Inigo Montoya

There is a lot of talk on the boards the last few days about Beane going out and trading for DeAndre Hopkins. He will be 31 this upcoming season and I still think he has some gas left in the tank. As much as I want to see another legitimate offensive threat on the field besides Diggs, the truth of the matter is that the Bills just can't afford him. Diggs 2023 contract pays him $20.2mm Diggs 2024 contract pays him $26.5mm Hopkins 2023 contract pays him $22.6mm Hopkins 2024 contract pays him $11.3mm There is no way the Bills can afford to sink $40+mm into the WR position this season with Josh and Von's contract also on the books. We are too tight against the cap for that to happen. You also have to think about the draft capital the Bills would have to give up to get him. Trading draft picks, i.e. inexpensive rookie contracts, to sign an expensive veteran will make the cap situation worse, not better. If Beane needs to plug in more young and cheap contributors to this roster to manage the cap, the worst thing he could do would be to deal away his draft picks. While we would all love to see WR1 Diggs, WR2 Hopkins, WR3 Davis, WR4 Shakir, it is simply not going to happen. After next season D-Hop's contract becomes more manageable at $11mm, but he will be another year older and with his more reasonable contract numbers I'd be surprised if the Cardinals move on from him at that point if he's still on the roster. When people here debate what Beane should do this offseason, they need to be realistic and accept that signing any $20mm veteran WR simply isn't in the cards.

Nice post OP, I appreciate the time you spent putting it together. Beane did bring in some free agents to try to shore up the line. During Josh's second year in 2019 Beane signed Morse, Spain, Feliciano, Nseke, and Spencer Long. They did improve the O-line play compared to Josh's rookie season. They brought in Daryl Williams in 2020 and he played well for one season. Bobby Hart headlined last year's 2021 O-Line free agents. This year was Saffold, Quessenberry, and Van Roten. Of all these free agents the only one who has been consistently solid is Morris. Daryll Williams had one good year and then fell off precipitously. There is no question that the O-Line play as a whole has regressed this year. I think everyone realizes that the O-Line needs an overhaul including Beane. I suspect he will make some investments there this off season. I think Beane is a great GM. I think he hoped to get more out of the O-Line than he got this year. I think he knows he is going to have to shore up the O-Line to protect Josh and win a championship. The Cincy game sucked but we still have the foundation to be a Super Bowl team. I trust Beane will get some fresh blood on the O-Line.

Brady is the heir apparent to Dorsey and the Bills' OC job. One year of being OC "coaching" JA17 and he will be a hot HC candidate again. It just depends on if he wants to wait for Dorsey to get a HC job or not.

I'm just grateful Collinsworth isn't calling the Bills / Bengals game. His "sell by date" was about 10 years ago. He can single handedly ruin a good football game.

So you don’t think Dorsey should shoplift some of Reid’s most successful plays then?

Would you be happy with 75% of Kelce’s production?

That’s exactly my question, what’s stopping them? Some of that is Kelce, no argument, but a lot of that is also scheme.

It is a copy cat league. I think the Bills have the skill players to do it.

Kelce is open on every damn play. Not a step on the defender open, but no one within five yards of him open. Kelce is obviously a fantastic football player with an incredible mix of size and athleticism, but what you see on the field with Kelce is the value of Andy Reid off the field. Reid is able to scheme that guy open a hundred different ways. He is the focal point of the Chiefs' offense, he is the one guy the defense absolutely has to cover, and he is still running wide open all over the field. Dorsey needs to shamelessly steal every one of Andy Reid's designed Kelce plays and put them in his playbook. Run them with Knox, run them with Diggs. I don't care who you run them with, if they have five yards of empty turf around them, the play is going to move the sticks. If imitation is the highest from of flattery, Dorsey needs to start blowing some sunshine up Andy's prodigious backside ASAP.

I agree with you Teddy that Josh turns the ball over too much, but Josh Allen is a package deal. He had all those turnovers on the way to a 13-3 record and was a cancelled game away from a legit shot at the #1 seed this year. On the whole I'll take that package deal, turnovers and all. To your point though, if Josh could adjust his game to cut down on the turnovers and still score points like he does, he would be otherworldly. It's fair as a fan to hope for that, I do too, but at the end of the day I just can't get down on Josh for his style of play that continues to win games for us. 🍻

You have dentist appointment that day. Sorry....

