Beck Water

Part of it, to my eyes, was the role they had him in. Yes, he was running routes, but a lot of his routes were chip-and-release short routes - flat, pivot, angle, option return, "sloppy" return or reverse return, whatever ya call it. Those are the routes Allen historically does NOT want to take, with the exception of throwing to Beasley with whom he'd built that trust. Josh "got over it" and started to use these to good effect at times in 2021 and early 2022, then regressed mid-to-late last season. Was Dawson open on those routes? At times, WIDE open. At other times, I do think Knox still reads the defense wrong, or at least differently than Allen does, and isn't where Allen expects him to be. I think that was a problem with McKenzie and Shakir as well. What I saw worked out down the stretch, is that Brown played a bit better and needed less help so Knox was free to run more of a route tree. When he ran deeper routes Allen targeted him sometimes. He's still (I think) inconsistent in his ability to release against press man - as Cover1 points out, despite the "Rambo" rep he isn't necessarily very physical. I think Kincaid is different, because I think he'll be used more as a "big slot" than a conventional TE. So whatever the slot role was supposed to be with Crowder/McKenzie, I think that's where we'll see Kinkaid.

Chuck Pollock has Jumped the Shark: https://www.oleantimesherald.com/sports/what-were-bills-thinking-taking-a-tight-end/article_194ac0ad-52d5-5069-b417-471ba096d058.html Chuck? Chuck, is that you?

Thanks, Days. Latter led me to this, which has injury info on a number of prospects: https://fantasyinjuryteam.com/2023/04/11/2023-nfl-draft-injury-concerns/

On DT: The Bills currently have 8 or 9 DT on the roster....(counts) 8. I haven't been impressed by Ankou, Bryant etc. but they keep getting looks, in particular we keep bringing back Bryant. I know little about Cortez Broughton other than he was drafted by the Chargers and KC picked him up before the Bills signed him, or Kendal Vickers other than he played for Las Vegas. I think it's fair to say they're all pretty much career journeymen. I think we will probably extend DaQuan Jones. I think Beane has just been waiting for after the draft, he's said before that he likes to take things sequentially: FA and what contract renegotiations he needs to get through FA; then the draft; then extensions. Oliver is a puzzle to me. He flashes at time, then he disappears. He's not IMHO consistent enough as a 3TDT to merit a big extension, but you hate to see the Bills move on from 2 back-to-back 1st round picks for a 3rd round comp pick. I'm with you in being on the "Offense Flow", but I think Beane has telegraphed they will draft a DT if one they like falls to them. Frankly it wouldn't shock me if the next two picks were D and we pick up an OL or WR in the 5th or something. I don't think they're content with LB. Unless I'm mistaken, there's only 1 LB drafted so far.

I guess in defense of the a-hole ness, some people are just following along on social media these days, so they don't know when the network is on commercial break or has a delay.

OK, not worried so much about missing the bowls, but not testing at either day seems a bit troubling. Regarding cleared by multiple doctors - Just saying the Bills have been burnt by this in the past. We'll hope it's different now.

Is anyone else concerned that he missed the Rose Bowl and didn't complete the athletic tests at either the combine or his pro day due to a "back injury"?

Yeah, can we wait until the kid has done something in the NFL before we start pronouncing on nicknames for him? His nickname shall be....whatever he earns

Congratulations, take a bow!

I admit I'm not "in" on the nuances of Rodgers contract, but I noticed this intriguing little sentence on his Sportrac entry: "2023 Option Bonus: $58.3M (guaranteed, must be exercised between March 17, 2023 - Week 1, temporarily moved to 2024 in trade/restructure)" Rodgers has a $47M option bonus in 2024 as well. I don't think that option bonus is gonna stay in 2024. I think the Jets will renegotiate his contract, and I wish them Good Luck

I could always be mis-remembering, but I thought that Ford actually did have those flashes, both as an RT in 2019 and as a G in 2020. I think it would be pretty strange if they kept a guy for 4 years who didn't flash at all. The problem was, they remained flashes and squibbed out in 2021 when the Bills were expecting him to take that step and lock down that starting G spot. I don't mind if the Bills keep Brown, but can we agree they really need to invest in a potential back-up plan better than Quessenberry?

