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Blessed are the meek in offense, for they shall receive high draft picks; Blessed are the poor in blocking men, for they have refrained from being bullies; Blessed are those who score few points, for they shall be known as also-rans. The "Four score and seven years ago, we were a contender" speech comes around training camp.

In Sling Blade, John Ritter insisted that his gay Dollar Store manager character have the last name of Cunningham. He said it would explain what happened to Chuck from Happy Days.

Oh I agree with most of what you're saying. But you're saying what he should do, my post relates to what I think he'll do. I mean, damn...the guy lost his 3 best Olinemen and waited until the bottom of the 5th to draft one? Who tells asks his only PB OL, on the last year of a very reasonable deal, to take a pay cut? Who the hell trades his LT ? I really believe he honestly thought he could "get by" with the low rent free agents he brought in...plus Mills and Ducasse. He wasn't forced to have the lowest paid OL in the NFL. People can talk about "cap hell" all they want, but he found the $8 million for a part time DE and another $8 million for KB? It just...wasn't a priority with him. Some are like that. Has he learned from this? IDK, we'll see soon enough. As I said, I really hope I'm wrong. But I'll believe it when I see it?

I will say I'm impressed with the optimism in this thread and I'd be happy with many of those scenarios. But call me a cynic, or just grumpy, I'm not expecting Beane to lay out the money many of these guys are commanding. (Except Williams and the Carolina Pipeline). Note sure he'll pay $12 million a year as Paradis might command or $10 million a year that Morse might collect. For that amount of money, I can see him saying...nah, we'll stick with Bodine. I'm really expecting more signings like Long..and I don't say that in a positive manner. I really hope I'm wrong.

Normally, I'd agree, especially with the state of their OL and the history of this team's OL woes. But I'm looking at what they are getting. Dillard could be the best pass blocking LT to come out this year. I was very impressed with him at the Senior Bowl. Great feet, great movement. Bradbury is the best C and maybe the best interior lineman in the draft. Very athletic with underrated strength. I don't think either of these guys gave up a sack this year. Both a supposedly very smart. If...and its an if...they say, get Williams from Carolina and he's healthy..the new OL Dawkins gets move to G and the new OL looks like this: LT HIllard LG Dawkins C Bradbury RG - X RT Williams That's a really good, young base for a new OL. No more scrap heap guys on their 3rd or 4th team, no more late round rookies who are being counted on to play like a first rounder. You've probably just bought Allen an extra second or 2 on a typical pass play. Metcalf is almost a bonus...and a guy with the potential to be a franchise WR is a pretty good bonus. On the downside...neither guy may be there in the 2nd. There a really good chance at a run on OL in the mid-late 2st and top of the second. These guys, plus Williams, Risner, Cody Ford, Taylor, Lindstrom and David Edwards could be gone. So I think you're right to an extent. I'm just looking at this for what it is, a mock draft where they are available. I'd take it in a second. I don't know if "those days are behind us" because outside of drafting Allen, they haven't done much on the offensive side of the ball. A lot of missteps at WR, an OL that's been neglected over 2 years and actually made worse. They most definitely have something to prove on offense before anyone can say they are different than past regimes.

idk, I'm not too keen on a football team composed of financial analysts, lawyers, insurance adjusters or health care administrators.

about 3 inches in Kansas, with a little more on the way tomorrow. The local weather put a stat up last night, that we've received 20" this year. Its about twice the normal. I dared my wife to send the graphic back to our relatives in Buffalo...that's about a week's worth for them. We get more ice than snow. Freezing rain, turns to ice, maybe with a dusting of snow. And the roads end up like this: https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/dramatic-video-shows-15-car-pile-up-near-oak-grove That happened last week near KC. You almost expect to hear the Blues Brothers playing Sweet Home Chicago in the background.

Living in the midwest, I went to a few of these events. The coolest was watching the one guy come into the arena riding a bison. Somehow he trained it to kneel on command. I went to school with 2 guys who rode bulls. Both grew up on ranches and they just said it was a way of life. They also said it could be just as dangerous herding, moving or corralling a bull as to ride it. Its just the nature of the size, strength and temperament of the beast. I went to one backyard rodeo where they were riding. Before the event, they were at the pens, looking over the bulls and picking the ones they hoped to ride. They weren't looking at the docile ones. Everyone wants the mean ones.

