Florida Bills Fanatic

In addition to adding a slot guy, they really need to have a guy with top end speed to take the top off the defense. Neither Diggs nor Davis are that kind of downfield threat. There are several fast WR's in the draft that should be available on day two of the draft.

I doubt that Seattle is looking to unload more of their best players. A 71 year old head coach is not hanging around for a complete rebuild. Wilson hasn't been a top five QB for a while and I get the sense that they traded him before his perceived value dropped down to his actual value. Denver paid a very steep price for a 33 year old QB but it does make them a better team. Even if Seattle is planning to trade Metcalf, I just don't think that Beane will spend the resources for him. The presence of Diggs, the emergence of Davis, and a very deep draft class make a move for Metcalf a very remote possibility IMO. Metcalf on the Bills would be an awesome addition.

As I have read the various opinions posted here, it will be a question of whether the value of an immediate free agent signing is more than the value of the comp pick that it eliminates a year later. Both options have value but the real question is which has more value at the time the free agent decision is being made. Beane is clearly smart enough to factor together immediate needs/value and the future value of an extra draft pick. In a league that has tremendous pressure to win now, I see why most teams discount the value of an extra draft pick in the draft of the following year. It is also apparent that teams with good rosters may also discount the comp picks because it is very hard for draft picks to make the 53 man roster. Bad teams needing a complete rebuild can use comp picks to their advantage. They let some older good players walk and use the extra picks to reload the roster. Since the Bills are clearly in a win now mode with a very good roster, Beane probably places less value on comp picks than an immediate impact free agent.

Isn't it interesting that the guys that paid him big money are no longer in their jobs. Bad cap management leads to a bad roster, a bad win/loss record, and a change in the front office. Good teams seem to know when to let guys walk and when to pay. Like most of the comments on this board, the Allen contract looks pretty good at this point in time. Beane continues to make more good decisions than bad ones.

Dorsey was a really smart player in college. He did not have exceptional physical talent. He was great at recognizing what defenses were trying to do and took what was available. I don't expect him to deviate from that philosophy. When the deep passing game is available, I believe that he will take some shots. I also believe that he will attack a light box with the running game. The transition may be much smoother than some of us expect. Daboll had his moments but he also had some clunkers (Jacksonville and Pittsburgh).

I believe someone will pay much more than they should. QB's in the draft are underwhelming. I don't see Rodgers or Wilson going anywhere. Steelers, Broncos, Washington, Tampa, and Saints are in QB trouble and have decent rosters otherwise. I expect one of them to pay. I don't think a contract above $15M per season is out of the question. The losers of the Jimmy G. sweepstakes will probably push up the price for Mitch. The ones not willing to pay the price will be left to scramble for the likes of Mariota, Winston, Dalton, etc.. It's great that the Bills don't have to deal with any of this.

Adding a CB to replace Wallace is an obvious need. To make a jump in the performance of the defense, the Bills need to have at least one member of the front four that requires a double team block. It makes d-line stunts more effective and makes offenses more vulnerable to a blitz. It keeps the linebackers clean and limits many things that offenses can do. Right now the Bills don't have that guy but I'm hoping one of the new guys can become that kind of player. I always hoped that Ed Oliver would be a dominate force but that has not materialized yet. Creating chaos at the line of scrimmage enhances the effectiveness of the secondary and linebackers. It messes up the timing of the running game and keeps the QB from feeling settled in the pocket. I believe that Beane will keep taking early shots in the draft until he gets one of these players.

It seems like every year we are certain what round players will be selected in. It also seems like every year after the draft that we talk about all of the players that fell and all of the players taken earlier that were a reach. This leads me to conclude that most of the so called draft experts know very much less about these players than most of the teams do. In addition, the fact that a significant number of undrafted free agents make it in the league, tells me that teams are not infallible either. The entire draft process is a crap shoot and those of us who preach our point of view with a high degree of certainty are probably only really telling us what they hope will happen. At times it gets rather tedious.

Rotation makes sense if you have enough competent players to make the substitutions and maintain a decent level of performance. D-linemen generally expend more energy than most other positions on the field. Their effectiveness drops off the longer that they are on the field. I understand and mostly agree with the approach that McD employs. Where he loses me is when he brings in the backups to start a defensive series after the Bills' offense has been on field for a decent amount of time. The starters have been sitting on the bench and could not possibly be tired.

With all of the needs of the team, spending this much on a RB that has been over used and recently injured is a fools errand. They have better uses of their limited cap resources. Understanding how individual contracts work, does not necessarily put those pieces together to construct a championship roster. If it did, very few people would ever struggle as a GM of an NFL team. Additionally, grade school level sarcasm, doesn't make this proposal any more likely or smart.

This could be a prelude to adding some more young DB's in the draft and making sure that they have enough resources to teach and develop them. Mc D and Beane don't do things like this without something specific in mind.

CB Rasul Douglas or RB James Connor

The entire scenario is utterly ridiculous. The Panthers aren't going to give away their best player for almost nothing, nor are the Bills in the position to commit that much cap space.

