racketmaster

I think the 5th option is more important for qbs as it gives significant savings in the option year. For other positions, the 5th year option price is often pretty high and not much of a savings at all.

Rome had the 4th most targets in the nation last year that helped contribute to his stat line. Malik Washington had similar targets and similar overall stats but probably will be had in the 4th. I understand that Rome has prototypical size and that matters but I don’t really see the quick snapping off of routes and separation that Turner sees in Odunze. I more often than not see non SEC defenders draped all over him when being targeted. And there is nothing special that he does to elude defenders, run away from or break the tackles of defenders once he has the ball in his hands. For me, he does not possess elite traits of a top 10 wr. I would hope the Bills don’t make the mistake of parting with significant assets for Rome. If he fell to 28, I would be fine but still don’t see him as a difference maker or matchup problem. Just a reliable consistent wr.

Too costly for Harrison/Nabers and don’t see those guys as legitimate options. Odunze - as stated just don’t see it but if he fell to the second round I’d be happy to grab him there, which seems very unlikely given the consensus thinking around him. Brian Thomas - immediately jumps off screen with his speed and length. He is smooth and just can run away from SEC defenders. He needs improve in overall routes but he has elite skills that cannot be taught. I completely understand trading up into the low 20s or even mid teens for this guy. At 28, I would not mind Franklin or even Worthy. I like Franklins overall game better but Worthy was a much better route runner than I anticipated. Hill like speed and burst. Just small and not sure ho well he would hold up. Could see Chiefs targeting this guy. Mitchell - hard to figure out as sometimes he looks like Lamb with his ability to separate with elite route running. But he also seems to have some inconsistency with his hands and he gets too squatty when running and I seems him trip over himself a number of time in the open field. I think second round is where I’d feel more comfortable. Leggette - he has AJ Brown like traits but I think less bend in him. He is a little more stiff like DK but I like him in the second and probably like him more than Mitchell. Burton is first round talent but character concerns seem to be pushing him down boards. I also like Polk, Cowing and Malik Washington as options to double dip. Johnny Wilson was also more impressive to me than I would have thought at his height. Maybe could be a Marcus Colston type. Agreed. I went in watching his games thinking too 10 wr and just was very disappointed in what I saw. Maybe some of it has to do with expectations but I just feel like everything about his traits and skills are average. No real deficiencies but nothing that makes him a match up problems either.

Odunze may have the character the Bills look for in players but I just don’t see the elite talent from him. I have to think this guy falls outside the top 10 and don’t see him in the same tier as Nabers and Harrison. He had tons of targets in his offense to rack up stats and high volume does not necessarily equal elite. I struggled to see what elite skills as a wr he brings to the table. Often very little separation from defenders leading to having tons of contested catch opportunities. I just don’t see any elite burst/explosion from this guy and it shows up in his inability to separate in his routes and run away from defenders when he has the ball. His jumping ability in contested catches seems average, certainly nothing special. Hands are good but not great as there were many dropped passes on tape. No real elusiveness when ball in his hands and he had several fumbles. Speed, burst, body control, route running, hands, vertical, elusiveness all seem to be just good but nothing jumps out at me. I would absolutely hate to trade up near top 10 for Rome. A player like Chase took me 2 games to watch and be able to see the elite explosion, speed, body control. Not a big fan of trading up unless for a qb but if so, wr has to clearly portray elite traits to make his ceiling worth it. Should not give up picks just because he has a low floor. I think Thomas and Franklin are actually better players/prospects than Odunze. They both display elite speed on the field and the ability to separate from defenders. I’d much prefer those options and Franklin can probably be had sitting at 28. I really don’t see much of a difference in overall talent between Polk and Odunze. I like Polk a lot as a 2nd or 3rd round player and I would feel the same if Odunze were to be drafted in the early to mid second.

