BADOLBILZ

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.

Yes.........the Packers have to take him off the books..........relinquishing his rights to save immediate cap space.........before he can sign with another team. Kyle Orton retired from the Cowboys because they wouldn't give him a raise..........the Cowboys released him to save the space.........and he then signed for more money with Buffalo a couple months later. The Packers won't relinquish his rights though.........if he doesn't show up I assume that they will be credited back his salary cap space anyway.........but not until the end of this season.

I like Sean Payton as a HC..........but people forget that he is very capable of fielding 7-9 teams. And that was WITH Drew Brees. Winston has talent but he couldn't get a very talented Bucs team to the playoffs despite throwing for 5,000 yard with a very talented group of skill players.

There is not ONE way for football players or teams to become great. Many come from very rough circumstances and turn those adverse "non-nurturing" situations into the fuel for their greatness. The most significant player the Bills developed in the drought era was Jason Peters..........a future HOF'er and greatly respected teammate..........that dude didn't give his best at Arkansas..........got sabotaged by his college coaches in the draft process...........went undrafted to a terrible organization.........and still became an All Pro LT in almost no time after only being a TE in college. Your corporate/self-help strategy sounds great........works for some...........but you can get nurtured by a figurative pair of grass-fed DDD teets and it ain't gonna' keep you from being dominated on the field by a guy like Peters.

The OP made a good point/comparison. But you are getting carried away. The Patriots dominated the league for nearly 20 years using a very different approach............it'll take a lot of "nurturing" for anyone to accomplish half of what they've done. Most NFL dynasties were built on competition for jobs, motivation by any means necessary and cold blooded management decisions.

If the Saints aren't just a bad football team this season then Sean Payton deserves a lot of credit. That last tweet about the sleepers the Saints are "very high" on reminds me of the talk around the Bills during the tear down under Donahoe: "Yes, the Bills lost Ted Washington......but they are "very high" on young DT Leif Larson......they think he was a steal in the 6th round of that draft and a better fit in Gregg Williams system."

Yeah Wagner is an interesting case in point as it relates to the Bills and their defense...........because the Seahawks went from being both the youngest team in the NFL and the SB champion in the same season..........to very flawed in just a couple years once they paid their defensive standouts. As it so happened, aside from Sherman, the big names on that defense were off-ball LB and safeties........and once they paid those guys they couldn't afford to roll the DL like they once used to and the defense went from great to middling(and worse). They sacrificed on the lines on both sides of the ball to pay big names that, in hindsight, really needed to be supported by excellent edge/island and interior DL play to field a championship type defense. That doesn't necessarily mean a "top 5" statistical defense.........but one that can support a high powered offense by rushing the passer or being great in coverage. They put the frosting before the cake, IMO. If the Bills win one SB like the Seahawks did.......then we could probably happily accept 5-7 years of Josh Allen trying to carry a flawed team to the WC or divisional round like what's been going on in Seattle..........but I think the lesson to be learned from the Seahawks is not to do what they did. You shouldn't fall in love with off-ball LB and safeties and have them eating up huge amounts of cap space.

The disparity in quality of ILB/MLB players between the AFC and NFC is huge. I understand why casual observers don't understand this.............but this can happen at a devalued position and it can not be reflected by the play of the teams in those conferences. Because defenses aren't built from the MLB outward anymore. They are built around edge rushers and lock down CB's. If the Bills intend their D to be built around their MLB as so many Edmunds excuse makers claim........and Edmunds doesn't improve significantly.........they will continue to be a paper tiger defense.

Which, unfortunately would leave them very thin on the outside in the event of an injury. Lot's of slot types on the depth chart but X's and Z's.......not so much.