BADOLBILZ

They could save his $7M base salary and might be able to pursue re-imbursement for his remaining unamortized bonus money of around $5.5M if he chose to retire. Not going to happen though. No way his agent let's him just retire with a "healthy" designation and give back money. If he decides to call it quits they would just end up releasing him and take the hit and save $5M total.

I thought it was worth a look putting him at tackle when they first got him and he was already in concussion protocol before even playing a preseason game. But at this point I think the damage is probably done. At RT he has a better chance of defending himself but as susceptible as he seems to be now there are still going to be collisions violent enough to knock him out of the lineup.

This is a tremendous question and probably should be explored in a thread of it's own rather than here. @GunnerBill would you want to tackle where you think the Beane front office ranks in decision making compared to the current front offices around the league? To get a better perspective...........remove their QB decisions. Yes those are huge..........selecting Allen was why they got to a championship game............but trading the Mahomes pick to KC to defer selecting a QB to 2018 so Beane could do it in person is also why they got beat and will be favored to be beaten in matchups with KC for the foreseeable future, most likely. My take is that aside from Allen, Brandon Beane and the "all star" cast of personnel people have been pretty pedestrian. His results are not only skewed by the great QB but because he bought and over-paid for a quicker turnaround than he was going to get with his modest work in drafting. The method they used to start their regime was risky.......ridding themselves of the prior regimes first and second round picks on principle dug them a roster hole that they were going to need to be efficient to dig out of. Currently Beane has one of the oldest rosters in the NFL and he's up against the cap because he paid top dollar to build up depth and special teams in the very short term. Yes I know.......he can "get out of" deals.......but when you then ultimately end up paying $13M for one year of Mario Addison........that's not a win. Maybe the development side isn't helping him out enough...........I am sure he didn't just pluck a guy like Wyatt Teller out of the locker room unannounced.........someone on the ground likely deemed him expendable as well, likely McDermott.

All I can tell you is that was Woods' explanation. He said he had been jarred similarly by the very same play many times against the Patriots. Do you not think that Morse is protecting his head from violent collisions now? Simple fact about pass blocking versus run blocking........pass blocking is about balance and keeping your head up. Run blocking inline requires leaning your body weight into the defender........which you can't do effectively with your head up. IMO Morse is broken. Wish I was wrong. He was a favorite of mine going into the draft.......I thought he was going to be a real late round steal at right tackle. KC did him a disservice moving him inside, in retrospect, IMO.

No. The tenor of the thread was how Beane fleeced the Vikings. He did not. I supported the trade and understood why he had to make it...........they had failed miserably at getting a WR1..........most recently passing on DK Metcalf in favor of Cody Ford. Beane wasn't dealing from a position of strength.......even though Diggs had worn out his welcome with Vikings management the Bills were in the more desperate situation. That has been Beane's MO.........make initial mistakes.........then have to pay above expectation to fix them. That's why he's in a bad cap situation.

My favorite example is that the 2017 Bills had ZERO drought-era first round picks on the field in their playoff game against the Jags. Tre White was their most recent and only own first rounder on the field that day. Shaq was the only other one on the roster and he was JAG at that point. That's why I can believe these people who think the Texans should trade Watson for 3 first round picks............in reality that's a pathetic offer for a top 5 QB.

Reid fired McDermott in Philly. To add insult to injury he replaced him as Eagles DC with OL coach Juan Castillo. If I was McDermott I'd have never spoken to that assh*le Reid again.

Been saying this for years. First round picks are a 50/50 proposition.........that's about how many end up playing well enough for the drafting to pick up their 5th year option. That's a solid percentage........but it's presumed by fans that they pan out at a much, MUCH higher rate. More like if you use that pick it will automatically pan out............so, of course, use it at a position of need! The value in first round picks is simply a better chance at the top ranked players at elite money positions. The only time a first round pick isn't overrated is when it's used on a QB.

