Rochesterfan

This is great if the Bills thought he was worth that money - they obviously did not think a WR with his injury history and production was worth paying either the 5th year option or a franchise tag. Once they realize they do not want to pay that, while they try to find their franchise QB - the trade makes sense. Get something for him and help you get your QB and a WR in the next draft so they can develop together. This moves makes it very obvious what they think of TT as an answer at QB. This is about trying to get you QB and your playmakers together and not having SW sitting there making a boatload of money while we develop someone to throw him the ball.

Without a QB they have a less talented offense than we had last year and a complete defensive overhaul. I think they will compete with SF at the bottoms of the division.

Exactly - an it would potentially have saddled a team if he gets hurt. Again not sure the 5th year option meant you would have gotten more and may not have been able to do anything. Most teams were talking about a third or mid second for Cooks with the 5th year option. Finally got a late first from NE.

The pats gave up a very late 1st for Cook. The Bills got a 2nd (potentially very high) and a potential starter. Seems about a wash to me. Not sure the 5th year option helps much at all.

Voted - yes Short term it stinks, but I think it is a better long term solution and I do not think the drop off is that great. Matthews may be a better fit in the RICO scheme than Watkins anyway. He just is not as talented long term.

How do you figure his value is at its lowest? He played caught a few balls and was not injured. I do not think Sammy's trade value gets much higher. There is a good chance he gets hurt in the next couple of games and then you get nothing. Not that I think the trade is good, but I do not hate it. They traded players to get replacement players and high picks. I think Matthews is a better fit for the offense that we are running than Sammy, but I hate the drops. We will see how it goes. Darby going to Gaines is a step down, but additional picks help.

The issue he is not doing it consistently in practice - if he was then the OC would not be talking about once again. There are times at practice you can see him thinking about it, but more often than not - the throw goes outside to the WR moving side to side. He makes the safe play - that is not always wrong, but it also means plays are left all over the field. Peterman does not have TT talent or arm strength, but you see it already he has the anticipation- the issue is in the NFL the DBs are better than college and you see him them get better breaks and a few more picks than TT.

We will have to wait and see, but it does not bode well. Three OC and all have asked for more anticipatory throws. I know Denison thinks it can be taught, but we are talking about 6 full years as a pro and 2 full years as a starter with OC and head coaches harping on that. As I said in the other TT thread - you can see this at camp - he has been inconsistent, but when he is completing a lot of passes - they seem to be wide to wide open WRs. You can see him looking more, but the progression seems to be toward the outside as much as anything. We will have to see.

I think this is more significant than they understand. All of the brains study to date from NFL players were from former players that showed signs of CTE. The fact that it is not 100% is note worthy. Research teams are trying to develop serum biomarkers to test for CTE, but the studies are still on-going. The issue from some of the initial research seemed to focus on the fact that some CTE biomarkers were nearly as prevalent in the general public as in athletes and that some other sports Hockey, Soccer, wrestling- all showed similar levels to football players. Therefore - until they can do long term biomarker and brain research across the population- I will believe there is a link, but the impact is still up for debate.

This is going to be so interesting. I hear some good and some bad from the reports. The one camp day I went to he was very up and down. Lots of throws to the outside - much like we saw last year, but there was a bit better timing. He also used his eyes a bit better, but it still was almost all safe throws - nothing that makes you say wow. Then you read Astro's reports and he tends to be very upbeat and gives a great impression and does an amazing job of providing details. Then you read other reporters and you get a mishmash of things across the board both good and bad. The one thing hat did worry me was Murph did state he did not think TT was having a good camp - he thought there was still time, but that there was more negatives than positives. When I hear that from Murph - that gives me pause because he is around the team all the time and he talks with a ton of players and coaches. He did say that was his opinion and nothing the coaches have said, but when your biggest cheerleader states he was a bit worried - it made me take notice. I also get the feeling that Donald Jones is not a big fan of TT's game - he brings up intangibles, but complained a lot about his passing, but I have not heard him be overly critical this camp. We will see how this all plays out, but I think we are in for another up and down year.

I agree 100% with this - you keep hear the report 99% of players tested showed CTE - yet it is from a limited group that showed signs and agreed to donate their brains. They have never done a conclusive study what the rate is among all players or other sports or the general public. Various serum biomarkers that are being explored to test on the living have been showing that rates for football players are higher than the general public, but not by huge percentages and that other sports like soccer have just as high an incidence. At some point the research will catch up and we will have actual data to understand the numbers, but for now this is just scare tactics.

They feel that Yates gives them the better chance to win. There are limited reps for a back-up and if you can place a guy in the role that you already know what he can and can not do - you are going to get better success. If the Bills signed Kaep and needed someone for 6 - 8 weeks then yes Kaep may be better, but if it is the second half of a game in December- every coach would want to put a guy in that understands the offense and can fit in for the week or two. I honestly do not care - I think all of the guys you mentioned including Kaep are not good enough - so pick a guy that already knows what you are doing and go from there. Age should have nothing to do with it and neither should what some guy did in someone else's system - find someone the team is comfortable with and go from there.

