SoTier

Do you even know who Connor McGovern is? I mean, the Connor McGovern the Bills signed as an UFA from Dallas in 2023 is definitely an impact player. The other Connor McGovern is a well-traveled JAG center for Broncos, Jests, Saints, and the Jests again. Adding McGovern as a guard to the Bills OL in 2023, significantly improved that unit. Moving McGovern to C in 2024 to replace Mitch Morse helped make the Bills OL one of the best units in the NFL. What team allowed the fewest QB sacks in 2024? Oh, yeah, that talentless Bills OL allowed only 14 QB sacks. Moreover, the Bills running game in 2024 was #9 in rushing yards, #12 in yards per carry, and #1 in rushing TDs. Dawkins, Brown, and McGovern are all impact players. That you ignore the importance of the Bills OL to the team's success demonstrates your ignorance. The last time I looked, 2023 was only 2 years ago. Connor McGovern is most definitely an impact player.

Another post, another demonstration of your ignorance. Signed: 2023 - Connor McGovern Drafted: 2022 - James Cook, Khalil Shakir

With Darnold in that 2018 draft, Beane had no worries. The Jests just can't say "no" to USC QBs.

I wouldn't trade up too high for a CB because good ones can be found in the 20s (Tre White was #27 IIRC), but if the Bills really like a DE or DT, they should go get him, even moving up into the top half of the first round if necessary.

I think that the only way the Bills are likely to get a ready-to-start DLer in the draft is to trade up into the top half of the draft. I don't think they have enough draft capital to get to the top ten, but in a draft deep in DL talent, top half of the first might be enough. Aaron Donald went #13 in 2014. Jared Verse went #19 in 2024 when 6 QBs were taken in the first 12 picks. The Bills first and one of their seconds and another pick or two or a player could get them into the top half of the draft.

I'm going to be kind and call your first paragraph hyperbole. Maybe if you were the Bills owner, you would fire him, but Terry Pegula won't. I seriously doubt that any current NFL owner would do that. In 2018, Beane was a first time GM without a lot of hands-on personnel management experience. He was also scrambling to fill a roster that was seriously lacking in NFL caliber talent (except for a handful of 2nd year players drafted by McDermott in 2017) for an organization that had a reputation as being second-rate at best. Fast forward seven years, and Beane is considered one of the best GMs in the NFL having built a perennial Super Bowl contender, drafted the NFL MVP, and remade the Bills reputation into one of the best run organizations in the NFL. Terry Pegula is not firing Beane for missing on some modestly priced FAs that's assuming that said modestly priced FAs all fail. Beane didn't "put his neck out there" at all. Another TSW GM wannabe full of hyperbole. The Bills are certainly not "completely deprived of top talent outside of Allen". The Bills have one of the best OLs in the NFL. They have one of the best OLs in the NFL. James Cook is one of the most explosive RBs, a threat to score every time he carries or catches the ball. Shakir was second in the NFL in YAC. Benford is one of the top young CBs in the NFL. More importantly, collecting a few big name stars doesn't make a good team. See the perennial basket case NY Jests. FTR, Daniel Jones recently signed for $14 million, so you are talking about backup/low end starter QBs. Not many teams, including the Chiefs and Eagles, would make the playoffs with such a low end signal caller. Put a decent franchise level QB on the Bills like Darnold or Goff, and the Bills would remain a playoff contender.

Fact: Elam was the only first round bust out of 6 shots in Beane's tenure. The other 5 are all starters in the NFL even if not on the Bills. Fact: Ford and Basham were the only 2 second round busts out of 5 shots in Beane's tenure even if some on TSW have the pitchforks out for Epenesa. About half of all first round picks don't become stars even if they aren't out right busts. Maybe a quarter or third of second round picks become quality starters, and they usually take a couple of seasons to fully develop. The Eagles won because their defense had a collective career day, and the Chiefs played their worst game of the entire season. Brown was a third rounder, which would put him on Day 2. So I would say Day 2 and Day 3 have been above average. "Difference makers" don't come along every day. KC drafted Travis Kelce in 2013, Chris Jones and Tyreek Hill in 2016, and Patrick Mahomes and Kareem Hunt in 2017. After that they got Nick Bolton, Creed Humphrey, and Trey Smith in 2021, and Trent McDuffie in 2022. Most of their picks since they got Mahomes have been more of the "good/above average" guys about on a par with what the Bills have done in the draft. Again, like the Bills, they made their one move up for a QB pay off in spades. That tops everything.

So ends the Jests latest quest for the Holy Grail (ie, a QB to lead them to the playoffs) .... a 49 million dollar hole.