Per Eric Wood........since you like EXPERT opinions.........the Patriots have a standard tactic of blowing up anticipated plays that involve the center trying to get out to the LB level by sending that linebacker in to violently engage the center at the LOS. Looks like a blunted run blitz to most but it's really putting a hat on a hat to prevent a running lane from ever opening. When Morse got hit.......he was concussed. It didn't look THAT violent but he's just THAT susceptible to it at this stage. I don't have the audio but all you have to do is re-watch the play. If you object to "useless" in the running game fine.........he's just a HUGE LIABILITY in the run game. IMO the problems with the run game start with his limitations at the LOS. As for Daboll......like I've said he loves the gotcha' plays. They look clever until they aren't fooling anyone and then wholesale changes are needed the answer comes much too late. That's the KC gameplan in a nutshell.

Morse is the Bills most athletic lineman. If you can get him out in space he can help you run blocking. But teams know that and actively work to take his ability to get upfield away. That's how New England concussed him early in the season. If a team knows what's coming they can engage that center and defeat the scheme. Morse doesn't have enough of a power game to make teams pay for it. He's a target out there and IMO it is where all of their running game struggles start. Shame because he's probably the best pass blocking center in the NFL. As for the people who admire Daboll's play designs so much........that's not surprising........Daboll has always favored the gotcha' plays to having a full service identity as an offense. Gotcha' plays are fun. Sam Wyche was fun.........until he didn't have elite talent........and then he was a joke. Remember Daboll at his 3 previous NFL OC jobs? He has proven he can get the least out of an offense if given the authority to do so. Doesn't at all mean he's incompetent.......Wyche nearly won a SB........but we should know what we get with Daboll. And as for those opinions........look at the GM's who were recently quoted(anonymously) that Josh Allen had passed Patrick Mahomes. Oy vey. That tells you all you need to know about top rated opinions in the NFL. I'll read the opinions but I use my own two eyes first and foremost.

The highlighted is entirely false. I've heard you state before that the Bills hired McDermott "right before the draft". Wrong. He was hired in early January like virtually every new HC and staff are. Rex Ryan was fired in-season so it wasn't exactly a hurried hiring situation. And to be clear, at no point before the 2017 draft had they indicated they would not be drafting a QB nor was it public knowledge that Whaley was a lame duck GM. Those are all post-draft narratives. The Bills made a series of poor decisions.........they should have just hired Beane with McDermott and gone to work on evaluating and drafting a QB...........like franchises normally do. It never made any sense whatsoever to wait. It made LESS sense for a perennial playoff team in KC with a respected QB to be pursuing a rookie QB than it did the Bills.

Rodgers is great. His release is quicker but as great as Rodgers is he doesn't have the command of the football that Mahomes has and the ability to make as many throws. We've come to take it for granted but Mahomes changes speeds like nobody else. Rodgers is amazing to watch but as you noted there is often too much velocity on throws. That's the only way he can make those. That's not a knock.......Mahomes is just unique in that regard at this point.

Marino was great but he was a statue though. He simply couldn't make plays on the move like many of today's modern QB's. I don't think Mahomes is a lesser pocket QB than Marino either. Mahomes' ability to change speeds on his throws is amazing. And it's effortless. He makes throwing a football look like throwing a baseball. It's not that easy.

Yeah the context of what it took to be a QB has changed so much. Mahomes is without doubt the most talented thrower of the football but in the era of Dan Marino and Jim Kelly you had to be able to take great punishment just to become a starting NFL QB. For every Dan Marino there were plenty of Jeff George, Chris Chandler, Chris Miller, Jim Everett types with huge talent but more fragile frames or personalities. Maybe Mahomes could have taken a beating, but I seriously doubt it would have ever gotten that far. More likely he would have done the far more sensible thing and stayed on the diamond where he had serious MLB potential. I've said it many times here.........when they legislated the violence out of the pocket and the middle of the field it greatly broadened the field of athletes that could play the QB position.

I have been surprised at the volume of the narrative that "it's a RB issue". It's the inability to block the plays being called. And it's complicated. Morse is simply outstanding in pass pro but utterly useless as a run blocker. So short of having at least one great guard they are probably going to lose the point of attack on the inside run game if he is out there. Feliciano is a very good run blocker as a center......the better center overall IMO....but he's about zero yards above replacement wrt blocking in general as a guard. I also find it amusing that people are just now getting around to noticing that Daboll isn't a genius. I think his answer to why they changed the run game design so much would have something to do with how the blocking tied into the passing game........which was different this year with a superstar WR in the lineup. Ultimately, the goal was to get the run yards(and then some) in the passing game. They really didn't need the run game most weeks so he could afford to focus on that aspect. To me, not being able to do both is a shortcoming on his part. This is supposed to be a Patriots-esque system but that system was able to be multiple when needed. Maybe(hopefully) with another year of experience in the offense they can take that step next year but there is a reason why so many teams are going with these Shanahan type systems.........they don't get caught up in the bad habit of using the dink-dunk pass game as a substitute for the run game.