Brown had more than "some ugly moments" in pass protection. Bottom line Q for @TheBeaneBandit: Do you think our OL is good enough as presently constituted, with Brown at RT and Quessenberry as the backup/swing? There are two errors when it comes to young players: Type I or rejecting the assessment that the player is good and should be kept, when he actually is or can be; Type II or accepting the hypothesis that the player is good and keeping him on the roster/counting on him as a starter, when he's actually not. Wyatt Teller, and possibly Isaiah Hodgins, are examples of the Type I error. In both cases there were alternatives on the roster at the time who were seen as better "fits" for the Bills needs at the time (more versatile/could play center or ST). Cody Ford was an example of a Type II error. We drafted him in the 2nd round and gave him 3 full years to show he deserved it, to the detriment of the OL. He had injuries - torn meniscus, shoulder injury, high ankle sprain. "He didn't have a full off season to strengthen and train" was the refrain going into his 2nd and 3rd years. And that may be, but the bottom line is, when a guy is on your team 2 years and has repeated injuries that limit his play, maybe the limited level of play you see is what you're gonna get. Football is a brutal game and injuries do play a role in lowering the level some guys could otherwise reach. But at the same time, we had alternatives on the roster who could play RT and IOL at an acceptable level, behind him. Right now I think Spencer Brown is a Type II error, a player we are keeping/counting on, except that right now we don't have anyone behind him who could start.

No, thank you. The respectful sign-off is an inducement to spend effort in discussion with you - NOT. PS in case you weren't able to pay attention to the entire game, we scored 19 and lost our first game to Miami by 2 points, then won the next 2 games by 3 points each. We scored 17 and lost our first game with the Jets by 3 points, then scored 20 in the 2nd game and won. I call that "struggling", you can call it whatever you like.

True. But also true that it’s not clear Beasley is that player any more. I admire his belief in himself, though.

Well……Beasley assured us a couple years ago that his family is already well taken care of for life, so the money didn’t matter to him And I have no reason to doubt him. Spotrac puts his career earnings at $38.8M. He’s already earned the kind of money that, properly managed, can build generational wealth for a family. But, I do tend to believe that if Beasley were offered what he likely sees as “fair” compensation he would tend to find the team more interesting regardless of W-L record and city. After all, he joined the Bills when they had been a 6-10 team the previous season, with a high-ceiling low-floor QB in his 2nd year. I’m sure he liked what heard about the team’s plans, but I’m also sure the contract he was offered had a lot of influence.

I was thinking DL myself

Not to mention guys tend to stand in front of lockers with their names on 'em Unless the Dolphins took those nameplates down to maintain building security LOL

Now this is something I agree with. Knox led the team in catch % (>10 targets). He had the 2nd drop % of receivers on the team (after Diggs). He had 10.8 Y/R To me, it is only logical: we need to get Knox more involved. On the other hand, this sounds like a "You" problem

You sure you want to play that card, after trotting out "Vive le France"? There's no more faith in thee than a stewed prune. Away, thou tedious rogue!

La France No, we traded up 😈

Oh, More Than.

It is a problem if Dorsey is crafting an offense that depends critically upon the contributions of the slot. But the idea is you take your team into training camp, not you have it assembled prior to the draft. I also think the Bills personnel decisions indicate a desire to get more pass catching production from the RB position. In the dating world, you can say "just because I'm not dating doesn't mean no one wants me". But, if you only consider dating women who are "10s" on your scale, have 6 figure incomes, consider the housekeeping and cooking to be their responsibility, and don't want kids, functionally it may be a distinction without a difference. It seems like a subset of "Beasley valuing himself above the value other teams have on him" to me.

Yeah, it's a valid point that if we have 2 RBs on the field, by jinks we might want to run the ball. The overarching goal, though, is to create confusion in the opponent's mind as to what the offense will do. In theory, if the opponent is defending against a vertical threat as well as short quick passes to a receiver with serious YAC potential, it ought to open up the running game even if the OL is not made up of road graders. You're correct that I share your point that the O-line needs improvement, and that it's not clear to me we've improved it enough by the addition of Connor McGovern and 2 other IOL. I share the concern of others that Spencer Brown may not, in fact, be capable of playing RT at a high level in the NFL and that the Bills may be reprising the Cody Ford error of giving a drafted OLman 3 years of "rope" to develop. We really need to quit that; we're at a point where we have to have someone better than Quessenberry waiting in the wings in case Brown fails to take that step (IMO).

Can we at least agree that no one, in the first month of FA, has wanted Beasley, or wanted him at a salary he is willing to accept? At this same point in FA, -10 FA WR have signed for $2M-$5M AAV -27 FA WR have signed vet minimum type contracts (under $2M) That would make 37 FA wide receivers at a reasonably economical price-point, who teams have signed in preference to Cole Beasley Either Beasley has valued himself above the value that other teams place on him OR The market has spoken and 32 teams value 37 WR more than Beasley Sure, that doesn't mean that Beasley won't eventually sign somewhere else, due to injuries; teams not getting what they want in the draft; or Beasley changing the price-point he puts on his services. Meanwhile, both the WR the Bills moved on from (Crowder and McKenzie) have signed with new teams, albeit for what appear to be VSB (veteran salary benefit) contracts - McKenzie for 1/3 of his contract guaranteed.