BADOLBILZ

He was an excellent player for the Canes but not sure he will test well or pass the medicals everywhere. Seemed like he was held together with chewing gum and popsicle sticks last season. Always getting hurt and having to come off the field for a few plays. He's a gamer but not sure he's coming into the league ready for 10 years of punishment either. More instinctive than physically gifted. I wouldn't use a second round pick on him. He may become Micah Hyde 2.0 someday because he has those elite instincts............but so may some 5th or 6th rounder in THIS Bills defense. Very deep DB class.

I suppose that could be aimed at McD but I assume that's in response to Matt Fairburn saying there was friction between Butler and Elam on the SHOUT podcast. Seems more like a "I'm a great DB coach" post than a "why wasn't I made DC" post.

I'd say decrease. Williams was a massive underachiever. Some of the stuff you get away with in college just won't fly in the pro's. The least surprising thing I saw in the Senior Bowl was Williams face masking a RB to the ground. Dumb as a box of rocks.

Yeah Butler was long seen as the heir apparent at DC. I assume he wasn't going to stay around after he got passed over.

Yeah he's known as being a hard a$$ in an age when players get coddled............which of course, doesn't help you much as a recruiter. Maybe not having the recruiting responsibility will make him easier to work with. Sad to see John Butler go but figured that would happen once he got passed over for Bobby Babich jr.

As a Hurricanes fan I was glad to see him go when I saw the headline. Later found out he was going to the Bills. 😂 He just wasn't pulling his weight as a recruiter. He could turn out to be a great coach for the Bills........he came to Miami well regarded........he just did the worst recruiting job of any position coach on staff and that aspect has only become more important in recent years. What I'd look for is the Bills to maybe gain a little scouting edge on late round DB's..........he has recruited a lot of these guys(mostly unsuccessfully) in this draft class while at West Virginia/Georgia/Miami.

Yep it's coming full circle. The grumpy old men of TSW won't pay for Bills content...........but fortunately they will be able to read about the results and transactions every morning on TSW. "For chrissake the Bills traded Bullfrog! The only guy they got left for 4 eyes Schottenhoffer!".

Do it Jerry. The entertainment value would be great. Meatball McCarthy and Rex. Could've been the HC matchup in SB XLV if the Jets didn't come out flat after the win in NE in the divisional round.

It's a subjective take. Turnovers are massive and change games and seasons. Realistically, White can't actually cover Hill or Waddle so system/plan and pass rush were the biggest keys to his success that day. If you'd have told me Greg Rousseau would end up with 15 sacks after that day too I'd have believed you. It was the "everything came together" game of the season for the Bills defensively. But also Douglas game isn't all "splash". He's more rugged/physical, durable(obviously) and likely more versatile than White at this point and is an active locker room leader(White is more a "by example" type). The most compelling part of the arguments against keeping White though are the relative depth of the room and ease of finding starting quality DB fits in this defense thru later picks. And this is all assuming that the achilles injury doesn't totally finish him off as a cover man. Not a lot of good examples of older CB's bouncing back well from this. Recently, Nik Needham was a nifty slot guy until he tore his in 2022 and it took him 12 months to get back and then he was ineffective the rest of the 2023 season. With that injury at White's high mileage I think you kinda' have to ASSUME he's not going to be right next year, if ever. The fact that his sorta' full recovery from ACL tear turned into a two offseason affair doesn't bode well for this rehab.

My biggest concern really is that the Bills would go into a draft that has excellent quality early and potentially good depth late at WR/OL/DB and instead of leaning into those strengths they try to reach for immediate need at DT and DE early........positions I view as weak this year, personally. That's a recipe for disappointment. That's how you end up starting a draft with depth players and finishing with depth players. Retaining Von is a risk. I think he's probably 50/50 to be worth the $6M or more this year because that doesn't buy you much in free agency at edge and they got squat on the roster behind he and Rousseau. I think they could get pretty close to what Tre White could bring coming off a torn achilles(an underrated CB killer) for close to league minimum via Christian Benford. Then draft a future starter or 2 in the secondary on day 3. I don't know where they are getting solutions at DE.

Yeah I see your point, they could just roll with Kameron Kline at RDE and be fine so long as Tre White can keep that slouch Benford on the bench. DE in the Bills system is the position where physical talent is the most important. No defense asks DE's to have any broader of a skillset in order for the defense to succeed. Very hard position to fill with impact. Is Miller totally washed or does his recovery just extend into a second offseason like White's ACL recovery did? I don't know but if you are gambling on upside at a position in the Bills defense DE is that position. I don't have any problem moving on from either player if I know the replacements are at least going to allow the defense to remain a strength. But November 2022 Von Miller would be much more valuable than September 2023 Tre White. That part is not disputable.

Who do you replace Von Miller with at DE? Tre is a zone system boundary-only CB with speed, quickness and(of course) durability concerns. He's not physical enough to play slot like Taron or move to safety. I know you've never felt Douglas was a starting NFL CB but that's pretty contrary to popular belief and production proof.......Benford and Elam return.........and the draft is much deeper at CB than it is at DE.

