Kirby Jackson

I like it.

Bills - 41 Miami - 20

It’s about percentage of cap to a position group. You have to redeploy those cap dollars to WR. You’re paying Dawkins and Brown. In this scenario, you’d be paying Edwards and McGovern too. Torrence is in line for a big extension that would kick in for 2027. So, to answer your question, yes you can’t pay Torrence but can pay Higgins.

I agree with all of this. At the same time, not one of those guys belongs at the spot where they are on the depth chart. The Bills have a starting caliber slot receiver. He is probably a top 5-10 slot in the league. Put him aside for this conversation. They then have 2 guys that would be low end 2’s on the outside or decent 3’s (excluding slot) in Palmer/Moore. Coleman should slot in behind those 2. Samuel is a gadget guy. Shavers is ST. So they are missing AT LEAST a number 1 (and you could argue a number 2). They need either a number 2 or an elite field stretcher. I threw out a hypothetical trade this morning that I think I like. Torrence & a 2nd or 3rd for Tee Higgins. You can’t pay Torrence what it will take. Invest that money into retaining Edwards & McGovern. Play Anderson or another young guy at RG. Humor me and let’s pretend the Bills do this. In 2026 the room would look something like Higgins-Palmer - Shakir as the starters. I’d have Moore/speed guy that can return kicks drafted in the mid rounds behind them. Coleman as a backup inside and outside. You can dump Samuel and use Moore to fill the gadget role. That room is infinitely better than this. The Bills can get more out of the WRs than they have. They have, unequivocally, a bottom 3 WR room in the league. Both statements are true.

Just tragic. Rest in Peace 🙏🏼🙏🏼

It was the right move at the time and the right move with the benefit of hindsight. Can you imagine if it was Jalen Reagor instead of Justin Jefferson?!? It very easily could have been that. Diggs gave the Bills the best receiving season in franchise history, the best 4 year window in franchise history and made them the most dangerous offense in the game. He took a really, really good team and made them elite. That offense wins a Super Bowl or 2 without the defensive failings. If the opportunity presents itself this offseason to trade a 1st for Tee Higgins (for example) you do it. You do it even if Carnell Tate or Jordyn Tyson or Chris Bell or whomever has a great career. You need the sure thing while your window is open. As an aside (this just popped into my head so don’t crush me if it’s absurd) but what about trading Torrence + a 2nd or 3rd for Higgins? The Bills can’t possibly give another OL a huge deal. They can probably get McGovern & Edwards back for roughly the cost of extending Torrence. The Bengals would get a high end OL plus some draft capital. The Bills could plug in Anderson or Lundt or Grable or whomever at that spot. They have fantastic OL depth still. They’d get their X receiver & still have plenty of draft capital to address other needs (including a speed receiver).

Just made a Ray Davis anytime TD scorer bet on DraftKings. He’s +1000. I didn’t have any boosts but I recommend everyone jumping on that just in case. If Cook is out that number goes way down.

It’s kind of like those great Warriors teams. They won 4 championships. They are the greatest shooting team of all-time. They shot the lights out from 3. If they shot the ball to their standard, they won. If they shot the ball at a top 5 or top 10 level, you could beat them. They didn’t lose often but if the game didn’t play out their way, they could get beat. This Bills team is obviously good. They’re the Super Bowl favorites for god’s sake. With that being said, the recipe to beat them isn’t complicated. Everyone knows it. Can you do it? That’s a different story. If a team is having success running and stopping the run, the Bills can’t just flip the switch (at least consistently). In the Diggs years they could. They could beat you more ways. To @NoSaint’s point, you will have to win 3 or 4 games in a row against great teams to get a championship. Your margin for error is nil. That’s tough when you have clear flaws.

Good question. Um, he’s the best of the bunch. He absolutely makes them better than they are today. I’d also probably try giving Moore more routes (no pun intended). Maybe you can cobble together just enough to keep defenses honest. That way you can still run the ball and work the underneath stuff.

