Logic

My gut tells me that this is gonna be Belichick's last year in New England.

Man...there's just no way Beane watched the Bills have to rely on has-been street free agents John Brown and Cole Beasley in key late-season and playoff games and ISN'T gonna draft a legitimate receiver, right? Like...there's no way he says "Deonte Harty and Trent Sherfield should solve this, we're good now". Right? RIGHT?! Ugh...

....Rough few weeks in the Biscuit household?

I mean, to be fair... The Bills have spent to the cap the past few seasons, traded quite a few picks for a top five receiver in Stefon Diigs, just paid mega bucks to a Hall of Fame edge rusher in Von Miller, and are rumored to be trying to trade for DeAndre Hopkins. I suppose you could look to their being unwilling to acquire Christian McCaffrey last year to back up your point, but personally, I don't really think it's fair or accurate to say that the Bills HAVEN'T been going "all in".

OBJ is one of the most overrated, if not THE most overrated, players in the league. He is living off of his first three seasons and, more than that, he's living off of ONE highlight reel catch. Ya wanna know the last time OBJ had more than 1,100 yards receiving? 2016! SEVEN years ago! After his great first three years with the Giants, his season-long receiving outputs have been as follows. Yes, injury, QB play, team circumstance, etc, have all played a part, but...tough *****. Lots of players deal with those same things and post superior production: 302 yards 1052 yards 1035 Yards 319 Yards 537 Yards Here are a few active players with more career receiving yards: Marvin Jones Randall Cobb Robert Woods Jarvis Landry Amari Cooper Brandin Cooks Like...aside from OBJ's name, his "brand", his great catch from 2015 or whatever....what exactly am I supposed to be excited about? And now he's coming off back-to-back ACL injuries?! Meh.

Are you saying you believe he WILL or WON'T do this? Personally, I would be EXTREMELY surprised if Beane drafted a WR in round 1 AND round 2. They want a TE (more likely two of them), they NEED a viable MLB...I just don't see how they could take two receivers early. Not to mention that I don't believe the roster space exists for that.

In whatever order makes sense, I'd love a receiver, a middle linebacker, and an offensive lineman. That makes good sense to me. I sense they may pick a tight end high, too. Often, the draft is not that cut and dry. It would seem to be a logical path, though.

In terms of just the 2023 season, our defense now seems relatively set at all positions except middle linebacker, particularly if they re-sign Shaq Lawson. Going forward, though, there will be lots of needs. From no DTs under contract past this year, to AJ Epenesa's contract expiring and Basham not providing much, to Von Miller being 35 years old, to Hyde and Poyer getting quite long in the tooth. There are about to be A LOT of defensive needs starting in 2024. The question is: Do Beane and Co primarily use this draft to try to get a headstart on filling the pipelines on defense, or do they ride with what they have for one more year so they can bring in some more offensive protection and weaponry, and then worry about the defense next year. Personally, I prefer the latter approach.

This makes sense to me, too. If there's one coaching staff in the NFL that has shown it can get great production out of safeties that were previously considered "average", it's Buffalo's. McDermott is the safety whisperer. Maybe Rapp sees an opportunity to get on the field in sub packages, special teams, and as the first safety off the bench, and then to see if he can impress the staff enough that he can be the future at one of the safety positions in the years to come.

From his NFL.com draft profile the year he came out. I have bolded the reasons the Bills likely just signed him. Strengths Good size with compact frame and well-built chest Mister Fix-It asked to play all over the field for the defense Football intelligence considered top notch Despite compact frame, moves well Able to handle man cover duties on tight ends Impressive talent to diagnose and flow as box safety Recognizes run lane development like a running back Takes accurate pursuit angles Hip sink and footwork are catalysts for open-field tackling Always comes to balance and widens out to tackle Loves to thump Gifted kickoff cover man Weaknesses Hands out punishment but absorbs his share as well Can trigger a little earlier in run support from two-high Average lateral burst as open-field tackler Might be out-paced by NFL runners in his race to the edge Ability to range over the top appears to be just average Ball production has dropped since freshman season Routes to the throw can be fairly conservative Might have left some interceptions and breakups on the field

I'm not understanding why a 2nd round pick in his 5th year, just entering his prime, would sign with a team that's already set at its two starting safety positions. It must mean he either didn't have better options elsewhere on the market, OR...perhaps this is sort of a one year "let's see if you're the future at this position" type signing. See how he does as the third safety on the field and how he picks up the system, and then maybe he replaces Hyde next season. Huh. I'm happy to sign safety depth, but a little bit perplexed. Edit: Or maybe he just stinks. That's definitely a possibility.