I remember the first time I heard the name McConkey playing for Georgia and........also being a WR...........I just assumed he was related to former NY Giant WR and Buffalo native Phil McConkey (Canisius High grad) who starred in the Giants first SB win. Tracked a little young to be Phil's son but figured must be a nephew or cousin or something. After never hearing anything about it on any broadcasts I finally looked it up in 2022 and apparently they are not related. Not a common name and to both be receivers......

Yeah they really can't just move on from Diggs or Miller without big consequence. But the highlighted is like saying that the concept of "currency" was created to put people in debt. The want for things you can't afford creates debt. The salary cap was DESIGNED to make it so every team has the same buying power as their league partners........it's certainly NOT designed to be kind to highly-paid under-performing players.........it's designed to create spending balance and punish careless spending.

He wasn't even decent except for for some very limited stretches really. He was supposed to be a stud starting pitcher when he came up with the Twins and had good a strong arm that kept getting him chances.......but his fastball was straight as an arrow. I was always delighted to see him come in against the Yankees. That said, the guy loved baseball and kicked around the minors and independent leagues for a LONG time after his major league career was over. Every time I've seen him in relation to something Patrick is doing he has that familiar addled manor you see in old drunks. That's probably why you don't see a lot of him.

Beane tried to get Reader in free agency but he chose Cinci. Denico Autry is another guy they tried to get in UFA but failed. If TN decides they want to get younger there I could see the Bills pursuing Autry in UFA again because he could give them a combination DE/3T. I'd think the cap healthy Titans would retain him coming off an 11.5 sack season but at age 34 sometimes teams turn their back on those guys.

I don't think Rosemary Jackson(as Charles Davis hilariously called him) is getting to 245.

I think for the most part Bills fans are focused primarily on getting an X receiver early to replace/upgrade on Davis. While Burton can do that.........he has good speed and tracks the ball well and has good arm length........ his height and lack of an extra gear at that size would be my concerns as the primary deep threat. How many times do we see JA17 hurl a flat deep ball and the receiver just doesn't have the length or extra burst to get to it? His raging personality is also concern, as you noted. For those thinking about S/LB James Williams from Miami........similar issue. Williams rarely went a game where he didn't do about 5 things that could have drawn a conduct penalty. The egregious facemask penalty in the Senior Bowl was just James being James.

I don't see where that counters any point I made. It's a straw man because I never said there weren't questions with Mahomes. They were just minor concerns given his incredible talent. And proved to be so. Mahomes threw for almost 10,000 yards and 77 TD's in his 2 full seasons as a starter at Texas Tech. Allen was far more raw and far less accomplished with all of the very same concerns and then some. They chose him 7th overall after passing on Mahomes. Allen becoming a top QB from the place he started is a thing of legend in the scouting community. Which is why it's just laughable that people think Mahomes wouldn't have become great in Buffalo.

Thomas was up there with Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields.........and ahead of Micah Parsons........as a top 5 overall 2018 recruit. He looked as advertised as a freshman........like he'd play his 3 seasons and declare after the 2020 season. Dude just mostly sucked the other 5 years of college. Hilarious that he and his agent thought he was too big to play the actual game.

Well his tape was universally top 100 and almost everyone had him as a top 50 prospect or higher. And he played like not even a priority UDFA. Like a mini-camp invite. I think the rumors about him perhaps having issues with mental illness(depression) might be true. His week was atrocious. He could have a precipitous fall if he doesn't answer a lot of questions at the Combine. Like Da'Rick Rogers type fall.

Well the curse of the Bambino........as @FireChans compared this too........wasn't a curse because it prevented the Red Sox from winning the World Series 26 more times between 1918 and 2004............it was that it would soon elevate a league rival to seemingly previously unattainable championship status and the Red Sox then failed to win a WS for the rest of Ruth's career and another 86 years thereafter in total. Whether Mahomes and the Bills then went to 6 straight conference title games and 4 Super Bowls in that span isn't the point. One SB appearance alone would have trumped any of the Bills accomplishments since. And to the idea that Mahomes wouldn't have been great in Buffalo...........how can anyone say that after Josh Allen basically evolved from a scattershot 52% passer into one of the best in the league under this regime? That argument that Mahomes wouldn't have been able to be great in Buffalo has never held any water. Mahomes was a much closer to finished product than Allen. Andy Reid and the Chiefs weren't magicians. Reid had never won a SB in nearly 20 seasons as a HC and the fans there were antsy about his playoff choke jobs since taking over. His seat there was warm. And at that point and the Chiefs organization was almost 50 years since their only prior SB win.

Trading the pick that became Mahomes trumps the Lamonica trade as the worst trade in Bills history. Lamonica never won a SB and didn't really block the Bills success.........as their roster had really aged out in the 1967 season. Mahomes has eliminated SB contending Bills teams 3 times already and could win his 3rd SB next week. He's tracking to become the greatest or second greatest QB of all time. And contrary to popular belief none of the picks acquired in the trade with the Chiefs resulted in the Bills acquiring Josh Allen.

He was pretty terrible considering the talent around him this season as well. Joe Milton was awful as well. Hartman just lacks talent. Milton is just a terrible decision maker. 12 years of college experience between those 2.

Yeah his performance was inexplicable. Nothing like the player he was on tape, in-season in the ACC.