BADOLBILZ

Agree........the problem wasn't trading for a WR the problem was that they ended up with less than a round of difference in value gained between the Watkins and Benjamin exchange..........and Watkins was poised for a big walk year. People here point to his stats not being huge in LA but he got there just a few weeks before the season and frankly played outstanding against a killer list of #1 CB's that season. He was a far more talented player than KB. I value time and entertainment and the offenses of 2017 and 2018 were brutal.

"All the money in the world" wasn't necessary. What you conveniently forget was that they had the franchise tag at their disposal to use on Gilmore..........and chose not to. That was a very arrogant and Billsy way to waste capital.

Benjamin was even worse. He was lazy and a bad teammate. The issues became abundantly clear in the preseason of 2018.........yet rather than cutting bait like they did with Watkins after he had argument on the sideline in preseason game #1 of 2017.............they rode it out with KB and wasted $9M for about half a season before surreptitiously cutting him. This is the thing........when McD came in the assumption was that everyone he would let go had personality issues that limited the teams ability to win............whether it was Robert Woods or Gilmore or Watkins or Darby or Dareus. Over the next two seasons every one of them played on teams that made it to championship games or SB's. You can't keep everyone........but obviously the narrative that they only kept and collected the wheat and threw out the chaff was actually very incorrect. It came home to roost in that 2018 season with KB's total lack of interest and Vontae Davis quitting at halftime and the entire, expensive class of free agents being a waste of space. That 2018 team with "their guys" was an embarrassment..........except for Josh Allen. That great pick made a real shaky stretch of personnel decisions look worthwhile.........when in fact, it was a very poor start for them in pro personnel decisions.

I'm not saying it doesn't still have entertainment value but I don't think it has near the impact or is as important to building a young fanbase as it was when I was a kid in the 80's. We were info starved. Games were often blacked out. That's not the case for kids nowadays. Every Bills game is on TV. There is year round programming about the team. The social media feed is nonstop. As is the amount of new and archived online info on the team and it's players. It's overwhelming and most of it is free if you have internet access and network tv you don't miss much. You merely overstated the significance of it in cultivating new fans. And I don't get the part about you getting a picture with Zo.........you are an adult, no? Maybe that takes you back to being a kid yourself? But how is that pertinent to your larger point about the NFL needing to reach young viewers that way?

I always weigh anything Cover 1 does against what I see myself and sometimes I disagree with them as well. But with Rousseau I think they actually missed an important aspect.........his hands. When players break the mold there are often aspects about them that are hard to draw comparisons to. That's Rousseau's hands for a pass rusher. Rousseau has Wilt Chamberlin sized hands..........the same size as Kawhi Leonard.......whose massive hands help make him the best defender in the NBA and an MVP candidate capable of playing small or very big basketball........despite having the height of a tweener. Rousseau uses those hands to lock out OL......allowing him to keep his eye on the ball.........and then he uses them to finish plays that others can't. His arm length is fully functional. I know people look at a few of his "shoestring" tackles in highlights and discount his impact on those plays.......but it's not luck.

I never hated KB. And I supported the trade at the time because I felt that McBeane and Whaley had botched the WR situation so badly that offseason that they were absolutely desperate for help. McWhaley not picking up the Watkins then-not-fully guaranteed option was dumb........drafting/acquiring the unexceptional Zay Jones and Jordan Matthews and trying to become bigger and slower at WR bordered on inexplicable........then Beane trading Watkins for a compromised return without the option year killed the teams offensive potential. After 3 consecutive poor/medicore WR drafts for the NFL........the market for veteran WR was barren. Unlike the majority on this site.....many of whom thought the Bills had a "tank year" roster............... I understood that the Bills were still taking a veteran laden 10-6 caliber team to camp in 2017. I knew how much making the playoffs meant from day one that McDermott was hired. No name hires can't afford to come out losing. In the McDermott regime they have an unfortunate history of making the wrong decision the first time..........but have also earned the reputation for learning from and correcting the mistake. The growth mindset. It's hard to build a "dominant" roster with 1 step back and then 1 step forward but it's worked well enough to have a good one that is capable of winning big with a franchise QB at the helm. But early on, the reponses to mistakes weren't as consistently good. KB didn't replace Watkins......Watkins played well enough in 2017 to earn a $16M/year deal so as much as people here trashed him for not putting up a massive statistical year in LA he had A LOT of value.

