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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

Thanks for keeping track of this, Yolo. Past couple years it's been pretty tough to find out who they're visiting with but this year seems a bit more open. Good stuff.

It ain't about his numbers, man. It's about the coaching and the supporting cast he has around him. Plus he sat and learned for a year behind Alex Smith. Then he steps into an offense coached by one of the smartest offensive minds ever, has Pro Bowl players at every skill position and a solid OL. Circumstances matter, that's all I'm saying. The circumstances in Buffalo would likely not have helped him reach the level of success he has in KC.

Yeah, I've wondered that as well. I think that's what compelled me to ask him that. I was like, dude has a Harvard degree, shouldn't he be running a Fortune 500 company or something? His intelligence is what's kept him in this league for so long. Every now and then (early last season) he gets on a hot streak but usually fizzles out. But he keeps getting picked up by team after team because the guy can come in and learn your offense lickety-split and he's a fantastic locker room guy.

I met him after a minicamp practice that was held at the stadium, lot of players came over to say hi and sign autographs after, himself included. I asked him something like, what made you choose football over using your degree? He said, "I'll make more money doing this." And he sure has.

Fair enough. Kid always seems to be around the ball, that's why I think he has the potential to be really good.

If you think Mahomes would've had the same success here as he did in KC you're mistaken. And I compared Milano to Hurst to show that a guy drafted in the fifth had more of an impact than a guy drafted two rounds earlier. Milano also made more game-changing plays which is something you feel their draft picks lack. You came back with "oh, you can't compare a linebacker and a DT" except you didn't point that out in your initial post. You just said their picks haven't been game-changers and I highlighted a draft pick of theirs that has made some game-changing plays in terms of turnovers.

Hindsight is always 20/20. You never know how a pick is going to work out. The consensus on Mahomes is pretty much the same across the board: if he hadn't landed in KC with Reid and that supporting cast he's probably nowhere near the QB he's become. And look at the other players you mentioned, they're all playing with franchise QBs, except maybe Kittle because he did what he did last year without Garoppolo. Kamara has Drew Brees and Sean Payton, one of the most creative offensive minds ever, JuJu has Ben and now he'll be "the guy" without AB there, Galladay has Stafford and Kupp has Goff. Maurice Hurst was diagnosed with a heart condition at the combine last year and fell down a lot of boards. He racked up 30 tackles and 4 sacks last year, I wouldn't exactly call that game changing. Milano, drafted two rounds later than Hurst, had 78 tackles, 13.5 of them for loss, forced a fumble, recovered three fumbles and had three interceptions. That's six separate times he got the ball back for the offense. I'd say that can be game-changing. It's easy to sit back and say "oh they missed out on that guy!" once that guy has an outstanding season. But guess what? 31 other teams missed out on that guy as well. It's just how it goes.

There's a reason they've signed so many OL this off-season. They want guys with experience because almost all of the college OL players coming out have little to no experience in putting their hand in the dirt. Beane talked about that last year during a pre-season game, how it's taking a lot longer to coach these guys up once they enter the league. I'm not saying that this would deter them from ever drafting OL in the first few rounds (they already have with Dawkins) but I think for this season they're going to roll with more experienced players. And that's good for Allen, hopefully they can settle their starting five early in camp and let them come together and take care of things up front and hopefully give Allen a little less to worry about. And on Dawkins... I'll say what I said about Edmunds when people keep thinking he should move outside. They haven't spent two seasons coaching Dawkins up to be their LT just to move him inside. Why would they replace him with an inexperienced rookie when they've already got two full seasons of working with Dawkins? Unless the OL prospect is some kind of generational/can't miss kind of talent, they're leaving Dawkins where he's at.

I think he's a pretty good player. Never really understood why so many fans feel like he should've been/should be cut. He's dealt with some tough injuries but he's effective when he's healthy. They aren't necessarily stacked at DE so it never made sense to me to consider cutting Murphy. Why weaken the position group even further? Hughes is in his last year, Lawson could be in his last year depending on what they do, behind those guys they have who, Eddie Yarbs and Mike Love? Just makes no sense to cut Murphy when you don't have a viable starter on the roster to replace him. He's on this team for the foreseeable future. And, I feel like some people forget this, but this front office doesn't sign players solely on their on-field performance. I'm certain their on-field performance is probably 75-80% of the equation but they have certain character traits they want in their players. Murphy fits what they look for in character to a T, he's a team-first guy, extremely hard worker, professional, veteran experience and he'll probably assume some leadership this season in his second year here. At the end of the day, they aren't going to keep you on because you're a hard worker or a good dude if you aren't producing on the field, I realize that, but those traits do matter to McBeane. Just taking a look at the DL as it is now is the main reason why I think they're taking the best available DE/DT on the board in the first round. Get a guy who can work up and down the line and you'll gain some flexibility in what you can do with guys like Murphy and Hughes. This is also why I feel like Ed Oliver is pretty high on their board. Guy can play inside and outside. I also think Christian Wilkins makes a lot of sense given his ability and especially his character. DL is huge in McDermott's defense and I just can't see any way they don't take one of these stud DL players that are available this year.

