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He didn't start playing football until his sophomore or junior year of high school so he wasn't on any major college recruiter's radar. UB and maybe one or two other schools were the only ones to offer him coming out of high school. I believe he chose UB because they were Division I.

I read some of those "anonymous scout" quotes that fly around during draft time and the one knock on him that seemed to pop up fairly consistently was the fact that a lot of scouts weren't sure what they'd do with him as they feel he has limitations along the DL. They weren't sure what spot on the line would suit him best and some felt he looked more like a guard than a DT, one quote even said they'd consider flipping him to OL. With that in mind, I assume most teams viewed him as a prospect full of potential but not one that would be able to contribute from an early standpoint. Guys with potential that need fine-tuning and some moderate development usually end up as mid-round picks.

B-b-b-b-bingo!

I'mma call him Darkwa Duck if he gets signed. Let's get dangerous.

Whoops! Good catch. I'll fix that.

Heading into 2018 training camp, I decided to take a look at the Bills roster to see how the current group came together. Total Overall Players as of 7/26: 89 Total Overall Draft Picks: 44 Total Bills Draft Picks: 19 Players Acquired Via Trade: 3 -J. Hughes (2013), L. McCoy (2015), K. Benjamin (2017) Total Overall Undrafted Players: 45 (This includes players added via waivers or signed from practice squads) Total Undrafted Players Originally Signed by Bills: 19 Total Players Who Began Career w/Bills (i.e. "Homegrown Talent"): 38 Total Players Who Began Career w/Different Team: 51 Total 1st Round Picks: 8 (* = drafted by Bills) -K. Benjamin, J. Allen*, V. Davis, T. White*, T. Edmunds*, J. Hughes, S. Lawson*, S. Lotulelei Total 2nd Round Picks: 5 -Z. Jones*, L. McCoy, V. Ducasse, D. Dawkins*, T. Murphy Total 3rd Round Picks: 5 -P. Gaines, O. Odighizuwa, J. Miller*, A. Washington*, H. Phillips* Total 4th Round Picks: 5 -T. Johnson*, T. Jones, R. Bodine, L. Thomas, K. Robinson Total 5th Round Picks: 10 -N. Peterman*, A. McCarron, J. Kerley, M. Hyde, S. Neal*, M. Milano*, M. Newhouse, W. Teller*, J. Mills, K. Williams* Total 6th Round Picks: 6 -R. McCloud*, K. Clay, T. Vallejo*, C. McDermott, N. O'Leary*, C. Clay Total 7th Round Picks: 4 -M. Dupre, J. Poyer, M. Murphy, A. Proehl* Total Undrafted Players: 45 -S. Hauschka, C. Phillips*, C. Schmidt, C. Carter, R. Foster*, T. Davis*, A. Holmes, Q. Bray, R. Bush, L. Pitts, D. Marlowe, C. Ivory, K. Ford*, K. McCray, L. McCray, T. Cadet, B. Borders*, P. DiMarco, M. Boesen*, D. Lacey, R. Carter*, Z. Olstead*, R. Humber, J. Stanford, C. Thompson*, X. Woodson-Luster, E. Yarbrough, M. Love*, L. Alexander, A. Redmond, J. James, I. Boettger*, G. de Beer*, R. Ferguson*, R. Groy, D. Wesley, M. Porter*, J. Croom*, R. Streater, K. Towbridge*, K. Lee, B. Reilly*, R. Hatley, T. Fede, M. Lewis*

