BADOLBILZ

I am still waiting on the "he finished 8th in the NFL stat" you lead with.........8th in what? We all saw him overthrow or not put enough air under a significant amount of his deeper throws last year............the deep ball is not an easy throw to complete but he just made too many uncompetitive/uncatchable throws for someone with his ability. I expect he will clean it up..........I've compared it to a guy like LeBron entering the NBA with a jump shot weakness and he gradually turned it into a big strength and that took a ton wear and tear off his body over time. Allen getting a deep ball could do the same. If you followed Cover 1 last season Allen often pulled the ball down and ran for first downs when he had created plenty of time to square his feet and throw and knew his man had single coverage beaten deep. He knew that he could not trust his deep accuracy enough and instead ran the ball and took a hit to keep the chains moving. He has so much room for growth in that area and it could alter the trajectory of his career if he gains the kind of confidence that guys like Russell Wilson and Brady have in their ability to throw accurately over the top of defenses. Of course it helps to have huge target deep ball winners like DK Metcalf and Mike Evans and Gronk even. Josh has Diggs but he's a much smaller target and really is too good in short to intermediate routes to use too often deep.

Not much but that one clip of him catching that deep throw from Jimmy G for a TD versus KC was encouraging. He has the makings of a crowd favorite.............fans love players who are cheap and don't seem to have caught the breaks. If Breida stays healthy thru camp and plays well in the opener expect to be moderating an "extend Breida now" thread that Monday.

Every year some relative nobody RB(or multiple) that no draftnik was really too excited about comes into the NFL and produces like you'd hope your early rounder would. James Robinson for Jax was that guy last year..........everybody who hates drafting RB's early and was playing with mock drafts was at least occasionally throwing him into their 6th or 7th round.........never sooner........and he comes in and puts up numbers on a terrible team that you'd think only a player like that Najee Harris or Etienne could.

I don't really expect OL but we were in the "what would opposing DC's think about the Bills pick" realm of imagination. It's a relatively strong draft for OT and WR. Typically, positions of strength like that will lead to several instances in that draft where that position has the BPA when you pick. I could see them selecting an OL to compete for the RG position now and eventually be capable of succeeding Williams or Dawkins. Job 1 of this organization has to be to keep Josh Allen healthy and productive.........teams are going to want to load up on defensive pieces to pressure and disrupt Allen and his receivers.......the easiest way to counter a myriad of high quality additions to opposing defenses is to field an exceptional OL and continue to give him extra time to throw anyway.

Again........8th in what specifically? The intended air yard stat in the Mile High Report article doesn't mean much wrt deep ball touch, timing and accuracy. That average IAY number is 9 yards and Allen is as good as it gets at throwing passes 20-25 yards on a rope. When you can do that with the harder intermediate throws you are going to average 9 IAY. Throwing catchable deep balls has been the biggest weakness in his game.

8th in what specifically? Allen is great on 20-25 yard throws......maybe the best in the NFL.......his arm strength allows him to throw them on a rope, not requiring much touch. But putting air under actual deep throws of 40+ yards has been a weakness despite his great arm. I believe it was going to be a focus this offseason and that he was going to close up that weak link in his game. All the more reason to give him a target or two that can just blaze a 9 route past a teams #2 CB while Diggs works the short to intermediate. They don't have that guy.

Oh offseason fantasies that never translate to the field...... In reality those DC's are saying thanks for not picking a top quality OL who might actually improve their line of scrimmage deficiencies of 2020 and instead drafting yet another 4.5-4.6 speed runnin' back who is now so invested-in that you will feel inclined to take the ball out of Josh Allen's hands more often than you should.

I'm a fan of Sanders but not a fan of the "same-ness" of their WR corps. We all know that Allen isn't yet adept at deep accuracy/touch/timing but they had a greater need for a legit deep threat with either an extra gear to get an overthrown ball or a huge catch radius.......or preferably both. That would complement the existing talent so much better, IMO. More room for RAC and less contested throws underneath. Probably create more running room for the backs.

Again.......you are putting yourself in the shoes of Watson. Upwards of 40% of NFL players are evangelical christian...........and the majority of players are christians of one denomination or another. Watson isn't an atheist like Aaron Rodgers.........he's a guy who has gotten a good deal of mileage out of being a man of faith. Faith In Action award winner.........baptized in the River Jordan........I'm thinking maybe you aren't the same guys.

