BADOLBILZ

No question the flat throws are his biggest issue taming the deep ball. Allen and Palmer talked publicly late last season about how they still had a lot of room for improvement and I am assuming it's improving his deep ball touch and accuracy. He's gotta' make that jump the same way that LeBron had to learn to shoot consistently from 3. Not having to take the ball to the rim every possession took a toll off of James' body and becoming great at the deep ball can minimize the punishment that Allen will have to take to put the ball into the end zone consistently. Allen has the talent so there is no reason to think he can't.......he just never had to put air under the ball to push it as far as his HS and college WR's could get it. Not having that bucket drop ball is not something he is going to want to live without. Assuming he is ready to make a notable jump........and I expect him to........it is a perfect time in his career to have a deep threat that can increase his margin for error.

Diggs is a threat to get deep.......but not in the sense that few CB1's can turn and run with him or match up with his catch radius. And remember that Minnesota offense was heavy play action. This offense is basically all run from the shotgun........you don't get the same schematic boost in terms of the deep ball game. In my experience you can always rationalize why something might work on paper........"of course Trent Edwards can run a no huddle with studs like Owens and Evans and Lynch in the backfield".........extreme example........but generally speaking........when an element of the plan looks very flawed it plays out flawed. 1) And I absolutely agree with your point that the deep ball is not a strong suit for Josh.........but rather than saying "well let's just focus even more on what he CAN do" I think with an arm talent like his you want to take him to the next level. Give him a guy who can get deep and provide a lot of margin for error with size or an extra gear. I don't think Brown or Diggs provide the extra gear or the catch radius deep. They are great for someone who can drop the deep ball in a bucket like Russell Wilson but I think Allen needs more room for error. Allen's mediocre work with the deep ball has certainly been fully exposed though...........and so we could already expect teams to be jumping his short to intermediate throws more in 2021. He shouldn't fall off the cliff like other limitation-exposed QB's of Bills past or anything because he can make some intermediate throws that are indefensible at times.......like the TD pass to Diggs late in the Arizona game.......which I think is part of @dave mcbride's defense of the Sanders signing. 3) I like Hollister. He's probably not a difference maker against the likes of KC, Tampa, Indy, Baltimore perhaps but I think he'll be effective against teams that won't be as capable of executing the "Bills defense" that we will be seeing. Agree on the DL rotation. Really did not like the Addison re-structure. Butler I could understand a little because 340 pounders who have shown they can get to the QB are rare and will warrant more development time(which he didn't get at DT1T). But even so I would have been fine with them cutting bait there as well. They need someone on the edge who can actually finish at the QB. I think there is a line between what qualifies as "pressures" and what qualifies as plays that really scare a QB into making a bad decision........kinda' like shots on goal versus scoring chances in hockey. Bills get plenty of SOG but plays where they are legitimately threatening the QB to the point where ball safety is a concern are lacking.

Those numbers were last season. The style of offense, Allen's uptick in play and Diggs were new and they started the year with a speed threat in Brown. Doing it over again with 19 games worth of tape for defenses to dissect and without new players who can make defenses cover the entire field isn't going to be as easy. Middling RB's + Middling TE play + 3 primary WR's who don't force the safeties to play back = recipe for defense squatting on your short to intermediate throws and, in turn being in better position to stuff your run game. Hopefully it doesn't play out that way. Maybe Sanders plays like his Niners and earlier form and turns into the guy who runs 10 yards then comes back to catch the ball for 8.........like Diggs did over and over last season. And then Diggs gets used a bit more like he did in Minnesota in 2019 when he was targeted deep more. And btw........I still suspect they end up with Ertz before it's all said and done.........but until then they aren't notably improved on paper.

I'm not thinking of a guy like John Ross.........more like a legitimate, producing NFL WR but with more of a skill set that complements that of Diggs and Beasley...........Sanders game is redundant. I've seen enough football to know that this is the exact thing that turns into an in-season lament. And we just saw what happens when you can't use the whole field in that AFCCG.......and to an extent the entire playoff run on offense.

Yeah he went from Barny Garbidge to Gary Barnidge.

