Inigo Montoya

Nice to see a home MNF game again. The tailgating will be EPIC. I wish I could be there... Hundreds of white plastic folding tables sacrificed to the football gods to gain their fickle favor and enough drunken tomfoolery to keep YouTube going for another year.

I think I'm in the minority here on TBD in that I don't have a favorite QB prospect. I honestly don't watch enough college football or know enough about quarterback development to have an informed opinion on who the best QB is. I just hope the Bills get their man and if that means "selling the farm" to move up, or sitting at 12 and grabbing a Rudolph or Jackson, I'll be just as happy. At the end of the day, I'm trusting Beane and McDermott to do the right thing. I'll root for whoever they draft.

I agree that one or two of the big four will probably be there at pick 5. The question is, how many of the big four QBs do the Bills feel good about? If the Bills would be happy with any of the four, then I agree with you, a trade up to 5 makes sense. If McBeane only likes one or two of them, then what if they are both gone by pick 3? That's my argument. I would not be happy to trade up to draft Chubb or Barkley. If we are going to trade up it needs to be for a QB. If we could all see the Bills' draft board and see how they rank the big four QBs, there would be no argument between us. I suspect they are not sold on all four of them.

Fair points Boatdrinks... I think we'll just have to agree to disagree. There is still a chance that the Bills QB(s) will be gone by 3. I'd rather have picks 12 and 22 than pick 5. It would probably cost us some of our 2nd and 3rd rounders to move up too. If we can't get our elite QB I'd rather have all of those draft picks to fill the holes on this roster.

I would respectfully disagree that we should trade to 5 now. What if the Giant's pick isn't for sale, what if they want Barkley or Chubb and won't trade out? Even if the Giant's pick is for sale, I see no chance Gettleman trades out until draft night before he sees what he can get for it. That pick will be worth more on draft night than it is today. What if the Bills only have one or two QBs in this draft that they feel strongly about and they are both gone by pick 3? I don't think Beane should trade to 5 now. Beane needs to wait until draft night to see what happens. No point in trading to 5 now when there is no guarantee you can trade higher or that the QB(s) you are targeting will even be there. Now you've wasted draft capital and come away without your QB.

There are so many moving parts in this draft process that it's simply impossible to know how things are going to work out. 1. Who do the Bills have as their #1 QB? 2. Do the Bills believe more than one QB is worth an aggressive trade up for? 3. Will the Bills be able to find a partner to trade up with? 4. Will the Bills QB(s) be gone before they can trade up? 5. Do the Bills see a prospect like Randolph or Jackson as viable alternatives later in the 1st? 6. Will the Bills feel pressured to trade up to snag a Randolph or Jackson to prevent another team (Pats/Phins/Cards) from grabbing them? 7. If everything falls to sh** on draft day, and the Bills don't get a QB they want, is there a trade for Foles in the works? I enjoy looking at mock drafts and enjoy all the speculation here on this board about the draft. The truth of the matter is that there are so many variables that can't be controlled for that any predictions and mocks about who the Bills are going to grab at QB are pointless. Entertaining, but pointless.

I didn’t expect or understand the pay cut this year either. He was clearly their best offensive lineman and wasn’t on some exorbitant contract. The amount of savings for the team was tiny and now they have another hole to fill. Say what you want about Incognito’s quirkiness, but the guy was playing lights out since he came to Buffalo and he earned that pay raise. We are a worse team without him.

I think McBeane will survive either way based on the way they have conducted business and the relationship they seem to have with the Pegulas. I don't see the Pegulas as the type of owners to flit from coach to coach, GM to GM. I think they would like to have some stability in the organization. I think the Pegulas understand that selecting a QB is always a crap shoot and all you can do is gather as much information about the prospects as you can to try and make an informed decision. It's then incumbent upon the entire organization to do what ever they can to give that prospect their best chance at success. They need to be smart and active in free agency next year when they have the money to spend to improve the supporting cast for whom ever they select this year. Like most, I expect most of this year's draft capital and possibly even next year's to be expended grabbing the guy they like. Hopefully they can continue to find talent in the later rounds of the draft again. It seems so far that McBeane has a good eye for football talent.

The character issue is important. How much a player's on field talent will mitigate their character issues in McDermott's judgement is anyone's guess. What is clearly evident after watching McDermott's team is that whatever he is doing, it seems to be working. This team is much more disciplined. I don't spend every Sunday screaming at the TV over the latest, ridiculous, unnecessary, and costly penalty committed by an undisciplined Buffalo Bill that costs the team dearly. I hope he continues to find players that fit his "process". So far it seems to be working.

@26CornerBlitz The article is a two part feature. I’m responding to today’s article which is the second part. I think it’s a good read if you have the time.