Man, good stuff as usual, sir. The article in the OP feels like a hot take for the sake of a hot take. I'll admit, I was weary about Allen. But out of all the QBs that came out this year, he's the one with the best set of natural skills. Anyone see that Sport Science show on him? Here's the link for those that haven't seen it, it provides some more empirical evidence. The dude has a lightning-fast release to go with the rocket attached to his right shoulder. Watching him at Wyoming I got the feeling that the kid was doing everything he possibly could to win games. If that meant he had to sacrifice sound mechanics/footwork or deviate from the play-call and improvise, then so be it, that's what he was going to do in order to win. And we know he wasn't surrounded by a whole lot of talent there. What gives me hope is what Beane recently said about seeing him at the Senior Bowl. Beane had seen him live a couple of times at Wyoming and noted that his footwork wasn't great and that affected his accuracy. But then, when he saw him at the Senior Bowl, Beane saw improved footwork, which remained consistent throughout the practices and the game. That's a huge plus for Allen. It's difficult to retrain your body to do things a certain way that's different from what's already committed to muscle memory for all the years he'd been playing QB. To see that Allen was able to rearrange parts of his mechanics and not revert back to his previous methods is a positive sign. It shows that he has the ability to not only make corrections, but to make those corrections stick. If they can continue to build him up in such a way, I feel like he has a pretty good shot to be a quality starter.

You bite your tongue, sir!! I will NOT tolerate any negativity toward the masterpiece that is Norbit. Good day!

To your point of the Bills possibly calling around to smear the name of Good Saint Doug... yeah, I can see that. Probably more like leaking stuff out "anonymously" and whatnot. He was a rookie HC in 2013, BTW, went 6-10 that year. And it was amusing to me that Jacksonville hired him as their OL coach because his OL in Buffalo had issues during his time here. He ran zone stuff with mammoth lineman (and he can't always whine that Whaley didn't provide him with the kinds of players he wanted because in 2014 Whaley drafted Kouandjio, Richardson and Henderson, all monster-sized OL, and none of them really worked out in Buffalo. I felt like Henderson had a chance to become a full-time starter had he not been sidelined with his illness and subsequent suspension. He's currently in Houston where he's penciled in as their starting RT right now, Kouandjio is a backup in Denver and Richardson is out of the league) and when certain OL (Richardson) weren't performing up to par, he wouldn't budge on changing the line-up. He let Richardson take his lumps for four or five straight weeks until finally putting Kraig Urbik back in at LG, where he was the starter for the previous few seasons and had outplayed Richardson all during pre-season but Marrone wanted to roll with Richardson because it was one of "his guys." As for Lynch, dude was straight up never really happy with playing in Buffalo. When he was drafted, he admitted he had no idea where Buffalo was and just the type of cat he is, he was going to struggle off the field no matter where he was drafted unless he was drafted by a west coast or California team. He's a bit of an odd duck, as we've seen, doesn't trust many people, doesn't like speaking to the media, etc. etc. I remember one of his first post-game interviews here and the dude just looked so uncomfortable, and that was a game they won where he had like a 60 yard TD run. Aside from the hit-and-run and the gun charges, I also remember him causing some kinda ruckus at an Applebee's, where he grabbed some lady's purse or grabbed money out of it. He would also come into bars/restaurants in the area with his own liquor and just order plain soda so he could mix. Just knucklehead stuff. I ran into him at the Hamburg Walmart in 2009, the week after Dick Jauron was let go and I asked him what he felt about the coaching change, he said hopefully it's for the best and that I should be a Raiders fan anyway, lol. He then told me that Poz (Paul Posluszny) and Kyle were also somewhere in the store but I didn't see them. At the time I was working for a group home and he gave an autograph to one of my guys which was cool because we didn't ask for one, he actually offered it, saying something, "Yo man, if you got a pen or something, I'd be happy to sign somethin' for your guy here." Made that guys whole year, haha, that's all we heard at the group home for the next few weeks was, "Have you guys seen my Marshawn Lynch autograph?" and then he'd go into his room, strap on his full-size replica Bills helmet and proudly show off the autograph. He'd keep the helmet on all during Bills games too. Bah, I'm rambling, either way, I think Lynch just had a rough go while he was here. Did he do himself any favors? Not really. But after all the incidents that went down, it was inevitable that he was going to be traded or cut to provide the ol' "fresh start somewhere else" for him. My bad on the wall of text.

