BillsFanForever19

I love how if someone who is a big time prospect coming out of College doesn't light the world on fire as a Rookie, they were "overhyped". Even if he busts out, that doesn't change the kind of generational talent prospect he was coming out of College.

Interesting. So they DID revise the rules. I kind of figured that was the case with them doing multiple last year with the Bears in Training Camp and the Ravens in the Playoffs. And it may have been a scenario where they wanted to avoid being the Playoffs team this year. I still say that the Bills may not have had to have their arm twisted too much to do it this season. Maybe McDermott, but I could def see a scenario where Pegula would want that paycheck and more eyes on the team nationally as they build the new stadium.

If they are still going by the rules for teams being put on Hard Knocks (tho it's possible they quietly lifted those), it would imply the Bills wanted to do this. And I could def see a scenario where the Owners would want to even if McDermott isn't a fan. Hard Knocks has featured teams who are moving into new stadiums before. Def possible Pegula wants to raise the profile of the team even more on a National level to get people in the building and/or take a check from Warner Brothers for some extra cash to put towards the bill. If the Owners want it, Warner, and Goodell want it - it really wouldn't matter what McDermott thought.

Honestly, if Cook was thinking of holding out any of Training Camp, this may make him reconsider. This can give him a voice, put his brand out there more to other fanbases across the league, and show teams he's doing the right things and working hard in a tough situation.

I hope they highlight Joey Bosa a bunch. He's a star that I'd bet they'd want to talk to and if they're gonna pull anyone away from stuff for a bit, it should be him. Hell, bubble wrap him for the interviews too.

Hard Knocks always highlights a plucky, unlikely to make the roster player. With the way this board gets with Training Camp and Pre-Season darlings combined with that, i'm not looking forward to the outcty from some posters when they watch that guy get cut on TV.

Dodged it for as long as we could. I know there's supposedly "rules" in place where you can turn it down. But I feel like that may have been quietly changed bc last year they started doing multiple Hard Knocks. Even in the Playoffs with the Ravens. Even if there's technically rules, that doesn't mean if HBO doesn't really want the Bills - Goodell wouldn't put pressure on us to not upset Warner. Or maybe they saw the thing with the Ravens in the Playoffs and went "better Training Camp than the Playoffs".

You know they don't have to wait until June 1st to do that, right? If they wanted to make him a June 1 cut they could do that right now or done it months ago.

Fred Warner is very good. But I wouldn't want to dedicate 21m a year to the Middle Linebacker position. I'm not even the biggest fan of what we paid Terrel Bernard. But i'd rather have Bernard at half the price and be able to put money into more important positions than give that much to Warner.

It's Terrell Owens by far for me. At a time when excitement over anything pretty much didn't exist, arguably the biggest name and most famous player in the NFL coming to Buffalo was crazy.

You seem to be missing the plot and projecting some sort of real world 9-5 issue with the workforce or something? Idk it's really confusing. I've mostly tried to ignore it bc it's not remotely comparable or really has anything to do with the situation. But you keep harping on it, so I guess I'll play along... The NFL is not comparable to an everyday job. There's really no scenario where your employer comes to you and goes "hey, so I need you to do this thing for me and when you're done, I'm going to bring it to my bosses and if it's no good, it's going to get me suspended and cost me millions of dollars. I'm putting it all on you to do and I'm not even going to bother to look it over before I go in there". Best believe in that scenario with so much on the line, they'd take it upon themselves to do, keep an eye on what they're doing, or *at the very least*, look it over before going in and it passing or failing. And in the end, if the employer was so careless as to not do those things, the responsibility and onus would fall on them and they'd be punished for the results, just like Hoecht was. There's no way no matter how you spin this and what you compare it to that Hoecht has no blame, isn't at least an idiot, and at most a cheater. Even if his "employee" was at fault, the ultimate fault and responsibility falls on Hoecht. As it should.

