VW82

Continuity can be really good. It's one of the reasons I was so high on this team the last coulple years. But we might be getting close with some of these guys. Diggs will be 30 this year. Milano 29 Poyer 32 Hyde 33 White 28 Von 34 DaQuan Jones 32 Morse 31 Dawkins 29 Outside of Josh, these are our key guys.

We're going into year 5/6 with the core group. That's a long time together. It looks good on paper but there are big holes, and sometimes when you're that number of years in guys who you're penciling in to be what they were just aren't all of a sudden. Hopefully that's not us. Edit: I include McD in this

I think there's a good chance we won't be as good as the last three years. Defense is poised to take a step back. Losing Edmunds hurts. Von being hurt hurts. Our biggest weapon has been our secondary. Tre might be better in year 2 but Hyde and Poyer are getting up there. The drop off will come eventually. Dabol was a big part of our success. So was Josh who should be healed and better, but it remains to be seen if the rest of the offense will be. Kincaid will help but rookies usually take time, especially TEs. We're still the best bet to win the division, but it will be much tougher this season.

There are certain guys you can bring and have them be day one starters. O'Cyrus looks like that type of player. Dorian flashes but he looks raw. Edmunds was similarly raw but we weren't really playing for anything five years ago. MLB is a really important part of any NFL defense let alone McD's. It makes sense to start someone like Klein while young guys like Williams and Bernard (ha) learn. This is an instance where I trust McD, and I wouldn't be surprised to see someone like Williams step up later in the year once he gets the hang of what we're trying to do. Cook made a similar mini leap second half of last year. Also, and not to derail the thread, but Elam looks lost despite lots of hand holding. Some guys never get it. Too much, too soon is a real thing for some of these kids.

Not gonna sugarcoat it - this sucks. The fact that McD is "very concerned" after supposedly having meetings with Steph the last couple days is troublesome to say the least. Him and Josh going from besties to whatever they are now isn't great either. You don't have to be best friends to play well together, but if there's been a relationship breakdown that can absolutely impact performance. Those guys need to be able to trust each other on the field and not let emotions get in the way.

This is cool but if Josh so much as sprains a finger I'm blaming it on Madden. They think they can derail our season. Not gonna happen.

Their discussion about who the alpha is in the relationship is stupid. Their discussion about less time playing football leading to more injuries when the bullets are flying is interesting. I wonder if anyone has done a missed OTAs vs. injury in training camp study. I bet there's a signal.

I'm super bullish on our offense. Completely agree with OPer and a bunch of other good posts itt for all the reasons mentioned (Kinkaid, improved OL, etc.) I'd add that Josh will presumably be healthy all year because he's a tank. Kinkaid odds for OROY are currently +4000 on fanduel. If you aren't a believer in this crop of QBs, that's a nice little payout for a guy who should do a lot of damage given our embassment of skill player riches on offense. Also, between Torrence and Kinkaid, I immediately feel A LOT better about Spencer Brown. The top of our draft was all Touchdown.

Our Dline isn't the problem. We have an abundance of talent there. Our issue is we don't have a back up 1-tech if DaQuan gets hurt and we don't have a classic Mike to shore up the run d. This is only a problem vs teams who can both run and pass (e.g. Bengals, historically Pats). You can't have everything.

The results of the poll are probably accurate. Kincaid is so far beyond Davis in terms of talent that defenses will be forced to double team him in addition to shading extra defenders on Diggs. Davis will be so wide open that Josh will have no choice but to prioritize him when it comes to targets.

I don't think he's just a TE. He's a TE/slot/WR. He's not like other players. Maybe he'll flat out bust because he isn't good enough in any of those roles. I doubt it. His tape is very convincing.

Maybe that will be his rookie output. No one knows for sure. Knock him all you want but Kincaid was thought to be the top pass catcher in the draft and he certainly plays fast. We need a receiving threat who can take pressure off Diggs. Kincaid actually has the talent to do that. It's not going to take three years either. That's ridiculously pessimistic.

Totally disagree. He not only has a chance to become a big time contributor this year that gets lined up all over the place, but when drafting, especially in the 1st round, it pays to go after the guys you think will turn into pro bowlers and not just need players for the next while.

I'll leave the other stuff alone for now but much of the optimism for Bills is about Kincaid. A lot of smart football people had him as a top 10-15 prospect and ahead of all the receivers. This kid screams top end talent. We improved the OL with OCT who looks like a day one starter. Offense got better.

The offense got better. Josh getting to play in the postseason without a sprained UCL will automatically make us better. I don't think we've solved anything wrt stopping teams who can both pass and run. If we're beating the Bengals, it's because we're just outscoring them like we tried to with KC two years ago.

This notion that we "reached" on Williams or didn't get value from our 3rd is BS. Go find me the guy who was going to give us tremendous value in that spot. Williams was picked about where he was slated to get picked. Williams probably isn't going to start year one. There were no MLBs who were going to start year one when we picked. All the other starting positions are taken, so you're looking at depth regardless of who you pick. Why is Williams a worse long-term prospect than whoever else you might've liked? He's extremely fast, physical, and productive. The notion that all this kid will ever be is ST is nonsense. idc if you think another team had a better draft. Bills had a good draft and Williams has every chance to turn out to be a good pick.

When DaQuan got hurt, we had no chance. I loved the Pat Williams and Ted Washington era with London and Takeo Spikes wreaking havoc. I'd settle for a back up 1 tech if not an upgrade.

Totally reasonable take. My argument wasn't that no one was better, just that I didn't see a starting MLB. Not saying this is what happened but I have no issue with a FO admitting defeat on a guy and drafting his replacement/competition right away. Williams is raw so I don't expect he'll be playing much initally. Either way, we needed more talent at LB with the loss of Edmonds. This solves that even if the fit isn't perfect and we might have to wait a bit for the payoff.

I'm still somewhat miffed about the reaction to this pick. Who specifically did we not pick who was going to immediately solve our problem at MLB? Maybe I'm missing someone. We took a very productive player who was the best player on a good defense and who has a tantalizing athletic profile. Sometimes small school guys have untapped upside. We have a pretty good coaching staff when it comes to teaching coverage skills. And so much of picking prospects is about the quality of the individual and how much they want it. None of you guys were in the meetings or know this kid personally, I presume. You don't know that he won't be a super productive player for us in a year's time.

Our LBers could have sucked if we hadn't elected to bolster our depth so maybe we should put a little trust in McD who has demonstrated a history of knowing what he's doing on that side of the ball.

Because it's really McD's obsession.

Klein will start but I agree with the thinking that it could be Milano with Williams outside by mid season. If these guys can actually make it a battle of a lifetime maybe we won't be as screwed as everyone thinks.

I'm not sold on Bernard. If Williams beats him out at WLB then this is good value. We need more youth on our defense and linebackers who can cover is something McD really values. Teams is the bonus not the main purpose imo.

C'mon. We needed OLB who can cover too. Matt gets hurt sometimes and it isn't clear that Bernard is all that good. It's better than reaching.

This makes me feel better. We're not delusional.