BillsFanForever19

Beyond Evans being here something that would never happen without hindsight or a time machine - there's this as well. If we Drafted Mike Evans - he wouldn't be here today. He'd have floundered having to work with the EJ Manuel, Kyle Orton, and Tyrod Taylor. We probably wouldn't have even been as good as Tampa Bay was when they had Evans with Jameis as QB. And when Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott came in? He'd have been traded as part of the rebuild just as Sammy Watkins had. As good as Mike Evans is, he wouldn't have made EJ Manuel or Tyrod Taylor a Franchise QB. He wouldn't have turned the Offense into something so powerful that we'd have overcame all the other inadequacies across the team - that led to the rebuild and us trading away what little valuable assets we had.

It wasn't. At the time, I was a child. Myself and every Bills fan I knew said it was a Forward Pass. Because it's always easier to say you were robbed or someone's out to get you than it is to admit the truth. Over the years as it's been played over and over again - sowed down, zoomed in, and in high definition. It's obvious - it was a legal lateral. A literally perfect throw that should have went forward but sadly and miraculously didn't. A one in a million shot. Terribly bad luck for a terribly unlucky franchise. Just look at the picture above my post. How can you say that's forward?

You know he can do both, right? They aren't mutually exclusive. Josh isn't going to find an extra level by losing the MVP or lose his fire by winning it. His ultimate goal, as always, is to win a Super Bowl.

Oh, I hate this. We had him with the team from the very start of the year and called him up twice. He was one of the first call up's when we had an injury at Safety. With us seemingly not serious about putting Hyde on the field - it leaves us with just Kareem Jackson if someone gets hurt. And I thought there was tremendous upside to Lewis Cine. Hopefully they let him go and he can come back at some point.

There's quite a disparity between your view of Ankou that he should be on the 53 and their view that he was the most expendable player on their Practice Squad.

God, I hate this discussion and how often it comes up. Yes, Watkins was taken 4th and Evans was taken 7th. But the perceived talent level and prospect ranking disparity was greater than those 3 picks. Watkins was considered in a class of his own in S Tier. Evans was A Tier. There wasn't a GM, Draft Analyst, or Draft Nerd anywhere that had Evans as someone that would or should go before Watkins. Taking Evans there with Watkins still on the board would have been one of the biggest "WHOA!" Draft moments of all time - that would have simultaneousy had people laughing at us and Draft Analyst's scrambling to find out what they didn't know about Sammy Watkins (turns out, there actually was quite a bit). Did Evans turn out better? Unquestionably. But it's a 1000% hindsight argument. The only non-hindsight discussion of the 2014 Draft I respect is the discussion of Drafting Khalil Mack instead. As there were MANY in the moment that thought Defensive End would have been more impactful at that time and wanted him to be a Bill, coming out of UB. There was absolutely no one saying we should have taken Mike Evans.

Saw this come across the feed and the name sounded familiar. That's because he was one of the two Punters that were taken in Round 4 (very high for a Punter) of 2022, when we selected Matt Araiza in Round 6. He recieved a Special Teams Player of the Week in his Rookie season, as well as a Special Teams Player of the Week, and Special Teams Player of the Month in his second year. He was released a couple months back by Tampa Bay in favor of someone else. Could be an interesting camp competition leg and/or possible replacement for Sam Martin next season.

Correct. What I described is NOT a "Debbie Downer". But they still get labeled as that constantly. Anyone who shows any concern for an opponent or even an on field individual matchup, or calls out poor performance from a Bills player will inevitably have people calling them out as a DD and less of a fan. I've been called both a Homer and a Debbie Downer multiple times on this board. There is no true Bills fan on this board, whether they fear or even expect a defeat, that doesn't cheer for the team on Game Day and want the team to win. And these kind of "holier than thou" posts (the OP, not yours) give me the icks.

What's the opposite of a Debbie Downer? Because personally I find the type of fan, who just ignores every other teams strengths, assumes we're always going to be the best team on the field, judges/name calls anyone else who doesn't blindly swing pom-pom's existing solely in their own Bills bubble, and thinks they're a better fan because of it even more annoying. ANY analytical thinking and valid concerns over individual or team matchups gets you labeled a "Debbie Downer". You can respect your opponent, voice concerns, still have hope, and cheer for your team just as hard as any other Bills fan - without being an "idiocy enthusiast" or a lesser fan than those who just drink the spiked kool-aid 100% of the time.

You're omitting a GIANT part of the equation here. Garrett isn't a Free Agent. Which brings me to the Topic Question.... "Myles Garrett: What would it take?" - more in trade compensation than Beane is probably willing to give up, when we have to also pay a massive contract on top of it.

You'd have to have had a Crystal Ball. Absolutely NO ONE had Mike Evans as a better prospect than Sammy Watkins. If we would have handed in a card for Mike Evans with Sammy Watkins on the board - we'd have been laughed out of the building and people would have been scrambling to figure out what they didn't know about Watkins. Watkins to Evans wasn't 1a or 1b. It was 1 and a pretty sizable gap before 2, regardless of where they were picked. Watkins was considered a generational talent, the top WR prospect perhaps ever at that time. Mike Evans over Sammy Watkins on Draft Day 2014 is the most extreme case of using hindsight to make an argument.

I wouldn't call it some sort of genius "masterclass". It's just a situation of the circumstances dictating a preferred outcome. He wasn't instructing people to not score or play less than. Our backups and 3rd stringers just couldn't get the win and that ended up being a good thing.