I hope you are right about Hoecht.

I was thinking this, too. Maybe they kick in a player (like AJE, everybody's whipping boy it seems) along with some picks to move up.

This is true. The Bills don't have a virtually unlimited line of credit like the Pats and Bears appear to have, but they have a very tidy sum that allows them to shop for some nice things, albeit not designer togs. 😄

Maybe the change of scenery will work out for him. I wish him luck.

Finding a rookie DLer ready to start from opening day at #30 is a pipe dream. Those kinds of players are off the board by the middle of the first round, especially when there's not a lot of QBs to distract teams drafting at the top of the draft.

The problem with overspending on free agency to create a great team for one or two seasons is that it only guarantees that the cap hit will come due whether or not the team wins a Super Bowl. Too often great teams don't win the Super Bowl even if they make it the big game. The Bills are drafting at the bottom of each round (#30 in round 1). The chances of finding a ready-to-start WR or DT at that draft position are between slim and none. The Bills could draft a true stud at either WR or DT at #30, but it's most likely going to take a couple of seasons to see that great player.

I'm sorry somebody peed in your cornflakes this morning.

Carter was a rookie DT taken at the end of the third round. That's the kind of player who takes 2 or 3 years to develop into his best self because he was chosen for his potential. DT is a tough position because it not only requires young players to learn/improve their techniques but also their opponents.

If Drake Maye continues to improve, they are going to be a problem. They look like they have a plan that starts with protecting their QB and giving him some weapons.

I was a pass on Bosa originally but that was when I still had hope that MG would be in a Bills uniform for 2025. A 1 year prove it deal for $12.6 to a guy who can be a game wrecker if he can stay healthy is a whole lot better than sinking $40 million a year plus draft picks for Hendrickson or Parsons ... if they even were attainable. (Still not better than Myles even at $40 million, though). Welcome to Buffalo, Joey B.

To all the Beane-haters who dissed the GM in this thread for not being active enough in the FA, do you want to reconsider your statements since he's added Joey Bosa to the Bills DL for 1 year for $12 million?

Probably a lot better than the odds of you posting something positive about the team. The last time I looked, kidnapping is illegal. A team can't kidnap a player's family to force him to sign a contract with the Bills. For example, Devante Adams wanted to play on the West Coast, so as a FA, he made a deal with the Rams. Moreover, if you would stop wallowing in negativity and paid attention to what was going on with teams and players in the last three days or so, you would know that many of the very best players likely to become FAs chose to re-sign with their current teams. It's been remarked upon repeatedly in the media and on TSW, including Godwin turning down a much bigger deal to re-sign with the Bucs.

I don't think that the FO does poor talent evaluation. I think that many fans' expectations about first and second round draft picks are unrealistic. Most of the ready-to-start future NFL stars are found in the first ten picks of any draft, and for some coveted positions like QB, DE/EDGE or OT, it's often the top 3 to 5 picks. By the time a team gets to the prospects in the bottom half of the first round and beyond, most have question marks, frequently about size or readiness for the NFL. Although these youngsters are vetted, there's no guarantee that a tweny-two-year-old who suddenly comes into a big pile of money will continue to do the things that got him that pile of money in the first place. Beane had 6 first round picks between 2018 and 2023. Only 1 (Elam) was a bust. One was an all-time great pick (Allen). Two were solid, good to very good starters (Oliver and Rousseau). One was a decent NFL starter (Edmunds) and the last one (Kincaid) had an excellent rookie season and a not-so-good sophomore season which also included a knee injury, so the jury is still out on him. Beane had 5 second round picks between 2018 and 2023. Two were busts (Ford and Basham). One is a Pro Bowler (Cook) and the other two are solid starters (Epenesa and Torrence). I think if you looked at other top teams' entire drafts over the same period, the Bills would be right with the best of them.

I got over Garrett. You'll survive.

Samuel was battling turf toe most of the season.

I think Palmer is the guy to stretch the field like they wanted Cooper to do. I think Coleman is supposed to be the big guy they wanted to fight for contested balls, especially in the red zone.

A concussion isn't like a knee injury in which the injury heals but the player may never be able to regain his speed/agility etc. -- and you can't always judge its effect until you see the player in action. Recovery from multiple concussions can be determined without seeing a player in action. Unfortunately, repetitive concussions can make another concussion more likely, but there's no way to tell if a player who has had multiple concussions will have another one. Mitch Morse, early in his stint with the Bills, had concussion concerns. I don't think that he had another one for the rest of his career.