hondo in seattle

Yesterday, I said that if I could choose a poster to run the Bills draft, I'd pick either Gonzo or GunnerBill. And here they are together! Listening now - you two sound like old pros. Thanks for this.

Perplexity just did a mock for me and had us getting Princely Umanmielen (edge).

I'm not much of a TV guy but I'll watch the first round downstairs while my wife watches ancient chinese fantasies (wuxia) upstairs and my adult son plays video games in his bedroom.

I appreciate the humble realism and am in the same boat. I watched precisely zero college games last year and am not a skilled evaluator in any case.

I wouldn't want fans drafting. Beane has an entire staff of professional scouts who spend a ridiculous amount of time learning their craft, talking to coaches, watching film, etc. No fan can come close to replicating all that. But if you put a gun to my head: either GunnerBill or Gonzo.

Beane doesn't like going into the draft feeling desperate about any position. And we all know desperate GMs make mistakes - like Elam. I think the Bills might still take a CB early depending on how the board plays out. But now Beane is less likely to reach.

All I've seen was that he had a 52.9 rating from PFF for the entire season - putting him in the bottom 25% of NFL CBs. Do you have a Rams/Ravens breakdown? But as I recall, Tre didn't participate in OTAs last year, so he was far from fully recovered. Really hoping he's healthier and better this season.

I think we're just going to agree to disagree but let me close out with a story. When I was a platoon leader in the army, my bar-hopping soldiers got into a fight. One of my guys had been jumped and we got revenge. I was somewhat involved. My battalion commander informally but sternly reprimanded me at the O Club one evening after duty when he found out. After the reprimand, he leaned toward me and spoke in a hushed, conspiratorial tone, "Tell me, these other soldiers - were they my soldiers or from the other tank battalion." "They were from the 1st tank, sir." "Good. One more question, did our guys win the brawl?" "Sir, we kicked their (freaking) (butts)." "Excellent!!!" He slammed his fist into the table with enthusiasm and launched into a long & passionate "off the books" monologue about how the army was getting soft and war is a violent profession and if we expect soldiers to win battles, we need men with warrior spirit who love to scrap. Did that mean he didn't care about character or culture? Just the opposite. He wanted fighters (character) and a battalion imbued with warrior spirit (culture). He also liked that in my platoon we stuck up for each other (culture). Choir, character, and culture are all different things. You can have a winning culture with drinkers and brawlers on the team. When you're hired to coach a team, run it your way. Like Walsh, I'll start by building a winning culture.

A number of studies have shown the benefits of a good culture in business, the military, and other organizations. While I don't think there have been any cultural studies performed on sports teams, lots of successful coaches talk about it. And it's unfathomable to me that culture benefits teams in other spheres but not in football. You may not believe this but Super Bowl coaches do: Tony Dungy: "Success is built on more than Xs and Os... [You need to] cultivate a culture of discipline and accountability, but also mutual respect and support." Bill Wash: "Champions behave like champions before they're champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners... The culture precedes positive results." Bill Belichick: "Do your job... Accountability creates a culture of improvement." Bill Cowher: "Hard work always beats talent when talent doesn't work hard... Culture really is about commitment and sacrifice. You're not just playing with one another, you're playing for one another." John Harbaugh: "Guys with blood, sweat, and dust on their faces will decide games... Culture-building is about establishing a world view for your team." Tom Coughlin: "The greatest teams are built on trust, accountability, and communication. Establish priorities that create an overall culture governing everything." Mr. Weo: "This culture stuff is BS." Weo, you're a good poster who's offered up some great insights over the years, but this wasn't one of your finer contributions. Culture matters. And so do schemes, game plans, talent, luck, refereeing, conditioning, weather, etc." There are a number of variables. A good team excels at the variables they control and hopes for the best with the variables they don't.

KC certainly has had more than its share of football miscreants. But character and culture are two different things. Let's talk about both... Marv used to talk about "football character" instead of generic character. For Marv, football players didn't need to be choir boys off the field but on the field they needed to execute, play together, and fight for each other. I think Reid probably sees things the same way. Culture is the collective values, beliefs, and behaviors of a group. If a coward like me joined Delta of SEAL Team Six, pretty soon I'd be willing to risk my life to help my buddies because the culture of the group would become part of me. Football culture is all about group effort, execution, accountability, coachability (growth mindset), attention to detail, etc. Beane & McD pretty much sign only guys who support and strengthen the culture. Reid is willing to take calculated risks on certain guys who have shortcomings but might flourish in the strong winning culture he's established. And sometimes (e.g. Kareem Hunt) it doesn't work out. I don't know if going after 'bad boys' in free agency or the draft would help the Bills overcome the Chiefs. Bad boys don't just damage the benefits of a good team culture, they also tend to do things like not learn the playbook, get suspended, get arrested, and otherwise not add value equal to the level of their physical gifts.