The Cover 1 feature does a pretty good job of illustrating what you aren't noticing that made Rousseau so effective. I'm a lot more concerned about Basham transitioning as a rookie. It's one thing being a raw 19 year old beating those "bad lineman"..........it's less impressive when it's a 22-23 year old like Basham was. He was closer to his ceiling and the things he does best are stock traits that NFL OL sees every snap. I don't know who was advising him, but he probably would have been better served going into the draft last year and getting NFL experience and instruction and accruing a year of service so if things work out he could hit free agency at age 26 or 27 instead of possibly not until after his age 28 season. Teams don't want those huge 4-5 year deals ending much past 30. Hopefully he has a good, long career........but turning 24 in your rookie season is a late start. Ask Kelvin Benjamin how much money playing on his 5th year option at age 28 probably cost him.

You know the Beane bucks are gone if that marshmallow is willing to try to become an in-line blocker while Engram runs routes. But it is the year for 30 something out-of-football dudes trying to convert to TE............and Gettlenutz has a legacy interest in KB's success...... having been the guy that used a first round pick on him.

It's important to remember that Rousseau had almost no game experience as a DL when he got on the field in 2019 and lost a season of development as a true freshman in 2018 when he broke his ankle at the beginning of the season. He immediately started dominating. Compare that to AJ Epenesa..........he was a very rare 5 star recruit for Iowa.........a healthy scratch redshirt as a freshman.......didn't become a starter until the end of his redshirt sophomore season. And of course, never dominated to the level that Rousseau did. AJ's history was that he needed a good deal of acclimation when he moved up a level...........even if he was the most talented guy in the room..........so his low statistical output was pretty easy to anticipate. I don't think it's a given that GR will need time to hone his craft for a year before he can contribute at the things he did well at the college level.

Trapasso is looking for traits that resemble those most common in successful players at that position. That's a good place to start...........but he needs to broaden his perspective to be a better talent evaluator...........see his rank on Josh Allen in @Albany,n.y.'s post. Now I'm not saying Rousseau is going to become an NFLDPOY............but there were analysts who used the same kind of logic on Aaron Donald and JJ Watt that Trapasso uses in his evaluation of GR. Watt was seen by many as a just a big two gapping, 3-4 DE at the NFL level. A potentially very good one........maybe like Richard Seymour.........but not the pass game terror he became. Donald was seen as lacking the size and length and bend to beat NFL offensive lineman whether inside or out..........to some he was a what they call in baseball a Quad A prospect........good enough to dominate at the next highest level but not excel at the highest. So his incredible production was seen as a largely unprojectable. Watt and Donald didn't just play well though........they had dominated the man in front of them........just in un-traditional ways. They both probably should have gone #1 overall. If your standard for a pass rusher is Von Miller and you are looking at the traits that make HIM great like his bend and speed and variety of traditional pass rushing moves..........then maybe you don't see how GR uses his long stride to present blocking situations OL aren't trained for........ or his height and awareness to locate the ball so that he's in position to make plays on it.......or his giant hands to make tackles when it appears that they are out of reach for an NFL defender.

I don't care where you are staring at a screen I was just mocking you because of your laughable indignance. You voluntarily came into a thread about a terrible Bills player from 2017 and 2018 and were angered to see me "chime in" on..........the 2017 and 2018 Bills.

