harmonkillebrew

can't you do trades with a player agreement to restructure?

Just to add fuel to the fire.... This is why you don't let your lame duck GM run your draft. Kansas City Chiefs: Alex Smith vs. Patrick Mahomes Andy Reid is absolutely clear in saying Alex Smith is his guy. And I believe him. I've been one of Alex Smith's biggest fans. But it was Reid who brilliantly traded up to grab Mahomes as his quarterback of the future. Have you seen the rookie this preseason? It's like he was built in a quarterback factory, with skills that turn heads and drop jaws. And he's a great guy and leader. Alex Smith is the quarterback -- for now. But what happens if the reigning AFC West champions get off to a slow start in the regular season? What happens if Tyreek Hill is not being utilized as a downfield threat? What happens if the red-zone offense stalls? What happens if Smith looks like the scuffling quarterback he was in Kansas City's last real game, a frustrating home playoff loss to Pittsburgh? You know what everyone will be thinking ...

Saying "tank" is alot easier, but means the same. It's a strategic decision to win less games now for future gain. Nothing wrong with that so long as you do it right and don't sacrifice your organizational culture in the process. The Bills are doing it well so far by denying it to kingdom come. Then Boldin went and retired adding fuel to the fire that we're a lost cause.

All about trade offs. Is it worth foregoing your passion (and $2M) to play for the Bills? Not this team, not this year - so he realized. Edit: but how utterly demoralizing for the team, and embarasing for the coaches/FO to have a HOF player get a taste and change his mind. He did the right thing trying to soften the blow.

Probably depends on how desperate they are. If it's a contender and their starting RB goes down, they might give up a high pick

yeah, same basic idea. Trade him before he's gone - Watkins leaves as a FA, Shady retires (or gets cut). Applying the Watkins rationale to Shady, let's trade him to the Bengals for Jeremy Hill and a 3rd.

Shady will be too old by the time we're competing again. Dareus should still be serviceable. Get what we can for Shady before he hits the wall (basically the same argument for trading Watkins). Who are contenders that need a RB? Baltimore? Philly? KC? Someone will give up a high pick

Bills are a dumpster fire this year. Why would Boldin want to waste his time with this team on a 1 year contract? I always thought this signing was odd given the reality of our competitiveness. Just one more straw on the Bills are tanking it pile. And that's ok with me

I'd do a straight up trade for Bortles. Seems like Blake might be a better fit for what we're trying to run

Role player on short-line packages perhaps?

Interesting comparison. I think McD is more on the discipline side than Jauron, but yeah, the reliance on role players and character over talent feels eerily similar. Couldn't quite place it. I had been excited for McD to apply a little more Coughlin-style discipline to our talent base and see what could be salvaged from the Whaley/Rex mess, but instead we've jettisoned serious talent - mostly the speedy type- and brought in steady, unexciting vets. The speed on our D has decreased significantly. Our WR corps as well. This feels like a bend but don't break type of D and an O focused on ball possession. Predict lots of 13-10 squeakers, with a few blowouts when facing a solid O, while we limp home to a 6-10 record.

Giving Watkins a huge contract would have been an error given the combo of production, injury and scheme (current QB). But the Bills had two years left to see through their investment (if they had picked up the option), so cutting ties at this point was premature. Now, had they gotten a king's ransom I would be OK with it. But we didn't. We got a 2nd and a backup CB and then had to throw in our 6th to finalize. Appreciate the idea, hate the execution.

First you have to draft one. EJ was our only top round QB pick since 2004. Even in 2004, rather than try to move up for Big Ben we moved back into the late 1st for Losman

But at this point you don't know who you're going to draft. Whoever they are they could and likely won't pan out. So you have to hedge that unkown against the current players that you can evaluate based on real NFL action. That's where Gaines comes in. I don't have the info on him, you hope OBD does. QB is another story. We already had the picks to move up for a QB. These extra picks just give us the options for adding depth/talent at other positions.

He's the key to this trade. If we can get two quality starters, plus 2 top picks than its worth it. But at the moment, both guys (Matthews and Gaines) were competing to start, while Darby and Watkins were unquestioned starters and top of the club (and league) at their respective positions, particularly given their age. Filling that talent gap with a 2nd and 3rd round pick doesn't seem like great value

Good point. Watkins brought out Taylor's deep ball strength. We have no one now that can do that. The possession, west-coast offense passing game that is Bolding/Matthews/Jones is not Taylor. Makes me think the new regime wants Taylor to fail and have all intentions of positioning for a new QB next year. Otherwise, they, like past regimes, don't know the roster they inherited

Yeah, me too. I believe we ended up with enough cap to franchise Gilmore. Why we didn't (let alone re-sign him) if we were just going to use a 1st on a guy that has pretty much no chance at being as good. Otherwise we got solid value to fill needs with our 1st three picks, but could have added alot more depth without the trade ups. 2 1st next year is great. Hopefully Whaley will be gone by then and McD and his guys will have full control to make the right calls

Sounds like you ended up convincing yourself that you agree with me. The light could come on for a few players like Washington and O'Leary, but a smart team would hedge and add depth now. You know how you do that? extra draft picks. After starting with 6, we had 8 than ended up back with 6. oh well, it looked good for a bit there

Good teams still do it. They draft depth 2 years before a departure and groom them to take over if the guy bolts in FA.

Zay seems like a nice player. But was he a 3rd round pick better than JuJu? I don't think so. The hubris of our personnel department kills me - so certain he was the only guy we could draft and had to have him. It's undisciplined.

The only trade-up that makes sense is for a QB. early to mid-round draft picks are gold. You don't give them up for adjustments in your position to get non-QBs. That is why next year we will still be filling holes in the draft - DT, G, C, TE, OLB. These will all be needs next year and we have little to no current roster depth to fill them

Drafts should be for building depth, not filling holes. We can't seem to get ahead of the curve. I assume Ragland will be playing WLB. This is perhaps the slowest LB corps in the league

Been saying this for sometime. Get your top 5 OL on the field. Try it. Its got to be better than Mills

Replace two former draftees with two new draftees. Can't say we ended up better off in the short-term. But that extra 1st pick is the honey. We will be better after next year's draft. I like the long-term strategy, but next year could be 4-12

Jarrad Davis David Njoku Kevin King