Beck Water

I just watched Dawkins interview. That's not what Dion said. He said "let's just say that this is the last time, and move on". It seems pretty clear to me that by "last time", Dawkins meant "last time you make that mistake (showing up to meeting late or missing meeting, whatever he did)" not " this is your last chance" Which I don't believe is something that one player would ever say to another. For one thing, players don't have "fate control" over each other.

Wait a minute. Let's go back and look at something you said Zero ability to get off blocks Kind of the DL's job to keep the LB's clean, isn't it? When I look at the Bills depth chart, Rousseau/Deone Walker/DaQuan Jones/Joey Bosa were not the 4 names we expected to see as first string starting the season Epenesa/Ogunjobi/Jordan Phillips/Landon Jackson not who I expected as 2nd string. OK, continue.

Are they though? Poyer, who was cooked 2 seasons ago, is starting at Safety 'cuz there's no one else, Rapp being in the body-and-fender shop for the season and Hamlin for some period of time. Benford, Johnson, and Bernard are not on the injury report and limited in practice because they're "for the most part healthy". Our best DLman when he played, Ed Oliver, is on IR along with our hoped-for young guy DeWayne Carter and a guy who showed promise of fixing our pass rush when in there, Hoecht It isn't pretty.

This.

There's something to the "premium picks for need" idea, though I do think he looks at talent available in the draft. Statistically as far as players making it, the bottom 3rd of the 1st round is a tricky place. The "hit rate" as far as getting a good player there - not a star, just a solid guy who can ball - is actually not that much higher than the top of the 2nd round, and overall it's lower than a lot of people think. Something like 30%. Beane, IMO, definitely has a tendency in the premium rounds, and that tendency is to go after high ceiling/low floor kind of guys. Guys who have a flaw, that if they can work hard and fill that in, could be great. The opposite side is if they don't stay humble and realize that getting drafted high doesn't make you an NFL star, they won't put in the effort to fill in their game and they wash.

Indeed. All part of context. It should be a fair point (or at least it seems to me to be a fair point) that when a player is drafted into a winning team with a good culture, the expectations should be higher - they should have all the building blocks around them to maximize their potential, so looking at the track record of other GMs of winning teams seems like the most fair comparator. As far as Coleman, Ladd McConkey admirers must be going nuts given that in only 4 more games, he has literally more than twice as many catches and yards as Coleman. On the other hand Worthy admirers really do need to admit that in 2 more games, he has a whole 8 more yards than Coleman has contributed (with 25% more receptions) I think the person around here who tries to be the most objective with draft evaluation has been @JGMcD2 who periodically uses pfr's weighted approximate value to evaluate a team's drafting. To me where Beane has really fallen short is in his FA acquisitions (and a couple of trades). He swung for the fences with Von Miller and missed badly. Amari Cooper last year was a bust given the 3rd we gave for him.

Dawkins had a lot of false starts last season as well. From 2020 to 2023, 3 or fewer false start penalties per season. 2024 he finished the season with 10 false starts. So while it's clear something is going on, you really can't pin it on "regressed this season". Holds not so much. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/D/DawkDi00/penalties if you're interested.

How many draft picks have other GMs of contending teams whiff on? How many of their FA signings haven't worked out? I can't disagree with you on Elam and Boogie being busts. Ford was interesting - he's been starting consistently for Cincy. And Coleman isn't looking good but it's only halfway through his 2nd season. But when we want to talk " track record", don't we have to ask questions about what a great track record looks like, and how Beane compares to that? Again, I'm not really disputing your evaluation, but if you want to throw the GM of a team with 6 successful previous winning seasons out the door when the team is 6 and 3 this year (after devastating injuries on defense), a bit of context might be useful I think it's probably sourced. I haven't been paying as much attention recently but as of a couple years ago when I did, the Cover1 crew had a number of players as guests on their podcasts and they do seem to get some inside scoop.

