Ethan in Cleveland

Nice post. Different perspective in responding to the OP. As you said not everything was a hole and RB or WR were more luxury picks if made in the first round as opposed to true needs.

Not true. The DE position at best is an unknown and collectively is far below average. If Hughes shows his age and the kids don't develop it could make or break a SB run. Zimmer is below average and Star is an unknown coming a back after a year of no football. However many teams have players coming back after opting out so the Bills are no different. MLB was a massive weak spot last year either due to injury or talent or both. This year will define Edmunds' career. LG is below average but has good potential. I've never been a Morse fan and he is at best average. Remember he was a healthy scratch last year for the AZ game after clearing the concussion protocol. I'm still stunned they didn't draft a center in the third round instead of a swing tackle. Williams is elite in pass blocking and below average in run game. The whole OL is probably a top 4 unit pass blocking but collectively below average in run blocking. They get little push at the point of attack but they pull and block downfield well. I'm higher on Knox and Wallace than others on this board, but I understand their arguments. As with Edmunds, this season probably defines Knox's career trajectory. QB play as with any team covers up some holes and every team has a position group or two that is weak. Bills have an elite secondary, elite WR group, and QB that played like a MVP last year. Allen likely needs to play close to that same level with real development of the DL to make a SB run.

The most impressive thing for me is his willingness to embrace a pass first offense. Crucify me if you want but I’m still not sold on McD. This is still the same guy that started Peterman and Murphy. He is still the same guy that has seen his defense get shredded from time to time. He is still the same guy to be out coached by Andy Reid twice last year. All that said, one of the biggest plays in franchise history was made by Taron Johnson dropping back in a McD zone defense while rushing four guys. His scheme produced one of the great wins in franchise history.

Julio is not happening. They don't have the cap space and they are not giving up a first round pick for a 32 year old WR.

Actually it is the opposite. Yes the money is paid in full at the beginning of the year but the real risk is they cut the player the following year. Then all that prorated signing bonus money becomes dead cap space. That is how they lower the cap hit this year by spreading it over the next several years.

You asked if it had anything to do with Allen extension. And I answered. Allen’s new contract when it is done is an extension. It will have no impact on his salary in 2021. It’s how the CBA works for second contracts of draft picks. So the answer to your question, freeing up salary cap space in 2021 has nothing to do with Allen’s extension.

Silly article. Again it seems they don’t even watch the games. Josh doesn’t take that many chances throwing the ball especially in the red zone. His issue is fumbling and it got better during last season too.

No

This trio concept is at least 5 years out of date. If you have a great RB that is fine. But the modern NFL offense has replaced the running back with an all world TE or slot WR.

He had Calvin Johnson, one of the greatest WR to ever play. My top 5 pure arm strength Vick Allen Mahommes Elway Rodgers

I suspect he will be top 10. If they went off talent alone and not favor the QB position he might be lower than the WR trio of Diggs, Adams, and Hopkins. But given QB's get a bump my guess he will be top 5. There are some intriguing non-QB players to rank. Quenton Nelson is by far the best guard in the league. Kelce and Kittle are superstars. Besides Aaron Donald there are several defenders that are top 10 worthy as well like Ramsey, TJ Watt, and Joey Bosa.

Can you define what he was drafted for? At Stanford he was a penetrating DT that made a ton of tackles behind and around the line of scrimmage. He was anything but a 4-3 1-tech DT. So if you are asking him to occupy two blockers and free up Edmunds to misdiagnose a running play, only one of those things is likely to happen. See what I did there? Clever huh? Can he be an adequate 1-tech DT? Nobody knows. Maybe, I guess. Do any of us really know what McD and Frazier want from their DTs? Outside of Star, all their DT's seem to be the same body type. All are a bit undersized but are athletic enough to move along the DL.

I did the same in the 90's when I lived in Ohio.

Not necessarily. Remember he is speaking for the whole team as the QB and leader of the team. He may in fact be vaccinated but he may just be saying we as players are not disclosing that information. The real issue will come in the season when an unvaccinated player test positive and misses three or four games. A team may call it a non-football injury and decide not to pay his salary for the games missed. This is a union HR issue that every employer in the country will now have to deal with. Not necessarily. Remember he is speaking for the whole team as the QB and leader of the team. He may in fact be vaccinated but he may just be saying we as players are not disclosing that information. The real issue will come in the season when an unvaccinated player test positive and misses three or four games. A team may call it a non-football injury and decide not to pay his salary for the games missed. This is a union HR issue that every employer in the country will now have to deal with.

Wonder how many go to fans and how many go to investors who are just going to sell them

Does 1974 get the most overrated award? Neither Swann nor Stallworth belong in the HOF. Agree 1996 just edges out 1985. Rice and Reed are two of the all time greats with Rice in my top 3 players of all time. Too soon to tell but 2015 with Diggs and Parker looks like a top 3 class of all time

Don't forget V the television series

You are forgetting this little thing called COVID. There were no pre-season games. No other team drafted Jackson in the 6+ rounds based on his college play. There was no other tape for teams to judge him. There were no OTA's. Only a handful of practices to get him ready for the season. There will be many more stories like Jackson of guys that went unnoticed in 2020 and make some impact plays in 2021.

You solve CB#2 with pass rush. Wallace is fine and Jackson may push him for snaps. CB#2 is not even in the top 5 worries on defense. 1. Pass rush from the new edge players 2. Pass rush from Oliver 3. Edmunds improving in all facets of the game 4. Run stopping from 1-tech 5. Milano staying healthy

I suspect few teams are deep at any spot on the OL. I disagree with McD at times but having versatile OL guys that can play multiple spots is the correct approach. Guys like Felicano and Bates that can fill in anywhere in a pinch is a smart depth move especially when these guys do nothing on ST's. Bills look liek they have depth now but they won't by the end of camp. Barring injury Spencer Brown will make the roster which really only leaves one other spot for swing tackle. They can go with Bates who can play center in a pinch or they may go with someone else who can play G. The 2020 line did not play a single snap together all season due to injury. The top 5 were not on the filed for even one play last year. Assuming Ford is still the LG starter, and everyone stays healthy in camp, the season opener for 2021 will be the first game that lines up Dawkins, Ford, Morse, Feliciano, and Williams.

So TT career rating is 89.5 and Trubisky is 87.2. So who is wasting more money?

Bills did the same thing in 2019. Only Dawkins stayed. They had 5 new players including the TE. Morse, Ford, Spain, Feliciano, and Knox were all new in 2019. My guess is continuity is overvalued and one of those things that is nice if you have it.

They should just fire this guy now

Just watch the games. Edmunds drops into space and makes almost no plays. He has no instincts of where to flow in the run or pass defense. Just running backwards and occupying space is not enough. No doubt he helps protect the deep middle and let's the safeties cheat to the boundary some. But as others said the Bills rarely play a straight Tampa 2 defense. The Bills need more from Edmunds if they want to get back to being an elite defense. He is not th biggest issue on defense but he is a flashpoint because he plays the middle, he is a first round pick that has not played as well as others in his draft class, he is still young and might improve, he had a legit injury that no one on this board truly knows how much it affected his play, and he is going to look for a high dollar extension.

I'm really interested in the mentality of fans that root for the underdog less talented players over the stars. Wade is just the recent example but you can go back to fans calling for Reich to play over Kelly. It's not as if the fans are always wrong either. Fred Jackson is case in point where the underdog fan favorite ends up being more productive than several first round picks including Lynch and Spiller. But in most cases guys like Wade, DaRick Rodgers, and Duke Williams never amount too much. Is it jealousy that none of us have star athletic ability and we root for these guys?