Marrone had an amendment put in his contract once RCW passed away because he wanted to have his own "out" in case new ownership wanted to come in and clean house. He's tried to make himself look like a martyr in saying that the reason he walked was because he demanded raises for everyone on his staff, which was denied. It's also been rumored that he asked for a contract extension, which was also denied. The Pegulas planned on keeping him but didn't have any plans to mess with his current contract or any of his assistant's current contracts. At the time he quit, he had his agent in his ear telling him he was "guaranteed" the Jets HC job. But then he went to interview with them and evidently gave a horrible interview. Rumors I read were that when asked why he left the Bills, he talked in circles and really just didn't have a convincing reason. On top of that, the dude is straight up moody as hell and players would say they'd come off a win and come back to practice the next week and Marrone would be sulking around as if they just got blown out 58-3. Teams usually adapt/adopt the attitude/persona of their leadership and if the leadership is kickin' rocks all day because he couldn't handle a press conference then it's not gonna be a really conducive work environment. I'll give him some credit for the 9-7 2014 season but I'll give more credit to Jim Schwartz and that defense. And many of the veteran players were over his "old school" style from pretty early on. The dude wanted to run the show like a college program but that stuff doesn't fly with guys who've been around the league for a while. On top of that, he was rigid to his game plans/schemes and either refused to adjust or just couldn't. Someone else mentioned how his boss is now Coughlin and that Marrone should be careful but Coughlin is one of Marrone's idols. I'm sure he's more than happy to let Coughlin run the personnel and follow whatever instruction he wants. Either way, to me, the guy is always gonna be an L-7 Weenie.

I remember an article posted on the Bills website before the 2014 season. It was all about EJ and his preparation for the upcoming season. It had some interesting bits about his upbringing, though. During middle and high school, he struggled with academics to the point of where he worked with a tutor. Not to pick on the guy, but when I read that, it definitely lended validity to the fact that he always had trouble processing things after the snap. And the way he'd compensate for that would be to try and take it upon himself to be the only player he trusted on the field. Explains his hesitancy to throw it down field and give his receivers a chance. Doesn't help that Marrone and Hackett were coaching him to take off and run anytime his first read wasn't there. But clearly, any human being who's worked their entire life for a certain position is going to feel down when they're being demoted. He handled it professionally and continued on as a supportive teammate for the rest of his time here, which is all you can ask for. Dude just can't seem to flip the switch from "thinking too much" to "just go out and play."

I'm sure there are a number of reasons for his lack of productivity... here are a couple: -Injuries. He's appeared in only 14 games over the last two seasons. -He's not a very versatile back. He's not gonna run away from anyone and he's almost strictly a between the tackles guy. -Seattle's offensive line. Whether it's the type of scheme they run, the OL coach, how they coordinate the run game... or, the players they have starting on the OL just aren't very good, which is the most likely scenario. Russell Wilson has only enjoyed one season (his rookie year) where he hasn't been sacked 40+ times. In his six seasons, he averages 41.3 sacks per season. I'm not sure where that ranks in the league but if I had to guess I'd say "pretty close to last." Also, Tom Cable as their OL coach didn't do them many favors, he used schemes that really didn't suit his players. After they lost Lynch, Seattle's running game has been less than stellar and has featured a rotating cast of different backs. Thomas Rawls was really good for them in 2015, but injuries led to him getting cut. They had Christine Michael on two different occasions and he could never get going. They rolled with CJ Prosise and Chris Carson last season, both went on IR before like, week six. So, over the last couple of seasons, it's pretty evident that Seattle just hasn't had a very good ground game. They drafted Rashaad Penny and expect both Carson and Prosise to be 100% for 2018 so they may improve this year. I'm not endorsing they go out and sign Lacy. My train of thought is that if things get really f'd with the RB group then Lacy, to me, would be a guy worth calling in for a tryout because it's clear that McBeane like having a bigger, north-south/power runner on their roster. With all that said... he won't be a member of the Buffalo Bills, like.... ever.

