jwhit34

Daboll will get a bunch of opportunities. I think the real positive thing is Dorsey, he is in his 2nd year, seems pretty involved and will rise to OC. Hopefully the Bills get 2-3 years out of him too. Promote from within enables them to keep the same system with minimal upheaval.

When Beasley's contract is up after 2021 Davis will slide in nicely to WR3 spot. Brown, Diggs and Davis all in their prime years.

This is definitely where the 53 + 2 on game day to get the roster to 55 is important. Beane has Lacy and Andre Smith on the practice squad, they can be the 54th and 55th players and be active on Sunday. As many have commented, making them 1-dimensional (pass) would be big, then they could go with 6 DBs (Siran Neal). Between McDermott and Frazier I have a lot of confidence in them to scheme around the personnel challenges. I also like the notion that this puts more on the DL and with such a veteran group I can see them really stepping up their game. I'm sure they've known all week that both were out so they have been on it. Savvy, smart vets like Hughes, Murphy and Addison will be ready. Having so many starters back also helps in terms of scheme and how exotic they can get.

I would say no to Ertz. In the next 3 drafts, they should take 1 more RB somewhere in rounds 3 and 4 but should take TEs in 2 of the drafts somewhere in rounds 2-4. Then they have developmental players at all the skill positions on rookie contracts, they develop and provide depth. That way they can pay their core players (Milano, Allen, Edmunds). Also keep picking WRs. Davis and Hodgins are a good start, I would think Beasley will not get a 2nd contract. The way Brown is playing they will keep him.

Too simplistic to say their only a couple games apart results wise: Different expectations - Rex supposedly inherited a team ready to win now, McD/Beane had to do a total rebuild and still won McD has a throw away game at end of last season they probably win if starters play so if they win that game his record is 26-22 (.542 win %) vs. Rex's 15-16 (.484) Trajectory of team is totally different Rex was known as a defensive genius and the defense wasn't very good. McD is known for his defense and he has delivered

On offense they have a good combination of new and ascending players, and the ascending players cannot be overlooked: New (as previously mentioned): Diggs - an upgrade of WR1, which as a result makes WR2 & 3 better (Brown, Beasley); Davis should be a better WR4 than Foster/Duke/Zay; Moss is better than Gore. Ascending: Players that are young and should be improved: Dawkins (just coming into his prime), Knox, Singletary, Allen So the only offensive positions that are stagnant are LG (Spain), C (Morse) and either RG or RT (whichever Ford doesn't play). One can question if they improved enough but to be better at most positions is very good.

Roberts is not subject to waivers as a 4+ year vet that's why they can cut and have a side deal to re sign.

DiMarco is injured so I think that gets dicey, would have to do injury settlement and then if they do that they cannot bring him back for at least 6 weeks. I mention in original post Barkley, I think Taiwan Jones and Yeldon are possible ones too.

One thing that could factor into Fromm on roster is he is guaranteed $900k so that is dead cap $. We could see some Kurt Coleman moves. Vets with 4 or more years in league automatically become free agents and can sign with the team of their choice. Under 4 years the player is subject to a waiver claim. I could see the Bills having a side deal with Barkley or maybe even Andre Roberts that they cut them. Then, they put Feliciano and DeMarco on IR so they can return at some point. That way they can keep Hodgins and McKenzie for the 5th and 6th WR spot, keep only 2 QBs so they can keep 9 on the OL, IR Feliciano and DeMarco and re-sign Roberts and Barkley.

The Duke love is the gift that keeps on giving...and is in the tradition of longshot WR love. Reality is if it was Duke vs. Hodgins, Hodgins is the same size, is a little faster, has better hands, runs better routes and is younger. Add in he's a draft pick and I don't think the decision is even close. Hodgins may not even make it, they like McKenzie. Duke is most likely #8 at this point with Foster 9th. The 6th WR will probably not be active for games, let alone a 7th, so I doubt they keep 7. Diggs, Brown, Beasley, Davis and Roberts (for returns) will be active. The 6th, be it Hodgins or McKenzie, will probably be inactive unless they have a bunch of injuries.

Well, it's way too early and by no means is it time to make comparisons, but I do remember another WR drafted in the 4th round... I'm not saying he's Andre Reed and going to have a hall of fame career but the reports about Davis remind me a little of Reed. Works hards, workout animal, catches everything. Remember, Burkett was picked ahead of him. And what a draft they had in '85, Bruce Smith, Derrick Burroughs, Reed, Frank Reich, Burkett, Dale Hellestrae was a long snapper forever, even Hal Garner was a flash in the pan, 3 guys played 15 years or more in the league and 9 played at least 5. It definitely helped having 2 picks in each of the first 4 rounds.

My thought in managing the RB position has been draft an RB 3 out of every 4 years in the 3rd-4th round. Always have them on rookie contracts unless you hit it big on someone and then maybe you extend them. If you whiff on one there are always vet UFAs you can sign cheap to be your #3. You probably never have more than $5-6 million (and most of the time much less) of the cap used for RBs and you can get excellent production. Singletary-Moss is setting up that way. If both perform well this year, they can probably skip a year and then draft another one in 2022.

