SoTier

Excellent post. I think that the Bills are at the point where grabbing a real difference maker in the first round regardless of position will pay the biggest dividends in the future, especially when the depth of the WR class means that there will be good WRs available in the second. I think that Beane's moves in FA suggest that he's leaning that way himself; he's filled the glaring holes so he has the freedom to take somebody he likes best, especially if one of the two centers projected as first rounders happen to fall. If the Bills don't go WR in the first round, I wouldn't be surprised if they traded up in the second to grab one.

I like Gabe Davis as a $4-6 million a year WR but not for $39 million for 3 years. He's simply not consistent enough. Like you, I don't assume that Diggs is finished. He seemed to have been double teamed constantly toward the end of the season, which suggests that the other Bills receiving options weren't effective enough to force defenders to make hard choices on coverage. IMO using Diggs in the slot seems a waste of his talent, but maybe the Bills wanted to see if Davis could step up to become a reliable downfield WR on the outside. Davis didn't/couldn't, so the Bills let him walk.

Miami did not get stronger. They lost their best defensive player plus some other key players and have replaced them with guys at as "sketchy" talent/experience wise as the Bills signees. A wash. How did KC get better? They had to trade away their DB Snead for next to nothing because of cap issues. If there are questions about the Bills signing Samuel, then signing Hollywood Brown is just as questionable. Pitt will be improved if Russell Wilson can regain his Seattle form, but the Jests have put all their hopes on a forty-one-year-old QB coming off an Achilles injury who is flirting with politics and who will play behind a newly assembled OL filled with older guys or guys coming off injuries or both. Baltimore, Cincy, and Cleveland are in the same boat as the Bills, KC and Miami: since they're paying franchise QBs, they have limited cap room so they can't make tremendous improvements via FA. The draft is probably much more crucial in determining which of the top AFC teams improve than FA. I enjoyed Davis' long TDs as much as any Bills fan but it's very hard to deny the balls he dropped and how he so often failed to get open. What makes your TD/reception stat irrelevant to determining a receiver's play is that it ignores how many times the receiver was targeted, made catches or dropped the ball. I think that for receivers, TDs per target would be a more useful stat than TDs per catch. Of course, stats can't measure clutch plays, and Davis failed to make too many clutch plays to be worth what the Jags paid him.

Reality check. The Bills drafted Elam at #23 after KC drafted Mcduffie at #21. I'm not sure if the Chiefs traded up to do that.

Yes ... which should be later in the third round since Atlanta has made some significant moves to challenge Jax in the AFC South this coming season.

My two favorite Dylan tunes ... This was the Beatles first performance in the US. Then there was the "Motown Sound" ... The Supremes ... The Four Tops ...

Even if the Jests were good enough to win the AFCE, that's just the start of the playoff gauntlet. I didn't pay much attention to how Rodgers was lured to the Jests, but as they began adding Rodgers' pals, it seemed likely. Owners who think they're football geniuses never blame themselves.

That's how I feel, too. McDermott and his staff seem to get the best out of most of their DBs. Jordan Poyer didn't start any games in his first two seasons. He started only 10 games out of 20 games he played for the Browns in his last 2 seasons with the Browns. I doubt that any Bills fan seven years ago thought he would become an All Pro.

^^^ ^^^ Every divisional game is tough, and games against the perennial bottom feeder divisional rivals are especially for dominant divisional leaders because beating the Bills or Chiefs is the poorer divisional rivals seasonal highlight. Rinse and repeat. As somebody else posted, I'll believe it when I see it.

LOL. I don't know of any other team that has been picked so many times to win the Super Bowl by media mavens and their fan base in the off season only to fail to even make the playoffs as the Jests. The Jests haven't even made the playoffs since 2010 when Rex Ryan coached guys like Darelle Revis, Mark Sanchez, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Braylon Edwards. They've had 1 winning season and haven't had a winning season since 2015.

My bad!

Many of the Bills first round picks after the AFL/NFL merger in 1966, held out ... starting out with OJ Simpson, first pick in the 1969, Cousineau, #1 pick in 1979, and Bruce Smith, the #1 pick in the 1985 draft. Cousineau played in the CFL until the Bills' rights expired and allowed him to sign with the Browns. Kelly chose to play in the USFL and finally signed after the USFL folded. The primary reason for all of these hold-outs was money first and the Bills organization second since the Bills were largely uncompetive for most of the 1970s as well as in the 1980s after Chuck Knox departed and before Marv Levy was hired as HC.

I find it interesting that a thread about "The 60s Music" doesn't mention Bob Dylan whose folk songs became anthems for the civil rights and anti-war movements or the Beatles who had a profound influence on American music, including sparking the "British Invasion" of the US music.

Teams that play in the domes frequently have trouble winning when they play outside, especially in the playoffs. I disagree. Top FAs look at the compensation and the organization before they consider weather in potential landing sites. I think that the Bills would have no trouble attracting top FA WRs if they pursued one. I suspect that most NFL WRs would love to have Josh Allen throwing them the ball even in cold weather.

