GunnerBill

I am not accepting the Bears as a top 5 offensive line with Braxton Jones still slated to start at left tackle. They do look decent LG to RT but LT remains the most important spot and Jones is a bottom 5 starting LT.

Damar Hamlin. For the second year in a row against the odds watch him win a starting job.

Yea Cook is better than Harris. Not even close. The reason for the comparison is I was trying to find an example, even in these days of devalued running backs, of a team letting a guy walk after 3 consecutive 1,000 yard seasons - which I imagined to be extremely rare. I think it is but it just happened with Harris. That is the only one I could come up with though.

I don't think he was fully committed first part of last year. That is what it looked like. He wasn't on it.

I'm still not persuaded.

Meh. Maybe. I'm not sure. I think that might be looking for an excuse where he just didn't play well.

Not sure what went on with the formatting but that is @uticaclub's comment. I'm not sure it is quite right though. Ed creates a ton of his own opportunities. His underlying analytics in terms of pass rush win rates and pressures are in that second half of the top 10 territory. His issue actually is finishing. He is not an elite finisher. Maybe that is just the result of the shorter arms, I think a bit of it is that real killer instinct... but he moves QBs off their spot a ton. He doesn't turn that into enough wrecked plays. Too much game inconveniencer and not game wrecker compared to the very top level elite guys. But he is still a really good player. The only Bills defender I think is better right now is probably Benford.

2024 was not Ed's best year. I'm a huge fan of him, possibly the biggest on this board, and think he generally is undervalued by most Bills fans (and some neutral observers) but his performance for 2/3s of 2024 was below par. No question. He did turn it on down the stretch but he really underperformed by his standards for a fair chunk of last season. On that basis I wouldn't make a case for him over anyone in the top 10. I thought he was slighted not being in the top ten last year, but he doesn't have an argument for it this year. I would, however, still have him over everyone outside the top 10 - both in the "honourable mentions" and "also received votes" category (with Ed himself in the latter) with the possible exception of Kobie Turner, who is a stud, but isn't really a defensive tackle. He is a 3-4 defensive end. If he played for the Bills he'd be a guy who played mainly as a big end 5T and then reduced down into a 3T in pass rush situations.

I think he will this year. Top 3 IMO.

I'm just waiting for the sex tape to drop.....

Yea that wouldn't shock me either. At best they are scrambling for the 6th or 7th seed and I could easily see them missing out. I'm not as big of a fan of their offseason as some seem to be. They've upgraded at offensive tackle and corner opposite Lattimore but they are weaker up front on the defensive line and unless Deebo can rediscover his best (and I'm sceptical) they are a one man band at wide receiver. Ertz played 17 games last year for the first time in his career, chances of him staying as healthy again I'd say slim... and then teams have a year of film on Jayden Daniels. If he regresses even slightly the offense could look quite pedestrian quite quickly.

Wouldn't shock me either. I think Benford is a top 100 player in the NFL. But the players are not always the best judges of their peers and name value plays a big part on these lists. Personally I think it will be Josh, Dion and Jimbo and that's it.

The Steelers just let Najee Harris walk after 4 consecutive 1,000 yard seasons but he currently averages a full yard per carry less than Cook. If Cook goes for 1,000 yards again at a healthy ypc and the Bills still let him walk it would be pretty unusual by NFL standards. Although I agree with you philosophically about the positional spend.

They ran a lot of coverages the Bills normally play, yep. The Bills' issue the round prior was partly the Bills didn't play a lot of coverages the Bills play. We surprised KC with a pretty un-Billsy defensive gameplan in the regular season to man up more. It worked. We tried it again in the AFCCG and Andy Reid had adjusted and just picked it apart. By finding ways to isolate Worthy in particular and Hollywood a bit on our weaker links 1v1 - especially first half. We switched back to more of our standard D in the second half and we did slow them down a bit more and hold them to a FG at the end when it really mattered, but the damage was done to an extent. We have also never had a defensive front dominate KC the way Philly's did in the Superbowl and we have never had the benefit of Andy Reid and Pat Mahomes melting down the way they did that first half. It's as poor a half as Reid has called in a long time. That is what used to happen to him in the playoffs in Philadelphia. Things would start unravelling and he'd panic as a playcaller. His QB did not help either.

Running Backs tend to make it at a higher rate than their actual importance in the league because it is still a "name" position. But Jimbo is really good and congrats to him.

I believe the latter but still think there is some merit to the opinion in the article. The Bills have again focussed their offseason effort on the Dline. That is something they have tried a few times without it paying off. Will it this time? Who knows?

Hitler, no. But Stalin had some good ideas, if you ignore the genocide.....

I think where I agree is the Bills have pursued the same "pour resources in the defensive line" strategy multiple times under Beane's leadership. This is at least the THIRD major re-tooling of that group of his GMship (and you might even argue the 4th). I would submit that the others have failed because many of those big investments have not worked out as intended for one reason or another. Murphy, Star, Addison, AJE, Boogie, Settle, Jefferson, Von Miller etc... Whereas basically the only investments in the secondary came in the draft (though granted, one was our first round pick) and some bottom end FA safeties and at receiver two mid to lower end FAs. In that sense, I see the point. This is the Bills doing the same as they have done before. I am very hopeful on Sanders and optimistic for Jackson. But let's see.

Meh. I disagree. I think he is just an athlete not a football player.

Sorry my post should have a full stop after "combo." He has pure size/speed. But the other things you need for football talent are sadly lacking.

Remember the season ender in 2023 where Rapp intercepted Tua because Claypool ran completely the wrong route. I said when he came out he is a big fast guy who runs well in straight lines and is a weapon after the catch. But his releases were terrible, his cuts sloppy, his overall route running below par and his hands aren't brilliant either. I thought someone might try and convert him into a receiving tight end / H-Back at some point.

Physical talent, sure. If you just mean the size/speed combo. Football talent? Disagree.

In the UK it is 2 weeks statutory paternity leave for the father and then up to another 2 weeks unpaid. The Government has just announced a review though because I believe that is one of the least generous systems in Europe. Even as someone who doesn't have and doesn't want kids I can't imagine why anyone would object to fathers having time off with their newborn children in 2025. It's not 1950. I actually get much more annoyed by the next 16 years or so of "sorry I can't do that meeting that is literally my job but doesn't finish until 6pm because I have to collect my kid from choir/football practice." My view on that is if it is your job and you have reasonable notice (i.e. you know a couple of days in advance) then it is your responsibility to make arrangements. And as the quid pro quo for that whenever your kid is taken ill at school or falls off a climbing frame or whatever else and you need to leave work at the drop of a hat to deal with an emergency I will say "yep, go, we will cover."

Chiefs will win the West. I think they are better this year than last.

Beane himself described his 2018 roster build (particularly offense) as "a horrible job" in the end of season presser