You answered more a few paragraphs down. Jake Matthews is another. But if you notice a pattern with some of these guys, they were chosen by teams that know offense, and have become parts of teams that are, or have recently been top 5 offenses in the league. Fisher in KC Matthews in Atl Nelson in Indy Lane Johnson in Philly There's a reason that these top O's look early for quality O line help. They understand that area of the football field and know the importance of it. Then there are franchises like the Bills..who do the "we can get them later in the draft" routine. They've basically done the same thing for years and more often than not, are in the bottom 1/3 of NFL offenses. You know, like last year when they were 30th in the league. Long ago for this team to change its way of thinking...to actually start thinking of how the good teams do it. They aren't outsmarting anyone. No, they've done some good things in the past. At various times they've: had the 2nd ranked D in the league, 2 years in a row; had the 4th ranked D; led the league in sacks, 2 years in a row; had the 2nd ranked pass D in 2009; had the 1st ranked pass D last year. They've had a long string of PB quality running backs. Of course, they just kept using a number one on a guy's eventual replacement and dump the present back for peanuts. The 2 biggest areas of neglect have been...QB obviously... and OL. How many wins has that brought them? How many playoff appearances? How many good offenses? Again, its really time to change the thinking for this franchise. The second part of this paragraph actually made me chuckle. Ok, maybe it is a bit unfair judging them by past regimes. So we'll judge their body of work over 2 years. Um...uh...who are these late round gems or underappreciated FA's that this regime has brought in over the past 2 years that makes you think they are able to find OL that other teams haven't? I mean, over 2 years, they've assembled one of the worst OL in recent Bills history, and that's saying something. I'm just a wee bit skeptical that they've become the Steelers scouting dept., or Ozzie Newsome, or NE when it comes to finding these late round gems. If anything, this is THE reason they should be drafting them early. If they are going to be throwing darts at a board, they might as well throw it at a group that has a better chance of making it. Having a 30th ranked O and being out of the playoff hunt before Halloween is the thing that gets GM's fired..and rightfully so. And drafting another CB isn't getting them off the 30th ranking. As far as Williams, I watched the Williams- Ferrell matchups from both their games pretty closely. In the most recent game...Ferrell beat him 3-4 times, including one notorious play where he knocked Williams on his ass. On the other 30-40 plays, Williams won or had him stalemated. But this is what people do. They take a match up, see one play and say, "OMG, he kicked his ass!" regardless of whether he did anything for the other 90% of the plays. Ferrell wasn't the reason Clemson won. I like Williams...I'm not sure of some things...but he's an expert technician and has very good feet. He'll find a home in the NFL. Irrespective, there are others out there. They have...they just don't work out, like most 5-7th round picks don't and are easily forgotten. Not as many as other teams, but they've had their share. I've counted 14 since 2005 drafted below the 3rd round...one in the past 2 years. See above. This is coming from a fan of a team with one playoff appearance in 18 years and a bottom third offense for most of that time. It IS about using resources wisely...we just haven't been. Sorry, when we have a string of playoff victories, or make it to the dance, or actually have an offense that isn't towards the bottom of the league...we can talk about the smart way we've been allocating resources. Philly drafted Lane Johnson...at no. 4, at RT, when they had a fringe HOF'er at LT..after they whiffed on a 1st round G two years prior. Many questioned the pick. They have a ring to show for it and one of the best O's in the league. Andy Reid took Eric Fisher with the number one pick when the Chiefs needed...basically everything. They went from 32nd in O to 6th in one year. A top 10 offense 4 of the 6 years he's been there. Within one Offside call/coin flip from a trip to the dance. Spock: Mr. Scott cannot give me exact figures, so I will take a guess. Kirk: Really Spock, you? That's incredible! Spock: I don't think he understands. Bones: No Spock, he understands perfectly. He just trusts your guesses more than other people's facts. The fact is...this was a bad offense, with a bad OL..and the time honored, "we'll get them later in the draft" theory....hasn't gotten a single OL since Jason Peters. I'm missing the evidence for the theory on this one. People can continue to believe it, but after 18 years of failure, I have no idea why. But if it makes them happy.

Well you're missing a few guys...who may not be Anthony Munoz/Orlando Pace/Jason Peters class, but they are big pieces of some of the best offenses in the league. And the theory really sounds great...and its a great strategy...if it works. But Jason Peters was 15 years ago and that was the last middle to late part of the draft OL that was worth anything. 15 years is a long time to prove a theory, right or wrong. In this case, the theory is...pretty wrong. What you're advocating is basically what the Bills have been doing forever. Once in a while they'll take someone in the 1st or 2nd, most have worked, Mike Williams and CK didn't. But these middle to late rounders have been nonexistent. And the Bills O has spent most of the time in the bottom 3rd of the league and playoffs appearances are..well. Its time to go in another direction. A big "you never do" thing is let your OL get to this state of affairs...ever. Its difficult enough to find 1 or 2 starters, much less 4. Coaching did, not management. I was referring more of Russ "You're not a priority, Jason, Lee Evans is a priority" Brandon.

