Logic

Now THIS is a PPV I would pay to see. Forget Tiger vs Phil.

What's weirdest to me overall about the hand wringing over the money the Bills are paying Star is this: You have to pay SOMEBODY. As it is, even with Star's "big, horrible, albatross of a contract", the Bills still have the third most cap room in the league in 2019, and are projected to be in the top 5 in cap space available in 2020, as well. They jettisoned Dareus' horrible contract and replaced it with a better contract for a better player...and they STILL have oodles of money to spend going forward. By the time the young Bills like White and Edmunds and Milano have paydays coming due, the Bills will be able to get out of Star's contract with little dead money against the cap. So until such time as the Bills have players WORTHY of big-bucks contracts, I'm perfectly okay with them overpaying a little bit to bring quality free agents at important positions to Buffalo. And again, with the way the cap keeps going up and with Star's value to the defense, I'm not even convinced he's THAT overpaid, if at all. But I suppose the key players in this thread have all made their opinions known at this point, and no one's really swaying anyone to change their stance. At this point, we're all (myself included) just sort of pissin' in the wind.

A pass rushing OLB? What? If you mean an edge rusher, I agree that it would be a smart use of 1st round draft capital. A Sam linebacker, though? Not so much. It's the least important of the three positions in McDermott's defense, and is the first linebacker to come off the field when the defense goes to a nickel look. Not worth a 1st.

I have gone back and forth all week on the notion of the Bills bringing in Antonio Brown. There's no doubt that no single player acquisition this offseason would transform the Bills offense quite like acquiring Antonio Brown. Having him on one side and Foster on the other would be a NIGHTMARE for offenses, in terms of the speed and explosive playmaking ability they present. HOWEVER...With all of the careful work Beane and McDermott have done in establishing a culture of teamwork, selflessness, and high character, I think the risk is just too great in bringing in such a volatile personality with as much baggage as Brown has. If he was missing practices for a perennial contender like the Steelers, how would he behave on a team like the Bills, who haven't been consistently successful in years? How will he behave if Allen goes through a sophomore slump or fails to get Brown the ball in a couple consecutive games? All in all, as much talent as Brown brings to the table, I just don't think the Bills can risk it, and I don't think they will.

According to this tweet, it sounds like a lot of executives don't believe Williams is a lock to go in the top 10. He's thought of as anywhere from a mid-1st to 2nd round pick. The question for Bills fans, if its true that his best fit may be as a guard (a la Zack Martin for the Cowboys)...do Bills fans still want him in the 1st? It's an ideological question, really: are you still okay with drafting an offensive lineman early if it's an INTERIOR offensive lineman? For me, I would be okay with it IF the Bills could trade down first. I don't love the idea of taking a guard at 9. If they could get into the 16-20 range and still grab him? Then I'm all for it. Fortify the line at all costs, even if it means selecting an interior lineman early.

Did Mills learn to play center and guard and I missed it?

At times in 2018, the Bills carried as many as 10 offensive linemen on their 53 man roster. That's too many. Sirles provides depth at T, G, C, and can contribute as a 6th lineman in jumbo formations. I'm sure it was a cheap deal, is only for 1 year, and won't preclude them from upgrading the offensive line in free agency and the draft.

You just contradicted yourself in your own post.

Star is "mediocre" and "middle of the pack"? According to who? Also, only maybe 2-3 teams the entire season "crammed the ball down the Bills throat" in the run game. As has already been covered in this thread, their run defense improved this season. They also finished with the #2 defense in the entire league this season. You don't get to blame Star for occasional bad run defense and ALSO not give him credit for contributing to the second best defense in the NFL. That's biased cherry picking at its finest.

Man, nobody tell @Ittakestime. He's gonna be so distraught about this.

The same Greggggg Williams that decided the best use of Jabril Peppers would be to play him 30 yards deep as a single-high safety every play and has so far ruined his career? The same Greggggg Williams who coached the Browns to the 21st ranked scoring defense and 30th ranked yards-allowed defense? Cool. Good luck, Jersey!

