BADOLBILZ

And that issue is usually very much a function of being overweight and obese. Like all 300# NFL lineman. Not a matter of if I agree with it or not. The majority of at risk players showed up and played. Star was an unusual case because he is making the small circles around the drain of his NFL career and his salary was fully guaranteed. He had a lot of motivation to take the opt out and not expose himself to the risk that the normies and at-risk but financially less-secure were.

That looks serious.........he should opt out. According to the AHA more than 1 in 3 adult males have heart disease. The oversized and overweight are at much higher risk.

"cardiac issue" is a pretty broad definition. I think virtually every older OL and interior DL player has underlying medical conditions. Almost all of them played thru them. I'm not saying that Star isn't one cheeseburger away from a heart attack but having his salary fully guaranteed whether he played or not AND then getting an extra free $350K to stay home would financially motivate A LOT of older players that have just been forced to take a pay cut to stay home. The writing was on the wall. This was probably his last NFL paycheck. Also, fwiw I really don't think him not being here for volunataries is a sign of anything. I suspect he will suck or not play for the Bills at all this season, but 10 year vets often don't show for these things. He has the least complex job on the entire defense and this isn't a new install...........even if he didn't suck he wouldn't need to be at this OTA.

Quick.......get your Star barbs in before Hapless sees this!

Let me give you yet another lesson in "logic". When 3 teams tie for first........do we say "they finished 3rd"? Of course not........in statistics you utilize the lower number and denote a tie........just saying "the Bills finished 26th" implies that there were 25 better teams.........which is false. Saying that they finished tied for 22nd implies that 21 teams had better numbers without saying that 10 teams had worse. I'd say you were being intentionally deceitful...........but I've seen your lines of reasoning before and they are frequently missing logically derived points. Furthermore.........the gap between the 16th ranked ypc teams and the 22nd ranked group in 2020 is just a measly .1 ypc..........so despite playing the most playoff teams in the league and having a beat up LB corps the Bills were just .1 ypc off of the league median. By contrast.....the LAST place rush defense was .6 yards per carry worse than the Bills. So yeah......intentionally or ignorantly.........you were greatly skewing the significance of those stats. And it's not like the much-pined-for 2019 Bills run defense was good........they were just middling.....allowing 4.3 ypc in a league that averaged 4.3 ypc......... despite having "Star" and a number of MORE impactful and since-departed players than him in the front 7........all with a healthier defense and playing maybe their easiest schedule since the league went to 16 games in 1978. As for the Bucs........if you want to build your team expectations around what amounts to a Brooklyn Nets/LA Lakers style NBA super-team build.........good luck with that. That's not a reasonable model personnel-wise and nor is losing 5 regular season games, not even winning your own division and having to win 3 games on the road.

He looks great, IMO. Ten years younger without the beard. So if that makes him like a 22 year old again............it's like having a second first rounder.

In 2020, the Bills were tied for 22nd in ypc........not alone in 26th as you are trying to paint it. And the league as a whole allowed more yards on the ground in 2020..........up from 4.3 yards per carry in 2019 to 4.4 yards per carry in 2020. Obviously a much tougher schedule, losing 3 high production guys in Phillips, Shaq and Alexander, both starting LB's injured for most of the season were all contributors in the modest, adjusted .2 yards per carry decline in rush defense. But the 2020 team was still middle of the pack(16th) in rush yards allowed, held Derrick Henry to his lowest yardage output in his 2,000 yard season and played excellent defense from mid-season on. More significant is this: the three best regular season teams in the NFL.....and 3 of the 4 title game teams....... were the KC, GB and Buffalo.......and KC and GB ranked right there with Buffalo averaging 4.5 yards per carry. Not a significant difference. It's not a run and stop the run league anymore. In 2019 the Chiefs won the Super Bowl allowing 4.9 yards per carry.

Correct on Donald. Moulds wasn't that near HOF quality though. Hall of very good........a very easy scratch for voters. He had one truly great season and didn't rank consistently among the very elite WR of his time like Andre Reed did year-in-and-out in the late 80's and early 90's. He played an ugly game for the back half of his career and had few signature moments......his only chance was an accumulator and he simply didn't accumulate enough to be in strong consideration for the HOF.

DK Metcalf or AJ Brown would be a lot better. Great, much younger and not on a gigantic contract like Evans. Instead the Bills have.......Cody Ford.

