WideNine

Was going to do something weak like blame my phone, but gotta respect Karma.

Oh no! Karma much? Good catch

I admit, I was bashing him pretty hard myself (for his play)...thought he and Mills were likely going to get Shady or our shiny new Josh killed. Things happen and players lose focus, and I am not sure Juan was the right coach to help him through that. He's a young guy, and that was a classy farewell, so I found I really did hope he gets his game back on track.

Honestly hope he finds the game he was flashing early on. Different coaches, different situation, and some fire in the belly to prove folks wrong. Sometimes all it takes. In all seriousness, I wish him luck.

And Miller is going to the Benglas....this time of year it is just too easy Everyone is in a rush with lots of updates.

I have heard of Gabbert, but who is this Grabbert guy??

Plant your feet and hope they run into you?

I have seen a lot of discussions about the minimal "impact" of the TE position, and I find them a bit confusing. Clearly for some it means just number of receiving yards, but that is not the only thing I would want from my TE, nor is it the best means of evaluating the impact of a good TE. Receiving yards (that move the chains - in critical short yardage situations or dump offs where a QB is in trouble), blocking that improves the running game, contributions in pass pro that buy your QB more time. Certainly understand the argument about where other "impact" TE's have been taken, but when evaluating the offensive impact and BPA of the position we should evaluate all the aspects of the TE role not just the number of receiving yards. Stress, this is not to say that you cannot find good TE value in later rounds, just that there is more to the positional analysis than finding TEs who are 1000 yd receivers. Also consider that teams often carry a TE they can slot as their flex receiving option who cannot block worth a crap, and another TE who primarily blocks and is not a great receiving option. Finding a TE that can do both can save you a roster spot and allows you to do more and be more creative using the same personnel sets.

Croom fits that slot TE roll. Don't see him as the 3 down option. Kroft is serviceable and a better blocker. I still see room for one guy to groom to replace and/or backup the position, but my gut tells me that would be a later round move for the Bills.

I like Hock a lot, but think there are options out there. Probably not as NFL ready as I think Hockenson will be (they do a good job coaching that position at Iowa), but there is talent in this draft. What I don't get are the folks still putting Irv Smith in this discussion. 6' 2" and meh combine numbers. Would not be the guy I would slot as my TE.

You have to kind of follow Iowa games to make sense of the stats...they leaned more on Fant early and gradually Hockenson became their 3 down TE and Fant was their flex option in the slot and such. Good breakdown between what both bring to the game: https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sports/2019/03/06/iowa-football-noah-fant-t-j-hockenson-anthony-nelson-amani-hooker-stand-out-nfl-combine-indianapolis/3080310002/

That was the rumor, then proven in the combine when he was dropping perfectly thrown passes. He is more athletic than Hock, although Hock is a much stronger blocker, but if an athletic TE gets open 40 yards down the field and cant hang on to the ball, what's the point? It does not matter if you run a blazing 40 and can leap over buildings if you have hands of stone. Exaggerrating a bit as i think Fant can develop into a decent TE with some concentration lapses, but my patience for dropped balls is pretty low. That is why the other TE I like in this draft is Josh Oliver. Athletic, lacks the blocking and route polish the Iowa TE's get but the foundation is there, and has the biggest hands of the combine prospects...and a good reputation for not dropping balls.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.... busy FA period with some IMO sound prescriptive signings. It was close, but you beat me to the punch

This. I don't see Allen at 9, Dawkins is staying and has another year at LT with a better O-Line coach to get his game back on track, I think DL at 9. I don't see them shoring up the offense at all in the 1st rd - IMO. I really like some of the offensive skill guys that are slated to go rd 1 (I think Hock will be a solid TE in the league), but I am not going to talk myself into believing they make the most sense in a draft where the top-end talent BPA are stacked on the defensive side. I have been surprised by OBD before, we will see.

There is that small part where Belichick talks up the opposing team, proceeds to coach circles around their coaches, thumps them, then rolls out that "tea-bag" smirk and a quick handshake at the end that says, "man, do you guys suck".

Hopefully the era of kick return by committee is over for the Bills. Now if they can get that punter Borq healthy, maybe bring in a few more to compete in camp...we will see what the energetic ST guy with very little actual coaching experience can do.... That unit cost us 2-3 games last year...and did their best to give the team crappy field position for most of the others. The bar is not set that high.

Not to worry...our government is pushing Twitter, FB, and YouTube to implement idiot-proofing measures. Like a lot of publishing disciplines they probably should build in, fact checking, peer review, and reputation grades. I am sure the gullable will just flock to the next uncensored source of misinformation. Hard to legislate out "the stuup", and folks are always tripping over themselves to have that inside scoope who cares where the info is coming from. From P T Barnum to H G Wells there has never been a shortage of gullible people.

They may roll with more than Kroft and Croom on the roster I think. 6 mil is around middle of the pack money, is a bit front-loaded, and only 3 years. Kroft is coming off of injury too. Pretty deep TE talent this draft so it is not a stretch to think they will grab another to develop. If they do, I think it would be in the later rounds so probably no Hock for us. Maybe they will shock me, but it will be hard for McDermott to pass on some of the elite defensive talent available early this draft.

Never thought your take was too far-fetched. I don't think that the McBean FO has been that reluctant to jettison players or coaches they have brought in if they felt they could improve that area with someone else, and all the comments about looking to add receivers who can catch the ball... Addition by subtraction and makes sense if they can upgrade the spot...thoughts of him moving to a slot role are out too - the Beasley signing looks like that to me. If Zay is not worried, he should be.

If they stay the course I think we may actually have a better idea how to mock this upcoming draft. Looking like DL to me right now - at least early on. After that, they have really positioned themselves to stay true to their BPA philosophy and as much as people are high on some of the receivers and TEs (me included), I think they go after a DE and perhaps LB thinking of eventually having to have that depth behind Hughes and Alexander. I just cannot see McDermott not taking advantage of a draft that is deep with defensive talent - hopefully they do pick up some offensive development players in the later rounds.

The only thing with Allen is if you give him more time he is almost always going to try to push the ball downfield. Interesting problem to have for a change. He has that gun-slinger mentality and probably always will. I am sure it is going to frustrate the coaches a bit that he passes up some easy completions. That being said, if the offense fields an improved running game, play action will actually have an effect, and if protection holds up, more of those deep shots are going to work.

IMO spend to the cap with no future consideration is not a sound strategy to build a good team. I would like to think that Beans would position the team to be competitive but also able to be in position to retain some of the young talent we are developing. Or they could do what has been done before and watch our better players walk while we all B word about poor FO cap managment and player retention. I am not ready to hit the panic button because other teams go the Mario Williams splashy-signing route. Been there done that. But it is all good folks have different takes on this I get it.

This. Can't put lipstick on a pig. Winning cures a host of rep issues. Start winning, and players stop thinking it is where careers go to die.

Not saying you don't spend wisely to plug holes, but structure deals in a way where your team is not positioned to suffer constant feast and famine cycles. Keep some wiggle room to sign the guys you want to retain to longer deals (we may have a few in the works), don't backload deals that make it hard to move players towards the end of contracts that force you to have to eat a lot of dead cap.

This is the go-for-broke spending you see teams do when they feel they are really close to winning it all and needing that one last piece. The Jets with their do-over staff and new QB are not that team. Barring some kind of miracle gelling season, they are going to be pretty limited filling holes in their roster down the road. Reminds me of when my wife would get her once a year sales bonus and she would get that wild gleam in her eyes. No amount of logic, reason, or pleas for moderation has ever been able to talk her back from the spending ledge as it starts raining useless crap and Amazon boxes on me.