msw2112

I think Beane is always looking to improve the roster and will be open-minded, but I don't see him making any major splashes at WR. I believe that his plan is as follows: Coleman to contribute as rookie Shakir to continue his upward trend from the latter part of last season Samuel to play well and contribute a lot Two or more players to emerge from among: Isabella, Hamler, Shavers, Shorter, Ceyphus, Claypool And also: Kincaid to continue playing well as a pass catcher Knox to contribute more as a pass catcher The RBs (primarily Cook and Davis) to contribute as pass catchers The Bills to have a dominant running game from the RB position (with some Allen sprinkled in) The last 4 bullet points are correlated to the offense that Brady intends to run, which will be different than what Daboll and Dorsey ran in the past.

I thought that Hamlin was a pretty good depth player in his first couple of years in the league, but he was playing a lot around the time of his injury and has played a little bit since and he hasn't been very good. There are worse 4th or 5th safeties in the NFL, but there are also better ones. The Bills like Cam Lewis better because he can play corner too - he's more versatile. Trading Hamlin to Pittsburgh for a conditional 7th rounder in the future would make sense for both clubs. If he met certain playing time or statistical targets, the Bills would get the pick and if he didn't, no compensation would come back. Most likely, he wouldn't hit the targets, and the pick would just be a gesture so that Hamlin could avoid the "stigma" of being cut. I guess it would depend on whether the Steelers needed backup safety help. Maybe they don't.

Trading for a conditional 7th (that may never be realized) might be the best for everyone involved. It saves the Bills from having to cut a popular public figure and it saves the Steelers from giving up much in the way of compensation.

I'm not much of an autograph guy. It was different when I was a kid. As a grown man who is older than Brady, I admire his talent and accomplishments, but I don't idolize him (same with guys like Josh Allen). If I met Brady, I'd love to chat with him. We graduated from the same university and I'm a huge football fan. I also used to do yoga. He didn't "do" anything to the Bills that he didn't do the rest of the NFL. The guy was a master at his craft and seems to be a good guy. He did an interview on Howard Stern a year or two ago and he came across as very personable and entertaining. I own an AFC Champions hat signed by Jim Kelly and a hockey puck autographed by Gil Perreault. Both were gifts. I like them both. If I had a Brady jersey or a Josh Allen jersey, it would be cool to have them signed, but if I ran into a famous athlete at a bar, restaurant or charity event, I wouldn't ask them to sign a napkin, my shirt, etc. I have a signed copy of Marv Levy's book that my wife had him sign for me at a book signing, but when I saw Marv in the grocery store in Chicago, I had a brief conversation with him as we each picked out our produce. I didn't ask him to sign anything. And while I'm older than Tom Brady, I'm not older than Marv! God willing I live as long as he has.

Based on the lengthy, emotional farewell to Buffalo letter that his wife wrote a few months ago, it seems unlikely to me that Hyde is coming back. If something has changed, I'm OK with him coming back on a 1-year, team-friendly deal, and as long as the Bills are not looking at him penned in as a starter. If Hyde was a backup, and there was an injury, who would you rather have come into the game - Hyde or Hamlin? Hyde or Cam Lewis? I like Hyde as a backup, spot-starter, and mentor to the younger guys (Bishop in particular), but not as a full-time starter.

I think the hope is that 1 or 2 of these reclamation projects (Claypool, Hamler, Isabella, Cephus) or untested younger players (Shorter, Shavers) will emerge, and if so, they have some great additions to the WR room at bargain-basement prices, which is all they can afford. Odds are that at least 1 of them will emerge, much less so 2. I feel like Beane treated the OL similarly in the past and it didn't work out too well. He'd bring in a bunch of veteran guys who may have been past their prime, stuck behind someone else, or had potential that was unrealized due to injuries, hoping that 1 or 2 would pan out. He ended up having to spend some FA money (Morse, McGovern) and draft capital (Torrence) to get it right. Here's hoping it goes better at WR! Arguably, keeping the comparison alive, Coleman=Torrence and Samuel=McGovern as far as the "real investments" and the other guys are anybody's guess at low prices.

My initial reaction to the Claypool signing was not good. The guy is the opposite of a "process" guy and his career has flamed out. After reading some of the comments here, I have a new perspective. What do they have to lose? The guy is only 25, he has talent, speed, and size. He doesn't cost much, and his career is on the line. He'll be playing with the best QB and in the best offense of his NFL career. Maybe he turns it around. If so, he's a steal. If he doesn't, he is cut and the Bills move on. I've got to think that the Bills culture is strong enough that if they guy is a problem, they'll dump him like a hot potato. If they're willing part ways with Diggs after all of the production he's had with the team, they'll have no qualms about getting rid of a guy like this, if he's a negative influence. I guess you could say the same about Cephys, although he has a much lower ceiling than Claypool. Smoot and Jones look like decent depth signings, Smoot in particular.

