Logic

Just so we know where they rank:

Also of interest to me: The Chiefs players giving their team owner an F-. F- !!! Did the Hunt family personally slap the players' wives? Like...F- is BAD, man.

https://nflpa.com/nfl-player-team-report-cards-2024 Looks like the Bills dietician/nutritionist is not well thought of, nor is the team travel program. Everywhere else, the Bills score pretty well across the board, with Head Coach and Team Owner being particularly interesting. Also of interest: The Chiefs players give their training room a D and their training staff an F. Interesting...

Definitely a fair and reasonable way of looking at it. That said, my answer to both of the questions you posed is "I'd rather have Douglas". Given that Elam and Benford aren't making much right now and Tre White is no lock to even be on this roster in 2024, I view $9.9million as a sound and reasonable investment in the cornerback room. In the case of WR and EDGE, we already have big money tied up there (Diggs and Von, respectively), so I'd rather bolster those positions either through the draft or via low-cost bargain FAs.

Imagine for a second that you have NFL caliber athleticism, and you're going to be playing in the NFL in a depth and special teams role starting this coming season. Any team can sign you. Wouldn't you, in your heart of hearts, want the Bills to be the team to sign you? Wouldn't you want to play for your home town team? That's all this is.

I'd be quite surprised if they cut Rasul Douglas, particularly after the cap number wound up being higher than Beane and co. expected. If he was a free agent and the Bills were just choosing not to re-sign him, then I'd understand. But given that he's under contract for 2024 for an extremely reasonable $9.9million, and given that the Bills gave up a pretty good draft pick for him, and given that he was their best defender in 2023...it would seem absolutely crazy to me to just cut him outright. I fully believe that they may want Elam to see the field more, but this regime has always been about "the best players play" and "everyone earns their spot", and it's hard to argue that anyone in our secondary has EARNED playing time over Rasul Douglas. The ONLY way I could see them moving on from Douglas is if they've committed to drastically change the way they play their corners, and to move to more of a man-based scheme. But I doubt that's the case, because then they'd be relying on a twice-seriously-injured Tre White and a still-unproven Kaiir Elam, as Benford is also not a fit in a man scheme. I say Douglas is far more likely to be extended long term than to be cut, and I will be seriously surprised if he IS cut.

What I really want is a mole stationed at the St Elmo steakhouse this week, taking notes and relaying them via morse code. IYKYK.

Amen. The following is not really an "All Star band", but in terms of great artists with disparate styles collaborating in a way that combines their talents to satisfying effect...it's hard to beat Beyonce and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder singing Bob Marley's Redemption Song. (side note...Beyonce and Eddie Vedder's baby would be the best looking and most talented human ever created, but I digress...)

It was an amazing ending. Hugely influential in all prestige TV and a lot of cinema that came after it. It marked the end of the "give the audience a definitive, happy ending that leaves every question answered" era and ushered in the era of ambiguous endings that let the viewer have some ownership over and interpretation of them. That said, it also wasn't THAT ambiguous. It's pretty clear what happened. As others have said, you can't always have happy endings in the era of the anti-hero. Why should someone like Tony Soprano get a happy ending? Mark me down as someone who really liked the way it ended. Then again, I thought the way Seinfeld ended was perfect, too, so...

And crucially, the Bills don't have to do anything at all with Douglas's contract in the immediate future if they don't want. Even if they DO like Benford/Elam as the long term duo, they can just let Douglas play out his deal in 2024 at a reasonable cost and then go young in 2025. In this case, they'd have effectively gotten a season and a half of high quality cornerback play for a draft pick swap (5th for 3rd). I don't expect them to go this route. As I stated, I think they'll extend him. But even if they don't, I view it as a good trade.

I think there's very, very little chance that Rasul Douglas doesn't get extended and spend the next several years as a Buffalo Bill. He absolutely screams "process" and "McDermott guy", plus he was wildly productive in his first year with the Bills. I think Benford and Douglas is your starting duo in 2024 and 2025. Hopefully Elam takes a step now that he's healthy and pushes both guys, and becomes valuable depth at both spots and the first off the bench. Tre White...I just don't know what to do with him. I think there are emotional and locker room and leadership aspects that make this one a bit cloudy. Literally no outcome with Tre White -- cut, extension, leaving his contract as-is -- would surprise me at this point. The only thing I feel really confident about going into 2024 is that Benford and Douglas will be the top two corners. Everything else is a little hazy at the moment and depends on health, money, and the progression (or lack thereof) of Kaiir Elam.

I'm sure this thread is gonna go 25 pages and be mostly circular arguments and vitriol, but... The two things I found most interesting from the whole column: 1.) Sean McDermott has the 15th best winning percentage ALL TIME among coaches who have coached at least 7 seasons. That's pretty impressive. 2.) Tom Flores once said that an appointment to the NFL's Competition Committee is the second best individual honor a head coach can receive, behind being named to the Hall of Fame. Other than that, I didn't hear much from McDermott that seemed newsworthy or column-worthy. Pretty much a re-hash of the same of type of stuff he always says. But those two points above were very interesting factoids to me.