The truth behind the set-up "who would you not want your sister to date?" "Stefon Diggs" unanimous Vikings film is that not too long before that, he had gotten two women pregnant. He acknowledged and supported the child of one woman but the other said he "forced" her to have an abortion. It was all very unsavory, albeit, no way to tell whether the latter was true.

Yes

I'd just like to point out here that there's some cause-and-effect blend here. Burrow is essentially what Flacco was - a classic pocket QB who makes his living (as others have said) by reading the D pre and post snap and understanding exactly where to go with the ball, and being wiling to stay in the pocket and take a hit to deliver it. He's usually toward the top of the league in sacks taken, with most everyone else being rookies or young players. That's the reason he's always hurt. If his O-line isn't up to snuff, he's going to get hit - a lot.

What are you basing the comment that he "slid" on draft day on? I did a bit of digging and he wasn't draft profiled on NFL.com that I can find - usually they profile guys that are expected to go in the 1st 4-5 rounds. A couple profiles I found slotted him as a 5th to 6th round selection.

I hope so for his sake

He got a signing bonus of $285.356 and that's all that was guaranteed. Like many late round draft picks and UDFA, he probably has a "split contract" clause in his contract that lets the team pay him less while he's on IR, typically something like a 45% pay cut. So instead of $568k he'll get $312k. Total for year, $597. There are still a lot of young people who would like $600k for a year's work, plus medical and life insurance. The problem, as you say, is that these kids had to be pretty single-minded about pursuing their dreams to get here. So it's very difficult to pivot.

Beane slept in?

That last was exactly my thought. If you're not going to disclose something out of respect for the player, then don't disclose it. Sheesh, McDermott. Asked the Google machine and found this: https://www.itnonline.com/content/nfl-prospects-undergo-medical-screening They mention 300 draft prospects getting screened. ~250 players get drafted. Now whether all 300 get MRI exams of their neck and spine, can't say, but clearly MRI is a tool that's used during the pre-draft process and used not uncommonly, if this company provides "several dozen" medical imaging systems for the comprehensive medical exam that's part of the pre-draft process.

There was a Bills player (not regarded as particularly cerebral) who being interviewed by Dunne about a concussion which left him lying on the field initially unable to move. Dunne asked if he thought about retiring. He said "no". "Why not? Why take that risk?" The player asked Dunne if he'd had a concussion. Dunne said , "actually not too long ago, playing basketball in a rec league". Player said "You took the risk of a concussion for a game you played for free. I'm taking the risk for over a million dollars to set up my kids and my family for life." Dunne pretty much had nothing to respond to that.

this is all true, but you note that the NFL's idea of "specific as possible" is "neck" not details of what exactly is wrong with the neck

The beginning is pedestrian. The end though.... https://www.facebook.com/reel/1060910936032326

Dude, this take is bizarro. I can't even. Go look up snap counts for this season and last season. It is true that McDermott believes in defensive line rotation, but on the back end, starters play every snap except for injuries. There is no "platooning" Go to Pro-football-reference or someplace and look it up. Last year, when Bishop played early in the season against Baltimore (due to an injury) and next week vs Houston, he did not look good. He had a terrible, no good, very bad day. We can infer that at that time, he was not the best player at his position on the team. Toward the end of the season I thought he showed flashes, but he still got badly abused against KC in the AFC Championship game. Because a player is looking good now, in his 2nd season *where he went into the season as the starter and has played >98% of the snaps except when injured or when starters were taken out*, we can not infer he was "the best player on the team" in his previous year.

That would be nice ? Chiefs were 5-3 coming into the game. Are you thinking because they beat up on the Lions, Commanders and Raiders? The Lions seem just OK this year and the Commanders and Raiders are bad. Last night's game with the Seahawks and Commanders was boring. Our D did manage to make Mahomes look pretty bad though.

Is it just me, or is having Poyer back there making a difference as far as people being in the right place doing the right thing? I know he's lost about 5 1/2 steps but

This was my thought too.

Could be done for next year too.

This was my thought. Only I wrote it "Think of De Feat"