While I think he'd be worth a look if they had to scramble for someone, I don't think he's a McDermott type of guy. He's stated before that the main reason he plays is so he can provide for his family. Nothing wrong with that, really, but McDermott wants guys who play for more than just the paycheck. Weight-wise, I believe when he was in Seattle they loaded his contract with incentives if he was able to keep his weight at or under a certain number. And as far as I know, he worked pretty hard with their trainers to get to the weight they wanted him at and was able to maintain it for the season or two he was there. I remember his rookie year when he was solid, I busted open a box of cards and got an autographed Lacy rookie card. At that time, his signed RC's were going for $50-$60 on eBay but I was like, meh, I like this one, I'll hang onto it... now it probably would get $10 tops haha.

That's something I always found kinda baffling... keeping a guy on the bench because of his "positional versatility" (which allows them to dress one or two less OL than normal and use those slots somewhere else) even when he's a better option than the guy starting. That's why I think if Groy edges Bodine for the starting center job, they can still use him as a backup at guard in case of injury, just slide him right or left and have Bodine take over at C. Who remembers 2014 when Marrone insisted on starting Cyril Richardson over Kraig Urbik because he felt it was more important for Urbik to serve as the backup OL who could cover either guard spot? That was a debacle, week after week watching Richardson getting his lunch eaten, sometimes not even getting a hand on his guy, and Kyle Orton dropping to the turf like a sack of potatoes before a defender could hit him. It was like halfway through the season before Marrone finally started Urbik over Richardson... and if anyone is wondering (and I know you're all dying to know) Richardson was cut and then on the practice squad for 2015, and then cut completely in 2016. Chicago picked him up but he didn't make it past the practice squad. Funny how things sometimes work out like that. Richardson was an All-American at Baylor and many draft analysts felt he was one of the better OG options in the 2014 draft. To me, the kid just looked too slow to hang in the NFL. Beyond that, I had heard he had a lot of difficulty with the mental side of the game once he got to the NFL. If they roll with Groy at C, they'll dress Bodine as the backup and if either the RG or LG goes down with an injury, Groy will slide over whichever way and Bodine will take over at center. Still getting Groy's positional versatility while not having to dress an extra OL.

We know they really value Groy's versatility and they can still utilize that even if he out-plays Bodine and wins the job at center. If one of the OG's gets hurt, Groy slides into either spot and Bodine comes in at center. This way they're still able to use Groy's versatility and keep themselves from having to dress an additional backup OL for games. I'm with everyone else that's mentioned that they hope Wyatt Teller turns into a late-round steal but if I had to guess right now, I'd bet that he finds himself on the inactive list for most of, if not the entire season. Of course, that's only if the injury bug doesn't decimate the OL. I think the starting 5 will be, Dawkins-Ducasse-Groy-Miller-Mills with Bodine the backup C (and Groy still the backup OG who would shift right or left in case of an injury) and probably Marshall Newhouse as the backup swing tackle. Saw someone mention Andy Levitre and it reminded me of how the old BBMB lost their marbles when the Bills didn't re-sign him. His first year in ATL, he was rough, he's since gotten a lot better but one thing some people forget about ol' Chan Gailey and his Island of Misfit Offensive Players is that one thing Ryan Fitzpatrick does really well is unload the ball quickly. And Gailey ran a west-coast style offense with a lot of short drops and short routes. Fitz getting rid of it so quickly really made that OL in front of him look better than they really were. This is why a team like the Patriots gets away with having a bunch of late-round or undrafted guys starting on their OL. Brady can get rid of it in a snap. Well, there was the 2014 & 2015 seasons (I think?) where NE's OL was allowing Timmy to get hit constantly, which prompted old Bellychecks to call up Dante Scarnecchia who had retired after the 2013 season. Either way, a QB that can get rid of it quick can mask a shaky OL.