No....c'mon bro......McCaffrey did not account for "an astounding 66 TD's" in 2 years. 😆 He put up 32 over his first 3 seasons.............which you should expect from a RB taken in the top 10 of a draft. He's the exception though...........not just in production but because he was a first round prospect as a WR as well. But in spite of all of that production the Panthers haven't been any good. If you can't pass the ball downfield and pressure the QB you aren't likely to be a SB contender...........and if you use a top 10 pick on a RB or sign one to a huge contract you are limiting your ability to acquire the players that do those more important things. Mostert, on the other hand, fits the profile of a lot of #1 RB's on SB winners.........a scheme specific player who little is invested in. The fact that he's been SO exceptional when he has the ball the last two seasons is more of a bonus than a prerequisite.

I agree that the pay seems light for Ertz and it's definitely a lot of gymnastics for the Eagles to get a 7th round pick.

Barnwell also had the Bills signing Kawann Short for $3M in those predictions. The way he structured the trade..........the Bills working out a huge salary deduction prior to the swap...........is what makes it seem plausible. That's a bigger pay cut than I'd expect Ertz to take.........they might have to add a dummy year to his one year deal and so he gets more like $5M out of it at least. I thought he was a bit generous with the money offered to the other players available.........including Short who I couldn't see ANY team paying above league veteran minimum at this point. Most of those free agents he has signing new deals have been marinating on the market for a LONNNNNGGGG time now.

I'm not ignoring details.........I'm the one providing them against your vague and unsupported argument that Etienne is the missing piece that the Bills need to get thru the AFC and win the Super Bowl. And you are making a straw man out of the Dorsett point...........I'm not the one expecting a rookie at ANY position to elevate the team immediately..........that's simply not a realistic expectation. The only "details" of your argument are: 1. He'd be great right away........another Kamara or McCaffrey. 2. Giving him the ball a lot like those guys would only improve the offense.......regardless of any opportunities that takes away elsewhere. 3. Use him up for 5 years and then draft another in round 1. None of those things are reasonable expectations based on anything close to "recent" history of the league.

Of course the offense should be trying to get better.........but RB isn't a position that warrants big invesement..........and first round picks are prime chips........it's the equivalent of a $15M-$20M per year chip in free agency...........you gotta' use that chip wisely. Using one on a RB is just bad business. And for the people like you and @DrDawkinstein...........get your heads out of the sand...........if the best case scenario played out and somehow Travis Etienne were to put up seasons like Alvin Kamara or Christian McCaffrey then they are NOT playing 5 years on that rookie deal. You will get 3 years......and then you will have to give them a big 4-5 year extension or they will withhold services............so there goes your "draft one in the first every 5 years" plan.

Bad example? McCaffrey makes $16M per year. Mostert makes $3M. Mostert is actually better than CMC on his 150 touches and then is fresh for the playoffs. I will take the latter and have a RB by committee approach......which you need anyway because RB's get hurt.........as evidenced by CMC missing most of last season after getting that 4 year $64M deal. Then spend that $13M in cap space elsewhere. Like maybe on the OT or at WR or at pass rusher or CB. Edge/island positions where individual talent can have a greater impact on winning and losing. And rather than throw the ball to a RB for 8 yards per grab I will use the modern approach and just throw it to my $7M slot guy Cole Beasley and have him put up nearly 1,000 yards at a much higher clip per reception.

I get that the drought made some of you very out of touch with how the league works now. But even if you go back to the last Bills SB run adding a first round RB has NEVER raised any already championship-game-level team to a SB winning team. You gotta' go back to Tony Dorsett in 1977 to find a 1st round RB that put a team over the top. Things have changed a bit since then. Stay willful, say ignorant, Doc. 😘

I assume you are talking about McCaffrey but have no idea why you are calling him "MCM". McCaffrey was a first round receiving prospect........let alone his RB skills. He is unique in that regard but that's why he went top 10. Nobody is getting that guy at pick #30. Thinking so is asinine. But that said.........handing the ball off more is not good business. It's not a "run and stop the run" league anymore and that goes for checking it down to RB's like "MCM" and Kamara for 8 yard gains as well. Slot receivers more or less replaced the 3 down RB's in the passing game almost 20 years ago now.

1) Etienne's per carry average dropped over 2 yards last year. Even though he's had well over 800 touches in college, the OL was blamed..........so if a dominant team like Clemson with several NFL prospects on the OL can be "not good enough" at the college level then maybe he's not a cure-all for blocking insufficiencies at the NEXT level. 2) Teams have been winning SB's without exceptional RB's for decades now.........there is no "acting" involved in realizing that they aren't proving to be the difference in teams winning SB's and not. There is a combination of out-of-touch older fans and fantasy football players on this site that want to make having an elite RB a priority when it's clearly not important in winning a championship.

