mjt328

Fans really need to be patient, and let Brandon Beane's plan come to fruition. If this team isn't pointing up by the middle/end of next season, then we can start talking. Until then, it's just ridiculously premature. Nobody wants to deal with a rebuilding season. It's ugly to watch, and it's easy to get impatient. But until Beane arrived, this organization was stuck in a perpetual state of .500 football, with no playoffs in 17 years and no franchise quarterback. He decided that our best course wasn't to add talent to the foundation, but to blow up the foundation and start over. Many are frustrated with the lack of talent we added this offseason, and want to blame Beane for not fielding a competitive team. But looking at our resources, I just don't see how much more he could have done. We only had so many draft picks, and it was absolutely vital to the plan for them to secure Josh Allen with the first trade up. We absolutely could not walk out of this draft without our QB of the future, and anyone who disagrees is not worth listening to. Even without the trade-up for Tremaine Edmunds, we would only have had one extra 3rd Round choice. That's it. In free agency, Beane used the little cap space he had to improve the D-Line. Maybe time will tell that he overpaid for Star Lotulelei and Trent Murphy, but I think we should give them a little bit longer than Week 1 to call them busted pickups. The Vontae Davis addition looks pretty bad so far, but EJ Gaines only played 11 games last year and is already hurt again. I can't blame them for letting him walk. After the Davis, Lotulelei and Murphy signings, we didn't have the cash to make any other splash signings. Right now, the Bills are sitting with less than $9 million in cap space. So it's not like they had a ton of money to go out and upgrade the other weak spots. We had to settle for guys like Russell Bodine and Marshall Newhouse. And for all of the complaining about the O-Line, don't forget that Ritchie Incognito retired in April - AFTER all the best free agents had been picked clean and AFTER the draft was finished. The Bills had restructured his contract and were counting on him playing this season. It's not Beane's fault that Incognito screwed his teammates over. I get it. We have big holes on the offensive line, at wide receiver and at cornerback. We will likely be starting a rookie quarterback sooner than later. We probably won't be very competitive in 2018. But that was never the plan. The plan was to develop Allen, get Edmunds some experience. Next year we have an estimated $90 million in cap space. We have virtually no players (Kyle Williams and maybe Kelvin Benjamin) needed to re-sign. And we have a full slate of draft picks.

No. Actually, the Bills have been doing the exact opposite for most of the last 17 years. This is the first complete rebuild the Bills have done since Tom Donahoe was hired after the Music City Miracle. Do you really feel like Buddy Nix (who refused to move away from Ryan Fitzpatrick) or Doug Whaley (trading extra picks to move up for Sammy Watkins) were making moves with the FUTURE in mind? Nope. If you break-down the 2017 Bills and the 2018 Bills, these are the major differences you will find: - They traded their below-average QB Tyrod Taylor for a 3rd Round Pick (robbery) and drafted his replacement in the Top 10 - They let their below-average MLB Preston Brown walk in Free Agency (oh well) and drafted his replacement in the Top 20 - They lost their best O-Line players (Eric Wood and Ritchie Incognito) due to retirement - They let EJ Gaines walk in Free Agency, mostly because he couldn't stay healthy They played all of last season (finishing 9-7 and making the playoffs) without Sammy Watkins or Ronald Darby. They only had Marcel Dareus for 5 games. They only had Cordy Glenn for 6 games.

After what I saw in preseason, I thought Nathan Peterman deserved the starting job. And I was slightly optimistic he was going to take a significant step forward from the disastrous play as a rookie. One of the things that I liked about Peterman during the preseason was his quick decision-making and release. With our O-Line struggling so bad, I figured this would be extremely beneficial to the offense. But with the real bullets flying at him today, it very much seemed (early in the game) that Peterman was holding the ball WAY too long. I just have to wonder if this is a mental byproduct of his 5-INT game against the Chargers last year. Some players look strong and confident in practice or preseason. But on gameday, they become hesitant, scared and overly careful. As the game progressed and Peterman had no choice but to finally push the ball downfield, he made very poor decisions and was extremely inaccurate. The guy offers virtually no upside as a quarterback. His arm strength is poor for an NFL passer. He struggles with anything over 10-15 yards. Any kind of outside timing route floats in the air, just begging for an interception. His athleticism is average, meaning he can't extend plays or make defenses respect his scrambling ability. For someone with his skill-set to be successful, he will need to be exceptionally accurate, extremely quick at getting the ball out and flawless in his decision-making. What we've seen instead (at least so far) is a guy who holds the ball too long in the pocket, who forces the ball into places he shouldn't and who has very spotty accuracy. Unless the coaching staff is scared Josh Allen will develop bad habits playing behind this O-Line, I don't see any reason why they shouldn't make the QB change in Week 2. And quite honestly, I wouldn't blink if they decided to cut Peterman and sign a real/experienced veteran either.