If one wanted to play the game of putting the puzzle pieces together to make a guess at who the Bills might be targeting at WR you could look at what pro day Beane decided to attend on 3/20 this year. Texas, (Worthy and Mitchell) Ohio State (Harrison Jr), USC (Rice) and Alabama (Burton) had pro day on same day this year and Beane elected to attend Alabama pro day. There are a bunch of CBs, LBs, Edge and OT for Alabama that should be first or day two picks. But are we really going to draft a CB or an OT in round 1 where those players could be slotted to go? WR is obvious priority and it would have been easy for Beane just to attend Texas as there are 2 WRs to see and less obvious to figure out which one he prefers. However, he chose not to go to Texas which might point to Bills not targeting either Worthy or Mitchell. It might be nothing but it could be something of a clue as Beane has stated that he likes to see players in person to size them up and see how they interact with coaches and teammates. It is possible that Alabama just had more talent overall to see but I would think Beane would want to be at the Texas pro day if he was targeting Worthy/Mitchell because it would have to be in round 1 or at the top of round 2 and that is a premium asset.

I agree that the Bills would have to do their homework on Burton to figure out whether he would be a character fit. From what I understand he only attended 2 colleges (Georgia and Alabama) but in high school I think he changed his mind on his commitment several times. And yes there is the fan issue and some of the on the field antics. Bills will have all background info on him and talk to coaches, trainers etc so I don’t want to speculate much but his on field talent is worth a deep dive. Maybe it is that he just has that edge and ultra competitive personality where he just needs to control it more. At least it does not appear like much in the way of criminal background so it just might be a situation where he needs to mature a bit and learn to control his emotions on the field a bit.

If mock drafts and current adp is to be believed, i still believe Burton is a first round talent that can be had in the 2nd round. He passes the eye test and has the speed, burst, size, body control, hands you are looking for in a top end wr. He played in the SEC and regularly separated from top end dbs but played with a qb that was limited as a passer. If it were not for “character concerns”, Burton goes in the back end of round 1. The Bills will have to figure out if this guy is a head case or if the concerns have been over exaggerated. If they think he can fit in with the locker room, then I would jump at the chance of getting Burton in the second all day long. Not giving away big time assets to move up in first would allow the Bills to maneuver the board in the second and third and maybe grab a second wr like Polk, Leggett, Persall etc to pair with Burton. There are other positional players like DT Fiske that I would love to see the Bills draft but if they traded up for a wr in the first we are looking at just having day 3 picks left this year.

Here is Diggs stats for 4 years in Buffalo with Allen: Averaged 111 catches and 1343 yards per year. Here is Diggs stats in 5 years with Vikings: Averaged 73 catches and 924 yards per year. Allen will be fine as he has shown that he can elevate wrs like he did with Beasley and Brown. Diggs is a very good wr but he was the clear #1 here and fed the rock a ton. We will add wr from draft and spread ball around without having to worry about force feeding to one player. It was fun while it lasted but if Diggs wanted to move on, then so be it.

I don’t believe it is in a team’s best interest to trade up that far for a wr. It is generally not good business to do so, especially with the wr class having as much talent as there is. I’d much prefer to stand pat at 28 or move up just a few spots to acquire Thomas jr, Mitchell or Legette. Each has the ability to play the outside x position. I also like the idea of double dipping at the wr position and if we could get a Burton in the second (if he checks out mentally) then that would be great. I don’t see Burton lasting into the 3rd round much less the 4th unless there are major character flags (possible) and in that case the Bills would likely have removed him from their board. not having a 3rd hurts and if Bills want Burton, Franklin, Baker, Polk etc they would most likely be forced to use the 2nd round pick or trade back a few spots and get them. If they wait until the 4th, maybe you end up Malik Washington type wr. I really like him a lot but he is so short and will most likely fall down boards. They already have a few veteran wrs and don’t see the need to acquire another unless someone like an Aiyuk becomes available at a reasonable price and we have struck out in the draft at that position. A lot of targets will go to Cook, Kincaid, Samuel Shakir and Knox so a true x wr is the important position to add.