There is a great article on ESPN's website today by Bill Barnwell that thoroughly chronicles how hard it is to evaluate a QB in the draft. It is definitely worth the read. There is one paragraph in particular that really struck me, and I'm inclined to agree with it. "As I mentioned earlier this year in talking about Case Keenum, the old trope about how there aren't 32 good starting quarterbacks to go around is naive. The problem is that there aren't 32 good quarterback situations to play within, a reality that was reinforced by the success of Keenum and Foles after they looked disastrously bad under Jeff Fisher with the Rams. Teams that are spending every waking hour worrying about picking the right guy are likely kidding themselves to think that they can reliably pick the best quarterback from this group. They should worry about making themselves the right fit for whoever they end up choosing." It made me think about the current state of our Bills. If we do trade up to grab one of the Blue Chip QBs this year, it will take the lion's share of our draft capital this year and possible our first round pick next year. As any Bills' fan will admit, we have a lot of holes on this team. Our WR corps is incredibly suspect. We have major holes at LB, and our O-Line is not what anyone would call a strength. (UPDATE: Incognito just retired) Enter a rookie QB on this team that is more than just a QB away from being a contender. Who does he have on the coaching staff to help guide him to become a franchise QB, to help him overcome a less than stellar supporting cast? Who is the QB whisperer for the Bills? What about the head coach? Nope, it's not going to be McDermott, he's a defensive guru. What about the Bill's QB coach? The Bills QB coach is David Culley. He was hired last year by the Bills and this is his first shot at being a QB coach in the pros. He has been a NFL coach since 1994 but has been a wide receiver coach for all of it. He was a QB coach at the college level, but that was from 1985-88 for Southwestern Louisiana. What ever you feel about Tyrod Taylor, he didn't really blossom last year under Culley. I don't think we can call him a QB Whisperer. Below is his coaching resume'. 1994-95 Tampa Bay WR Coach 1996-98 Pittsburgh WR Coach 1999-10 Philly WR Coach 2011-12 Philly WR Coach / Senior Offensive Assistant 2013-16 Kansas City WR Coach / Assistant Head Coach 2017- Buffalo QB Coach What about the Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll? Is he a QB Whisperer? Below are his NFL coaching positions since he joined the NFL. I don't think anyone can look at his resume' below and objectively and say that he is a QB Whisperer. 2000-01 New England Defensive coaching assistant 2002-06 New England WR coach 2007-08 New York Jets QB coach (Chad Pennington's last NYJ year / Kellen Clemens) 2009-10 Cleveland Offensive Coordinator (Derek Anderson) 2011 Miami Offensive Coordinator (Chad Henne / Matt Moore) 2012 Kansas City Offensive Coordinator (Matt Cassel / Brady Quinn) 2013 New England Offensive Assistant 2014-16 New England Tight End Coach 2017 Alabama Offensive Coordinator and QB Coach (Jalen Hurts) So we have a team full of holes including the O-Line and WRs, and no one on the coaching staff that has demonstrated any ability to nurture a QB. The question may not be which of the QBs in this year's draft is the best fit for the Bills, but rather, are the Bills going to be a good fit for any of the QBs in this year's draft? I don't want to poke a stick in the eye of the "draft a QB this year no matter the cost" crowd, but it looks like we might just be setting up whomever we draft this year for failure. Might it be better to fill the holes in the roster with this years draft? Unload a bunch of Terry and Kim's money to lure away a proven QB guru from another team in the 2019 off season, and then "sell the farm" next year to grab the best QB in the draft. Then you will give whomever we draft, the player we are "selling the farm" for, the best possible chance to succeed? We need to maximize the chance that our QB is not just the right QB, but also in the right situation to succeed. Some may counter that we should "sell the farm" for a QB this year and then have him sit a year behind McCarron. My response would be that if there is a QB in this year's draft who is such an amazing prospect that it will be worth it to "sell the farm" to get him, then why does he need to sit a year? Luck didn't sit. Newton didn't sit. Wentz didn't sit. Mariota and Winston didn't sit. Eli, Peyton, Big Ben, Russell Wilson, Derek Carr etc, etc... All of them played rookie year. If this year's QB is all that and a bag of chips, why cant we just start him this year? Ultimately, we may be a year too early in rolling the dice on our franchise QB (and a roll of the dice it will be as evidenced by the perpetual "which QB do we draft" battles on this board). If there was an Andrew Luck in this year's draft I would be all for doing whatever it takes to grab him. But the truth of the matter is... there isn't. There may be some wisdom in building a team that will support our rookie QB first, instead of having a rookie QB come in who will be expected to succeed in-spite of his supporting cast. Just some food for thought before the draft. I will now sit back and await my public lashings...

I listened to a little bio and interview with Vander Eshe on NFL Radio a couple weeks ago and he sounds like a McDermott kind of guy. He came from a small school in a rural area and he actually played 8 on 8 football when he was in high school, so there was a huge jump moving to 11 on 11 when he went to college but he apparently adapted quickly. It sounds like he has a motor and a hell of a work ethic, and according to the draftniks talking about him during the radio show, he probably has the highest ceiling of any of the LBs in this draft because he is still learning the nuances of the position. I guess he packed on 20 lbs of muscle before the combine and he still really moved well.

So far I think Beane and McDermott have been spot on evaluating talent. After we traded away our secondary last year I expected us to get torched every week, but they brought in less expensive guys though the draft and in free agency who could ball and our secondary ended up being a strength. (I know Beane wasn't there for the draft) If we don't spend the lion's share of our picks on a QB, I hope McDermott finds his Luke Keuchly LB in this draft. There are several good prospects at LB but I won't pretend to know enough about each of them to say who they should grab. They seem to like multi-year starters, team captains, high motor, high football IQ kind of guys. Solid team players. There's a good chance we get 4 or 5 above average starters on cheap rookie contracts for this depleted roster out of this year's draft. That would be a fantastic foundation to build on. Maybe McCarron is a diamond in the rough or we grab our guy at 12, if not, hopefully the QB gods will smile on us next year...

I have enjoyed the many threads on who the best QB is on this message board over the last several weeks. I don't follow the college game closely and I really don't know much about these QBs except for what I have read on this board. Here is a quick synopsis of what I have learned about the QBs in this year's draft on this message board; 1. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks is the very best one for the Bills to draft 2. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks is a terrible fit for the Bills and is a guaranteed bust 3. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks, whichever is selected by the Bills, will result in some posters never watching the Buffalo Bills again 4. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks is worth trading what ever draft picks are needed in order to move up and draft them 5. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks has serious flaws and we should not waste draft picks to trade up for them, but should draft other positions instead With this knowledge in hand, I confess the only thing that I'm certain of is that I'm glad I'm not McBeane.... Thanks for the write up Gunner, it helps.

I have enjoyed the many threads on who the best QB is on this message board over the last several weeks. I don't follow the college game closely and I really don't know much about these QBs except for what I have read on this board. Here is a quick synopsis of what I have learned about the QBs in this year's draft on this message board; 1. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks is the very best one for the Bills to draft 2. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks is a terrible fit for the Bills and is a guaranteed bust 3. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks, whichever is selected by the Bills, will result in some posters never watching the Buffalo Bills again 4. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks is worth trading what ever draft picks are needed in order to move up and draft them 5. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks has serious flaws and we should not waste draft picks to trade up for them, but should draft other positions instead With this knowledge in hand, I confess the only thing that I'm certain of is that I'm glad I'm not McBeane....

I saw a report on NFL Network tonight citing sources saying that several teams are really frustrated that Jackson doesn't have an agent because they are having a difficult time getting in touch with the Jackson "camp" to set up interviews and visits. They say it is really impeding their ability to evaluate him before the draft. For a player with some legitimate issues that teams would like to assess, this might really end up costing him some coin. If a team has similar grades on Rudolph and Jackson, and they have been able to get Rudolph into the building and spend a lot of time with him and see what he's like but have not had a chance to sit down with Jackson, I would guess they would feel more comfortable drafting Rudolph all other things being equal. Agents do more than just negotiate the contract, they facilitate the entire drafting process. Any money he saves in not having an agent would likely be eaten up by falling a few spots in the draft.

Be nice to see Gronk out of Foxborough. It's undeniable that the Pats/Belichick/Brady Era is finally drawing to a close. Our long national nightmare is almost over. The sooner it happens the better. There is no way Gronk comes to Buffalo, I don't think signing high priced free agents in the twilight of their career seems to be McBeane's style, and more practically, the Bills are in Cap Hell and are dead broke. McBeane couldn't afford a decent breakfast right now, let alone a high ticket free agent signing.

I still haven't made eye contact.....

I hope the OP keeps posting because I like looking at his avatar. Don't judge me...

As hard as this must be for him, I'm sure it pales when compared to what he went through with his son, Hunter. As a dad I can't imagine anything that could be worse than losing a child. Jim and his family have been through so much. I hope they get a Mulligan on this one. They've definitely earned it.

We’ve got your back, Jim. The Bill’s Mafia is praying for you.

As long as we’re bellyaching about non-sensical rules, I’ve never understood why a running back can stiff arm a defender in the face mask and damn near knock his block off and that’s ok, but if a defender’s fingertips graze the RB’s face mask during the tackle, that’s 15 yards.... Inconceivable!

He didn't have anything new to add, mostly just GM Speak. Says we're not a Super Bowl contender yet, but we're heading in the right direction. Fielded the obligatory "are you going to be wheeling and dealing on draft day" question, and he said if they think there is an opportunity during the draft to move up and make the Bills better he'll do it. Blah, blah, blah... I was hoping Beane was going to bust out a picture of the Bill's Draft Board or allude to some naked pictures he has of Gettleman that he's going to use for blackmail purposes, but no such luck.... It's going to be a long four weeks between now and the draft.

FYI

I will parry your questions about racial and religious attitudes as deftly as my nom de plume Inigo Montoya swats aside the rapier thrusts of the Six Fingered Man, Count Rugen, as those questions can blow up a message board.... As to your other points, I agree that trading up to #2 will be too expensive, and I hope they keep their powder dry and pounce on any of the top QBs who might drop past the #3 spot. I've become a Josh Allen guy.