Well, the Bills don't have him, or anyone close in either the coaching or talent evaluation process. He's about as close to a bona fide "guru" as there is among position coaches in the NFL today. And he's a quasi scout for them as well. I remember when we brought in McNally. He basically said, "I can only do so much with what I'm given." He didn't hang around long. He did point out the potential of Jason Peters, which management really failed to understand.

I'll give a kinda shrug to all of this. In the not too distant past, the Bills paid a DE the highest defensive salary in the league. For 2 years, they led the league in sacks and probably had the best DL in the game. He himself had over 27 sacks in 2 years. And they were fun to watch. Pressure comes from the left, QB moves right just to be sacked on the right side. If the QB moves up in the pocket, he had one or two DT's waiting for him. If the DT's bring pressure up the middle...the QB gets nailed by one of the DE's. They complimented each other, they played well together. As I said, leading the league in sacks for 2 straight years, a top 5 pass D and a top 5 D overall in one of those years. Now, if these things are the end all that people profess they are...the Bills should not only have been in the playoffs, they should have been in the conference championship game, looking for a trip to the Dance. But there was no trip to the Dance, there wasn't even a playoff spot. Because the O sucked. And frankly, the O they had was better than what this team showed. And it definitely had less holes to fill, except at QB. Now giving up 2 number 1 picks and $25 million a year in cap space to bolster a D that already gave up the fewest pass yards in the NFL...idk...its a brainer to me. I see it as overkill when the other side of the ball has been severely neglected. I don't diminish the need for a pass rush...its an important part of the D, and an important part of a team, but it isn't the end all that people think it is. If it was, the players on the '13 and '14 teams and probably the '04 team, should at least be sporting conference championship rings. As it was, none of those teams even saw the playoffs.

That's my fear...on the offensive side of the ball. I actually like him as a defensive coach, a lot. He might be a base Cover 2/Tampa 2 guy, but he's not married to the scheme. He changes things up is more aggressive and blitzes more than the normal old Tampa 2 guy. On offense...I have concerns, to put it mildly. The talent brought in on offense, with few exceptions has been unimpressive. Im a believer that this should be his last chance. If the offense doesn't improve...substantially...its time for a change. The odd thing is, I'd stil lgive him the offer to stay as DC.

Well a great deal of that roster was Jauron's doing. It was very evident during the 1st draft, when 3 of the 1st 4 players chose were DB's. He had a vision for his Cover 2 and pigeon holed players to fit the scheme. Its why we had a 220 lb OLB...because Tampa had Robert Brooks. The problem was, Brooks ran around a 4.5 40, whereas our guy ran a 4.8. He wanted a smaller DT for 3 tech...because 3 techs like Warren Sapp were shorter and quicker. So we drafted John McCargo and signed Larry Tripplett as one of the first FA's. But neither was anything close to Warren Sapp. God... I can remember Tripplett being driven back 5-7 yards by some guards. The D that was inherited was one year and a Spikes injury from being 2nd in the league...but nearly all players were gone within a year. And for the most part, it was due to what Jauron saw in a defense. On offense..well, Jauron could have been here 20 years and the offense would have remained bottom 5. He was a guy that had no business getting involved in the offensive side of the ball. But as Turk Schonert revealed in his post-firing snit, Jauron was meddling in it. Jauron was a major player in how the roster looked, probably THE major player.

If its a late round sleeper you're talking about...Cody Thompson, Toledo. His first 3 years he was averaging about 20 ypc and had over 1200 yards his junior year. His senior year, he had over 500 yards before he he was hurt in game 5. His senior numbers are down, but their offense didn't look as good as its been. He gets separation deep, and contrary to what I read on Draftnetwork, I think his ball skills are good. He catches with his hands and brings it into his body in a quick fluid motion. He might not be in Hakeem Butler's league as far as the acrobatic catch, but he seems to make contested catches and one handed catches. He gets lots of YAC because he breaks tackles after the catch effortlessly. He seems to know which way he's going to go while the ball is in the air. He'll be a COmbine invite and I'll be curious to know what his numbers are.

Not sure I'd call a team that should win 3 games an endorsement of the GM. He's giving credit for coaching, not team building.

