2003Contenders

My guess is that -- even if he is fully healed from his abdominal injury -- the Browns will "hide" Sanders on IR.

Those negative tweets about Moore all appear to be coming from a single "source" whom I have never heard of named Mike Ross. Not sure if he is viewing things from a different perspective or if he is a troll.

These lists are so subjective! I do think there is still some negative bias against McD thanks to that hit-piece article that came out in 2023. I have a hard time ranking McD behind the likes of O'Connell (who has yet to even win a playoff game), LaFleur (who inherited a rich roster and has won fewer playoff games than McD; love how the author says LaFleur has led the Packers to 5 playoff appearances in 6 years -- McD has led the Bills to 7 in 8!) and Dan Campbell (who I love but is winless against McD and hasn't done much prior to the past 2 seasons). Reid is obviously the superior coach. I would also find it hard to rank McD over McVay, given McVay's 2 Super Bowl appearances, ingenuity as an offensive mind and motivational aura. I can see strong debates pro and con for any of the following over/under McD: Shanahan (2 Super Bowl appearances but has struggled against McD) Payton (past glory with Brees, but forever perhaps overrated thanks to a single gutsy call in his lone Super Bowl appearance) Tomlin (yes, past Super Bowls -- but little playoff success in the last decade) Jim Harbaugh (like Jerry Glanville, makes an immediate positive impact but jerk personality wears out his welcome everywhere he has been) Sirianni (appeared in 2 of the last 3 Super Bowls; many were calling for his termination back in 2023 around the same time that article came out on McD) John Harbaugh (past Super Bowl winner, teams are always well-coached and competitive; similar to Tomlin recent poor showings in the playoffs) So, I can't see how a fair and reasonable evaluator would rank him higher than 3 -- but I also can't see ranking him any lower than 9. I think those 6 debatable guys (along with McD) all have to be ranked pretty closely, depending on what you value in a head coach. So, it is hard to argue with him being ranked anywhere from 3 to 9 IMHO. Personally, I would probably rank him around 7th (after Reid, McVay, the Harbaughs, Sirianni, and Payton). If he ever wins a Super Bowl, he catapults into the top 5, possibly top 3.

Also, I think this also contributed to Josh's major improvement in the turnover department last season as he was no longer trying to force the ball to a "WR1" target a la Diggs.

Cook plays a position that historically has a very short shelf-life in the NFL, and there is a good chance that this is his one-and-only shot at a huge payday -- so it is hard to fault him and his agent for playing hardball and try to get every penny they can. Meanwhile, Beane has to be fiscally responsible and look at the entire roster structure and contend with a tight salary cap. We're mercifully pretty far removed from the Russ days of the front office going to the press to demean players during negotiations to preemptively cast them as malcontents or greedy in the public's eye (and hope fans view the player as such when he inevitably signed somewhere else). The good news is that Cook did show up for mandatory workouts, so hopefully that is a sign that both sides are working in good faith.

I've always likened that 2008 draft in which Stevie was drafted out of Kentucky as an almost after-thought in the 7th round -- but became a much more significant part of the team than the higher profile (and unfortunately late) James Hardy, who was drafted early in the 2nd round -- to what happened in 2022 when the Bills whiffed on Elam late in the 1st but made up for it by landing Benford in the 6th. Regardless of how you view him after all these years, one thing is for certain: Stevie certainly way out-played his draft position.

IIRC that was the “hug and make up” game for Kelly and Reed. The previous game, the offense struggled, and Jim and Andre had a very public and heated altercation on the sideline. This GB game showed them clicking on all cylinders, and I believe Andre set the record (at that time) for the most receptions in a game. Showed what a leader Jim was. Such a shame that Jim went down with a knee injury a few weeks later in a comeback attempt against the Vikings. The Bills lost the remaining 3 games without him and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1987.

With two of the recently acquired DL on the shelf for the first several weeks, Solomon should get some opportunities. What he does with those opportunities is up to him.

Considering his size and basketball background, I could absolutely see Keon being successful in that role if he toughens up and uses proper leverage and nuance to block out defenders. I also thought that -- admittedly with a limited sample size -- he was somewhat effective as a rookie with screens/bubble routes. That is an element that had been missing from the Bills' passing game in recent years (Diggs was terrible at them)

And this is probably the range in which the two sides will wind up -- $12M to $13M per year -- unless Cook and his agent prove to be unreasonable.

Maybe I am missing something but Shakir, Coleman and Samuel were all on the team last year. Hollins is gone and has ostensibly been replaced by Palmer. Amari Cooper is gone and now potentially replaced by Moore. So not sure why Clay seems to think there is not enough room for all of them.

Yes. The biggest knock on Jackson appears to be that he was wildly inconsistent -- he would rack up multiple sacks in one game and then be MIA the next. Similar to some of the issues we have seen with Groot. Kiper referenced this at the time of the selection. Hopefully the coaching staff can get the most out of him.