I disagree with your first sentence: Diggs has the speed to get deep occasionally......he was a 4.46 at the combine....... but he's not a 4.35 nine route runner..........it's not the kind of straight line speed that is going to make defenses play off and away from his strength which is working short to intermediate routes. Sanders and Beasley have at best average long speed for their spots and limited YAC ability(and are going to be a year older at an age when that might matter). Beasley definitely isn't going to be a field stretcher.......he has NEVER threatened teams deep. Sanders basically just caught the ball and fell down or was immediately tackled in New Orleans last year. People want to excuse the lack of big plays because of Brees but when he got the ball in his hands he didn't show the juice he used to have in getting away. I'm not saying they won't be good........but it's a concern. Remember, this offense was all new to the NFL last year. In the playoffs their receivers did not have much success and it hurt them not having the speed to make the Chiefs play more conservatively on defense. Beane indicated as much after the season. The reason they say building a WR corps is like building a basketball team is because you want to make sure you have different skill sets. The Bills WR corps seems to have a lot of duplication.

Exactly on the punctuation and spacing. I learned to keyboard on a computer but I also used manual and word processing typewriters some as well. For people over 40 it's a lot more natural to read that spacing and the demographic here is heavy toward people over 40. Most website articles nowadays have large fonts and lot's of spacing to make them less tiring to read.........that can be annoying having to physically scroll thru. Here I assume people are keeping the type small and tight and just address the legibility and tenor of the thought in other ways. I tend to use a lot of single sentence "paragraphs" too because there are a lot of people on here who see a condensed paragraph and think........nah, not sifting thru that. Me being one of them.

The problem with the Bills WR corps, as I see it, is precisely what people call it's great strength........that they have 3 guys that excel in the same areas.......specifically snapping off short to intermediate routes. Davis has more potential in contested situations down field but I'm not expecting him to be enough to change the way defenses attack the Bills. What they have at WR x and 0 wise is a lot like having two RB's of the same speed and quickness that can't get to the edge.........it helps the defense gameplan and focus their energy on what works when knowing that they don't have to defend the entire field. Traditionally there are two ways to naturally free up your outside WR's so defenses don't squat on their routes: 1) Have one great deep ball WR that defenses fear enough to keep the safeties backed off. Speed scares defenses. Big and fast even more. 2) Or have a great seam stretching TE who can draw the safeties to the middle of the field. Ideally you are like the Chiefs and have both. If the Bills want to move the ball throwing it 8-12 yards in the air all day to 3 dudes who excel at that.........defenses will gladly take their chances with that as opposed to getting beaten over the top.

1) I don't think you understand how large that $6M cap number is for Njoku. They can't spread that $6M out over two seasons like they did with Sanders. And Njoku has zero reason to negotiate it down or spread it out. It's guaranteed. He will want to hit free agency next winter. Unless you want to offer a guy who caught like 15 passes last year a long term $10M aav deal, which is a crazy idea. If the Bills were to get Ertz they would almost certainly extend his contract to get his first year hit down in the $3M-$4M range. 2) Knox is not a stiff. They are both great athletes......both large TE's and nearly identical in terms of speed and quickness measurements. Njoku looks more impressive on the hoof but Knox has been more productive. He drops too many passes but he's not as big of an overall enigma as Njoku. Ultimately, they are both just players who seem to have a lot of upside but neither are finished yet........so trading Knox for a much more expensive and less productive version really doesn't add up, IMO.

He went so late cuz he no sep-a-rate. His deal was catching contested passes. This is another very deep WR draft. I could see them going with a scheme fit at the x or z first.......maybe a Tylan Wallace who is nifty enough to maybe be able to run a lot of Diggs designs if he were to go down. Then after the 4th round intermission picking a fast and quick slot guy who can (ideally) return kicks and hopefully replace some of Beasley's snaps after next season. Then in round 6, 7 or UDFA looking for a guy like Tamorrion Terry who looks like Randy Moss but is a lot closer to a higher upside Andre Holmes as a player.........and has real skill as a gunner on ST. Which they might need if Jones or Neal go down or they decide to cut either in camp.