NFL QBs still have to play in the cold, especially in the playoffs.

I think that people in general -- not just people today or just people in the US -- have this inclination to assume that somebody who excels in some field or endeavor is virtuous in his/her private life. We tend to forget that physical ability or scientific skill and understanding or artistic or literary talent or political acumen doesn't necessarily translate into a person's character/personality.

It may very well be that the Cheetah unconsciously picks those kinds of women, too. Some people are attracted to individuals who are really poison for them. They gravitate towards people who abuse them or cheat on them or gamble or drink to excess or are mentally unstable etc while ignoring people who treat them decently, don't have vices and/or are mentally stable. They can't seem to help themselves.

At first they'll be ecstatic, but maybe in the future not so much. Half of all QBs drafted in the first round are disappointments if not outright busts. Moreover, the last USC QB to become a successful NFL QB was 20 plus years ago despite the fact that probably more USC QBs have been drafted at the top of the first round than any other school. 2018 - #3 - Sam Darnold 2009 - #5 - Mark Sanchez 2006 - #10 - Matt Leinart 2003 - #1 - Carson Palmer PS: other USC QBs haven't been outstanding since 2003 either: 2016 Cody Kessler 4th round 2013 Matt Barkley 3rd round 2008 John David Booty 5th round 2005 Matt Cassel 7th round

When I heard that the Stillers traded for Fields, I thought that they had acquired another QB who would fit whatever offense they were planning in Pittsburgh. Wilson's success in Seattle was always anchored by a stout defense, a strong running game, and a quick-strike passing game. The Stillers have the stout defense and the strong running game. They need Wilson to give them that nice long ball he had with Seattle as well as the good decisions and leadership that made him a starter as a rookie. I think that Wilson's decision-making and leadership will likely give him the edge over Fields for this coming season. From what I've seen of Fields, he's physically very much like Wilson in his prime, so I think that Pittsburgh is thinking/hoping that working with Wilson and better coaching will enable Fields to become significantly better. I disagreed with your post because "flailing" implies trying and failing, but IMO the Bills weren't really trying to win football games. I don't believe that Bills were seriously interested in winning football games after Bill Polian was fired. With the departure of John Butler and AJ Smith for San Diego, the Bills entered "The Drought" because Ralph Wilson increasingly put profits ahead of winning football games. That didn't change until after the Pegulas became the owners.

If a team doesn't find itself a franchise QB -- somebody on the level of Flacco or Cousins in their prime or a Tua or Purdy -- they have virtually no shot at anything beyond maybe backing into a wildcard berth and being 1 and done. Statistically, about half of the QBs taken in the first round of any draft fail to become franchise QBs despite being given every opportunity (sometimes multiple ones) to do so. For QBs taken on Day 2 or 3 of the draft, the chances are miniscule. Finding a franchise QB is finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, which is why teams like the Browns and Broncos mortgaged their futures to grab "proven" ones. The Stillers have grabbed a "proven" QB as well as a young QB who has shown some flashes for practically nothing in terms of what other teams have spent to acquire one of either type. It may not work out but if it doesn't, they aren't shackled by their gambles. I always liked Russell Wilson, so I hope that you are right. I would like to see Russ take the Stillers (my second favorite team) to the AFC Conference Championship game only to lose to the Bills in January.

Truth. Look at the Jests ... it's been about a quarter of a century since they hit on a decent franchise QB in the first round (or any round) with Chad Pennington taken #18 in 2000 (the same draft that produced Mike Vick and Tom Brady) who couldn't stay healthy ... and about 60 years since they drafted a first round QB who was a bonafide franchise QB (Joe Namath) ... and their current QB is 40-years-old and thinking about running for VP!

If the Bills didn't have Allen, they would have lots more cap space, wouldn't they?

What is there to LOL about? They don't have a good enough position in the draft to get a top QB, and they don't have enough draft capital to move up. They signed a FA QB who was once considered a shoo-in for the HOF on a cheap, prove-it deal, and then they traded a next-to-nothing to get a former first round QB who seems to have at least the potential to be a decent NFL starter, which their former starting QB lacked. They've improve their QB situation significantly with hardly any impact to their cap space. Exactly. I think it's a brilliant solution to the situation that the Steelers found themselves in when it became apparent that Pickett, like about half of QBs drafted in the first round, wasn't starter material.

I'm assuming that you mean the Bills have only used 1 first round draft pick on a WR. That's a fair criticism. For myself, I'm not particularly interested on where the Bills get their weapons nor am I particularly attached to official positions. IMO, you have to consider both RB James Cook (2022 2nd round) and TE Dalton Kincaid (2023 1st round) as serious weapons in Allen's arsenal. I do think that the Bills need to add a fast WR to stretch the field, something that the Bills haven't had recently, so I would like to see them draft a WR in the first or second round, especially because this WR class is so deep.

Gary Puckett was the lead singer of the Union Gap.