That dude who left WGR because the Bills took Allen is kind of a dingbat. I mean, unless he had another job lined up and was planning to leave anyway, quitting your job based on something a sports team did is pretty lame. I don't listen to WGR too much anymore but when I did I would occasionally catch Howard and Jeremy. I really don't mind Howard. Jeremy on the other hand, I dunno, face to face he's probably alright but on the air he seems like he has quite a bit of arrogance. He'd like you to believe he's some kind of expert in fact-based opinions but he's not. Him and the afternoon guys are pretty abysmal at interacting with callers. Surely, they get tired of calls from the not-so-intelligent fans but if any of those guys (sans Howard) gets a caller who has a legitimate opposing opinion to theirs, they either backpedal on what they said, try to tell the caller that they're misinterpreting what they said, or they just listen and go, "Yeah, uh huh, ok, well thanks for calling." Sal C works his a$$ off over there and is easily the best guy to listen to.

Right? People that have formed opinions and found their "facts" on Twitter played a huge role in that orange crap-sack ending up in the White House. It's just crazy to see how controlling the mob mentality can become.

I don't really have much to say regarding the actual allegations. What's nearly just as alarming as these accusations is how quickly and easily so many people instantly believe it. Just quickly browsing through the comments on Shady's IG page was ridiculous. There are people threatening him, telling him they hope he dies, hope he gets robbed, loses all his money, has his kid taken away, etc. etc. and all of this without zero evidence that any of this stuff actually took place. There aren't any witnesses to corroborate any of these allegations, there have been no confirmed facts, really no nothing yet the pitchforks are out and a whole sh*tload of people automatically buy what they see/hear and then social media provides a way for them to personally go after someone. It's mind-blowing and disgusting. I feel like anyone associated with even like, a D-list celebrity or anyone remotely famous could go on one of their social media outlets and say, "So the other day, I invented the cure for cancer, visited a few billion galaxies, altered reality, went back in time and slapped Abe Lincoln for the hell of it, had a vacation on Uranus and then made a helicopter magically appear from my left nostril." And the comment section would be plastered with crap like, "Yup, for sure, this is definitely true. Why would this guy lie? I have zero proof, evidence or anything whatsoever to verify this story but I KNOW it's true, I just know it, and if you question me, or this guy, then YOU are a lying, racist, sexist, abusive piece of crap and you should be locked up in jail for life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111" It's freaking insane. And I know that's just the way of things these days. Even reputable media sources have altered their methods over the last few years from working to report truthful, verified, factual news to working on being the first outlet to slap a link on Twitter or Facebook. It's not about who's got the real story, it's all about who's first. F*ckin' sucks.

