BullBuchanan

Any scenario that requires a Bills opponent to throw up all over themselves in the most critical moment for us to win isn't really based in reality. As a drought survivor that played that game weekly for the better part of 20 years, I've come to grips with that not being the way Super Bowls are won. We've lost the thread quite a bit ont his one though. I stand by my assertion that Groot is not a difference maker at all, and paying him difference maker money to stay puts our team further away from being a contender than had we let him walk away for nothing. Love the player, hate the contract. I'll be more than happy to eat a rack of humble pie if we somehow have a dominant d-line next year spearheaded by Groot and Joey Bosa, but it would be one of the most shocking things I could see happening to the roster. I think they'll be a usual B to B+ that looks great while the leaves are changing and looks lost and overmatched when the snow is on the ground.

Good for him. Perfect fit for them honestly. Adding Diggs will provide Maye with the ability to take the next step (if he has it in him). They probably won't be playoff contenders any time soon, so the pressure on Diggs should be low. Wouldn't be shocked to see him around 1k 6/7 TD though.

or they just grab it and kneel down at the 30 and have 10-12 seconds to go and the exact same thing happens. Our defensive coaching blunders (soft zones and off man coverage) and the players melting down/ not being talented enough two drives in a row (13s and overtime) is a far bigger problem and int he full 3 seasons following that game nothing has been improved. Instead, we're largely running it back with the same guys that couldn't get it done and giving them a far larger percentage of our cap than they previously commanded.

I disagree. You think a squib kick was eating up 13 seconds?

100% This is why I laugh off anybody that makes an argument that we were "just a play away" from winning any of these games against the Chiefs. When you're at the levels that the Bills and the Chiefs are, you've already fully optimized your roster, your gameplan, playcalling, and your gametime decision making as far as you can. From the opening snap, you're already managing the clock and you have an idea of how many scoring opportunities you're going to have and what percentage are likely to succeed. Getting that "one play" to swing your way at that level is like asking for a whole quarter to shift your way, because the margins are razor thin. In the case of the Chiefs, there hasn't been a time that they haven't had us completely outclassed in every phase of the game since Mahomes came into the league. Until that changes, I don't see us beating them in games that matter unless an insane amount of luck drops into our lap, or the Chiefs self-destruct. If they keep building their team like they have been, and keep planning and executing the way they have been, they are effectively unbeatable with McD and Beane at the helm - as good as they otherwise are.

Cover 1 is decent content, but Erik and his friends often come off as homers. I don't consider it to be on the same level as many of the nfl-wide pundits. Brett Kollmann is my favorite guy out there right now.

When you consider we don't have a single star player outside of Allen, that's pretty insane.

He's not a generational talent at either position. He's just a collegiate novelty.

I'm fully aware it's not easy. You can't accomplish what you don't try though. You're right that Crosby and Garrett were off the market, but what about the other half dozen elite players that would have helped this team? We already know the ceiling of every player we signed, except Palmer for which we paid like we did. If you knew you weren't going to go out and get an elite player, you should have taken a swing at rising players for a chance to hit a breakout. Instead we're going to entrust that to a bunch of rookies drafted at the end of eahc round or just hope we can win it all with a good, not great, roster - something that hasn't been done in my lifetime of just under 40 years.

Poor showing in FA. Handed out massive deals to players we already couldn't get the job done with, and gambled with a huge overpay on a WR that to date has been nothing more than a #3/#4 guy - that said, i like the player a lot. A washed up Joey Bosa doesn't move the needle at all for me. I'm a big fan of the Hoecht signing, but he's yet another complimentary piece on a defensive line full of them. We need at least one dominant playmaker there. This team needs 3-4 more all-pro level talents and they added none. We'll have to pray they can get 2 in this draft, and add 1 or 2 more next year, because this roster as constructed isn't getting past this past season's Chiefs or Eagles.