I see making fun of your "I hate the weather in WNY it makes me depressed...... but then I spend all my free time inside on a computer anyway" has been turned into a referendum on moving away from WNY. If that's what you guys want to do have at it. Work out your weird guilt or whatever it is but don't put that on me. I have a house in southwest Florida........but I don't own it for mental health reasons........you can like perfect weather without a prescription. As for me bringing up the past.........maybe you're right and one can't learn anything of value or gain a better perspective from understanding the past. Didn't MLK say that? That conveniently allows you to be oblivious to why your GM isn't throwing money at what you perceive are big problems and complain about it incessantly all offseason like he has a magic wand to create cap room. Not caring about the past also allows you to be willfully ignorant to 25+ years of data and deviate from the obvious with a take like "maybe we should draft a RB in round 1". Maybe the salt life just made you too salty but if you go into a thread about Marcel Dareus or Kelvin Benjamin or whatever........here's a tip.........expect the past to be brought up. They are figures from the Bills past. Children can grasp that idea. Right?

Stay classy @Stank_Nasty ! Don't let the leaves sneak up on you this year: https://www.familyhandyman.com/list/tips-for-dealing-with-leaves-like-a-pro/

Not sure having overwhelming anxiety about something is proof that you care more about it than someone else. For me, being a Bills fan is a whole culture thing. Don't get me wrong I love visiting Vegas and nice weather too. But I live here and I go out of my way to financially support the team to promote it's existence. I go to every game(including preseason games) etc.. I have had fans who are on TSW and live in the area criticize me for not caring or being as loyal as them........like @Stank_Nasty for example......... and then hear them say they weren't going to a game in November because the Bills were out of contention and the weather wasn't nice or they had leaves to rake. People create their own narratives about how big of a fan they are. Your anxiety proves to you that you care..........it also causes you to be upset about discussion certain aspects of the team that do not bother me at all. Being invested in the area, team success, culture and fans does it for me. Having so many aspects of entertainment probably helps relieve anxiety. There isn't that finality like when you are just watching the game on TV somewhere.

The defense looked great for much of the 2017 season with Preston Brown leading the NFL in tackles at MLB and in the games that Edmunds has missed since he took over his understudy's haven't missed a beat. In a passing league, all that the Bills rankings under McD have proven wrt the MLB position is that pedestrian MLB play is good enough to rank well statistically against a bad schedule and to be middle of the pack against a good one.

1) No I assure you it's not intentional, I have no reason to antagonize you. What football decisions were being made in Houston based on things other than football? Firing Bill O'Brien for making a mess of the roster with bad trades and then losing football games? People of faith like Easterby get hired in football. I'm a skeptic but even I understand WHY believers are seen as congruent with the team building mission of the sport. Sometimes a Leslie Frazier gets hired and it works out OK anyway.......and sometimes it's Rick Dennison and it looks stupid in hindsight. 2) Zero belief is by nature an extreme. I wouldn't label you as an extremist but going out of your way to criticize a non-point like a pro football team hiring chritians to run it was at least a hot take if nothing else.

Tyrod Taylor was a Pro Bowl player, had the 7th scoring offense in the NFL that had turned over the ball fewer times than any NFL team thru 15 games since the NFL merger in 2016. He wasn't that good though, was he? Edmunds hasn't been that good either. He occupies a larger footprint than most and is pretty effective chasing the ball to the sideline...........otherwise he's become very vulnerable in pass coverage(114 pr and 4 TD's in 2020).........not good in run defense (goes without saying)........a terrible blitzer (67 blitzes and 0 pressures in 2020)..........and doesn't create or collect turnovers (he hasn't forced a fumble in 42 regular season games and has never recovered one). Players who are strong in those areas are generally considered to be instinctive and/or aware.

Yeah we know......on paper Edmunds sounds like a great fit. The problem is........despite a 7' wingspan and 4.5 speed........Edmunds lack of instincts negate much of his physical talent. In 2020 he was like a 7 foot stiff who can't jump in the middle of a basketball 2-3 zone........if that guy shows that he can't move his feet and block shots teams will still attack the paint and defeat the purpose of having him there. Edmunds gets easily manipulated.........and then he doesn't make plays on the football when the opportunities arise.........the book is out on him now.........which is why he got lumped up with that ghastly 114 passer rating against last season. Maybe the light comes on in year 4.