And then what about the QB position...

Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott would like us to be competitive and win right now. But they aren't going to sacrifice the LONG-TERM FUTURE of this team, for the sake of competing for a wild card position THIS SEASON. It just baffles me that so many fans just can't grasp this concept. Every... Single... Move... made by this front office in the past 2 seasons has been made with the team's long-term future in mind. Why keep a player around, if they aren't going to fit into the team's long-term plans? Especially if another team is willing to offer you a draft pick in exchange for that player? This is the question that can be asked about Sammy Watkins, Ronald Darby, Marcel Dareus, Tyrod Taylor, etc.

I found this related article just as interesting. It shows a very strong correlation between the percent of cap space used by a team's Top 10 contracts, and their point differential throughout the season. https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2018/9/6/17521424/nfl-predictions-2018-super-bowl-contenders-salary-cap-roster-balance The trick to salary cap management is balance. - If you aren't handing out enough big contracts, chances are your talent level isn't where it needs to be. - If you are overpaying too many big name players, your depth is probably going to suffer. - Teams with young QBs on their first contracts have a significant advantage over everyone else. This is also further evidence that Buffalo is in full-rebuild mode. We are currently dead-last on the list, suggesting the Bills probably have less talent than most other NFL teams (which is unfortunately hard to argue). Our highest paid player is Jerry Hughes, who hasn't had more than 6 sacks since 2014.

Who cares what anyone thinks? At some point Josh Allen will get on the field, and he will either sink or swim. It's really that simple. If Allen turns into a Pro-Bowl/Franchise quarterback, all the armchair critics will simply forget everything they said against him.

It's hard to make a call after only three preseason games. But from the action we've witnessed, Nathan Peterman has played the best so far. Peterman is the only QB to play well against another first-team defense. I think that has mostly to do with his quicker decision making, which helps counteract some of the poor O-Line play. When put in with the second and third teams, he also raised the level of play for the guys around him. Once the real bullets start flying however, I think teams will stack the line and clog the shorter routes. Eventually, teams are going to take advantage of the lack of arm strength. In contrast, I think Josh Allen is still too slow in processing everything - which is totally understandable for a rookie, but only makes the O-Line struggles more apparent. He's clearly got the most talent of the group. My fear is that with the terrible blocking in front, Allen is going to be a sitting duck. Instead of being able to focus on his footwork, mechanics and other developmental steps, he's going to be running for his life all game. Some say he needs to have real in-game experience to get better. But I don't want the lack of protection to push him back into the old habits he's learning to break. I haven't been impressed with AJ McCarron at all. He is a five-year vet who holds the ball longer than Allen, but offers none of the upside.

I never had a problem with how the previous regime spent money in Free Agency, or with some of the high-priced contracts we gave out (Dareus, Glenn, etc.), or even with bold trades being made on draft day (Watkins). If that was the avenue Doug Whaley felt was best to build the roster, then so be it. I was willing to see how it played out. The problem was, the Buffalo Bills were only marginally better in the win column after 3-4 years with him in charge. They still didn't have a franchise QB. The roster was among the oldest in the NFL. And their salary cap situation was in bad shape. I agree that Whaley got somewhat of a raw deal (not being able to hire his own head coach, the change in ownership, etc.) But at the end of the day, his decisions were not good enough to make us a champion. Nobody knows how Beane's moves will ultimately pan out. In 3 years, we may look back and decide he was the worst GM in our team's history. I just find it ridiculous to make those kind of assessments at this point of his tenure. He's had exactly one offseason. We just finished our third preseason game. At some point in the future, Beane will be forced to answer for the Lotulelei/Murphy/Ivory signings. At some point he will need to answer for the Allen/Edmunds trade-ups. But that day is NOT today.

