dave mcbride

They are a brutally boring team. I personally thought that giving judge all that money was crazy given that he's likely entering his decline phase given his age (e.g., Stanton and Pujols). I'm not opposed to spending all that money, but I would have spent it on a few upper tier players in their 20s rather than on just one massive-frame player who just turned 31. And how predictable was Stanton going down with another muscle-related injury?

He's really good at getting down when all hope for further gain is lost and thereby avoiding the big hits. Diggs is phenomenal in that respect too.

I guess I never realized how productive of a career Graham had - https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/G/GrahJi00.htm. He always seemed vaguely disappointing to me, but I had forgotten those monster seasons he had in NO. I just don't think Russell Wilson was the right QB for him. Wilson at his best was a guy who would let the play break down and then effectively play street ball, and for a number of years he was the best at it in the league. Mobility for that style of play is required, though. Anyway, TEs tend to not get as much love as downfield receivers in street ball.

Murray went to Onondaga Central High School (south of Syracuse and on the edge of the Finger Lakes). He's had a pretty solid career as a second tier RB: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MurrLa00.htm. Perhaps most importantly, he's had 10 fumbles on 1,703 touches in his career, which is a very low rate. And he's only fumbled three times in his last 1,075 touches, going back to the beginning of the 2017 season (by way of comparison, Devin Singletary has fumbled 13 times on 817 total touches). That is extraordinarily low, and people should never underestimate the value of the avoiding-fumbles skill for NFL coaches. The running game is supposed to be safe. Turnovers are OK in the passing game because the rewards are so much higher, but not in the running game where you're assuming a little over 4 yards per play on average.

Thank you. I have been saying this since the immediate post-mortem of that game, yet some fans continue to simply look at the scoreboard and think it was a different game than it actually was. You neglected to mention that the Dolphins' team passer rating that game was a beyond-terrible 41.8 (18-45 for 189 net yards; 1 TD and 2 INTs). Detroit was one of the best teams in the NFL in the second half of the season.

Freeney definitely. He was shut down by Bryant McKinnie in a Miami-Syracuse game in his senior season and the view was that against real competition he was shown to be a paper tiger. He had a much better career than McKinnie and should probably go to the HOF.

Not what I was saying at all. Come on. I just think that seeing a guy up close in a game featuring a team with a player you’re intensely interested in may have an effect on one’s opinion. And I also said it could be a coincidence. Fwiw, I like the pick a lot.

I dunno; bear in mind that unlike Fant he is on a team with a good vet TE that will be used too. Hard to compare a TE’s stats in a two-TE system vs one in which a single TE is getting most of the attention. Incidentally, Gronk was drafted 13 years ago and wasn’t drafted THAT far behind where Kincaid was drafted (42nd; second TE taken in that draft). He was a first round talent who dropped because of concern about his back (perhaps teams remember this and weren’t scared off by Kincaid’s back issue as a result). Anyway, in his rookie season he had 42 catches for 536 yards and 10 TDs. The next season, he 90 catches for 1327 yards and 17 TDs. The Pats lost that SB because he got hurt in the playoffs blocking for an XP. He was that valuable.

Legend has it that people who are injured eventually recover.

Addison was clearly the player we were targeting as per @Alphadawg7’s post, so I am assuming that the Bills’ scouts spent a LOT of time watching USC games. In the Pac-12 championship game vs USC this year, Kincaid had 16 catches on 16 targets for 234 yards in Utah’s victory. In the Cotton Bowl, Dorian Williams was the Defensive Player of the Game vs. USC in Tulane’s victory. Maybe it’s a coincidence, of course!

https://247sports.com/player/justin-shorter-84829/ He was a five-star recruit.

Me? OL, WR, LB. I think they're basically OK on d-line and there are some decent FA options out there. I expect Von to be 100 percent early on.

Going back to 2014, it's a very rare Super Bowl in which an elite TE isn't a key difference maker. 2014: NE over Seattle; Gronk has 6 catches for 68 yards and a TD 2015: Denver over Carolina; Not much TE presence (Manning threw for less than 150 yards) although Greg Olsen had an elite season for Carolina that year and was their best receiver on a 15-1 team (he had 4 catches in that game) 2016: NE over ATL; Martellus Bennett has 5 catches for 62 yards and draws what is effectively the game sealing PI in the EZ right before James White scores the winning TD 2017: Philly over NE - tight end-a-palooza: Gronk has 9 catches for 116 yards and 2 TDs and Ertz has 7 catches for 67 yards and a TD (he caught the crucial fourth down conversion throw on Philly's late go-ahead drive and the game winning TD) 2018: NE over LA; Gronk has 6 catches for 87 yards, including the two big receptions on NE's game winning drive in the fourth; also had two wipeout blocks that sprang Michel and Burkhead both for 26 yard runs on NE's final possession that sealed the game. 2019: Kelce has 6 catches for 43 yards and the game winning TD catch; Kittle has 4 catches for 36 yards 2020: Gronk has 6 catches for 67 yards and 2 TDs and Kelce has 10 catches for 133 yards (one of the only guys who showed up for KC in that game) 2021: the rare game where the TEs didn't matter. 2022: Kelce had 6 catches for 81 yards and a TD; Goedert had 6 catches for 60 yards

TJ Hockenson was very productive in his second season with the Lions too - 67 catches, 11 ypr, and 6 TDs.

Yes, Kincaid has a bit of Kelce in him. He can instinctually locate the soft spots in zones. He’s far more of a matchup nightmare than Knox, who is still a better than average TE.

Um … https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nwe/2011.htm

“Small school” — LOL. Be better. https://www.espn.com/college-football/boxscore/_/gameId/401331239

You win with offense. They can find a corner with the 34th pick anyway.

Who would folks rather have - Addison (my favorite by a ways among the draft options) or a proven elite vet in Hopkins? I'm on the fence, but I also worry that neither will be an option.

I think Addison's short area footwork is incredible and he's also the best route runner in the draft. I'd love for him to be a Bill, but I doubt he lasts. I hope I'm wrong!

Yep. 22 is better than 27. It's pretty simple if it's coming down to that (the late first/34th overall swap). One caveat: the Ravens don't have many picks: Round 1, Pick No. 22 Round 3, Pick No. 86 Round 4, Pick No. 124 Round 5, Pick No. 157 Round 6, Pick No. 199

Regardless, Baltimore has the most to offer because their first rounder is a decent bit better than Buffalo's and KC's assuming they do a swap for 34. The issue then becomes AZ drafting a WR before Buffalo because they'll need one. I worry that the Bills end up being sh*t out of luck on the receivers who can play both inside and outside. If that ends up happening, they should do everything possible to trade down to the 30s because it's unlikely that whoever is there at 27 is worth that pick.

@GunnerBill wrote the following about Stroud in his QB e v a l post, and it seems to match up with a poor S2 result: ”- Not sure how well he diagnoses pressure. Georgia messed with his head some in the CFB semi final with lots of simulated blitzes early and then actual blitzes late in the game and he struggled to identify which was which. - Can all get a bit messy when he has to play off script. He noticeably struggles once you ask him to play outside the structure of the offense including a tendency to roll towards pressure and away from the designed routes in the play concept.”

https://theathletic.com/4455444/2023/04/27/nfl-draft-s2-cognition-cj-stroud-bryce-young/ Fascinating piece. Seems a lot more relevant than the Wonderlic.