MasterStrategist

Coming off a torn acl in December 2020 or late in November, if I recall. I think he could play Jerry's spot, but huge gamble, given he's not a lock to be fully healthy by start of season. I'd pass. At some point this team needs to develop their own defensive line and stop signing FAs. Epenesa, Oliver, and an early selection this yr. Develop and cut the dead weight (ie Jefferson, Butler, Addisson), and hope Star returns to form. Then focus on finding 1-2 rotational backups

Considering Daboll won Ap Coordinator of the year, I don't think he's overrated by fans. Recent history includes Roman, Fangio, Pat Shurmur, and Wade. All very good coordinators, who got HC looks. Your other points are valid though.

Great points. I agree, but 1 area that I'd comment on is the tradeoff (your final paragraph). I think Beane and group have done wonders, but they have also eaten up a good chunk of cap in very avg players (ie: Murphy, Winters, Jefferson, Butler, Addison, Norman). Yes, Williams did work out, and Feliciano to a degree, for us and also fits this category.. But I'd rather see them sign a JJ and give up these type of acquisitions, and better develop our draft picks. For that reason, I'd leave Milano out of the comparison. So to me, it comes down to maximizing value (roi) at each position group and they've done a poor job on the DL, slightly better at OL. They've knocked it out of thr park at Safety, and also WR. Of course Qb has been a great return. But they need to start hitting on the trenches, and I guess they tried but haven't had a "diggs" like impact guy there.

Morse is still very good. He is not a mauler, but is excellent pass blocking and elite movement/open space blocking. We could be using more screen game, pulling him in space if we had a quicker RB. But that is all fine, since he's here to protect Josh and we are a pass first offense. Understand his concussion history, but every player is 1 misstep or 1 play away from serious injury. As far as Feliciano being the best guard, I think that honor goes to Ford. Not saying a ton at this point, but he's the most talented and if he can stay healthy he will be real good

To me, Feliciano is a great "insurance policy". I don't want him starting anywhere on the OL, but if he's our top backup that's fine. Now that said: 1. Beane and staff need to assess, and figure out if they want him as a backup or starter 2. If backup, they need to carefully look at this team and stop wasting too much money on backup types (ie: Norman, Winters, Murphy, Kroft, other DL guys pick 1). These cap moves add up to wasting $10-15 mil, per season, and could have been used elsewhere. If it's my decision, I let Feliciano walk. Keep Morse at C (restructure salary to bonus), Dawkins at LT, Ford at LG, and either resign Williams or go after a RT in FA. Then tender Boettger, and keep Bates as your 2 primary backups. Draft a RG (possible versatility to be future C) with the 1st or 2nd round. Then go after another OL late as a player to groom.

Bump... Tampa playing great, I'm sure rest of afc taking notes...Tampa has the Lb mcdermott dreams of, comparable to kuechly/davis

Yes this x100...much more physical team and faster. I would say this fits the type of upgrades McD said in his last presser

Looking forward to seeing how Tampa attempts to contain/shut down the KC offense. I think the Tampa defense is one of the most balanced, good front 4, solid LBs, and young developing secondary. I think Tampa has pieces at LB and safety that will cause issues for Kc. Also KC o-line banged up against a real good group up front.

Agree about alot of what you mentioned. I just don't think Milano does anything "great", but he's just good at everything (blitzing, coverage, etc). That coupled with injury concerns, at times, and it makes a difficult decision where to land with a contract offer. I dont think we end up adjusting our defense, and don't think Milano is an alpha dog MLB, unless that was a typo. There will be Milano caliber players early in the draft or other options in FA. I'd rather spend the money on DL, and cut the fat up front to help provide additional cap money. Milano and Edmunds would both look a lot better, with a better front 4. Given our cap, I don't know if we cap pull off improving both (and giving the OL help). So I'd prefer investing in the DL and go young in the draft

Agreed. My preference would be to get more talented on the OL, and also fix our run play designs. Wouldn't be against hiring someone who could help Daboll in this area. This would also give our 2 recent 3rd rounders time to continue developing and see what we actually have there. Motor and Moss are.more than capable, IMO. We also need to ditch this 3rd rb is a special teamer only concept. Find someone who can compliment these guys, ie: speed type, that can also play teams (kick returmer/punt returner or gunner). We might be one of the few teams who only activate 3 Rbs per week, and yet only use 2 on offense. This just gets back to a philosophy discussion. We don't need to be a 50/50 balance offense, but find more creative ways to get our RBs involved even if it is quick swing passes or screen game. Yeah Motor dropped a swing pass against KC, get over it, he wasn't the 1st and won't be the last Bill to do that. Him and Moss both have good hands...but our playcalling and designs can also continue to get better.

