Beck Water

Why?

What I can't get over is the persistence of those women. 15 minutes the thing had its jaws around their friend McDermott needs this story for one of his little pre-game speeches on working together and never giving up. "If 4 older ladies can take out an actual predatory cougar that's trying to actually kill and eat one of their friends, I KNOW you actual grown ass men can lace your cleats up and take care of 53 guys wearing stripes and calling themselves tigers."

Well....if people stop breeding pitbulls and pitbull mixes, it seems logical that the current breed individuals will age and pass on eventually then there will be no more No killing (except mercy euthenasia of geriatric sufferers) need be involved.

I would need to see that evidence. Do Not Believe. I mean, if it's not illegal to breed or own a pit or a pit mix, you can't arrest the breeders, they've broken no law.

Strap this story on with your breakfast coffee. 5 women, average age 59, were cycling near Seattle when they saw 2 cougars. One of the cougars leaped, grabbed the jaw of one cyclist, and dragged her off her bike by the head. (Cougars kill prey by crushing their heads and necks). The 4 other cyclists jumped off their bikes and ran to the rescue, hitting the cougar with rocks and sticks and trying to choke it and stab it with a pocket knife for fifteen (15) minutes, until it loosened its grip and the attacked cyclist got away. They then pinned the cougar to the ground with a bicycle and a large rock for 30 minutes until help arrived. That's the cougar, on the bottom there, covered with bikes, a rock, and three bad-ass women. OK, they didn't actually kill the cougar - a Fish and Wildlife officer responded to the 911 call and shot it. But from the photo, that was a 'mercy shot' Memo to Mack Hollins: I'd take your diet advice from these ladies, 'cuz, Savage. If they eat soup, Drink Up.

I'm just here for the title juxtaposition of "Beane's Soup" and "Mack Hollins Hates Soup". Are you Mack Hollins?

Dude. Just because AJ Klein got a start, doesn't make him a starter. Dodson, Same.

As soon as Beane perfects his crystal ball so he's 100% solid on which players he re-signs early will continue to ascend, and which will stumble, I'm sure he'll get right on that. At the point where Beane extended Knox very early in the 2022 season, Knox had just done everything the team asked him to do in 2021. Doubled his receptions, doubled his receiving yards, catch % up 14.5% with no increase in drops, better blocker downfield AND inline. So Beane has to make a decision: do I extend him now? If I don't, and he continues to equal or better that performance, he could price himself out of our market. If I do, and it turns out to be "regression to the mean" this season, it's a premature move. In fairness to Knox, his receiving use fell off in 2022 through no particular fault of his own - he was asked to block and chip because Spencer Brown wasn't cutting it, AND he had ligament repair surgery mid-season last year.

So, I have a theory here. Rapp played a LOT of ST snaps for us last season - 49%. The Bills are moving on from a ton of their ST core - ST captains Tyler Matakevich, Siran Neal, Tyrell Dodson, Trent Sherfield etc. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/2023-snap-counts.htm Not counting the kicker, that's 4 of their top 10 I think Rapp is getting a little bit of a *bump* over what he deserves as a depth safety, because the Bills liked his ST play but also feel he can contribute on D. It's a balancing act where Beane realizes he can no longer carry guys like Matakevich and Dodson (who play teams but really can't hold down a start on D). As a depth player behind Poyer and Hyde, he also played a LOT of defensive snaps last season once we lost Milano, so I think Beane also sees Rapp as a hedge for a hybrid role in case Milano can't come back or needs more recovery time (the injury he reportedly suffered is not one it's a sure bet to return from). IOW, Beane sees Rapp as having a combination of skills and scheme knowledge he can't just pick up out of the bargain bin. My theory will not please those who regularly rant against the Bills prioritizing ST, but that seems to me to be a priority in a number of these early signings - Rapp, Mack Hollins, Nicholas Morrow - all guys who have laid down substantial starting snaps at their roles on offense or defense, but who have also played ST. I think that's Beane's motivation in some of these early signings, to maintain or restock the ST corps but with guys who are better at their O or D positions than the guys they're replacing proved to be.

Whoaoa, That's Some Haircut!

So playing a bit of devil's advocate here: a trade after 6/1 can theoretically make sense if a team has their draft fall exactly the way they want, likes the longer look they saw of their rookie in training camp, perhaps has an injury which leaves them understocked at one position and overstocked at another OR has a veteran who is making "unhappy" ripples because they read the tea leaves and see their role as reduced. Teams also make moves to free up cap space after 6/1 as one cap management strategy, to sign rookies or any FA who have been playing the "wait and see" game. Right now though - is there even a position at which the Bills are going into the season over-stocked with talent? At the end of the season, I might have said "CB", but Tre White has been designated a post-June-1 cut and Dane Jackson has signed elsewhere, so we're "right-sized" at CB now. And we have Tre' White designated as a post-June-1 cut, freeing up $10M of cap which will give us extra space to sign rookies and perhaps a mid-tier DL. So I don't think either of the reasons why teams make post-6/1 trades apply to the Bills.

