SCBills

This is where I am on the OL. Dawkins - Bates - Morse - McGovern .... that 4/5ths of a line is pretty solid, and still has untapped potential in the Guard spots... if we had a stud at RT. Brown has stud potential, but he's been a mess so far. Bengals (Brown), Chiefs (Taylor) and Dolphins (Armstead) all have a perceived stud Tackle... we don't. Nevermind the Chiefs IOL, which is the best in the league.

It absolutely is hard to accept, but it's where we are. I'd put WR and OL ahead of anything currently on Defense, but I don't think anyone but Wagner at MLB moves the needle more than another legit DE2/3 pass rusher.

The Bernard point can't be made enough. We literally drafted a LB in RD3 last year. Yet, we somehow still are unprepared for Edmunds leaving in Free Agency? Why is our Round 3 pick from last year not the obvious answer? I'm not saying he is... I'm saying it's pretty ridiculous that he's barely even in the conversation. Maybe he is... maybe Beane and McDermott are perfectly content with Bernard starting and we're just unaware... but, if not, the Bernard, Basham, Ford picks need to stop.. asap.

Agreed. For all the concern about MLB... if we must invest on defense, we really should focus on getting more pass rush. A) For if Von starts the season on the PUP list and B) So we have a legit DE3 to push Epenesa down to DE4 and Basham can either improve, be inactive or get cut.

Bills Defense was decimated by injuries last year. With what we currently have, health permitting, this is one of the best defenses in the NFL. Especially if they do what we all think they will, and address MLB with Wagner or an early pick. The question is... how much does that matter? Eagles Defense was loaded and got torched by the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Those two Offenses were ahead of Buffalo by the end of the year. Yea, Bengals lost Hurst and Perine, but added Brown. Chiefs lost Wylie, Brown, Juju and Hardman, but added Taylor. Where we stand... how would you currently rank the teams? -The OL and weapons for Mahomes -The OL and weapons for Burrow -The OL and weapons for Allen I still think Allen's weapons and OL, in aggregate, could be last on that list. Burrow has a good OL that just added Brown, with Higgins, Chase and Boyd. Mahomes has the best IOL in the NFL, Taylor at one of the Tackle spots and Kelce, MVS, Moore and Toney. Allen has a "potentially" solid/good OL with Diggs, Davis, Knox and then Shakir and Harty, who we hope hit for us.

From almost anyone who’s discussed this topic, there is a market for Ed Oliver. Maybe it’s not a Day 2 pick unless someone was really high on him pre-draft… but we could probably move him for a 4th or 5th as a salary dump / someone taking a flyer on a DT with potential that they liked a few years ago.

Beane is good. We’ll see about great… TBD The wizardry was more fans not being used to having a rich owner.

I get it. That’s fair. I applauded the McGovern signing. I defended the Harty signing (if he’s a McKenzie replacement). Those two moves were solid. For me, the crux hinges on Ed Oliver. I came into the off-season thinking we should let Edmunds and Poyer walk & Trade Oliver. Frazier is gone, it’s time to re-tool the defense and invest on Offense. Now Poyer is back (and I don’t hate it but I don’t love it) and Oliver’s 10M cap hit is still hanging over us. And just so you don’t think I’m being ridiculous … I wanted 2 OL and a WR2 in FA, so we don’t have to hope the draft falls to us. I want to know Allen has what he needs. LB’s, Safeties and DT’s will all be there for us at 27 and on Day 2.

Kelce, MVS, RD2 Pick Moore and Toney. Top IOL in the NFL. Lost Brown and Wylie, but signed Taylor to a monster contract. Would you rather have that around Allen… or Knox, Diggs, Davis, Shakir, Harty and what we hope is a solid OL? Chiefs aren’t done either … hopefully we aren’t either.

Fans like myself have, for the past few years, talked about us not doing enough on Offense and over-investing on a defense that is a regular season paper tiger. Bills are a really good team. I’ve been a fan my whole life, that will never change. Some of us are just realistic. We seem to be the ones who have been correct more often than not. Really good team that hasn’t done what is needed to overtake KC and now CIN when it matters. Also, a team that has yet to get the 1 seed. Things are fluid. One move can change an entire outlook.. so far, it’s been a lot of the same philosophy. I like the McGovern signing. I like the Harty signing, if he’s replacing McKenzie. Everything else .. meh. I don’t hate Poyer coming back, but if re-signing him and Matakevich prevents us from signing another OL or WR.. yea, don’t love it. We also have no business paying Ed Oliver 10M this year. Not when we literally witnessed Allen get hurt for half the season and be under siege quite a bit.

