BarleyNY

The best college players tend to be captains of their teams. The best college players also tend to be drafted into the NFL.

The impact is has is that it puts a floor on what he can make this season - about $3.5M. He may take a little less from a team like the Bills, but he has that contract to fall back on.

It’s not like it would be the first mistake Cook and his agent made if he did some sort of hold in or out, but it makes little sense for him to do that. The players effectively gave up their ability to hold out while under contract in the last CBA. He can do a “hold in” but he has to be a good soldier for the season. If another RB had to take his place and was as effective as he was, then his value plummets. Too big of a risk IMO. I’m a fan of adding value in the draft and the depth of this RB class was so good I’d have liked to have seen an addition there. Maybe a good RB gets hurt or maybe one of last year’s RBs gets beat out by a better player. That would have been nice, but it wasn’t necessary unless Cook is expected to be a problem. I don’t think that happens though. But I do expect this to be his last season here.

Chubb is a free agent. The Browns offered him, but he didn’t take it. Not sure if he will retire or not. He has made a lot of money, but isn’t going to make much going forward - and his body has been through a lot. My bet is retirement or signing for cheap with a team that can compete for a SB.

Yep. They look to get about $44M back in cash and cap space from insurance next season. That will reduce the pain, but not come close to eliminating it. Still lots of cap consequences to bear from the Watson debacle.

Higher risk? No. Not at all. The risk of a throwaway season was high before those two draft picks were made and it’s high now. But it isn’t any higher than it was.

I would amend that to be interior DL players who are quality pass rushers as well as at least average against the run. Other than franchise QBs they’re probably the most rare.

Hairston was one of the players where I questioned his fit with the Bills. In his case it’s obviously not his coverage I am worried about, but the run support/tackling issues he has had. Seems as though that would have been a deal breaker for McDermott and his scheme. What are your thoughts on this?

Browns - Jags trade was biggest surprise to me

This has been covered. The GM was Beane.

and they’re so catty about the players’ outfits!

And Braylon Edwards

We live in very weird times

yep. and they might do it again.

The league tells teams to take their time. This is a big commercial for NFL players and teams. They want to milk it for all the PR they can.

agreed. almost invisible.

Heading to Chicago to visit my best friend. I’ll be watching with him.

So much depends on how players come off the board. In recent years the picks have become “chalkier” in the first round so we should have a good idea of how things play out. Still, there are always some surprises and teams need to be flexible. Really, that’s all a GM can do. Lay the groundwork for moves up and down the board and make moves according to circumstances.

Box wine

So which would be better: A) Current format with one team in each conference getting a bye and seven teams making the playoffs B) A post season play in round where seeds 7-10 play each other for the last two playoff spots. 10 teams in each conference make it beyond the regular season and 8 make the official playoffs. 6 teams effectively get a bye. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I like option B better and by a fair bit. But with one important caveat - elimination of divisions. Every team plays every other team in the conference plus 2 (or 3) opposing conference teams on a rotating basis. Seeding is by record. I guess point differential would be the tie breaker. If we’re going to have teams that are .500 (or worse) make the post season, then making those teams win another game to get in to the actual playoffs would be fine with me. I’d rather see that then an 18th regular season game.

My optimism comment was the joke.

If that were true then I’d see the pools get a lot more use. But if we want to set aside the jokes and be honest, I think that people in Buffalo really embrace what little Summer they have here. Even when the weather isn’t optimal they get outside to do stuff more than in most places. And I like that about Buffalonians.

We were surprised by the percentage of houses with pools in Buffalo when we moved here. Buffalonians are an optimistic group.

Can you understand the difference between drafting one, two or even three DTs (or drafting seven) and drafting none? It seems like you can't. I took care to lay out how drafting one, two or even three DTs would have to work.

I don’t think anyone is saying that.