And the $15M per year Kamara has never even rushed for 1,000 yards in any of his 4 season career despite being deified by some here as an organization-changing RB. Mostert has only been getting regular carries for the last 2 seasons so his "career" totals being low is not that important in the "now" discussion. He split carries with Matt Breida(5.1 ypc) on a SB team that ran the ball and played defense. Mostert produced ridiculous per carry/reception numbers......5.6 yards per rush and 12.9 per reception. It's no fluke......they were likely the two fastest RB's in the league......and both undrafted. Mostert missed half of last season on a really banged up Niners team.....but still put up elite per touch production. In 2019 Breida and Mostert totaled about 300 touches. That's plenty. You don't want to wear out speed and quickness guys. By contrast, Alvin Kamara usually gets 270+ touches in the regular season........too much work. Then he farts and dies in the playoffs.......just when people like @DrDawkinsteinassume that the likes of Alvin Kamara-Etienne is going to be the difference in a SB win and an earlier exit. 😚 In 7 career playoff games the great Kamara has rushed for 356 yards......a feeble 3.8 yards per carry. Mostert put up 336 in his 3 games......to the tune of 6.3 yards per carry.

By that logic, who would complain if the Bills ended up with Quenton Nelson instead of Josh Allen? Nelson looked like a HOF'er the moment he took the field. If positional value doesn't matter then that would have been a win. But, positional value is important. RB's are still a relative dime a dozen. The most explosive RB in the league is not Kamara or CMC........it's Raheem Mostert........who was a UDFA that kicked around with 4 teams before making it in SF. Mostert is the kinda' guy you want when you have a QB like Josh Allen who can utilize the whole field with his great arm and athleticism. A true burner, not a 4.5 guy like Etienne, and a guy you don't have to give 200+ touches to in order to justify the investment........... because taking the ball out of Allen and his WR's hands is not recommended. If you have a noodle armed check down pocket passer like Drew Brees or Teddy Bridgewater maybe you want to get your RB the ball a lot more.........in Buffalo the goal should be stretching the field more.

There is zero frame of reference for that take. Who are these organization changing RB's? How many times did we have to watch the Saints face-plant in the playoffs to realize that the impact of an Alvin Kamara doesn't really make much of a difference? Teams without great regular season RB play have been consistently winning SB's for decades now. It's not important to have an exceptional RB. As for the notion that whatever RB you pick in round 1 will be good.............and therefore you can just pick one every 5 years.............I think you should look at the list of RB's drafted in round 1 over the decade previous to this season. Basically, if they were drafted from 10-32 they were mostly underwhelming or outright busts.........and if they were picked in the top 10 they were about 50/50 to succeed.

You didn't answer my question. There ISN'T a first round RB that the Bills have passed on in the past 25 years that was in the least bit regrettable. As for the mythical "putting the offense over the top".........the Bills offense was literally second in the NFL in scoring last season. The reason was because they threw the ball downfield a lot.......and effectively. Etienne isn't very likely to be like Alvin Kamara..........in fact the beating he took in college makes it more likely that he'll be JAG with the Jags. But even if Etienne met any unreasonable expectation and did become a great RB.......feeling compelled to hand it off......or even dump it off........to an Alvin Kamara instead of throwing it downfield is a recipe for less than what the Bills did offensively in 2020. As good as Kamara and McCaffrey are for RB's.........they average around 8 yards per reception for their careers............that juice is hardly worth the squeeze of putting it in the air when you have receivers that average 12-17 yards per reception. The position is devalued because there is only so much difference a RB can make in today's game. And no, there is NEVER a good time to use round 1 for a "luxury pick". Free agency changes rosters in a heartbeat now.

I agree. We have seen Beane trade up for a guard with RT flexibility in the second round and draft RB's in the 3rd round two years in a row. It's in his nature. Like his mentor Dave Gettleman.......big uglies and RB's are probably too high on Beane's personal list. Sometimes you gotta' be lucky and have fate intervene to prevent stupid mistakes like drafting a RB in round 1. The Bills haven't "regrettably" passed on one RB that went in round 1 in at least 25 years. Thinking that would change with one of these high mileage Etienne/Harris models would have been the epitome of impulse buying irrationality. Pass rushers are second only to QB's in value in today's NFL........they are also high risk but the potential return is very high. So having the draft fall that way was a stroke of good fortune for the organization, IMO........dodged a bullet this time........but the reality is that CB and WR need to be higher priorities in today's NFL.................I trust that Beane will grow out of his remaining Gettlenutz tendencies as he gains further perspective on what works and what does not. Returns on investments like Tre White and Stefon Diggs have been second only to Josh Allen.........it's best to value those positions far above RB in todays NFL.