He's very Jordan Mills-esque. It wouldn't be good if he were starting but it's certainly no worse than getting caught playing Mike Remmers at tackle. Hopefully Hart is getting the minimum. Remmers somehow got $3M in this market.

"It was an odd thing to bring up in this context".........GMAFB GB. When it came out that Watson was demanding a trade people, like yourself, RUSHED to defend him with the logic that the Texans management were lesser quality human beings ("Jesus Freaks!") than him. He deserved to work with better people. My opinion was stand by what you actually know about the situation. You really knew nothing about either side personally...........but you filled in A LOT of blanks to contrive an argument for one side. It's a common mistake.......you will probably insist otherwise because you are stubborn.........but I suspect next time you might be more inclined to realize that you don't know what you don't know rather than just auto-filling.

Another lesson for people who rallied behind Watson under the premise that this "poor guy" shouldn't have to play for "Jesus Freaks". You don't know these guys. Stick to what you ACTUALLY know about them..........which in Watson's case was that he signed a huge contract that nobody forced him to.......knowing that the organization was under intense criticism for their decisions.......and 5 months later was demanding he be traded.

"they were going straight down the toilet but ran out of schedule." They are making the most of their runway this year.............congrats on tying the record with your 18th straight winless game Sabres! Yeah........their situation is not like the Bills drought........the Bills were just mediocre for most of that period.........the Sabres have been the worst franchise in sports in the period the Pegula's have owned them. It's crazy bad.

With the 4 and 5 star recruits though............these kids families have dollar signs in their eyes..........those kids don't always get to choose what THEY want. I remember reading a story about Patrick Peterson years ago and how he had desperately wanted to be a RB but his father said no way..........the money is at CB.......and the rest is history. Peterson is the kind of athlete that might have run for 8k-10K yards 20 years ago........those guys aren't even playing the position now. It's a shock when you see a guy like Derrick Henry who has a $20M per year pass rusher body but somehow ends up staying at RB.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Toney won't run the 40 on Thursday at the Gators Pro Day. His is probably the biggest 40 in the entire draft.........1 tenth of a second could turn the 4 years of his rookie deal from $12M to $4M. If he isn't blazing in his private 40's he might just decide to feign a hammy and stand on his tape and hope someone still takes him in the top 40 picks.

No he's not as fast as Parrish. Toney reminds me of a poor-man's Peter Warrick. Warrick was seen as the most elusive WR college football had ever seen.........but he had only 4.56 speed(which today would probably read as 4.5 flat speed). He was a good player but generally considered a major disappointment because the lack of speed didn't translate to the pros. And that was a couple decades ago.........the back 7 of defenses are much faster now. To me, I wouldn't touch Toney in round 1 unless he runs a sub 4.4 40...........not worth the risk.........tons of good WR prospects in this draft it would be foolish to get yourself beat on day one.

Yep. Back in the 90's I used to say that the 3rd best athlete on most NFL teams was the 3rd string RB(who basically never played back then). Evolving into a pass-centric league has actually put the best athletes on the field. What the league needs to do though is figure out a bonus system or different pay scale for players who run the football.........those dudes take too much of the abuse for too little pay. As I pointed out Travis Etienne touched the ball over 800 times in 4 years in college...........Steve Largent and Shannon Sharp caught 819 passes each in 14 year NFL careers........the beating RB's take relative to other skill positions is substantial.

You don't get to 40K posts by actually reading posts you are responding to.

I think we are seeing that elusiveness with the ball in hand....but without real speed......doesn't yield the returns it did 10 years ago even. Back 7's are just too fast now. Real speed has emerged as a bigger factor........and real speed doesn't start until you get under that 4.4 mark now.

Has Toney run a 40 yet? All I can find is his recruiting 40 which was a laughable 4.69.

First.......pro football only exists to make money. And everybody that says they don't need more football watches more football if more football is on. Until that stops then the supply is not meeting the demand........it will be 18 games by 2023 most likely. Which is more advertising opportunities for things that you might see as more of a need..........like different alcoholic drinks, chicken sandwiches and pizza concoctions. This is how real business actually works. Keep it coming NFL.........1 more week to tailgate is a need for me.