Something with Tremaine just looks off. I mean its like he 2nd-guesses himself and overthinks way too much. Kid will become a star when he just plays with his natural instincts. I agree, if switching to the Will LB spot take more off his plate and allows him to play more "free" then I'm all.for it. However these coaches need to figure it out, bc they basically took a corvette and swapped it for a safe Volvo. I get the sense they've done this with Ed Oliver, then trying to tweak Aj Epenesa weight prior to the season...these are 3 men who were beasts in college, athletically super talented and playing them in a way that resembles Chris Kelsays athletic prowess. Not all on the coaches, I get it, but just feels like we have a scheme that is not playing to our strengths and if allowed.to be more aggressive, could produce better

He played 3-4 outside backer for the Cards this season. Totally different than Will LB (Milanos spot) in our defensive scheme. If we had him on the team, which i doubt happens, it would be at defensive end...which is where he played at Temple but was undersized according to NFL standards to be a 4-3 end. Just don't think he's a fit for us, great player though i agree with that

I get COVID screwed up every NFL training program, in 1 way or another. But man, really seems.like the Bills did him (and the team) a big disservice by asking him to drop the weight/become a different player. Seemed like a big gamble, especially with a rookie and a highly unusual/different offseason program. That all said, hopefully they get things figured out for next season. The kid has a good amount of talent, and was a tweener fit coming out. 2 straight seasons of.our 2nd round pick not contributing much, Ford has been playing thru injuries and they mismanaged AJ. Need to fix this moving forward

Mcd has said that about leaders. But leaders are also created and gain respect via production and on-field intensity/performance. I can be convinced about keeping Jerry, but Butler Addison and Jefferson were all dud signings. Cutting them and replacing via FA and/or draft has to be considered. We saw what adding a blue-chip talent on offense (Diggs) did to raise the game of others, ie: Josh, Beas, others. Yeah Josh had the talent and work ethic but sometimes that 1 piece can be the catalyst for others with top-end potential. We need to find that DL type talent this off season, that 1 guy and see what happens to Oliver, Edmunds, AJ when that piece is added

I agree with everything you've said in this thread about the value/future of our RB situation, except the quote above about Daboll. I think they gameplanned for man, just poor execution and poor oline protection. back to Rb discussion, this team absolutely gets more value by drafting a DL or OL with round 1, unless a stud LB falls then you jump on that. Problem with our run game is an imperfect marriage: 1. No speed back coupled with an OL that gets zero push up the middle. 2. Boettger and Feliciano are both JAGs at guard. No offense to either, but Ford needs to stay healthy and dominate at 1 of those guard spots. Then could use another guard to plug in. Hopefully keep Williams in the process

Great analysis @MAJBobby! Overall, this defense front 7 needs a new identity. Agree with all your points about a collective front 7, and 2 real good LBs needed to make this defense work (although I wish McD would consider trends to 3 safeties, or dime looks). That said, Milano is a role player on our team and very good at it. He doesn't dominate, but does his job. Seems to be a great teammate too. However, I think this team needs more intense, physical LBs. Edmunds seems to be turning a corner, and he has physical traits that only few have. Needs to get his mindset right though, which i think he will. I'd let Milano walk. Team then needs to determine if the draft or FA, or combo, is best suited to improve areas of the front 7. If not FA, look for his replacement in Round 1 or Round 2. There are certain positions that you pay a premium or top dollar, even if the player isn't elite but really good. WLB is not one of those positions, and Milano just isn't elite imo to offer that kind of money he will likely get. Rebuild this front 7 should be priority #1 this offseason. I trust it can be done, and we have a few pieces to work with. But likely need an overhaul of 2-3 new starters.

I know there have been alot of new threads today, but I don't think many if at all have discussed the Xs/Os of our lack of dime coverage/personel. Yes yes DL can be improved in the offseason and I've beaten this drum already too. But, why aren't we running any dime looks? We came out with our 1st defensive drive, 3rd down, with a 3-2-6 dime package (Siran pressing Kelce), then abandoned it altogether...why? We will get a great look at how a dime defensive package can work against KC when Tampa plays them, they have invested heavily in their defensive backfield and will certainly utilize it. For us, I can probably count on 2 hands how many times we ran a 4-man line, dime look or 3-man dime.package all season. Especially with Dane Jackson, he's the perfect dime back...and could have been utilized this past week. Hes physical and can play in the slot or outside, and a solid blitzer. Pitt moved him around a lot at college, and wish we would have tried. Or at least go with Neal or even Marlowe out there...McD/Frazier great coaches but lack of creativity at times.