We don't see the things that go on in practice and meeting rooms. When we see a guy go to the bench in a game, we assume that it is because of a single and most recent misdeed. Most likely, the benching is the culmination of multiple issues (the straw that finally broke the camel's back so to speak). Players on a good team aren't going to support a player that is a continuous screw-up. If a coach lets bad play slide, he'll lose the entire team. Most players want to play on a winning team. As long as Beane, McD, and Allen are in Buffalo, they will be a reason for players wanting to play there.

Mock drafts are always a crap shoot. They are never totally right nor are they completely wrong. When a GM has a roster as good as the Bills, they don't artificially restrict themselves to just one side of the ball. But given the starting assumption on free agency, I understand the this exercise. Beane will likely address CB, DL, IOL, QB, and WR. The only real immediate need is at CB and just like in this mock draft, I believe two will be selected. Beane will have some flexibility to pick values off the board and avoid reaching for a specific position. Having 9 picks will give the Bills the ability to move up in the middle and later rounds to grab some players that may slip down for some reason. Teams that are consistently competitive don't allow an entire position group to get old at the same time nor do they create a large concentration of cap expense in a group. Once Beane put out the roster fires that he inherited, he has worked to establish a balance. I don't expect him to throw out that approach this season.

You may very well be right but I expect someone on the DL either within the first three rounds of the draft or as a FA signing. I also believe that the Bills are confident in Doyle and he will be the swing tackle as long as Dawkins continues to play well. Some season down the road Brown will be the LT and Doyle will be the RT. The Bills will probably be looking at a guard or center or both this year. Beane's free agent moves usually provide a strong indication of his draft direction.

This has been a subject of local sports talk radio since the story broke. It is believed that there is more than one witness from more than one incident involving Ross. If any of this is true, the NFL is in a really bad position. With their financial involvement in the sports betting industry, they could be looking at lawsuits seeking recovery of funds lost on bets involving Miami games. The feds could get involved under racketeering statutes with people looking at jail time. This could also become the final straw that leads Congress to eliminate the monopoly exemptions for the league. When you look at Miami in conjunction with the claims of Jackson in Cleveland and the mess in Washington, the NFL has some serious work to do to clean up the league. It will be interesting to see whether the league actually holds these owners to the rules contained in their ownership agreements.

There are also independent scouting services that sell their evaluations to various customers, including NFL teams. I believe teams use these sources to sense check some of their own internal player evaluations and to identify players that they may not have acquired scouting information about. With the availability of this information, it becomes increasingly harder for players to go under the radar. Teams also study and do their own draft simulations based on the needs of the other teams, assessments of college players, and educated guesses of who will be available when they draft. With so much information readily available, I'm not surprised that Beane doesn't seem overly concerned. As one of the other posters correctly pointed out, the Giants are picking in the early part of each round and the Bills are generally 20 picks after that. Either team trading up or back could create a potential clash of interests but it seems remote.

According to a friend of mine that works in the NFL, the Bills have always had excellent scouting. What they didn't always have, were good decision makers to make the right player decisions. A new owner, new GM, and new head coach changed all of that.

There won't be a high cost WR FA acquisition for the Bills. I expect Beane to draft a speed guy to stretch opposing defenses and be an occasional jet sweep guy. There are multiple players like this available in the draft. In general, this draft is deep at the WR position. At the risk of triggering yet another Andy Isabella thread, I believe he will be available this off season. I'm not sure that Lil' Dirty will not be back next season. There is probably a lot of posturing going on related to a future contract. We'll know for sure prior to the draft. Until then, it's fun to speculate.

Wallace will get a decent contract somewhere but I doubt the Bills will be into him for $9M. As far as drafting a first round corner, this may be the time. The new guy could replace Wallace and eventually become the CB1. I can picture Beane wanting to time out the end of the next rookie corner's first contract to coincide with the eventual end of White's time as a highly paid corner in Buffalo. As sad as that sounds, corners have a shelf life and good teams move on before they are overpaying for diminished skills. Much of this will depend on having the right player available at pick 25.

As much as many of us would wish all of this to be that simple, it really isn't. There are several good candidates for all of these jobs. I have been partial to Bowles, Flores, and Morris. If this ends up in litigation, the process will be under as much scrutiny as the result. It is important to have a very structured and uniform interview and selection process. The selection criteria must be clear and as measurable as possible. Some teams are probably very good at this and some are probably very bad. The bad ones are probably a direct reflection of the owner. As others have pointed out, Bienemy may just not interview well or maybe he just doesn't have the attributes to be a head coach and lead an organization. We have no way of knowing but when so many different teams interview the guy and pass, there is something amiss.

You may be correct. He's still under contract and I'm not sure the Pack will trade him (at least for a realistic price). If they do decide to send him on his way, it won't be to an NFC team.

I think he decided to stay in Tampa

There are various provisions in ownership agreements in the NFL that give the league leverage to force the sale of a team through legal action. Reference Jerry Richardson and the Panthers. Fortunately that mess didn't evolve into a drawn out legal battle.