mjt328

We are only 3-4 hours into the tampering period, and he wasn't among the hottest names. It may be awhile before we hear news on him.

The tweet suggests this would be a tagged player, or player close to the expiration of their current contract. Otherwise, the "paid" portion wouldn't make much sense.

Nobody knows what is happening behind the scenes. You have to wonder if the Bills even had an opportunity to make an offer, considering we are only 2 hours into the free agency tampering period. If Bill O'Brien had been actively shopping DeAndre Hopkins to all 32 teams, you would have to believe that multiple teams would have offered a better deal than Arizona.

Does the coronavirus affect people's brains? Because I think Bill O'Brien has it.

In another post I suggested it was foolish to pursue DeAndre Hopkins, because I believed the price was too high. I take it back.

Agreed. I'm sure this will be repeated a thousand times over the next 1-2 weeks, but the Bills still need to be wise about how dollars are spent. Cap can be rolled-over from year to year. So what we don't spend in 2020, will be extra to use in 2021. This is really our last offseason without key pieces of the roster hitting free agency. Starting next year, very important Buffalo Bills will have expiring contracts (Dion Dawkins and Matt Milano chief among that list). And it will pretty much continue each year from that point. Not to say Brandon Beane needs to be frugal (and I don't think he will be). But the stupid contract we avoid handing out today, could allow us to re-sign someone else we really need down the line.

As Americans, I wish we could show more unity and grace in times like these - instead of this condescending/you are dumb and stupid attitude towards people with different viewpoints and opinions. There are lots of people that are very concerned about this virus, and are worried about the death-toll it could take on the (especially elderly population) if steps aren't taken to slow-down the spread. Health officials are the ones making these shut-down recommendations across the country. Maybe they are looking at worse-case scenario. But maybe that's not the wrong approach to take when it comes to people's lives. At the same time, there are lots of people who are very concerned about how 8 weeks (maybe longer) of completely shutting down the country is going to devastate the economy/business owners/jobs/etc. It's not about the inconvenience of losing the NBA playoffs or being stuck inside their homes with nothing to do but binge Netflix. The long-term financial effects of this will likely be terrible on millions of families. Furthermore, I wish we could just stop the political attacks. For just a few weeks. Please. I believe one of the main reasons (some) conservatives are taking this virus less seriously, is because the Democrats couldn't even wait 5 minutes before using it as ammo to attack the President. It's absolutely pathetic and an absolute disgrace. This virus is not ANY politicians fault, and it's clear that government officials are trying their best to protect citizens. Even if we disagree on how quickly response times should be, or what methods are being used to keep people quarantined. This is a situation that nobody could have been prepared for. On the other side of the aisle, Trump himself needs to stop using every news conference as an opportunity to bash the Obama's response to H1N1. Or why some of the above problems were due to the last administration. The blame game needs to STOP NOW. It's time for us to unify and move forward.

It would probably take two 1st Rounders (bare minimum), plus his $14 million cap hit. So yes. When this draft is absolutely stocked full with WR talent, it's probably not the wisest time to make that kind of trade.

One thing to remember is that Jon Feliciano is a free agent in 2021. So the coaching staff may feel that Cody Ford just needs another season of development. If he struggles again, the opportunity will arise again next year to kick him inside. Sometimes you upgrade by just letting young players develop. That's what we are obviously doing at Quarterback. So why not other positions? Our Left Tackle play improved in 2019 without a player change. Same with Middle Linebacker. I think the team will be depending heavily on improvement from Ford, along with Ed Oliver (hence letting Jordan Phillips walk) and Dawson Knox.

It's interesting how this signing is sparking less discussion about Quinton Spain himself, and more talk about Cody Ford... but it's completely understandable. The Offensive Line last year was solid, with one clear weak spot. Right Tackle. The problem was not Dion Dawkins at LT. It was not Spain at LG. It was not Mitch Morse at C. It was not Jon Feliciano at RG. All of these guys played consistently well throughout the course of the season. And we also seemed to have good depth coming off the bench, particularly with Ryan Bates and Spencer Long. But we did admittedly have a lot of problems with RT - between Ford struggling as a rookie, him rotating with Ty Nsekhe every other series early in the season, and then with Nsekhe getting hurt. In my opinion, that one glaring weak spot on the right side was the difference between Buffalo fielding a Top 10 unit, and fielding a Top 15-20 unit. And I know many other fans had the same observation. I think many Bills fans expected (or even hoped) that we would let Spain walk... not because he isn't a good player himself... but because they wanted to see Ford slide inside to Guard. Then we could focus on upgrading the RT spot. But this move pretty much sets the O-Line for at least the 2021 season. It's pretty clear that our coaching staff/front office believes in Ford and expect him to improve greatly at the position. Hopefully they are correct.

