habes1280

I like this. I keep hearing that Thomas is a cut above the second tier receivers, but the closer we get to draft day, the less comfortable I am with moving up the order to draft him. A trade-back like this, to the top of the second round, landing us at the top of the second surge of the receiver run, and in your scenario, recouping a pick in the third, would be perfect. I'm not sure that Franklin would be my first choice of the remaining pass catchers, but I wouldn't scoff (especially with two more picks in the top-100).

Six years, $120 million feel about right?

The jury's still out, but he's further along than I thought he'd be. Coming into the season, I didn't think he had games like the Dallas game or the first half of the Texans game in him. His profile had always been that he could flash with the right coaching and enough development, but that it might take more time than most. His play this year showed that he has the stuff right now, he just needs to learn to get out of his own way. I'll take that.

I think you might be crazy on this one. Knox didn't have a clear path to the endzone, and it wasn't befuddlement that kept the play from working, it was that Allen threw the ball over his head. I'm all for this team trying to put the game away, but this didn't look like a rehearsed, go-for-broke decision, it looked like a desperate move when there was still enough time on the clock to make a play.

Me, too.

I don't think this is a real measure of his value. The Cardinals left themselves with no leverage, and the Dolphins exploited it and got him for a price. Rosen may or may not develop into a top-tier quarterback, but it would be difficult to argue that the Dolphins aren't more stable at quarterback with him on the roster.

Eight of their first ten games.

This doesn't seem to be the year, the team, or the player to measure statistics. I'd like to see signs that he can do what successful quarterbacks do: dictate to the defense instead of simply taking what they give him, work through his reads and find the right targets for his throws, make those throws from time to time, and finally, show that the offense can count on him to provide a spark, make a play, or lead the offense down the field in adverse circumstances. He doesn't have to consistently do ANY of these things, let alone all of them. I understand that he's developing. I just need to see signs that he has these qualities in him-- so stated another way, I need to see him do these things SOMETIMES, and I need to see him doing more of these things by the end of the season than he was at the beginning of it (an admittedly high bar given his performance against the Vikings). He can turn the ball over, make bad decisions, bad reads, bad throws; I just need to see that he can make good ones, as well, and that he's getting incrementally closer to where we need him to be to lead this offense, and this team, at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Something tells me this is a rhetorical question, but I'll bite anyway. Short answer? It's easier. It's easier for coaches to identify the kinds of players they think will best execute their concepts than it is to modify those concepts to match the players currently on the roster. Adaptive coaches are rare, and there are only too many who are willing to rest on the laurels of schemes that may have won them games in the past, but are now either outdated or a bad match for their current personnel.

This is another stinger. If memory serves, when the Bills played the Seahawks that year, Wilson broke an NFL rookie record by rushing for three TDs and throwing for another in a single half, and T.J. Graham dropped four passes, one in the end zone.

The irony of passing on Rob Gronkowski because of his history of back problems for a less talented player who couldn't stay on the field because of a bad back is almost too much to take. I'm still not over it.

And the beauty of it was that, because Jauron tried to freeze the kicker with a last-second timeout, we got to watch Dallas kick the winning field goal twice.

I was all-in for Hue Jackson to be our head coach, with Schwartz remaining in place as the DC. Shows what I know. I was also all-in on Rosen over Allen, so let's hope the trend continues.

Pretty spot on. Seconded.

I think this has less to do with who is the better quarterback by the start of the season, and more to do with putting Mayfield into the best position to progress. They're protecting their investment with statements like this by removing pressure to get him on the field, and giving him some time and room to grow (in principle, anyway). It's the NFL, though. The moment he outperforms Tyrod in practice or mop-up duty, they'll throw him into the starting lineup, no matter what they say in the offseason, or whether or not it hurts him in the long run.

He's a free agent, but he's become the great unwashed. Chronic lower body injuries-- a torn ACL, broken leg, torn MCL-- multiple PED infractions, and fading play seem to have scared teams off.

You might be right, but I don't see the Bills trying to duplicate the Carolina offense. Dennison, by and large, had control over the design of the offense last year-- which was nearly identical to the offense he ran in Denver, and which didn't resemble, in scheme, pace, or execution, Carolina's offense. I'm hoping the same will be true of Daboll (who, I also hope, has a better understanding of his personnel, and is more willing to design an offense to suit their strengths). I get the impression that McDermott may want an OC who matches what he wants philosophically from the offense. And he may target players whose skill sets match those philosophies—a power running game, a strong intermediate passing game, etc.—but at least to this point, he seems to have left the design of the offense to his OCs, who, to this point, have shown no interest in duplicating Carolina's schemes. Let's keep our fingers crossed. There's reason to hope—or to Billieve—that there's a better method to the madness than you fear.

I thought the same thing, but it repopulates picks in a different order for each draft. In my first crack at it, Sam Darnold fell to me at #12, in my second, he went first overall. Some players fell in every draft (like Tim Settle), but most of the prospects in the first three rounds were selected differently from mock to mock.

If only... That would be an unbelievable haul.

I got cute and drafted us a QB controversy. It's been a while since we've had one of those.

More unrealistic that trading 3 firsts, 2 seconds, and a third to move up ten spots? Both seem prohibitive, just to different teams. I have to think that the answer is somewhere in the middle.

I hear you. I just don't like how drafting a lower ceiling quarterback one year tends to preclude teams from drafting a higher ceiling quarterback the next. I'll never forget watching Aaron Rodgers slide down the draft board-- past where the Bills would have picked, if they hadn't traded the pick for JP the year before. The thing about Derek Carr and Russell Wilson is that they were second and third round picks, respectively. Teams don't hesitate to draft competition for players like that the following year. QBs picked in the top-third of the 1st round are a different story. Teams stick with those players until they've proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they can't handle the load, and aren't getting better.

I still have a hangover from the JP and EJ moves. I'm all for doing what we have to do to get the guy we want, but if we miss, I don't want to reach on a prospect simply to have a new young quarterback on the roster. If this year doesn't produce the opportunity to draft the QB we want or need, fill other positions, regroup, and go after one in next year's class, when we will likely be picking in the top 10. I trust that McDermott and Beane will make the right call, though. And that's a significant relief, given how I've felt going into drafts with previous front offices.

Godspeed to Jim and the Kelly family. One more round.

Well, there's a special place in hell for posts like this. Well done, my brother.