transplantbillsfan

Seems pretty clear it always was with Beane right now since hindsight is 20/20. I think this year is going to be pretty interesting because the "rooting for TT to fail" thing is going to be real with the sign on the door that unless Taylor has a stellar year, we're going to do everything in our power to trade up to get the best QB we can possibly get in a (supposedly) strong QB class. I think for once it might even almost sorta be reasonable for those who are rooting against Taylor. I don't agree with it and can't possibly root for a bad season. But I'll say that I understand why those people might root against him. It'll just be interesting if (and yes, that's a big if) Taylor has a stellar season and the team makes the playoffs and wins a game or two. What will the conversations be like next offseason?

I had no clue who Zay Jones was before I heard his name called. That's how little I follow college ball. Then I heard we got great value with him. Your post makes me a little more intrigued. What was the knock on him? His production was at a small school?

I know. I was expecting to read the last page or 2 here and find our message board medical experts talking about exactly how long we can expect Matthews to be out and how fully he'll recover

Sooo... are there excuses now? Honestly, excuses don't matter much at this point, the Tyrod Taylor question is no longer really a question. The best he can hope for seems to be starting this season, seeing his replacement drafted in the 2018 draft, and starting the 2018 season while his replacement learns the game a bit. Barring making the playoffs and actually winning a couple of those games, it seems obvious Beane wants to replace Taylor.

I think it's an especially interesting interview considering how seemingly unprompted a lot of these responses are (you'd always prefer a transcript) and the fact that he played with a QB many have/are touting as "one of the next, great QBs." http://buffalonews.com/2017/08/12/jordan-matthews-eager-play-tyrod-taylor-keep-representing-2014-wr-draft-class/ Matthews leaves on-the-job trainee Carson Wentz in Philly and will catch passes from Tyrod Taylor. "Tyrod's a great asset to the Bills," Matthews said. "To be able to play with him is going to be awesome because I already know what kind of person he is." Matthews two years ago participated in offseason workouts with Taylor, running back LeSean McCoy and left guard Richie Incognito in Arizona. Matthews also has experience training in Florida with Bills receiver Anquan Boldin. "Tyrod works hard," Matthews said. "He was always the first guy in the building whenever we were training in Arizona. "He definitely has a savvy about him, and he understands people. He's not one of those guys who was modeled to be a quarterback but has no people skills. He knows how to lead a locker room. He knows how to talk to the receivers, the rest of the offense and get everybody pulling in the same direction." Matthews, a 2014 second-round draft choice, went through four starting quarterbacks in Philly: Nick Foles, Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford and Wentz. The Eagles went 24-24 in those three seasons, never reaching the playoffs. Taylor will be Matthews' first quarterback who is a dangerous runner, a trait Matthews praised. "And I also think he has a chip on his shoulder," Matthews said. "When you go through history, the best quarterbacks always have a chip on their shoulders. "I'm excited to see what he's going to do."

Geez... I love this. Such a great story!

C'mon dude... We've barely had Watkins at full strength over the last 2 years. Probably half the games he's even played in he's been hobbled. And Watkins is a complete beast and was often when he was on the field. But he was on the field healthy... well, not much. And Woods missed games and wasn't healthy... and I think he was a bit of a whiny B word too often. And Taylor was throwing to rookie UDFA Walter Powell, lately acquired Brandon Tate, and street FA Justin Hunter along with the oft-injured Marquise Goodwin. Now Jordan Matthews, projected 1st round WR Zay Jones and Anquan Boldin are your top 3 with experienced, more reliable backups...? Sorry, but losing Watkins isn't even remotely the same as losing McCoy, IMO of course Yep

They are going to draft a QB inevitably next year. The question is going to be whether they are so desperate for one that they use all of their draft picks to trade up and get their guy (and remember, it takes two to tango it's not like we can easily get any QB in what's shaping up supposedly to be a great QB class) or if they sit there with the draft picks and let their board play out and take a QB at the point where they see the value. I think those are the two scenarios and it all depends on how Taylor plays this year. even if we sit there and take a QB in the first but we don't have a draft pick until the middle of the first round or later and that is when we take him, I think Taylor is around another year with the regime closely watching the QB position, yet again. And Taylor serves in that case almost as the safer "fallback option" in case it turns into (what's looking like) what's happening in Denver with Paxton Lynch.