OK. What part was debunked? Which part is misinformation? The part about Trump wanting to restrict travel to China/Iran back in January? This was all over the news at the time. Just Google Trump's travel ban to China, and you will find a ridiculous number of non-right wing news stories. He made the proposal on January 31, and predictably the Democrats didn't like it. Further more, I never said anything about Chuck Schumer. And I have no knowledge about a fake tweet spreading around. I'm talking about the very words of both JOE BIDEN and BERNIE SANDERS (the two Democrats running for the presidential nomination). They called Trump's travel restrictions "racist" and "xenophobic."

This is completely untrue. Trump has been talking about restricting travel with China and Iran since back in JANUARY. His critics (of course) accused him of being RACIST and trying to distract from the Impeachment hearings. As I mentioned in another post, there is a delicate balance between trying to contain this outbreak and completely crashing the U.S. economy. Are you suggesting that Trump should have called for a total shut-down of international travel a month ago? That would have been proactive, but it also would have been perceived by most people as extremely overblown.

There aren't exactly a lot of options here. Regardless of how serious the virus is (meaning life/death), the evidence clearly suggests it is highly contagious. So either you restrict travel - which has a disastrous effect on the economy - or you risk allowing the virus to spread quicker and get out of control. Italy did the latter, and they are suffering worse than anyone right now. The U.S. is taking the approach of temporarily restricting travel, which I think is smart. Meanwhile, the Democrats are too busy worrying about being "politically correct" than to use common sense in making these kind of tough decisions. They are out accusing President Trump of being RACIST for restricting travel, but then also accusing him of not doing enough and not taking the outbreak serious. You can't have it both ways. At the end of the day, they seem more concerned about using this to gain points in the upcoming election than actually helping American citizens. People have different political opinions, and that's fine. But if people are going to criticize our president for his actions, then at least suggest what he could/should be doing differently.

What would you have suggested he do differently?

Agreed. Until Phillips does something in the NFL, it's ridiculous to say we "missed" on anything. John Brown was a borderline Pro-Bowler this season. He was a fantastic pickup and one of the steals of free agency. Cole Beasley was a solid pickup. His salary matches up with his production. Zay Jones has definitely been a bust. But he was not drafted by Brandon Beane, and Sean McDermott is not a GM. Kelvin Benjamin was a successful receiver during his first 2+ years in the league, when Beane was able to land him for a 3rd Round Pick. Bills fans were understandably thrilled when we made this trade. I don't think anyone could have anticipated the drastic fall-off in play, whether it was due to injury or effort. Yep. All of these guys were signed for peanuts, and have been low-level contributors. At this point, Beane has yet to make a significant draft investment (Day 1 or 2 pick) in the WR position. Both of his significant free agent signings have been successful. His only significant trade was a bust, but it was something most couldn't have foreseen. So in my opinion, it's unfair for anyone to question his ability to evaluate the position.

Not really familiar with most of the Browns roster, but it sounds like he's got a similar skill-set as Lorenzo Alexander. In Nickel, we often used Alexander as an extra pass rusher. Kind of a hybrid DE-LB. So it's quite possible that Kirksey would still play 50% or more of the snaps, depending on the formation we come out in.

Define efficient. Just because an offense is more efficient, doesn't mean it's better.

Low risk. High reward. There was a time not very long ago that Josh Norman was among the league's best cornerbacks. But when he moved to Washington, it became clear that he was a scheme-dependent player. The guy was fantastic in zone. He was terrible in man. The good news is, we play mostly zone coverage and Sean McDermott was the defensive coordinator that got the most out of Norman. Hopefully this doesn't stop us from bringing back Kevin Johnson, because we could really use depth at the position. With Tre White, Levi Wallace, Norman and K.Johnson on the outside, then Taron Johnson at the nickel spot, we could completely wipe Cornerback off our needs list.

One of the traits that separates great GMs from the average/bad ones, is the ability to maximize draft position and find value. That means both moving up AND down. Through the NFL's history, fans seem to remember the times their team moved up in the draft and it didn't work out. For instance, the Bills with JP Losman or Sammy Watkins. Or the Saints with Ricky Williams. Or the Redskins with Robert Griffin III. But there is no evidence that "smart teams move down" as many like to insist. The Chiefs just won the Super Bowl on the back of Patrick Mahomes, who they moved up for. The Patriots are infamous for moving all over the board to get the players they want. In my opinion, Bill Belichick is only average at hitting on picks. But he's well above average at trading around to obtain value. Moving down is smart if you can get a player of equal value at the pick you drop to. But if you anticipate a drop in value before you are on the clock, then it can be valuable to make a trade up the board. Listening to Brandon Beane speak, I believe he understands this. It's hard to say whether a trade-down is smart at #22, without knowing what our needs are and who is available to us. As I mentioned in another thread, if we go into the draft just needing a WR, then it will probably be smart to move-down. Because the receivers likely available in the 40s, won't be much different than those in the 20s. But if we still need an edge rusher and someone like Epenesa or Chaisson is there, moving down may not be the prudent decision.

