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Would we be having this conversation if some of our draft picks for the defense were having more success? Oliver, Espenesa and Basham clearly have underperformed for where they were drafted. If one or two of these players turned out to be red or blue chip type players, our defense would be better and we would be satisfied with the drafting of these players and the point at which they were drafted.

I have been thinking post-Super Bowl that maybe it was a mistake to elevate Dorsey to OC. After last season, the expectation was that we would be a Super Bowl contender this season, possibly even a favorite to get there. In that situation, was the right decision to install a rookie OC to do the play calling for a head coach with a background on defense? Doesn't seem like a wise decision in hindsight. It may have been upsetting to Josh, but the right approach would have been to hire an OC with experience. To be fair, I don't know who was available last offseason and we did have Mike Shula in some kind of a role, but our offense was really uneven this season and not particularly creative.

Makes sense for Edmunds and Poyer since they are free agents at this point and have not re-signed (although I hope they do). Oliver not being in the photo may be more about him not being one of their top players.

KC has great coaches. Reid for the offense and Spags for the defense. Reid is so creative and comes up with great game plans.

Clearly, Diggs is not over the loss to Cincinnati and there do seem to be lingering and unresolved issues between him and Allen and possibly the coaching staff. Diggs is a captain, and he will need to soon start acting more positively about the future and next season with the Bills, or this really will become a distraction or worse. A team can't have one of its top players and a captain showing a lack of confidence about the direction and prospects for the team or indifference (at best) about playing for the team.

He just does not seem positive in any way about the team or the team's future and that was a weird statement about if the team sends him somewhere it wouldn't be KC. Does that interviewer actually work for SI? I don't usually comment about these kinds of things, but she was really bad.

Expectations were really high this season and they were not met. The success that the team has had during the time that McBeane have been in charge is amazing, particularly when compared to the team's performance prior to their arrival, but the team's success also has caused a readjustment of expectations. which I guess was inevitable. Not meeting expectations led to scrutiny, with some legitimate questions raised about coaching and the composition of the team. I think what is causing the current angst and toxicity on the board is the concern that we will not have as much success next year since the coaching staff generally will remain intact and we are limited in our ability to improve player talent, coupled with facing significant free agent losses. It doesn't help to have concerns about Diggs' happiness with the team and Josh. Our fan base is particularly sensitive about star players being unhappy about playing for the Bills, and this is an additional layer of angst that we just don't need. McBeane have a lot of pressure this offseason to keep the players motivated and confident while improving the overall talent. Tough task with the same coaching staff returning and very limited cap space, but let's hope that they can figure out a way to make the moves necessary to get us where we need to be.

I guess we may have a better sense of the situation with Diggs if the Bills don't restructure Diggs' contract this offseason to free up some dollars to sign and re-sign free agents.

Seems like Diggs is doing a lot of interviews. You would think at least one of his interviewers would ask Diggs about his relationship with Allen post loss to the Bengals. I have not heard/seen that.

Listening to Diggs on Dan Patrick was weird. Referred to Josh as his quarterback and not by name. Didn't try to explain it as an in the moment kind of thing or that things were good between them, instead seemed to suggest that there were issues in the second half of the season. Some had suggested that Diggs was trying to get Allen to ignore Dorsey's play calling, but that was not my sense of what was going on between Allen and Diggs in that moment. Appeared to be something between them.

All good points, but the the things you note under "Scheme" are so difficult to understand and need to be figured out if the Bills are going to have future success.

Morse at his current contract is reasonable value. Can't cut Oliver because his compensation for 2023 if fully guaranteed and I doubt he can be traded. Would we restructure Tre? Does the base salary restructure affect our ability to move on from Tre in 2024 or 2025? Tre is one of my favorite players on the Bills, but there must be at least some concern about whether he will return to form for the 2023 season.

Peter King has some Bills related tidbits in his FMIA column today. Doesn't back down from his assessment that time is slipping away for the Bills because they are not progressing, goes after Beane for his failure to draft quality WRs when there were some available for us in recent drafts, and quotes the thoughts Bills Parcells had about the Bills after the loss to Cinci. Interesting.

