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Not paying a 2nd Round Pick unless AZ is picking up a bunch of the contract. He's great. But I'm not giving up a 2nd and paying a massive contract for any 31/yo WR. Given the strength of this Draft (or lack thereof) - next year's 2nd is worth more than this year's. If they want a pick from that Draft, it's maxing at a 3rd.

Almost assuredly exactly this. Or simply responding to a friend's post. Everyone loves to read more into IG comments/emoji's than are necessary. The NFL is a community of co-workers. 99.9% of all posts are meaningless conversation amongst colleagues.

With the buzz that Flowers has gotten in the pre-draft process, I am almost positive he's coming off the board before Mayer and possibly Wright. He's not a fall back plan if neither are available at this point.

The reported asking price has been a "Christian McCaffrey type trade package" while also being a salary dump. Getting him for less than that AND expecting them to eat the salary on top of it is a BIG ask.

Gabe Davis is not being traded. First of all, he's on the last year of his contract. Teams aren't giving up a Day 2 pick on someone that may or may not be there the following year. This only happens when the team trading for him knows they can sign them long-term. And even then, it doesn't get done unless the trading team knows they can't afford their price tag and is resigned to not re-signing them. And I don't see that situation here. Beane has spoken of wanting to re-sign him after this season. He had a disappointing year last season. But he produced at a high level as the #3 option. Enough that they thought he deserved a shot as a #2. Even if they believed he failed there (or fans do), it doesn't make sense that someone who performed as a high #3 should be cut or traded because he wasn't a great #2. Also, you're suggesting we trade Gabe, our 2nd, and our 3rd for Hopkins and Mingo. That would be using both of our Day 2 Picks on WR. With the holes we have, upgrades needed to be made, and next year considerations at MLB, OL, TE, and DT - we can't use a 2nd and a 3rd at one position. Especially if we already have Diggs and Hopkins in the fold. Gabe Davis will be here this season. Alongside Stefon Diggs and either a 1st/2nd Round Pick or DeAndre Hopkins. But not both and certainly not without Gabe as well.

Why would they call up a guy who is openly campaigning to play for other teams? He'd just tell them no. Maybe they did. Either way, it's nothing to really read into.

Probably nothing or not much at all. In fact, it probably cost us cap space. He was only making 1 million on his rookie contract this season.

We're back on this. I cannot stress this enough - it's either Hopkins or a 1st. If we trade for Hopkins, we aren't drafting a WR in the 1st. If we Draft a WR in the 1st, we won't be trading for Hopkins. With Diggs and Davis (who isn't going anywhere this year and will not be demoted any further than #3 no matter how much some fans want it), Harty, Shakir, and Sherfield - there's room for just 1 WR on the top end. Maybe they Draft a WR later in the Draft as a developmental guy and still trade for Hopkins. But they aren't doing both a 1st and Hopkins. Zero chance. There's too many other positions that need filled. And you don't spend a 1st Round Pick at WR to be the 3rd or 4th WR on the Outside for years to come.

I want him to come here too. But a lot of things would have to happen first. One thing I thought was, I hope this has nothing to do with Stefon Diggs not showing up to OTA's. Hopefully it's just that he doesn't feel the need to be there or it's another issue. If he doesn't like the idea of having another vet proven alpha like Hopkins with him and it could become an issue with Diggs, I don't want to do it. If it comes down to Diggs or Hopkins, I'm taking Diggs 6 days a week and twice on Sundays. I'm sure the inevitable replies will be "if Diggs has a problem with it, trade him". And I don't want that to even become a discussion. Diggs and Josh are a proven commodity with years of rapport.

I did cover that in the last sentence of Paragraph One of my post you replied to. Right now, with the holes and upgrades we need across the board, we can't afford to use such a premium asset on a guy who would be no higher than Option 3 this year and next year. As for taking a guy who would groom for 2-3 years, again, that's not someone you take in the 1st Round at the WR position. Teams barely do that for even a QB these days. You don't want to be using up the majority of your inexpensive Rookie contract simply learning. And a 1st Round pick expects to play. There have been 2nd Round WR's who have demanded trades because they weren't being utilized enough. If you're grooming a guy behind Diggs & Hopkins, you do that in the mid rounds. And if/when one leaves, you draft someone in the 1st then. Not now. Basically, if we're drafting a WR in the 1st, we won't be trading for a Hopkins. If we trade for Hopkins, we won't be drafting someone in the 1st. There's just no way. Not to be that guy, but that isn't a significant development to anyone but fans. Beane isn't going to all of a sudden decide he can do it if he feels it's untenable and up his offer just because Hopkins likes us and he made it public. And if he's been in on trade discussions as much as fans would like to believe - he surely already knew this anyways.

