Billy Claude

Nothing lately about it. It was just continuing a long time Browns tradition of bad QB picks: 2005 Charlie Frye (3rd) 2007 Brady Quinn (1st) 2010 Colt McCoy (3rd) 2012 Brandon Weeden (1st) 2014 Johnny Manziel (1st) 2016 Cody Kessler (3rd) 2017 DeShone Kizer (2nd) One can argue that Charlie Frye was the best of the bunch. Evidence that just picking a QB every couple of years doesn't work. The Browns drafting record from 2011 to 2016 was probably the worst in the history of the NFL. Except for Bitonio (2nd round 2014), every high pick they had in that stretch was pretty much a bust.

Allen had a lot of drops last season but he wasn't the league leader. Pro Football Reference has Mahomes at #1 with 39 drops and Allen as #5 with 31 drops. Percentage wise, Mahomes was #1 at 6.9% drops while Allen was #7 at 5.7%. Drops are subjective but it is pretty consistent from different places that Mahomes was #1 in drops. The 49ers as a team remarkably only had 9 drops according to BetMGM. This was barely half of the next lowest team, the Steelers at 16 drops.

Tagolovailoa was #1 with 189 attempts with over 10 air yards in 2023. Allen and Mahomes were close to each other. Allen was #5 with 164 and Mahomes was tied for #9 with 159.

True, but there wasn't much choice; the Browns were the only ones you could count on consistently to screw up more than the Bills during the drought years. Even the Jets would have a decent year once in a while.

So basically you are saying the average guy doesn't understand the difference between correlation and causation. Well, that is probably correct.

I can definitely see the NFLPA supporting something like no player can get more than 20% of the cap in order to spread the wealth around. It would be similar to what they have in the NBA.

It's not a crazy idea to draft a QB in the third or fourth but there were too many needs this off-season. I can see the Bills doing it in the future. It is hardly a novel concept: New England did it repeatedly during the Brady years with Hoyer, Mallett, Brissett, and Garoppolo and Washington drafted RG3 and Kirk Cousins in the same draft.

I feel the the reason for the concern about Diggs missing OTAs was that it was combined with other signs of Diggs unhappiness with the Bills. If it wasn't for that, missing the OTAs would have been a disappointment but otherwise not have been a big deal. For example, Rasul Douglas missed OTAs this year (as well as previous years in Green Bay) and there does not seem to be a lot of concern.

I don't think missing OTAs are a regarded as a big deal especially for veterans. After all they are optional. LOL at everybody jumping on the OP for saying that there might be issues.

As early as 2021 Isaiah McKenzie said it was part of his job to calm Diggs down. Basically the solution isn't always to give you the ball more. He then said without being asked "it's not like he's yelling at Josh or the coaches or something like that". Why would McKenzie make a specific statement like that and who else would Diggs be yelling at if not Allen or the coaches? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYRNREa-Rqk&ab_channel=GoLong Then in 2023, Mckenzie said that 90% of the time you just let Diggs talk but 10% of the time he has to tell Diggs "you're tripping, you can't say something like that." That's got to be pretty exhausting for all involved. At some point you just can't handle a coworker like that even if they are productive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5fSQirmki8&ab_channel=GoLong My guess is that McDermott sat down with Diggs before mandatory minicamp in 2023 and told him he couldn't continue to behave that way to Allen and the coaches and Diggs blew up. If you have ever been a manager you know how these interviews usually go, especially with someone you can't really fire. Hence, Allen's statement that the issue with Diggs wasn't football related in the very narrow sense that it wasn't about Digg's play on the field.

Just shows how much he wants to win.

You are right. It was Bridgewater. I guess the correct statement is he made Darnold look like a legit starting QB for 4 games at the start of the 2021 season. Not particularly impressive but I remember the gnashing of teeth among the Jets fans.

You can't really say he had McCaffrey. CMC only played 3 games in 2020. He played 7 games in 2021 but seemed hobbled even when he played. I am definitely not sold on Brady but Chosen and Samuel had career years in 2020 and Sam Darnold actually looked like a legitimate starting NFL QB for half a season.

You can eliminate exactly the same labyrinth of deductions etc. while keeping the tax brackets (though obviously the brackets would shift and the rate at each bracket will be lower). This is what they did with Gephardt-Bradlely in the 1980s.

Because it will lead to a worse product on the field for their customers and increase harm to their employees. Doing everything possible to Increase revenue/profits without regard to consequences is greed.

Not sure I understand your point since what you said is exactly what I thought I was saying. People conflate a flat tax with tax simplification but they aren't directly related. Tax simplification is about getting rid of as many deductions and credits as possible, not making the tax rate flat. Of course since higher earners tend to use more deductions and credits it would allow one to make the tax brackets less progressive to keep effective tax rates the same.

The starters don't really play in the preseason anyway. I don't think that decreasing the number of preseason games will affect the injury situation at all. The extra bye week might help but I would think much less than an extra game would hurt.

The problem isn't the scheduling. The problem is that the playoffs will more and more be a question of which team has the least injuries to their most important players instead of which team is the best.

Ugh. Just more teams playing in playoff games with half their starters out. Go back to 16 games and increase to two bye weeks. The greed of the league and players, since they have to agree to it, has no bounds.

It's fun. I enjoy the Zach Wilson threads.

Maybe. One of the reasons mentioned by the executive was that Gardner should be called for holding on every play. I assume part of the survey was "who do you think is overrated?"

A flat tax has nothing to do with simplifying the tax code. Plugging your income into a website and having it spit out a number presents no difficulties. What tax simplification involves is getting rid of all the various deductions and credits that people are addicted to.

On jetnation there is a similar thread about how an anonymous NFL exec said that Sauce Gardner is one of the most overrated players in the NFL. They are similarly upset.

This top 32 business is getting pretty ridiculous. I am constantly seeing the complaint that the Bills only having two receivers in the top 32 in 2000 even though they had the 5th (Diggs) and 33rd (Davis) in 2022. Would the Bills receiving corp be any different if Davis had a few more yards and finished 32nd? Did KC having the 29th (Kelce) and 32nd (Rice) really mean that they were better than the Bills receivers in 2022? The Bills receiving corp may very well such even if they have two top 32 receivers. On the other hand, if by some miracle they finish with a top 10 receiver and a couple in the upper 30s or lower 40s they will be perfectly fine.

Allen was never in the MVP conversation last season. He finished 5th in the voting well behind Prescott, CMC, and Purdy. The MVP is 50% a team award anyway. Once the Ravens dominated the 49ers in Week 16, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Jackson was going to win it, especially since CMC and Purdy splitted the 49er vote pretty evenly.