Logic

In his latest FMIA column, Peter King was asking for fan submissions of ideas to improve the NFL or make it more exciting in some way. I wrote to him about a scheduling idea that I think the league is missing out on: Now that the NFL has added a 17th game, they ought to make the extra game something special and buzzworthy, rather than just a regularly rotating non-conference opponent, as it is now. The slate of extra games should be hand selected by the league to draw interest and eyeballs, using specific themes and player matchups. Some games could feature "area rivalries", with, for example, the Jets vs Giants "battle for New York", the Bills vs Browns "Battle for Lake Erie", and Chargers vs Rams "Battle for SoFi". Another theme could be "Super Bowl Rematches", with games like the Patriots vs Giants or Cowboys vs Raiders. How about "Great Quarterback Battles", with Brady's Bucs vs Mahomes' Chiefs or Lamar's Ravens vs Kyler's Cards. Using this method, the league could create opportunities for great matchups we otherwise don't get to see often. If they want Josh Allen vs Aaron Rodgers but the Bills aren't slated to play the Packers until 2025, no problem! Maybe they want one more bite at the Brady vs Belichick apple, but the Bucs aren't scheduled to play the Patriots any time soon...no big deal! The NFL would have the power to create 16 monster matchups each season, however they see fit. Imagine, in the midst of schedule release mania, looking to see what "special feature" games were on the docket each year, the extra buzz and excitement those games could add to the season, and the frenzy of the TV networks battling for the best games. The NFL is really missing an opportunity here!

Count me as one who never knew this existed....

Should've taken Rosen.

Drink some Labatt’s. Works wonders.

Good call. Thank God.

No one is gonna flip away from the Bills game to watch the Vikings game other than Eagles and Vikings fans. Well, unless the Bills are blowing them out, of course. Only downside is that I have to listen to Aikman and Buck 🙄

Look, Wydermyer and Morris may be faster and more athletic than Tommy Sweeney, but have you SEEN his immeasurable chart?! I’m going Sweeney all the way.

I like Singletary. A big key to me is the return to zone blocking under Kromer. Moss thrives in such a scheme, whereas Singletary struggles. Motor has tended to thrive behind power man and pin and pull concepts. All I’m saying is that Moss is gonna come back healthy, motivated, and ready to roll behind a run scheme better suited to his talents. I think he’ll be much better than people think this year, will allow the Bills to let Motor walk in 2023, and will then become the thunder to Cook’s lightning for a season. Bills won’t have to address running back in a major way until 2024, when Moss leaves. I don’t think the Bills will be in the business of giving big second contracts to running backs.

Between his return to full health and the return to more zone running, Moss is gonna have a major bounce back year and challenge Singletary for snaps. Everyone already counting him out as a bust are wrong. I will die on this hill.

I think Rick Danko might have my favorite singing voice of all time. There’s just something about it, man…

What a stupid idea. Someone got paid to write that? Sheesh.

Why do I get the feeling that if the Bills had ignored immediate needs for long term planning in the draft that you would have been the first in line to complain about THAT if and when they don’t win a Super Bowl this year. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t, but BADOL is always gonna tell you why they were wrong and he was right either way.

Beane said in an interview that when their pick came up in the second, there were several guys they liked there, so they traded down. None of them were picked, so they traded down again, and that time, one of them was picked, so he decided not to trade down again. Between 60 and 63, Cam Taylor-Britt, Drake Jackson, and Bryan Cook were selected. One of those three was one of “their guys”. Personally, I think it was Cook.

Silver is a long time veteran journalist. Well respected. A pro’s pro. He somehow got Beane to open the vault!

I like 43 for Bernard. Perfect number for a guy his size and playing style.

I just posted this article too. Whoops! I thought the Zack Moss stuff (about his injury last year) was really interesting too. All in all, a great read that I highly recommend to everyone.