To me it is simple - look at Miami last year - they lost their starter with a couple of games to go - that is no time to decide if Peterman can do the job. You want a Veteran leader that know the offense and understands how to watch and breakdown film to help these guys grow in the system. It gives the players someone to bounce questions off from and to share opinions - especially during the game. There are lots of reasons to want a long time veteran that is familiar with an offense to be part of the team. Long term he is nothing other than a support and help in certain cases. If TT goes down early or struggles - then I agree - you want to see what Peterman can do if we are losing, but I would take Yates over Peterman for finishing a game or a week or two with the playoffs on the line.

Actually this is wrong - there are prescriptions n many cases and they have follow-up to perform. Secondly there are delivery methods of CBD that do not test positive. The screening test is for THC - which is active in the pot you smoke and bake and often oils, but there are pills for CBD that is effective at battling Crohn's disease, but does not produce the high felling and does not cause positive screens. If he is taking it for the treatment alone - there are things he can do and still play in the league without suspension. If he enjoys smoking pot because of how it makes him feel and it helps with his disease - then he deserves the suspension. The issue is he has tested positive multiple times prior to the disease being an issue and it has not changed.

Very interesting - I think that is about right. I think there are 6-7 guys in the top two tiers and you hit on them. They are definitely better at their position than TT is at his. I think the third tier is filled with players you could juggle in many orders depending on what you want - guys like Taylor, Hughes, Hyde, Clay, Wood, Lorax, etc. so to me TT is in a group of guys between 8-15 on the roster and depending upon what you want to argue it could go any way. Then you start to hit the lower tiers and the unknowns- Ragland, Lawson (both of whom could move up if they have good years), Darby, Brown, and rookies like Jones and White. That's not real fair as I have not seen many including myself that do not think TT is good enough - disagree with the position. I did see a couple of guys that argue on TT behalf- joke about him being at the bottom, but no one being serious. The question becomes (and we will see how the year plays out) is your starting QB being around the 10th best player on your team good enough or not. Considering that he has to handle the ball on every offense play - I want that guy to be one of my top players on offense and most seem to agree he is somewhere around 5-6 best player on offense - in a group with Clay, DiMarco, and Wood - Behind guys like Sammy, Shady, Incognito, And Glenn at least.

I think you are sort of right. I think there will be a prolonged stoppage at some point and the players will get some concessions like 50% of the revenue- Marijuana will depend upon whether the current President - rolls back a lot of the legality on it - if it becomes totally illegal again like the attorney general would like - I do not think they get that. I think the owners will get the win and there will be 17 or 18 games, mandatory practice will increase, and they will look for ways to prevent future lawsuits from the players. The problem is the players fight for things like Marijuana and discipline that impact very few players and tend to cave on bigger things that impact the majority because they stock the PA with the stars that do not listen to the average player.

I know transplant- you are trying hard - but even you stated by the end of the Pittsburgh game you were essentially ready to move on - so everything you say may be true, but with 3 games left in the season you had readily admitted that TT was not good enough. Then he played 2 terrible defenses in Cleveland and Miami and look slightly above average and now you talk that he was fine all year. TT was not the reason the Bills were average, but he also was not the solution. With a change to the running game - I expect it is going to come back toward the field and I expect we have seen from TT what he can do - I think he will be fine with combo routes to the outside - much like the comeback routes - throws he can see the guy is open. I anticipate he will struggle with throws to moving targets moving between the hash marks because that is what he has struggled with - both vision and anticipation throws. I anticipate that the Bills will be rolling TT out a lot and where we see other QBs throw to 1 of 2 receivers - I think TT will run more than throwing in those situations because he trusts his athletic ability more than his throwing ability. I think the article provide some nice best case scenarios, but it was interesting how many times they attached routes the Bills used over the last 2 years to illustrate the routes - that means some of these concepts were already used and he struggled at times and in this offense they will limit what TT was best at - the deep go route along the sideline - that is what opened up everything and that will be cut down in the new scheme and I think the short timing routes will bring defenses closer to the LOS - again hurting our running game. We will see how it goes.

Yeah and at the end of 2015 - Roman and TT were supposedly clicking as the NYJ game and that passing attack was going to be what we saw in 2017 until TT regressed and Roman was fired. Clay was getting passes deep and down the middle of the field, but it never translated to anything. I think play calling is huge, but the player has to be able to handle that and until TT shows he can do it consistently- I am not ready to believe the passing attack will improve significantly. I would be less surprised to see an improvement in the defense and the offense regressing toward middle of the pact - than seeing the offense actually improve. But that is just my opinion on the issue.