Lots of good point made here. Williams' age is at the top of the list. Also remember the Bills started Howard Ballard at RG the first year. The state of the O Line is probably the best example of why Beane's approach is so good. They have a lot of options because they brought in so many guys who can play. Drafting Ford in the 2nd round alone gives them so much leeway. If he's a 1st round pick you may be more inclined to force him in at RT because of draft status. If his best position is guard so be it. And bringing in Williams on a low risk contract opens up great possibilities. If he pans out he's not going to demand Dawkins money, they can do a 3 year deal a la John Brown and Cole Beasley and see what happens. Meanwhile, he brings in Winters and if the Ford-Williams combo works on the right side he has the option to have a proven starter as the interior backup guy or go younger (Bates/Boettger). And he still has Feliciano. What a great a spot to be in. That's how you build a roster.

Was on WROC Channel 8 in Rochester last night. Saw the 4th qtr. and OT. crazy game.

The post on ESPN by MLJ was much more complete: Buffalo Bills quarterback Jake Fromm insists that text messages in which he said "only elite white people" should be able to purchase guns are not indicative of his character, nor do they represent the way he was raised. "That's not where my heart is," Fromm said Friday, speaking to local media for the first time since screenshots of the conversation emerged in June. "The one thing that I want to do here on this earth is love God and love people, and I fell short of that. I want to make amends and really be better from here on out so that I can earn their trust and really bring something to this football team." He quoted Fromm further: Fromm called the text a product of his "lack of perspective, being naive and being young and immature." He said jokes or comments like that were not an occurrence from him growing up and "were never said" in his household. "I made a mistake and I'm going to own up to it, but that's not indicative of who I am," Fromm said, "and I promise you that is not where my heart is at." And there's even more in the post I encourage all to read it. I commend MLJ for the including all of that in his post, his post was a gazillion times more objective than the Tweet. I think it's unfortunate in our "Twitter limited # of character world" that the Tweets end up > the actual reporting, which in this case MLJ did right. Link: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29615286/jake-fromm-looks-make-amends-elite-white-people-text

In the movie, Remember The Titans, Julius Campbell says to Gary Bertier, "Attitude reflects leadership." That has been true with the Bills forever, it was great in Levy/Polian era, and finally after the drought years it is positive in the McDermott/Beane era. Helps to have good players too. Helps to have leaders who know how to evaluate players.

I had another idea: Create 4, 8 team divisions: AFC Northeast: Buffalo, Miami, NE, Jets, Steelers, Browns, Ravens and Bengals AFC Southwest: Indy, Texans, Jags, Titans, KC, Vegas, Chargers, Denver NFC Northeast: Dallas, Giants, Eagles Washington, Packers, Bears, Lions, Vikings NFC Southwest: Rams, SF, Cardinals, Seattle, Falcons, Saints, Panthers, Bucs Play a 14 game schedule where you play every team in your division twice Each division would play Sunday games at 1, 4:30 and 8 pm and one on Monday night You would have a modified bubble: teams would practice during the week at home and then each division would have a game site that all 8 teams travel to on the weekend. Top 4 teams in each division make the playoffs (expand by 1) No byes In AFC, #1 in NW division plays #4 in SW division, #2 in NW plays #3 in SW, #3 in NW plays #2 in SW and #4 in NW plays #1 in SW division, ditto for NFC After round 1, re-seed By playing 14 games schedule and having a bye week in the original 17 game schedule, you have 3 built in weeks in case something goes awry or they want to start the season a week later. And since they are playing only in division, one division could have something go wrong and shut down for a week while the other 3 divisions play. If all goes without a hitch, then they can use those weeks for scheduled byes or have a week off before the playoffs.

I don't get all the angst. His pay was out of line with his potential role, so there is cap savings. Most importantly, if Winters is a done deal Long would have been at best the 10th best offensive lineman (Dawkins, Spain, Morse, Winters, Ford, Nsekhe, D. Williams, Bates, Boehm) and maybe a toss up with Boettger who is cheaper. I think there will be fewer cutdown day deals because of covid. The cap and roster management due to covid strategy outweighs the possibility of trading for a 6th or 7th, well done Beane.

If Phillips is healthy, they still have Oliver, Butler, Phillips and Jefferson to rotate on inside. That should be very good. If all perform as expected it may be Star Who(?). Or if Oliver has a breakout year, A Star is Born.

Two firsts and a 3rd for a safety - I'd say what the Bills gave up in comparison for Diggs looks pretty good.

Top 3 rounds in whole tourney: Fish 37 round 2, Kyle 27 round 2, Kyle 25 round 1. Next 3 best rounds are all 20. That's pretty dominant by those two guys (Fish had 18 round 1).

Unpopular take on TBD: Duke Williams has been vastly overrated here ever since he got to Buffalo.

First round pick in '79 which they used on Tom Cousineau. He was eventually traded for a first which turned into Jim Kelly 2nd round pick in '78 - Scott Hutchinson 3rd round pick in '78 - Danny Fulton 2nd round pick in '80 - Joe Cribbs 4th round pick in '79 - Ken Johnson

Of those 2 I picked the Hughes trade. I don't think anyone mentioned Cousineau for a 1st that turned into Jim Kelly. The other trades way back that were brought up were really good too. If they would have kept him longer, the Rashad for Dennis Shaw trade would be way up there. The Frank Lewis for a broken down Paul Seymour is a very underrated deal. Even though the 5 picks didn't pan out that great, getting that kind of haul for OJ was really good. Loved the Bennett trade and it was the right move but not a lopsided deal.

I agree with you I included him in the poll because of his popularity here, was interested to see the response.