BigAl2526

I looked up his pro day results. He might be a good kid with long arms, but with a 40 time of 4.85 he's going to have a hard time sticking as a defensive back. I know sometimes I over estimate the importance of speed sometimes, but he's competing against guys that have times 3 tenths better. That's a lot when you're trying to cover the likes of Tyreek Hill.

Congrats to the Bills on getting the draftees all in the fold. The UDFAs are pretty much a given. They wouldn't be Buffalo's UDFAs if they weren't signed.

Right off the bat they're spending a bunch of that rest capital. They go from a Thursday night opener to a Monday night home opener. Almost a third of their rest advantage gone by the second weekend.

The subscription issue is real. Some people can afford to subscribe to every service necessary to see all the games in a season as the NFL contracts with more subscription based providers, but some can't. As it happens, I can probably see NFL games on Amazon Prime through my daughter's subscription. I am on a fixed income and my wife and I have to be careful with our expenditures. We cut the cable a few months ago. We were going to have to pay like $180 to Spectrum for internet and cable. We went with a competitor for high speed internet at $50 a month My wife has a modestly priced streaming service for a couple channels she especially likes. Otherwise, we're depending on free streaming services and a roof antenna. I already know that I won't be able to see the Bills vs. Tennessee because it's on ESPN. If my daughter wasn't an Amazon Prime subscriber, I would miss the December 1st game at New England. I'm not asking for pity. We made a choice on how to allocate limited resources. The thing is, there are probably significant numbers of persons who will be affected by the migration of NFL games to subscription based broadcasters.

They didn't show the tent where Tyreek camped out while waiting for the ball to come down.

I think Elam has the best opportunity to have a great season. I have two reasons. First, he should be playing most of the season across from Tre White, who is a consensus top five CB in the league. As long as White can demonstrate that he's healthy and confident after his ACL injury, opponents will likely avoid attempting to pass to White's side. By the way, Buffalo also has one of the best slot corners in the league. Consequently, Elam is likely to get tested early and often. That will only be exacerbated by Buffalo's high scoring offense. Buffalo has to potential to force opponents to play catch up. That means more passing and less running. An improved run defense from the Bills would help too.

Today, (May 10) Buffalo Rumblings is reporting Buffalo at Rams for the Thursday season opener as a rumor. Buffalo Rumblings rumor article.

None of the defensive ends Buffalo has drafted recently have elite speed and quickness, but that's no surprise given where they have been picking, and the need to address other shortcomings. I haven't given up on any of them, but their success is going to have to come from strength and technique rather than the aforementioned speed, quickness and bend around the edge. I think it's just going to take a little time for those young guys to enjoy the kind of success that a Joey Bosa might have out of the gates of his pro career.

This makes a lot of sense. During the season at least, I presume that it's not the best time for trying to tinker with fundamentals and mechanics.

Let me get this straight. The Texans gave KC a conditional 2024 7th round draft pick to take Lonnie Johnson off their hands? I'm wrong you say? Maybe it's the news reports that got it reversed. Lonnie should have stayed at TE. Did I get it all straight?

That list can't be right. Jones missed Cole Strange.

Whether or not someone was a threat to draft Elam ahead of #25, I don't mind Beane playing it safe as long as he was able to put together a solid draft.

Looking at his scouting report, Raheem Blackshear draft profile, he's not a first round draft prospect who slipped through the cracks. He's not super fast or quick. He's slender and is not going to be fit for any heavy duty inside running. He doesn't always make the right decisions. I think he needs to prove he's a better special teamer than Taiwan Jones, who has much better speed. The one thing he has going for him in that competition is youth. Taiwan Jones is 33. That is old for a running back/special teamer, and it's possible he's lost a step, or will soon.