I think we need to be realistic here. Cinci's d-line are as a group superior to our d-line with Reader, Hubbard and Hendrickson, their WRs have more top end talent and are deeper in quality than our group, and their reconstituted o-line provided better protection to Burrows than did our o-line for Josh during the regular season and playoffs. At each of these position groups, Cinci has more than what we have, and it showed last weekend, even with their injuries on the o-line. Combine this with creative play calling on offense with a QB who gets the ball out quickly and a defense lead by a coordinator with the ability to come up with effective game plans, and you have a recipe for success against the Bills. Granted, I recall that the Bills were very interested in and pursued Reader, but he chose the Bengals and we were missing Von, which I don't think would have changed the overall results. As has been noted, there is a lot of work to do to "catch-up" to the Bengals. I could not imagine at the start of the season that this is what I would be writing now, but this is where we are. Beane has much work ahead of him, and not much in the way of resources or ability to change the coaching staff to get it done. This will be interesting because the status quo will not be acceptable if the Bills want to make progress and not regress.

Great message and he looks well. I will be aggravated about the Bills exit from the playoffs and the way they lost for the foreseeable future, but I will be forever thankful for Damar's recovery.

I think everyone seems to understand that the o-line was not good this past season and needs significant upgrades, but it is kind of galling that our defense is such a mess with so many resources (i.e., free agents and high draft picks) devoted to it over the past number of years.

Would have thought that you would wait to fire assistants until after a new DC is in place so they would have input on defensive hirings and firings.

Wonder what role Mike Shula played this season on the coaching staff. I don't think I heard a word about him during the season.

The reality is that Beane's drafting, outside of Allen, has been, at best, uneven. He has hit on some later round picks such as Milano, Knox, Johnson, Davis and Jackson, but has fared as well with his first, second and third round picks. The problem with the early picks is that they are performing at a level that is generally below their draft position would have suggested. Another way to put it is that our early round picks generally are not total busts because they are contributors, but they also are not blue chip or even red chip type players. First round picks Oliver and Rousseau have shown flashes, but they are not consistent and seem to disappear at times. Rousseau should improve, but Oliver is a disappointment given where he was drafted and who else was available at that point of the draft. Late second rounders Basham and Epenesa are role players. Second rounder Ford was a bust. Third rounder Brown is playing like a third rounder and needs to improve. Bernard, another third rounder, seems to have bust potential. Too early to tell about Elam and Cook. Contrast our recent drafting with those of the Chiefs, who have been drafting after us over the last number of years. In 2021, the Chiefs drafted Bolton (LB), Humphrey (C) and Smith (G). All are at least red chip players and Humphrey is a blue chip player. Their 2022 draft class looks strong as well. Bottom line is that the Bills need to draft better in the early rounds.

If Frazier does leave, I think the new DC would be Eric Washington. He did not have success in Carolina as the DC, so I would be concerned if he was the choice.

I am usually an optimist about things, but I think our flexibility to improve the roster will be severely limited by the salary cap this offseason. I would create cap space by restructuring Allen, Miller, Diggs and Milano, but not White or Dawkins. These cap savings will need to go to signing our draft picks and back-up type players (our own and new free agents) to fill out our roster. I do not believe that Oliver will be tradable at his guaranteed salary this year. Does not seem to be enough money to re-sign both Edmunds and Poyer (or maybe either), so I would focus on Edmunds unless his contract ask is similar to what Roquan Smith received. Assuming Hines is back, sign a low priced RB replacement for Motor unless Motor is willing to take a contract for under $5 million per year. Try to get Hines to agree to a reduced salary. I don't think there will enough money to sign a starting caliber WR or offensive lineman, and it does not appear that there are a lot of quality free agents available at either position. In the draft, WR and O-line should be the focus in the first three rounds. After that, draft a safety. Not a great year for free agent o-linemen, and I understand that the draft is not particularly strong for WRs or OL. Beane has his work cut out for him to keep the team at the current level. let alone improve it.

Thanks for the OvertheCap calculator link. Looks like we can free up to about $40 million with Allen, Miller, Diggs and Milano. I wouldn't restructure White or Dawkins at this point. Even if we can do this, is this enough to do anymore than sign our draft picks, re-sign some of our free agents and sign some free agents to be back-ups so that we have a full roster?

Next season will be interesting, even if Singletary is re-signed. Neither Cook nor Hines (assuming he will be back) seems to be an every down back and both have similarities in their skill sets. We have lacked a "move the pile" type running back, and if Singletary leaves via free agency, one can argue that we will need another starting quality RB to fill out the running back group. Not an ideal situation to be in after using draft resources on Moss, Singletary and Cook over the last number of years.

Agree with Florio on everything. Brutal, yes, but highly accurate.

I agree that Simms has this exactly right. Some good players on the Bills, but other teams have more better players. Bills lack "sizzle" around Josh and don't have any "sizzle" type players on D that can make game changing plays when needed.