BigAl2526

Seriously, I don't know that there is an average fan. Does the average fan drink during the game? How much? How old is he? Or is it a she? Was the average fan involved in sports as a youth? Is the average fan politically inclined? Conservative or liberal? Does the average fan yell and scream at what is happening on the field? Does the average fan get to most of the games? Probably not since there are likely many more Bills fans than can fit in Highmark Stadium. For myself, I'm older, never played high school sports, have only attended a handful of games over my lifetime, and I don't drink a drop of beer, wine, or liquor. I am mostly quiet during games. I am somewhat politically astute, but not all that passionate about politics, and relatively moderate in my thinking. I certainly don't think of myself as an average fan.

I imagine Michel will stick as a role player for the Rams. They are thin at the position after all. Still, it's a difficult move for the Rams expending draft capital for an end of his career player.

I don't think the Bills' coaching staff likes to call out players in the public, but it should be pretty clear that Butler has been a pro for long enough that his talent should have resulted in greater production. All one needs to do is connect some dots.

That explains why Bean picked up Rico Gafford.

He's probably an extreme long shot to make the team, but Rico Gafford instantly becomes the fastest player on the Bills, and it's not that close. He ran a 4.25 40 at his pro day. It looks as if perhaps the Bills are sending a message to Isaiah McKenzie that he ought not muff too many more punts.

Ouch. Obviously Edmunds and Milano are locks, but after that it gets tough to narrow it down. Matakevich is your special team ace. AJ Klein is your respected veteran presence. If you assume all those guys are on the 53 man roster, you've got one more spot. Tyler Dodson has been with the team for a couple seasons. He's pretty athletic. Yet Joe Giles-Harris has made some big time plays in the first two preseason games. So has Andre Smith. If I'm the Bills, I'm trying to get better. If you're keeping just 5 guys who were here last year, it's tough to argue that you're getting better. Not saying you're wrong, just that making the safe choices may not get the Bills where they want to go.

He's learning a lot about different areas of out country at least. Maybe in his post football career he can become a travel agent or something.

With the Pfizer vaccine now having full approval, there's no reason the Bills can't mandate that every toilet cleaner, broom pusher, and pot washer at OBD be vaccinated. The Delta variant is, however causing quite a few breakthrough cases

I guess you could say I'm a bandwagon Sabres fan. I'm currently on the curb telling the driver he needs to give me some tangible reason to pay attention to the Sabres before I hop on the wagon again. That might take a couple years at least. I've been Steady Eddie as a Bills fan for 52 years though. I held out hope through some very dark times.

McDermott and Beane share credit for completely rebuilding the team; talent, character, everything. Daboll as an exciting and productive offensive system, and he's a brilliant coordinator. That said, the system and the playbook belong to the Bills. No, it's not copyrighted and Brian Daboll can install the same system if he goes somewhere else, but Buffalo has some smart, capable offensive assistants, who could step into the offensive coordinator role, and will probably not change the offensive system. I'm thinking Ken Dorsey, the QB coach/passing game coordinator is a natural choice to succeed Daboll. It helps that Dorsey has and assistant QB coach in Shea Tierney that Josh Allen just loves. Tierney can easily step into the QB coach position.

Yeah, there is a strong argument to be made that Buffalo has the 2 best QBs in the AFC East.

Well, this ranking is an ESPN thing, and Mina Kimes, whom I quoted is an ESPN personality. I thought it would be OK to post her difference of opinion with their consensus choice.

Trubisky's outstanding performance in the Chicago preseason game certainly will have GMs around the league reassessing him as a possible acquisition. However, there was a reason the let go of Matt Barkley and offered more to Trubisky than they would have had to pay Barkley. Trubisky is a high level insurance policy in case Josh Allen is injured for more than a game or two this season. I think Davis Webb still my have some untapped upside, but the Bills are all about making a Super Bowl run this year, and in the unthinkable eventuality of a Josh Allen injury, I'd like to think they still have a chance with Trubisky to make it happen, Davis Webb and Jake Fromm don't give you that. Beane's asking price is going to be so high, nobody is going to touch him.

I agree with this. Beane could certainly give Atlanta's GM a call an gauge his interest, but unless Atlanta has some mysterious craving for Fromm because he's a University of Georgia product, there are other fringe type QBs out there who can get them through the preseason, and there will be many more after final cutdown day.

If the Bills are looking for a special teams ace, that might be able to take some snaps at RB in a pinch, to replace the aging Taiwan Jones, Kerrith Whyte has traits you might look for

That's reassuring. I think the Bills can live with that.

Mina Kimes: "I'm surprised that Allen didn't end up No. 1 here. Sure, Mahomes throws the prettier deep ball, but if we're just assessing arm strength, Allen's cannon is indisputable."

Not so sure about that. I think Hodgins could end up there. Stevenson might as well. I'm not sure that the Bills will want to take the time continuing to develop a 28 year old WR who just can't seem to quite make the team year after year.

And I know he was out of football last season. I'm a fan of the guy. A lot of us were thinking he'd need time to acclimate to the NFL and Boogie Basham might have more impact in the immediate future, but Rousseau has been a pleasant surprise. None of that changes the fact that he's something of a one trick pony and depending on how many snaps he gets, opposing coaches will be motivated to try and take that one trick away. Furthermore, I think Rousseau probably knows that and the Bills coaching staff knows it and they're probably all working to diversify his arsenal of moves.

Brown and Phillips are a lot more essential to Buffalo's plans for 2021 than Doyle. I hope the injuries are minor.

Of course, he needs some time, but if he starts playing a lot of minutes and he continues to rely on that one signature move, opposing teams are going to spot it, and the offensive line coach is going to drill his offensive tackles on combatting that move, and Rousseau's effectiveness is going to decline quickly. I'm sure the Bills' defensive line coach has him on a crash course in moves to add to his arsenal. It just takes time and hard work.

I'm not an administrator, but this strikes me as a misleading thread title. All you needed to do was say something like "My Choice for a Surprise Cut." As it is worded, I didn't know if I was going to find an opinion, a prediction or a news flash.

I'm excited about his natural talent, but I think he needs to work on developing a more polished arsenal of pass rush moves.

This is the thorn on the rose. "Only players on the 53-player roster after Sept. 1 are eligible to be designated for return from IR or the non-football injury list." If The Bills can justify putting Doyle on IR, they can do it any time, I don't think they'd worry much about trying to bring him back this season. Sweeney would be pouched if the Bills cut him to try and get him on a return eligible IR. They may or may not be able to sneak Hodgins and Stevenson on to such a return eligible IR.

In the last few seasons, you could only designate a player to return from IR to the 53 man roster if he was IRed after the 53 man roster was reached. I don't know what the rules are this year, but obviously there are changes that have been made.