DL was horrible. Looking back since 2017 (mcd 1st season), this was the DL WORST season (from a sack standpoint). I get there are multiple ways to generate pressure, but jeez when we just rushed a conventional 4-man it was really bad. Last season, we had 35+ sacks from our dline alone...this year, 20. I said it i. another thread, but completely agree about blowing up the dline and starting from scratch. Oliver, Epenesa building blocks (potential at least), Harry and Johnson backup competition. Beane has done wonders but his method of building a front 4 is something I disagree with completely. I dont like this build with 4-6 slightly above average players and rotate. Rather see 1-2 premier talents, and constantly trying to get this group elite. So much cap money was wasted this past year on the defensive line. I'm not going to do the math for prior years, but this has to be one of the worst ROIs in quite some time.

1st drive for KC offense, on 3rd down (our only stop really bc Hill dropped it), we came out with a 3-man def line and Siran Neal jamming Kelce. Then poof, didn't try it again. Wish some reporter would have asked McD why we all of a sudden abandoned that? Thought that was a great scheme to try utilizing, basically exactly what the Raiders did against KC. Obviously McD and Frazier made half-time adjustments, or saw something they thought would work. But when you have a front 4 that generated ZERO pressure, and super passive to blitz (which i can understand that) then why not roll with an extra defensive back to try slowing down the passing attack? Hindsight is 20-20, i get it, and maybe the dime package would have been unsuccessful too. Frustrating not to try. Same can be said for offense. You get taught in Jr high how to combat press man coverage. I get Chiefs were mixing up their looks, but holy cow we ran maybe 3-4 short crossing routes/natural pick plays, if that? Beasley gets one right off the bat in the 3rd qtr, and its like finally, but again too few. Or how about some "bunch" formations, forces the defense to abandon the press... tough to be critical on Daboll he had a great yr calling/designing the offense.

Milano is a keeper, but think we could still add a Kyle Dugger type in the draft, so we can run some different coverage options and protect against injuries. Regarding final 6 games, Herbert and Ben were the only quality QBs faced. And Ben was struggling at that point, while Herbert seemed to be hitting a rookie wall. Not discounting anything, but that played a big difference too. All said, Milano and Edmunds have a real good chemistry. Our bigger issue is on the front 4

Agree about needing more talent up front. Jerry has sentimental.value, but its a business and it would be smart to start from scratch at the def end spots (cut Jefferson and butler too for.cap money). The Penn St defensive end would be a dream come true if we could get him (likely a trade into teens or early 20s), Georgia defensive end 2nd on my list. Think we need a speed rusher, Epenesa fill out his frame on the other side. Then due some diligence and find a solid pass rush fit in free agency.

Great job OP! Really like your thorough assessments and opinions. I think the DL is in a similar spot to what the OL was a few yrs back, a bunch of JAGs. Hughes is a great dude, but past his prime, Oliver and Epenesa are the building blocks. That said, I think like they did at OL, they must blow up the rest of this group and start fresh. I truly think Edmunds, Oliver will blossom with some surrounding talent on the dline. If you look at the playoff teams, this was likely the worst dline of nfl qualifiers. Pretty obvious in the Colts game and Chiefs game that our dline was severely outplayed

Broke it during the play at the end of Pats game....dude is a warrior. Anyone guess broken leg in the 50 page Beasley thread 😄? Cole had a great season, expect great things again next yr

Agree, as the saying goes "speed kills", "can't coach speed". That said, can't fill every single need but its a solid list to work from. Beane needs to be very honest this offseason and make some tough decisions, ie: roster cuts. Perhaps creating enough cap to sign Milano back, or look for an upgrade at other positions. Then absolutely need to continue hitting on the 1st, 2nd round picks. Oliver and Epenesa need to stand out next season

You'd be surprised with what 3 new (quality) front 4 guys could do. I honestly think Ed Oliver is on the cusp of breaking out, but the surrounding cast is average at best. Hard not to like Jerry, but he is getting over the hill. Rest of the dline could honestly get replaced. Epenesa has talent, I think win another nfl.off season he will be a solid starter. But we desperately need to generate a 4 man pass rush.