It's funny though that there is this perception that wear and tear STARTS to accumulate at the pro level. Between Harris and Etienne we are talking about almost 1600 touches already between carries, catches and returns. That's a lot of collisions at a very high level of college football. Alabama and Clemson might have already squeezed out a lot of that first contract production. And perhaps that's one reason why so many first round RB's turn into outright disappointments or busts. They are in an evaluator's blind spot.........too productive in college to ignore.......if you squint and tilt your head they may seem like a worthwhile risk at 30.........but the impact of their existing mileage is hard to quantify.

I wouldn't call it a good piece. Meh. Too many omissions. He thoroughly presents the pro-drafting a RB in round 1 side........which is admittedly a small/weak argument so it's easier to cover..........and undersold just how bad of a proposition drafting RB's in round 1.......especially after the top 10 picks......has been. And he almost entirely omits the opportunity cost of taking a RB. Things change FAST in the NFL........the Bills aren't totally set up everywhere for 5 years........they could be absolutely desperate for help on the lines or secondary in 2 seasons and not have enough money to address those key positions with quality......we just don't know. That's why you should treat the early part of the draft to build the long term foundation of your team..........and RB's are never that. The Chiefs drafted CEH.........that is sold as something of a win..........but in reality he basically performed like Devin Singletary when he got the ball last season.........they tried to upgrade on him with LeVeon Bell(which failed because Bell was shot). I don't think Harris or Etienne are better prospects than CEH.........but fwiw, Etienne is spun as wildly productive and durable...........it's not mentioned how his ypc dropped from 7.8 to 5.2 in his senior year.......and if that's maybe because he's already had well over 800 touches on his smallish frame. Also, he actually sucks at KOR's.........maybe because 4.44 is pretty fast for a RB nowadays.....but not REALLY exceptionally fast for a skill position. I think a big part of this issue with these RB's is something I've already touched on..........they AREN'T the athletes that once populated the position. A guy like Etienne is probably nothing more than a reserve NFL RB in the 80's and 90's. Guys like that couldn't take the pounding and keep producing. Gaughan wants to sell the idea that what you sacrifice long term with RB's.......you make up with concentrated impact. But in reality even the Zekes and Barkley's and McCaffreys are probably only going to give you 3 exceptional years out of 5. And those are the "HR", generational types. The track record outside those types that are taken in round 1 is abysmal.

Generally speaking the early rounds produce a much higher % of star players than the later rounds. It's just much easier to get high quality play from mid-late round running backs than it is late rounders at positions like QB, Pass Rushers, LT, CB........ And when you have a need at THOSE positions..........you really have a need........and they cost A LOT more to acquire in free agency.........if you can even find ones in UFA that aren't full of red flags.

In 2019 USA Today ranked the top running backs selected in round one in the past decade: 16. Jahvid Best 15. David Wilson 14. Trent Richardson 13. CJ Spiller 12. Ryan Matthews 11. Doug "muscle hamster" Martin 10. Rashaad Penny 9. Josh Jacobs (3.9 ypc last year....yuck) 8. Leonard Fournette (a career sub 4.0 ypc in a league where the average ypc is 4.2) 7. Sony Michel (only season he stayed healthy had 3.7 ypc) 6. Melvin Gordon (4 of his 6 seasons below 4.0 ypc) 5. Mark Ingram (long, solid career as a rotational back but not a playmaker) 4. Todd Gurley 3. Saquon Barkley 2. Christian Mccaffrey 1. Ezekiel Elliott Only the top 4 have been elite RB's..........and they weren't just first round picks......they were all picked with top 10 overall picks. And Gurley flamed out at the end of his age 24 season and Barkley is now surgically repaired after putting in two very good seasons. Fournette, Richardson and Spiller were also top 10 picks.......so even being THAT certain that the RB will be great isn't anywhere close to a lock. The rest of that list could have been undrafted and nobody would be astonished that they weren't selected. So who are all these "in most situations" guys that prove that anywhere in the 1st round is where you get superstar RB's? Last year CEH was the RB that was selected in round 1.........go back and compare his numbers to Singletary year 2......very similar.....(and note that Singletary year 1 averaged 5.0 ypc).