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Really great piece. Ty is super talented, always turns out good stuff. The hang up with this article though, is that it's a lot of "he said this, and then they said that" type of stuff. You have guys like Jennings and Finley who are like, "Rodgers was a baby" while you have Ryan Grant saying, "He's a perfectionist and that's part of what makes him great." And now, some of the players mentioned in the story (but who did not contribute a quote) have spoken out. John Kuhn tweeted earlier that he was never aware of his coach missing any meetings for a massage nor was he ever thrown under the bus by his QB. So... while I'm sure there is merit to all the things that were said, like anything, there are multiple sides to each story. Everyone quoted is speaking from their own perspective with their own feelings mixed in with it. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle and I wonder if we'll see some more players who were around during this whole situation speak up. Either way, definitely a good read and it's really hard to dispute that Rodgers doesn't have a super fragile ego. Even before this piece came out, he's always been seen as a guy who doesn't lead well and a guy who seems to cut out anyone who isn't marching to the beat of his drum. McCarthy on the other hand, has gotta be clueless if he thinks it was his schemes that caused all the success. Seems like both guys probably just needed to swallow their pride some, hash it out and move forward. But they're both too stubborn and arrogant to do that and therefore the whole team suffered. Ted Thompson and Mark Murphy sure seem like they could share in the blame as well. Both guys were in authoritative positions but never intervened. I understand most executives wanna let their HC's run the show when it comes to matters directly related to the team but sometimes you gotta go step in. It'll be interesting to see how things play out.

I'd say whoever said this just isn't very informed on what they're doing at OBD. They also aren't considering this season when talking about not having the OL for Allen to have time to allow routes to develop. That was last season, for sure. We're not sure how it's going to pan out this year but if I had to bet, I'd say they're going to improve. They signed two high quality OL starters in Morse and Spain, and Spain will likely help Dawkins get back to form. Nsekhe is probably penciled in on the right side and then you have a bunch of guys competing for the RG spot. That might be the only question mark along the OL right now after earlier this off-season where everyone was like, "Dawkins is about the only OL worth keeping." Beasley helps Allen in that he's such a precise route runner. Brown opens things up down the field. There's clearly a plan. I dunno, maybe this exec thought the Bills had other areas they needed to fix and they didn't so he fails to see a plan. Again, though, I feel like whoever said this just kinda glossed over everything Beane has put together so far this off-season.

They look like an arena league team. The monochrome without a lot of other color accents makes it look pretty bland. And the font they chose for the numbers, yeesh.

IMO, seems like a lot of fancy terminology to say the kid has a flukey throwing motion which could cause him issues down the line. Rivers has a weird throwing motion... Peyton Manning had real choppy mechanics and never threw the tightest spiral. Guys succeed for all kinds of different reasons. Murray seems like he has that stuff that could lead to him being successful. If I'm a GM my main concern with him would be how's he gonna hold up getting knocked around by guys twice his size.

I usually dig seeing new uniforms, but these look like they were made for an arena league team. Yeesh.

Definitely too early to tell but I think (hope) they improve. I think they can. McDermott has gotten quite a bit out of not-so-great rosters but hopefully with a better OL and some better weapons for Allen, they'll take the next step. At best, I'll say 10, *maybe* 11 wins, if the defense can play just as well as last year and if the offense can put up at least 20-24 points a game, I can see 10-11 wins. At worst, 7-9.

I think the logic here with all the one-year deals on veteran OL is that they wanna bring in some prospects (probably mid-late round guys) and have them learn from the vets for a year. We've heard Beane and other GMs/coaches talk about it before: it's just taking longer and longer to coach up college OL to the NFL game based on the offensive systems run in the NCAA. Lot of these OL don't even put their hand in the dirt most of the time. And they just aren't ready to go as soon as teams would like. So, why not sign a buncha vets, let them compete for starting gigs and let your depth/prospects learn the ropes and then compete next year for starting gigs.

Ugh, just the worst. I get that the league has stretched it out like they have in order to keep the game relevant/talked about during the off-season but we don't need 3 months of speculation and scouting reports and yaddah yaddah yah. Teams typically have their boards set by February. They might make a few minor adjustments here and there, based on the Combine and player meetings but for the most part, they're set and ready to roll early in the year. I'd be for it going down in the first weekend of April, bump it up by 3-4 weeks at least. We'll see, I guess. Seems like the league is listening when enough teams speak up on the changes they wanna see.