He's the most naturally gifted passer the NFL has ever seen and it's not really close. He also doesn't have any negative characteristics that could be his downfall. If he stays healthy the top QB spot is his to lose for the next 10 years.

Beane pointed to the Bills lack of size on the DL as a big problem. I think they have a bunch of guys in the 270-340 range on that DL which is plenty big enough.......but that's what Beane said. Watt has the size and run defense presence and still has some pass rush left in him. He fits the mold that Beane is talking about. The key is actually that he's likely to be cut and become a free agent. Given a choice of contenders to sign with.......places like KC, Green Bay(Wisc native) and Tampa Bay would likely have better chances to get him. That's why I am leaning more toward a trade for pass rusher. If they want Watt they may have to trade for him and pay the extra $. We can talk all we want about how the Bills and Josh Allen should be perceived but players are likely to trust Mahomes, Brady and Rodgers over Josh Allen and it's not like Buffalo has more money to pay out than those teams.

I'm not sure why some people think that this was ever either a valid reason or excuse.

My hope is Brees ends back up in Indiana with the Colts. That team is pretty loaded and has a lot of cap space. Glad they didn't get a long term solution in Stafford.

I could see Beane trading for Von Miller. It wouldn't be a first round pick........maybe not even a second because his team control(team option year) ends after this season and he is in the middle of some controversy(which I think will blow over).......so it might not qualify as a blockbuster but that's the kind of move that could really help change the defense in the short term.

Brees is certainly the greater QB historically..........but it's my contention that the reason why the Saints failed in their most recent few years is because the older, weaker armed Brees was physically spent when they reached the playoffs. This year......with the broken ribs.......was just an exclamation point on that point. Stafford is a younger, much stronger armed QB. I also really like and trust McVay. He got a ton out of Goff.......Stafford is the far superior talent.

I think they will play it like the Saints did the past 3 years and push that debt down the road. Their rationale would be having a "#1 defense" right now justifies going for it.

The Bills didn't have a defense that was good enough to keep Mahomes off the field. I thought Daboll did a poor job preparing the team for the playoffs late in the year.......he took a lot of low hanging fruit from teams that were mailing it in rather than sharpen his run game..........but they were going to need to make some stops on defense and they weren't coached/prepared well enough there to do that. They gotta' become more multiple on defense. That Giants team was built on a dominant front 7 and they literally went to a 3 man front in SB XXV...........that kind of system versatility is not something McDermott has ever shown.

1) Jefferson was a curious signing because he really isn't a good DE or DT. I assumed they thought he was an ascending player but he was underwhelming. I would assume that they cut him? 2) I think they can move on from Milano. He's a very good weak side LB but they have Edmunds or Klein or possibly Dodson all who could move there and be good. 3) I don't think Brown ever got healthy. I see them moving on from Brown for cap reasons but I don't think they should just hand the job to Davis. If they get to pick 30 and the best player on the board is a potential stud WR that shouldn't be passed on to address a perceived need in the moment.

The point of the 1 tech in this defense is supposed to be to set up the instinctive MLB to be able to make plays in run defense. Doesn't even make sense with a guy like Edmunds behind it. I think they roll with this setup for another year and eventually have to change out the MLB or change the positioning up front. Wouldn't hurt this defense OR offense to be able to be multiple like recent champs NE and KC have been able to be. The 1 tech's mostly did their job this season once the rotation was set in the second half..........Vernon Butler basically cloned the performance of Star Lotulelei(which wasn't hard) and Phillips was an improvement over what they had in the WC game in Houston last year(Liuget) so IMO the 1 tech position overall was improved. As I said the regression statistically with the defense was mainly the MUCH better schedule and the significant loss of pass rush.