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I've heard Shady mentioned more than a few times by media guys as one of the more interesting players to talk to. He's not one to give the typical stock answers. He generally has pretty good stuff to say. Based on the quotes I read posted here, seems he's keeping a close eye on the QB competition.

A lot of first round contracts get done during the time off after minicamps and before training camp, sometimes a couple weeks into camp. It used to be teams would wait it out to see what kinds of deals players that were drafted within 2-3 picks of their guy were getting before working out a contract just to see how the money works out. But now with the wage scale, the parameters are already set... but what I'm not sure on is the guaranteed money. Is that something that can still fluctuate depending on where a player was drafted? Or is the guaranteed amount already set as well?

It's shaping up to be a more interesting QB competition than most realize because... A) It's obvious that McDermott is a fan of Peterman, so he'll be interested to see how he's improved and I'm sure he'll give him plenty of reps with the 1's and have him start one or two pre-season games. B) Even though they weren't there at the same time, McCarron has a connection with Daboll and it's been said that McCarron has been able to help teammates understand some of the concepts Daboll will use as some of them are the same/similar to things McCarron did at Alabama. C) The front office and ownership are likely gonna wanna see what Allen can do sooner rather than later. Even if he doesn't win the starting job coming out of pre-season, whoever starts will need to string together some impressive performances because once they start to falter, the calls for Allen to take over will start. In an ideal situation, Allen goes out there and wins the starting job convincingly.

Yeah, like others have said, you just have to hope you pick an area to spectate from where players will come by after practice and sign stuff. Depends on which field they use as well, there are two practice fields at Fisher, one is artificial turf and the other is grass. Keep an eye on the Bills website for the training camp events schedule. They have an autograph tent set up for the kids and a handful of players are scheduled daily to do an autograph session for an hour or two. It's probably a certainty that Allen will be scheduled for the tent at some point since all the rookies have plenty of appearance obligations to meet in their rookie year. Other than that, just try to find out which way guys are headed after practice and see if you can catch them. Few years back I bought a Clemson mini helmet because I wanted Watkins to sign it. Took it with me two years in a row and just missed him both times. On the upside, I have a friend who gets VIP access for camp and that year (2014) they had the "Cold Front" DL and I ended up with a mini helmet signed by Hughes, Mario, Kyle and Dareus, as well as a bunch of other defensive players. Apparently it was their day to sign stuff along the VIP fence after practice. Aaron Williams stayed out there for over an hour, great kid, signed any and everything that came his way. And when Tyrod was there he was often one of the last players to head inside after a practice as he spent plenty of time signing stuff and giving selfies with people. Also... and I know how most on this board feel about EJ but holy crap in a bucket, the dude is GIANT. I'm 6'1" and felt like I may as well have been 3'7" or whatever. Monster of an athlete. Same thing with Mario Williams. Kyle on the other hand, same height as me and aside from being built like a tank, you wonder just how friggin' strong he is to be able to win his fair share of one-on-one's against OL who are 6'6" and 340 lbs. Leverage, technique and fundamentals, Kyle Williams is an expert at these. Plus he puts in 100% every practice. Model player. Easy to see why McDermott has personally confided in him regarding the direction of the team and why he leans on him heavily as a team leader.

Hmm... fair question. I'm not sure. I'm assuming they wrote the rule in a way that basically says no major alterations can be made to the helmet. Teams used to be able to wear throwback uniforms with a different colored helmet but now with the emphasis on head injuries, CTE, etc. the league has a real thorough checklist for equipment managers to maintain. They must feel that using a different colored helmet (even though the alternate helmet would be the exact same model and size that the player already wears, plus they can take the same facemask and put it on the alternate) could strengthen the opportunity for a head injury. "Oh, Player A wore a throwback helmet in week ten, there was a slight chinstrap alteration which caused his concussion, therefore we, the league, are not liable because we told teams at the beginning of the season that they have to use the same helmet for the entire season!" Or some whacky sh!t like that.

Such a bummer to not be able to walk away on your own terms, but at the same time, very fortunate for him that the severity of his injury was discovered before it became way worse. Wood's been one of my favorite Bills since he came in back in '09. Easy to see why teammates gave him the C. When he was a rookie, my cousin worked in the PR department with the Bills. Every year, the rookies are contractually obligated to participate in a number of public events (Play 60, signings, giveaways, etc. etc.) and my cousin said every time Wood had to attend one of these PR things, he was always the last guy to leave, making sure he greeted as many people as possible. And then afterwards, he would take the PR employees out to dinner on him. I'm glad he was part of the drought ending and if he wants to remain close to football, maybe the Bills will find a spot for him. Aside from that, I think he'd probably do well in broadcasting.