The Titans were where the Bills are at this time last offseason. They weren't able to able to achieve what they needed to make the jump. They were still pretty good. That's not where we want the Bills to end up. But If they don't do a better job in non-WR offense and getting to the passer they might have to take the L and try again next year. Not what you hope for from a "wizard".......but the closer you get to the top the smaller the margin for error. One thing they shouldn't do though is what Whaley and Rex did early in the 2016 draft when they reached for players at positions of need who they thought could start right away. Don't reach for a modest pass rusher when there are better long term options at other key positions etc..

I am actually expecting big jumps from all of those guys...........but there will be players that take steps back too. If someone would have suggested at this time last year that John Brown would have the kind of drop off he had........or that Edmunds would play his worst football of his career for half a season......and Milano would only play like 30% of the snaps......or that the running game would get WORSE without board whipping boy Frank Gore.........I mean.........that would have been met with much denial. Some of those guys were playing better at the end..........but even so it was only enough to get housed by the Chiefs. It's reasonable to assume that just as many players or more will similarly regress or be limited by injury next year. We have to remember that it's a matchup league..........they are adding nice players that range from ok to very good but they need a couple difference makers.......being solid across the board with a dynamic QB is a formula only Belichick has been able to turn into Lombardi's. This staff is good and experienced by NFL standards but they are not the kind that can dial up significantly different but still effective offensive and defensive gameplans on a week to week basis. They need the Jimmy's and Joe's.

It's possible that it's just no fun for a self-made billionaire to be hands-off. Not talking about a guy who inherited his money.

On the bright side at least Eichel hasn't had 20 masseuses join in a civil suit against him yet so it's actually not at rock bottom.

Listening to Paul Hamilton a couple weeks ago.........he said that the Pegula's turned over full control of the Bills to McD and Beane..........and even though its working they regret giving up all of that control.........so don't look for them to do the same with the Sabres. Hockey was the sport Terry Pegula was more familiar with.........it makes sense that he feels like he knows more about it and wants to have more control. The problem is that it's not working and the dysfunction has actually gotten worse despite having much more talent than the "tank" years. It's unfortunate that they've turned out to be SO bad at this.......I'm sure it takes a lot of the fun out of it when you think you are too rich to fail at it.........and then instead you are so bad at the job that you just have to turn over full control and your primary contribution is just to sign the checks.

This thread got you fired up.........I thought you were going to start replying to your own posts.

Akeem Hicks makes way too many tackles and rushes the passer much too well to be a 1 tech for McD.

@Sherlock Holmes do you approve of this move? Or do his licorice gum drop eyes knock him down your board?

He was unhappy in Denver. He criticized the OC in the media last season. I think them going out and paying Melvin Gordon when he was running for 1,000+ yards and playing on UDFA money........as a local kid.......really irritated him.

Nice meme but the wrong scene.......had to point out because the extra in the brown sweater with blue shirt is a Bills fan. Nice guy but farts a lot and thinks it's funny. Batted after him in little league unfortunately.

One of the chief differences is that those SB teams were really before widespread free agency............a time when players were really tied to teams for a very long time so it was easier to develop talent from within. I think back then first round picks were on 6-7 year deals. If the team drafted you they weren't going to put you in bubble wrap because you *might* be good on offense or defense like they have to now.........they didn't have to.......you were under control for so long that you had to play special teams. Now, those roster spots are like your farm system.......you really want them more for drafting and developing. It's a choice teams have to make. The Bills dedicate more ST only positions and $ than most.......if not more than any.

Yeah I think Barkley's QB career is over. You are going to feel bad for all the shade you threw on him when he is watching the game next to you at Busby's next season though.

Yeah there is this notion here........probably because the Bills backs are slow...........that speed backs can just make a living running outside the tackles. But the yards are to be had inside. The guard/tackle gap is the new "outside" run. It doesn't pay very often to bounce it toward the sideline against fast, undersized LB's that are most at home tackling a RB on the side rather than face up(where it hurts). Lindsay does a solid job of working thru the line and then he has that burst that Moss and Motor lack and can quickly eat up another 8-10 yards.

He plays special teams but he also gets open in the pass game

He was a playa' tho.......as they used to call him in the lockeroom: