dave mcbride

That's pretty normal #2 numbers, right? Beasely had 106, 107, and 112 between 2019-2021, with 2021 being the first 17 game season. Tee Higgins had 108, 110, and 109 from 2020-2022 (he was hurt for a bit last season). Aiyuk had 105 last season and Samuel 89 (the latter missed two games).

He's already clearly better than Foster. Foster was a complete non-factor after that one season and he ran hardly any of the sorts of routes that Shakir runs. There's gotta be a better comp than him. Foster was basically a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind given the receiving talent on that 2018 team. I mean, someone had to be the target that season.

I'm going to push back a bit on the Shakir narrative here. When making these statistical arguments, it's imperative to include postseason games (they're the most important ones!!), and in the Bills two playoff games Shakir averaged 6 targets per game. That's "volume," and 10 out of 12 of those passes resulted in completions (with two being TDs). And in both games they played good defenses. This comes after averaging 2.7 targets per game in the regular season. But even that's deceiving; he had 6 targets in the final game (vs Miami) and 4 vs. NE the week before. He had only FIVE targets in the first six games of the season. Clearly, his role changed and he was handling close to Diggs-level volume (but not quite) by the final four must-win games of the season (inclusive of playoffs). In those same final four games, Kincaid had 26 targets, which averages to 111 per season. Point is, you have to factor in both the playoffs and change over time.

I wondered that, but it was pretty clear that the Panthers were going to take Legette (indeed, Legette said he met with them multiple times and that they told him they'd take him). Plus Morgan wasn't going to lie to Bean. That would serve no purpose and would create a rift in an otherwise very friendly relationship. Christ, Bean gave him his first management job! Point is, if they preferred Legette, the Bills would have taken him. Actions speak louder than words (to quote you!), and the actions say that they wanted Coleman all along.

You shouldn't laugh about Corey Dillon, who has a very strong HOF case: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/D/DillCo00.htm. He is ranked 19th in rushing yards all time.

The world we have lost … 😬

Since the end of the 2019 season, OBJ has 102 receptions. That's some hardcore late-period Sammy Watkins style production.

Maybe the reason they drafted all those team captains was because they knew the needed the types of players to mentor and uplift the bad citizen they really had in their sights, Chase Claypool!

My worst memory of Claypool is this call. Right call, but I hate the rule and the play cost the Bills the game:

Watching this brings to mind this:

Yup.

I hope that's not the case. Claypool has been a problem pretty much everywhere. Well, maybe not Miami, but only because he was a non-entity there.

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2023/10/12/bears-chase-claypool-explains-what-went-wrong-in-chicago/#:~:text=Whether it was a lack,partner in the Miami Dolphins.

He's been absolutely terrible a couple of years running. Miami took him on this season and he did nothing there. They don't want him.

Ugh. Not a fan of the player. But maybe he's camp fodder. I think he's basically toast.

Well, he was 19 years old at the time and coming off playing for MSU's basketball team in the spring of 2022 (they lost to Duke in the second round of the tournament). Cut him a little slack.

It's fine as long as the team facing them the second week is coming off a bye. That's a very easy solution.

