Mark Long Beach

Short, clear and plausible. Just enough info to mildly convince, which is no easy task. Good Job.

For sure! But spending top dollar on free agents isn't their style. I think they'll do it, but it's not their nature. We've got 5 Days if we want a new TE before making a decision on cutting Kroft. It gets much more expensive after that to release him.

Thanks for the link on Hooper. I am all for having two top end TE's! I want a great two-way TE though, not a slot receiver in disguise. I think that's what we need to make a great and versatile ground and pound game. But top $ free agency acquisitions are risky. Also, they are not inline with the best practices of McBean & Co. They've stated that they'd prefer to draft and resign the best of their own. Since they are still a young franchise, I think they would have to be REALLY sold on this guy (or any other top $ guy). They're still working on building and establishing a culture and set of best practices. That doesn't work if you're regularly breaking the rules.

Thanks for the clarification on Long's contract. I knew we had an out, but it's even better than I remember. But he's still not cheap to KEEP through the year. I'm all for keeping him through camp to see his value to the team. ?

I honestly don't really know how good Hooper is. He can catch, but can he block? I don't really want a slot receiver disguised as a TE. But I do know that I'd LOVE to have Knox my TE2 paired with a fantastic TE1. If we had two very good two way TEs? Man... That's one way to thrive. If one is available for only 3m more expensive than Kroft? SIGN ME UP!

Except Long ISN'T paid peanuts. His contract is ~$4.2 mil per year. He was definitely an overpay for insurance. We did a couple overpays this offseason to make sure that we could field a full and competent team. And it worked. We were desperately short of NFL talent in a few areas and "overpaid" a couple times to fix it. I don't mind some (minor) overpays here and there because it does work to get a guy. Money talks. Long was an early signee and offered us significant flexibility as an experienced C and G. Similarly we overpaid for Morse (largest C contract in NFL) who's good not not phenomenal. We had nothing at TE and Kroft showed potential with one very solid year. With a thin free agent pool we gave him an overpay. What I liked from Bean was that he attempted to fix weak areas with MORE than one guy. Yes an overpay, but also other alternatives if that overpay didn't work out. All to often in our past, we've paid big money for a player and hoped he was good enough. (spoiler alert: he often wasn't). Derrek Dockery anyone? We brought in 157 new Offensive Linemen. Okay maybe only 9. We brought in 3 new TE (Kroft, Lee, + high draft pick Knox) Heck even at WR, we brought in 2 major signings to go with our hopefuls (new guy Duke Williams, old el-busto Zay Jones, optimistic Robert Foster). Too bad none of the hopefuls worked out. To me it has felt like we've really have brought in insurance AND competition for spots. Not just assumed that the guy with the biggest contract was going to be the guy going forward. I like it.

Yeah, I agree. WE as fans haven't seen much from him. My statement really was: "if the coaches and personnel department" like him from what they've seen of him in meeting rooms and practices they get to make a decision. There was an article recently about him and how well he did with what he could do while being injured. But I don't think we keep him at his current salary.

I won't argue with that. There's no Guarantee that Knox keeps getting better and becomes a good TE1. I sure hope he does. I wouldn't complain at all if we brought in a top tier TE. We could end up with a monster 2 TE combination with Sweeney as a really nice backup. Really good two way TEs aren't cheap and not really plentiful. It would be nice to have an offensive position with real strength rather than being merely adequate. I just don't think that we will. We've already invested a "lot" into the position and have we still have many other needs.

Given his high cost and lack of production (mostly due to injury) Kroft is definitely in danger of being cut. But they liked him and felt he had solid TE capabilities. I view that he was overpaid early in free agency last year because we had NOBODY at TE. So he was an expensive insurance policy for a two way tight end. We think we now have a TE1 in Knox and a TE3 in Sweeney (future TE2?). I don't think we will keep Kroft at his current insurance level salary. But if we like him enough we may still keep him at a reduced rate. I don't think that he'll get too much on the open market with most of a year of injury and a partial year of minimal production. I suspect we'll only keep one of Kroft and Lee Smith. but if we like Kroft enough (presumably with a reduced salary) I could see us keeping 4 again. Kroft, Smith, Knox & Sweeney. Not too bad. Some insurance in case Knox's hands don't get better and more time for Sweeney to prove he can replace Smith.

I think it's more about how he handled being caught and the social interactions around it. But yes. Definitely not your standard way of ingratiating yourself into a group!

