Logic

Gee, I guess you're right. I'm SURE you know more about how the defense works and who plays well in it than NFL player Lorenzo Alexander or NFL head coach Sean McDermott. "They've done nothing to take note of"? Again, I guess McDermott making the playoffs in his FIRST season when no previous Bills coach in 18 years could get it done doesn't mean anything to you. That's fine. You're a tough critic. There's one thing that I hope you understand: Your subjective opinion does not represent objective reality. Just because YOU think a certain thing doesn't make it objectively true.

Because of two things he said. First, he had the comment about "if there is truly depth at any position -- let's say defensive line -- then that allows you to push that need down the draft." This is INDEED a deep draft at defensive line, and the Bills have been meeting with more projected mid-round linemen and edge rushers than I thought they would. Second, Beane mentioned that if you consider a position weak in the draft, it'll probably cause you to make sure you sign someone at that position in free agency, so that if you miss out on the top few guys, you're not in a bad position. Here, to me, it seemed like he was talking about offensive linemen and wide receivers. Putting the two things together: if defensive line (and, for that matter, tight end) are both deep positions in this draft, but Beane feels that offensive line and wide receiver are NOT particularly deep (and his signing 5 O-linemen and 3 WRs in FA support this notion), then I can't help but wonder if the plan is to try to grab the best player available at one of those shallow positions (OL or WR) early, knowing that you can still get good DL and TEs later into the draft. It is all completely guess work and inference on my part. I mostly believe them this year when they say they'll take BPA. And I'd even say I still view d-line as the LIKELY first round pick. But today's comments by Beane, for the reasons I mentioned, represented the first time that I seriously considered that they might take a different position instead and wait to get some d-linemen later in the draft, given its depth at those positions.

Hearing Beane talk today at owner's meetings has me thinking for the 1st time that they may NOT pick a defensive lineman in the first round.

If "they" is Beane and McDermott, they have NOT had 20 years. They've had two. Year one, they were in the playoffs ("they backdoor'd their way in, blah blah blah"). How many other Bills coaches made the playoffs in the last 17 years? How many other Bills coaches made the playoffs in their first season? Year two, they fell short of the playoffs, but had the #2 defense in the league and identified a franchise QB. Talk all you want about how bad you think Star was, but teams with as big a liability as you're describing Star to be along the defensive line typically don't perform as well as the Bills defense did. Oh, and about Star's performance last year? Let's hear from tenured NFL veteran and Pro Bowler Lorenzo Alexander on the issue: “Obviously he (doesn’t play) a sexy position, but he allows other people around him to make plays,” Alexander said. “I’ve definitely been able to have a pretty good year this year. A lot of it is contributed to what he’s been able to do as far as keeping guys off me, allowing me to run free. “In the pass rush, people can’t step up. On first or second down I know a couple of guys that have gotten sacks throughout the year just because Star has gotten that great push. He’s earned every bit of what he’s got with that five-year deal.” Beane and McDermott are not batting 1.00. No one is. But in my opinion, they're doing a hell of a job.

Speaking of "hyperbolic nonsense", how about claiming "0-9" when Star Lotulelei was a key contributor to the Bills' number 2 defense, earning the praise of his coaches and teammates, and Trent Murphy earned a starting role and his only downfall was a struggle to stay healthy, and Chris Ivory was a key backup that contributed mightily to two Bills wins? We see what we want to see, BADOL.

Ultimately, I've concluded that there is NO Bills free agency approach that will please some Bills fans. They didn't spend at all? "They're asleep at the wheel! Fire Beane!" They spent big on premium players? "They're overpaying! You win through the draft! Fire Beane!" They handed out short, modest contracts to role players and bargain free agents? "They're shopping in the bargain aisle! They have no eye for talent! Fire Beane!" You're damned if you do, damned if you don't. For what it's worth, even though no one asked me, I think the approach this front office takes to free agency is perfect. Identify 1-2 premium players each year and hand out big contracts to just those players. The rest of the way, fill holes with short term, low risk bargain or market level deals. Continue to build through the draft. Stockpile the majority of your cap allotment to re-sign your OWN draftees. Perfect.