For me, there are 2 clear flaws and it has been exposed multiple times this year (in wins and losses). The guys on the outside can’t get open and they can’t stop the run. I won’t say that they’re “easy” to defend because they have scored a lot. They’re easy to game plan for though because there are certain areas that you don’t need to defend. The Bills can absolutely win the Super Bowl but there is a formula that’s fairly limited that needs to play out for that to happen. They NEED to play from in front. Their offense can control the clock and run the ball. The defense can get after the passer and don’t have to worry about defending the run. The fear is, you get behind in a playoff game (let’s say Indy). Now, your defense, which was allowing the most YPC since like 1960 until last week, needs to stop Taylor and that elite OL. You can’t just play to your strength of running and ball control offense because it takes too long to close the gap. Now, you’re forced to throw to trash WRs (except Shakir), TEs who will be the focus of the defense and RBs that you refuse to throw to. It is not that the Bills aren’t great or that they can’t win. It’s they aren’t multiple enough to win in a variety of ways. One move, even someone like Shaheed, makes them more likely to win in the above mentioned situation. They can make chunk plays. They can keep safeties away from the LOS. There is a trickle down impact.

He’s one of my least favorite players in the league!! I’m a yes

I’ll say, the Bengals have just done a bad job. The Eagles paid 2 top WRs and won the Super Bowl. It’s a Bengals issue not an issue of having 2 top WRs. Would the Bills be better of with Landon Jackson or Tory Horton? You can point to the successes but we shouldn’t applaud the Bills for using a 3rd on a guy that can’t get a jersey (2 years in a row).

Jets

He hasn’t done a good job with a lot of them. He’s specifically been bad at WR. In a year, he traded Diggs, a great WR draft, he traded down twice and took Keon. He couldn’t have believed, “this is the best way to get a number 1 WR.” If he would have went up and been wrong, so be it. He didn’t value the position enough and still doesn’t.

No but the Bills were one of many teams trying to acquire a WR. 2 guys got dealt so that’s the value that we know. I would have paid that price for Shaheed but Denver didn’t, New England didn’t, Bills didn’t, Baltimore didn’t, etc.. Seattle did. All of those teams should be considered contenders. Again, I would have paid that price but no NFL GM did.

100% I would have probably paid the price for Shaheed. With that being said, 31 NFL teams had the opportunity to pay that price and would have acquired him for that. Not one of them offered more than Seattle. I feel like we were desperate enough to do it but that tells you what the league thought of the value.

I don’t think that gets it done. They got a 1&2 from Dallas (I think). We would have paid the “division tax.” It would have been 2 firsts and that STILL may not have happened.

That’s the deal that he can take heat for. I would have paid that price for Shaheed. He would have been a great fit. Waddle and Wilson weren’t options for the Bills. The Colts made a huge move. It could end up being a complete disaster and not because Sauce isn’t good. If Jones isn’t good, which is still TBD, they have no QB and no picks. Maybe they run through vets like Mac Jones and Tua and Lawrence or Kyler but is that a Super Bowl move? I am by no means defending him but get it. If Olave/Waddle/Wilson/DJ Moore/ Deebo etc were all moving around, I would be like WTH? They didn’t. There were lots of teams trying to get WRs and 2 moves I think. This is all the more reason to move UP in the draft to get WRs. They don’t move around easily. Teams re-sign the good ones now. You need to get a good one and not trade back to take Keon Coleman.

I don’t disagree at all Hap. My “line” would certainly be further than his on WR. As an example if the Saints or Jags wanted a 1 for Olave or BTJ, I would have pulled the trigger. That’s where I’d give him a hard time but we do not know if that’s the case here. We have no idea what the “cost” was because no one was able to acquire those 2. We know what the cost was on guys that got dealt. I give Beane much more crap for neglecting the position in the draft and valuing the wrong traits (ie Keon). I also think he falls in love with “his” guys like Bernard and makes bad financial decisions from there. I won’t beat him up too much for not being able to acquire a WR from the AFCE (Waddle/Wilson).

You can believe me or not. That’s on you. If you think that I defend Beane, you must be new here. 🤣🤣 I’ve been arguably his biggest critic when it comes to WR.

I think I would have too.

Shaheed would have cost the Bills like a 3rd and 6th probably (or something like that). The 4th and 5th wouldn’t have been quite enough. That’s a move that I probably would have made as well but it isn’t a no brainer.

BTJ for sure. There were others I’m certain but those I know of.

Again, I’m asking, “which specific move AND at what price would you have done?”

There were multiple negotiations. There was checking in as well but they were exchanging offers on some.