BADOLBILZ

That's a cute way to do it. But then there is reality. The Bills have dedicated A LOT of roster space and cap dollars to older, veteran reserves. Consider $10M spent on reserve OT Ty Nsekhe, $12.5M on reserve LB AJ Klein, another $14M spent on negative contributing reserves like Josh Norman, Spencer Long and Brian Winters just to name a few. To say nothing of $90M spent on "intended" starters like Star Lotulelei, Trent Murphy and Tyler Kroft. When you say a team is young........the obvious assumption is that they have an abundance of cap space...........and that certainly is not the case because they have tossed around a lot of money on guys who did not play a lot of snaps. Bringing back most of the team makes you, for the most part, a year older. Adding a 34 year old Emmanuel Sanders and/or a Zach Ertz is going to raise your average age. The Bills roster is not going to be younger this season.........they will probably fall around 5th-8th oldest roster in 2021.

I remember hearing that Bojo was very interested in his punting distance numbers and that was at odds with what the Bills wanted him to do........purportedly more hang time and less return-ability.

Well done by Erik Turner. About the only thing he didn't touch on was the impact of his massive hands in making so many of his plays. Rousseau's hand size would be among the largest in the NBA......nearly identical hand span to the currently most famous set of huge mitts owned by "The Claw" Kawahi Leonard. He is great at locating the ball and flattening to not exceed the QB's depth.........but his ability to snare and trip up players that seem too far away to be impacted by a hand swipe is remarkable in itself. The stat about the bills DL missing so many tackles was really an unspoken problem.........a lot of credit has been given for getting pressures......but being a bad finishing team behind the LOS has been a problem since the last days of The Cold Front. As I said during the draft process, Rousseau is an unusual talent and has a chance to put up much needed TFL numbers despite not looking like a traditional edge bending DE.

My bad.........I should have known somebody would turn the Ertz thread into a Tebow story even though the guy is 33 years old, has little experience at TE and couldn't even stay healthy playing baseball.

Focused on youth? The Bills have one of the oldest rosters in the NFL. It's funny how fans come up with these totally incorrect narratives.

In 2016 that was the case......but not the first season under Roman when they lead the NFL in rushing in 2015.......when MG and KW ran for 784 yards and 10 TD's........McCoy ran for 895 and 3 TD's and did so at a full yard less per carry. The lesson was.......follow the play design LeSean........the blocking was there. He did in 2016 and it paid dividends but even then MG lead the league in both ypc and in short yardage conversions (which would seem to be a counterintuitive combo) so they weren't sacrificing a thing handing it off to the non-star. It really was mostly about the blocking and the RB following the dance steps laid out by design. That kind of production has continued for Roman in Baltimore with a variety of backs. When the Bills went to outside zone in 2017 the extra time or wider design challenged McCoy's new found discipline and he reverted to some bad habits and he struggled......but more importantly so did the OL which had a harder time reaching their blocks. I don't know if they've done enough to improve their running game.........but they have added some intriguing scheme fits. I would love to see them maybe send SF a 5th for Raheem Mostert.....a pending UFA.......and deal one of their other backs for a 7th. SF might do it, Shanahan is arrogant about RB's.....he just drafted two.......and Mostert is cheap for a huge per carry RB but not minimum wage. That would give the Bills maybe the two fastest RB's in the NFL. But still comes down to blocking.

Yeah their RB's and OL are a hodgepodge of players who best fit different styles. But much like I look at the DL moves since last August and see a team that seems to want to use 4 pass rushers most of the time..............I see the moves they made this offseason and all the new acquisitions seem to fit the outside zone run scheme. I'd prefer inside zone. Moss would be better there, but he is familiar with outside zone so he seems more comfortable than Singletary was. I was a big fan of it when Roman/Lynn were here. And I'd also prefer the passing offense to be more vertical. I am a huge fan of the deep ball and big plays and I believe getting Stefon Diggs tackled hard by downhill pursuing defenders 100+ times per year is at best a recipe for a diminished WR corps in January......and also isn't how you want to use an investment like that, ideally. But they seem to want to run outside zone and throw a high volume of short to intermediate passes. It worked last year, so I've adjusted my expectations to what I think they will do.