Michael Silver, who has spent time with Sports Illustrated, NFL Network, Yahoo Sports, and helped write several books, spent the NFL draft with the Bills. He wrote this piece about Brandon Beane. I think it's excellent and worth your time. It has tidbits of info not only from this draft, but going back to the Josh Allen draft as well. Also some interesting stuff about Zack Moss. Great stuff. Brandon Beane's Lasting Formula to build a champion in Buffalo

So far I’ve gathered, based on posts on these players’ own social media accounts: Kaiir Elam - 24 James Cook - 28 Khalil Shakir - 10 Anyone know any others?

After watching Shakir highlights all morning, I’m not understanding why he dropped to the 5th round. I’ve read he has short arms, average explosiveness, and some trouble with dropped passes. I don’t know. I watch him play and I don’t see that stuff. He looks like a quick, fast, tough runner with great RAC ability, high level competitiveness, and highlight reel catching ability. Im not saying he’s the perfect player. Obviously he must have legitimate flaws to have fallen to the fifth, but…I also think scouts and GMs overthink things sometimes. This guy was really productive at Boise St in 2021. He averaged something like 120 all purpose yards per game, and over 70% of his catches went for a first down or touchdown. On top of all that, he can be Gameday active as a rookie because he’ll be the punt returner, so you can get him on the field early here and there while he learns. Coming to this WR room and learning from guys like Diggs, McKenzie, and even Crowder — not to mention Chad Hall — is gonna do wonders for this kid. I’ll say it again: I think a lot of teams made a mistake letting Shakir fall this far. He’s gonna be a big part of the Bills offense by 2023. If anyone’s job is endangered long term by Shakir’s addition, it’s McKenzie.

I see a Darren Sproles/Austin Ekeler type. Or Eric Metcalf without the return ability. I think he’ll always be part of a committee throughout his career, but he’ll be the best and most electrifying part of that committee. There will always be a Singletary or Moss around to do the dirty work — even the Saints platoon Kamara with another guy — but the most exciting stuff out of the backfield will be coming from Cook.

Seven prime time games? I don’t buy it.

The Chiefs and Ravens had really nice drafts. So did the Jets, but they're not "serious SB contenders", so I won't discuss their class. - The Chiefs saw the Bills beat them in the regular season and then outscore them (until the final 13 seconds and overtime) in the playoffs, then saw the Bengals outscore them in the AFCCG. They responded by prioritizing the strengthening of their defense through the draft. McDuffie, Karlaftis, Williams, Cook, Chenal, Watson is a nice group of defenders. I also really liked their 7th rounder Isaiah Pacheco as a sleeper homerun hitting running back. While they almost certainly took a step back on offense, it seems they may have taken a step forward on defense. The only question I now have with their defense is whether they have enough edge rush to make life uncomfortable for opposing quarterbacks. Regardless of that, this was a nice class. - The Ravens had hands down my favorite draft class. They added three legitimate first round talents in Hamilton, Linderbaum, and Ojabo. They then continued with talented prospects Travis Jones, Daniel Faalele, Jalyn Amour-Davis, Charie Kolar, Isaiah Likely, Damarion Williams, and Tyler Badie, AND got the best punter in the draft. They got starters, they got contributors, they got value. They improved their defense, they improved their offense, they improved their special teams. Combined with all of the key players returning from injury, I like the Ravens to have double digit wins and return to the playoffs. Sure, we can all question the long term prospects of trying to win with defense and running game. That strategy seems to work very well in the regular season, but not so well in the playoffs. But we're not talking long term Super Bowl prospects here, we're talking draft class, and the Ravens' was great.

We think a lot alike when it comes to this draft class. I feel like I just read a remix of my own recap! Spot on with all points. But boy oh boy, I sure hope they start taking draft swings at IOL. Can’t ignore and duct tape that position room together forever.

If you like seeing “experts” grade each team’s draft class, you might enjoy this chart. I feel like letter grades right after the fact are an exercise in futility, but maybe not everyone agrees.

I agree with you about Tenuta overall and am not a fan of the pick. That said…in his defense: