SCBills

I will never understand how Kelce is literally unguardable… Is he the best non-QB offensive weapon in football?

Bye Week. Jax. KC. I think there’s a decent shot we’re playing right now.

Starts with getting the 1 seed. Fwiw, I think we can beat the Chiefs. The Bengals were a horrible matchup at a horrible time… and it happened because we didn’t get the 1.

I’m genuinely torn on this question. Best OL players are Dawkins and Morse. Best WR is Diggs. Best TE is Knox. Best RB is Hall. Best EDGE is Von. Best DT is Quinnen. Best LB is Milano. Best CB is Sauce. Best S is Hyde. Add in the supporting cast guys which are pretty equal … I don’t know… as down as I am on the Bills re: KC/CIN, I still think our team - outside QB - is more talented than the Jets. The difference is Salah actually has his defense playing at a top tier level, whereas ours, to date, shows random flaws throughout the season and then falls apart in the playoffs. White & Elam’s play next year would start to mimic why the Jets Defense is so good, but we still don’t have a game wrecker at DT … which I’m convinced is becoming more impactful than elite EDGE rushers.

I agree that Josh just stopped looking for underneath gains, but im willing to give him an excuse that the season compounded on him, leading to his vision/play style changing. If it happens again next year, it’s a problem.

If there’s a guy within range that has WR1 potential, just go get him. I say this no matter what we do in FA. Find a way to get Meyers, OBJ etc.. ok, great, still get that guy at our pick or with a small trade up. Jordan Addison just seems absolutely perfect on this team. If he’s still there at, say, 20… I’m making the call.

That, to me, is really so frustrating .. and I blame myself a bit for it .. but I just can’t really enjoy the regular season right now. It’s all about the playoffs and we have a coaching staff that I don’t trust - AT ALL - in the post-season. So what.. our Defense plays well against KC again next year in the regular season?… Cool! Apparently it doesn’t matter because A) It doesn’t translate to the playoffs and B) We keep failing at getting the 1 seed. I want to enjoy the ride, but without the post-season success, it just feels like a grind … and the inevitable “wait and see” when we get there. I was desperately hoping for real change so that we could watch the evolution of this team under any type of new scheme/leadership, but it’s the same ish.. run it back. Maybe FA/Draft changes my perception. Some big shake ups like trading guys and/or surprising signings/not-signings could do that for me. But as to where we stand… I’m just exhausted with this current iteration of the Bills. I’ve flown to LA, driven to Jax, flown to Miami, made my way to any game that’s local(ish) to Atlanta over the past 3 years. And I’m just spent..

We have an ultra passionate fanbase. A lot of our fans consume a ton of content and legitimately know what they’re talking about. Of course, some don’t.. as is the case with every fanbase. As someone pointed out, this is the delayed reaction to 13 seconds. Many were gutted, but willing to accept we were close.. we were taking the steps needed. Then this year happened and we got demolished, without even getting back to the AFC CG (again). Couple that with a fanbase that has been openly questioning things like having a Defensive-minded HC, the level of investment into the Defense and many of the draft picks Beane has been making lately. When fans are furious in consecutive years with Day 2 picks (Bernard & Basham) and both times they seem to be very much justified in their questioning … it’s going to enhance the level of frustration. We needed OL & WR help, yet here we are with a useless rotation DE and a guy who can’t even see the field with injuries. The Daboll leaves, and has a ton of success, taking Hodgins with him.. who, to a lesser extent, pulls another Wyatt Teller. It’s all starting to add up. Fans are starting to feel like they know more and/or care more than a handful of people in the organization. That’s never a good place to be in. As someone pointed out the Knicks… unbelievably dedicated fanbase for what they’ve been dealt… but eventually, with repeated expectations, it reaches a boiling point and either something changes, or fans walk away. It’s better than apathy, but it’s what changes in the org/fanbase when you have expectations.

Agree completely with the OP. Even more frustrating hearing how “it’s tough to win” or “the playoffs are a crapshoot”. Ok… New England lived in the Super Bowl with Brady. KC has been there 3 of the last 4 years. The Bengals, relative newcomers, 2 years in a row in the AFC Championship Game. McDermott should get one more year to get us, at least, back to the AFC Championship Game. If not, and even depending on how that game goes - should we not advance to the SB, discussions of moving on from him need to be had.

Thankful for Diggs. If we had more like him, I’d be much more confident in this team. Diggs is very self aware. He knows he has 2-3 more prime years left in him. He’s not Josh Allen, who will have, potentially, a decade more of chances as a top dog. Some here mentioning Allen didn’t give off the confidence vibes we were hoping to see in the playoffs … and that’s valid. However, I can’t get past the fact he has far less to work with than Mahomes or Burrow. His OL, when healthy, was worse than KC/CIN, and his WR2 is incapable of running a quick passing game. Add in the lack of a reliable slot, and we start to see why he reverted to trying to constantly push the ball down the field. That all came to a head against the Bengals.

“We can’t afford him” (Whispers) Trade Oliver and let Edmunds walk Im not saying we should do this .. I’m just saying we can Epenesa is the guy I worry could be the defensive Wyatt Teller. Not a pro-bowler at EDGE, but a legit pass rusher. He’s got some ability and is still figuring it out after our staff put him through a failed body transformation.

I voted option 2 … wanting some real change. For me, that constitutes two things I doubt will happen: -Let Frazier go -Trade Ed Oliver We need new blood leading this defense, if for nothing else, a coordinator that is playoff capable. Ed Oliver is likely not in our future plans. He’s eating 11.5M in cap space. He’s good enough that someone will give us a pick for him .. Day 2 pick?.. eh, I don’t know.. Day 3 pick?.. fine by me, just get his cap hit off the team so we can spend it on offense.

Agree, about 90%. I'm starting to think pass rush from the interior is more important than from off the edge. Age aside, would you rather have a Chris Jones or a Von Miller? With these quick passing offenses, it's more about disruption in the lap of the QB and the quickest route to the QB is up the middle. It's another reason why the Ed Oliver pick was such a big miss. Imagine Jeffrey Simmons next to Daquan Jones? We could be fine with Epenesa & Basham types off the edge because the interior would be collapsed with regularity. As much as I loathe the obsessive Defensive investment.... I think Beane SERIOUSLY needs to look at getting small, undersized Oliver, with his big cap hit, off this roster and replaced with another Daquan Jones.... and tbh, if he trades Oliver, I'd be ok with a high pick DT investment.

This is the Chiefs 3rd Super Bowl in 4 years. Eagles 2nd in 6. CFP ran into this with Clemson and Alabama constantly going to the Playoffs/Championship and the game being all the way out in San Francisco. Also, KC is a rabid fanbase, but they don't seem to have national pull. I don't see them taking over stadiums like some of the other notable fanbases.

Nah, not about to criticize Beane for signing Von to (essentially) a 3 year deal. Defensive Line is THE most important part of your Defense - and is critical to post-season success. Year 1 didn't work out. It is what it is. I still believe Von will give us above average DE play with elite flashes in big moments for the next 2 years. To me, that's worth the monetary investment at that position. What we should do with the DL this off-season, however, is clean up the mistakes and prepare for the future.. -Ship Oliver and Basham out of here for whatever we can get. -Extend Daquan Jones. -Work out a way to get Jerry Hughes back. -Draft a space eating DT. -Bring back Shaq and Phillips. Gives us Von, Hughes, Rousseau, Epenesa and Shaq at EDGE, with Daquan, Draft Pick, Settle and Phillips inside. Also gives us Von, Rousseau, Daquan and a Draft Pick locked up past next year.

6/120 would be mind numbing... 7/120, I could live with... and it might actually make sense to give Edmunds a massively long deal given how young he is. Would allow for quite a bit of flexibility in terms of backloading and the ability to restructure down the line.

If Addison falls to 20.. I'm going to be anxiety ridden every pick waiting to see we traded up.

Can I interest you in a defensive assistant from the Panthers?

