Kirby Jackson

Lol, much less interesting. One was in 2009 and the other was in 2014. Ironically, both claimed that they were using it to stay awake for long trips. I’m pretty confident that at least one was to stay at the casino.

I have a couple of close friends that played in the NFL for a while. Lol, they sold their Super Bowl tickets every year if they weren’t in the game. They weren’t exactly the moral compass of the league though. Both of those idiots got popped for popping adderall. 😂😂

I’m strangely excited about this. I don’t really play Madden anymore but think it’s the ultimate validation. It’s an honor that means a lot to the creators. I don’t always agree with all of the guys on there but it is meant to be viewed as the ultimate sign of respect. Josh has had to EARN respect in a manner that few others have (Lamar too). Congratulations, with all due respect to Bruce, the greatest player to wear a Bills uniform. 🍻

Is there anyone, that goes to games, that’s been to a NFL game at an indoor stadium in the last 20 years (not talking about those old domes like the Metro Dome or King Dome), that prefers a stadium outside?!? I sure as hell don’t. I’ve been to a bunch of indoor stadiums to see the Bills play: Detroit, Houston, New Orleans, Dallas, Atlanta and LA and much prefer it (although LA is actually open air with a roof and it was really hot). Our new stadium is going to be beautiful and I’m really excited for it. With that being said, an indoor stadium would have been WAY better. It’s infinitely more comfortable.

Maybe, but the cost of building materials now, compared to when those stadiums were built is night and day. When the Steelers built their stadium in 2001, it cost $281M. When the Ravens built their stadium in 1998 it was $220M. The Vikings stadium was more recent (2016) and it was $1.061B. That’s $1.39B in today’s dollars and that’s WITHOUT factoring in the increased cost of construction vs. 2016. That’s another 40% or so. The bottom line is that the Bills stadium costs WAY more to built than any of those others.

I think that things change so quickly now in terms of how fans consume games, replacement will be the new norm instead of renovation. The Superdome is a bit of an anomaly. The location makes it as valuable as it is. There isn’t land right there to build a new one. If they were to do it, the location would be worse. There was talk once of moving it to the Northshore. That’s an affluent part of SELA but you have to cross a 26 mile bridge to get there. That’s not feasible. MAYBE, they could build something over by the convention center but ingress and egress would be a nightmare. In the current location, the hotels, party areas, including Bourbon St. are all within a mile of the stadium. When New Orleans hosts events people never get into a car. You don’t worry about UBER or public transportation. You walk everywhere because it’s so close. It’s one-of-a-kind and why they will probably always renovate. They just put another $560M into it. That’s not how the stadium is in Vegas or LA or Miami or NY or any of the other party cities. There’s a reason that New Orleans is the greatest host city in the world.

The shelf-life on stadiums is getting shorter and shorter. The Titans and Browns are replacing stadiums that are 25 years old. I think that about 30 years (or less) is going to be the new norm.

The numbers don’t lie. They were virtually identical. Darnold was the 3rd pick and Fields the 11th. They weren’t vastly different as prospects. Both were elite college QBs, with elite pedigrees and tons of talent. Each had horrible situations in their first stop. Fields, slightly, outperformed Darnold. I attached the numbers. A horrible organization making a horrible trade doesn’t change that. Obviously you like Darnold, a lot. He’s my 19th best QB. My entire point is that Fields (currently my 28th QB) can be in that area. He has that opportunity. When given an opportunity, he has performed, at or a little above, Darnold (until last year). He has the chance this year, that Darnold did last year, with no competition. He’s going to get a full season to prove it. I will die on the hill that they were in a similar place after 3 years. This has nothing to do with feelings and everything to do with actual numbers. Fields didn’t command much in a trade because the Bears had zero leverage. Caleb Williams was considered generational. The Jets could have elected to stick with Darnold and draft Chase or Sewell. They didn’t believe in him enough to do that so they rolled the dice on Zach Wilson, a prospect nowhere near that of Caleb Williams. The Panthers, a terrible organization, with a bad GM, made a crazy offer so they took it. That doesn’t prove anything.

I based it on actual numbers not perception. That elite Carolina front office, wrongly, thought that they could rehab Darnold. They couldn’t. It failed miserably. Maybe you didn’t like that the numbers showed nearly identical performances, with slightly more scoring and less turnovers from Fields. Both were in awful situations as young players. Here is the comparison of their most recent year in NY and Chicago respectively. One would assume that their play was improving instead of regressing in year 3. Darnold: 2-10 record, 59.6 completion %, 203 total YPG, 11 TDs, 13 turnovers Fields: 5-8 record, 61.4 completion %, 248 total YPG, 20 TDs, 13 turnovers Again, you continue to argue that they were in a vastly different place exiting NY and Chicago. They weren’t. If anything, Fields was playing better than Darnold. Scott Fitterer isn’t to be confused with Howie Roseman. The deal he made for Darnold was a disaster. The trade comp is a function of situation and bad teams more so than who was playing better at the time. Teams still had confidence in Darnold which is why he got a shot last year, and probably would have even if McCarthy stayed healthy. It’s the same reason that the Jets handed the reigns to Fields without any real competition this year. They are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with Fields like the Vikings did last year (or at least the first half of last year) with Darnold. I like Darnold. I think he’s pretty good. He was my 19th ranked starting QB when I did the list a month ago. He’s fine. He’s a decent starting QB and just signed a contract saying pretty much that.

I don’t think Fields is a guy, or any of those guys, are the guys that you build around. That’s why I used the Darnold (and Geno) examples. They got 3 year deals. That’s what I think Fields could get. If he plays well this year, he could get a bridge deal like that. If he excels in that bridge deal, as Baker has (shouldn’t expect that) he will get a massive deal. He can’t get that coming out of this year IMO. He will need to “prove it” for multiple seasons. That’s what Darnold basically has to do.