Another Josh Allen OC gets a HC job. Josh is going to have a head coaching tree as big as Parcells when it's all said and done.

The offense is incredible. How you manage to score 34 points with 3 turnovers and 7 sacks is ridiculous. If the Bills can limit the mistakes they could score 50. It's finding that balance between pushing it to score and pushing it too hard and making mistakes that is the issue right now.

Yes. I think Skylar Thompson is the next Josh Allen. 😇

https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/football/nfl/player/710/lamar-jackson NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports the Ravens "haven't changed their stance" on QB Lamar Jackson and plan to begin negotiating a long-term deal in the offseason. The Ravens were never close to extending Jackson last offseason, leading to Jackson playing out his $23 million fifth-year option. That backfired for Jackson, who finished the year injured for the second straight season. Jackson is asking for Deshaun Watson money, a fully guaranteed deal that would make him one of the league's highest paid quarterbacks. The Ravens are "still all-in" on Jackson and plan to franchise him for 2023 if they can't work out a long-term extension.

Both perfectly valid points. My larger point is that Lamar rolled the dice this year hoping that he would get a better contract out of it and he is now in a situation where the best case scenario is that he is not available for a third of the season and the playoffs because of another injury, and worse case scenario, there are rumblings that he might be playing the Ravens because of his contract situation. Neither one is good look for him. You hear about players betting on themselves and winning like Kirk Cousins did. I think Lamar's situation is an example of a player betting on himself and losing that bet. 🍻

I like it. But then again, I also like circus peanuts...

I think it's pretty clear he lost. His problem with the contract the Ravens offered wasn't the amount of the contract, it was the amount of guaranteed money. He wanted a D. Watson contract that was 100% guaranteed. Suffering a injury and missing a third of the season including the playoffs, particularly when there is a lot of static that he really isn't that injured and may be playing games with the Ravens, is going to make a team want to give him less guaranteed money not more. Will someone end up giving him a big contract? Yep. Will it have more guaranteed money than the Ravens offered him? Probably not after this fiasco. 🍻

I remember a rookie Josh Allen who hadn't won a NFL football game yet going into Minnesota against a good Vikings team in his first road start and beating them 27-6. I don't take any game for granted.

Lamar is 6 weeks out from an injury that was originally thought to be a 1 or 2 week injury. I think it's fair to wonder what's going on. I think the entire league is wondering what's going on with him. Lamar gambled on himself this season and he lost. He certainly hasn't done anything that is going to make him more money whenever and wherever he signs his next contract.

I'm glad for Tua's sake. With rumors of Sean Payton flying around there must be a lot of pressure on McDaniels to win this game. I was worried he was going to try to throw Tua out there again like in the first Bills / Phins game.

Curious take. Why wouldn't I love Beasley? Not 20 years ago, but just last season the guy had 82 catches out of the slot for 693 yards on this team. 37 of those completions were for 1st downs. Is there anyone on our roster playing the slot who has anywhere near that production this year? He was active for 2 games for TB and had 4 catches on 5 targets and then decided he didn't want to play with Tom Terrific anymore. I see zero evidence that he can't help this team by stepping into our woefully underperforming slot position. Now that we are in the playoffs and they can call up practice squad players as often as they want, I suspect we're going to see a lot more of Beasley during this playoff run. If you're still dragging an anchor around over his vaccine stance then you, respectfully, need to get over it.

1. Playoff Josh returns 2. Beasley becomes the primary slot receiver and starts moving the sticks again 3. Dorsey unveils the Nuclear Nyheim package 4 . Ike Boettger nudges Saffold out of the starting lineup solidifying the O-line 5. Micah Hyde returns to the field 6. Tre White continues to regain his pre-injury form 7. James Cook is used more in the short passing game and becomes a YAC god 8. We have one rumbling bumbling stumbling defensive lineman TD along the way 9. We beat the Cowboys in Super Bowl LVII exorcising all kinds of demons 10. Kim Pegula and Damar Hamlin are well enough to enjoy the ride

Can't argue that point, you're right! 😄