And we're doing the same this year. I'm not sure what point you're making. We need a major influx of talent if the goal is to realistically compete for a Super Bowl. If the goal is to just make the playoffs and lose, then by all means run it back.

We didn't clear any real cap though. We're still at $27.6M dead money this year. They don't hand out trophies for making a conference championship. That's not my goal.

This isn't one of those drafts. If he doesn't make a splash move, then he MUST draft a serious DROY and/or OROY candidate if we have any hope of winning a SB the next two years. Ideally we need both like a Stroud/Anderson type of draft. That's going to be extremely difficult considering we pick at the end of each round.

That's definitely a useful data point. The availability is not a small cocern though, and neither is the ability to do something after you win the pass rush. How much did you watch him last year? Watch this clip of the highlights from the wild card game and pay attention to his speed once he breaks through the line. The guy just doesn't have a gear to make a play back there. Maybe If we had Trey Hendrickson on the other side, his job could be to push pressure into him, but we don't. Rousseau isn't that guy, and neither is Oliver. https://www.houstontexans.com/video/chargers-vs-texans-highlights-wild-card-weekend

I like this signing the best of all the deals. He's been great for us, and it's very good value for a dynamic and versatile player.

I wasn't making an argument for Sweat, but yes I'd take him over Rousseau all things being equal. However, I wouldn't have prioritized either of them as they are a similar tier of player, and spending that kind of coin on a B-tier player is a disaster. I would have signed Hoecht to take over that job, Takena gamble ona cheaper deal for a guy like Malcolm Koonce, and then used my remaining money to pursue an elite talent. We could have gone after a premier rusher or signed Hufanga with that money who I think would have had an enormously more positive impact paired with those other players than just keeping what we had. Big upgrades at positions of need over nice players who don't do special things for 60-70% of what the elite players cost.

Which is all the reason more why it's critical when you're burning cap on a high end QB to have other elite level players to pair him with and hit your drafts with elite players at expensive positions like DB, DE, WR, and pass rushing DT on cheap rookie deals. You absolutely cannot fill up your roster full of B-tier players like they Bills have done and expect that is going to work. KC, Philly, TB, NE, PIT and all the other super bowl winners (and most of the losers) had multiple bonafide stars on their squad. With Matt Milano unlikely to ever be who he was again, we don't have anyone on the roster that's a legitimate top 5 player their position, and I'm convinced we need 4-5 of them to have a real legitimate shot at winning a ring.

Coinflip between Ingram or a cheap vet until the rookie is ready to take over. I expect us to draft one in the top 2 picks. I don't like it, but I'm expecting it.

I mean, anything can be true if we're just making stuff up. If we're talking about what actually happened though:

Is that what they call it when you sign underachievers to lucrative deals? IMO, swinging for the fence would involve bringing in at least one bonafide star. We could have had this conversation had they made a play for any number of great players at positions of need. More likely it would involve 2-3 stars. Washington and Denver are swinging for the fences. We're bunting.

Derrick Henry is making $8M. I'm not paying him more than The King, regardless of age. There are a lot of stupid contracts in the league right now, but there's a ton of value too. Kareem Hunt made 1.2M last year. So did Devon Achane, Bucky irving,Tracy and others who were dynamite. Give me 2 of those guys (easier said than done of course) for less than $3M.

James Cook is one of the clearest products of a system I've ever seen. He'll get a bag from Arizona or Oakland and that'll be the end of his career. 2024 was the first year he broke an arm-tackle. He played his ass off last year, no doubt, but our offensive line deserves a lot of that credit. I'm not spending anything more than 6.5M on a player like him. Except you start 3 WR and roster 6, so the dropoff in your entire pool is way steeper than it is if you have a less flashy RB1.

We still have $27.6M in dead cap this year, and likely more to come.

He's not either. Beane doing silly things shouldn't justify other silly things.

He was injured a significant part of the year, even though he played. https://www.draftsharks.com/fantasy/injury-history/joey-bosa/7500