Made second-team all pro as recently as 2022. But will be 32 before the season begins and is coming off the Achilles injury. I get the feeling BigAl is leaning Yes when presenting all the reasons we should lean No. Even if he's recovered and proves to be a decent one-year rental at safety as Doc says, there's no future here.

I don't know. I haven't been there. But just because some player is far from angelic off the field doesn't mean he can't be a good teammate and doesn't share some good cultural values with the other players. From what I've read, Reid likes players who communicate openly and honestly, take practice seriously, know their role, execute on game day, respect their teammates, give maximal effort, hold themselves accountable for the football mistakes they make, and so on. That's the culture he promotes and a murderer can do all that. We may not like or respect Reid giving homes to guys with off-the-field issues, but to say Reid isn't doing things to build a winning football culture or doesn't consider culture fit is wrong. Agreed. I voted Moulds but expected Reed to get more tallies.

If you've ever been part of a high-performing team, you know the culture stuff is not BS. Culture is a force multiplier. To paraphrase Aristotle: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Delta knows this. SEAL Team Six knows this. Mike K, Pat Riley, Tomlin, Belichick, Lombardi, Campbell, Dungy... they all know.

I didn't realize there was such a consensus on Amos. Kiper, PFF, AtoZsports, and ESPN (Matt Miller) all project the kid at #30.

I think some folks undervalue Jim but I have to admit, I sorely wish Josh was surrounded with the kind of talent that surrounded Kelly. We had a solid OL and HOFers in every skill position group.

My hot take: Kelly couldn't scramble or run like Josh, but his ball placement was better and he made quicker decisions.

Hopefully Cole takes a leap forward but right now I feel we have four mediocre guys and no stars at that position. It's not the room you want if you have Lombardi dreams.

I usually hate censorship, but can we ban "wide right" from this board. Thanks.

I think if the NFL allowed the Raiders to draft players from other teams, Carroll/Spytek would draft Pat or Josh and tell Geno, "Sorry, pal." Carroll's offense was ranked 14th last season, only slightly better than average. His defense was also coincidentally ranked 14th. He wasn't particularly good - or bad - on either side of the ball last season. Based on stats, it's hard to argue, "offense has passed him by as he has aged in the league." Given that he was once considered a defensive mastermind, it is fair to wonder though if defense has passed him by. Like other defensive-minded NFL coaches, Carroll needs to find the right OC. Like all other NFL coaches, he needs his GM to find the right players. With $48 million in cap space, the second need may be (partially) met, although they'd probably be more confident & optimistic if they had Pat or Josh. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. I expect they'll be better than last year though making the playoffs in the AFC West is a hard ask.

Just curious... How do you know what Carrol thinks? Carroll has won more Super Bowls than all 21 Bills head coaches combined. He's also won more college national championships than the combined total of the UB Bulls' 28 head coaches. I personally don't think Pete's "mental competence" is really an issue - despite GB's concern with his age. I also suspect he went after Geno because Josh (or Pat, Joe, etc.) wasn't available. When you go to the store and the shelves are empty, you take what you can get. And let's not forget Geno threw for more yards with a higher completion percentage than Allen last year. Geno's not MVP material but he's not Nate Peterman either.

GB, am I just paranoid or do you have something against old folks?

Since the NFL will never give Buffalo a Super Bowl, they owe us a draft.

How do you successfully recruit when your coach is a one-year interim guy?

Beane's in a funny place because he's talking to multiple groups at the same time. He's talking to the fans who want news and reassurance. He's talking to fellow GMs, listening for hints about what the Bills might do in free agency. He's talking to agents looking for weaknesses they might exploit in negotiations. I'm not saying he's dishonest. Still, it's hard to take anything he says this time of the year seriously.

98 players of the world's best tennis players competed in Miami. Only 2 remain. Go Jessica! Josh owns the Dolphins and Jessica owns the Bills. It's an interesting world.