I like Justin Jefferson. And I understand that Wide Receiver is probably our biggest need. But I'm really thinking the Bills should stay-away from taking a WR at #22. As has been mentioned many times, this WR class is ridiculously deep. There are probably 7-8 guys of very similar value, who will be available from the late 1st Round and may even last until our 2nd Round selection. Is Jefferson that much better than Laviska Shenault, Tee Higgins, Jalen Reagor, Brandon Aiyuk, K.J. Hamler, Michael Pittman or Denzel Mims? I don't think so. The smart way to play this is either taking a different position at #22 (value at OT, DE and CB drops off quite a bit after the first group of guys), trade back and take a WR a few picks later, or just wait until the 2nd Round. If it looks like teams are making a run on the above guys and they won't last until #54, then Beane can always package a mid-rounder and move up a couple slots.

Arik Armstead is a 3-4 DE, not an edge rusher. If we signed him, it would probably be as a replacement for Jordan Phillips.

Good to see another Bills fan from St. Louis. I am also extremely obsessed with our team, and the draft. It drives my wife nuts. Just one nitpick on your post (which is a mistake I see quite a bit on this board)... Brandon Beane did not trade away the rights to Patrick Mahomes. He was with the Carolina Panthers during that draft, and did not join the Buffalo Bills organization until almost 2 weeks after. The draft concluded on April 29, 2017 and Beane was hired on May 9.

The same people clamoring to throw $13 million per year at Shaq Lawson are the same people who will complain every single week when he under-performs on that contract, and fails to hit double-digit sacks. For evidence, go back 3 years on this message board. You will find post after post complaining about needing a big DT to stuff the run. Now half the fans want to see Star Lotulelei cut. Even though the Bills have lots of salary cap space, it can disappear quickly. They need to make wise decisions, and not get themselves stuck with bad long-term contracts. The extra money they keep this season can be rolled over. And starting next season (2021), some real impact players will be coming up to free agency. Jordan Poyer, Dion Dawkins, Matt Milano, Jon Feliciano, etc. A year later we are looking at Tre White, Micah Hyde, John Brown, Jerry Hughes and more. Every F/A season, we hear the myth that salary cap doesn't matter. That the CBA has rendered it pointless. That the New Orleans Saints magically finds ways to get around it. None of this is true. All over the league, you see teams making tough decisions about which players to keep and which players to let go. Yes, there are ways to creatively structure contracts. But the teams that keep rolling are those who draft well, allowing them to easily replace veterans who they must let walk out the door. Teams that always count on free agency to save them generally have a short shelf-life.

Calling the season a "failure" is a bit harsh. Considering the number of teams who have broken out and then gone backwards the next season (most recently the Jaguars, Bears), I think Bills fans should expect an improved team overall. We need to see a better Josh Allen, and offense that can consistently score more points than 2019, and a defense that remains steady. Now does that result in winning the division? Maybe. Maybe not. The general assumption is that New England is going backwards, while both New York and Miami are not very good. But what if those assumptions are incorrect? What if the Bills win 12-13 games, and somehow that isn't enough to win the AFC East? I think it's a mistake to draw a line in the sand like this. Wait and see what happens, then judge whether our front office/coaching staff/players are moving in the right direction.

In 2018, the Cardinals drafted Josh Rosen at #10. He didn't play well as a rookie. Then a new coaching staff walked in the door, with the #1 draft pick and no ties to the previous regime's Rosen selection. With a fantastic pass rusher on the board (Nick Bosa), the Cardinals still decided to take Kyler Murray instead and then trade away Rosen. In 2019, the Redskins drafted Dwayne Haskins at #15. He didn't play well as a rookie. A new coaching staff has walked in the door, with the #2 draft pick and no ties to the previous regime's Haskins selection. There is a fantastic pass rusher on the board (Chase Young).... I can't say what the Redskins are thinking. But there is precedent. And most people believe Arizona made the correct decision last year. Because of their draft position, they gain very little from a smokescreen. They can't claim interest in Tua, but then ALSO shop the pick to needy QB teams wanting to move up. Everyone knows who is going #1, so it's not like they are trying to get another prospect to fall.