MPT

This might be a shock, but Beane is probably working with better draft intel than the fans.

Fills our biggest need at a position that our head coach happens to be most knowledgeable about so I'm happy with the pick and the trade up. The only strange thing to me is how long they were on the clock after the trade. Could mean nothing but I wonder if they were still debating it.

Or they just didn't like Booth or Gordon and we stole their top graded corner.

If they liked those guys as much as Elam they wouldn't have traded up. So they must have been pretty convinced that Elam was the best choice and didn't want to lose him.

You just listed the only 3 teams in the league with a better TE1 than the Bills. And we signed Howard so I'm not worried about TE depth at all. Last year we were going into games with only 1 active TE on the roster. Edit to add the Bucs to the list of teams with a better TE1 if Gronk returns. Still not worried about our level of TE talent.

This is bizarre. "Completely lack TE option." "Von Miller changed the story at linebacker." Forgets we paid Morse, Saffold, and Bates to be our starting interior OL and wants an upgrade over all of them. CB is 6th on the list even though he's only somewhat happy about one of our starters who also happens to be the slot corner. Entertaining read though.

The guy recording the video wasn't very coherent and Josh might not have any idea what he was talking about anyway.

CB WR RB P TE OL Blue

I assume that Green Bay gets away with it because they are publicly owned and would just vote against a stadium that costs them taxpayer money as long as they were content with the quality of their stadium. The NFL no longer allows this ownership model but they were grandfathered in. They did spend $300 million in 2003 and $400 million in 2015 on major renovations of the stadium though. And from what I understand, the cost of the lease on the current stadium in Buffalo combined with the cost of renovating it would have been almost as much as building a new one.

This doesn't really change much. The team that wins the coin toss still gets the benefit of resting their defense while they go score a touchdown against the other team's tired defense. Then if the other team manages to also get a touchdown, their reward is... wait for it... going back to the OLD rule where you only need a FG to win. The sudden death aspect makes no sense regardless of how many drives you add in before it. Just play until the loser of the coin toss can't beat or match the winner's previous drive. Or just make it a regular timed quarter and see who has the higher score at the end. Edit: I forgot 2 point conversions exist. While I doubt many head coaches would take that risk, it does allow for the loser of the coin toss to end the game on their possession after each team scores a touchdown. Now I'm really wishing they implemented this during the regular season so we could see different teams' strategies play out.

There are several owners whose only source of significant income (aside from capital gains) comes from their NFL franchise. Obviously anyone who has bought an NFL team since the merger had to be obscenely wealthy from other ventures first. Some of those, like the Pegulas, sold their original business and now their sports team(s) are their main source of income. The NFL makes more money than over half the companies in the Fortune 500. Obviously the owners have to split that, but that's why I said they buy "a share of" the business, not the entire business. Anyway, my point was that buying an NFL franchise is one of the easiest and safest (and most fun) ways to grow your net worth if you have the investment capital. It's not philanthropy. The Pegulas have already seen an $800 million increase in the value of their investment over 8 years. I can appreciate their commitment to Buffalo while at the same time realize that their investments are benefiting them more than anyone else.

I would point out that they just spent $1.5 billion so they could own a share of one of the most lucrative businesses in the history of business. I respect the Pegulas and I'm glad they invest a lot in Buffalo but let's not pretend that owning an NFL team is charity.

Agreed. Between Adams and Chandler Jones the Raiders obviously think they are in "win now" mode but they should probably be in "win less" mode. They and the Broncos are still a tier below the other two teams in their division. But they're making a hell of a run at it so it's hard to fault them. Should be some good fireworks in that division this year.

I think it goes both ways. Management and fans on both sides might be disappointed when the magic is gone.

Now that's how you overpay for an aging veteran. Beane must really want us all to forget Star's contract. But for real, if Miller can get 15 sacks this is great. If not, it's not.

Yeah a whopping $60 million against the cap for White, Edmunds, Milano, Poyer, and Hyde. Compare that to $41 million for Allen, Diggs, Davis, Knox, and Singletary. Granted, Allen's number will jump about $23 million next year but that's a heavy investment in 5 defensive guys.

The Chiefs have a few more big contracts than we do but we have a lot more mid range contracts. They do have a few guys hitting free agency (Mathieu, Ward, Ingram, Pringle to name the biggest ones) and are $5 million over the cap already so they'll have to do some cap work and probably still lose a few guys. After cutting Feliciano and Klein the Bills will look to reduce Beasley's and Williams's salaries and then Star will be the only one left who is being overpaid. If Beane can acquire a couple big free agents this year our roster will look a lot more like the Chiefs in terms of cap breakdown.

Williams is making starting tackle money but he's just a serviceable guard. If he takes a pay cut rather than a restructure I'd be happy with keeping him.

Somebody tell that to NFL officiating please.

Agree with all of that. There is a good sample size of him "being turned loose against QBs" (which I just assume means blitzing) and he has arguably the worst production of any blitzer in the NFL. Edmunds' main responsibility is being a pass lane disruptor and coordinating the defense to that same end. He seems to have decent football IQ and he has elite physical traits so he's very good at that particular aspect of his job. Unfortunately he falls short in the other aspects of his job as a MLB. The Bills obviously know this. Their main objective on defense is limiting pass plays so they've clearly decided that his strengths outweigh his weaknesses in their scheme. I don't believe the Bills could find a replacement for Edmunds in FA or the draft without adjusting their entire defensive scheme. I think he fits nicely in what they want to do on defense and they'll live with the downside. If that's the case, then the only way they can mitigate his shortcomings is by improving other areas, namely the DL.

Then I would tell you that Jerry is very good at beating his man five yards down field of the QB. A high win rate that doesn't result in a high sack rate is a lot of wasted energy. It may force lesser QBs into bad decisions but a guy like Mahomes will just step into the giant holes created by the over pursuing rushers and either run for ten yards or take advantage of an unobstructed view of his receivers.

You still haven't explained what we should or should not be holding against Jim. It's less touching a nerve than playing for attention. Spit it out or stop wasting people's time.

Akers was terrible when he came back (2.4 YPC with 0 TDs). The insistence of the Rams to shoehorn him back into the lineup over Henderson and Michel almost lost them a couple playoff games including the Super Bowl. Foreman looked pretty good although Hilliard was much better in the same offense.

The situations are almost exactly comparable, but the results are not at all comparable. It took KC 16 seconds to move 50 yards because the Patriots actually played defense. It took them 10 seconds against us because we did not play defense. Defending the field for those extra 6 seconds is literally the difference between us winning and losing. We actually only needed to slow them down by 1.5 seconds per play but instead we just let them execute both plays with no resistance. Very few teams in the league could have made the plays that the Chiefs made against the Patriots. Any practice squad could have done what the Chiefs did against us because we didn't even try to stop it.

I realize it wouldn't necessarily be a "minor" change but I was really hoping this was a thread about the Bills replacing Eric Washington. So much talent on that defensive line and almost no results all year long.