OldTimer1960

Talented offense? Allen and Diggs are great, Singletary and Cook are good, Knox is pretty good and Davis and McKenzie are backup level players. If Shakir can’t get on the field, it is either bad coaching decisions or he isn’t good, because the guys ahead of him aren’t very good.

I understand, my comment was a bit sarcastic, but finding both a starting WR and a starting slot WR for next season has to be a high priority. Even with the great Stef Diggs, this has to be the worst WR group in the playoffs. Neither Davis nor McKenzie can be counted on.

Might as well stop throwing to Davis, he is just not that good.

Problem is that they have nobody better to replace him and they aren’t likely to find a good option late in round 1. At this point, it doesn’t look like an especially good receiver class in this year’s draft.

Thanks Gunner! I really enjoy and respect your analyses of draft prospects. It is early yet and workouts and interviews can impact where a prospect goes by a fair bit yet, but this draft doesn’t look strong at boundary receiver and I would be surprised if the Bills got a shot at Quentin Johnson or Addison from USC. Unless they like someone like Odunze or Rashee Rice enough to take them in the first, it looks like they’ll have to go to another position in round 1. I’m not sure that either is worth that high a pick, but likely both gone before Bills’ 2nd pick. I’m not yet convinced that Jalin Hyatt is that good, regardless of how fast he runs. I know you aren’t a fan of drafting a slot receiver even late first, but do you think that Josh Downs might compare reasonably close to Jahan Dotson? I kind of think that a really dynamic slot receiver would be a great help and would draw defense attention to the middle of the field and allow Gabe Davis to have more room to get open. Given lack of WRs lining up with late first round picks in this draft, I would think they would look to the OL as next priority, but there too, their need is more interior OL unless they are going to give up on Spencer Brown. Is there a C or OG worth a late first? I’ve seen O’cyrus Torrence rated up there, but the amount of bad weight he carries scares me (worry about work ethic).

I hope you are right. I don’t think Davis is bad, but unless he keeps improving, he isn’t scaring any defenses and his consistency has been lacking. That being said, I would not be surprised if he is not completely healthy this year - he was really hobbled early and probably should have been held out, but he played through the injury because they had nobody else. He might still not be 100%.

Agree, I’d like a bit better #2 outside receiver than Gabe Davis - not saying Davis is no good, but comparing Diggs&Davis against Hill & Waddle or Chase & Higgins, I think Davis comes up short in those comparisons. I point to slot receiver as a need because the offense seemed to operate better back before Beasley started declining. It was so valuable to have a highly reliable hands guy who could find the openings underneath to keep the chains moving. I haven’t given up on Shakir, but it is a little concerning that he has played so little when they have had injury problems at the position. Crowder has at least shown that he can play a bit in the league. I like McKenzie as a try-hard guy, but I don’t think his hands are good enough and he doesn’t seem to know how to find the soft spots underneath like Beasley could. If they take an outside WR in the first, he needs to be clearly better than Davis and we’ll have to see as the offseason unfolds if anyone who will be available late first fits that description. On the other hand, I think a dynamic slot like Downs or maybe Zay Flowers would be a clear upgrade over McKenzie and crew and would help Davis and Diggs by commanding attention over the middle.

What do you see that you like about Hutchinson? Admittedly, you shouldn’t just go by highlight videos, but he is rarely open even when making the catch on his highlights. I understand that it is easier for guys playing the slot to get more open and he seemed to play more outside. Watching him vs. Iowa, I saw him make a few catches, but I don’t see him getting open. Does Iowa have a good secondary?

I love what little I've seen of both Josh Downs and Zay Flowers. Both are likely slot receivers though. Still, slot is the big weakness (I think) right now. Would like a slightly better #2 than Gabe Davis, but he is pretty good and would be a great 3rd option outside if a better option were to be drafted. Not sure what to think of Jaxon Smith-Njigba - he's likely mostly a slot receiver as well.

Drafting late in 2nd round isn’t easy. Basham was playing reasonably before injury. Is he the next Von Miller? No, but he was drafted almost 2 rounds later and I wouldn’t give up on him yet.