Fair enough .. I’ll counter with … we didn’t need to bring back Poyer. Matakevich, Neal + Poyer = (probably) around 10M this year. Ed Oliver, another 10M. What could 20M do for this Offense? Thats the question the Chiefs and Bengals seem to constantly ask themselves. Chiefs let’s their best Safety and CB walk last year. Bengals let their two starting safeties walk this year. We spend it on 2 Special Teams Aces, a Safety and an inconsistent DT.

Bengals let Bates and Bell walk, will probably lose Apple. Ok… They upgraded an OL that was already pretty good before injuries hit them last year. The only issue the Bengals will run into is of their own making … an owner that has cash flow issues. If they had Pegula, they’d be sitting pretty with what they’ve been doing lately. We don’t have to pay guys like Matakevich and Neal. We don’t have to bring back a guy like Poyer. Let’s say we kept Poyers cap hit low.. say 5M. That plus Matakevich and Neal (two ST’s guys that give us nothing on defense) is 10M … there’s you Tackle or WR first year cap hit money. Why tf is Ed Oliver still on this team? There’s 10M more. There better be another move coming, because wow… this has been underwhelming so far in relation to what the Chiefs, Bengals, Jets and Dolphins are doing.

We’re getting pretty close to me not wanting to hear him referred to as BBB ever again. We currently have 10M tied up in the following players… Matakevich, Neal, Harty and McKenzie. Why? I’m hoping another move is coming, but so far, it’s another year where we fill in perceived rotational/depth holes around the roster at the detriment of high end players. Meanwhile, the Bengals let both their starting Safeties walk and sign Orlando Brown to an OL that they already went heavy on fixing last year. Chiefs lose Orlando Brown and Andrew Wylie, but then sign Taylor on a line that already boasts the best IOL in the NFL. And they just restructured Mahomes, so I’m sure they’re not done.

My plan? Someone will give us a pick for Ed Oliver. There’s 10M. Extend Daquan Jones - frees up another couple Mil. We should probably draft a DT early anyway… Currently none under contract for ‘24.

I’m also expecting one big move/trade. Watching the Chiefs and Bengals play musical top tier Tackles while we wait isn’t ideal.

The magic is all in the pockets of the Pegula’s. Beane literally has a blank check. Not true for all GM’s.

“All of our FA spending not counting Poyer” Weve re-signed a ST Ace, Punter, Safety, tendered a CB and then signed a Guard to replace Saffold and decided to throw 3M at McKenzie’s replacement.

Dawkins was pretty meh last year. First year with Kromer and a walking disaster next to him at LG … he needs to be better this year.

Excuse me, but 1 Orlando Brown can buy you a Tyler Matakevich, Siran Neal, Deonte Harty and Connor McGovern.

Wtf lol… My goodness

Me, leaving the Orlando Brown to Bengals thread to check on .. (checks notes) Bills in on Donald Parham.

It was horrible. They were bottom third for any outlets that measures performance. Saffold was legit a one man wrecking crew, so McGovern at RG, with Bates moving back to LG, makes two positions better. Dawkins need to rebound and play like he still wants to be a LT. Morse is very good. Brown.. no idea.. Ideally (if we don’t make any FA moves) we draft a RT at 27 and Brown develops as the swing tackle if he doesn’t step up. Then draft a G/C to compete with Bates.

Contract is frontloaded, I think .. smart move. Getting it out of the way before Burrow and the WR’s hit.

I think Dawkins - Bates - Morse - McGovern - Brown can be a decent OL, but it’s extremely frustrating that Mahomes got wrecked one time in the SB and they say never again. Burrow gets beat up for a year .. never again. Allen, bottom tier OL all season, beat up, affecting his pocket presence.. literally damaged his throwing elbow… So far.. Connor McGovern … and then I have to hear Sal talk about Bills being high on a TE like Kincaid in RD1 …. FOH with that… OL or WR. This shouldn’t be so difficult.

They paid even more to sign Jawaan Taylor.