I fully agree with the first part, which I bolded. As to the 2nd part - Breece Hall - I don't know. He had a bad injury, so that may slow him down. I think he's a better back than Harris and Richardson, but I agree that the impact on a team between a guy like Hall, who was drafted in the first round, or a guy like Ray Davis, drafted in the fourth round, may not be all that great. This played out in Pittsburgh with Harris and Warren, and to some extent in Dallas between Elliott and Pollard a few years ago. You also have KC where Clyde-Edwards Helaire, a 1st round RB, has been pushed down the depth chart by Isiah Pacheco, a 7th round pick.

I went to London last year and had a good time, except for the Bills performance during the game itself. While I think it's an unfair advantage for the Jags to get back-to-back games there, the Bills traveled there much too late in the week and didn't do themselves any favors. They could have handled it much better and been more ready to play on Sunday. The Bills also suffered some serious injuries during that game and were starting to play poor football at that point in the season. So, it wasn't all on the NFL. Despite the advantage to the Jags, I'm not going to get too worked up about all of this. The Bills were the better team, and over the course of a 17-game season, they proved it and the Bills ended up having a better season than the Jags. The Chiefs were the best team in the NFL, and despite having to go on the road during the playoffs, they, too proved their superiority in the end. (The Bills were close, but not quite there.) My point is that while these scheduling quirks give one team a slight advantage over another, in the long run, the best teams win out and it's not worth getting too upset about it.

Correct. I've heard he's slow.

I'm not an expert on QB play, but I either read or heard on a radio show that Williams ran the Lincoln Riley offense in college where he only had to read half of the field. If that's true, it doesn't seem to make sense that he's be going through his progressions to his fourth read. I'm not pontificating, I'm really more asking, as it seems like you are more knowledgeable than I am in this area. For what it's worth, I have a suspicion that Williams might be a bust. My reasons are the following: 1. Assuming what I heard is true about only needing to read half the field in college, the NFL will be very difficult for him. 2. Williams seems a bit like an entitled "me-first" type of guy. I recall comments he made at some point about demanding a percentage of ownership from whatever team drafts him. Is he going to humble and put in the work? Will he be another Kyler Murray (who is much smaller, but also came from the Lincoln Riley system). Murry has athleticism and talent, but has not been a winner in the NFL. Murray also went #1 overall. As did Baker Mayfield, yet another Lincoln Riley product who has been solid in the NFL, at times, but has not risen to the superstar level that you'd want from a #1 overall pick. He's on his 4th team now. 3. His play did not improve from his junior to his senior year at USC. He regressed. 4. While USC had some horrid defense, Williams was not able to elevate his team to overcome it. USC as a team regressed from 8-3 in 2022 to 8-5 in 2023. Losing 8 games in two seasons with a roster that talented raises some red flags. I could be completely wrong. Hey, I thought Josh Rosen would be a good NFL QB and that CJ Stroud would not be, so I'm certainly not holding myself out to know more than anyone else.

I have watched every college game that McCarthy has played. He has very strong arm and can make all the short and intermediate throws. He has great zip on passes to the middle of the field. He lacks accuracy on the deep ball, but he easily has the arm strength to get it down the field. He also has some Josh Allen in him in that he can scramble and then has the arm strength to make some crazy throws across his body or sling it to a guy who has gotten open downfield on a scramble drill. He's also a tough kid who isn't afraid of contact and is willing to gut it out with injuries (also similar to Josh). McCarthy also has the clutch gene and that's why he's a national champion. He made a lot of key throws on third and fourth down late in close games to beat Ohio State and Alabama. His worst performance was against Bowling Green, a game that Michigan won by several scores, but came out flat early and McCarthy made some bad throws. One thing that remains a mystery about McCarthy is his ability to control a game and get into a rhythm or tempo with the passing game. Michigan's running game has been so strong during McCarthy's tenure that he hasn't really had the opportunity to display it, so it remains an unknown to me and to NFL teams. One last comment about McCarthy is that he's extremely coachable and 100% a team guy. He never complained about Michigan's offense and the lack of opportunities to throw the ball. He was fully committed to winning, in whatever manner necessary, even at the expense of his own stats. He often played the role of a "game manager" but that's because it was the clearest path to winning, not because he lacks the skills to do more. So, in sum, I don't know how good he'll be at the NFL level, but I believe he has a very high floor due to his intangibles and mental makeup and also a high ceiling due to his arm talent, scrambling ability, and speed. It was a solid pick by Minnesota. One more thing to add - I did not see a single full game that Drake Maye played, so I have no opinion on whether he'll succeed. Based on what I've read, I think he has a good chance to be successful, but as a Bills fan and Maye being in the AFC East, I sure hope he's not.

I agree. With Alec Anderson, the center they drafted from Georgia, Clapp, Edwards, Torrence, and McGovern, plus the two UDFAs they signed, they're probably good for the IOL. That's already 8 guys for 5 or 6 roster spots (3-4 Guards, 1-2 Centers). I suppose they could use another camp body or 2, but I don't think McDermott fits that bill.

I like it. It's like a get out of jail free card. My wife and daughters are now OK with me watching football games because they might catch a glimpse of Swift in the box.

"That decision means that [Russell] Wilson will count $53 million against Denver's salary cap in 2024 and $32 million in 2025. The “dead cap” charges would have totaled $85 million regardless, but the Broncos could have opted to account for $35.4 million this year and $49.6 million in 2025."