Logic

I just learned about this from BADOL through another thread, but thought it deserved its own. I was fortunate enough to see Richard Lewis do standup shortly before he retired from the road. One of the absolutely funniest sets I've ever seen. Didn't seem to have much prepared material -- or at least didn't present it in a very organized way. Just spoke off the cuff and riffed and did crowd work. Absolutely slayed it. Aside from a legendary standup career, he was always one of my favorite parts of Curb Your Enthusiasm. What a legend. Sad day for the comedy world. https://nypost.com/2024/02/28/entertainment/richard-lewis-dead-curb-your-enthusiasm-actor-dies-at-76/ Richard and lifelong friend Larry David in their, um...younger days.

Legend. Minnesota Wrecking Crew and Four Horsemen FTW. RIP, Ole. Great talker and wrestler, not the greatest booker. Alas, a sad loss for the wrestling world.

Agreed. You'd be signing him betting that he's gonna be John Brown 2.0. The possibility exists, though, that he's Deonte Harty 2.0 instead.

Wow. That list is wild. Obviously corner and running back are quite different, but it makes me wonder about Tre White trying to make it back from an achilles tear at age 29.

I was wondering that myself. Not sure, but would love to know the answer.

Now that free agency is getting closer and we're starting to have a better idea of who will actually hit the market, and now that we know the salary cap number for 2024, I'm starting to look a little closer at the list of free agents to be. A few names I like below, and I'm curious to hear who you like, and why (bonus points for what you think they'll cost). FS Geno Stone (Spotrac projects $7.2 million per season) Started 11 games for the Ravens last year and led the league in interceptions by a safety with 7. Not gonna blow you away with athletic ability or speed, but is a very smart and heady player. Brandon Beane was just saying at the combine that smarts are the most important trait for them at safety, and Stone has the look of a guy who can be the new Micah Hyde, leading the secondary and patrolling the deep field. Shouldn't break the bank. 26 years old. Best football is ahead of him. RB JK Dobbins (Spotrac projects $2.1 million per season) This would purely be a cheap deal, low on guarantees, to see if Dobbins can rehabilitate his career. A former 2nd round pick who was extremely productive in college, but is coming off of a slew of serious injuries. I wouldn't want to depend on him as "the" answer at RB2, but he'd be a low risk, high reward signing and, if he can stay healthy, could prove to be a dynamic pairing with James Cook. RB Antonio Gibson (Spotrac projects $3.6 million per season) Has averaged over 800 yards rushing and 300 yards receiving per year throughout his career. Has plus receiving ability. 26 years old. In addition to being a good pairing with Cook, Gibson has shown the ability to be a capable RB1 when needed. Despite an already fairly productive career as a receiver, I feel he still has some untapped potential there, given that he was a productive WR in college. WR Darnell Mooney (Spotrac projects $10.4 million per season) Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott spent their recent combine pressers talking about adding explosive plays to the offense. Mooney would help add a speed element that this offense has been sorely lacking. He is just 26 years old and is two seasons removed from a 1,000 yard receiving season. Has deep speed and can take the top off a defense, opening things up for Diggs, Kincaid, and Shakir underneath. **Note I don't want to sign both Dobbins AND Gibson, but I like both guys for different reasons, and would be happy to see either sign with Buffalo.

I get your point, but I don't necessarily agree. I think having one of the top five best head coaches in history and the best quarterback on planet earth can cover up a lot of other warts, and are the factors most responsible for the success the Chiefs have been enjoying. Where I think these types of lists have relevance is in understanding why players would or would not want to come sign with your team in free agency.

I still haven't forgiven you for shooting my attorney in the face.

I'm less surprised when its a Bidwill or Tepper. Notorious cheapskates and jerks. But the storied Hunt family? Wild. Robert Kraft also ranked quite poorly, come to think of it. It's all just fascinating to me.

Apparently, living in Miami and playing for a cool bro does wonders for a player's impressions of the team they play for.

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? 🤓