I'm down for that. It does seem like they'll use some of those extra picks as ammo to move around given how many FA's they've signed. Only a few more weeks until we find out. I hope more coaches/GMs speak up like Harbaugh did about doing the draft sooner because this long-arse wait sucks.

Aiet, my bad. I must've read the wrong report. I thought I had seen he had a few nagging injuries.

I can't see it happening. But another concern of mine on Bosa would be his injury history. Guy is knicked up a lot.

It's... not great. I think it's better than last years hat but not by much. I get what they're trying to do but overall it just looks kinda cheap.

Solid player. Definitely has the characteristics McBeane look for in prospects. But if it came down to him or Oliver, I'm going Oliver simply because you can do more with him and McD loves versatility.

Leave Dougie alone!!!!

I don't think he makes it beyond the top 6 or 7 picks.

McBeane are here through the 2020 season at minimum. The Pegulas really feel like they've found their guys in Beane and McDermott. They have a lot of mutual respect for one another and ownership is fully on board with the vision McBeane has for this team.

You're on the ball as usual, man! If I recall correctly, they didn't visit with Shaq because they thought he'd be long gone by the time they picked.

Generally, their first round pick is going to be a guy they've met and talked with several times. I can't recall for sure but I believe they met with Tre' White at the Senior Bowl, Combine, Pro Day and then had him in for one of their 30 visits. Same with Dawkins that year, I think. In 2018, they had obviously scouted and met with all of the top QBs and came away liking Allen the most. Sometimes a pre-draft visit means they just haven't had the chance to learn more about the player until then. Maybe they missed out on meeting with a player at the Combine or his Pro Day or whatever so the visit gives them a chance to see what a certain player is all about. But in general, if they made a visit, there's a strong likelihood that those 30 players are under serious consideration to be picked. When Whaley was GM almost all of his picks had pre-draft visits. The only one that stood out that didn't visit was Kiko Alonso and that was because they were trying to hide their interest in him. That happens sometimes, too.

Yeah, Ivory is still under contract but I'm assuming they're going to roll with McCoy, Gore and a rookie on the active roster, meaning Ivory might be cut.

He also is a liability in pass protection and fumbled more often that he should've. We've heard Beane discuss how much he respects Frank Gore's approach to the game. I've said this before, they don't sign guys to play here ONLY for their on-field work. Obviously their performance on the field is a major part of the equation but you hear them say it all the time, they wanna make sure the guy is the right fit for the type of culture they have here. Clearly, Frank Gore has been doing it right for the last 14 years to remain a productive player at his age in a position that usually reaches its limit by 30. McBeane want their younger players to see how guys like Gore and McCoy take care of themselves and approach the game. They're going to draft a running back no later than round four (my guess) and they're gonna say, "Alright kiddo, watch and learn from those two."

Obviously it depends on who gets picked ahead of them but just based on the DL talent in this draft, I really don't see how any of those DL wouldn't be the BPA when they're up at #9.

At least adding muscle/strength isn't something he can't achieve. Even if he doesn't retain the starting gig he's great depth. Their secondary remains the strongest unit on the team, probably. Tre' White and Taron Johnson are probably penciled in to start with Kevin Johnson, Levi Wallace, and EJ Gaines vying for the other starting spot.

I guess they really wanna create competition across from Tre'. I thought Levi Wallace played well last season but they must think they can do better given the signings of Kevin Johnson and now Gaines.

Definitely. Totally opposite of when Whaley was here. I remember he was on WGR talking about who they'd met with and who was still coming in. I mean, I guess it's not bad if word leaks out about who you're visiting with but as you said, they don't really gain anything by it so why not just keep it all in-house. Also opposite of Whaley is how often this front office meets with/drafts small school prospects. Whaley was always drafting from Clemson, Bama, etc. because he figured those players were so accustomed to winning that it would carry over to the Bills. And so far McBeane has visited with players from Louisiana Tech, Eastern Michigan, Houston, and Charlotte. If you can play, they'll find you.

I dunno why they need to meet with this guy. Just convert Dawkins to TE, I mean, he's moving inside to G anyway so why not make him super versatile and get him some reps at TE. He did catch a touchdown pass last season. /s