There are 12 offensive linemen on the roster. That's three more than the Bills are likely to carry on the 53 man roster. The maximum roster for NFL teams is 90 this time of year. There are 37 who won't make the team. Three extra offensive linemen are not a lot. David Quessenberry was likely signed mostly to serve as competition at swing tackle. Seven of the twelve are interior linemen. I'm including Cody Ford as an interior lineman though the team still lists him as a G/T. The tackles, I think, are pretty much set in the minds of Beane and McDermott, and they don't need to look for a lot of new talent. I don't think Beane and McDermott have the same feeling about the interior. Yes, Saffold, if he is healthy, is a starter, but he's not a safe bet to stay healthy. Bates seemed to have played well late last season, but that's not a long time to make assessments that determine rosters. I think Beane is open to and interested in upgrading the overall talent in the interior of the line, even if it ends up just changing up the backups. The caveat, as always, is cost and cap room. If they have too many on the roster, they can always cut a fringe guy, if they find a better guy. Yes, there are some fringe guys on the roster. Jacob Capra anyone?

McDermott would never say publicly if a certain player screwed up, but if McDermott agrees with Levi's assessment, could that be a contributing factor in the decision not to try and re-sign him?

I remember another veteran QB who was vocal about not mentoring the rookie the team brought in. The veteran was Brett Favre, the rookie was Aaron Rodgers.

It's not that Strange is a bad player. He's smart, a quick learner, and plays with solid technique. In addition, he's projected to be able to play center too. The issue is he certainly would have been available in round 2, and quite possibly in round 3. Would Belichick deny there was a player he might have liked as a Patriot besides Strange who got picked somewhere between his first round pick and the start of the third round. There must have been someone. If not, why didn't he trade down.

Tanner Owen played left tackle in college, which of course is the most demanding spot on the line as far as movement skills are concerned, but his lack of length makes him an ideal candidate to move inside in the pros. Maybe he's the next Ryan Bates and will offer similar position versatility if he develops.

I would hope and expect improvement from Rousseau this season. I don't expect Von Miller to have any magic effect on him beyond attracting more attention from opposing blockers. Rousseau has an entirely different body type, and a different skill set rushing the passer. He may learn a trick or two from Miller, and I think he's a strong leader and locker room presence, which benefits everyone, but Miller's presence is not going to remake Rousseau's game.

I was already optimistic about Cook, and I've heard lots of good things about Shakir, but the presence of Terrel Bernard on that list is really encouraging. Once he gets acclimated to the NFL, I can imagine it will be like having a Milano clone. They are both small for linebackers, and Milano has begun to have some injury issues. If the Bills can get solid play out of Bernard, I can see the Bills platooning the two, each getting 50% of the reps more or less. Less wear and tear means less risk of injury.

Any time a prospect pulls out a notebook, you know McDermott is going to start drooling.

With a nod to Elton John, I would like "Rocket Man" or maybe since his name is Matt, "Rocket Matt"

The posts about Benford being slow are interesting to me. He timed 4.52 in the 40 at his pro day. That is significantly better than Levi Wallace and better than Dane Jackson. It's comparable to what Kyler Gordon did in the 40 at the combine, and Gordon went in the second round. It's pretty well known that a lot of young prospects get coaching specifically for the combine and pro day testing. Benford, being a small school guy who didn't get invited to the combine, is far less likely to have been coached up for the running that he did at his pro day, than say Kyler Gordon. The Bills are getting somewhat faster at the position. Of course, Elam is pretty fast at 4.39 replacing Wallace who was 4.6+. Nick McCloud on their practice squad last year is still with the Bills, is their fastest CB with a 4.37 40. He's also got decent size at 6' and 193 lbs. If he can get his deficiencies coached up, the Bills secondary is looking up.

Araiza's struggles to drop the ball inside the 20 have, I think, more to do with inexperience and lack of coaching in that area than some innate thing he can't correct. He's going to get a lot of coaching between now and the start of the season.

The problem with Tenuta is his size. Being 6'8" would seem to put the kabosh on any notion of inside outside versatility. Playing on the inside on the line is all about leverage, and that means getting lower than your opponent across the line. That's tough to do at 6'8" though perhaps not impossible. Obviously, Dawkins and Brown look entrenched on the ends of the line. Buffalo signed David Quessenberry to play, or at least compete strongly, for the role of swing tackle. They also have Tommy Doyle, another 6'8" guy they picked up in the draft last season. To win a spot on the 53 man roster, Tenuta would have to beat out Doyle at least. Since he's obviously not going to be the second guy on the depth chart behind Dawkins and Brown, it would be better for him if he had some inside/outside flexibility, since the interior is where the Bills' depth is probably weakest.