Rocky Landing

Apologies for the length of this post. I thought this deserved its own topic, and now that the first two days of the draft are over, I was interested to see some discussion on people's thoughts on the actual production of this event, and to present some of my own. Depending on how this Covid-19 "new normal" environment plays out, this could really end up being a ground-breaking event. I've worked in motion picture/television production for almost 30 years, including a fair amount of reality, and broadcast television. The challenges to coordinating hundreds of live streams into one live television production is pretty staggering, and if this becomes a standard, then this will be looked upon as the pioneer production. A few thoughts on the coverage: Pros: I'm actually quite impressed with how well the feeds back and forth were managed. Very few bobbles, and dead air. I've always thought Wingo was pretty good at his job, but in controlled situations (like television studios) there are a lot of people keeping things moving, and coherent. Trey did an admirable job considering the circumstances. Kudos to Goodell for inviting fans to boo him from the screen behind him. His performance was lousy, but that made him seem uncharacteristically human. Just the right amount of Kiper looking like he was high on meth, and about to chew his own tongue off. Smart how they had different pundits prepared to comment on different draftees, and their highlight reels. All in all, the entire production was well organized. Cons: They could have kept anything Covid related, and anything requiring slow, somber piano music to the first two minutes of the broadcast, and left it at that because 75+% of the commercials were all about that. WAY too many talking heads. It looked to me like they replaced all of the footage of screaming fans, and all the malarkey that happens during the gala environment of what would have occurred in Vegas with a higher volume of talking heads. I was hoping for the screaming fan footage to be replaced more with actual college football footage, with analysis. Goodell was as wooden as Tom Brady's* legs. Kiper looked like he was high on meth, and about to chew his own tongue off. More care should have been taken to sync the remote footage, specifically the draftee's homes, and the GM's offices, with the picks as they were announced. Most of the picks that came in were met with shots of players and their families, and GMs doing... nothing. Not a lot of out-of-the-box- thinking went into this very out-of-the-box production. I'm sure they were rather consumed with the technical challenges (which were HUGE) in pulling off this event, but I think there were a lot of missed opportunities in what could have been presented. Things I would have liked to have seen: There are a lot of NFL football fans (like me) who don't pay any attention to college football until draft season (at which point, we all become experts). And then, the only things we generally see are highlight reels, which present an utterly skewed version of the players, and their programs. There was an opportunity here to educate the masses on the particulars of college football, in short format segments that could have been fitted in between picks. As mentioned above, a lot of the live feeds weren't well synced with the broadcast. I would have liked too have seen a lot more interaction with the players at home, and the GMs, and HCs. For example, a nice part of each pick would have been for the GMs or HCs to answer a few quick questions on each pick. Example: Trey Wingo: "So, Mike, what stood out for you when considering Isaiah Wilson?" Mike Vrabel: "blah, blah, blah..." Of course, this would've been coordinated with all the teams ahead of time, but that shouldn't have been too hard. Same goes for draftees. Just to expand on the above-- each team should have had a point man to communicate with the broadcast. Ideally, that would have been the GM, or HC. But, given how busy they were, a third party-- be that an assistant, or known personality-- would have sufficed. For example: The Bills could have had Kyle Williams in the loop for all their draft prospects, and he could have done a quick, post-pick interview on the thought process going into their pick. Such a format would have been interesting, and educational, and not all that hard to coordinate. Kiper successfully chewing his own tongue off. I know this was a first-of-its-kind production, and rife with technical challenges which had to be met, and I'm sure took an enormous amount of effort. But, going forward, if this sort of production happens again, I would think the NFL would be smart to elicit the help from a broader talent pool. Things don't need to be so stodgy. Memes, short-form docs, short films, even Tic Tok, and Instagram, and FaceBook have some very talented people coming up with viable content that could be culled. All in all, it was a pretty impressive effort. I'm sure that the production crews who were involved in this learned a lot, and probably developed a lot of systems for managing this enormous amount of streaming content that we'll never hear about. But, I think there's a lot of open ground here for what could ultimately become a are paradigm in television production. Interesting times...

