NORWOODS FOOT

I’m not sure Collins is a lock. Hoping some of these young-bloods beat him out actually

Really glad we got Xavier Johnson (I’m a big Ohio State fan) and Keaton Bills (watched him dominate in a game a few years ago and hoped we would draft him).

Allen was right about Kincaid and I’m glad he’s happy, but yeah, I wouldn’t be abdicating making selections to him if I were the GM. I hope to hell that Coleman is amazing, but I don’t think he will be a guy that will command double teams (hope I’m wrong) and I think we may even have to scheme to put him in favorable situation (hope I’m wrong). You really wanted the other way around, players that the opposing coaches have to make adjustments to account for. the more of those guys you have the more trouble you give the opposing team. And then you can even scheme to put them in more favorable positions and leverage their special talents. That’s where things get really fun.

Here’s the thing some people don’t want to accept: There really are some people in other walks of life that are better evaluators of talent than people running NFL teams. It’s a statistical reality. They just don’t end up working in the NFL. There are people off the street that would be better than me at doing my job. No doubt. Some people just can’t seem to fathom this and can’t accept that such fans would feel frustrated. They get all sensitive and rude. Such is life. The year we picked Antoine Winfield I was screaming for Antoine Winfield. That was awesome. The year we picked Dante Whitner I was screaming for Haloti Ngata. That sucked. The year we picked Aaron Maybin I was screaming for Clay Matthews Jr. That sucked. The year we picked CJ Spiller I also wanted Spiller and was wrong right along with the Bills. The year we picked Elam I was screaming for Woolen. That kinda sucked. So as you can see, some fans have a better sense for talent and it’s hard to watch the team end up making lesser choices. PS I would have taken McConkey at 33 this year.

Come on guys! Don’t be so mean. I have a Patrick Mahomes shaped hole in my heart and it’s bleeding. Don’t hurt me more! 🙄 i’m talking about teambuilding strategy, how we do it how the Chiefs do it and why they beat us. I would hope they’re having similar conversations at One Bills Drive. So maybe they’re crying too? I think the real loser mentality is saying that not winning a Super Bowl is good enough. But that’s just me. I like championships.

that’s what I find so intriguing about Xavier Worthy. I think his production may not show up as much in the stat sheet at least not under his own name.

i’ve heard about some nebulous character concerns with AD Mitchell, and that he has diabetes type one and does not manage it well. I hope that if we select one of the other two guys, you mentioned, they can help stretch that spacing for us. Hell, maybe Franklin will end up being able to do it better than worthy. That would be fantastic and I’d be happy to eat my words.

A fair point. But his speed is special. And if you prepared to leverage it schematically, it can have a huge effect on the rest of your offense. That’s my projection anyway, and I’m gonna be watching to see if that’s how it actually plays out.

I think Beane is a A- general manager. He’s quite excellent in many ways. But there is a margin of difference between how he constructs this team and how McDermott coaches it and what Andy Reid is doing. And that’s what I’m interested in. What is that difference and why does it seem, so decisive and leading to these outcomes?

“If you think you can do better, you should be a GM!” Right. And if you don’t like the state of the country, you should be president… “You’re being dramatic!” Cool. This is how I’m a fan of the Bills, and I’m not sorry. 😂 Continuing on… The Bills may never win a Super Bowl, but that’s the standard that I’m comfortable holding them to. In my mind, for a GM/coach to be truly successful here during their tenure they need to win at least one championship. This is the NFL, and the margins are razor thin. We keep being edged out by Kansas City. And I don’t think it’s just because they’re lucky. I don’t even think it’s just because of Mahomes. I think it’s for a lot of reasons. And I think I can identify one of the main ones. The Kansas City Chiefs evaluate players in a fundamentally different way than the Bills front office. And then they coach and scheme using those players differently as well. Simply put, the Kansas City Chiefs value special traits higher than we do, and they prioritize using those traits in schemes that creatively leverage and amplify their effect. Let’s dissect the Xavier Worthy pick as the latest example. Xavier Worthy is the fastest player in the NFL. When Xavier Worthy runs a go route he is going to be faster than any man trying to cover him. That puts a huge amount of stress on a defense because he can beat his man on any given play. And it doesn’t matter if he catches or drops the pass, the defense still has to chase him down the field. This is also going to require that the safety on his side of the field keeps an eye on him and takes a deeper drop if he runs a go route or even a deep post. He’s going to open up the rest of the field for all of the other skill position players. His presence alone is going to force NFL defenses to skew their coverage in a way that they don’t have to nearly any other week. If a defense wants to try to counter these wider spaces, they’re going to have to drop linebackers further into coverage. If you have a good running game, and even better a running quarterback, you’re going to have bigger chunk plays, and more success. It doesn’t matter that Xavier Worthy is not a perfect prospect. What matters is that he’s going to put every single defense he goes up against in a bind, and Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are going to exploit the hell out of it. And this could’ve been our advantage. Stretching a defense’s backend coverage would have had a positive effect for every single one of our skill position players. Even if we have less than optimal players, they would’ve had more space to work with. And it’s this kind of strategic thinking that the Chiefs have shown time and time again to be masters of. Can you imagine the strain it would’ve put on a defense to have the fastest man in the NFL paired with the quarterback with the strongest arm in the NFL. It would’ve been imposing a nightmare on other teams. Instead of doing that we gave Kansas City that power. I’d love to be wrong about all of this. But I keep watching Buffalo beat their head against the same old walls and I think this philosophical schematic issue is one of the reasons why. This whole Xavier Worthy trade situation puts the issue in high definition. Beane and McDermott looked at this player and said no thank you let’s trade down. Andy Reid looked at this player and says I have to have him we’re trading up. Who are you gonna bet on making the better call? In my opinion this is one of the main reasons that we’re stuck where we are.

