HappyDays

Honestly, good. I've been skeptical that throwing a ton of resources at the defense would really make a difference in the postseason. If nothing else I'm glad we're putting that theory to the test. It creates somewhat of an ultimatum for McDermott - if all of these talent and coaching additions aren't enough, nothing ever will be.

One point kind of lost in all this is that as much as Beane has put the spotlight on himself, this entire offseason also puts a spotlight on McDermott. Everyone agrees his defense has been our biggest problem in the postseason, and this regime has planted their flag that it is talent more than coaching that has been holding them back. Beane's offer to Brady this offseason was a WR3 and a blocking TE. His offer to McDermott was a CB1, three new EDGEs, three new DTs, and more secondary depth than we can even keep on the roster. So despite my frustration with the continued underinvestment in WR, I'm at least glad that everyone is in agreement that the defense now has the necessary talent to perform at an above average level in the postseason. You can't give all of these resources to a defensive head coach and then come back later making excuses that the talent wasn't good enough. This has to be the year KC's offense doesn't walk all over us in January. I think a realistic standard should be keeping them below 24 points and they need to punt at least 4 times. Otherwise, what was the point of this offseason?

It's about getting a WR with a specific necessary skill set. I didn't need the Bills to spend a top 100 pick on a WR from this class or multiple picks. I just wanted a WR that could play outside and get vertical, that's all. The role is so important they got rid of MVS so they could trade for Cooper last year. As of right now we don't even have an MVS on the roster, the role remains unfilled. Also for a team with an "everybody eats" mentality the #5 WR is more important than it is for other teams. Yeah when your top 2 are Chase/Higgins or Hill/Waddle no one cares who your #5 is. But when your offense is built around WRs that are all complementary role players with specific skill sets, you better make sure all the skill sets are accounted for and every player has a way to contribute. I don't know how anyone couldn't be concerned that we're going to see games like the Ravens and Texans last year where the offense was a slog because we had no way to threaten them downfield outside. We added Cooper and the lights clicked on. We at least need to get that baseline on the roster. I thought early day three was a great opportunity to do that in this class.

The team isn't lacking speed. KJ Hamler is on the PS. Jalen Virgil ran a 4.40. What it's lacking is speed WRs that can actually play at an NFL level consistently and get deep. Moore doesn't do either of those. I'd take him at this point because he's better than Shavers or Shenault but it's a marginal improvement and his skill set is mostly redundant with what already exists in Samuel and Shakir. Honestly I'd rather we re-sign Amari Cooper if anything. At least there's some sort of proof of concept there and he gives us a baseline vertical skill set.

Also the thing people forget about Metcalf's contract is that it would replace Palmer's contract. So the actual effect on the cap would not be as bad as it looks. Metcalf costs $6.7M more than Palmer this season, $19.5M more next season, and then in 2027 his contract is made to be restructured. It was not as prohibitive a contract as people made it out to be. He basically would have just replaced Diggs' spot in the future salary cap which Beane had already been accounting for before that relationship became untenable. We wouldn't have been able to sign the PED brothers but I think we'd manage okay. Instead for the second consecutive offseason we're having to hype ourselves up about a 2nd round bust reclamation project.

Here's a question and I'm genuinely curious about your answer or anyone else that feels the same as you - what happens if we face KC in January and the defense looks exactly the same as it always does? Because this isn't the first offseason that we've devoted the bulk of our investments to the defense, and that strategy has not yet produced this mythical defense that can keep KC to 20 points or lower. Why are we assuming this year is different?

Joe's comments here are spot on. For those that can't read the whole post:

Your numbers are off. First of all, 5 WRs on the roster are going to contribute. Whereas just 4 DTs are going to be your primary rotation - we did after all only keep 4 on the roster last year. Oliver, DQ, Sanders, Ogunjobi, Carter gives us 5 so even accounting for Ogunjobi's suspension we already had the room filled out before adding Walker. Meanwhile at WR we have a PS player and a former bust competing for the #5 spot. So I just completely disagree with you that an extra DT has more potential to contribute than an extra WR. Also, the important thing with WR is we are missing a specific skill set which is of course vertical traits. Beane himself has admitted this. We met with all of the vertical WRs in the class so he can't act shocked when people are concerned about the position, clearly he knew it was a problem but didn't make the necessary moves to fix it. I agree the DT room was weak heading into the class, but we at least had bodies that could fill whatever role we needed. As of right now we still do not have a vertical WR on the roster.