I've thought for a while that it'd be great to see them use the 90's uniforms for throwbacks but the NFL has their dumb helmet rules so we probably won't see that happen unless that rule changes. (For those unaware - the NFL dictates that players/teams must use the same helmet all season long, meaning they can't use a different colored helmet. Sure, they could paint the helmets but that's a pretty big undertaking when they're gonna be used in only one game.)

Great writer. Who's left at TBN now, Skurski? I wouldn't be surprised that the only reason Skurski hasn't moved on is because his wife has the morning anchor gig over on Channel 2. Tim was another writer I reached out to when I was gathering info/feedback about starting a Bills-related blog. He responded and said he'd be more than happy to share some advice. I never got back to him because I bailed on the blog idea, but it was nice of him to take a minute to reply to me. And I've heard a lot of great things about the classes he taught. Talented guy. His Twitter behavior is almost all tongue-in-cheek. It was a little irritating at times as he seemed to engage with the trolls and lame-asses more than talking with any fans who had good questions/points. But whatever. I'm sure he'll land somewhere decent. I know guys like Sully and Bucky are more old-school so I wouldn't be surprised if they found another paper to write for. Tim, though, I think he probably follows after Tyler Dunne and ends up with an online outlet. That's just the way things are going. Whoever TBN has in the pipeline to replace these guys are gonna get eaten alive by some of these fans lol.

If you're unaware what a Funko Pop figure is, check out Funko.com to learn more, if you want. If not, here's a short explanation: Pop figures are vinyl collectibles that have been quite popular over the last few years. The company has a license for almost everything so there's something for everyone. For a few years now they have been releasing a yearly series of NFL players. Year after year the usual suspects would be released, Brady, Gronk, Lynch, Rodgers, etc. They made a Pop for Shady while he was in Philly but even though some players have 6 or 8 different figures, the Bills have had exactly zero players made into a Pop figure. Until now! In addition to their regular series of current players as well as their Legends series, this year they will release a Draft Picks series. Josh Allen will be part of this set. Just a fun thing to share for any other Pop collectors or for people who dig collecting Bills stuff. I really think Funko is missing an opportunity to make even more money. If they made a couple players from every team and sold them on the official team shops, they'd clean up. With the Legends series I hope at some point they'll make players like Jimbo, Thurman and Bruce. Either way, it's nice that they finally showed Buffalo some love. I think the NFL Pops usually come out in late summer a few weeks before the season. Just thought it'd be fun to share. Here's an image of a data sheet listing the players for the NFL Pops for 2018:

I learned years ago never to discount the Pats as long as #12 and the Hoodie are still there. There have been seasons where we've looked at their talent on both sides of the ball and said, "Yep, this is the year they finally fizzle out," but they always find a way. Even if Brady and Belechick aren't on the best terms, they still have the same goal and the same insane competitive fire to win, so that's probably what they're gonna do. And to the argument that Brady wouldn't be Brady on any other team... eh, he's a phenomenal player but one reason I've felt he's had such sustained success is how the Pats play offense. They don't subscribe to one certain style, they adjust it weekly depending on who they're facing. Put Brady on a team that sticks to a specific offensive style as opposed to adjusting it week by week, then maybe he doesn't have the career he's had. But he's great, always been great, probably won't see anyone come close to his level in this lifetime.

Most guys keep up with the exercise and eating plan they get from the team trainers, but yes, I'll concede that some players get injured because of their lack of preparation. But, generally, since they changed the number of padded practices that can happen during OTAs, minicamps and training camps, coaches have lamented that because they feel the amount of padded practices isn't adequate to prepare their players for live action.