IDK They got Worthy, we are already toast

$100m guaranteed….. shhh….

We are gonna have a fake Super Bowl parade for Beane and McDermott so they think we won… kinda like those make a wish kids that “score a TD” at NFL practice

Guess we’re gonna have to pick a CB to cover Worthy so we can finally beat the Chiefs and reach the promise land! Wow, the Bills are a special kind of special.

He’s a fast little Bunny!

What would be really shocking is if they traded for him and then went “oh siht, we did the math wrong” and had to cut him. Or how about this one? Beane picks his own nose in the first round on national television, and pulls out Booger McFarland! OK, I’ll show myself out now! Is it 8PM yet?!

That would blow! 😄

Like most of us, I both want and expect the Bills to go WR in round one, especially if they can get one of the top guys. What if they don’t? What if they go defense? I would expect D-line or Corner in that scenario. However there is my total dark horse pick: Peyton Wilson LB of South Carolina His measurables are insane and it shows up on his tape. Plus if you watch his interviews he seems like a total McDermott kind of guy. Some speculate that he may even be able to play some safety due to his extreme athleticism. I’m not advocating, but if there were a total shocker pick I could see him in a Bills uni. Who do you have? This is your chance to look like a genius! 😅

Thank you very much for sharing all of this. After our Super Bowl run ended, the draft became my favorite football day of the year. I started watching the year that we drafted Jeff Burris of Notre Dame and have been going steady since. A few thoughts on some players: WR’s I would love one of the big three, particularly Harrison or Odunze. I like their size, their productivity, and their character. LEGETTE - I think there’s a lot of variance on where teams have him ranked. It’ll only take one to pull the trigger. He’s kind of a one year wonder thus far but may be on a very good trajectory. I have him ranked a little bit lower, but I’m cheering for him. History is pretty incredible. He’s already overcome a lot to be where he is. I think he’s a bit of a projection regarding his ability down the field. He’s shown flashes, but a team will have to decide if he can develop into someone that can be proficient at all three levels of the defense. WORTHY - while I still have concerns about his size, I’ve come around on him. If we could scheme to keep him off of the line of scrimmage when a team is in press coverage, I think we could work around it. he had a huge number of targets all three years at Texas and has held up. Also, just due to his speed, he would force any defensive backfield to spread out and create space for our other pass catchers. Anytime he runs a go route a defense will have to have someone follow him if not two defenders. If we have a strong run game our play action could be killer with him: 1) if he is open Josh can throw him a bomb, 2) if he pulls two defenders, somebody else should be open, and 3) if they hand the ball off in the back can break into the secondary there should be plenty of running room. Though I still have some concerns, I would actually be very happy if the Bills choose to take him as long as they have a plan to maximize his strengths. I won’t be surprised if the Bills target him. COLEMAN - i’m torn about him. I think he still has a lot of untapped upside and some good things to work with. His play speed is faster than his timed speed and he’s great at catching the ball even while being contacted. If he can continue to work on his speed and learn the intricacies of creating separation I think he could end up being very good, especially in the red zone. I wouldn’t be surprised if he snuck into the end of the first round and is probably going to be gone by the middle of the second.

We can debate the merits of trading up for a top guy, but I prefer to either go up for a top 3 guy or go down. That said, what are the odds that this trend is broken because of the apparent depth in this receiver class? But it’s one hell of a trend…

I’m good at projecting college talent in the pros. I think I’d want to be a head scout and have a big say in who we drafted.

Maybe Josh Allen could get the 25% as part of renegotiated salary and save us a lot of cap space. 🙃

It’s exactly the opposite of what you’re saying: Players have to come out eventually and now will be even more mature and better prepared. Less underclass men and more seniors. All the same players. Am I missing something?

The Buffalo Bill Belichicks… Hmmm….

Definitely. While I understand what the OP is getting at I think you can really only take things by a case by case basis. For example, when Ozzie Newsome was picking for Baltimore no one will convince me that he would have been better off throwing darts at a board of names. The man was a very gifted evaluator of talent. Your point is well taken: the coach wants to run a particular system. That’s going to affect the selections. And then, does the player get to grow in that system or is there a coaching change. This is a massively complex topic.