Lol that's fair. I forgot we technically added White at the end of the season so that we could call up more than one player from the PS for the Patriots game and then kept him on bc our roster had room. Outside of that scenario, we haven't kept more than 2 since the year we Drafted Fromm. So i'd expect 2. Just for shiz and gigs, this is my way too early 53 prediction. Going through the roster, I actually only see about 51 I'm sure about. I ended up adding Lewis and Ingram just bc there were two spots left over. I have Shenault beating out Codrington as a Returner, but that's a Wild Card/Hot Take. Players like Trubisky and Hamlin I see the Bills brass liking more than posters do. And with Trubisky v. White, they save relatively the same amount of money on a cut, but there's a 1m+ Dead Cap on Trubisky and no Dead Cap hit on White. QB (Same as last year): Josh Allen #17 Mitch Trubisky #11 RB (Same as last year): James Cook #4 Ray Davis #22 Ty Johnson #26 - Reggie Gilliam #41 WR: Khalil Shakir #10 Josh Palmer #5 Keon Coleman #0 Curtis Samuel #1 Elijah Moore #18 Laviska Shenault #15 (Returner) TE: Dalton Kincaid #86 Dawson Knox #88 Jackson Hawes #85 OL (Same as last year): Dion Dawkins #73 David Edwards #76 Connor McGovern #66 O'Cyrus Torrence #64 Spencer Brown #79 - Sedrick Van Pran-Granger #62 Ryan Van Demark #74 Alec Anderson #70 Tylan Grable #68 DE: Greg Rousseau #50 Joey Bosa #97 AJ Epenesa #57 Landon Jackson #94 Javon Solomon #56 DT: Ed Oliver #91 Daquan Jones #92 T.J. Sanders #98 Deone Walker #96 DeWayne Carter #90 LB (Same as last year): Matt Milano #58 Terrel Bernard #8 Dorian Williams #42 Edefuan Ulofoshio #48 Joe Andreeseen #41 CB: Christian Benford #47 Maxwell Hairston #31 Taron Johnson #7 (NCB) Tre'Davious White #27 Dorian Strong #43 Ja'Marcus Ingram #46 S: Taylor Rapp #9 Cole Bishop #24 Damar Hamlin #3 Jordan Hancock #37 (NCB/S) Cam Lewis #33 (NCB/S) ST: Tyler Bass #2 (K) Jake Camarda #32 (P) Reid Ferguson #69 (LS) But yeah... long story short, it's pretty simple to fit all 10 on the DL and carry extra DB's. What a guy! https://willowcenterny.org/

Smoot and Carter both came back and they still kept the guys they added. Again, 2023 was only 10 bc Von was on PUP. When he came back, they added him and removed no one. So it would have been 11 if he weren't hurt. Either way, you're pointing at 10 to start the year in 23 and 24 v. the 11 they ended with both years to somehow argue... 9? I don't get it. I would literally bet you dollars to donuts that we'll not be keeping 9 to start the year. Again, you can easily do what you're saying at DB and keep 10 DL. It's not that difficult. Like I said, my 53 right now has 10 on the DL and 11 DB's. As for cutting Trubisky and keeping 2 QB's, we haven't carried 3 QB's to start a season since 2020. We generally always carry 2 QB's.

Look harder. In 2024, we ended the season with Groot, Epenesa, Von, Smoot, and Solomon at DE. Oliver, Jones, Johnson, Carter, Phillips, and Jefferson at DT. That's 11. 2023 we ended the season with Groot, Floyd, Von, Epenesa, Shaq, and Jonathan at DE. Oliver, Jones, Settle, Joseph, and Ford at DT. Again, that's 11. The only reason it's 10 in 2023 is bc Von was on PUP. When he came back, they added him and cut no one. And even if they started at 10 (only technically in 2023) and ended at 11 both seasons - the fact still remains, 9 is shorthanded. Especially when you consider a third of them are developing Rookies who have yet to play a down in the NFL. 10 is the bare minimum for how our Defensive Line operates and rotates. As for carrying an extra DB - if you create your own 53 based on the roster we have now, you can easily do both carrying an extra DB and 10 DL. On my 53, I easily fit 10 DL and 11 DB's.

We carry at least 10. We carried 6 DE's in 2023 and 6 DT's in 2024. We carried 11 both seasons, at times in 2023 we carried 12. Guaranteed we keep more than just 9. Beyond just recent history, 9 is not enough for all 4 spots total to cover injuries with how often we rotate. I wouldn't be surprised if they kept all 12 when Hoecht and Ogunjobi return and all 10 are still healthy come Week 8.

There's a number of ways that we can come up with money, and a pretty fair amount, without having to cut anyone of value.

We can come up with that without having to cut anyone. Joe Marino came up with a list of things he'd do before Free Agency started. Most of it has been done already, but there's still some levers to pull: - Connor McGovern extension could save us 4.2m. - Dion Dawkins restructure could save us 9.8m. - Dawson Knox restructure could save us 6.3m. Other moves like a James Cook extension (unlikely) could save us a little. And a David Edwards extension could save some too. Cutting Samuel Pre 6/1 would cost us 12m in Dead Cap and actually cost us 3m in Cap Space. Post 6/1 would cost us 8.63m in Dead Cap and save us 430k in Cap. I don't think I have to tell you... that's not going to happen. Not only does cutting him save us nothing (and if we do it now it actually costs us cap) - we also don't have the kind of depth at WR to be cutting him.

There is no way they're removing Jones *and* Epenesa before Hoecht and Ogunjobi are here. We'd be left short handed at both positions and relying on Day 2 and Day 3 Rookies to start, with underwhelming options underneath if there are any injuries in the first 6 weeks. A large part of the upgrade this offseason was upgrading the depth of both positions. And unlike most positions, DE and DT depth is rotated in on a regular basis. The whole point of doing what we did in FA and the Draft was to not be in situations like we were last year where we had below average talent level guys cycling in. It's not an upgrade to the rotation at all times if you're removing guys like Epenesa and Jones from the equation. Both still provide more value than what you'd be getting from Solomon and Carter, even if the Rookies are able to step in immediately - which is a big ask of a 3rd and 4th Round Rookie. And specifically for Epenesa, Joey Bosa is historically a walking injury waiting to happen. And he's not likely to go beyond 50% of snaps, likely under. So even if he stays healthy (and God forbid he didn't before Hoecht got here), you're basically asking Jackson to start.