It's just a different world that we're now living in. Every decision has to be weighed against the question "Does this help us win a Super Bowl"? As of right now, we can't even get back to the AFC Championship Game. The reason for that is because KC and Cincinnati also have elite QB's and are out-performing us in recent drafts and off-season decision making... amongst other issues like being superior to us in terms of coaching and coordinators. We could be better in coaching, free agency and drafting than every other team in the AFC but the Chiefs and Bengals... but if we can't get past either of them when it matters, that's a massive problem. Von going down was a killer. There should be some grace for that. If Chris Jones goes down like Von did, KC is not in the Super Bowl. However, when we're at 3 years in a row of this.. you start to lose the fanbase when it comes to, perhaps, valid excuses (Von, Hyde, Hamlin, Kim etc.,)

Rousseau in a nice DL2 when you have an elite DL1 out there.. which we had with Von. Think Frank Clark with Chris Jones. Frank Clark isn't doing anything to scare anyone when Chris Jones isn't on the field, but when Jones has been out there the past few years, a guy like Clark becomes dangerous. With where we're drafting, it may make more sense to look for elite pocket collapsing DT's. Then we can take flyers on pass rushers to look better than they are if we constantly have top tier DT play.. and then hope we hit on one and/or have the ability to bring in a big FA every few years.

I'm looking at this off-season to see if our FO starts acting proactively. You make a great point here. The proactive move would be trading Oliver, maybe even trading Epenesa for a late round pick. Neither should be in their plans moving forward. Neither is integral to our Defense. We could desperately use a couple extra Day 3 picks. We could desperately use the 12M in cap space. Looking past '23, the only DL under contract are Von, Rousseau and Basham. If I were GM.. Extend Daquan Jones, trade Oliver and AJ, give Kingsley Jonathan a shot at DE5, bring back Shaq and Phillips and draft a DT. Von, Rousseau, Shaq, Basham, Kingsley Daquan, Settle, Phillips, DT Draft Pick Under contract for '24: Von, Rousseau, Basham, Daquan, DT Draft Pick.

I'd agree. Everyone would likely be gone. That's just how it goes in the NFL. If you can't lock down the QB position, you're a year to year HC/GM. Outside Allen, he's definitely been a mixed bag. Day 1 has been solid. Diggs, Edmunds, Rousseau (good). Oliver (bad). Elam (TBD). Day 2 has been an absolute mess. Day 3 has also been solid. Free Agency has been below average. Way too much focus on OL depth/flex and DL rotation (which has produced poor results). Not enough focus on WR and legit protection for Allen. We also have paid quite a bit for ST's depth guys.. a strange luxury to focus on when you have such an expensive roster. Jones and Von were steps in the right direction. Not much we can do when our two best DL, both acquired via FA, missed the game that ended our season. Nice point about the 5th year options. If we were always going to extend Edmunds, why on earth did we wait, knowing this likely cost us a few million when we put a better DL in front of him for much of the season in his contract year? Why did we pick up Oliver's 5th year option? That 11.5M could be used to sign a premium OL or towards a Meyers or OBJ in FA. Maybe we trade him, but this team continues to NOT do things that seem obvious to everyone, so...

I have no interest in a guy who may be able to do this, or may be able to do that... positional flex bla bla... enough.. just give Josh Allen a good OL. If that means taking a guy who's a slam dunk at RT, but only RT, so be it. Spencer Brown can become the swing tackle and take on the Bobby Hart role in heavy personnel. If that means signing/drafting a Guard high, just do it. If the biggest help Allen gets this off-season is a RD3 pick in OT Bergeron and us kicking him inside to cross train at Guard, I might lose it.

Take a Day 3 RB and let Singletary walk. I don't even want him back on a minimum deal. Cook Day 3 Pick Hines This team doesn't have the need, nor the luxury, to be taking a RB anywhere in the Top 100 picks.

Allen obviously saves Beane, but that's the case for any GM. Joe Douglas is in hot water with half the fanbase because he keeps missing on QB and OL despite some big hits. Trade for Diggs was a great move. Can't have a RD1 discussion without that. Outside Allen, I'd say Edmunds and Rousseau are good for where they were drafted. Neither is a bust and both are high potential guys with a floor being an above average player at their position. Oliver was a big miss. He's one of the most frustrating draft picks of the Beane era. We will likely never draft that high for a long time and we completely missed. This guy likely isn't a building block and he's not been a difference maker. Top 10 pick... wasted. Elam, I like a lot. No clue what the problem was, but Beane can't make McD/Frazier give guys playing time and allow them to play through mistakes. I'm expecting him to be very good, but it's obviously too early to tell. Now Day 2.... Day 2 is where Beane needs to get his act together.