I mean...they're no Donald Jones and David Nelson, but I guess they'd be fine.

When this thread was first created in January, I thought it was silly and pointless and a pipe dream. Now here we sit in March, deep-diving Twitter users' post histories, scouting flight paths, staking out chicken wing restaurants, and rapid pressing the F5 key. What a world.

Fair. The Bills obviously need to add more offensive weaponry one way or another, as they have been so far this offseason. I'm just leery that Dorsey will actually know what to do with the talent added, after I watched him (in my opinion) misuse/underuse/refuse to use Dawson Knox, James Cook, and Nyheim Hines last year. I really, really hope Dorsey improves from year one to year two in terms of personnel deployment and usage, and that he and Beane are on the same page this offseason in terms of exactly what types of players he wants. They did NOT seem to be on the same page last season, in my opinion (See: Hines, Nyheim).

I expect the Bills to draft a tight end within the first few rounds this year. That said, until they actually start using the very good tight end that's already on the roster and getting paid big bucks, I don't really care WHAT they do at TE2 or TE3. Dawson Knox has the talent and ability to be this team's de facto WR2. He has the talent to be a 1,000 yards and 10 TDs guy. The Bills PAID him to be that guy. Until Ken Dorsey figures out how to use him and Josh Allen re-commits to hitting his short and intermediate targets instead of always big game hunting, the tight end depth conversation is just noise to me.

He has excellent taste in music, but that's about all I can say for him. Between the failed OJ Howard experiment, the pre-draft meetings with projected early round TEs last offseason, Beane's talk of how a good second tight end allows more pro sets and to dictate matchups to the defense, and them letting Sweeney walk, it seems quite clear to me that bringing in a legit TE2 is a high priority. I expect one to be drafted in the first three rounds, assuming one is not signed in free agency (are any decent FA TEs still even on the market?)

Buckner's $18,000,000 base salary seems......kind of impossible to fit under the Bills' cap.

I don't disagree with this notion in theory, but if they get Hopkins, it's hard to see how they'd have the roster room to also add a highly drafted rook. Diggs Hopkins Davis Shakir Harty Sherfield MAYBE they'd carry 7 receivers. But with Harty and Sherfield both having special teams roes, said rookie would probably find himself inactive on game days in year one. With a currently glaring need at MLB, as well as similar "youth in the pipeline" needs at DT, DE, and S, it's hard to see them acquiring Nuke and ALSO drafting a receiver in the first three founds. I'd be thrilled if they did, but I don't think they would.

I'm hoping that, if nothing else, the Bills being in on Hopkins means they recognize the need for a bona fide #2 WR. If they feel the need is sufficient to consider trading for a Deandre Hopkins, then they must feel it's a fairly big need indeed. That being the case, hopefully they spend high draft capital on the position if the Nuke trade doesn't come through.

Sunk cost fallacy. Just because they have spent a bunch trying to improve the D-Line doesn't mean that the D-Line is good enough and that they should stop trying to improve it. Don't get me wrong, I want offensive upgrades, and I DON'T want to see a bunch more premium resources be spent on the DL any more than the next guy, but..."we already invested a bunch" isn't a good reason not to continue to try to improve a unit if said unit still is not up to snuff.

I feel like "The Bills are trading for Big Name Receiver X", followed by "Breaking News: Big Name Receiver X has been traded to not-the-Bills" has become a yearly tradition. I'll believe it when I see it.

McGovern and Edwards are both starting level guards. I think they're both better than the usual level of IOL that Beane signs at this time of year. I think they're both better than Spencer Long, Greg Mancz, etc. I like it.

The ongoing obsession of some Bills fans with garnering compensatory picks is bizarre. Then again, the perpetual inability of the Bills to garner compensatory picks is also bizarre.

I predict that no one will officially hold that title this year. It will be a group effort between Sean McDermott, Eric Washington, Al Holcomb, and Bobby Babich. When it ultimately comes to who will be most responsible for calling plays on gameday, my money would be on Coach McDermott or Coach Washington.