Yeah they need to block for the run better to have a better running game. Breida and Moss are natural fits in outside zone, so they have that at at RB at least. When they were far and away the top rushing team in the NFL under Rex Ryan, they got a ton of yardage and their most per-touch production out of Mike Gillislee and Karlos Williams, who weren't exceptional RB's. I could see them trading Singletary or Moss in camp......they aren't bad RB's........but they won't bring much in return. IMO RB isn't even a notable weakness for the Bills.........for a variety of reasons, the reality is that the difference in game-impact between having a great RB and a couple average one's isn't that significant. Block and execute.

Yes, false equivalences, as in implying that defense's fear Moss and Williams by saying they don't fear Singletary. They don't fear any of them. Williams and Moss are both physical runners but that's about the end of the comparison. Moss is outstanding at pass protection, that's his greatest trait as a pro RB. Who knows about Williams instincts and prowess in pass pro, unlike Moss he didn't play much in college even. He was the kind of back UNC took off the field on 3rd down and he has only had a handful of passes thrown his way in his college and pro career. What Williams lacks isn't quickness or speed, it's general athleticism and elusiveness. He's a stiff, straight ahead runner without change of direction or change of speed skills. Doesn't take a great talent to succeed in a well-blocked outside zone scheme though. Singletary isn't a natural fit for outside zone, but he's easily the more athletic and scheme versatile RB between he and Williams. It's not close.

Nah. Howie Roseman was a bean counter turned recent SB winning GM. Beane isn't one of a kind. He was a gopher for Gettleman and in the Smithers role as a DoFO he ended up learning how to run an entire organization. It's probably going to become more common with success like those two have had. Teams might have to start paying scouting directors more(they typically make $300K or less).......but as the Bills can attest........long time road scouts.....like Buddy Nix and Whaley.......often don't have the managerial skills or whole-organization understanding to handle the demands of being a modern GM.

Playing outside zone for OL is demanding athletically. The Bills seemed to have chosen to go that way last season because it's less complicated assignment-wise and allowed them to play more up-tempo in their passing game. If you remember the previously dominant run blocking Bills OL in 2017 weren''t really up to it athletically either when Dennison was running it. Think back to those old 90's Niners and Broncos lines under Mike Shanahan.......they were smaller and athletic. As has been pointed out by others, the Bills OL is kind of a hodgepodge athletically. You don't necessarily have to be that athletic to be a good pass blocker though if you have good length, technique and footwork. Spencer Brown is athletically kind of a "have your cake and eat it too" kind of outside zone blocking prospect for the Bills. In theory he's the $50 uber ride to get around in pass pro but he's also very good at getting outside quickly to block. Maybe the best downfield blocking OT prospect in this class. In theory Forest Lamp is another guy who should be able to be quicker than any of their other guards to get into his block in outside zone. Not sure about his pass pro stoutness though, if you watch the Efe Obada highlights one of the biggest hits he got last year was a complete whiff at Lamp's expense. Guess we will see.

Then just say those things rather than make false equivalencies. Most Bills fan are aware of Antonio Williams after his game against Miami and many are like you and want to see more. I like Antonio Williams in outside zone..........it's literally the only system he fits because he is a one speed, one-cut runner who runs hard to the hole. He's not very talented........not as nimble or scheme versatile as Moss or Singletary. Singletary is more liable to get quicker and more decisive thru training than Williams is to get more of what he lacks. But plenty of lower talent, hard runners have excelled in OZ. He is at least good depth for the system and maybe more.

Yeah Brown probably isn't a guard.........but his athleticism is elite enough that I don't think it can be dismissed entirely. Kevin Gogan was a great, ultra-violent guard and he was 6' 7"............ it's not entirely out of the question that Brown could play inside but his ceiling as a tackle is higher than either of the Bills starters so let's hope he ends up there.

Or maybe he wanted a big promotion and didn't get a look. With all the turnover there, a new owner and HC that he never played for.......his guys aren't really there anymore. Coincidentally, Dan Morgan was a concussion magnet at The U and with the Panthers.