1. They will win some games. 2. They will lose some games. 3. This board will absolutely implode with "I told you all!/They screwed up again!/Not a franchise guy!/This organization is doomed!/Fire McBeane!/They failed again at picking a QB!" the millisecond Josh Allen has a negative play. I can see it now... Play by Play guy: "And now here's Josh Allen entering the game... and... he sneezed!" Some people on this board: "RRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Can't wait!! But if I'm taking the topic seriously, I'll say... AJ McCarron wins the job out of the gate but Allen will end up the starter sometime before the bye. Second, Tremaine Edmunds wins Defensive Rookie of the Year, heck with it, I'mma shoot for the stars on that one. With McDermott's coaching and Edmunds' incredible athleticism and ever-expanding skill-set, why not, right? If it ain't him, it'll probably be Chubb... actually, unless Chubb gets injured, it's him for DROY. I know I just contradicted myself but I just now remembered that teams have to deal with Von Miller when facing Denver which should open up all kinds of opportunities for Chubb... and dang, how stacked are the edges in the AFC West? Broncos have Miller/Chubb, Chargers have Bosa/Ingram, Raiders have Mack and they drafted Arden Key who can be really good if they can reach him the right way, then the Chiefs have Houston/Ford. Pretty solid. I'm way off track, maybe that's a topic on it's own. Last prediction for the Bills 208 season, ummm.... the defense will finish top 10 in most categories.

This definitely has the possibility of being a media sh*tstorm but that's TO.... I'm in the crowd that agrees he should've been first ballot, the stats are there and when it comes to HoF voting, they emphasize personal achievements above all else. They consider playoffs/championships, but at the end of the day, it's about the singular player. A while back, Peter King wrote on why TO wasn't being voted in... and then proceeded to completely contradict himself by saying Darren Sharper had a HoF career and should be considered for the Hall, and this was at the height of Sharper's hideous legal issues. King's point was that the voting is based on on the field efforts, not how the player was in the locker room or how the player interacted with the media. "On the field efforts" was his defense for saying Sharper was Hall-worthy. But then, those same voters turn around and keep TO out for several years with their justification being his off the field BS... so which is it? They can't have it both ways, and in TO's case, that's what they tried to do, sit there and say, "The stats are there, BUT... remember when he did that one thing?" So if this is TO trying to stick it to them, then by all means, go for it.

It's kind of a double-edged sword, right? Dudes go down with ACL injuries on non-contact plays or without pads all the time, yet they limit padded practices which opens up the margin for injuries caused by tackling, either because guys didn't get enough practice time in pads or the time they did get in pads didn't completely prepare them for real game action. The next CBA renewal is gonna be a disaster.

I'm fairly certain they were fined for this a few seasons back. Same reasons too, running padded practices when it was just supposed to be OTA stuff.

Haha, deja vu from the last 17 seasons, really. It's funny that these media types always think the Bills will end up with 2, 3 or 4 wins when they haven't had that crappy of a season in 8 years now. They've been stuck in mediocrity for ages and you'd think last season would work as a catalyst to them stringing along some winning seasons and I certainly hope that happens but the offense is definitely a big question mark right now. I probably have more confidence in the defense than a lot of people but I think they'll be fine.

LOL, you realize these guys are being asked these things, right? It's not like they're running around going, "Hey everyone listen to how good of a season I plan on having!" See? ^^This person gets it.

I didn't interpret your initial comment as snarky at all. And I can see how you linked it to the Brandon thing with how recent that is and also Whaley, who we know took a little heat for passing around inappropriate emails when he was with the Steelers. There are reports out there of male ESPN employees openly watching porn and other inappropriate videos while at work with like, zero awareness or respect for others in the workplace. Some guys were also reprimanded for keeping a "hot list" consisting of female coworkers. I can buy that, too, considering all the sweeping changes and exits made at ESPN over the last year, year and a half. Hell, Chris Berman recently found himself in hot water for sending a threatening email to Jemele Hill. So, knowing that, it makes the crap I saw about Tim a while back plausible because it seems like when he was there, ESPN had a much different atmosphere. And the social media interactions these guys do, ugh, but some of them are genuinely good guys to talk to. Joe B, Matt Fairburn, Sal C, those guys are generally pretty responsive over social media. For a time, I was considering starting a football blog of my own so I reached out to a number of local sportswriters in Buffalo. Joe B actually offered to meet with me and after a few schedule changes, we sat down and talked football/media/writing for about an hour. I received detailed responses to my questions from Fairburn (extremely nice and exceptionally hardworking cat), Sal C (also incredibly nice and hardworking, really does his homework to make sure what he shares is based in fact), heck, even got a response from Sal M, who reminds me a bit of a grumpy uncle, but honestly, he came off very nice and shared solid advice. People give him crap a lot, but IMO, the guy is nearly 30+ years into his career, I think he's just feeling burnout and at times his writing will reflect that. But some other media personalities choose to act entitled and arrogant and come off as if they're the only link between the fans and the team, which is definitely not the case anymore.