That was a strange year for wr's. The Bills weren't the only ones looking for the guy "who's open when he's not open". The big receivers were the highlighted ones pre-draft. Besides Hardy there was (some names I can't remember). Limas Sweed from Texas; The big WR from Oklahoma St. who was high on people's boards until he ran a 40 time...I think he ended up in the CFL; The one from Oklahoma who made such a spectacle of not running his 40. When he finally did, it looked like he was jogging through it; Devin Thomas, who had a great 40, but couldn't run anything but bubble screens: Jordy Nelson, who came out of nowhere to have something like 1800 yards his senior year. There were a few others in the 6'2" 210+ category who ended up washing out. I remember asking a few weeks before the draft..."with all of the focus on these big receivers, is a good WR being overlooked who's not so big". The one overlooked was Jackson. I wanted Jordy that year, and was disappointed when Green Bay swooped in about 5 spots before us, but admit I thought Hardy was going to be good. The only consolation was that we got Stevie Johnson towards the end of the draft. As to the original question..its Mahomes and it isn't close. The stars aligned for that draft..and we deferred.

and that's really the thing...neither of these teams even sniffs the dance without a potent office. For years, the Rams have had a pretty talented D. But they rarely had a winning record, much less a ticket to the dance. Without a potent offense capable of racking up points...the Pats don't get past the Chiefs, if they even get that far. It took an offense capable of putting up 37 against a team that put up 31..in a half. As it applies to the Bills...well, lol, it shouldn't have to be said..but you're getting nowhere with a 30th ranked offense. At best, even with a good D, you're looking at Jeff Fisherville. Or the Bills for the past 19 years. And if the "defense wins championships" war cry is going to be used to prioritize the D over the O in the talent collection department...well, you're not getting very far up from that number 30 ranking. What was witnessed Sunday was Belichick out coaching a far younger and less experienced coach, and shutting down a young, relatively inexperienced QB. He's never done THAT before. The title of this thread should probably be, "Belichick wins champions". As much as I hate it, he does.

Can he resist? IDK..but he can only play out this silly rebuild for so long. another bottom 5 offense might not cut it with the Pegula's in year three, and it shouldn't. BPA matters more in a few instances. First, where your team is already built. Second, where you have so many holes that it really doesn't matter where you start. But when one side of the ball is pretty good and the other is devoid of talent, and you continue to neglect that side because you're taking what you believe is the "BPA" in your mind, your career as a GM isn't going to be long...especially when you aren't winning. That doesn't mean you take a dud at an area at need. But "reaching" is a relative term. Taking an OL who might be 15th on your board at no. 9 isn't really a "reach". *****...Bill Walsh didn't even like scouts to talk about the round a player should be drafted. His canned response was, "if he works out, no one remembers the round he was chosen." He really wanted to know, how does this guy help our team? "BPA" is a half-subjective term in and of itself. Example. Take a Dalton Risner vs. Montez Sweat comparison. When they matched up twice this year...Sweat one 2-3 of the plays. Risner won the rest. Sweat might be able to get in the backfield 3-4 times a game. Risner might keep his guy out of the backfield on all but 2-3 plays per game. Who's the BPA? You can use the canned phrases like "you don't draft a RT at 9" or "you always need a pass rush" But I'll take the guy that wins 90% of the matchups.

I'm going to go off the board and say...draft 2 in the first two rounds. Preferably with a trade down for an extra pick or two. The tight FA market is one factor. Another...the bigger factor is that we're not in a situation where we need to plug a single hole, we need to plug 3-4. Add in that quality OL are becoming more scarce in the draft. 2 quality tackles...one of whom can play the interior...or move Dawkins to G. Or. 1 tackle and a C like Bradbury if he's still there. I might be the only one, but I'd be thrilled with a Risner/Bradbury 1-2, or a few other combinations. Possibilities open up. You can make a really positive step towards building a quality unit, rather than taking a patchwork or piecemeal approach...but only if the commitment is there. This is THE year to make that commitment. An edge rusher does nothing to improve a 30th ranked offense. Work the problem.

I acknowledged it in my first post...I just gave it a "so what"? 2 280 lb. guys who together didn't produce what Aaron Donald did in college. But you're basing similarities because they all weigh 280lbs? mmmkay To answer your second question, Donald was drafted around 12th in 2014 Again, so what? Is there a point here? If we draft either Gary or Oliver at 9, either one becomes Aaron Donald? Because whoever it is..he'd weigh about the same and would actually be drafted higher? I'm not seeing an actual point here.

Im not blinded by anything... https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/aaron-donald-1.html 2013 28 TFL 11 sacks. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000316422/article/pittsburghs-aaron-donald-looks-dominant-in-senior-bowl-drills

Aaron Donald also dominated in college. His last year at Pitt, he had over 2 dozen TFL's and about a dozen sacks. And afterward, he showed up at the Senior Bowl and proved impossible to block. There's a lot of 6' 2", 265 DE's...but that doesn't make them Bruce. As a final note, Donald played very well since he came in the league. He's been a PB;er, or All Pro, since his 2nd year. And he's played on some good D's. But they never had a winning record until they got their offense working. Fix the problem.

When Sweat lined up against him, Sweat did nothing. No one has gotten by Risner in pass pro yet. Dillard, the LT from Wash St. has looked really good, as has the LT from USC.