I really like what little I’ve seen from Josh Downs. Man, he would be a serious upgrade for this team at slot WR, but is the slot a position worth even a late first? I would not think that he would make it past the early 2nd. Hyatt from Tennessee has speed and played well this year, too. Parker Washington is an atypically thickly built slot option.

I’m always in favor of improving the trenches, but man, for a team that almost alway plays 3 WRs, they only have 1 very good one. Davis is fine as the 3rd outside receiver, but has shaky hands and disappears for stretches, but more importantly, they need a reliable slot receiver. McKenzies is not the answer to that, Beasley likely won’t play next year and Crowder was underwhelming in the preseason and early season before being injured. it’s a tough call to make about where to spend limited draft resources and you have to figure they will have to replace either Poyer (S), Edmunds (LB) or Oliver (DT) as resigning all 3 seems unlikely due to cap consistents.

Watching what I thought was a very good Dallas D give up 31 to Zay Jones and Marvin Jones Jr, I wonder if the NFL rules have made it nearly impossible to play good defense. Jets and Niners seem able, but beyond them, defenses are up and down. I miss the days when dominating defenses existed, but that was back when defenses could mug receivers all over the field and were allowed to just annihilate a receiver if he was fortunate enough to make a catch.

I’m not saying that Gabe Davis is great, but in the context of a 4th round pick, he is a pretty good one. Now, do they need to do better at WR2? I think so.

I’m with you until the last statement. I see a number of good teams that are on the same level Philly, Dallas, KC,Cincy, Miami, and watch the Chargers as they get healthy. I would not say that the Bills are any better than any of those teams, but they are probably just as good as any. if you compare the Bills’ roster against the Phins, I think Miami has more good player. Allen was the difference.

That is exactly my point, they don’t trust the defense.

I’m not talking about defensive bravado. Singletary could have scored easily and given them a 7 point lead which should be insurmountable at that point with Miami having no timeouts. My point was that the strategy shows that they don’t trust their defense. It was the right strategy if they don’t trust the d.

Edmunds is good and I hope that they can afford to keep him. I wouldn’t be looking forward to 17 games of Terrell Brandon playing there instead, but cap constraints may make it impossible to keep him. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if they can keep one of Poyer, Edmunds or Oliver. Keeping 2 of the three would be great. Any of them would be a big loss.

So, what should probability that Miami can score a TD with no timeouts and 34 seconds be?

Well, ok. Bates, Boettger, Quessenberry, whoever else - the OL is a mess and will be worse if Morse is out. The OL is a hodgepodge of low-end draft picks and undrafted FAs. Dawkins is the lone high pick on that line as a 2nd rounder.

You understand that a fg -even that short - isn’t a 100%. Bad snaps, kicker slipping or a fg block can all happen. Imagine how dumb that looks if any of those things had occurred. Answering that “they made the kick” misses the point. If you have a good playoff caliber defense, you should not be afraid of defending with a 7 point lead for 34 seconds - especially when the opponent has no timeouts. Yes, Miami has some outstanding and fast WRs, but come on…

That has worked 2x this year, but what it says to me is that the staff doesn’t trust the defense to be able to hold a lead for 34 seconds. That’s a pretty harsh indictment of the defense without Miller.

McKenzie should just be a very part-time player. He is ok for an occasional jet sweep, but he is not a reliable receiving option and he is not a decent kick returner.

I think that the play where Singletary purposely did not score a TD at game’s end shows that the staff has little confidence in the defense to hold a lead, even with very little time left in the game.

I agree the OL is a problem, but I think Brown can be salvaged. He missed the entire offseason and training camp coming off back surgery. He can’t be as strong as he would have been had he been able to train. Likewise, I think he is plenty athletic to play the position. I might be wrong, but I think they need more reinforcements on the interior. The offseason is going to be very difficult just to stay level with this season. They can’t afford any significant FA signing and almost certainly are going to lose one or more of Poyer, Edmunds and Oliver in FA. There is nobody in waiting on the roster who can replace any of them, so likely draft will be to try to get rookie candidates at S, ILB or DT. They won’t be able to address all the holes picking late in each round.