Who cares if they make the playoffs, really? All that matters is how the Bills perform against the Patriots. They were lucky to escape the first game vs. NE last year when Zimmer stripped Cam as the Pats were plowing over the Bills D toward a game winning TD. The Bills finally began to outplay the Pats for the first time in 8 games under McDermott in the second quarter of the game in Foxboro. As you said, their roster is much improved. The Bills under McD usually play their worst ball versus the Pats.........if the Bills flip that around then it shouldn't matter what else NE does.

Actually, no, it's not. Superstar players sometimes retire and then come back........see Gronk or Witten just in the past couple seasons. But it is why I didn't bring it up when I saw it yesterday.

Diggs had a top-3 receiver season..........that was the only time in his career that he's done enough to be that high in the conversation of top WR's so "proved" is a relative term. If one season proves it then I guess Victor Cruz proved he was a top-3 WR when he had his 1500 yard season. Jefferson's 1400 yard rookie season was considerably more than any season that Diggs had in his many years in Minnesota........and would have been the most yardage by a Bills receiver in team history. The Bills would have gone into free agency with $20M+ more cap space to work with and still had the additional picks they traded to Minnesota. So yeah, I think the Bills would have been sitting pretty. But that assumes they would have even drafted Jefferson...........which given their mistakes in the 2019 draft passing on studs like Metcalf, Brown and McLaurin..........is not a given. As for Minnesota's receiving targets........they had a RB who ran for almost 1600 yards and their top 2 WR's accounted for 2300 yards receiving running lot's of 2 receiver sets.........their skill players were fine........it's the QB who brings them down.

The Vikings did just as well in that trade as Buffalo. They got a great young WR who had an amazing rookie season on a cheap contract for the next 3 years. Had the Bills stood pat and drafted Jefferson they would be in a better position in 2022..........a ton more cap room, more draft picks as well as a great young WR..........but the Bills didn't have the luxury of waiting..........they failed to add a WR1 in their first 3 drafts(including passing on DK Metcalf and AJ Brown to reach for need at RT in Cody Ford in 2019) and desperately needed to correct those errors with a sure thing. Nothing for Minnesota to flip out about, other than a former player seemingly trashing the state.

So you are saying that teams are afraid of Antonio Williams and Zach Moss? C'mon. The running game will be good if the blocking is good.

Whom I had responded to 27 hours prior. Don't worry, I didn't forget that signing Star was a bad decision by McBeane. What was the worst Beane decision of this offseason? My vote is the Edmunds 5th year option..........they probably don't want to extend Edmunds at a figure Edmunds agent would like yet...........if he suffers a career altering injury like so many former stud Bills LB's they could have tied up $13M in 2022 for a non-player. Which could now impact their willingness to do something this spring/summer like push money into 2022 to sign a Zach Ertz or a veteran CB. Kinda' like extending Eric Wood early backfired into a lost $10M except that was 6 months early and this is like 17 months early.

No, I brought up the $60M+ in cap space they have exhausted on bad 1 tech play since they dealt Dareus midway thru 2017. But hey, got the two worst performing seasons of Star Lotulelei's career out of the deal. And only $10M more owed guaranteed, whether Star makes the 53 or not.

McKenzie was an epic fumbler........that's why Denver cut him.........and even the great punt return TD he had versus Miami last year he bobbled. Maybe a billion reps can clean that up but the ball just hits him hard.......he clearly doesn't track it well.........it's a battle for him.

Addison played his share of OLB last year, I could see him being considered the 6th LB. Not cutting Addison seemed like one of the worst decisions of the offseason but Beane sure goes out of his way to make it sound like he's not going anywhere despite adding a stud veteran athlete and 2 early round rookies to his position.

What people forget is that the Bills lost both of their starting offensive tackles just before the game. The Titans pass rush was a complete jail break like what Mahomes saw in the Super Bowl against Tampa. Now perhaps with no pass blocking, playing Flutie was the better call under the circumstance...........but Flutie was pathetic moving the ball that year...........they were on the road in the first place because of his two terrible home losses to feeble NYG and Raiders teams that he couldn't pass against.

I don't buy the pro day numbers straight up.........but they are usually inflated. Either way, not a great look for Tariq. At the college level he had a little Rodney Harrison in him though. He's physical and instinctive. Rodney was a similarly poor athlete as I recall. I know he ran a 4.82 40. The game might be a bit too fast for that kinda' athlete now but I guess we will see.