Logic

Me. Mom's side. She's a red-headed Irish gal with the surname Millar. I'm definitely a mutt, but the Irish is one of the more prominent things, I think. That said, I couldn't care any less about St Patrick's day.

Worth noting: Many Eagles fans were calling for Howie Roseman's head for YEARS. He became a better GM over time. The Eagles were rewarded for not giving into the vocal minority of fans. Here's an article from 2018 and a petition from 2020 both wanting Howie fired. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1004679-philadelphia-eagles-please-fire-general-manager-howie-roseman https://www.change.org/p/philadelphia-eagles-fire-howie-roseman-eb949679-d650-403a-aeea-b39f5826b9d5

When asked about the Bills cap situation post-signings in his FA presser, Beane said they were "getting tight" and that they'd be shopping in a different store from here on out.

Thanks for this. My response would be, primarily, that I disagree with the notion that his understanding of NFL leverage and reading the defense is below average. Further, saying "any optimism is 100% projection" ignores that we've seen Kincaid be successful in this league. In his rookie year, he posted the following single game stat lines: 8 rec 75 yards 5 rec 65 yards 1 TD 10 rec 81 yards 5 rec 51 yards 1 TD 4 rec 87 yards 7 rec 84 yards In my opinion, his feel for finding the soft spot in zone coverage, his fluid route running, and the way he positions himself for yards after the catch are all positive traits. He also DOES have the speed to threaten the seam and to win against man coverage, which he has shown on multiple occasions in his young NFL career. Admittedly, most of what I just mentioned showed up on tape more in year one than it did in year two. I think three things about Kincaid: The first is that the sophomore slump is real. Once opposing teams had a season of tape on him and saw that he lacked adequate play strength for the position and could be beaten with physicality, they adjusted how they defended him, and he failed to counter-adjust. The second is that I DO think the injuries hampered him and negatively affected his confidence. And third, I think his being inferior to Dawson Knox as a blocker in what became a run-first offense caused him to lose playing time to Knox. The last thing I'll say is that while I like Joe Brady overall, I still have serious questions as to his ability to fully utilize players to their strengths. First Stefon Diggs vanished under his playcalling, then Amari Cooper vanished under his playcalling. MAYBE both of those guys are cooked, or maybe Brady just doesn't entirely know how to feature his most talented skill players. Kincaid's deployment (and Knox's, for that matter) has been lackluster, in my opinion. I'm not sure either guy's talents are being maximized. Regardless, I don't know how anyone can reasonably look at some of those year one stat lines and say that there's nothing to build on or that any notion of his succeeding is 100% projection.

Yeah I kind of agree with regard to the WR corps. I sort of hoped that the "everybody eats" mediocre WR group was more out of necessity than preference. That the Diggs situation caught them off guard and they did the best they could (albeit without double dipping at WR in a historically deep WR draft). I hoped/assumed they'd put some serious effort in to acquiring a WR1 type this offseason. Instead, they seem to be saying "hey, the no-name WR/everybody eats thing worked last year, let's run it back!". I don't love it. To go back-to-back offseasons in Josh Allen's prime without seriously addressing the position (last year, as mentioned, in the historically deep WR draft, and then this year by only signing Josh Palmer) feels like roster malpractice. The Bills are going about their business as if WR isn't an important, premium position in the year 2025. They seem to be banking on hope yet again this year. Hope that Keon Coleman will progress, hope that Joshua Palmer will be better than he has been throughout his career, hope that Curtis Samuel is better than last year, hope that Khalil Shakir stays healthy (because the WR corps is scary bad looking without him). The only problem is...."hope" is not a strategy.

I understand recency bias, which I think is what's largely at play in all the Kincaid hate/doubt. Guy had a bad season. Failed to make a big play in the AFCCG. For what it's worth, Mark Andrews is on a Hall of Fame career path, and he dropped a pass that might have advanced his team in the playoffs, too. It happens. I just don't thinking giving up on a guy after a bad second season (in which the head coach admitted he thought the player was highly affected by his injuries) after said player had a nice first season is good business. I think it makes sense to give him year three to prove himself, and I'm betting on him to do so.

I haven't read through the entire past couple pages regarding Kincaid, but... I'm just gonna say that he had a darn good rookie year, then had a sophomore slump as he dealt with myriad injuries, and that some are writing him off way too soon. Mind you, I'm not some huge Kincaid mark. I said when he was drafted that I felt his ceiling was to be a Zach Ertz in his prime. I still think that. But looking at his rookie year, then his sophomore year, and somehow concluding that he doesn't have what it takes to succeed and talk about dealing him for a third...I can't get behind that line of thinking. I think he has a big bounceback 2025 season.