You're right, he started ESPN in '08, left in '11. It's possible they chose not to renew his contract. Either way, all this parading around trying to be some kinda "voice for justice" or whatever is crap. Nobody's perfect, everyone has red flags in some regard. It'd be nice if people just worried about themselves and what they can do to be better person or what they can do to provide more value to society. Pointing out every little thing they find offensive or trying to defend people/cultures that aren't asking you to defend them isn't really helping things in this current social climate. And this is just a general statement, has nothing to do with what Timmy thinks of Vic getting a photo with butthole Biscuit.

Defense doesn't take as long to gel as an offense. How many starters are returning? Hughes, Williams, Lawson, Alexander, Milano, White, Poyer, Hyde... that's eight. Newcomers are Lotulelei, Murphy, Davis and Edmunds. Murphy and Hughes have both been in the top ten in terms of QB pressures the last few seasons. Last season, Bills lacked a presence in the middle that could eat up space/occupy multiple blockers to free up DEs and LBs. Lotulelei is exactly that, a space-eater that has no issue doing the dirty work in the trenches to free up teammates. Edmunds is in a good place having Alexander to work with him. Davis is a veteran who shouldn't have much trouble picking things up and winning the other starting CB slot. Hyde and Poyer should only get better after having a full year of playing together. Sure, LB can be seen as a question mark, as well as nickel CB but overall, I think they'll be alright. I especially think they'll be better up front with a better crop of players to rotate on the DL.

To PromoTheRobot: I do not have a link. I googled around and came up empty. This happened a couple years ago on Twitter. Tim was doing a little Q&A, someone that knows him or knows of the situation was tweeting at him about how he lost his job at ESPN and evidently, it was because of inappropriate comments made around female staff and/or engaging in spreading offensive emails meant as jokes. I think he was technically asked to resign. Either way, Tim kinda scrambled to cover up whatever this dude was saying. I don't recall him ever really denying it and I think it was kept on the low. Tim left ESPN in 2008, I believe, and back then things were still kept quiet when it came to stuff like this. I can't say I have any proof, and I couldn't find any links about it. But you can check my post history if you want. I'm not one to make sh*t up or start rumors. I watched the whole thing unfold on Twitter and the way Tim reacted to it definitely indicated to me that there was some level of truth to what this dude was saying. Tim claimed he had to block him or report him to Twitter to "protect his family" or something but like I said, his reaction to it said he was blindsided by it and that the guy posting about it probably did have some legitimate knowledge of Tim's exit from ESPN. I respect Tim as a writer. I think he puts together some very good pieces. Where I waver on my respect for him is how he engages people on social media. He doesn't pop up on my feed as often anymore because I don't read or interact much with what he tweets but he always seemed to be engaging with trolls and people he surely felt superior to and typically ignored anyone with a decent question or counterargument to one of his articles. Seems like a fair number of sports journalists do this, though. I dunno if it's a ego thing or whatever but it gets old after a while.

Pretty sure Tim lost his job at ESPN for passing around offensive emails and making inappropriate jokes/comments around female coworkers so....

I read about this last week. I wonder if there's still some animosity from certain players stemming from Belichick's decision to sit Malcolm Butler for the Super Bowl. In past years, Brady has always went to every voluntary OTA and always preached about how important it is for him and other players to be there. Then this year he, as well as Gronk, were nowhere near the OTAs this season. And we know Belechick stepped on Brady's toes by telling his personal trainer to take a hike. Are some dents starting to appear in the Iron Hoodie? Haha.

Aren't all draft picks a bet? No matter how good they were in college, there's never a guarantee that they're going to translate that to the NFL (see: Richardson, Trent). I mean, maybe they're gambling a bit more because Allen and Edmunds are both "raw" or whatever but this front office isn't drafting players who aren't ready to come in and work. Half the time when a prospect fizzles out, it's because his work ethic is poop. Allen, Edmunds and the whole 2018 group are workers, which has become a staple of a McBeane prospect/player.

I think he has a legitimate chance to get in someday. As long as he stays healthy and can knock out another couple of seasons like his last two, he'll be within the top 10 in a lot of rushing categories. And I don't think playoffs and championships should weigh too heavily on it. Plenty of guys have made the Hall of Fame without a championship or playoff wins.