Quentin Johnston Jaxon Smith-Njigba Zay Flowers Jordan Addison Jalin Hyatt Josh Downs Nathaniel "Tank" Dell I'd only be interested in the Top 4 in the 1st Round. Quentin Johnston is the best fit as far as size, speed, and outside playability. My hope is that the WR's fall as a whole and that teams go with JSN and Zay first and that Johnston is within striking range of a trade up that wouldn't require much compensation.

Johnston, JSN, Flowers, and Addison are all gone at WR, Kincaid is gone at TE, and Beane wants a MLB not named Drew Sanders.

No, it's not. Beane isn't going to say "He really likes us?! Well that changes everything, I don't care about the cost anymore!" It's nice to know Hopkins would like to be a Bill. But it changes absolutely nothing when it comes to whether or not Beane believes he can afford to do it. And I'm sure him wanting to be here isn't news to Beane. Well considering the tweet is about us trading for him, yes, him being cut would be a significant development. Probably our best bet to land him. But even then, he'd have to want to be here badly enough to accept less than what is out there on the market for him. And even then, less may still be too much for us given our cap situation this year and next year. Yes, it would be. But I still think making a contract work for him and us is the biggest hurdle. Even if they're willing to give him away, Beane may have determined that we can't afford the contract. And they'd not only have to drop their price, but drop it significantly. The current reported price is a "Christian McCaffrey type trade package". I'm sure our price is close to nothing because we have to take on the massive contract of a 31 Year Old WR. I'm not saying it's impossible that that's the case. But the idea that we've never been out and the tweet was posturing is best case scenario for hopeful fans wanting this to get done. Just as likely, if not more, is that it's just fact. We made a call, looked into it, found it untenable, and let the feverous fans know - unless major changes occur it just ain't happening and we are out. Juxtaposed with Beane's unnecessarily in depth downplay of how involved we were and the latest info on the situation from Adam Schefter - I tend to feel that the tweet was just fact and not posturing.

There's just no way. Even if Beane were as down on Davis as members of this board are (which he isn't), he wouldn't Draft someone in the 1st Round and then acquire DeAndre Hopkins. With Diggs and Hopkins under contract for at least 2 years - that 1st Round Pick would have a ceiling of 3rd WR for years to come (4th this season bc Davis won't be traded). With the holes and upgrades we need across multiple positions, he wouldn't spend a 1st Round pick on someone that would be behind 2-3 players. It's all the rage to say trade so and so before they become a FA (like Edmunds last year, Oliver and Davis this year, etc) and we lose them and get nothing in return. But that's what happens, league wide. It's not like every year you see a rash of teams trading away people with 1 year left on their deal. It's very rare and only really happens when it's a Superstar who they know they absolutely can't afford to pay their named price tag ahead of time. And even then, it generally requires being traded to somewhere that has been agreed upon with a long term contract extension worked out ahead of time (ie AJ Brown and Tyreek Hill). Teams aren't interested in trading picks for a guy who may or may not be there after a year. And Beane likes Davis. He's talked about wanting to extend him and at the very least, surely wants to get that last year of him on his super cheap Rookie deal. That's the whole point of Draft picks. At the very least, you have them for 4 full years cheap. You don't trade them away after 3 because you may not be able to re-sign them.

Von is expected to be back by the start of the season, if not soon after. We just re-signed Shaq Lawson. Still have Groot, Epenesa, Basham, and Kingsley. I don't expect another Edge signing. I think Lawson was it.

