Logic

Ive been saying this: the Bills have outstanding slot depth but are shallow on the outside. Shakir CAN play out there, but counting on a 5th round rookie to replace a Diggs or a Davis is asking a lot. SO… Unless they really have faith in Stevenson or Hodgins stepping up, they ought to be looking at bringing in a veteran outside Wr. One with a bit of speed would be nice. I can’t help but wonder if TY Hilton would be willing to take a cheap deal for a shot at a title.

I I think it’s Shakir vs Stevenson vs McKenzie. I don’t see any other viable candidates on the roster. Unless they bring in a veteran or one of the UDFAs steps up, that’s who I see in the return competition. Honestly, I’m surprised they didn’t bring in a more viable returner after the way last season went. Maybe they’re hoping Stevenson steps up. In all of Beane’s discussions of Shakir in interviews, I haven’t actually heard him mention Shakir being a candidate for the returner role.

Incredibly excited about this pick. It's not just Bills fans that think Shakir was a steal. Lots and lots of analysts have agreed, and Beane said that several GMs were pissed at him for taking Shakir before they could. Like Kollman, I have no idea how this guy fell to the fifth round. While he'll likely be a WR4 in 2022 -- which, in and of itself, is a great insurance policy, as he'll be a viable backup for all three WR spots -- I definitely see him supplanting Crowder in 2023 and becoming the full time slot receiver from then on. As Kollman said, his versatility and run-after-catch ability will simply be too hard to keep off the field. Now I'm just hoping I can snag him in round 3 of my dynasty rookie draft before my league-mates catch on to what a steal he'll be.

Brady has always been a poor sport. Belichick, too. I don’t wanna hear how they just “hate losing” or don’t respect their opponent or whatever. Poor sports. Especially Brady. Quick to shake your hand and be all smiles when he wins, but runs off the field in record time when he loses. Along with his constant crying to the refs and outbursts at his teammates, why would anyone other than Pats or Bucs fans possibly like this guy?

To the King of Kings, The Creature, The Alien, Dad, Football Man….to the best quarterback in Buffalo Bills history (yeah I said it!)… Happy Birthday. Thanks for throwing rocks into a garbage can on your cantaloupe farm all those years, and thanks for being a sincere, genuine, goofy, overgrown man child who runs like a toddler but throws the football like a Greek God cyborg warrior.

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".

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.

I agree almost completely with this, but have it 9-2 after the bye. 12-5, AFC East champs. Only question is whether it will be good enough for the #1 seed.

First seven weeks of the schedule are tough, but things get much easier after that. Need to come out of the Packers game 4-3 or better, and they should be fine. I predict 12-5, AFC East champs. Whether or not that’s enough for the #1 seed is the question.

I actually like Talkin Proud. When the Bills broke the drought in 2017, I walked around the house doing the stupid dance from that video and singing it for days. My wife, uh….was not a fan.

When it's all said and done, here's what I expect with our trio of young defensive ends: Greg Rousseau will have a long career as a good edge setter and run defender who can chip in 6-8 sacks per year, but will never be a dominant edge bending pass rusher. He'll be somewhere between Shaq Lawson and Calais Campbell. Boogie Basham will also be a 1st and 2nd down base defensive end. His biggest pass rush impact will come as an interior defender on 3rd downs. His versatility and run stopping ability will allow him to stick around the league for years, but he'll never be a big time, impact pass rusher. AJ Epenesa will be a career journeyman who never lives up the potential of his draft pedigree. I wish I had a more optimistic outlook. Rousseau and Basham will both be good players, I think, but just not the type of franchise pass rushers we're hoping for. Epenesa was miscast from the start. He should have been drafted by a 3-4 defense to play 5T. The Bills selecting a power rusher and then having him shed a bunch of weight to try to become a speed rusher was a foolish decision, and ruined whatever chance Epenesa had to be impactful.

Right, but as I mentioned, not every game has to be region/proximity based. That's ONE basis upon which they could create matchup. Another would be QB vs QB, or Super Bowl rematches, or new player acquisitions, or any number of things. For instance, if Broncos vs Seahawks wasn't on the schedule this year (I'm not sure if it is or isn't), that could be the extra game: Russel Wilson returns to Seattle as QB of the Broncos. If they want Brady vs Belichick again, they just schedule Pats vs Bucs. This idea gives the NFL the flexibility to ensure that such compelling matchups get to take place, even if the rotating NFL schedule system otherwise wouldn't allow it.

I definitely understand that, and I did think about the fairness concerns. Still, I feel like 17 games is a big enough slate of games that the argument of "our ONE hand-selected matchup was tougher than another team's and that's why we lost out on seeding" isn't compelling enough to avoid the idea altogether. Under the current system, the odds that our regularly rotating NFC opponent each year is more difficult/imposing than another AFC team's are just as good. Say we're facing the Cowboys and the Dolphins get to face the Giants. That's the same type of disparity in non-common opponent difficulty, with the only difference being that it was randomly generated. At least with the "hand selected games" idea, the games would be exciting instead of random, and they'd be different each year, so it would ultimately even out over time. At the end of the day, the excitement and fun and novelty that these games could generate outweighs whatever competitive imbalance their selection might create, in my opinion.