Ed_Formerly_of_Roch

I'll defend him some in that the Bills entire front office was kind of a mess as to who was really in charge. I really don't think Whaley wanted to hire Ryan, but was more a Russ Brandon pushing Pegula to hire him. Not sure who really did or didn't want Marrone, thought I recalled some connection there too between Marrone and RB? I also do recall Nix stating he wanted to get a QB before he left, so do think that part of what Whaley said is true. Yes Whaley scouted him, his report may have been great pick in the 3rd round for all we know. If we're going to blame him for lying to the fan base by talking up EJ afterwards and stating he has the "It factor" then every coach GM in the league is guilty of that. How many teams bad mouth their signings, even after they are gone. So yes Whaley did that in this article, but does seem his main point he was trying to make was about over drafting, not really blaming Nix for the pick other than that Nix wanted to get a QB whether there was one worthy or not so he over drafted. But now he's a media guy, not a front office person.

By adding Beane's name to thread no one can say this doesn't belong on Bills message board!

From what I've read, his mother may actually be the better athlete in the family.

Believe it was in that same article another writer picked the Packers to beat the Bills in the SB. Forget who.

If I were to put money on any of these undrafted rookies making the final Bills roster, think I'd go with Tariq Thompson mainly for two reasons; fist off he seems to fit the big nickel build and second and maybe more importantly, safety id the one position group where the Bills are undermanned numbers wise.

The other issue was as in any game if they fell behind even as little as 4 points, then Marino would totally give up on even trying to run and just keep stepping back and throwing. In the case of the Bills they had a strong enough pass rush and overall defense, than often would result in sacks or ints.

IMO I'll be very surprised if we beat Miami in Miami. It's their home opener so will be fired up for that, but even more so after the way we blew them out last year in Buffalo and could be viewed by the Fish as we ran the score up on them. Throwing 4th quarter bombs when already up by was it 20 points, I'm sure didn't sit well with them. I recall watching the game ending hand shake with the coaches and appeared to be one of the shortest interaction shakes I ever seen. Seemed to me that Flores didn't have any use for McD at that point. Will see, but won't surprise me to see us lose down there particularly if we win the opener against the Steelers. If we do beat them, likely due to Tua's failures and then Miami is in pretty bad shape.

Correct about Sanders and Addison, thought Addison still did have one more year left?? As to Star, Morse and Klein; Klein hardly plays unless someone Milano or Edmunds gets hurt, to me easy to find a low cost replacement for him or maybe Smith is that guy. For the most part only two LB's are on the field most plays. Can see them drafting a LB fairly high next year too along with a DT. Morse you have Bates, Mongo, the FA they signed this year, plus the rookie, plus another draft class, so not too concerned there either. Agree Star may be harder to find replacement for 2022 so he may stay, plus I see it's listed as only slightly over a $4 mil saving with $5 mil in dead money. He may get another year. Just read an article on The Athletic that can save about $15 mil in easy cuts between Klein, Morse, and Matakevich. D Williams would add another $5 mil, considering they just drafted two OT's good chance that happens. Can see them saving more $$ by restructuring/extending contracts for Diggs, Beasley, Proyer and Hyde. Maybe that also happens with Star, void the 2023 year in exchange for less in 2022, but becomes guaranteed.

True Fitz did start the first few weeks of season and won some of those games and he's now gone. But even so think I'd still lump the Fish in with those other teams whom the poster deemed 3/4 behind.

I agree with the problem areas you mention, however, Depth on the O line doesn't help much unless someone gets injured as the starters pretty much play every snap. Is Breida going to be active on game day? Last couple of years only went with two RB's active plus Jones for ST. I do wonder if they will keep all three active this year, but that means shorting another position group somewhere to create another slot. Pass rush could be better with Star back as not asking others to play out of position, plus two top draft picks and Epinesa has a year under his belt and signing of Obada. But they all can't play on Sunday, and still two rookies. I think the moves they made will help in 2022, this year short term, not so sure how much. There likely will be a number of good players either being cut or traded during camp in particular on both lines. With that being said, they are still a top team and won't take much improvement to go all the way, so who knows.

I agree with 99% of your assessment , however with Tua playing as he did, and as a rookie, the team still won 10 games, 2 games better than the Raiders and within one game of every other team on your list not named Bills or Chiefs. They are a solid team and just had a good draft with multiple early picks, minus the QB so for that reason I'd place them at the 3/4 mark as they are as good as others on that list IMO. If Tua improves which I also tend to agree is somewhat doubtful, they could jump towards the top. I said I agree with 99%... the one exception is a less polished arm. I recall plenty of TT passes into the ground or way wide, etc. hard to beleive someone could be worse in that respect. Maybe TT's form was good, but just produced bad results!

