Logic

I know he stunk as a tackle, but he improved each year as a guard. Here's an article talking about his much improved play with Washington, including some links to Brian Baldinger's cutups and praise of Flowers. https://commanderswire.usatoday.com/2021/11/25/nfl-analyst-brian-baldinger-has-high-praise-for-washington-guard-ereck-flowers/ And here's a graph showing his pass protection grade each week over the course of his career. And finally, I know how everyone feels about PFF, but Flowers graded out higher at LG last season than EITHER of the Bills' current starting guards. Flowers had a 72.0, Bates a 64.3, and Saffold a 69.3. https://www.pff.com/nfl/players/ereck-flowers/9442 https://www.pff.com/nfl/players/ryan-bates/28300 https://www.pff.com/nfl/players/rodger-saffold/5558 All in all, I don't think Flowers is much worse than the two guards we plan to start. He may be on par with or better than both. At the very least, he's better than Greg Mancz and post-achilles injury Ike Boettger.

Offensive line. They’re banking on Kromer improving the unit overall, Brown improving as a pass blocker, Bates being as good at RG as he was at LG, and everyone staying healthy. If any of those things — or more than one of those things — don’t happen, the offense is in trouble. What can they do about it at this point in the offseason? Sign a couple viable guards for depth. I’d love it if they brought back Daryl Williams and brought in Ereck Flowers.

Sanders hasn’t decided for sure that he wants to play again, and may be retiring.

And?

Fair enough, but "I'd like to still get a veteran because I don't want to put all of our eggs in the rookie corner basket" is a world away from "I guess we're back to dumpster diving for CBs". Trading up in the 1st round to draft a corner is certainly not "dumpster diving". It's understandable to desire a veteran corner for insurance and depth, but it's unreasonable, in my opinion, to suggest that the team hasn't made serious efforts to upgrade the cornerback position. Lastly, and this is key: the Bills were NEVER going to spend $10M on a CB2. With the money they already spend on White, Poyer, and Hyde, they were simply never going to spend that much on the least prioritized position in their secondary. It seems clear to me that they made the "we can pay you a few million on a one year deal and you'll get a chance to win a Super Bowl" pitch to several veterans, and no one bit. A veteran still MAY take them up on their offer, if they choose to go that route. But again, I really don't think a $10M CB2 was ever in the cards, and I also don't think that equates to "dumpster diving". You can't pay everyone, and they made a conscious choice to spend big bucks on the defensive line and pass rush instead. If TY Hilton is willing to prioritize winning over money, he'd be the perfect addition to the WR corps. I agree that guard depth is our top need right now. Daryl Williams and Ereck Flowers are two guys I would love to target.

If only the Bills had spent some premium capital on a talented cornerback this offseason!

Deshaun Watson is a gross human being and the Browns are a gross organization. I hope that the truth comes out, that any woman wronged by Watson gets justice, and — if it comes to light that these accusations are true — that he loses the privilege of playing in the NFL.

If only Norm and Gilbert were still around to participate.

The result of every sports matchup in history comes with an "if only x, y, and z happened, we would have won" asterisk. Guess what? X, y, and z DIDN'T happen, and the Bills lost. Football games offer an mind bogglingly infinite amount of variables that all contribute to the outcome. You can "yeah, but" until you're blue in the face, but the bottom line is that the Chiefs won the game. As Mel Brooks used to say..."Or you are, or you ain't".

I’ll go outside the box. One of the Bills with the most to prove is OJ Howard. His size and athleticism led many to believe he’d be a superstar NFL tight end. To date, that hasn’t happened. He hasn’t been a bust by any means, and has put up a few solid seasons. He just hasn’t lived up to his potential. Now that he’s out from under the thumb of Bruce “tight ends are for blocking!” Arians and has healed from his Achilles injury, it’s make or break time for him. Is he gonna be just a TE2 afterthought his whole career, or can he take his game up a notch and reach his sky high potential?

Pretty sure you just created it. So….I’ll take the under.

Yep. I take Beane at his word: Shakir will be the WR4 and the prime backup to all three starting WR spots this year. That means he’ll get snaps, he’ll learn the ropes, and it won’t surprise me if he gets some gadget plays, too. Barring injury, I don’t expect him to be the starting slot receiver until 2023. Even Gabe Davis, who was sensational as a rookie, is only just now becoming the starting WR2 in his third year. In any case, I do believe Shakir has a very bright future. I just do t think they’re going to rush it.

I wish that was true. The articles I linked quote numbers like HALF of republicans and 1/3 of Americans overall believing in replacement theory, so white supremacy — unfortunately — may have more of a presence than we think, even if it’s veiled in indirect language and concepts.

Here are a few articles about the foothold that replacement theory — itself a White supremacist ideology — has on many Americans, from a variety of sources. The shooter today was not the first mass shooter to be radicalized by white supremacy and replacement theory and he won’t be the last. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/tucker-carlson-great-replacement-white-supremacy-1231248/amp/ https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/poll-finds-one-third-of-adults-say-they-think-an-effort-is-afoot-to-replace-native-born-americans-with-new-immigrants-for-electoral-purposes-01652314775 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/09/nearly-half-republicans-agree-with-great-replacement-theory/ https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/ncna1295212

It’s almost as if the ongoing normalization of white supremacy and replacement theory have awful consequences in the real world.