The defense has definitely been the bigger problem in our playoff losses. I don't think anybody disagrees with that. I question if the talent has been the main problem versus the coaching. But there were obvious talent deficiencies there that needed to be addressed and I had no problem making that the primary focus of this draft. I will say though it's not like they have been neglecting the defense until now. Every single year they're spending most of their resources on that side of the ball and it still inevitably fails, so I don't agree that just throwing all our draft resources at it is an automatic fix. I see fans saying a 4th round WR wouldn't have made a difference, but the same logic applies to a 4th round DT if that's the argument we're using. I think all the WGR hosts are clowns but Jeremy White's point that the Bills have under-prioritized the WR room is objectively correct. We have invested in the position less than any other team in the NFL and that isn't just my opinion, I have seen a chart that showed it definitively to be true even if you count Diggs as a 1st round pick. The apparent obsession with WRs that some of us have doesn't come from nothing, it comes from genuinely believing the position is a lot more important than this regime treats it. But all of that is just my opinion. Regardless of anyone's opinions on it, I definitely don't think the GM should be getting into arguments on air with local talking heads. I would think that even if I 100% agreed with everything he said. That is just bad form no matter the circumstances. I see a lot of fans excusing Beane by saying his frustration boiled over. But that is the job. 24/7 you are going to get assailed by people who mostly have no clue what they're talking about, and your job is to ignore the noise and keep a level head. Him doing what he did just puts a larger spotlight on the discussion and now if the moves they've made this offseason don't work he'll look both incompetent and foolish. Saying it out loud to myself maybe that's a good thing. I think this regime should be feeling some heat.

He can defend his decision making, I'm completely fine with that. I do not like the way he went about it at all though. Bringing up Josh Rosen vs Josh Allen from 2018 showed that this wasn't just him defending himself, he lost control of his emotions. And maybe it was all a planned stunt anyways, that wouldn't surprise me. It just brings unneccessary attention and is the totally wrong approach IMO.

It doesn't matter if Beane is annoyed. Local talking heads are going to complain. You can't stoop to their level. Personally I find what he did completely ridiculous, and it has nothing to do with my feelngs on the WR discussion. There is zero upside to this stunt. If in October Beane is again making a desperate trade for a WR he will rightly have this segment thrown back in his face.

Uhh this is weird. This is the kind of stuff you get from David Tepper. Bringing up Josh Rosen? This regime has been so deliberate about avoiding public drama, I really don't understand the sudden heel turn.

Currently Shenault or Shavers are in line to start. Yes I believe several early day 3 prospects in this draft could have beat them out.

Of course they did. But nothing about their past DL evaluations makes me blindly trust that their higher grade on Deone Walker is correct. Quite the opposite - I have almost zero faith in their ability to scout and properly use DL considering the vast amount of resources they've spent on the position for a comparatively meager return. Funny enough they've actually gotten a quite good return on their WR draft pick investments. Diggs for a 1st was a home run, Davis was a good 4th rounder, Shakir has been an excellent 5th rounder, and TBD on Coleman although the way he ended the season was disappointing. On a pure investment to return ratio, that's gotta be among the best in the NFL. The issue is they invest in the position less than any other team.

I don't think many fans disagree that rebuilding the defense should have been the main focus in this draft. It's just some of us wanted them to throw a bone to the offense too. Literally just use one decently high pick on a pass catcher. Is that so unfair? Trading up in the 4th when a couple vertical WRs were sitting there and instead taking yet another defensive lineman felt like total overkill to me.

You're a couple years behind with this post. The Bills have faced the most man in the NFL over the past two seasons. And last year it wasn't cover 2 that thwarted us, it was cover 1. Specifically against Baltimore and Houston our offense was awful and Beane made the desperate move to trade for Cooper as a result. I suspect we'll be talking about possibilities for a similar trade this October. Hopefully I'm wrong. For that to happen Coleman needs to develop, Samuel needs to be healthy and prove he hasn't lost a step, and Palmer needs to be a guy whose production matches his separation analytics. Like last year it is a lot of best case scenarios we're banking on for the room to be even average let alone top 10.

We also needed a WR with vertical traits. I know it was not a good WR class and I wasn't banging the drum for one in the first three rounds, but I think we should have taken one early today. I guess our best option now is re-signing Cooper.

Part of me is happy because there are no excuses for McDermott and Babich now. We just threw a bunch of talent at their side of the ball this offseason. They have to make it work. If not now, it's never going to happen.

And this year we'll find out once and for all if it's talent or coaching. So there's that at least.

3 CBs and 3 DL and a blocking TE. You just have to laugh. I hope it works out.

"The human is the greatest opponent you can have." We just drafted a Terminator so that's fun.

I'm sure he'll be a fan favorite. I just wish he wasn't our first offensive pick.

Hopefully they can smooth things over with Cook because that is the only explosive offense we are getting this year.

Hawkes is seen as the best blocking TE in the class and has played over 400 special teams snaps at Georgia Tech. Fine enough selection to fill out the roster at this point in the draft.

I've gotten myself here. And I hate myself for it. But we've gotten to a point where the upside outweighs the risk.