Nah, he'll just go back to being a QB Coach. He was good at that. Good enough that it got him OC jobs that he really wasn't qualified for and shouldn't have been doing in the first place.

Because we want to sit our entire starting Offensive Line. On the active roster, we have both Offensive Tackles covered in Ryan Van Demark and Tylan Grable and two/thirds of the Interior in Sedrick Van Pran-Granger and Alec Anderson. So elevating an OT wouldn't have made sense. It would have either been Will Clapp or Mike Edwards.

You'd give up Two 1st's, Two 2nd's, Two 4th's, Two 5th's, and Three 6th's for one DE? Eleven lottery tickets and players under Rookie deals for a single player that we'd also have to designate a massive amount of cap space to? Thank God you're just a message board poster...

The signings that cancelled out picks are already figured into the calculation. We only made 3 signings that qualifed for cancellation. Those being Curtis Samuel, Austin Johnson, and Mack Hollins. Everyone else we signed did not qualify as they were league minimum signings, under 2.5m, and/or players that were cut from other teams that weren't unrestricted free agents on lapsed contracts. Those signings cancelled out a possible 6th Round Pick for Tyrel Dodson (Curtis Samuel signing), a 7th Rounder for Dane Jackson (Austin Johnson signing), and a 7th Rounder for Tim Settle (Mack Hollins signing). https://overthecap.com/compensatory-picks

Yes, cheer for the Broncos to beat the Chiefs. If that doesn't happen, hope the Dolphins have beaten the Jets (both games are at 4:25). If the Broncos lose to the Chiefs and the Dolphins lose to the Jets - cheer for the Steelers to beat the Bengals in the Sunday Night game. Even if the Broncos lose and the Dolphins lose, the Bengals still have to win. If the Dolphins and the Bengals lose, the Broncos still get in even with a loss.

It's actually 4. I've amended the original post as I forgot that the deal for Diggs was their 2nd in exchange for Diggs and our 5th.

I'm thrilled that the deck is stacked against Cincinnati. Doesn't really matter to me if it's the Broncos or the Dolphins. But I want nothing to do with the Bengals. They've gotten too hot and the Burrow to Higgins and Chase connection has looked terrifying. Thankfully, they fumbled the ball so hard earlier in the year that they're in this position. The Broncos have to lose to the Chiefs Backups - I favor the Broncos The Dolphins have to lose to the hapless Jets - I favor the Dolphins even with Huntley The Bengals have to beat the Steelers who aren't sitting their starters - tough game for the Bengals

It's because Gabe Davis went out for the year and only ended up playing 10 games for Jacksonville. I knew it was coming when he tore his ACL.

I would believe it. Initially, it was supposed to be a 4th and a 5th for them. A 4th for Davis and a 5th for Floyd. My guess is it dropped to a 5th bc Davis ended up being lost for the season in Week 11. The Edmunds pick dropped from a 3rd to a 4th last year bc they changed the rules of the compensatory formula on a dime to take into account void year money and carefully written contracts that skirted comp pick cancellations. That in conjunction with Edmunds missing a couple games made the pick come in less than expected. This years projections took the new rules into account when they were made. We're already getting less than expected bc of Davis' injury with 2 5th's instead of the initial projection of a 4 and a 5. I really don't see us getting less than that or them changing the rules to be more strict on a dime once again. It was too much of a headache for the league last season dealing with all the appeals. And generally when they make an unpopular change that makes things more difficult on teams one year, they take it easier the following year (ie Cap figures coming under unexpected one year are made up for the next). Currently, our expected picks are as follows: Round 1 Round 2 Round 2 (from Minnesota Vikings for Stefon Diggs and our 2025 5th Round Pick) Round 4 Round 4 (from Chicago Bears for a 2024 5th Round Pick) Round 5 (Compensatory for Gabe Davis) Round 5 (Compensatory for Leonard Floyd) Round 6 Round 6 (from New York Giants for Boogie Basham and our 2025 7th Round Pick) Round 6 (from Cleveland Browns with Amari Cooper for our 2025 3rd Round Pick)

Could very well be. But the "in a few weeks" line is eyebrow raising. Makes me wonder if he knows that they're talking contract right now. I know general smart thinking is you don't pay a Running Back. It's a line of thinking that I generally subscribe to. However, over this past year i've found myself thinking Cook is an exception. You can find a decent Running Back in the Draft if you have a good Offensive Line. But the things Cook does is not something you find easily. We spent years Drafting Running Backs like Devin Singletary and Zack Moss and signing inexpensive guys only to have an average to below average Running game. In Cook, we've found the most explosive RB and Running Game we've had since at least Marshawn Lynch (albeit a very different Back and running style). There are games that he takes over without Josh needing to do anything, or much of anything. This year's running game and Cook in particular is a large part of what has made our Offense the best it's ever looked this season. He was a Pro Bowler last season and was honestly robbed of the Pro Bowl this year. If we can do an extension that is backloaded, keeps his number next season the same, has a couple low cap hit years in the beginning with bonuses, and an out after 2027 - i'd honestly be all for an extension for Cook.

Yay! We're playing the "go get Yannick Ngakoue" game for the 3rd time in less than a year! 🙄

He will be. Whether it's us winning a ring and him retiring on a Super Bowl win or us releasing him - his contract was always viewed as a 3 year deal. Cutting him this past offseason would have done us more harm than good and after he gave us the option to rework his deal, WAY more harm than good. This is why your original post is getting universally downvoted. Opining that he shouldn't be here and that the incentives are stupid is actually quite the opposite of the situation, given the circumstances surrounding his being here v. not being here this year.