Some good stuff here: https://theathletic.com/5467312/2024/05/03/nfl-draft-afc-best-worst-classes-insider-reaction/, One takeaway from these comments: the consensus seems to be that next year's draft will be significantly deeper than this one's and that trading for 2025 picks is a smart move. Bills: “It looks like they didn’t want a little guy in cold weather — ‘We’re a tough run team now,'” another exec said. “The risk is that Coleman is going to be covered. Those guys are making contested catches, and that is hard to do over and over again unless you are DeAndre Hopkins.” The selection of inside runner Ray Davis in the fourth round could further signal a shift toward being more of a power team. “There is now a big difference in the speed around Patrick Mahomes compared to the speed around Josh Allen,” another exec said. “Buffalo is saying, ‘Josh, it is up to you to raise the level of the skill around you,’ which is great, but we’ll see if he is able to do that.” Broncos: [Re: the Nix pick] “I’m betting on it (succeeding) heavily,” an exec said. “Bo has experience, he has enough arm talent and I think he is going to do what he is coached to do. Sean Payton’s system is optimal for him. Bo is not going to go off-script as much as Russ was going to do. Look, I don’t want him to be successful, but I think he is going to be legit there.” “I’m not a Bo Nix fan, but if anybody can get something out of him, Sean could,” another exec said, voicing concerns about Nix’s accuracy and reaction to the pass rush. “He’ll program that kid to do exactly what he wants every week. It won’t be enough the first year, but Sean will buy a third year to develop the kid and see if he can get him through.” Texans: Unrelated to the Texans, and speaking in general terms, an exec from a team picking inside the top 20 made a comment we regularly hear this time of year. “Call it pick 20 to pick 40, shake them up and throw them out, they are all similar players,” he said. Whether or not that is true, execs agreed the 2025 draft should be deeper than the current one, so that acquiring picks next year carried additional value. Chiefs: “They won the Super Bowl, but they should be blowing dudes out like they used to,” an exec said. “Xavier Worthy will make it easier to do that with the tight end (Travis Kelce) getting older.” “Kansas City is going to light people up with that kid,” an exec said of Worthy. “He’s a little, fast guy, and you think he’s a track guy, but he’s tough, finishes runs, fast, disciplined. He has a nice all-around game.” Raiders: “Bowers is not like Dalton Kincaid where you can create separation in the normal flow of the offense,” an exec said. “You have to move him. He would be ideal in San Francisco or Miami. Whereas Kincaid is special at the top of the route, Bowers is one-cut, catch it, break three tackles and he’s gone. Hopefully, they have a good plan for him because he can do some really unique things with the ball.” Dolphins: The Dolphins reached for their credit card. They traded their 2025 third to Philadelphia for a fourth this year, despite general league thinking that NIL implementation at the college level thinned the current crop after the first couple of rounds. As one exec put it, “If you traded this year’s fourth for next year’s third, that’s a huge win because of the nature of the class.” Jets: “They are in win-now mode, which is why I thought they would go Bowers all the way or any player that would help them win this year,” an exec said. “Instead, they drafted a tackle who might not play for them this year, and might not be well-suited to kick inside and play guard. It certainly is good long-term process, but where they are as an organization, they gotta win this year.”

It's literally available if you have a NYT subscription, which -- whether you like the paper or not -- is the most subscribed-to newspaper in the freaking world: https://www.statista.com/statistics/785919/worldwide-number-of-digital-newspaper-subscribers/. People need to stop complaining about the Athletic's paywall. It is so tired. EDIT: I just saw your subsequent post. Apologies, and welcome aboard!

I made my wife watch it a few minutes ago and she’s ready to buy his jersey! (Sidenote: RG III is awesome and I feel like a dupe for falling for Danny Snyder’s character assassination campaign against him.)

He’s literally UNDERAGE! Fessin’ up would ID him as a scofflaw. He doesn’t like soup!

As someone who is soup-skeptical (although I don't hate it), I fully approve of KC's opinion on the matter! Relatedly, here's a passage from a legal historian's book that I published a few years back: 'Despite his efforts to present himself as a man of the people, Nixon mistrusted the public and preferred secrecy to sunshine. Aspiring to become royalty, he went so far as to outfit White House security as elaborately as Buckingham Palace guards. Like LBJ, he saw the press, eastern elites and the “Georgetown crowd” as enemies. Like Johnson, too, he proved dogged in his persistence: Nixon was someone who courted his future wife by driving her to dates with other men. But in contrast to his predecessor, the new President was solitary. So uncomfortable did the Republican become at state dinners that he pressed aides to cut them down to 58 minutes. (As part of his effort, he banished the soup course on the theory that “men don’t really like soup.”)'

This is comic gold.

Opelousas, Louisiana, Coleman's hometown, has a population of 16K but it has produced Devery Henderson, Ceedee Lamb, and now Coleman over the past couple of decades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opelousas,_Louisiana As for food, Paul Prudhomme is from there! Also, Clifton Chenier, maybe the most famous zydeco musician ever. Surprised KC doesn't like gumbo, but maybe he's sick of it.

Dalton Kincaid begs to differ So much of this is dependent on who the qb is who is throwing to you. I’d love to see the split between MSU and FSU. Travis was FSU’s best qb by far, but that doesn’t mean he was/is actually good.