DefenseWins

First of all you simply CAN'T forget about FA. It comes before the NFL Draft and will play a big role in what the Bills plans for the draft turn out to be. From what we have seen so far this season the Bills appear to be in pretty good shape defensively and can supplement what they have via FA.It would be helpful to find out what Wyatt Teller brings to the table by giving him some playing time as the rest of this season winds down. I can't believe that anyone would seriously suggest drafting a RT with the #1 draft pick. Assuming Dawkins stays healthy he has to be regarded as the starting LT both now and for the foreseeable future. WR would seem to be the most likely pick at this point with the idea that the Bills can sign a couple of viable FA WR's between now and the draft.

Does it really matter? The Jets had a similar boatload of money to spend in FA this past season and supposedly were hot to sign Cousins to a huge contract. Had they signed him would they then have gone out and drafted Darnold? Assuming that ANY particular player would be willing to come here if the money were roughly the same is a waste of time and effort because in "real life" players are gonna do what THEY believe to be in their best interest. Cousins for example wanted to sign with a team that in his mind was in the best position to possibly get to and win in the playoffs. Hence he chose Minnesota over the Jets and other teams like say Denver which also coveted him. So what good does it do to pick and choose a bunch of players based on the dollars that they signed for this past year (assuming you had 90 million to spend) when realistically there was no chance of that actually happening in "real life"?

Just for reference here are Jared Goff's stats. Notice his 1st year stats. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/G/GoffJa00.htm 7 GP 112 CMP 205 ATT 1089 YDS 54.6 CMP% 5 TDS 7 INTS 18.9 QBR Not very impressive...

"Core Players"? Sammy Watkins who was often injured and "Non-Performing" much of the time and making 16 mill per year isn't even the #1 WR on Kansas City. http://www.nfl.com/teams/profile?team=KC Or do you mean Darius who was playing abysmally when not imbibing synthetic MJ and drag racing in his spare time. Or perhaps Cordy Glen who was also often injured and overpaid for not playing and had been beaten out by Dawkins? What was the Bills record with these "difference makers" exactly? Did they ever get us to the playoffs? Spare Me Please!

I'm in no hurry to move McCoy for anything less than a 2nd either. The unknown factor in all this is what McCoy actually wants also. If he wants to be here I'd say keep him. Also I keep reading that McD wanted the KC 1st round pick because he didn't trust Whaley's judgement and essentially wanted to wait till Beane got here to decide on a QB of the future but why is everyone assuming that Whaley would have drafted Mahomes otherwise? Don't get me wrong. I wanted Mahomes. A lot of people on this site wanted Mahomes. But we will never really know whether Whaley wanted Mahomes. Sammy wasn't dependable. He was injured some of the time and was heading towards a big payday that was hard to justify given the Bills salary cap situation at the time as well. Now the Bills have a huge salary cap surplus in 2019 and beyond. Totally different situation.

I agree with the idea of bringing in some OL via FA. Solidify the line. I don't see a top FA WR like Cobb wanting to come here. Perhaps Moncrief? Jax is short on cap space which means he should be available if he is willing to come here. I definitely like the idea of drafting a WR with the 1st round pick. It's rumored to be a strong Defensive draft so a top WR could well be available when the Bills pick comes up. I'd also like the Bills to try to improve their TE position through FA if possible. The Bills will have to make a serious decision on Hughes after this season is over. Also it is time to bring in a RB as Shady may or may not be around after this year is over.

The reason the Bills lost is obvious... It's the fault of that guy who didn't bet $5000 against the Bills this week.

The players I named are all on the wrong side of 30 and are under-performing and nearing the end of their contracts. These guys are NOT the future.

As far as I can tell, the Jets must be ruining Darnold too then, cause his stats and the outcome of that game are pretty similar to the Bills ordeal yesterday... And Miami got destroyed by the Pariots as usual too... Boy, you people need to chill out... Aikman's rookie season was as pathetic as this and so was Elway's... This is a transition and learning year - a rebuilding year... Enjoy the high points and tolerate the low points...

You wait till the trade deadline and see if a Contending team loses its Rb and is willing to give you something for McCoy... Otherwise you wait till the end of the season... McCoy's Dead Cap hit next season is only 2.6mill vs 9mill if he is on the team... Hughes contract situation is quite similar... 2.9mill Dead Cap hit vs 9.6mill if he is on the team... Murphy 3.5mill Dead Cap hit vs 8.575mill... Clay 4.5mill vs 9mill... All 4 of these players could be gone after this season...Total 13.5mill DCH vs 36.175mill if they are on the team next year... And the Bills are already showing over 90mill in cap space for 2019...You can add in another 10mill for the annual NFL salary Cap increase to that total as well... Perhaps the Bills go for OL and Def help in FA and draft the best young WR in the draft even though it is rumored to be a strong Def draft... Lot's of room for the lineup to change in 2019.

