randy Vasquez...........no elite prospects but that's a lot of nice prospects. None of them ever project as a player the Yankees would be thrilled to have as a starter........Pereira I'll miss the most..........but in a universe where the Yankees aren't pinching pennies they would be able to buy a $20M star player at the deadline for 2 of those guys. A bit of a steep price to pay for a .211 career hitter even if he hits a lot of HR's, draws walks and plays good D..........but his cheap contract really drove up the prospect price. SD tryna' stay under the luxury tax after all the sloppy spending they've done. If this deal goes thru........gotta' ship out one of the other whiffers/rally killers though. Luke Voit is the most move-able one not named Judge.

A band would be a good "day before" thing...........and for 1 o'clock openers with people making long trips I'd think that would be something to ponder in the future. I don't think a Saturday night tailgate would be a good idea, people get crazy in the evening so I'd be down on that if I were a lot owner. I also don't know if the lot permit that they have would allow parking and tailgating on a non-gameday etc.. But if it was possible, an afternoon pre-tailgate on a Saturday would be good.

@john wawrowsure put you in your place. You got both Bubba'd and Slapdick'd.....and it apparently passed inspection. Good on you for being the more gracious gentleman.

I hear they really push the boneless wings but proper attire is required

After watching Kobe Bryant survive his rape case and become maybe the most beloved athlete in sport............who is to say that Watson can't wriggle his way out of this entirely? He should play the season in Houston and re-build his rep. That would be for the best for us as Bills fans too. With him at QB the Texans gave Indy and Tennessee some very tough games.........if they can steal a win or two against those teams this year that might help the Bills wrt playoff seeding.

I'm not trying to run Beasley down but it's more than semantics.........his selection as an All Pro was very generous of voters..........there ended up being 5 WR's on the Second Team instead of the normal 3..........and Beasley's numbers paled in comparison to the others.........all of whom either have multiple All Pro nods or project to LIKELY contend for multiple more. Beasley had a tremendous season by the standard of his previous 8........but 82 for 967 isn't going to get you an All Pro selection very often........not sure when the last All Pro WR to not AT LEAST get 1,000 was.....and it's less than likely that he will repeat that production in year 10. I'd probably put him as the Bill who is least likely to be able to repeat his high production of last season.

I agree. The problem is that the organization has shortchanged Rodgers for a long time...........the Jordan Love pick wasn't an isolated incident.............it was just the latest non-effort to stock the cupboard for him. The Pats did that plenty with Brady over the years as well.........but they had the genius HC to overcome a razor thin group of weapons around TB12 for "most" of those years. But some of the years they didn't win a SB.........was basically only because their skill players around Brady just weren't good enough.

It's weekly and just during the season. And they can be cut at any time.

No Beasley WAS an All Pro. Last regular season. He had never sniffed that level of credit before and wasn't playing at an All Pro level the last time he was on the field in the playoffs. His age, his modest career production prior and the wear and tear/injuries accumulated last season matter. This year is a new season.

I don't think there is actually an "All-In" sense of urgency this season. I think they looked at the options and determined that they will "be better off in the long run" if they hung onto cap space and exercised their draft picks instead of trading them........and of course, "hopefully" win a SB that way.........sorta' like the Bucks just did winning an NBA title...........instead of spending future cap space and trading picks for immediate help NOW. If it works..........that's great......it's the cake and eating it too. But in my years of experience watching teams do this..........it can end up putting an immense amount of pressure on your team as the window before significant change comes. The Chiefs are a tough obstacle........but the Bills have a good roster and continuity in the coaching staff.........there might not be a more ideal point. I'm watching what happens when you defer your best shot until later right now with the New York Yankees...........the owner has been making half a billion in profits annually since his father died(except for covid 20').........literally dwarfing the earnings of most of the teams in MLB..........and he's been using a Ralph Wilson-like "cash to the luxury tax cap" model hoping that the team can win every single season and pick up a couple WS titles along the way with a payroll that's lower than it was in 2004. All that has done is wratchet up the pressure on the organization as the window before a major re-organization is required gets smaller. Diminishing returns follow. Another example is Green Bay...........they have greatly wasted Aaron Rodgers career by half-stepping wrt the roster. Rodgers has dragged them deep into the playoffs many times.......but for most of the McCarthy era in particular they really refused to go all-in to get him a title. That is why he's so puckered about them drafting a replacement QB when they were on the precipice of another SB. They only seem interested in staying in contention and hoping they get all the breaks and win ONE.