I don't see it. At least not until after Week 6. Last year, we rostered 6 DT's at the end of the year. And until Ogunjobi comes back, we only have 5 in Oliver, Jones, Sanders, Carter, and Walker. And of those 5, the only sure 1T we have is Jones. Walker will probably be put there, but he's not a true 1T in style of play. Sanders will slide over next to Oliver at times in obvious passing down blitz situations. Carter is supposedly going to be tried there. But he wasn't a 1T in College and I don't see him as a 1T. To cut him would leave us seriously short handed with 4 you can count on (unless you count PS guys like Logue and Rogers, I don't). And handing the position to a 4th Round Rookie. Unlikely. I think if they wanted to move on from him, they'd have done it earlier in the Offseason and really nailed down the position with a Stud in FA or earlier in the Draft. I think they like him more than the board does and plan on rotating him more with Walker and Sanders to keep him fresher.

The roster is now full at 91 players (roster exemption for Travis Clayton). Anyone brought in from here on out will have to have a corresponding release.

Yes, but that was only bc of the injuries to Samuel that then went on to nag when he returned, Coleman being eased in and then hurt when he started getting hot, and Cooper being eased in and then getting hurt. He was never supposed to have as big of a role as he did. He wouldn't get the same amount of snaps here as he did last season unless we had multiple injuries again. It's money and usage. I have no doubt of that. If you look at the depth chart for the Patriots at WR and their stats last year, it's possible Hollins might start on the Outside opposite Diggs. They spent a 2nd and a 4th on Polk and Baker last year. Polk had 12 catches for 87 yards all season and Baker didn't record a single catch all season. Their leading pass catcher was TE Hunter Henry and their leading Wide Receiver accounted for 621 yards. Listening to Mack's Presser with the Patriots, he was saying he pretty much left it up to his agent to find the best situation for him. And that's more than just money. The WR5 on our team is no greater than Option 6 or 7 (if Knox has a good year).

Yeah, the story was that Beane felt that it was the 3 guys that went in the Top 9 and after that, there wasn't much separating BTJ and everyone else who went over the next 10 picks after him. He felt that getting Coleman, moving back into Round 3, and keeping all 10 picks was worth more than getting BTJ and having less lottery tickets. He was wrong. There was an even bigger separation between BTJ and that next group than was even thought at the time. He says he didn't even try to move up. Who knows if that's true or not. I'd hope it was just a situation of not being able to get above the Jaguars to select him. But if we take him at his word, it seems like a massive misstep and scouting judgement as BTJ looked better than Marvin Harrison last year. But yes, it's one thing to rake him over the coals for not trying to move up and get BTJ. Or to say he picked the wrong guy if Coleman flops and any of Xavier Worthy, Xavier Legette, Ja'Lynn Polk, Adonai Mitchell, or Troy Franklin turn into studs. But the constant obsession over McConkey is tiring and ridiculous. It'd be like posting about missing out on a Nickel CB who became a stud if Maxwell Hairston looked rough in Year 1. McConkey is not the type of WR we were in the market for.

If we didn't have Khalil Shakir, we might have Drafted him. McConkey worked out of the Slot for 65% of his reps and came into the league as a presumed exclusive Slot. Losing Diggs and Davis and then Drafting a guy that would have effectively just took Shakir and Kincaid off the field wouldn't have made sense. We weren't in a situation to Draft another 50/50 guy and McConkey isn't even that. Having 5 of the Top 25 under 25 is crazy.

Current Bills: Sean McDermott Dion Dawkins Dawson Knox Joshua Palmer Ray Davis Damar Hamlin Dewayne Carter Reid Ferguson Alumni Bills: Jim Kelly Thurman Thomas Andre Reed Steve Tasker Scott Norwood Honestly... that's a pretty underwhelming cast of players from the current team. I pretty much assumed there would be a Josh Allen appearance. But even without him - I figured they'd be using bigger players than Davis, Hamlin, Carter, and Ferguson. Pretty cool that Scott Norwood is coming back and getting some love.

Like you said though, it's ultimately the playing time. He really overachieved for us last season. Which was great for him. But at the end of the day, I don't think the Bills really wanted him playing as big of a role as he did for us. It was more of a necessity due to injuries and Coleman not lighting it up right out of the gate. That's why they signed Palmer. And with him, Shakir, Coleman, Samuel, and Kincaid he'd be taking a step back from the role he had last year - unless there were injuries again. And for that 5th spot, I think they wanted someone who could stretch the field situationally for us. Mack doesn't provide that. I believe they thought they were going to Draft a speed guy by Round 5 - but the board just kept falling Defense in Rounds 2-4 and there wasn't really anything of value left by Round 5. So they pivoted and signed Moore. 1 yr, 2.5m guaranteed was probably their ceiling. I don't think Mack wanted the role he'd have, I don't think they wanted Mack for that role bc of his lack of speed, or to pay 3.5m guaranteed, up to 8.4m on a 2 yr deal for that role. Palmer really spelled the end for Hollins.