I retweeted this to Sal, Buscaglia, Chris Brown, and the official Bills Twitter account. Hopefully ONE of them retweets it themselves, so that it gets better publicity. Also: Haha Flutie, you have Twitter now!

This signing makes all sorts of sense. Already know he fits in with the locker room culture. Already know he can be highly productive in this scheme, even to the level of being a quality starter at CB2. Creates strong competition for CB2 role between Wallace, Johnson, and Gaines. Wallace will have to EARN his starting spot. Assuming White, Wallace, Taron Johnson are starting trio, this move (along with the Kevin Johnson signing) creates EXCELLENT depth in the secondary. Both Johnson and Gaines have been high level starters in this league, they just struggle to stay healthy. The ONLY negative I can think of with this signing and the Kevin Johnson signing is that both guys have struggled to stay healthy. Both deals, though, are only for one year and are cheap, and thus come with little risk whatsoever. Love, love, love it.

I certainly understand (but do not entirely share) your viewpoint. Jerry was DEFINITELY the majority of what was interesting/excellent about the Grateful Dead. I still enjoy gathering with the tribe and getting my boogie on, and I love me some Bobby Weir.

Copy that. Obviously not good enough yet, but it does represent an improvement over the 10 points per game that they were scoring prior to Allen's return from injury.

I tend to agree. If I'm not mistaken, the Bills were averaging 24 points a game once Josh came back from injury. And that was with a bad o-line and a WR corps lacking in talent. Just with the additions we've already made in free agency (not even factoring in what gets added via the draft), and with Allen about to get a full offseason and training camp of starter reps, I expect a much improved offense in 2019. My entire adult life as a Bills fan has been spent without a franchise QB. I was too young to really remember watching Jim Kelly. As such, I literally don't know what it feels like to know that my team has a franchise QB. If Allen lights it up in 2019 and proves that he's "the guy", well....I just won't even know how to feel. What is it even like being a fan of a team with a franchise QB? Uncharted territory for me.

All we have to go on is the national analyst (I can't remember who...Daniel Jeremiah, maybe?) who said he had Murray with the same grade that he gave Josh Allen last year. I think the order of QBs drafted this year would be Murray, then Allen, then Haskins, then Locke. Just a total guess.

Of all the bands I can think of, the Grateful Dead have handled this the best. Once Jerry Garcia died, they went as The Other Ones. Eventually, they brought "The Dead" out of mothballs, but without the "Grateful". Later iterations that play Dead music have included Ratdog, Phil and Friends, Further, and now Dead and Company. But to their credit, they have never attempted to go out as The Grateful Dead. Even their much celebrated 50th anniversary farewell shows at Solider Field in 2015 were only billed as "Celebrating the music of the Grateful Dead". They've let the name stay...well, um....dead...since Jerry died. Kudos for that.

The only thing I'll say with respect to the comments about Culley and the lack of foundation around Allen: It's important to remember the restrictions under which the team was operating due to cap constraints. I recall Beane mentioning that the Bills were in on both Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel, but couldn't offer them as much money or clear opportunity for success as the Bears. I also remember the Bills being in on RT Ricky Wagner the year before, but again, couldn't afford what he ultimately wound up receiving. It's only fair to at least keep their salary cap imposed limitations in mind when mentioning the lack of foundation around Allen. Furthermore, the Bills are not the first to use the "fix defense in year 1, get QB in year 2, build around QB in year 3" model. All that being said, I have no explanation or excuse for Culley being the QB coach. That made no sense to me then and still doesn't make sense to me now. Perhaps he'd have been a fine hire if the Bills had a 10 year vet at QB. But for him to be the primary tutor of a ROOKIE?! No bueno. Glad they did the right thing and axed him.

I mean...how good of a backup center do you think MOST teams have? As it is, the Bills' current backup centers are Russell Bodine and Spencer Long. Both are guys that have started a lot of games in this league. If you look around the NFL, you're not going to find a lot of teams with really high quality backup centers. I think Bodine/Long is as strong of a backup center situation as you're likely to find anywhere in the league. As for Morse, he seems to be a consensus top 10 center in the NFL. Furthermore, I expect Long to compete to start at GUARD, a position at which he performed well when he was a Redskin. No one expects him to be a candidate for starting center, so I'm not sure why that's even a discussion.