Agree

Trade up for Zach Baun!

I know I could think of some names.

The degree to which the Dolphins tore themselves down really makes them a 2-3 year rebuild, IMO. I'll say that's it was really pretty remarkable how Flores (and Fitzpatrick, for that matter) were able to win the games they did with the shambles that team was in 2019. Fitz should be a pretty good mentor for Tua.

I gotta believe Beane has been super busy on the phone today, and has several trade scenarios lined up.

I don't think he blew it, but I thought Booger was a little dry, last night. Maybe he didn't like the picks. I know he's one of the greener pundits, but his opinions just drip out-- not a good flow. Who nose what was a tissue, but he looked pretty wiped by the end of it. It snot unlikely his feed was stuffed up, which is nothing to sneeze at, but he really needs to get his head clear before we sinus on tonight. I don't want to watch him run on without any real substance. I'll flick to another channel.

Has Mel Kiper taken up Methamphetamine during this quarantine? He looks like he's about to chew his own tongue off.

Oh, there's Booger...

Interesting thing: I live in Los Angeles, and work in the television/motion picture industry, and I can tell you that a lot of people are watching this production very closely-- people who don't give a damn about sports, or the NFL. Obviously, the entire industry, on the production side, is completely shut down. Networks, and streaming services are scrambling to try to figure out how things are going to look when productions start up again. Lawyers, and insurance execs ("first responders," as I refer to them) are trying to get a bead on what the "new normal" is going to be going forward. Well, this draft extravaganza is a first of its kind, and many people want to know how it all shakes out. The successes, and failures of this production will likely have lasting effects on how many elements of television will look in the future. There are literally dozens, and dozens (maybe hundreds) of people producing their own content for this telecast. The NFL has sent out 100+ "production kits" including cameras, lights, microphones, tripods, and other technical equipment to people who have never had to deal with such things in their life. This should be interesting...

I remember that kid, I was rooting for him.

SI absolutely bashes him. https://www.si.com/nfl/49ers/news/49ers-should-cut-tevin-coleman I admit I haven't seen enough niners football to have a strong opinion. Consensus would seem to be that he's not good enough to warrant his starting status on that team. If stats are to be believed, he would seem to be a pretty good receiving RB. But, from what I'm reading, he doesn't seem like he'd be a great fit for the Bills. Be that as it may, it sounds like it's unlikely they'll find a trade partner for him, and that the 49ers are going to end up cutting him anyway. If we were really interested, we'd probably get a better deal bidding on him after he's cut. But, I doubt Beane is interested.

Great work Gunner. Truly, you're an asset to Bills fandom.

Ease up buddy, I'm not making excuses, or defending anybody. I don't like Rosen, I don't think he's a good QB, and I'm glad he's not a Bill. I'm just talking about a guy whose career could have taken a much different trajectory had he not been put in such horrible situations. As far as the deal in Miami last season, my take was that the FO was tanking, and Flores was trying to win games with the crap they left him. When you consider the players they traded away, and the fact that they literally put the entire roster up for sale, it's not such a hot take.

Well, the Miami FO's plan to tank the season was egregious enough that the NFL Competition Committee got involved. And, I also have to disagree that AZ's O-line (ranked 32) wasn't any worse than Buffalo's (ranked 29). They were. They were really, really bad. But, again, I'm no Rosen fan. At all. I just tend to agree with FireChan's take on him over yours, more or less...

It's hard to judge his abilities based on what he's done in the NFL. He went from starting his rookie season in Arizona behind the worst ranked O-line in the league, to Miami where the front office literally wanted him to fail, and set him up as such, so badly that the NFL Competition Committee got involved. Arizona was inept. Miami was downright cruel. Mind you, I'm no Rosen fan, and I never wanted Buffalo to draft him.