I hear that you don't value those 3 yards much as a roster spot. I disagree. Those yards are "free" yards. No down required. It's also better that almost every other team in the league! Many of those teams are net NEGATIVE yards, not to mention net negative in fumbles. Even a "small" contribution is a contribution and he is among the best in the league at it. I'll take it over some bottom of the roster long shot.

Often a teams best punt or kick returner is a starting CB. Since kick-offs and punts have the HIGHEST injury rate (per play) by far, I sure don't want my starting CB back there. And Leodis? ... oh god, I think I lost months of my life watching him return. Despite what we all want, the bottom of the roster is just that. Long shots and JAGs. Heck yeah he contributes more than that! He has no screw-ups, and has given us top 3 starting position for the whole league. As a receiver, he's a JAG. But so is the bottom of the roster. While he didn't break a long one, that's not all on him, and he's done it before. I'm more than satisfied with his performance.

My first thought when watching this angle was "what a bullet!" It's not an easy catch, but one you expect your NFL receivers to make. But, they don't always. Even the best of them. But man, what a throw!

I agree, I thought it was fantastic. Funny enough and true enough. When Josh is on the field, it sure as hell isn't boring. It's great to finally have some magic on the field, even if it's the sorcerers apprentice kind. Fitz had some, but my god, those interception filled debacles... Josh has CLEARLY been learning and getting better during his time in the league. That alone makes him better than any young Buffalo QB I can remember since our decent ones were all vets (Bledsoe, Flutie, even Fitz). The hope is that he can KEEP learning and getting better. He sure looks like he can. Fingers crossed that he does.

Back to back last in the league. ouch.

Not to mention having a cost controlled QB under rookie contract for just two more years. 2020 & 21. So if you subscribe to the belief that you spend big on non QB free agents while your QB is cheap, it will be this coming year. It'll be interesting to see if Beane & co subscribe to this.

Eh. It's a Bill's message board. I found it interesting. "Don't-look-at-that-accident" level gruesome, but interesting. I surely have no desire to head to any other board except to a defeated opponent's and revel in the lamentations of their women and children.

I knew he's pretty much had our number, but I didn't realize just how bad it was. Apparently memory loss is helpful for being an optimistic Buffalo Bills fan. His career record against us is 30 and 3... Blink... He has only lost to us 3 times, which at 6 -3 is as many Superbowl losses that he has. Since 2001, Tom Brady has more wins at New Era Field than any Buffalo starting QB (per @ESPNStatsInfo) Brady - 15 Drew Bledsoe - 14 Ryan Fitzpatrick - 13 Tyrod Taylor - 13 Josh Allen - 5 Dear God, when is this guy going to retire? At least we have made him look human recently so hopefully we can rough him up a little before he goes. (Forgive me if this is well known to everyone or a repost)

Eh. None of the recent ones for me. I could maybe be talked into Woods as slower but solid #2 who blocks well. But I'm definitely not pining for him. Incognito is one that I miss, but as mentioned before, he went all crazy.

Cody Ford was also given an honorable mention. Giving us 4 draft picks including one as best in position. Pretty good considering there's 32 teams. They listed about 67 players (including special teams) so that's very close to an expected 2 draft picks per team and we're double that.

Yeah, In a small sample size, the elite defenses tend to show up big. Buffalo: 24-Dalton 27 Eli (no Darnald) NE: 25 J Allen 33 Ruthlessburger 35 L Falk 36 Fitzpatrick I omitted Tom Brady at number 4 although it's clear how strong his stats are as we made him have a miserable game against us.

ooooh. that's good.

We took advantage of those penalties. The Jets were gifted 4 turnovers and if not for one being a pick-6 they did NOTHING with those turnovers. Turnovers are far worse than a penalty to boot. We're a newly put together offensive team. I'm pretty impressed with what we've accomplished so far with so many long drives.

I can totally relate to it. Oh boy. But unlike you, I absolutely am enjoying overconfident fans melting down. Especially because it's now my team that can rip the heart out of other fans. It's good to be the king.

Ah the misery of other team's fans suffering... it warms my heart. Jets fans from the "wow-gase-does-suck" thread: Bonus points for being able to trade out of the #1 pick to screw Miami out of their top QB choice. Tell me this doesn't sound believable. And in such stark contrast to what the Bills did to fix the OL.