It does, but our WR core is still better than last year. It's like we took two steps forward and one step back. We're still ahead of where we were. Yeah, it matters who he's throwing too. That's why we now hopefully have three viable weapons as our top three wide receivers (who can stay healthy hopefully) as opposed to what we had last year.

I think all this is right except the Lombardi trophy part. I think if the team makes the playoffs and wins at least a game, but probably 2, Taylor sticks. I'd like to read it. It would be a solid and substantive post by you

Yeah I'm not denying that, yet the team won more without Sammy on the field than with him. I don't think losing him is the sign we're going 2-14 or even 7-9 again. And whatever our final record is, saying we would have won X number of games more doesn't jive either.

Stepping back for a second to think about Elite WRs, how often are they the catalysts for winning? Jerry Rice is obviously a big YES! Randy Moss? TO? Megatron? Andre Johnson? Larry Fitzgerald? AJ Green? Julio Jones? All these guys were/are Elite talents at the WR position... did any really serve as the catalyst to put the team over the hump? Maybe Elite WRs who demand the ball (through play or words) aren't the best thing for the team, after all

Eh... he missed half the season. And Sammy was clearly hobbled pretty much the whole year last year when he actually played. If Jones, Matthews, and Bolden can stay healthy this year I think or wide receiving corps should be better than last year. It's not like Sammy being on the field ever correlated with winning. The team was 5-3 without him and one of those losses was one of Taylor's 2 best career games.

Exactly! My biggest criticism about this whole thing in the way that it played out is how late everything is happening.

Better to have your answer on the QB and then a WR Who might never be able to stay healthy, anyway We have plenty of draft picks next year to get an elite WR if Taylor proved to be the answer. We have plenty of draft picks to get our guy at QB along with a really good WR if Taylor doesn't prove to be the answer. This is a move that puts all the chips on the table for TT to prove himself without anyone being able to call Sammy the crutch that made him good. It's interesting and scary, but the right move probably given our stockpile of draft picks next year.

I think this is what we are all hoping will happen. Get rid of one elite target but make sure there are multiple really good or good targets. Hope that the QB spreads it around and get it to all of those targets. I think this is a pretty good way to figure out if Taylor can actually spread the ball around to multiple receivers. If Taylor can be a franchise QB, this is the year he answers that question

Oooooohhhh.... the Doublewood is my go-to but my father in law got me the 15 year old for Christmas that was delicious!!!

Rams as an emblem, now? You really are a Troll, aren't you?

Ummm.... we're all Bills fans. Are you saying you're not sticking with the Bills starting QB? You guys are like vultures with this CoT thing. Kinda ridiculous. No one has ever said that Taylor is an Elite QB. Honestly, it might be better than it was even a week ago as a whole. Our starting 3 a week ago was Watkins/Jones/Holmes (?) This week it's Matthews/Jones/Boldin Actually the argument was more a true #1 and a true #2. I think we've still got about that. Maybe we have three #2s instead, but we'll see.

Maybe this is just literally a sink or swim season for Taylor. Maybe McDermott is thinking that Watkins was too injury prone anyway and we could have gotten something for him, but if he was healthy he was going to be too much of a crutch to really evaluate if Taylor could be the long term answer. Now that he's gone, if Taylor plays really well, there aren't going to be too many questions.

Yeah, I pretty much agree with this.

It does. But it's fine. If Taylor plays really well this year, we know he's the guy. If he doesn't, we now clearly have the draft picks to go and draft the guy.

Head-scratching. On the one hand, now it really looks like tanking might be in the cards or back of the minds for OBD. On the other hand, I just can't believe Boldin would have come to Buffalo being sold on a team in rebuild mode. There has to be more to this. Watkins is obviously constantly at risk for an injury. Even last night he came up and I thought he hobbled at one point. Maybe this was just a good move for both parties but it doesn't mean the Bills are trying to tank? Just weird.

Just popped up in my notifications..., Crap! Merge!!!!

Does he look like he could threaten to usurp Glennon to start game #1? Commonsense would be really upset if that's what happens.