RangerDave

I know two people who were employed by the federal government who were suspended and eventually terminated for personal conduct outside of work. Granted, they were law enforcement officers, but the conduct was not egregious.

I'm pretty sure Medicare will cover the costs, so Tampa should have no worries.

LOL And I bet you just drive by a bloody car wreck without rubbernecking. Party pooper! 😜

If so, it'll be a quiet riot....

From Merriam-Webster: Definition of niggling : PETTY also : bothersome or persistent especially in a petty or tiresome way - niggling injuries First known use of the word was in the year 1599.

I'm not sure if it is as much that Watkins didn't "know" how to train for the upcoming season. I think he was just too immature and selfish to actually put in the work. I'm sure some coach along the way told him how to do it. Unfortunately, no coaches/trainers on that Bills team could force or convince him to do it. Hopefully he has finally learned how important it is for his career to put in the effort now. Talent takes you only so far. Work ethic takes you much further.

I haven't seen an autopsy report, but that would surely prove or disprove his claim.

"Becky has finally had enough of the players hitting on her."

When I was a kid, my dad took my little brother and I to a practice session in Fredonia. My 5 year old brother was in a cast from a broken arm. I remember OJ coming out of the locker room saying, "No autographis until after practice. No autographis until after practice." Then he saw my brother in the cast and said, "Except for this kid here." He then signed my brother's cast. Unfortunately, that signed memorabilia is now probably compost in a landfill somewhere. 🙄

"If you aren't devolving and reinventing stories and pursuing your deepest controversial topics to stir up fans, then what are you doing?" Fixed it for him...

Especially if it was Fitzpatrick! 😃 Come on Fitz curse!!!!

Anyhooo..... I am a first time STH (or STM as the Bills like to call us). Just bought them yesterday. Anybody want to buy two tickets for the Bills-Jets game on December 11 for a mere $500 each?? Could be the division-deciding game!

FIFY

Does this mean then that Beane cannot get fired without McDermott also getting fired? What would Beane's performance measures be, if he is not responsible for the drafting of players? Does McD also tell him which FAs to sign and which of our own players do we re-sign? Who determines length and size of contracts? I am not disagreeing with you, I am just curious.

Thanks again, Gunner! My wife, who is a casual football fan at best, had an interesting question on the draft. I've read that of all the first round picks historically, less than 50% of QBs pan out and that only 60% overall pan out. Now defining "panning out" can be argued, but her question is this: Are there certain positions historically that "pan out" better than the others? For the sake of argument, we can either define "panning out" as becoming a good starter (which is hard to define in itself) or we can define it as making the pro bowl (which is often a farce, but at least provides an empirical stat to use). Are there statistics on this, or do you have a gut feeling based on your vast knowledge and experience? Thanks!

Thanks, @GunnerBill. I am always amazed at your knowledge and the thought put into your scouting. Maybe you missed your calling? 🙂 I have a question for you. The Bills currently very close to being Super Bowl winners. Tre is recovering from injury himself. With that in mind, would you choose Elam for this team at this time, even though he may not be the better player in the long run? Or would you choose Booth, who may be better in the long run, but may not contribute to this team as much this year due to injury concerns? I don't know the extent of Booth's injury concerns, or the recovery progress of Tre, but I just wondered if you would give up a player with a higher long-term ceiling for a player of Elam's abilities who can contribute immediately to this team, where they are right now?

What is your pre-draft grade for the Bills? I'll give them a B+. I will like their choice for #1, although I will like someone else better. They will get a steal in Round 3. Round 6 pick will be a luxury pick. What say you? **This isn't any sillier than the 100+ mock drafts, is it?**

I had a million dollars once. I spent half of it on booze and women. The rest, I just pissed away...

I would sign me to a 1-year, $9,972,724 contract! 😃

I can think of one: Belichick the coach and Belichick the GM

Ideally, that would be great. I envision it being abused quite a bit. I can see people who would "identify" as a minority if they thought it would give them a better opportunity for the job, even if they were not 1/16 "X". Since my mom was adopted, can I "identify" as a minority? I might be!

Wow. My take on it is that the NFL acknowledges that equally qualified, or better qualified, minorities are unfairly being denied opportunities based on their skin color (or other minority attribute) and they are trying to rectify that problem. But you do you.

I agree with the concept of getting more diversity in management positions that have historically lacked such diversity. I have to wonder, though, exactly what is considered a "minority", especially as we get more and more multicultural people. Most federal hiring rules say anyone with 1/16 African American heritage can claim to be African American when applying for jobs or contracts. How does one prove that? My mother was adopted, and we know nothing about her side of the family. Maybe one of her grandparents was African American, or Asian, or Hispanic, who knows? And maybe that grandparent was only 1/16 minority, but records record them as "X" minority. Does that make me 1/16 "X" minority? Do we go by who "looks" like a minority? That's obviously very dangerous. And do we only go by race as the minority factor? What about religion? How many Jewish head coaches do we have in the NFL? How many Muslims? I lived in the southeastern US. As a Catholic, I was definitely a minority there and did encounter some forms of discrimination. Same when I lived in Utah. Can I claim to be a minority? What about national origin? How many Icelandic coaches do we have? Again, I applaud efforts to include people who have legitimately been denied opportunities for employment or advancement. It is an unfortunate reality that some people are treated unfairly based on being in the minority. Not just here in the US, but worldwide. It would be so much better if people treated everyone with equity, but that is hard to do, and even harder to enforce as a rule. I hope the NFL can find a way.

That would barely fill my snowblower!

I also wonder how much the players, coaches, trainers, etc. pay in NYS income tax each year? With the cap at, say, $200m, the amount paid by just the players at a rate of 8.82% would be over $17m each year. That doesn't include the amounts in property taxes, sales tax, etc.