Not sure why anyone would complain about depth signing of a veteran who has been averaging double the amount of tackles that Tim Settle has been making for us.

Would not be opposed to a typical Beane trade up for for Brian Thomas and then find a way to land Malik Washington or Jermaine Burton in 2-3. Malik is on the smaller side but similar to Zay Flowers and poor man’s Tyreek. Thomas would give that size/speed outside wr we need.

Someone else mentioned it but he does seem to have a bit of a Steve smith element to his play. He is clearly talented and I like his overall skill set and that showing up against SEC talent. But he might be a loose cannon and disruptive personality so the Bills will have to determine if he can fit into their culture or not. But from a pure talent perspective, he could be a DJ Moore Doug Baldwin type wr.

We need to restock the wr position with some young, cheap talent. With the position being deep this year, I’m all for using 2 picks on wr in first 3-4 rounds and then taking a third in the later rounds.

I’m not sure he will make it that far but wr class is deep so who knows. If he checks out as someone that can fit in our locker room and culture, he would be a tremendous talent to add. I like him a lot because he appears ready to play and could make an immediate impact which would be worth a 2nd in my mind, especially since it would be a late second round pick.

Sign me up for Jermaine Burton. He looks like a DJ Moore clone and that is good enough for me. Just not sure if he is a complete head case or not with all the teams he has bounced around on but he looks to be a plug and play wr that could make an immediate impact for us next year and you might be able to land him in the second round.

Makes sense, I’m just not sure who we would get that is an improvement at HC. If you could get me McVay or Reid, I’m in but that is not happening. Not sure I would feel anybody else out there is an upgrade, maybe Matt Laflur or Shanahan.

They did have Shula who was a HoF coach and SB winner so I think he got some slack. I don’t completely disagree but again the playoff sample sizes are minuscule and hard to make any definitive predictions. McDermott has not been dreadful in the playoffs with a 5-6 record. John Harbaugh is 12-9 McVay 7-4 Tomlin 8-10 Parcells 11-8 Fans want to call McDermott Marty Schottenheimer but he was 5-13 in post season. I just think we have one of the 5-7 truly good HCs in this league. He is not the best but I think he is close enough. In the end it is a moot point as the Bills are not changing HC this year or likely anytime soon.

Maybe, but it could also be that Kelce has been much better than Diggs in these games and Butker has been better than Bass. Chris Jones has been more impactful than Oliver. There are a lot of players on the field other than just the qbs. Qb and HC are the most important areas of your team but they are not the only things that matter. Allen and McDermott are good enough to get it done but they need some other players to step up in big moments as well. That standard is Mahomes/Reid. Good luck finding better than that combo right now and the fact that we are so close to them speaks to what a good duo we have.

His job as a HC has been to prepare the entire team, not just the defense. In the 13 seconds game he was not the defensive coordinator but ultimately responsible for how we defended the field in the last 13 seconds. That was not great coaching but also excellent play by 3 Hall of Fame players in Mahomes, Kelce and Hill. I mean, they get paid on the other side as well and there was some generational talent there. Does not stopping a high powered offense make Reid or Spags a bad coach, because they could not stop us either in that game. in this last game, I struggle to really pick anything that McDermott did wrong. His defense was decimated by injuries and the Chiefs offense played its best ball. There players caught the ball out players dropped too many. That was probably the difference in the game right there. That is more a player issue rather than a coaching concern. We literally had a mlb who had basically retired come in off the street running the defense and many other injuries and hobbling players. That said it was a 3 point game and we missed a fg to tie it. The margins in this games are slim as it has been in the regular season games between us.