I'm trying to make sense of it. Talley was a 2nd round pick and after a slow start to his career, he was a key part of the defense during the Super Bowl runs in the 90s. Made two Pro Bowls and was named first or second team All-Pro by several national sporting publications. Mark Kelso was a 10th round pick of the Eagles in '85, so, I'd say his career was moderately successful as he was likely seen as a guy lucky to make a practice squad. Played in 99 games and recorded 30 career interceptions. Also wore the famous double-bubble helmet while with the Bills. Jeff Wright was taken in the 8th round of the '88 draft. Averaged 4.5 sacks a year as part of the DL rotation. Primarily played nose tackle so, to average 4.5 sacks a year from that spot isn't too bad. And again, super late round pick and we all know late round picks that end up being productive players (or starters, and Wright started 67 out of 98 career games, excluding playoffs, in which he appeared in 16 of those) aren't too common so... wouldn't say he's anywhere near deserving to be on the list of All-Time Not Good Bills Players. Michael Huff, a safety picked by the Raiders one slot before Whitner, also had a very underwhelming career. And he was the consensus top-ranked safety that year, seen as one of the best defensive prospects available and generally looked at as a "can't miss" kinda player. Just looked at the 2006 draft and not one safety from that class had a standout career. In fact, 2006 overall was a pretty rough year for picks. The best players from that entire group: Mario Williams (for a few seasons of his career, including 2014 w/Bills), D'Brickashaw Ferguson, AJ Hawk (for a first round pick his career kinda screams 2nd/3rd round player), Vernon Davis, Haloti Ngata, and Nick Mangold. Those were the first round guys that, IMO, had first-round careers. Andrew Whitworth came out of that draft in round two, he's had a solid career. Jahri Evans was a fourth round guy who, for a time, was one of the top OGs in the league. Stephen Gostkowski was another fourth rounder who may actually go down as the best all-time Patrtiots kicker, yes, even over Vinatieri as Gostkowski's Pats' career is longer than his. Brandon Marshall and Elvis Dumervil were also fourth round choices from that class that have done well. And with the first pick in the fifth round, pick 134 overall, the Buffalo Bills select... Kyle Williams, defensive tackle, Louisiana State. While he's probably not a Hall of Famer, he's most certainly a Bills Wall of Famer and he's had a stellar career for a dude who was seen as a "high motor, good effort guy but ultimately too small to be anything more than a backup at the next level" (that kinda stuff was all over his scouting reports) kinda player. Drafted right after him was Rob Ninkovich, and while he was a douchey Pats player, he had a good career. After that, there are a few other players (like Delanie Walker) that had/are still having decent careers. And wow, I didn't realize how far off track I got but yeah, the '06 draft will not go down as a very good one. Donte Whitner... well, if he had been taken where he was projected (late first round) then there probably isn't too much to complain about. But, he went 8th overall in 2006 and while he put together an 11-year career (starting 152 out of 157 games), made two Pro Bowls later in his career (one with the 49ers in 2012, the other with the Browns in 2014), he only had 11 career interceptions. I always felt like the guy was way too focused on trying to land the big hit rather than playing the ball properly. An 11-year run with two Pro Bowls in the NFL ain't bad but you probably expect more from the #8 overall pick in 2006. Underwhelming as he was, still not one of the worst Bills ever. The OP said s/he named these players under the perspective of "not living up to their potential" which you can maybe apply to Whitner but it's not his fault he was over-drafted. Talley, for a second-round guy, had a solid career. Wright and Kelso, as late round picks, both had fairly solid careers so... I dunno, maybe the OP just doesn't like those guys. Maybe Donte Whitner stole his lunch money one time, I dunno.

Rams over Steelers

Can't argue guys like Maybin, Mike Williams, etc. Based on their hype and draft slot, they were pretty rough. I'm surprised most have already forgotten about Cyril Richardson. He was drafted as part of Marrone's OL overhaul to switch from guys that could move around to guys that were all 6'5" or more and tipped the scales at 345 lbs. Richardson was infuriating as he started, what, like 8 games in 2014 while a much more competent guard (Kraig Urbik) was on the sidelines. Richardson was just way to slow to keep up with NFL D-linemen. You could also throw Cyrus Kouandjio in there, he came in the same class as Richardson (as did Seantrel Henderson) and never lived up to the 2nd round pick used on him. Unlike Richardson, he actually did have a couple of games where he played half-way decent and he's still in the league (backup OL in Denver) whereas Richardson... I think he was with Houston for a hot minute (don't quote me) but his career is already done.

Pretty solid analysis. It seemed like there wasn't much concern whenever they needed Dawkins to step in. He's as advertised so far, strong in the run game, very good once he gets locked on, struggles with speed and finesse, which are things a lot of OL struggle with (see: Mills, Jordan). Kid definitely seems to have his head on straight and appears to be a "process" player.

Fair question. Turns out the Pats haven't worn the white helmets in a while due to the rule change in 2013. Here's an article from March 2017 about throwbacks and whatnot. Apparently the Eagles proposed a rule change to allow different colored helmets during the season. I'm not sure what came of that proposal but I assume it got shot down since we haven't seen any teams don their throwbacks with a different colored helmet.

In addition to a high work ethic, seems clear McBeane want players who are selfless, team-first guys who prioritize winning above personal achievements.

I kinda dig the Phins throwbacks and think they should revert back to those. The color tones on the throwbacks are better than the lighter tones on their current uniforms. Chargers throwbacks are always sweet. Pats all red throwbacks aren't bad. Same for the Falcons. Would definitely like to see Buffalo put together 90s era throwbacks but the NFL has that (*^*&%^$^#rule that doesn't allow teams to use more than one helmet per season.