They would likely miss him but Beasley hasn't earned the right to be considered a likely repeat as an All Pro performer..........he's had 2 seasons out of 9 in his career where he's even accumulated over 800 yards receiving.........and he took a beating last season and is coming off a rather tumultuous offseason.

They grossly overpaid for Norman. He was coming off a very poor season and any chance he had of having a successful bounce back was limited to a few teams/schemes. The roughly $3M-$4M OVER market that they paid Norman is an example of money that they then didn't have to spend on the roster this offseason. All the deals count. We have some folks on the board who like to say "it's not your money, why do you care" when there is an overpay.........obviously only a few people like maybe @zonabb ()care about the actual $ the player is getting........cap space is why it matters when they over extend for what a player has to offer.

No, the Chiefs did A LOT the offseason after they lost the 2018 AFCCG. They literally fired their DC.........replaced him with a 2x SB winning DC in Spagnuolo........they traded the AFCCG goat Dee Ford and traded FOR star pass rusher Frank Clark..........and added the big name star/leader in Mathieu and also added Bashaud Breeland........both were huge additions for them in their SB winning season and both gave the Bills fits last season. They didn't lose much. The Chiefs were VERY aggressive under the circumstances. And they could have easily chosen not to be aggressive..........they were clearly the best team in the AFC in 2018 and they were upset by the narrowest of margins.....in OT of the AFCCG. That was a "1 play" game. The Bills looked outclassed in their AFCCG against KC..............if one team looked like it needed to be more aggressive it was the Bills this past offseason.......not the post 2018 season Chiefs.

Yeah his bro the famous MMA fighter lives in Ithaca and his dad is a pastor in Binghamton. They grew up and starred in sports in CNY. Still, relatively local.

Funny that the rest of the Bills OL under McNally kinda' sucked. Everyone has coaches........McNally was always a good OL coach but he also had one foot out the door when he was here. Calling the 2000-2010 era Bills a "nurturing environment" is hilariously wrong. As long as there has been football there have been people who become great despite not having your ideal conditions to do so. Suggesting otherwise is nutty. Josh Allen is and isn't an exception..........he is taking advantage of everything that he can to get better........that's awesome.........but he didn't have good instruction at the HS/JUCO/NCAA level........and that set his progress back............what he was able to do now is not possible for every NFL player that wants to rise to a great level.

Yeah if the player is healthy and chooses not to make himself available to the team then he doesn't get paid.......that's the same in all the "guaranteed" contract sports as well. But if you retire with time left on your deal in the NFL you don't become a free agent...........the team has to relinquish your rights. The Patriots never relinquished their rights to Gronk so they were able to trade him and a 7th to Tampa for a 4th last offseason. With retirements in the past the player in question didn't have such MASSIVE cap figures though. Obviously, Rodgers can't retire and the Packers then spend too much cap space to accommodate his salary, only to have him return/un-retire before the opener in September. If that kinda' cap shenanigans was allowed the Saints would have already done it. The Pack is going to have to keep enough salary flexibility to accommodate his(inevitable) return...........or relinquish his rights. They won't relinquish his rights, obviously. And if I were them I wouldn't take 3 first round picks and Bradley Chubb as compensation. Not enough. But we will see what the Pack does if that's how Rodgers plays it.

Honestly, this would probably be GOOD news for Buffalo. Denver instantly becomes a contender..........but the AFC is already deep enough with contenders that any 2-3 playoff games you need to win the AFC are going to be against stacked teams ANYWAY. Adding another doesn't mean you have to play an extra playoff game. It could mean the difference between the Chiefs cruising to the #1 seed yet again or the Bills getting the #1 seed or maybe at least a less confident/playoff-composed opponent getting it.