The Eagles and Reid also did not have the perennial powerhouse in their conference. The Patriots were in the AFC and starting their dynasty run. Now we have the Chiefs to contend with. Heck, put the Bills in the NFC the last 7 years and I can pretty much guarantee that we would have had a top seed and SB appearance (maybe not a SB win) but at least be in the big game. The path to the SB matters and has been easier for some. John Harbaugh is an excellent HC and he has gone years in between SB appearances. All you can do is put your team in position to be able to win it and I just don’t ever feel like the Bills go into games where I feel like we will be outclassed at HC. Aside from the lifeless Bengals performance, this team has been very competitive and been just a play or two away from advancing. Hearing the complaints about McDermott and how he is the problem makes one think we are getting blown out in the playoffs year after year. He is a top end HC in this league (not the best) but Allen might not be the best QB either and I still think he is good enough to win it. These are 1 game playoffs and on any given day the weird shaped ball can bounce for or against you.

I believe that they can beat the Chiefs in the playoffs, they just have not done it yet. Allen has been mostly outstanding in the playoffs and especially against the Chiefs. McDermott at the end of regulation in the 13 seconds game but otherwise has been good. He has gone for numerous 4th downs in both games and the team has generally responded. The Chiefs are the gold standard of the NFL and just because we lost 2 very close games in the playoffs against them in the last 3 years does not mean we can’t just as easily make a play at the end of the game, hit a fg etc and win. I’d be more concerned if we were getting manhandled and blown out in these games.

It really is difficult to make any definitive judgements with such a small sample size. Eagles fans ran Reid out of town and he was unable to get over the hump with the Chiefs until he got Mahomes. Now he is considered one of the greatest coaches ever. I hear a lot of people who are certain that McDermott can’t win the SB. Does this rationale also apply to Allen? I mean he has been unable to beat Mahomes in the playoffs so does that mean he cannot be a SB winning qb? There are a myriad of reasons this team has failed to get over the hump, but I don’t think our HC or QB are in anyway holding this team back.

McDermott has a .640 all time win percentage just behind Andy Reid .641. McDermott’s win percentage is better than Tomlin, John Harbaugh, Bill Cower, Sean McVay, Pete Carroll, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcells just to name to a few. He took over a losing culture and we have been a consistent winner since. Lesser coaches have been able to win the Super Bowl so there is no reason to think that he could not win it. Only 1 team wins in the end each year and it takes playing your best at the end of season, a few bounces to go your way and to be relatively healthy. It is not like he has been unable to win in the playoffs as he has essentially been beaten by Andy Reid and the Chiefs most years. So if the Chiefs want to swap Reid for McDermott, sure I’ll do it but that ain’t happening. The chances of actually getting an upgrade to McDermott are slim. The team is much more likely to take a step back rather than finding the coach that can actually outcoach Reid. Sure McDermott can be rigid at times, but more often than not he is able to adapt and correct mistakes. I think he has some degree of self awareness and he has improved as a coach. He was aggressive during the Chiefs game and other than who actually carried the ball on the fake punt, I had no issues with his coaching performance. Essentially, our big time players like Diggs, Oliver and Cook failed to make enough plays and we lost by 3 points having a completely depleted defense on the back 7. It is disappointing losing to the Chiefs again, but realistically most every other team in the league has done so too in the last 5-6 years. I thought the team rallied around McDermott this year and that showed me something. I understand the frustration but it really makes no sense to get rid of the bird in hand that has this team as a contender year in and year out.

This Josh is a turnover machine narrative seems to familiar to the Josh is not accurate debate. Allen has never been a qb that pads or seems overly concerned with stats. If the situation allows for him to throw a Hail Mary at end of half, he does. If he feels the need to force a deep pass on a 3rd and 15, he does. I watch a lot of other qbs “protect” their stats by taking dump offs on 3rd and long and not risking the turnover. But with Allen, he regularly converts on third and longs by taking some risk. The turnover narrative seems blown out of proportion, especially when looking at the numbers the op displayed above.

For a defensive coach, he has been anything but clutch when this team has needed a stop at the end of a game. There have been too many Hail Murray’s, 13 seconds, 12 men etc for a guy that preaches defense and special teams. It is like his brain siezes up during big moments.