OH MY GOD!!! NOT SOCIAL JUSTICE!!!! THIS IS A TRAVESTY!!! ?

Thanks, I sure appreciate it. Something about my home computer just will NOT let me see Buffalo news articles no matter what I try.

I don't need Kyle Rudolph or Eric Wood's opinions on the guy when I already have Ittakestime's opinion.

Is anyone able to DM me the contents of this article? No matter how many times I clear my cookies and whatnot, I can't seem to get past the pay-wall.

This is a shocking response from you. Absolutely shocking. Question: Does being relentlessly pessimistic EVER get old? Like...do you have days where its just hard to get out of bed? You're like a one-man greatest hits reel. Just awesome stuff from you. You've really topped yourself.

And this gets to the meat of what you're not understanding: a space eating DT is necessary so that OTHER PLAYERS can make plays. The great years Milano, Hyde, and Poyer had? Guess who was often doing the dirty work in the trenches so that they were free to run to the ball!

shhhhhh. There's no room for facts here when we can use metrics like "the eyeball test" and random conjecture instead!

It was all Star's fault. OBVIOUSLY.

Shaw said it all. You want to know one of the crucial pieces that helped the Bills defense jump to #1 in the league this year? Star Lotulelei. A space-eating DT that commands double teams is absolutely VITAL to the success of McDermott's scheme. If you want to argue that they overpaid for him, fine, but I disagree with that, too. You allocate X amount of money to each position group. Typically, the 3-technique would be the guy making big money amongst the DTs. However, since Kyle is retiring and the Bills don't currently HAVE a 3-technique worth a big payday, they decided to give a bigger chunk of money to Star. I'd expect them to draft a youngster at 3-technique now, and by the time he's ready for a big contract extension, Star's deal will be nearing its end, and Harrison Phillips may step into that full time double-team-commanding 1T role. Aside from that, if you look at how much the salary cap goes up each year and factor in that you often have to overpay a bit in free agency to get good players -- ESPECIALLY in Buffalo -- you realize that Star's contract isn't that far out of whack. It's also better than the contract we were paying Dareus, and Star gives us VASTLY more production. Bottom line: Many fans will likely always take issue with Star's contract because he plays a non-glamorous position. The truth, though, is that said non-glamorous position is critical to the defense's success. If the endorsement of a grizzled veteran like Lorenzo Alexander doesn't change these fans' minds, though, nothing likely will. There were a ton of impact plays, that's the thing. They were being made by the linebackers and safeties that were freed up to run to the ball by Star's commanding of double teams. Impact plays, galore.

For anyone to sit here and bash the move -- when we all know DAMN WELL that nobody knows a lick about Heath Farwell as a coach -- is just silly and pessimistic. Try reading a bit about the guy, watching some Panthers special teams footage, or using any critical thinking whatsoever, instead of just dismissing the move out of hand because he happens to have the same former employer as our GM and coach. As someone else mentioned in this thread, he wasn't even IN Carolina at the same time as McBeane. He's also a lifelong NFL special teamer himself who only recently retired. He appears to be an energetic, upbeat, hands-on coach, and just about anyone on planet earth would be an upgrade over Danny Crossman. But people are gonna knock the move because he came from the Panthers? Oy vey. People never cease to amaze me. *cough* total nonsense *cough*

I find the immediate dismissal/minimizing of anyone from Carolina by fans to be quite a bit more nauseating, to be honest. Just because he's from Carolina, he can't be any good? And did I dream up the fact that the Panthers have more wins by far in the past decade than the Bills, and have made a Super Bowl in that time?

I think Philbin would be an outstanding hire as offensive line coach. He's a well respected leader with head coaching experience. What's not to like?

Luckily for Pack fans, Matt LeFleur is apparently going to be doing the playcalling. Still, I wouldn't want Hackett's fingerprints anywhere near my offense.

It is just INSANE to me that the Packers' number 1 objective was "challenge Aaron Rodgers" and "Get him in a modern, innovative offense".... AND THEY CHOSE NATE HACKETT!!! The aren't even really words for this type of insanity. I am without speech.