1985/86 season versus the Bears - they were so cocky and arrogant- I was hoping somehow for an upset. For the recent run - not really - I liked Drew Bledsoe as QB, but once Brady took over - I have hoped for utter failure ever since.

Two things: 1). OJ was found Innocent and yet lost the civil case - they are very different and guilty or innocent does not necessarily mean anything in the civil case. 2). I think the lawsuit is about money the Pats owe to Hernandez as much as anything else and this lawsuit gives them grounds to collect money before it gets to the Hernandez estate. I have no issues with this suit, but it depends upon the final interpretation. If OJ had still been under contract - they probably would have to prevent the money going someplace they can not access. Even as it was OJ was found Not Guilty, but still lost the civil suit and was forced to pay a lot of money.

It is a nice article to show what the plan is - we will need to see if it fits TT or not. I think limiting his reads significantly will make some things easier, but I do not think TT excels at short to mid range passing to moving targets and I do not think TT excels at throwing quick timing routes on time and in stride. I will hold my judgement on whether the passing attack makes any strides forward until he proves it or doesn't. There is really nothing in the article that makes me think things will get better and there are a lot of patterns - guys coming across the middle of the field - that we have seen the last 2 years and TT has for the most part refused to pull the trigger. I expect a lot of running out of TT - probably even more than last year as they roll him out and actually a less productive passing attack. I think he will be exactly what we have seen a couple of above average games, a couple of average games, and a few stinkers and if the last 2 years are any indication - the average and bad will come early and when we sit on the brink or are eliminated - he will have his above average games and people will be - look he is getting better - like the Jets game 2 years ago and the Miami game at the end of last season. Those 2 games defined the off season expectations of a lot of fans that then got a dose of reality once the next season started.

Correct - so they would need to make other modifications to the agreement not just up the percentage. I don't see that happening. Even with the change you get the same issue - the salaries for the top tier would go higher, but most would not be affected. If the players union actually represented all the players and not just the stars - they could correct that and make things more balanced so everyone on the players side shared in the wealth, but it does not. The majority of the players and their short careers will be the reason the players fold again in the next CBA. It will go into the season, but with only a 3 year life span for most players - the majority need the paychecks.

I understand what you are saying - I think your numbers are a bit off though. If the current cap is set let's say 48% and is at 167 another 3% is only raising the cap maybe 9-10 million. It is not going from 167 to 212 million per team. That would mean each 1% increase would be around 15 million in salary cap space - so 48 % would be close to a salary cap of 720 million rather than 167 million. Remember the Salary Cap is not based on all revenue only some of it. What the change from 48 to 51 would do in the NFL is exactly what it did in the NBA. 1 or 2 players on each team get the extra money - most likely the QB and DE. Steph Curry and Kevin Durant see huge salary bumps compared to other players on the team.

The Money does go someplace - roughly just under 50% goes to the players for salary. Just over 50% to the owners to cover all of the administrative staff, coaching staff, food, training equipment, upgrades, practice facilities, uniforms, medications, and everything else the players need to be ready. I will not whine for the owners because they make a lot of money as an individual person, but after they cover all of the business costs and salary. The breakdown seems about right as every league with a cap puts the annual average players salary at close to 50% of the leagues revenue. The difference is guaranteed money and that is based on the sport. We do not need to use Fat Albert for the point - go around the league - if the NFL paid guaranteed money and gave a WR a 5 year contract and that guy sucks or is hurt - he would get paid just like Bonilla in you example - that is great for that player, but then every other player will get less because money is tied up in guys that are not playing or producing. The NFL is a production league - you produce - you get paid. Your production drops - you get cut and can lose your big pay day. When that happens - what happens to that money. It is almost immediately spent on other players on the team. TT takes a pay cut and the Bills sign additional players with that money. I have no issues with having more guarantees for the players, but it will come with something they will not like lower salaries because more money will be tied up in non producing players. I know - it is not possible, but even the NBA is seeing issues with teams resting players - do we will see things turn out shortly.

I think you are proving his point not your own. He was given a 100 million contract for what he did in Tennessee when he came to the Redskins, but as soon as he did not live up to that level of play - they were able to get out of the contract and give that money to people that deserved it. Hockey, Baseball, and Basketball- all have it wrong, but can survive because of the games and the players. How many albatross contracts do you hear about in those leagues . Guys that got paid for 1 years work as they hit FA and then fell back. Guys like Koby in LA that basically had a contract destroy the team when he could no longer play to that level. Baseball is the worse - they give out massive contracts to guys mid 30's and then try to figure out how to get rid of them when after 1 or 2 years they start to decline. Football allows teams to get out of contracts and redistribute that money to guys that are more worthy right now. It stinks for the players that want the big payday without the work, but a guy like Brady, JJ Watt, or Von Miller seem to keep getting paid through injuries and age. I think the system works - you just have to keep putting in the effort.