From the moment they walked in the door, Brandon Beane's plan was to: - Get rid of bad contracts and fix their salary cap situation - Stockpile draft picks to help obtain a franchise QB and rebuild the roster - Bring in players who fit the coaching staff's vision The short-sighted thoughts of some fans on this board are absolutely astounding. Anyone with the slightest hint of common sense, would realize this was a 2-3 year project at minimum. The plan isn't to make the Bills better "today" or to finish 9-7 during the 2018 season. The plan is to build a Super Bowl Contender. This wasn't going to happen with Tyrod Taylor's average play at Quarterback. This wasn't going to happen with Marcel Dareus getting suspended every season. This wasn't going to happen with Sammy Watkins underachieving. This wasn't going to happen with Preston Brown making tackles 4-5 yards down the field. The reason for all those trades was for draft capital to get OUR GUY at the most important position in the NFL. The reason for the large chunks of dead cap-space this year, is because it makes us TOTALLY free and clear next season. The reason we take 1-2 steps back THIS year, is because it will allow us to take 5-6 steps forward NEXT year People seem to forget that EJ Gaines missed 5 games last year (and is already hurt again). Until Davis got roasted in Sunday's preseason game, most people felt he was going to be a good pickup. Maybe we need to wait until the season actually plays out before calling this one a downgrade.

What a terrible assessment. I don't even know where to start with this utter nonsense. First of all, the 15 months that Brandon Beane has been on the job has included exactly ONE period of Free Agency and exactly ONE draft class. And NONE of the acquisitions made this offseason have played even a single snap for the Buffalo Bills yet. Every smart team (especially those rebuilding) are built through the Draft. But apparently you don't agree, because all of the places we got rid of an average veteran (Tyrod Taylor, Preston Brown) and replaced them with a top prospect (Josh Allen, Tremaine Edmunds), you considered that a downgrade or a wash. So basically, your assessment of this roster comes down COMPLETELY to what we did in Free Agency... Of course, completely ignoring that Beane's hands were totally tied because of cap space and high-priced contracts handed out by the previous front office. You have also determined that Pro-Bowler Vontae Davis is a downgrade to the always-injured EJ Gaines - I'm assuming based on one bad preseason game. You have also determined that Star Lotulelei is a downgrade to Marcel Dareus, who is currently a backup in Jacksonville and hasn't played well in 3 seasons now.

At this point, I think our O-Line troubles start with a lack of talent. Our best 3 linemen from the last several years (Eric Wood, Ritchie Incognito and Cordy Glenn) were all lost within a single offseason. Only Glenn has been adequately replaced, and Dion Dawkins was injured/did not play yesterday. Vlad Ducasse and John Miller both struggled horribly at Right Guard last season. This year, both are unquestioned starters. Jordan Mills has been a weak spot for years. This year, he's the most experienced starter. Neither Ryan Groy or Russell Bodine have been able to snatch the starting job, which is always a bad sign. Maybe Castillo will prove to be a poor coach as well, but right now he's working with crap.

So wait a minute... You start this thread, criticizing Brandon Beane for not doing enough to improve the Bills roster. (Keeping in mind, this was Beane's FIRST year handling Free Agency and his FIRST year running the draft. AND ALSO keeping in mind the 2018 season hasn't even started yet). Then when I point out that Beane needs another offseason before we can judge his success, you respond to my post with the following quote: "Turnaround time in the NFL is usually around 3 years."

The players Beane has dumped were released for a variety of reasons. Some were bad scheme fits. Some were not going to fit the salary cap. Some did not display the team-first attitude wanted from this coaching staff. Out of all the players we let go, I can't think of a single one that I would take back (at the cost we traded them for). Ronald Darby was injured and didn't play well for the Eagles last year. Sammy Watkins was a disappointment on the Rams, not re-signed and has been pathetic in preseason action for the Chiefs. Cordy Glenn is hurt again. Tyrod Taylor was not the long-term answer. When considering replacements, you have to understand our limited resources. We only had so much salary cap space. We only had so many draft picks. Did we sign Bodine and Newhouse because they were coveted players by Beane and the staff? Are these guys our long-term answer at those positions? Or were we trying to make the best of our limited dollars, and get by with adequate fill-in players for THIS season? That's where the patience comes in. The 2018 Bills are not a finished product. There are some important draft pieces scattered across the roster (Allen, Dawkins, Jones, White, Edmunds, Phillips) along with some important veteran additions (Benjamin, Lotulelei, Murphy, Hyde, Poyer), all of whom are important towards this rebuilding process. But those guys only make up half of the starting lineup. Next year, the Bills will have the cap space to properly fill the weak spots. They will have another full draft class of picks. Their young prospects will have gotten some badly needed experience. By the middle of next season, we should have a really good idea where this rebuilding project is headed and whether Beane's plan is working out. If his picks are struggling at that point, his Free Agent pickups aren't earning their contracts, and the Bills aren't winning games -- THEN we can start criticizing his decisions.

