dave mcbride

Lawson has been a disappointment, but come on. Give him a third year in the system. Players do get better, and while he's never going to be that explosive, he has some skills/assets that are valuable. Also, he came out as a junior, so he's still young (23). And he's missed time in both seasons with small-ish injuries.

Regardless of how good he was or wasn't, he was better than Adolphus Washington, who appears to stink.

More on Hughes and pressure. He had *45* pressures yet only a small handful of sacks! That's kind of unheard of. http://buffalonews.com/2018/01/02/advanced-stats-jerry-hughes-erupts-for-bills-against-backup-left-tackle-vs-dolphins/ Man, Hughes is an underrated player.

This is not true. A guy who can tie up interior blockers and push the pocket even without getting sacks is very valuable. Carolina has typically gotten excellent DE sack numbers, and if you look at Hughes' pressure numbers last year, something was wrong. Too many times QBs escaped from him by simply stepping up in the pocket.

As of December 3rd this past season, Hughes was 5th in the league in QB pressures. Yet he had only 3 sacks. This signing helps change that. http://billswire.usatoday.com/2017/12/03/tom-brady-bill-belichick-jerry-hughes-nfl-week-13/ Hughes, who is 29-years old, has racked up 3.0 sacks, nine tackles for loss and one forced fumble through 11 games. He’s registered only three sacks but has racked up 10 quarterback hits and according to Pro Football Focus, his 34 total pressures rank fifth-most among qualifying edge rushers.

Good comments from Sal C. How many times did a qb slip out of Jerry Hughes' mitts at the last second last season by stepping up in the pocket? I felt like Hughes had a massive pressure season that went unrewarded with sacks.

Good piece, but this is why the grading system is flawed, especially for qbs: The greatness of Rodgers’ performance last night was in the intangibles. Recognizing the blitz, drawing the defense offsides, catching the Chiefs in bad situations and exploiting those scenarios with simple passes to open receivers. But you cannot — and we do not try to — quantify intangibles, or what comes pre-snap. Our system grades what can be graded — the execution of the play post-snap — and in that regard Rodgers did not stand out in the same way that his statistics did.

yup. https://www.catscratchreader.com/2018/1/5/16852940/pro-football-focus-2017-final-ratings-for-every-carolina-panthers-defensive-player

Carolina's defensive ranking in rushing yards per attempt the last 3 seasons: 2015: 7th 2016: 9th 2017: 11th

The Bills need to move up to 2 to get the qb. At 4, they will be out of luck.

The last question is real, but at the end of the day it's not rational to want to stick it to the Jets simply they're a NY team. They're in the other conference and aren't a rival.

They generally will know because it's highly likely that 3 and quite possibly 4 of the first 5 picks will be qbs.

Disagree with this logic for a simple reason - you're not factoring in players. A team may absolutely love a player who will be there at 6 and not at 12. That has to be factored in.

No, I'm talking about the Browns (the subject of this thread). I think that Josh Allen may be the target - he's Roethlisberger-like in his talent and from a physical talent perspective is heads and shoulders above the rest. He's also performed extremely well in the postseason showcases. As I said elsewhere, I put very little stock in completion percentages at low-talent schools like Wyoming. The draft is about projection, not past performance for an under-talented team.

The one thing I'm hoping is that the Giants don't want to hand a star to the Jets -- that and Gettleman's relationship with Beane. Make no mistake, though -- the object is to get to #2.

My gut tells me Josh Allen, the most talented of all of them. He should be there at 4.

But those two may be gone in the first two picks. The Jets are the threat.

Yep, that is my worry.

absolutely. the Jets loom large in this and desperately want a qb too. The problem is that the Jets are in about as good shape as the Bills - they have draft pick numbers 6, 37, 49, and 72 and 107.

My crazy hunch is that Cleveland likes Allen. He's definitely the most talented of them all, and to be fair he has performed great since the postseason showcases began. I don't think it's a bad move. I don't put a whole lot of stock in completion rates at low-talent schools like Wyoming.

I think the Giants are the target. They can't afford to take chances if they've identified the QB they want.

Oops! Peters, definitely. He's a HOF player.

I'm generally happy about the trade, but since Wil Wolford, has there better a better Bills LT than Glenn (when healthy)?

The thing is, Suh HAS traditionally gotten to the QB - http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/13234/ndamukong-suh. Also, note the ridiculous stuff and passes defensed totals for an interior d-lineman. The numbers are in decline, of course, but they're still good. Also: "The big DT tallied 15.5 sacks and 181 combined tackles in his time in Miami, despite eating up double teams constantly. Since 2010, he ranks second among NFL DTs in sacks (51.5), first in QB hits (147), second in total pressures (381.5) and first in tackles for loss (103)." http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000920619/article/miami-dolphins-likely-to-release-dt-ndamukong-suh Lots of bad info in this thread ...

No he's not. His teams have gone 15-15 in games he started. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MoorMa01.htm