I thought my wife and I were the only ones. Obviously, with so many deaths and so much uncertainty, people out of work, etc, it was an awful and tense time in many ways. On the other hand, I got an extended paid vacation at home with my wife. Her and I were both on furlough for an unusually long period of time. For several months straight, we were at home together every single day, getting paid enough in unemployment and government kickers to make rent, pay bills, and save some money. We got to cook together, watch movies, spend time with our pets, go on walks. And we reasoned that being in nature was the best kind of "social distancing" available, so we camped, hiked, and explored parts of our state we had never had the chance to explore before. While I have always felt some sense of guilt for "enjoying" much of the COVID period, the fact remains: It was the only time in my adult life that I got to spend so much uninterrupted time with my wife, got to pause, got to take a long break, got to THINK...without the hustle and bustle of usual every day life and jobs. What a strange, awful, beautiful, terrible, memorable time.

Now THIS is a good thread. It's really THE thread this offseason. One can easily make the argument that in terms of our current depth chart and the importance of a good 1T to the success of this defense, this is the pre-eminent issue of importance before we kick off the 2025 season. I'm just starting to learn about all of these guys in depth. Like everyone else, I want Kenneth Grant. I would tend to think he won't fall to us, and I'm somewhat doubtful that Beane will be willing to give up significant draft capital to move up far enough to take him.

Just as we can go on and on about the GOOD things Brandon Beane has done. It's a matter of perspective, of fairly weighing the good vs the bad, and of "glass half full" vs "glass half empty" outlooks.

I really think people should go out and touch grass and have a beer. It's a weird, kind of embarrassing, and definitely less than ideal situation. I agree with you. Beane seemed embarrassed in his presser. I also think it'll be forgotten about by Monday. The idea that the whole league is laughing at us or that it's this giant black eye that warrants firing Brandon Beane...it's just prisoner of the moment stuff, in my opinion. It sucks, its ugly, and no one's happy about it. I just think people are making it even bigger than THAT and acting like its some epic referendum on Brandon Beane and like...okay...sure. If that's how you feel, then that's your prerogative. Just as it's my prerogative to think that's silly.

I wonder what the percentage is of people who have actually listened to or read what Beane had to say before commenting in this thread is. I'm thinking like 5% tops. He KNEW about Hoecht, and signed him anyway. Question his judgement in signing the guy if you want, but it wasn't a matter of "not doing homework". Ogunjobi's result came back during/after the signing process, he informed Beane immediately, and Beane went forward with the signing because, among other reasons, he said the free agent pool had become depleted at the position. So here again, question Beane's judgement in going forward with the signing if you want, but this one ALSO wasn't a matter of "not doing homework".

I highly suggest everyone either listen to Beane's presser or at least read some pertinent quotes from it. The assumptions in this thread are astonishing. Far too many of you missed your calling, and should be working in NFL front offices. Sheesh.

As to the first bolded: The Bills have the second most wins in the NFL since 2020, have won six straight division titles, and are coming off an AFCCG in which his team was one drive away from going to the Super Bowl. One can easily argue that were it not for McDermott coaching blunders, the Bills would've made a Super Bowl or two by now. I think the best way to judge a GM is by looking at the team he's assembled, and that team has been the second best team in football for the past five years. As for "taking bigger swings", the man has traded multiple picks (including a 1st) for Stefon Diggs, signed Von Miller to a mega contract, and this season signed five time Pro Bowler Joey Bosa. I just think "get his act together" ignores that "his act" has had the Bills in the playoffs and realistically contending for a championship every single year, and that "he needs to start taking bigger swings" ignores that he HAS taken some big swings, and they just haven't worked out as we all hoped.

What information? In Beane's press conference, he said that Ogunjobi got his test results back directly from the testing office and was notified of his positive result before the league even found out. Ogunjobi then notified Beane of it, Beane then called the league, and the league was not even yet aware of it.

You clearly didn't listen to Brandon Beane's press conference or read any summaries of it. He said that Hoecht TOLD the Bills about his upcoming suspension. The Bills were fully aware of it and decided to sign him anyway. He said that Ogunjobi's suspension news didn't come in until during/after the contract signing process, at which point he told the team immediately. So they DID know about Hoecht. And they COULDN'T have known about Ogunjobi because it hadn't yet happened. He was a Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee just last year and has a spotless NFL resume with no previous suspensions. What exactly was a "PI" supposed to uncover about such a player? If you disagree with the decisions to go ahead with signing these guys after learning of the pending suspensions, then fine. But saying "he didn't check this out with the league" or talking about hiring PIs shows me that you're reacting without even having watched/listened to/read what Beane had to say about the situation.

