VW82

Great play call and even better C&R!

I can't help but cheer for the Browns sometimes with all the crap that franchise has gone through, but especially when they play Bungals. A win here would be fantastic.

Anyone else wake up this morning in the best mood in ~9 months? I ***** love football. Let's ***** go!!!

Lol @ the Dolphins. I almost feel bad for them...almost.

This feels like something that will dog us most of the year. I don't trust Prater to make it through the season.

Interesting that there isn’t a thread for who we think will start if Tre can’t go which I believe is the most likely outcome for week one. I’m betting we start Dorian Strong. He seemed to be trending up toward the end of preseason and is someone with the kind of boundary coverage skills the coaches will want (assuming he’s far enough along in defensive concepts). I like Ingram better when teams spread us out and we need to go dime. What do you guys think? Is Dorian far enough along to warrant being 2nd string on the outside?

I like the fact that we sent Elam to NFC so I can still cheer for him.

McD has done well vs. Lamar. It's his record vs. Mahomes/Reid in the playoffs that has been the issue. Until he gets that monkey off his back and slows those guys down, people will call for his head.

Both Joe B from the Athletic and Joe Marino from locked on Bills have talked about it.

I believe we'd have to make another move to accomodate him, no? My post was more about it potentially being a vote of confidence in Dorian Strong and Jamarcus Ingram. Teams should be super interesting this year.

The fact we did these but didn't elevate Dane Jackson is surely a good sign.

I don't think it's just about the young guys. Look who we drafted. Look who we brought in. If you follow the guys covering the team, they all say our approach on defense looks different this year. More pressure, more rushers, more guys in man covering one-on-one, more diversity in concepts. It could take us a bit to find the right combinations and find a new identify. McD is evolving and so is the defense.

I'm cautiously optimistic about him this year based on everything we've heard from camp, but it's going to take time for Keon to become a legit threat. I don't think it's realistic to think he'll be that this year. He's too raw and too slow. I'm betting we'll know what we have by end of year 3.

Could see him as a Bungal. Also, I don't see him as a replacement for Hamlin so we'd have to release someone and we already have that problem with Max, Grable, Hoecht, and Ogunjobi.

And I'd argue paying almost 50M/yr to a non-QB eventually forces you into a position where you can't compete because you're so capped out. The main thing I like about McBeane's way is we get to compete every year. The Von signing and Diggs extension almost got in the way of that.

That is an insane contract. Wow. Packers really mortgaging their future here but 2025 looks very promising. I could see them making the SB.

Lol 20 pages

We're -45M in dead cap year-over-year. All our young vets have been extended. Most of our roster is young and still improving. Everyone of consequence from last year is back, and we have some new defensive signings and a decent looking rookie class. Our new faces suggest more blitzing and covering one-on-one which might mean McD is finally planning on trying something new vs. Chiefs.

If Tre can't go week one, we're throwing Ingram and/or Strong to the wolves. That would surprise me.

Good for Shavers. It's an important story for McBeane, Bills culture.

I said we were in this position because we whiffed on Carter and because Ogunjobi lied. Clearly, if things had progressed to the point of him flying to Buffalo to sign an agreement, we’d already done a bunch of due diligence on guys and felt good about him. At that point, what were we supposed to do? I’d argue Beane made the best of a bad situation. Getting two good DT prospects in the draft further insulated us against really bad outcomes. Signing Phillips even further helps. I don’t know if you’re aware but we didn’t exactly have tons of cap and Aaron Donald wasn’t coming out of retirement to play with us. Fans can whine and complain all they want but how we handled our DT depth/future this off season was prudent even if a little unlucky.

And what difference does that make? Ogunjobi was signed in FA because our DT depth sucked last year. For all we know, him and Phillps will be in the playoff rotation. This team has been undermanned on the DL for years. Now we have proven back ups + an influx of young talent. We're loaded with depth. Somehow this is being portrayed as a bad thing.

Your point stands but I don't see why bringing Sanders or Walker into it yet makes sense. They're rookies, and from everything I've seen/read, they look like really promising players. The crux of the issue is we whiffed on Carter and got lied to by Ogunjobi, which is why we're in this spot. Also, McBeane usually only carry one traditional 1T on the active roster, so calling everyone who isn't that a 3T isn't correct within the context of their system (i.e. Phillips and Walker will be used as rushers from the 1T spot on passing downs). Again, I like how they handled the Phillips signing as it gave them a chance to evaluate Carter, Sanders, and Walker. I suspect they had Phillips ready to go the whole time. He's a useful piece. If we need to do this again next year, then you'll have better grounds to make the point you're trying to make.

We're a SB contender relying on rookies to fill big roles in the interior of our defense. I'm sure they hoped Carter would've developed into something useful. As it stands, he looks like a bust. Meanwhile, because they didn't have Phillips in camp, they gave valuable reps to their young players. Sanders and Walker will likely contribute this year, but asking them to do so right away in a meaningful role isn't the best winning strategy. Signing Phillips says absolutely nothing about the long-term expectations for Sanders and Walker. It does say something about Carter, though.

I like that we take swings on these guys. Jackson has a lot of tools and might be quality starter one day. That’s a really good outcome for 3rd round. What does a more game ready rookie with more limited upside actually do for us? Plus, taking raw, toolsy players like Jackson, Walker, Bernard, Bishop, Keon, etc., and making them wait allows the team to maintain their “everything earned” stance and have it be legit. That’s an important part of winning culture in pretty much everything let alone football.