They WERE in contact. Since then Beane has downplayed their involvement, Tim Graham followed up with a report a few hours after that saying we wouldn't be trading for him "barring significant changes", and a couple days ago Adam Schefter outwardly said on NFL Live "No, the Bills are not trading for Hopkins". As for dropping his number, it is possible. But it includes adding 3 dummy years to his contract. Meaning we would be taking cap hits for 3 years after his contract ended with us. Which is not Beane's MO. And yes, we can come up with money. But we've already done a TON of that, freeing up 43.5 million. After starting at -18.5 over, that came to around 25 million dollars - of which we had to use all of it to fill our holes. Right now, we have enough to sign our Draft Picks and that's it. Coming up with enough to cover a massive Hopkins contract, which goes beyond this season (and we're over the cap next year as well) isn't as simple as you like to think it is.

Klein, Phillips, Rapp, Lawson, Dodson, Matakevitch, Jackson, and Lewis costs combined equate to significantly less than just Hopkins' contract. And you can't just have holes all over your Defense to add 1 player. We had 24 FA's going into this year while being 18.5 over the cap and having 6 Draft Picks. Those holes needed to be filled. You can't get Hopkins and then half a roster and be good. That's not how personnel works. Hopkins saying he'd like to be here changes nothing when it comes to Beane's stance on being able to fiscally do it. And again, if we were able to get Hopkins, we wouldn't be drafting any of those top WR's. Likewise, if we drafted one of those guys, we won't be trading for Hopkins. Diggs + Hopkins + a top Draft pick doesn't make sense. If we had Diggs, Hopkins, and Davis - the top picks would be used elsewhere.

What's done is done though. You can argue that they should have spent less on Defense. But you can't undo the situation we're in cap wise. Right now, his contract doesn't work. If it did, it would have been done by now. It's nice that Hopkins likes us and wants to be here. But it doesn't change the situation we're in and everything over the past few weeks pointing to or outwardly saying we can't do it. It lacks top 5 Calvin Johnson type prospects and isn't particularly deep. But to say there's no good WR prospects in this Draft is simply wrong.

That's good to know. But is Nuk willing to take less? Because his current contract is a problem in and of itself.

That's an oversimplification. We can get his cap hit significantly lower this season. But it would involve spreading out hits over 4 years, including 3 years of cap hits when he's no longer on the team while still paying him significantly next season as well.

I see no way Beane doesn't take a MLB in Rounds 1-3. Even if the value wasn't quite there at the time of our 2nd or 3rd Pick, I think he'd trade up, trade down, or possibly even reach a little to fill the need. Never has Beane gone into a Draft with a glaring need and then just completely ignored it.

The latest updates - Brandon Beane said this re: Hopkins at the League Meetings: “What I would say is social media is social media. Don’t take that too far. Our name gets thrown in the hat on a lot of things that sometimes we’ve done one percent. One person made one call, and they’ve looped us in that we’re all over him and we’ve offered him a contract. It's funny sometimes." Then a few hours later, Tim Graham reported: Then a few days ago, Adam Schefter flat out said "No, the Bills are not trading for DeAndre Hopkins" on NFL Live. And now DHop has been making Houston Texans teases instead of "Buffalo Soldier" ones. So, long story short, everything has said it's not happening anymore. My guess is they made a call to see if they could get him for nothing and get him to rework his contract and when it was clear either or neither were possible, that was that. Yet, people still hold out hope.

Absolutely love Budda Baker as a player. But we have Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde with Taylor Rapp backing them up this year. And none of them are being moved. Wish he was requesting a trade next year when Micah's a FA (and Rapp as well) and Poyer has 1 year left on his deal. Then maybe we'd have been in on him. But not this year.

That's definitely your inner grinch talking. OTA's are just workout programs. Even if it were Training Camp in pads, guys have to have some sort of break. Who cares what they do so long as it isn't getting into trouble? But then again....

When it comes to next year's picks - we will have an extra 3rd. "Weak" class or not, if there is a position in need of addressing and a player that Beane values, I have no problem utilizing that extra 3rd now. Especially if it means getting the MLB he wants or missing out. But I'm not giving up anything more than one of our 3rds next season. Good analysis on the LB's! I tend to agree that Trenton Simpson is a good fit for our Defense and Jack Campbell, not so much. But I think Drew Sanders fits as well. His comp from NFL.com is literally Tremaine Edmunds. Edmunds, like Sanders coming out of College, was considered an athletic Pass Rusher. And he is who Beane targeted and selected. I don't think he'd pass on Sanders because he can also rush the passer.