I almost feel sorry for Cleveland. Imagine that first Josh Gordon rips your heart out and then you draft Coleman and he finishes the job... SAD...

The key is that Dez doesn't WANT to be here. I think he wants to play for a Super Bowl contender and nothing else. (except maybe a chance to get back at the Cowboys and Jerry Jones) If he was really interested in coming here it would be a different story.

Sorry, but Bradford has already "milked" the NFL cash cow more than enough. If Allen gets injured then Peterman goes back in. That's really the only way you make a change at QB. This season (and hopefully every season for the next 15 years) belongs to ALLEN.

And the two QB's (Kelly and Steve Young) later had the famous "No Punt" game out in San Francisco in 1992 (9-13-92)

Actually, Kelly spent his first TWO seasons in the USFL. It folded before it's 3rd season. That's when Kelly joined the Bills. Kelly's 1st couple years with the Bills were nothing special either actually. Statistically, Kelly's best two back to back seasons here were in 1990 and 1991. He always seemed to throw a lot of Int's. That's where it helped having Thurman Thomas running the ball! But they did go to the 4 straight Super Bowls... Marino was very good and could almost beat you single handedly. Buffalo had the better overall team though. Bruce Smith was always the big difference on defense. The Bills always had some of their best games playing against the Dolphins.

It's the textbook definition of "Addition by Subtraction"... Bills just got better!

Just for Comparison... http://www.nfl.com/teams/statistics?team=cle http://www.nfl.com/teams/statistics?team=BUF FWIW: Tyrod so far this season vs Allen. I know that it was hard for some to let go of TT. He was a very likeable guy for one thing. But I really believe the moves Beane made to acquire Allen were the right ones and in the future we will all be happier for it. Now Beane has to build around him.

I was a bit concerned at first about starting the kid this early. I too, wanted him to sit on the bench and learn. But from what I've seen so far, Allen seems to be adjusting to the speed of the game quite nicely. He doesn't seem fazed by things at all. Hopefully, the coaches and fellow players can impress upon him the need to avoid hurdling opposing players though. That's one thing he needs to avoid.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/kelvin-benjamin-14437/market-value/ Given that he will be seeking a new contract for 2019 forward, how much effort ($) should the Bills put into resigning him? IMO they let him walk after the season is over. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/wide-receiver/ Which FA WR's should the Bills target for 2019? I would assume the Bills draft a WR with 1 of their top 2 picks in the draft....

I'm glad we agree that Beane cannot realistically be judged at this point based on the short time he has actually been here making moves and that 2019 will be crucial in how Beane will be judged moving forward. The fact that he was able to move up and acquire Allen and still retain all our picks for 2019 is quite frankly a remarkable achievement IMO. I also remember that on draft night many of us fans, myself included, were somewhat surprised when Beane chose Allen over Rosen. However, based on what we are currently seeing out of Allen I can well understand now why Beane made that move. The story we were being told was that Allen had accuracy problems. Apparently, Beane did his "due diligence" and came to the conclusion that Allen was indeed the real deal and deserves alot of credit for that judgement. I still think that this was a rare draft for QB's similar to the famous 83 draft and that the top 4 QB's look to have solid careers ahead of them. But at this point I have to give Beane ton's of credit for his moves so far and can only look forward to what this team will acheive in the years to come.

If we are pretending to "judge" Beane's moves as GM should we also not be giving him credit for making the moves necessary to draft Allen in the first place? He got a valuable 3rd rd pick for Tyrod (saving valuable cap space as well) and then traded with Cinci unloading an overpaid player (Glenn) who was no longer starting, to acquire their #1 draft pick which was later used on draft day, as well as making the trade with Tampa to move up to select Allen. If we are looking at Beane's moves should we not be taking these into consideration as well? If Edmunds pans out as I believe that he will, how bout giving Beane credit for that move as well. As far as Whaley is concerned, lets also remember that he was most likely a major factor in why Marrone wanted out. Wasn't it said that when the trade to acquire Watkins was announced that he was rumored to have angrily left the building in a huff over the move? Didn't Marrone basically force Whaley to go out and bring in Orton because Marrone wanted no part of EJ as his Qb at that point? It seems to me that most of us fans had already concluded that EJ was a bust and yet Whaley went out and drafted a WR so highly when he could have simply stayed put in the draft and selected another highly regarded WR?

It's important to keep in mind that no GM ever bats 1000. I always assume that you will overpay in FA. It's the nature of the beast. Clearly though, this FO has a plan and is sticking to it. They've cleaned out most of the dead wood, acquired their QB of the present and future, and now will begin surrounding him with talent in 2019.

"Gonna Fly Now!" Theme from Rocky...

The start of something special...

When they review the tape of this game, they should sneak in the footage of Garrapolo's presumed ACL injury suffered today... We all love Allen's intensity and daring but he is too valuable to risk serious injury on a play like that... On the plus side we have already seen that Josh knows how to slide when appropriate...