I really hope the message board isn't going to be flooded with these kinds of posts all season. Fans need to get it in their heads. Brandon Beane didn't come in here to patch some holes and make us a Wild Card team. He came here to completely tear-down what the previous regime did, and construct this roster piece-by-piece into a consistent championship contender. That cannot be done in only 1-2 seasons. (I think many fans have already forgotten that Beane didn't even come to Buffalo until May of last year, after Free Agency and the Draft were already wrapped up.) I agree that roster turnover CAN be quick in the NFL. But a lot of that depends on what pieces are already in place. The cornerstones of Doug Whaley's roster were either players that Beane didn't want (Sammy Watkins, Ronald Darby, Marcel Dareus, Reggie Ragland, Cordy Glenn, Tyrod Taylor) or players that have retired this offseason (Eric Wood, Ritchie Incognito). This is a TOTAL rebuild. Our two most important acquisitions this offseason were Josh Allen and Tremaine Edmunds. The plan is to build the franchise around THESE TWO GUYS for the next decade. Hopefully someday both will become regular Pro Bowlers. But for now, the common trait is that both Allen/Edmunds were considered physical freaks, who were raw and needed LOTS of refinement before reaching their potential. Read the scouting reports before the draft. Neither of these guys were expected to make a tremendous impact as rookies. There will be growing pains, and mistakes. Considering the number of players we decided to part-ways with, the two surprise retirements on the O-Line, our terrible salary cap position, and our desperation to land a franchise-QB --- it was totally unrealistic to expect Beane to fill all of our glaring holes in one offseason. The plan in Free Agency was to be conservative in spending this year, and get the dead-money/bad contracts off the books. Once 2019 hits, the Bills just might have the most cap space in the entire NFL to play around with. And all of our future draft picks. Bottom line. There needs to be an element of patience among the Bills fanbase. - 2018 was all about blowing up the roster and purging the unwanted pieces. - 2019 is about rebuilding the foundation - 2020 will be about filling in those holes If we aren't competing for the AFC East by the end of next year, then we can start criticizing what Beane did right/wrong. Until then, it's way too premature.

1. We didn't have much cap space, so all of our Free Agent signings were bargain-bin castoffs. Specifically Russell Bodine to replace Eric Wood at Center, and Marshall Newhouse to compete with Jordan Mills at Right Tackle. 2. Eric Wood's retirement was unexpected. But at least it happened in January. The Ritchie Incognito retirement was an even bigger shock, and didn't happen until the earl/mid of April. By that point, the team was already wrapping up Free Agency and looking towards the draft. 3. The Bills used their premium Day 1 picks on their two biggest needs. Quarterback and Middle Linebacker. Nobody can fault them for that. 4. Their next picks were used to fill Defensive Tackle, Cornerback and Wide Receiver, which were also massively huge needs. They finally followed that up with O-Line, getting guard Wyatt Teller. By that point, we were already through the 5th Round of the Draft. We only had so many resources.

Nothing... (whether it be analytics, statistics, film study, etc)... can flawlessly predict how a player performs at the next level. The biggest reason? They aren't a finished product yet. Teams didn't miss on Tom Brady because they were stupid. They overlooked him because virtually nothing during his college career suggested he would be more than an NFL backup. His performance on the field was average. His physical attributes were average. His stats were average. Brady just happened to perfect every aspect of his game after reaching the pros - whether it be accuracy, arm strength, pocket presence, release and his ability to read a defense. That doesn't mean analytics have no value. Every piece of information can help a scouting department in evaluating prospects. But they aren't going to be anywhere close to 100% in predicting future success.