We take that into account, but we also take into account video of Diggs with his arms raised in "WTF?" position, yelling at Allen on the sideline while Allen studies his Surface tablet and ignores him. We also take into account Cover1 (who have some connections with players) saying "the Bromance is definitely over". We take into account Diggs ghosting on the team and media after the last two losses. To some people it's the behavior of a passionate competitor who hates to lose and understandably can't stand to stay in the building after a frustrating loss, and maybe better dip before he says something he'll regret. To others, it's the behavior of an immature and petulant guy who isn't committed to his brothers on the team when times are bad, thus showing poor leadership. Since none of us are in the clubhouse or on the practice field with him daily, it's impossible to say which perspective is more accurate and to what degree I support this strategy. I also support the strategy of taking a shot or two this year, and a shot or two next year, as necessary to "get it right".

You aren't alone, believe me. I think I understand pretty well and I can count on being called out for at least 2 or 3 gaffes per off-season. Bank on it, there will be a lot of posts in the next 2 1/2 months which show less understanding and less interest in learning.

I think there's room for some rational disagreement on whether it would move the success of our offense and our odds of getting to the playoffs next year. Vegas odds, I Got Nuthin', Don't bet, don't follow Vegas That's probably legit, he may well have been asked to take a pay cut or something and said. 'Um, let me think....Nah" but then worried about what that meant Dude, Please Stop. The Bills could pick up part of his salary. It would get added on to the $31M dead cap hit from all his bonuses accelerating into this season. We simply don't have the cap space for those kind of shenanigans. Sooner or later, everyone (and I include you in this category) have to see how absurd this has become.

OK, if Da Bears motivation was to do the 1st round pick they're abandoning a solid by giving him input into his landing spot, I approve their actions. It's a business, but not a 100% heartless one

No, not at all. But for the little bitty bit they got for him, I think they could have just kept him on the roster to see what happens and whether someone would make them a better offer.

Some people on this board who are known to have some inside sources in the Bills posted this. I'll try to find the posts. But they aren't "LAMP"ers and it wasn't brought up in a gossipy way, so I'm inclined to give it some credibility.

If the Steelers don't make big investments in their offensive line, Russ Wilson will be too busy running for his life to develop anyone. Pickett, a 2022 1st round Pick #20 and a 4th for a 3rd round pick and 2 7th round picks Fields, a 2021 1st round Pick #11 for a 6th round pick that could become a 4th if he plays Kinda looks like the Steelers sold high and bought low, but Wow! QBs don't get much time to develop in this day and age. I think if I were a Bears fan, I'd be kind of pissed.

The premise of your rant is fundamentally mistaken. Since joining the Bills, Diggs targets have been 2020 10 T/gm 2021 9.6 T/gm 2022 9.6 T/gm 2023 9.4 T/gm I don't think decreasing his targets by 0.2 per game is gonna impact his career longevity too much. That comes to 3.4 fewer targets per season.

I don't think anyone believes we'll be keeping Diggs for the length of his current contract. This year, it is "cheaper to keep him". Next year, 2025, we save $$ by cutting him. 2026, we save substantial money by cutting him How decent what we can get for him is, depends upon his performance this upcoming season. It was a couple years ago (22?) but as linked above, when Dallas traded Amari Cooper they got a 5th.

They would get him cheaper, in the sense that they would only be paying his salary, workout, and per-game roster bonuses so $19M. That still makes him like the 17th paid WR, although the trade partner could convert some of it to restructure bonuses.

I think that's a little misleading on the part of Overthecap. We don't get to amortize his cap hits over 5 years just because we trade him after June 1 this season. The rest of the cap hits would fall in 2025. Cooper had kind of a weird 5 year, $100M contract - or at least, being used to looking at Beane's contracts, it looked that way to me. It was like $10k of signing bonus and the rest was all salary.

I don't think so Details here https://www.si.com/nfl/cowboys/news/dallas-trade-amari-cooper-cleveland-browns#gid=ci029bfaa32000272a&pid=tank-amari For the Cowboys, it was a swap: Cooper and a 6th, for a 5th and a 6th back. Note that essentially, the #10 WR last season in receiving yards, was traded to Cleveland for a 5th round pick. Cooper was due $20M salary that guaranteed just before the Cowboys traded him, and Cleveland promptly restructured his salary into amortizable bonus, but the money Dallas had sunk into bonuses, stayed with Dallas

No, if we trade him now, all of the amortized bonuses get added up and applied to this seasons cap But then in future years, all his cap costs are gone Apologies if I misunderstand what you're asking

I took that as meaning "I almost had it, I was THIS close" not "you were off, buddy". OK, so obviously at best, it's something with multiple reasonable interpretations by us fans, so why is it a good basis for being down on the guy? I don't think it was the tweets