Shaw66

Well, I always like seeing my team on the top of lists, saying they're excellent, but really? Someone thinks they can calculate draft success like this? I think it's comical. So much of what goes on in football is subjective, and these people are calculating stuff to five significant digits? I don't think so.

I don't understand odds, but wouldn't be $125?

$175?

Well, look. I enjoy your posts and rarely argue with you. But the fact is that "my quarterback is better than your quarterback" is a valid and sufficient argument to support the position that your wrong. It's no less valid than the "the total talent on my team is better than the total talent on your team." When the argument comes down to those points, there's nothing left to talk about - it's just a difference of opinion. As I said in my post, I also thing the Bills have a coaching edge, because I don't think anyone is as thorough and as detailed as McDermott and his crew. One reason I think the Bills did so well last year is that by being hyper-organized, McDermott was much better able to adjust to COVID rules on the fly. He accepts every challenge and masters it. I've been saying for two years now that fans should enjoy the ride. The Bills have a truly outstanding combination of owners, GM, head coach, and quarterback. That's what makes me think the Bills can be the best in the conference every year, starting this year.

Right. And underestimating the coaching. Obviously, no one knows something like this for a certainty, but I think the Bills are one of a few teams with the potential to be the best team in the conference. KC, Cleveland, Titans. I like where we are.

Yes, I think that would be part of it. Maybe more of a business role, like President and GM. I don't know, but I've just had this feeling that he's a really competitive guy and wants to be the top dog. The vision in Buffalo is that there is a team of four people in charge - the Pegs, Beane and McD. Maybe he will be happy for the long term being part of a winning team. I just have had the sense that he will want more. McD, on the other hand, is totally a team guy and I have trouble seeing him taking the same approach. However, we've seen plenty of occasions where coaches have come to disagree with the GM about personnel selections, and I could imagine that happening with McD and Beane. On the other hand, in his presser Sunday, Beane said something like "you'll see the Bills go after big guys in the trenches as long as Sean and I are here," so what do I know?

It won't be money. It will be ego

When they came u got the sense that they aren't joined at the hip. They're their own men, individually. Beane is intensely competitive, personally, and I just suspect he may eventually want a bigger role for himself. In Buffalo je is trapped between the Pegs and McD, and some other owner might offer him more power.

Thanks. That sounds exactly right.

Gunner - Thanks for your draft coverage it's great stuff. I agree that it's possible that some of the late round and free agent DBs could make the final 53, but in any case some of them will be on the practice squad, may be late-season injury-fill-in call ups with a more serious shot to make it in 2022. Whatever. I haven't heard Beane's day-3 presser, but as you report it, he said what he's said over and over - early rounds are for BPA and late rounds are to fill needs. Early round are to get guys at whatever position who look like they could be long-term starters - yes, he did a bit of combo-BPA-need pick in the first round, it was still BPA. Late round guys are prospects who can help in the short-term and may develop. Beane's really disciplined about this, and that's what causes some head-scratching with fans when he takes two edge players in the first two rounds. So, there's something of a roster traffic jam on the edge now, but too much talent is a good problem to have, especially when there are no glaring holes elsewhere. One thing I like about Beane's drafts is how unpredictable they are are. These huge offensive linemen, two quality DEs. A placekicker and Fromm last year, the multiple trade-ups for Allen and Edmunds, the Diggs trade. He'll do whatever seems to him to add the best talent and the right talent. One final comment is how increasingly Bills draftees say, in way or another, "I'm just here to do whatever I can do to make this team get better. I'm ready to get to work, right now." Maybe they're all just well coached by their agents who know by now that's the mantra, but I'm guessing it's genuine. This is nicely stated. There's certainly some minimum level of athleticism needed, but it seems a lot of guys meet that minimum. I'll admit, however, that I have a concern about it, which is that those guys tend to be better in zone than man. When you hit a team that forces you to play more man coverages, you tend to be at a physical disadvantage. I suppose McDermott's answer to that is "that's why I have to have a front four that generates consistent pressure - my DBs can't stay with those receivers for too long."

And I wonder if someday Beane's head will get big enough that he'll leave for someplace where choosing the HC IS within his paygrade.

I mean, who knows? That may be a possibility. What I do know is that except for a few very special leaders, like Kyle, McBeane aren't keeping you around if you don't fit into the plan, and the plan is both short-term and long-term. They were ready to let Milano walk and they didn't even have a guy behind him, so I'm going to assume that Dawkins couldn't get pushed off the roster by one of the guys the Bills drafted this week. I'm not saying he will. But my original point was that three years from now we could look back at this draft and see five or even six guys who are starters for the Bills. Any draft that yields that many starters is a good draft, and it's particularly good when it happens on a team that already has a lot of talent. I wrote a little about this last night, in a different way. I get that you're looking at it from the future-is-now perspective, but I guess my style is to get comfortable with the approach that Bills management may be taking at any given time. Some other regimes were more future-is-now, but these guys have been completely clear that they are not at all in that camp. Their stated objective was to get good and stay good. They already got good, not quite good enough, but pretty darn good, and this draft was about staying good.

Well, I can't imagine they'd cut him. They might trade him. I don't know what the cap consequences would be in a trade.

Thanks, but I doubt you're correct when it comes to McBeane. We'll just have to wait and see, but McBeane have been very clear that every position is up for grabs every year. Just because they like their left tackle today doesn't mean that he's a ten-year fixture. Maybe I'm missing something, because Dawkins hasn't struck me as a HOF tackle, just a good one. What protects players, long-term, for McBeane, is leadership. If Dawkins is one of the four or five leaders on the team in three years, then it will be tough to move him out. Otherwise, I wouldn't say that he's a sure thing. But I hear you point.

It would mean that Dawkins was expendable, because there was younger cheaper talent. Losing Dawkins in that way is exactly how the Patriots lost talent year after year. They didn't hold on to their talented people, they let them move on.

I trust McBeane. Their judgment is, every year, to add the best talent they can. They don't want to go into the draft with any pressing need, and this draft is a prime example. They saw no reason to chase a guard or a center, and that's good enough for me. These guys are drafting exactly like they said they would. Build a talented team, then add talent in the draft every year. This was the first draft where they did that in spades.

There's a long way to go. They still may get one in a trade, late cuts. They have a plan, no doubt.

Whoops. I should have proofread. I fixed it.

Comp picks and trades. Just keep piling up talent, let McDermott figure out how to use it well. As you say, it's a good problem to have.

I've been in and out of this thread since it started. Haven't read everything. While I was away, I had this thought: How will you feel if in three years the Bills are starting two defensive ends, two tackles and a guard from this draft?

Right. The Bills are satisfied with what they have. They want to get better, but they didn't think they had critical, immediate needs.

Wow, that's hard to read, but I think it's exactly right. The point I always miss is that money will be tight in a few years, and this is preparation for that time. Thanks.

Thanks. Not bad. With those three, they could have drafted you and me and the draft still would have been an A+.

Fair enough, that's a take on what I said. But I think you missed the point. The point was that McBeane don't think the Bills have holes that need filling. Sure, they always want more talent, and they went and got it. But there was no sense of urgency. They didn't chase after anyone, not a running back, not an offensive line solution, not a corner. Nothing a lot of fans thought was essential.

Well said. But you must not be very old. One year the Bills drafted OJ Simpson. That was a pretty good draft. Then there was a year they drafted Bruce Smith. That was pretty good, too. Josh Allen and Tremaine Edmunds. Still, I think this draft is pretty special. In a different way. It's a draft of a good team building to be even better. I like that.