Kirby Jackson

From my experience the waiter pulls my card when the bill comes. ?

You can’t ever go to dinner with them again!! That’s the worst. We are going to Josephine Estelle for a birthday tomorrow and there’s going to be 8-10. This group contains a couple of those people and I’m dreading it!! Last time we went to a nice dinner as a group the one girl asked the waiter how much it would be for a 2nd salad dressing on the side so that she could decide which one was better. When he told her what it was like $1 (or something that he inevitably made up) she said never mind. It was so embarrassing. We also had 4 bottles of wine which all ended up on my tab somehow. As a rule, if you go to dinner with a group and you are splitting the bill, split it evenly!! Sometimes you’ll end up paying a little less than you consumed and sometimes a little more. It all comes out in the wash though. NO ONE wants to go out with the guy/girl calculating what each person owes. The staff hates it as well.

The money has EVERYTHING to do with it!! Your last point was, “they will make more in a single year than most will make in their life time.” That’s totally irrelevant. If a guy makes $3M and his performance is more in line with a guy making $8M than why begrudge him for wanting $8M? When a guy is making $8M and plays like a guy making $3M the owner can just decide “I’m going to give him $0.” Not sure what the bolded has to do with someone holding out.....

I really never understand why fans side with billionaires over millionaires? Why does how much they make change their right to maximize their value? What is the number when you are no longer allowed to ask for a raise? What’s the number when someone has “enough?” The median salary for an NFL player is $860k. Keep in mind you need to pay Uncle Sam & your agent. So if you say 40% of that is gone and the average career is 3 years, It comes to about $1.5M after taxes. That’s not life changing (especially for someone that’s about 26 or 27). Now obviously, guys in position to hold out are going to earn more. They are less easily replaced. Why should they not capitalize while their earning window is open? Why is it okay for someone in every other profession to get market value? We live in a capitalistic society. Also, you never see players hold out in any other sport. There’s really no such thing because their money is guaranteed (just like yours). I’m not suggesting that works in the NFL but holding out is all that they have vs. a unilateral contract. An owner can decide at ANY point and for ANY reason that the “contract” you agreed to is no longer valid. Now again, if people don’t think a 1st is worth it that’s perfectly reasonable. I just will never understand anyone begrudging someone for maximizing their worth. We all do it.

Your career also can last 40+ years. Their career is about 20% of that. Apples and oranges

I guess that stuff doesn’t bother me at all. This isn’t competition to them; it is their career. I know in my career my entire focus is on my earnings. If there is an issue I take it to management. I’m going through it right now. We are in an earn out period right now and the window is 3 years. In a lot of ways it’s not terribly different than a RB. There is a period (the next 2 years and 2 months) where we can earn exponentially more than at any other time. You bet, that in this period, I’m making sure that I maximize every single dime. Zeke has 1 big contract left. He needs to protect himself and get what he can while he can.

Totally fair and would take Saquon as well. He has less mileage too.

He’s always been at his best in his biggest games. Look at his last 3 games in the championship year. He had 220, 230 and 246 with 8 TDs. He was, by miles, the best player on the field (including everyone from Alabama). The Cowboys have been a totally different team when he is out there too. I don’t feel like looking it up now but it’s drastically different (saw the graphic the other day). He’s ELITE Fair point

It isn’t, “will they?” It is, “would you?” I definitely would. I don’t think that they will.

This is fair. As someone that’s followed him for a while, I think a lot of it is overblown. It is still there though. I’m not that concerned over it but can see some would be. The question wasn’t, “is he coming?” The question was, “would you give up a 1st for him?” For me, it is unequivocally yes.

If they were to make a deal for Zeke they would have a star. They could turn around and trade Shady for a late round pick (say a 5th). The Bills have the most cap space in the league next year so Zeke’s contract is no issue. You’d take your 2nd round pick and something else to move up into the late 1st or early 2nd. There are potentially 6 WRs going in the 1st next year. It’s one of the great WR drafts ever. You can get a guy at 35(ish) that would have went 18 in most drafts. You can still get a number 1 caliber WR (and this is coming from someone that thinks that’s the Bills biggest need).

At best a top 5 RB in the league?!?

Yes. He’s one of the best 10 players in football and complete. The Bills could use a star skill player. He’d fill that role.

I’d pull the Steelers off the better list and add the Browns. We are in a similar place to them but their high end talent is more proven and better than ours (Baker, OBJ, Garrett, Etc...). The Colts, Jags, Steelers, Jets and Vikings can all be considered as well. Each of them has some question marks but those teams could all win 11 games if things went right. I think that I agree with the rest of your list.

I agree on both the 49ers and Panthers. Some teams are going to be bad and both of those teams make sense to me. I’m going under on both of their win totals.

Had the Popeye’s chicken sandwich last week and it was legit (despite the fact that I ordered it plain and they messed it up). Chick Fil A is really good but I think that the Popeye’s sandwich was better.

Yes

It’s where they rank the teams as of today (middle of the preseason). It is a check on how they are progressing. As an example, if a QB went down for the season that team would be expected to perform worse.

23rd feels fair, as does the explanation. The Bills can certainly rise from there but I have no issue with that as the starting point.

Congrats!!!

I’ll be there I think. My sister lives in Cleveland. Just going to buy tickets on stub hub or something.

I think that we are all in agreement: - The Bills tried hard to get AB. - For one reason or another it didn’t work out. - The Bills may end up feeling fortunate that it didn’t.

Oh I know, I was just using your Beane quote.

^^

https://billswire.usatoday.com/2019/03/08/buffalo-bills-brandon-beane-antonio-brown-moved-on/ Not sure that this proves anything different than what I said? The Bills wanted AB. They tried to swing a deal and it didn’t work out. Brown isn’t in Oakland because the Bills didn’t want him. The Bills may be real lucky that a deal didn’t come to fruition but your original claim @ShadyBillsFan that the Bills had “zero contact to bring him to our beloved team” isn’t true.