Why can't anyone just be patient, and maybe wait for him to play a few seasons? The Chicago Bears were on the clock for about 5 seconds, and half of the NFL "experts" were already preparing articles about how bad the Bills screwed up. By the time Josh Allen was shaking hands with someone other than Roger Goodell, he was already a certified bust. Now he's played approximately 3 quarters of preseason action, and all his critics are saying they were SO WRONG and he's going to be an perennial Pro-Bowler.

Said it before. And I'll say it again. Wide Receiver is the most overrated position in the league. You don't need superstars at WR. You need guys who can get just enough separation... along with fairly reliable hands. Ultimately, our success in the passing game will depend on the starting Quarterback, and how well he plays. Nothing else matters if the QB can't make the correct read, release the ball quick enough and deliver the pass in an accurate fashion.

It's had to take anything from the preseason. At least when it comes to Wins/Losses. The starters and veteran/guys who will play 80-100% of the regular season snaps, will often get 1 quarter in each preseason game. Some will only play a warmup series. Some won't play at all. And you have to wonder if half of those players are even going full-speed. By the time you reach the second half, an extremely large chunk of those guys will never play a real NFL down. And that doesn't even factor in the lack of game-planning by the coaching staff.

The thing that stood out to me was Josh Allen's ability to escape the rush. Even when defenders got hands on him, they couldn't seem to bring him down. It was very similar to what Ben Roethlisberger and Cam Newton bring to the table. On the night, there were at least 2-3 "wow" throws from Allen. The zip and placement on that touchdown was impressive. I know that people were always impressed with EJ Manuel's physical abilities too, but I don't ever remember being wowed by anything he actually did on the field. Quite a few of Allen's incompletions were the fault of his receivers. Either drops or poorly run routes. Between the sieve of an offensive line, and the awful play of his receivers - you have to wonder how Allen would look with the 1st or 2nd team. I don't think you can fault Allen too much on the 4th down play -- simply because it was 4th down. He was trying to make something happen and there was nothing to lose. Now if he does that on 1st-3rd down, it's another story.

I totally agree, but you need to read my whole post. Is Mack worth a 1st Round Pick? Absolutely. But it's not JUST the 1st Round Pick. It's also the $20 million per year salary that he's looking for, which could easily be used on anywhere from 2-4 additional starting players. When you are in rebuilding mode, I'm not sure you can justify paying one player (outside of the QB) that much. Would you rather have Mack and a bunch of bums? Or would you rather have 4-5 solid starters all over the defense? Teams like New England have proven it's better to have a deep/balanced roster - because it allows more flexibility in game-planning and makes it easier to handle injuries.

Nope. Outside of quarterback, very few players in the NFL are worth that kind of investment - unless you KNOW he is the last piece necessary to make a championship run. And the Bills are nowhere close to that point in their building process. First of all, Khalil Mack would cost us a 1st Round Pick. Bare minimum. And considering all the question marks on our roster, it's quite possible that pick will be Top 10. For most decent GMs, a Top 10 pick should be a slam-dunk starting caliber player. If that wasn't already enough, (assuming we aren't looking for a 1-year rental) I've been reading that it's very possible Mack hits $20 million per year in salary. For a comparison, Star Lotulelei just signed for $10 million per. Jerry Hughes makes $9 million per. Trent Murphy came for about $7 million. Kyle Williams and Micah Hyde make roughly $6 million per. Jordan Poyer is between $3-4 million per. At the end of the day, the cost of trading for Mack would be at least 3 strong NFL starters. Depending on how well we played the free agency game, that money could go even farther. I'm talking 5-6 starting players. When you are building for long-term success, you can't justify that.

The arrogance of some players is unbelievable. Until you are a proven commodity in the NFL (and have become a free agent), you should just be grateful at being in the league. If you want to play for a contender, then help make your team a contender.

OK. Go ahead and argue for those guys. Throwing random names out isn't actually saying anything. There is no way to prove that any of those players were "ruined" by playing too early, or if they would have just busted regardless. Everybody likes to talk about David Carr, but statistically his best seasons were his 3rd, 4th and 5th in the league. If he was ruined by playing too early, you wouldn't expect to see any progression after his first season. But like many NFL quarterbacks, he just peaked at a certain point and never got better.