Billy Claude

Sure, but there was certainly high first round expectations associated with him when he joined Tampa Bay.

I don't see how the best example is not Steve Young. He wasn't part of the regular NFL draft because he signed a 10 year contract with the USFL but he was the first pick in the special USFL/CFL supplemental draft by Tampa Bay. Three of the first four players picked in that draft are in the Hall of Fame, including Reggie White. Young started for two years in Tampa Bay and was absolutely regarded as a bust and then traded for a late second and fourth to the 49ers, which is about what Arizona got for Josh Rosen.

That's crediting Diggs with supervillian level scheming. I highly doubted he was thinking "hey, we just lost the game in a heart-breaking manner, if I stay on the field and watch the Chiefs celebrate, I'll look good and my teammates will look bad". Just because, he was a pain in the ass at the end doesn't mean one needs to discredit everything about the guy his contributions to the Bills.

The Beasley comment was because people were fans were saying that the Bills were all Allen and there he had no talent around him. It was reasonable that he would be somewhat offended by that. I didn't follow the Diggs response but other posters have pointed out some of it was because Bills fans were saying absolutely abhorrent things about him after he expressed condolences following Vontae Davis's death.

3 million is not much considering how much he was paid and that it will be difficult for him to ever get another NFL job.

Would Jared Goff count?

Ryan Tannehill.

Steve Young obviously. Not a new team but a new coach, Alex Smith was a bust until Jim Harbaugh. Geno Smith?

I feel this is basically the strategy the Patriots did during between 2000-2010. They might have had close to as many trade ups as trade downs but almost all the first round trades were trade downs.

I don't believe it is a total crap shoot but it is much more random than most fans, and probably most NFL executives think. The analogy with blackjack is probably more accurate than a lottery. There's a lot of randomness hand to hand but really bad players i.e., Cleveland Browns between 2011-2015, are almost guaranteed to lose.

How was Alex Smith past his prime? He was 27 ot 28 when he was traded to Kansas City, pretty much entering the prime years for a QB. Secondly, it wasn't Andy Reid that worked the miracle with Alex Smith, it was Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh took someone who looked like a all-time bust and made Smith a pretty good QB before he was traded to KC. As for McNabb, he was the #2 pick in his draft year. Andy Reid did a great job with him, but it wasn't like McNabb was a unknown UDFA.

Yes, I over-reacted to the up to 6.5 M. I had expected the guaranteed money to be closer to 3.5M to 4 M similar to the ratio of gauranteed to incentives that Rapp got.

I would be extremely happy and very shocked if Shorter gets anywhere close to Gabe Davis production levels. I don't remember hearing anything good out of him in rookie camp, mini-camp, or training camp and that's the time you usually get stories about how players like Isaiah Hodgins, Brandon Riley, and Austin Poehl might be a poor man's Jerry Rice. People rag on Gabe Davis but he was productive in his role as evident, from the contract he got from the Jaguars.

What's wrong with that? I can understand Beasley being somewhat offended when fans say that it's all Allen and essentially, everyone else is a bum.

I don't bet but are you saying Edey will be drafted in the top 15 or he wont be? I am thinking probably early second round but maybe someone will take a flyer on him and pick him late in the first. See if he can develop into a poor man's Jokic. He just seem to be too slow to be any more than a 10 minute a game guy in todays NBA.

So all those "click-bait" journalist were right after all. Its hard to believe a few photos of Allen and Diggs giving each other pats in the back would be enough for people to believe that there weren't major issues in that relationship. I am just surprised that Diggs was professional enough not to go public during season.

No on the Diggs Jersey. Yes on given the locker room issues, it was better to rip off the bandaid earlier than later.

The difference is that the Pats rarely took huge cap hits doing that, at least until recently.

The point is his 2022 season was not great. It was good to very good. The Bills only lost three regular season games that year. Two of his four missed kicks were in games the Bills lost, both by three points or less. This is not the 1980's NFL. He was the 12th best kicker by percentage in 2022. That is good not great. Bass has never been great.

OK. I guess he could be cut without much pain. I would rather go with him than an unknown. At least, we know Bass has been a good kicker in the past.

Those numbers you quoted are good to very good -- not anywhere close to elite; 87.5% in 2021 would have put Bass 13th in FG percentage out of all kickers who hit 20 or more field goals. 87.1% in 2022 would have put Bass 11th in FG% with the same criteria. The Bills only lost 3 games in 2022. Bass missed field goals in two of those games, both of which the Bills lost by 3 or less points. How clutch is that? Tyler Butker has been in the NFL for 7 seasons. 2022 was the only season his field goal percentage was less than Bass's best season. He was over 90% in three out of the other six seasons. I think Butker gets a pass. No one says to get rid of Bass. The Bills can't get rid of him without pain anyway due to his contract. He at least was a good field goal kicker. That is all the Bills need and it's very risky bringing in someone else. Look at how many kickers the Jets have gone through before they seem to have finally found someone acceptable. Before people say you have to take weather conditions into account, this is true, but opponent field goal kickers have had a better FG% each of the last four years. I don't want to leave the impression that I think Bass is a bum, he is not. I just have never understood the impression from Bills fans that he is an elite kicker. He was perfectly adequate until last year. Edit: as pointed out by ColoradoBills below. He can be cut with little cost.

That's strange. The Graham's story was clearly meant to be sympathetic to Allen, not the other way around. Taken out of context I guess.

It was way more than one kick. He was extremely undependable the last half of the season. Even his kick in the opener against the Jets that sent the game to overtime was a boink off the post.

Edey is listed as 300 lbs on the Purdue website. Shaq claimed he was over 400 lbs during the 2002 season. https://www.si.com/nba/2023/10/29/shaquille-oneal-says-he-weighed-over-400-pounds-during-lakers-2002-title-run

I don't understand people expecting anything from Shorter. Didn't he look pretty meh in camp even before he was injured?