He literally was better late in his time in Chicago than Darnold was late in his time with the Jets. Fields went for a similar package to Baker (the best of all of them). The difference is, the Steelers didn’t play him so they avoided it becoming a 4th. Randy Moss was once traded for a 4th. Trade compensation doesn’t mean much to me. Had the Bears decided to trade Fields before announcing that they were picking Caleb, they cwould have gotten more. Player A: 13-25 record, 225 total YPG, 59.8 completion %, 50 total TDs, 46 turnovers Player B: 10-28 record, 235 total YPG, 60.3 completion %, 54 total TDs, 41 turnovers In case you didn’t guess, player A is Darnold in NY and player B is Fields in Chicago. To say, “there are levels to this” is just wrong. They were pretty similar, with a slight edge to Fields. That holds especially true if you look at the most recent season for each in NY & Chicago.

Then Darnold was bad in Carolina and SF. He was no better with the Jets than Fields was with the Bears. In fact, Fields improved with the Bears, while Darnold regressed with the Jets. Fields went to his next stop and went 4-2 (with 2 losses by a FG) prior to being replaced by Russ. The Steelers got worse finishing the year with 4 straight losses (to mostly good teams). Fields was traded for a 6th because EVERYBODY knew he was being replaced by Caleb Williams and they didn’t need to send any decent assets. Context matters here. Fields after Chicago was in better shape as a prospect than Darnold after the Jets.

Kaiir is a FANTASTIC human being. It didn’t work out here for a variety of reasons. It just wasn’t a good fit. I wish him nothing but the best in Dallas and hope that he becomes a star.

You can add Geno to that as well. We’ve seen some guys, with talent, fall out of favor, and catch on elsewhere. I’m not saying Fields will be Josh, or even Baker, but can be Darnold. He was more of a journeyman when he got his break. There are a handful of other guys that could break through with the right opportunity like Darnold and Baker did (Fields, Zach Wilson, Joe Milton, Daniel Jones, Mac Jones). To be clear, I’m not projecting any of these guys to be great or to do that. I do think, with an opportunity, it’s possible that any of them could turn in a Darnold type of season and land a deal similar to his. If the Fields injury isn’t that bad (he appears fine), he looks like the one to get the chance now (maybe Daniel Jones too).

He was okay at times in Chicago especially in his last year. They just had the 1st pick so of course they’d look at QB. He was okay in Pittsburgh as well. He’s not Josh Allen but he’s not Anthony Richardson either. Hes 26 years old. Over the last 2 years, he is 9-10 (on not great teams) with 30 TDs and 15 turnovers. Again, he could be an average to low end starter. This was his chance because he was going to have the job without a real threat behind him (at least for this year).

He could have been Sam Darnold. One average season (middle of the league ish) and he’d be looking at 3 years and $100M with $40M guaranteed. There’s no reason to dump on a guy that might have lost his last opportunity on July 24th. That sucks any way that you look at it.

I have a soft spot for Justin Fields. This sucks. He was finally getting a chance to “be the guy” without any reason to look over his shoulder. Hopefully he’s okay.

You can pay it up front, interest free before next season or finance it over 10 years. @Just Jack would have ownership once it’s paid for. You can just not renew the tickets.

Teams, generally, don’t want to start the rookie and THEN go back to the other guy. Usually, they’d let the other guy start, and then, pull him in favor of the young guy. If Levis wasn’t going to start week 1, he wasn’t going to be playing at all this year.

I just ask because we get very homerish at times. That’s why I used the 70 executives. If you think that they are close, sure. You’re entitled to your opinion. It’s not an opinion shared by coaches/scouts/execs. Shakir went from underrated to overrated on here in 1 year. He’s a role player. A good role player but a role player. If you flipped Wilson for Shakir, straight up, the Bills are a heavy Super Bowl favorite (and probably have at least 1). There’s a difference but we are all entitled to our opinions.

Do you want a couple? PM me.

I would say everyone in the top 5 would be considered superstars. You named 3 backs and I’d add Bijan and Gibbs. Difference makers and all-pro type players. WR maybe has more than 10. I think of guys like Higgins, BTJ, and Devonta Smith as right around that area. Are they stars or superstars? It’s debatable and I’d listen on guys like that at WR. Personally, I think both Dawkins and Brown are elite. The Bills OL is outstanding. If those guys were FAs they would likely be, at, or near the “best available” at OT. That would generate big dollars.

Just scrolling through and we have a pretty liberal interpretation of “superstar” when it comes to our own guys. 🤣🤣 My perception is that you need to be top 5 at your position, or top 10 for important positions (QB, LT, WR, pass rusher) to be considered a superstar. Go back and ask yourself, “is ______ one of the best 5 or so players at his position?” If your answer is, “no,” he isn’t, or isn’t about to be, a “superstar.”

The Bills “likeliest” guys to elevate to “superstar” don’t play positions that we associate with superstars. Benford is the obvious choice. Ed Oliver has the ability to ascend into the elite tier. Spencer Brown is one of the game’s best RTs. James Cook is the one skill player that could become a superstar but a lot of Bills fans don’t like him because he wants a contract extension. They don’t have any edge rushers or WRs that belong near the conversation. The edge rushers and pass catchers don’t belong near the “star” conversation, forget about superstar. I’ll say Cook strictly based on position. If he ever plays on 3rd downs he could become one of the top 5 RBs in the game. That’s generally what I think of with a superstar. Are you top 5 at your position?