MJS

This only one year of data, remember. Many superbowl winning teams the past decade have been top 5 in special teams DVOA.

This is also only one season of data. I bet Andy Reid has historically invested more in special teams. They went through some changes last year. Bill Belichick historically invests a lot in special teams as well, but he was low in 2022. A lot of changes with the Patriots lately.

Every single team pays an exclusive long snapper. Every single one.

Well, I think we can all agree that it sucks to be the Steelers, who are paying by far the most money to special teamers and had the 27th ranked special teams unit. If you are going to pay so much, you have to at least be good at it. Terrible job by them. The Vikings are paying as much as the Bills and had the 30th ranked unit. Really poor.

Special teams contributes stolen possessions too. If you can cause a turnover, or block a punt, etc. Or return one for a TD. Even just a long return that starts your offense in field goal range. That can swing a game. Those big plays really make an impact. Yes, they don't happen all the time, but they happen enough to make a difference, even if you don't see the value in hidden yardage (which I think most coaches would disagree with you anyway on that).

Some other interesting things I noticed: Baltimore has excellent special teams, but they use a lot of their starters and veterans on special teams. So, even though they are low on the above table, it's because they are having their guys take a larger role than average on special teams. This made me think of their injury issues rhe last couple of years. Are they taxing their starters too much? On the other side of the coin you have the Giants, who also had a lot of their starters and role players contributing on special teams. Why? Because they were a team deficient in talent. I think on most teams some of those special teams guys would not be contributing on offense and defense. Daboll did a good job of maximizing everyone's talent, similar to McDermott in his first year. Tampa Bay was one of the outliers. To me, having good special teams is caused by the following: having good coaches, having a talented roster, having continuity in core contributors, and being willing to invest some money in it. Some of those things also contribute to having a good team overall, and being a playoff contender every year. I don't think anyone thinks good special teams causes you to be a superbowl contender. But it certainly helps when one or two possessions or a few yards here and there make a difference, which it often does.

I see this thrown around a lot about the Bills, that they pay their special teamers the most in the league, and especially that they roster too many primary special teams players. They claim that other teams only roster 2 or 3, while the BIlls roster 4 or 5. So, I ran the numbers, because I really didn't know if that was true. For this exercise, I looked at snap percentages for each team. I considered a primary special teamer as a player who played approximately 30% or more of the total special teams snaps for the team and who had less than 15% total snaps for either offense or defense. I also removed Kickers, Punters, and Long Snappers, because every team needs those specialists and their roster spots are guaranteed. I then recorded the 2022 cap hit for each of those players (from overthecap.com) to see how teams compared in both the number of primary special teamers and the cap hits associated with them. Here are the results for the Bills: For the league: Findings: - There were 16 teams who rostered more primary special teams players than the Bills. This includes good teams like the Bengals, Cowboys, 49ers, Eagles, and Chargers, plus our divisional opponents in the Jets and Dolphins. The average was 5.5 players, so the Bills were just below average in the number of these types of players rostered (Myth Busted!) - Five teams spend more than the Bills in total for these players: Steelers, Texans, Jaguars, Bengals, and Vikings. - The Bills ranked 3rd in the cap hit per player for these primary special teams players at $1.68 million. The Steelers and Texans pay more per player. (Myth Kinda Busted. They pay their teamers well, just not the most in the league) Here are the top cap hits in the league for primary special teamers in 2022. The Bills had 2 in the top 15. The Taxans and Steelers also had multiple: In conclusion: the Bills do not roster too many primary special teams players. In fact, many teams roster more. The Bills are on the lower end. But, the Bills DO pay their special teamers well, with two teamers in the top 15 of the league (in 2022, at least). And the results can be seen in the Bills fielding one of the best, or the best, special teams units in the league. Joe Marino from Locked on Bills did an analysis awhile back looking at super bowl winning teams and found that most of them had good special teams units. There were a few outliers, but having a top 5 special teams unit is one of those marks of a good team, and even a super bowl contender.

That's the amount everyone thought he would get.

That's free agency. You want to sign a starter? You will overpay. Poor players get paid like average players, average players get paid like good players, good players get paid like elite players, etc.

Can you share?

How do you know? How do you know?

Nor can any other team in the NFL.

This is how I feel. Comp picks should not be a thing.

Good thing he is a top notch coach as well.

I would LOVE to have him. Perfect compliment to our backfield.

It's just a he-said, she-said case now. I can see both sides. One of them is lying. Rich and powerful people like Irvin think they can get away with anything, though. Add alcohol and you have a walking, talking, potential lawsuit around every corner.

Zay came into the league soft and immature, in my opinion. He had to grow up and mature, and also learn how to play with an edge.

Interesting. I had never even heard of him.

Yeah, but the fans didn't know about Poyer. I was pretty nervous going into the year with him as the starter. I was pretty confident and happy with Hyde. As for Zay Jones, he is doing pretty well now. Just took him awhile. But it goes to show that no draft pick is a 100% certainty. Doesn't matter what information you think you had.

I know Green Bay fans were sad to lose him. It was pretty well known that Hyde would be a good player. Poyer was the big surprise.

This almost never happens for any team.

The success of a team is determined by how many players they trade for draft picks? The Bills have tons of good players that they drafted the in thus regime. And they kept them because they are good players!

It's just a commonly held misconception. Some believe McDermott is bad at game management. There was an analysis posted here awhile ago that refuted that and showed that he is one of the best in just about every category besides challenges. It was Leslie's decision to take a year off. Besides, his contract was up.

There are a lot of options at safety and linebacker in free agency this year.

He hasn't. He has literally been one of the best in the league. Yeah, I'm sure McDermott would be so willing to do that...