McDermott also played a total of like 30 snaps last year, small sample size to grade on.

I thought Victor Bolden was 13 right now... unless they cut him and I missed it.

Haha, yeah I was 7 or 8 years old when I was on the Bengals (and then Raiders) bandwagon. Once 51-3 happened my family wouldn't let me live it down and at that point the Bills were simply the most entertaining team in the league so it was a lot of fun to switch over.

Born and raised in WNY, whole family was into the Bills. As a kid, I picked teams with fun colors (at least to me) so I liked the Bengals for a minute and was really bummed when they lost in SB XXIV, and then some kids in school started liking the Raiders so I went that route until 51-3 and after that it was Bills all the way.

Nope. I typically wear a Bills hat everyday. I don't have much in the way of shirts/jerseys/hoodies, etc. so hats are my thing.

I said this in a different thread last week but I just can't see them moving Edmunds out of the MLB spot. They didn't spend an entire season coaching him up, teaching him that role and making him the "QB of the defense" just to move him outside the following year. He made steady improvements as the season went on and I don't think they're gonna mess with that, regardless if White is on the board at 9 or not.

He made his fair share of "wow" plays this year. Plays that make you sit up and take notice. One of my favorite plays of his that gave me a lot of hope for his future was the 75-yard TD toss to Foster vs. Jacksonville. Kid hung in the pocket until the last possible second and let it fly. I still don't know how he get that throw off with the pocket collapsing the way it was. When I saw that play live I was like, "Doh, sack" and then you see the ball fly out of there and hit Foster perfectly in stride and he takes it in for six. Thing of beauty. Allen has a lot of positive things going for him, if he keeps putting in the work I think he's gonna be a good one. Even if we gotta live with a few erratic throws or "what the hell?" kinda plays from him, I'm all in.

Jack Nicholson's character in The Departed?? He was supposedly loosely based on Whitey Bulger.

I hear what you're saying but DT is a major part of McDermott's defense. They struggled against the run and struggled to generate pressure up the middle last year and that was with Kyle still playing. We know Lotulelei is there to free up the LBs, Jordan Phillips made a couple of nice plays last year and hopefully he'll keep that up. Harrison Phillips seems like he's still acclimating to the game. Beyond those three there's Kyle Peko and Robert Thomas, practice squad/depth guys. I understand only Croom and Kroft are the only TEs but you can find a decent TE in a later round. There are some great DL prospects at the top of this draft and I just can't see them passing on one of those guys in favor of a TE.

There will be more highly valued players on the board at 9. Hockenson seems like he's going to be a good one but he won't be BPA if the Bills stay at 9.

It's good stuff. It's nice to hear from players how respected and taken care of they feel being on this team. Beane said it yesterday during the presser, it's a business first but that doesn't mean business has to be conducted in a cold manner. Even if they have to cut a guy, it sounds like both Beane and McDermott have some parting words for the guys on their way out. It's good not to burn bridges like that and those type of things get talked about in league circles. "Yeah, Buffalo may not have a lot to do but that franchise will really take care of you and the fans will love you." And I had a thought yesterday about this whole "Buffalo is an undesirable FA destination" stuff. Yeah, it's true, there isn't a crazy amount of things to do up here and it's a smaller city but that's what makes the Bills so special to us. There isn't a whole lot here BUT the Bills, so that makes them the "it" thing of the region. No other teams to draw attention away (well, Sabres but this season...yeesh) so the focus is all on them. You got kids waiting at the airport with a bucket of wings to welcome these guys. How cool is that? So yeah, you can go to cities where the nightlife is better, the weather is better, more stuff to do, etc. but you come to Buffalo and you're gonna be celebrated by one of the best fanbases in sports. I love that a lot of players that play here talk about how New Era Stadium is one of the only places in the NFL that feels like a college atmosphere. And I was also glad to see Beane say he was straight up pissed off at the crap being slung around about this area. Good to see him just take a stand instead of dance around the topic and give a stock answer.

Probably because of their dirt/poop/tangerine color scheme.

He's probably the one guy at the table that has to wait for his order after everyone already gets theirs. That's always a weird feeling, server comes out, tray full of plates, "OK, here's the fish...and the chicken...and the steak....and for you...another five minute wait because our cook dropped your hamburger under the dishwasher and we're just trying to clean that off for you. Enjoy!"

Evans was a fun guy to watch. Could zip past just about anyone but we'll never know his full potential considering he played with a mishmash of Drew Bledsoe, JP Losman, Kelly Holcomb, Trent Edwards, etc. I really like what they did with their WR group this week. Foster and Brown can fly and take the top off a defense, Zay seemed to do well working on intermediate crossers last season and Beasley will open things up underneath. It's all on Daboll to find the best ways to utilize these guys but at least there's something to work with now as opposed to last season where they were just scrambling for anyone to get open. Having a variety of different skill sets gives them room to open the playbook more. It's obviously that springtime optimism creeping in but I'm excited for 2019.

Wat?! I dunno who this guy is therefore they should not sign him! Frickin' Beane, man, just going out there and looking at the nobodies while there are Hall of Fame free agents just sittin' on the couch waiting for his call. This front office... I tell ya...