OK great idea, what exactly do you think they should be doing to gamble for this season? Trade our first and second round draft picks for JJ Watt?? Trade next years 1st for Ertz? The Bills don't have much money to gamble with so options are limited other than making short sighted trades that MAY help in 2021, but long term would likely hurt. As was stated, it's not a real true number as likely both Edmunds and Allen will sign long term deals prior that will greatly reduce their 2022 cap number. The Bills are also in a position where they can cut some big $$ players for next year as mentioned in Star, Morse, Klein, Addison, & Sanders. Likely too these other teams can also cut players, but the names just mentioned can be cut without the team likely losing much on the field. Can those other teams say the same? Plus Jets and NE still have big questions at QB along with Steelers beyond 2022, Miami, and to a lesser degree Raiders and Ravens have questions at QB. Think you forgot Miami, I'd place them at the 3/4 mark too.

Can recall Beane's exact words but he implied Bojo wasn't willing to sign a long term contract with the Bills, again not at what they were offering. Maybe that was Bojo's thing. OK I'll sign for one year at that rate, but the Bills wanted a longer contract. I do wonder if Bojo's mishaps on holds were part of the reason he's not here as again he wanted the big $$, but Bills wee offering less in part because they were concerned over his holding issues. From what I've read QB's no longer hold for the most part because they don't want to take them away from time spent doing QB work. 30 years ago the backup QB would just stay after practice with the kicker, now not allowed. For that reason easier to use the punter.

Agree if he were to come to Buffalo wouldn't be as Morgans exact replacement, more like a lower level after all the dominoes fall.

Maybe he's taking Dan Morgans place!. LOL They both did play middle LB for the Panthers and were there in Carolina in the McD/Beane era. Stranger things have happened!

Think I recall hearing this coming year was the last year of the contract they had with SJF. Seems the trend these days is to have camp at "home" where as 20 years ago was different and having a facility like SJF made the Bills unique in a good way! Can recall the first years seeing TD and RW whizzing around together on a golf cart. Oh...... and Williams blasting his fog horn alarm!

Exactly, that's why I didn't count Jones as a RB. Has Breida played any ST??

I think Wade has a shot of making the roster over Jones, but low likelihood of it happening. Think Breida and Moss are "locks". Breida strictly because he brings speed. There's a small chance Singletary could get cut if someone clearly out plays him, but not very likely either. So I think the most likely thing we'll see is Moss Singletary, Breida on the roster and Jones or possibly someone else replacing him. But then the next question would bif they'd keep all 4 active on game day, prior years they didn't.

Technically you are correct, but exactly how many carries did Jones have last year? I'm not counting him as a RB, he's active for ST. Can recall him having one catch for a TD I believe?? Was that also in the Miami game when subs were playing more? I could have stated whether they wish to keep 4 active, but didn't think it made a difference since Jones never runs the ball anyway.

You say Williams is working hard. Can you give some specifics to show how he's working harder than either Singletary, Moss, or Breida? Or even Wade? I'm sure they are all working just as hard, as you said you are following Williams. Everyone loves Williams and saying wow wait till next year. But was all based on what he did in 2nd half against Miami in season finale when Fish were getting blown out, knew they were done for year, out of playoffs and basically just waiting to get the bus warmed up. Maybe he really is the answer, but just as likely he's not at this point. And the tie goes to the draft pick! Plus is Williams all that different of a RB than Moss? Really would be surprised to see a backfield combo of he and Moss IMO. To me the biggest question at RB is will the Bills this year decide to keep 3 RB's on the active game day roster? They haven't done that the past couple of years, but to do that requires shorting another roster position someplace. Maybe one of the new draftee's or someone can play a duel role of position and ST so someone like a T Jones is dropped and if Jones were dropped a more likely case would be for Wade to replace him. But even then I think the most likely RB combo we'd see would be Singletary, Moss, and Breida.

Also west coast teams tend to also end up with more 4:25 games just because that's a normal 1:00 start for them. Kind of funny last year I expected the Bills to have more 4:25 starts with all the west coast games, but the San Fran ended up being a Monday night, and Arizona game ended up a week where Fox had doubleheader game. Bills/Raiders game was the secondary game, but ended up getting bumped to main game due to Covid cancellation of other game. This year no scheduled late starts due to time zone.

I don't believe the Thursday night games are considered prime time though. Infact I believe they try to have every play one Thursday night game.

If their salaries are a liability for Buffalo and a less experienced guy is able to take their place with no drop off in talent means they're easy to replace so why wouldn't their salaries also be a liability for every other team? I doubt they dump Dawkins regardless of salary. Williams yes, but he'll be cut or if could find someone to take him it will be maybe for a 5th or 6th round pick, but most likely cut. Dawkins could maybe get a 2nd, but again ,he's not going anywhere for awhile. Player who are traded are either still on cheap contracts or superstar level. It's amazing how everyone wants to trade their garbage, but expects other teams to pay top $$ for it.

OK, but then still a B for Vallego?? Did he contribute much more than I recall?? I barely remember the name.

I think what is going to happen with a couple of these rookies, Brown or Doyle, Anderson, maybe even Rousseau will get "hurt" around the end of August and end up on IR so more vet backups make final roster like Lamp, Hart, Obada, etc. Beane may even decide to hire Troy Vincent to the staff to help out in this regard!