I don't think we need to worry about the Bills drafting him -- remember, the front office does not draft prospects who played at Texas.😛

While Amos may not be an exciting pick, I think he is a great fit for McD's defense (reminds me in some ways of Tre). He's a guy we draft, don't get much hype about it -- and then just sit back and watch him play at a quality level for the next several years.

How much of that $ is dead cap?

He was Bruce's understudy his first couple of years in the league. In 2000, the season after Bruce/Andre/Thurman were unceremoniously released, Wiley moved into the starting position and played pretty well in a contract year. When John Butler headed to San Diego the following off-season he snagged Wiley as a free agent. Even when he was backing Bruce up, he was a favorite of reporters' for quotes as he was very engaging and articulate -- which stands to reason, coming from Columbia, I guess.

First and foremost, Beane has done a remarkable job of retaining key players, and even re-signing many of them to long-term extensions. That alone, gets the front office a passing grade IMHO. Compare to last year where, due the salary cap restrictions, the team lost some key players. This year the only noteworthy players who have left are Hollins and Martin -- and neither of them were a great loss. As much as we will miss Hollins the character, I think Palmer is an improvement at WR. Bosa and Forrest are low risk/high reward rolls of the dice. Dane Jackson is familiar with the system and will probably enter the season as the starter at CB opposite Benford. Getting anything at all for Elam, I think was also commendable. I would still like for Beane to bring in another corner -- and there are a couple of familiar faces still out there in Gilmore and Douglas. If not for the PDE issues with Hoecht and (especially) Ogunjobi, I would say the off-season has been Excellent rather than merely Acceptable. Let's not forget that the draft is coming up too!

The Ogunjobi situation really bothers me as well. I noticed that Beane chose his words very carefully when talking about how the team did not know about his situation at the time that the agreement was made vs. at the time of the signing. I will say that there is some precedent with Ogunjobi and his camp in regards to proper disclosure of information prior to working out a contract: After his career year with the Bengals, Ogunjobi agreed to terms with the Bears but failed to disclose a foot injury, which the Bears uncovered when they did a physical. The Bears were able to get out of the contract thanks to the physical, and Ogunjobi signed with the Steelers instead.

Let's just assume for a moment that Diggs has had something of a epiphany -- that he is willing to be a good soldier, bury the hatchet with Josh and the team, and return to the level of play he exhibited in his prime. Is that good enough to help the team get over the KC hump? Well, even in his best years, Diggs historically had problems against KC. In three playoff games against them (2020, 2021 and 2023), he failed to haul in a single TD pass. His overall numbers in those 3 games were terrible: 12 receptions on 25 targets for 106 yards and 0 TDs. That is over 3 games, NOT a single game. His average for a single game in the playoffs against the Chiefs looks like: 4 receptions on 8.3 targets for 35.3 yards. Not exactly worthy of the drama.

I like CB Trey Amos out of Ole Miss, who would seem to be an ideal fit for what McDermott looks for in a corner. He may even be there in the 2nd round.

Very well said! Suddenly the safety depth chart looks much deeper with Bishop/Rapp/Hamlin all returning and the low-cost acquisition of the Forrest kid. Drafting a safety high is no longer the priority I thought it was going to be -- and Beane could (and should) still invest at least one of the mid-round picks on a young safety with upside. Not really any downside to re-signing Damar. He will probably never be elite, but he is a professional and understands this defense. I like him on the team in 2025, regardless of role: -- Providing quality depth -- Mentoring younger players -- Keeping the seat warm until a better player DOES come along

I'm only half joking when I say (especially in this draft where the top-end talent appears to be weak), they should go ahead and use all of those picks and draft multiple players (defensive backs in particular). Throw enough you-know-what against the wall, and maybe something will stick! After all, the miss on Elam was somewhat salvaged in that same draft by acquiring Benford in the 6th.

The issue for the 49ers, I believe, is that he has a large roster bonus coming up -- and if they designate him as a post-June 1 cut, I believe they are responsible for paying him that bonus (even if he is picked up by another team). Personally, I would prefer a healthy Ayiuk over Metkalf -- and we just saw the large contract (plus trade compensation) the Steelers gave up for Metkalf. Of course, the operative word there is "healthy", and the injury that Ayiuk experienced last season was devastating.

Interesting about Golden. Conventional wisdom has him as WR 4 in the draft (behind McMillan, Burden and Egbuka). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. I saw that the Bills reportedly met with him at the combine. I never expected him to last until 30 but thought that he could potentially be the target of a mild trade-up like the team should have done to acquire BTJ last year. If this news is true about him being the first WR off the board, there's probably no chance of such a trade up now.

And let's not forget Billy Joe "I never read my playbook" Tolbert.