33 years?! That's crazy! How many years out of 33 have you won the whole enchilada? 🤓

Got it, thanks. Yeah, I like determining the draft order that way. Seems like the best, fairest way to do it. My league doesn't use salary cap or limited amounts of long term contracts or that kind of thing. Very interesting. I imagine that adds a whole other level of strategy to the game that makes it more akin to being a real life NFL GM.

Out of curiosity: When you say "tanked to an embarrassing degree"...does your league have certain rules in place about that? Like a requirement to start players who are actually active, and to set your best possible lineup (within reason, since no one knows for sure), so that, for instance, someone's not allowed to start Zach Wilson over Patrick Mahomes, that kind of thing? Obviously, one of the cool things about dynasty is that teams CAN tank and collect picks and build for the future. But I feel like there have to be guardrails in place. If you want to tank, do it the right way: Strip your roster down by trading away assets for future picks.

Absolutely. He averaged 317 yards and 3 TDs a game over 16 games. He had 16 more touchdowns than the guy closest to him on the list that year! Despite throwing so frequently and scoring so much, he also finished with the league's second best completion percentage (64.2%) and best QB Rating (108.2). Again, compared to modern numbers, none of those statistics may look particularly impressive. But in that era of run-run-pass and of defensive players mauling quarterbacks and receivers, it was an absolutely astonishing season.

I still don't think people realize how amazing Marino putting up 5,084 yards and 48 passing TDs in the 1984 NFL was. Absolutely mind boggling stuff. Anway...give Dan Marino the Marks brothers and a good o-line in the 2024 NFL and he's going for 6,000 yards and 65 TDs.

Marino is probably a bit biased, because Kelly's Bills routinely eliminated Marino's Dolphins from the playoffs. When thinking about the guy who was one of the biggest reasons you never won a Lombardi, it's probably more palatable to label him "one of the best ever" 😋 But in all seriousness, Kelly's in the Hall of Fame for a reason. Simply looking at his (or any 90s QB's) stats through the context of today's statistical production doesn't really paint a clear picture. The league was very different back then.

One thing I've learned about dynasty is that if you're an active owner, you're going to have hits and misses -- sometimes BIG misses -- and you can't beat yourself up for it or let it stop you from making future moves. Year one (2021 season) I traded Darnell Mooney and Jerry Jeudy for Tee Higgins and Amon-Ra St. Brown. A HUGE win for me. I wasn't a believer in St Brown's rookie success being sustainable, so I flipped him for a 1st round pick, which ended up being Skyy Moore, who I thought would take over as WR1 for Tyreek Hill in KC. St Brown for Skyy Moore? A HUGE miss for me. Ya win some, ya lose some. Just gotta do your best to learn from past mistakes and to keep trusting your gut and taking swings.

Absolutely. Lil Dirty. Gotta get him back here so that we can run two jet sweeps a game. I'd also look into bringing Isaiah Hodgins back if the Giants release him. I'd like to see if we can get him on the practice squad for another four seasons or so.

Preaching to the choir on this one. While I sometimes question Beane's drafting acumen (and there's no need to get into that in this thread), I will never question his usage of free agency. He has hits and misses, like everyone, but I think he's incredibly shrewd in the way he uses free agency. I think he uses it exactly as it should be used, and strikes a nice balance. He doesn't just sit around and do nothing (like the Packers most years), but he also doesn't take the bait on the big ticket guys (Von Miller being the noted exception). He plugs holes, gives fair deals, and generally sets the Bills up well for the draft. There's a reason that he ranked 1st in the MTMS (Moves That Make Sense) index for a few years running. When it comes to contract structures, free agency, and spending in general, I'm a big fan of Brandon Beane.

Yep. At the end of the day, they'll wind up with enough for Beane to re-sign a couple players (Jones and Epenesa?) and make one moderately splashy FA move (like Connor McGovern last year) and then a bunch of ho-hum 1-year deals and contributors. As it should be. Every year we hear how "we'll be shopping the bargain bin this year", and then every year the Bills sign a decent collection of free agents that pleasantly surprises me. Notably, as you said, NOT usually big ticket signings from the first wave of free agency. They then also typically sign a decent player a month or two later once said player realizes he's not going to get the money he's seeking (Leonard Floyd, I'm looking at you). This year, I'd expect something like a safety, a couple DL, a running back, a backup QB, and a WR.

Good news for the Bills, as others have already stated. Two things to remember once free agency starts: One: Bear this in mind when you start seeing the deals that get handed out in free agency. Bigger cap means bigger contracts handed out. Try not to die of sticker shock. Two: When it comes to free agency in general, always remember that the first ones to announce the deals are typically the players' agents, who word the announcements in a way that makes the deal sound as favorable as possible for their client. The devil is ALWAYS in the details, and you should ALWAYS wait until the specifics like guaranteed money, voidable years, and roster bonuses come out, because they tell the real story.

Five guys that I would be looking at: P Matt Araiza. Big leg, legally free and clear, handsome. WR Gabe Davis. Big-bodied, downfield threat. Just needs a real opportunity to be a WR2 for someone. LB Tremaine Edmunds. What he does for you in the pass game simply cannot be quantified by statistics. Still just 25 years old. Probably trending up. DE Carlos "Boogie" Basham. Positional versatility. Very cool name. Non-stop motor. CB Levi Wallace. You can never have enough late round corners with mediocre athleticism and above average zone awareness who never intercept the football. Get 'er done, Big Baller Beane.