I agree that its an odd situation, it's way less than ideal, and it doesn't look great for the Bills or Brandon Beane. It's a bit embarrassing and, as I have said, actually pretty hilariously unbelievable. But I stand by the statement that this thread is filled with overreactions.

It's outright HILARIOUS, is what it is. Beane also seemed very embarrassed in his press conference. But "this is the last straw, let's fire him"? C'mon, man. Ridiculous. If the Ogunjobi thing hadn't happened. If it was just "hey, we signed a guy for three years but he's gonna start out with a six game suspension", it would be odd, but for the most part, people wouldn't think too much of it. This stuff happens in the NFL. The fact that it then happened with Ogunjobi right afterwords is what makes it a weird and embarrassing situation. But again...a fireable offense? Preposterous.

Certainly some laughable overreactions in this thread. How was Brandon Beane supposed to know that Larry Ogunjobi -- with a spotless NFL resume and being the Steelers' 2024 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee -- was going to get a PED suspension BEFORE it happened? I guess you can ding him for still deciding to go ahead with the contract after finding out, but his explanation that the market had become pretty depleted and they decided they'd rather have him for 11 games plus playoffs than start from scratch and sign a lesser talent seems reasonable to me. Likewise, if you want to ding him for deciding to sign Hoecht to a three-year deal despite knowing about his six game suspension, I can understand that. But the Bills signed him for 51 games worth of contract. With that in mind, missing six games due to suspension doesn't seem disqualifying. All of this is obviously less than ideal. But the "this is the last straw, fire Brandon Beane" stuff is hilarious to me.

In all seriousness...has Ogunjobi officially signed? It hasn't been officially announced by the Bills? Whereas Hoecht is a multi-year deal and they said they knew about his anyway, it won't affect much with the contract. But in Ogunjobi's case, shouldn't he make considerably less since it's only a one year deal? Like...wtf?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha....... *takes deep breath* .....Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! Whewwwww! Ya gotta admit: This is objectively funny.

May I ask how you know this? I'm not casting aspersions or questioning your knowledge of football. I know you're a draftnik and a guy who's very passionate about watching and evaluating players. But when you comment on a Kendrick Green type, I wonder: Did you watch a bunch of Texans game and zero in on the o-line? Are you making your comment based on your memory of him as a college prospect? Did you hear that the Bills signed him and THEN go and watch him? I'm not trying to troll you, I'm just genuinely curious. How do you already have in your rolodex of personnel knowledge an amount of information on a guard from the Houston Texans sufficient to be able to declare that he's dreadful? There are 1,696 players on NFL rosters each year. How do you keep track?

Oh yeah. I don't expect the Bills to draft a RB at all necessarily, and if they do, it won't be as early as Johnson is going to get taken. My draft crush is not in relation to the Bills. I don't think the Bills are drafting Kaleb Johnson. But purely as a draftnik, just watching the player...he's my (not so) early draft crush.

Personally, I don't think it was probably very likely for the Bills to sign a big time Edge AND a big time CB, especially with Benford's extension looming. I may have WANTED it to happen, but it probably wasn't likely. If given the choice between spending 12.6 on Bosa and signing a baseline/floor guy like Jackson or spending 12.6 on a big time corner and signing lesser edge, I'm taking the Bosa option. Defensive line was/is by far the thing that was most in need of an upgrade this offseason. That having been said, I think the signing of Dane Jackson makes it so that the Bills don't have to take a corner in the 1st round. They'll surely draft one or two of them, but I don't think it needs to be a first round guy. I think and hope that they feel the flexibility to take a D-lineman or receiver or safety or whatever if that player is higher on their board than whatever corners are left at 30. I think, for instance, that Jackson vs round 2/3 rookie vs Ingram/Hardy/Couch is a perfectly reasonable camp battle. You're hoping that your drafted guy or one of the youngsters can beat out Jackson, but if he doesn't, you know that you've gotten capable play out of Jackson in the past. The baseline/floor at CB2 has now been established. Draft pick(s) incoming, but not necessarily from round 1.

I know that I'm not digging very deep here and not picking a "sleeper" or anything, but... RB Kaleb Johnson looks pretty special to me. The box was always loaded against the Hawkeyes, because everyone knows what they wanna do on offense. But I read today that when facing a light box, Johnson ran for over 9 ypc, which was best in the nation, and a pretty insane number. I've been watching all of these running backs because its such a special class. Everyone knows Jeanty, Hampton, and Henderson look special, but I've been trying to wade through the guys beyond them. So far, Johnson has stood out to me with his combination of speed, power, vision, contact balance, and breakaway ability. He's a little tall and runs a little upright, but other than that...impressive stuff.