OldTimer1960

In print media, they definitely have limited space ( I recognize that that limitation doesn’t really exist online), but I don’t understand how you think the meaning was changed by the omission. Both quotes have the same meaning to me.

How do you feel that those 10 words changed the meaning of what he said? I took both “quotes” to mean exactly the same thing: ”We respect Tyrod and think we could do worse, but like every position, will look at all options to improve.”

I think that there is a pretty good chance that the Bills won’t be able to trade up far enough to get a good QB prospect and they could get completely shutout of a QB in the first round. I think that might force them to trade both 2nds to trade up for what might be left at QB in round 2 - that *could* be Mike White and Kyle Lauletta. I hate to to be a downer, but other teams value the QB position highly, too. One or more teams that don’t appear desperate for a QB could certainly take one and disrupt the Bills’ plans.

You might be right and that would hurt, but I will admit that I wasn’t keen on drafting Mahomes. To my eyes, he was a run-around scatter-shot passer who had a great arm and top athletic ability. I thought that he got away with a lot of poor ill-advised passes that his WRs bailed him out on in college. He could certainly prove me wrong in the NFL, but it would not surprise me if he doesn’t pan out.

I am not one who thinks that quality RBs are a dime a dozen and that you can easily rely on late round draftees and UDFAs with no loss in quality, so I like that they are investigating accomplished options at RB. However, I do think that the majority of RBs have short shelf lifes in the NFL. I respect the career that Ivory has had, but I would not spend a lot on him to backup McCoy. I would be alright with a 2nd or 3rd round pick being spent on his backup as long as the draftee is a strong candidate to be McCoy’s eventual replacement. That being said, if they think that adding Ivory helps the culture and leadership that they are trying to instill, then by all means sign him up.

Do you mean trade rumors specific to trading McCoy?

Also 2 LB, extra CB, speed WR, etc. Without the takeaway-fueled 5-2 start, they could easily have been under .500

I agree and with all the high picks they have this year, I think that they will show great improvement in 2018. I think they could get to 8-8.

Here is a link to the story after his poor pro day http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000334589/article/mayock-teddy-bridgewaters-pro-day-workout-average-at-best

And there are more "good" prospects at QB this year. That year, only Wentz and Goff were considered top prospects. Interestingly, Dak Prescott looks to be pretty good and he was picked in the 4th round. In this draft, I think that Rosen, Darnold and Mayfield are a notch better prospects than Jackson, Allen and maybe Rudolph, but the latter 3 are all certainly still more highly regarded than any QB that came out with Wentz and Goff. Heck, there are years when any of Jackson, Allen and Rudolph would be the top rated QB in the draft.

Oh yeah, that's right. Same idea though, he had a bad day and his stock was damaged.

I think Teddy Bridgewater might disagree. I believe he threw at the combine and it is thought that contributed to him going later in the draft than otherwise might have been expected.

I'm with you, but I also think supply and demand has some effect on the draft value of a player. I think I can agree that Rudolph is probably a bit less talented physically than Rosen, Darnold, Allen and Jackson. I also can agree that Mayfield might have better leadership traits. However, I think it still comes down to: If the Bills feel that Mason Rudolph can become a good long-term starter for them, I would think that makes him worth pick 21 or 22. Waiting and taking the chance that they can get him in round 2 wouldn't make sense, unless they also felt that there was another one or two QBs also left that they think are as good as Rudolph (Mike White, Kyle Lauletta, for example).

Respectfully, what is a mid-second round talent? I get that it might be a player "ranked" 42- 53 or so. But what does that really mean? How do you compare a LT, DE, OLB, QB, RB, etc. and how would you rank order players that play positions of varying importance?

Every QB is drafted “too early”. Seriously, with recognition that different positions are more or less important - and QB is almost universally recognized as THE most important position, how can you question drafting a QB early? What does the “BIG BOARD” mean? How do draft analysts put together a top 50 (or 100 or ....)? How do you compare QBs, DEs, OTs, DTs, CBs, Safeties, etc? I don’t look at the “BIG BOARD” for draft value. Draft value is, at least partly determined by your team’s strengths and weaknesses. Why? Do you want them to trade for Foles? i would not give much to get Foles - tops this year’s 3rd.

Why do you think that? i see Cleveland as a soon-to- be-very-good team. They have the 1st and 4th picks, why would they be interested in signing Keenum, who likely (IMHO) will regress to his “mean” which is not very good?

I keep reading about “will they take a flyer on TBD player”. I have always thought that this meant to spend a lower round pick on a player with very good physical talent, but either not a lot of production or production at a lower level of competition. I don’t see even a top 3 round pick as “taking a flyer”. What do other folks see this as?

So, you don’t like Rudolph? ?

You would not have liked John Elway then. “His” record was under .500 his senior season.

It isn’t even for sure that they were wrong on Watson. He certainly had a GREAT start, but it was a very limited sample and there have been lots of guys who have a good start, but fade when NFL defenses figure out how to game-plan them. I am NOT saying that will happen to Watson, but there is definitely a chance it could. Right on. Not sure that they do have the necessary ammo. I don’t think they have the draft picks to get to the 2nd to 4th pick to get Darnold or Rosen - at least not that I would be willing to give up. Of course, if they are willing to give up several high picks this year and next year, they might be able get there, but that is too rich for my blood.

Could very well have been the case if they had been there.

I agree with this. A rookie could learn from Taylor's professionalism, but isn't going to learn an awful lot about actually playing the position from Taylor. I agree that Fitz and McCown would be better guys for that role.

Agreed.

If it hasn't already been stated, this looks like it means the Bills won't be in the Cousins Derby. I don't think they would spend that $6M on Taylor's bonus if they were pursuing the FA QB that is going to cost a boatload of $.

That is true. That makes it a $6M insurance policy. That isn’t that bad in comparison to the cap limit.