Not everyone gets depressed about things they know they have no control over.........like the weather..........or their favorite pro football team. I feel sorry for the "many"........it's an unfortunate affliction for sure........but don't lump me in with you nut jobs. 😉 Honestly discussing the nuances of your hobby is not always a cry for help.

Every GM makes mistakes...........exactly! Lot's of them. Beane is no different. A mocking thread about Kelvin Benjamin.......which I did not start, mind you....... was just a good opportunity to remind people of that. If you mock KB........you mock Beane's decision to trade for him whether you intend to or not. Crying and whining are physical acts. I do neither. It's all entertainment to me. It might be different for you emotionally....... in self imposed exile from Bills country......living in Vegas because you don't like Buffalo weather..........and then spending all of your free time inside on the internet anyway. Maybe that makes you cry and whine while you are posting on a Bills message board. As for Beane turning the franchise around..........I agree with that........he got the team a franchise QB. "Completely turned around"? That phrasing is an exaggeration. They weren't a perennial 3-13 team, they were a mediocre franchise whose re-builds kept failing mainly because they didn't get a franchise QB. I like Beane, I think he's drafted well in round 1 particularly but he has also made a lot of mistakes. The roster isn't so good that any QB would do. Josh Rosen instead of Josh Allen and we are LIKELY talking about our new GM this offseason instead of how great Beane is. I thought he did a pretty decent job this offseason..........despite your whining to the contrary about not getting this and that.........but the reality is that he had limited resources because he had a REALLY poor start mis-managing the salary cap with a lot of bad pro personnel choices like Kelvin Benjamin. And it is a bit hearing him talk about how he doesn't want the team to get back in the salary cap mess they "inherited" when McDermott took over a team with $40M in cap space and basically all he and Whaley did was decide to hold onto the $15M bridge QB and pick up two great bargain UFA's in Hyde and Poyer. A lot of that "cap hell" talk from Beane is VERY self-serving...........they are in a bigger hole now with a QB on a rookie contract.

Ehh........this seems like an old-fashioned take................young fans live a much different life than you might have and don't need to experience things in person to develop an interest. They get to know a lot about players and how they relate to them thru social media...........there is constant new content online and on tv about the team and players...........the video is 4K so it's better access and visibility than you can get in person. This isn't 1978 watching the Bills on a black and white TV while constantly moving the rabbit ears so you could make out the shapes on the screen during the season and then the team disappearing from site entirely for 7 months after the season.

No, I don't know that. You were defending Watson for wanting out of Houston using the excuse that Houston management was too religious.........when Watson was a practicing christian. It's not like christians are like......"whoah there boss.......you believe in God too much for me". When you are a practicing christian you might roll your eyes at a few things someone says but you aren't really offended by overtly religious people. As for the "I don't push my lack of belief on people so I am not as annoying as them" take............of course you don't push not believing in something. Not believing in something kinda' makes that thing irrelevant and unimportant to you. For believers it's VERY important and they are taught to spread the word. It's really not the same thing.......and you know that. I'm not defending religion here, I'm ambivalent about it but you seem to think you are not at an extreme..........and the fact that you go out of your way to show offense to it........like the professionally irrelevant situation with Texans management.........indicates otherwise.

Tebow goes out of his way to promote his faith..........you go out of your way to criticize religion. The whole Houston Texans thing.........where you were defending the heavily religious-invested Deshaun Watson from perceived "Jesus freaks" in management........because you wouldn't like working for religious bosses..........was a weirdness. I understand why you may have your strong opinion and have no problem with it........ but the NFL is built heavily on players from the deeply religious US south.........to put yourself in their shoes you gotta' have faaaaaith.

Another Brandon Beane gem. 55% of KB's career earnings came from the roughly one season he spent in Buffalo between being traded-for and quietly cut at midseason in 2018. That first $120M in cap space Beane used to acquire new veteran personnel for his re-build went entirely down the drain.........the worst stretch of spending in Bills history. 12 months of all misses.

Rousseau handled it like a pro.........but Wawrow couldn't have stumbled and bumbled to the question more awkwardly. I don't know if he's trying to re-brand himself as more than "just the facts" AP guy but that performance was neither here nor there.