Lost

we're trading up for 2 3rd round pics

My concern about trading mid round picks this year is not this season but the next 2-3. The Bills seem semi determined to go all in this year with a lot of the moves and that's fine if we bring home a Lombardy. But if 2022 isn't our year we have a lot of dead cap space creeping up on us the next few years and some key players we need to renegotiate next off season. Beane said multiple times this off season that we need to nail these mid round draft picks because of the cap situation we're in right now. Having more rookie contracts to work with will help us immensely in preventing a dropoff in talent when we can't resign players like Edmunds or Poyer next season. I'm not really disappointed with the trade or the pick given the way the board was falling but just mildly concerned about next year. As @NewEra said, we could have likely gotten Elam without the trade up. If Elam was snagged then Booth was still there too.

Not that it matters because I'm glad they took Elam over McDuffie but I wonder if the Bills could have traded up further than 23 with thier 4th rd pick if they were going to go that route. I envisioned them trading up to like 18-19 to take Booth but I was also hoping for a bit that maybe they would trade up to the 15-18 range and grab Hamilton if he slid that far.

More common for good WRs to come out of later rounds. Cooper Kupp 3rd Rd, Tyreek Hill 5th Rd just off the top of my head. Bean said in a presser a few weeks ago we need to nail the middle of the draft. I expected 2 of the rd 2-4 picks to be WR so... The move just doesn't jive with me is all. Both booth and Elam were there. Even Skyy Moore was still available if we wanted WR.

I mean Gabe Davis was a 4th round pick at 128. That's potentially what we just gave up.

4th round pick to move up 2. Was it worth it?

Hope we take Booth over McDuffie if both there at 25. Thoughts on George Pickens if he drops to bottom of 2nd?

WR is probably the deepest position in this draft class. Don't fret if they're all gone in 1st round. We likely weren't taking one here anyway.

Dabol winning this draft so far IMO. Like the bold moves by Detroit and Baltimore as well.

Do we take a Kyle Hamilton if he's still available?

From your original post, it would seem that the Hochul's were the more corrupt, deceptive party in getting the deal done as opposed to the Pegulas. They're just making a wise business decision. Forking over 350 Million for something they will not own doesn't ooze with greed to me. They own the team, not the stadium. As for the Hochuls, I'm not going to disagree with you that there was probably some shenanigans going on, that's nothing new in politics unfortunately. Corruption is rampant in government on all sides, that's why I'm always in favor of smaller government or at least not expanding it's scope. People like to hate on billionaires but the truth is we created them. They provided a desirable product or service and we eat it up. If they start getting greedy and not acting in the best interest of society, we can easily take our dollars elsewhere. When the government starts getting greedy/corrupt it's a lot harder to take your tax dollars elsewhere. At the end of the day though, nobody was harmed in getting this deal done. The Bills keep playing in buffalo, WNY keeps generating more tax revenue and we can go see the games in a new state of the art stadium and not have to p*ss in a sink.

I mean, NFL owners typically aren't in the business to lose money. If any of us were billionaires and trying to negotiate a new stadium we'd probably go about it the same way. Greed is in all of us, politicians, billionaires and rubes alike. We all generally make decisions to serve our own best interest. The further up the food chain you get, the more leverage you have though.

Purely subjective talking point here. You could ask 100 different people and get a 100 different answers as to where they think their tax dollars are best spent. Sure, a person who doesn't watch football or attend games is going to think 800M on a stadium is wasteful...but A person who doesn't have children will think 800M on child health services is wasteful Someone who doesn't drive could care less how much money the state spends on roads and bridges. A person in the suburbs probably doesn't care much about public transportation. I personally would rather see my tax dollars spent on a stadium than a whole laundry list of other items in the state budget. You confuse me though.. You seem to be a Bills fan, no? But I've never seen anyone rail so hard against the team actually staying in NY and getting a new stadium.

I always wondered why teams would leave cities only to eventually find their way back one way or another. This explains it. I agree that there was zero chance a team would ever come back to Buffalo once leaving. 30 years from now when the new lease expires, stadiums will be costing in the 20-30 Billion range so $850 million from the state will seem like not such a bad investment. You can love or hate Kathy Hochul but if her one legacy from her stint as Governor is keeping the Bills in Buffalo that's not a bad way to go out.

Disclosure, I'm not a Democrat nor live in NY but I do applaud her for how she finessed the deal through. Part of the stars aligning was having Josh Allen too. Had the Bills not been on the path they're on and still stuck in perpetual 7-9 seasons, I think there would have been much less urgency to get a deal done for a new stadium.

I would kinda like to see Poyer stay and get a 2yr extension but at the same time there's some safeties in this draft that I really like.

Starting to feel more and more like Edmunds or Poyer arent going to be around much longer.

Why do you hate the Pegulas so much?

The deal isn't done though yet is it? Last I heard NY missed the Friday deadline for state budget with the Stadium funding being one of the contention points. I agree with all your points though. Even if there were a current owner willing to shell out 1-2 billion for a stadium, they wouldn't be doing it in WNY. They'd move the team first.

I agree, this coaching staff is a little too focused on the DL rotation. Having said that I don't think there should be an over emphasis to draft a receiver in the first round. Of the top 10 receivers in the league last year, only 2 of them were first round draft picks, 1 was from 2nd, 4 were from 3rd and 3 from 5th. I absolutely want to add more young receivers to the team but I think the value there is in the middle rounds. I'm pretty content with Diggs, Davis, Crowder, McKenzie.

I dunno man, after reviewing film of both Hamilton and Dax Hill, I see all the same qualities in Hill who also has a faster 40 time. He also appears to me to have a quicker first step than Hamilton when breaking towards the ball. I would be tickled to death if he falls to 25 and the Bills scoop him up. I think Hills stock will continue to rise on draft day while a lot of others will drop off some. Just my opinion though.

Bills just offered what Chandler Jones got so it's likely another team would have ended up at that same amount.

I have a hard time believing a poll that has 31% of Bills fans opposing funding of a new stadium

I would occasionally watch games I wasn't particularly interested in just because John Madden was commenting.

How they extrapolate "majority of NY voters" from a poll sample size of 812 is a bit of a stretch. The poll operator is clearly a Jets fan