I'm not sure I agree with this. Morse was fast on his feet for his size, and blocked well beyond the LOS often. More than a few of Singletary's runs were behind Morse. I've been watching the condensed versions of last season's games, and I've been struck at how fast Morse moved when he was blocking for the running back. I also think Feliciano is the best RG we've had in a long time. Honestly, I hope we keep the O-line as is. They finished the season a lot better than they started, and I believe that with continuity, they will be better yet. Especially with whatever limitations the preseason ends up having, I think continuity will be even more of an advantage.

Feliciano has position flexibility, and McDermott and Beane clearly value that. Even though Spencer Long has been listed as the backup center on the depth chart, it's been Feliciano who covered Morse on every snap he missed. Long has backed up Feliciano. Clearly, he's the better player. But, there's also a matter of continuity. I don't remember where I read it, but there was a statistical study that showed how important continuity is on the O-line. Re-sign Feliciano.

I've never been a Rosen fan, but it's almost criminal how the Miami FO handled him. They put their entire roster up for sale, and sold off all their best players. They were tanking so bad that the NFL Competition Committee got involved. Then they put Rosen at the helm, slapped him on the ass and said, "now get out there and suck...!"

"Get a life?" You're telling someone who has posted on this site for years, and years, has racked up almost 13,000 posts, studies football religiously, and shares his knowledge, and opinions with the rest of us to "stop worrying about stuff you can't control?" Why even come on a site like this? Are you a troll, or what?

I can understand why he would say that. I've been watching all of last season's Vikings games on Game Pass to get a bead on Diggs, and so I sort of end up retroactively rooting for them (if that makes any sense). And, I have to say, Cousins is one helluva frustrating QB. There are games where he is dead-on accurate, and his decision-making, reads, etc is really good. But, then there will be games where he's all over the field. He doesn't handle pressure well, and once he's out of the pocket, he's useless. I could well imagine that the crowds (especially when there are a lot of opposing team's fans, like when they hosted the Bills ?) would have a tendency to rattle him. EDIT: I can also sort of see why Diggs was so frustrated there. The play calling seemed to diminish as the season progressed, especially in regards to Diggs. Often, he would be out there only as a decoy, on very specific design plays, but the defenses would read it and only put single coverage on him. It became pretty frequent in the second half of the season where Diggs would be under single man coverage, with no chance of getting the ball thrown to him. In the last few games, you would, as often as not, see him essentially jog off the LOS.

I wish I had a link to the interview. It wasn't a written interview, but a FaceTime sort of thing. He was speaking quite earnestly about the struggles of the limited scouting process. I can see no reason to believe he wasn't being honest.

I don't remember where I saw the interview, but Beane was recently asked about the issues with the limited scouting protocols, and his comments very much contradict your comment, here. In one of the more humorous anecdotes he talked about how even the guys who picked up prospects from the airport would be questioned about their attitudes, and comments they might make on the drive to the facility. I think, especially with Beane, character matters, and learning how someone acts when they aren't in an interview is important to him.

Why I believe the Bills will trade up in the second: Lower round draft picks have a lower value for the Bills than they do for other teams. It's not unlikely that none of our draft picks will start in week one, whereas many other teams have starting position needs. (Last season, our first three picks started week one.) This swings the value of a later round pick towards trade capital for the Bills. I suspect that the limited scouting protocols have likely resulted in fewer players that Beane/McD are exceptionally high on. Likely, there are many more question marks on their board than normal. So, by the second round, the number of players they have as a high priority will be significantly diminished. As other teams have the same scouting issues, it perhaps becomes more likely that a player that Beane sees as a first round talent falls to the second round. Beane has a consistent record of trading up in the draft. I would like to hear other thoughts on this.

To trade up into the first round would require more than the value of our 2020 draft pics. Such a trade would have to include either higher round 2021 draft pics, or current players. Neither would seem to be worth it, especially considering this season's limited scouting protocols. Personally, IMO, I would be surprised if he didn't trade up in the second. I don't feel like later round picks, this season, have as much value for the Bills, as they do for most other teams. Later round picks this season will be lucky to make the practice squad. I also have a suspicion that this is one reason Beane is in favor of the proposed ten round draft, as those additional picks equal more trade capital.