Luxy312

Got my tickets already. Short drive for me from Chicago.

Expectations. Hardy pretty much was the offense for Indiana, but did have to play against other teams in the Big Ten. 3 years 191 receptions for 2,740 and 36 TD's was still a lot. Jones 4 years 399 receptions for 4,279 is a lot of receptions, but with only 23 TD's. When you get right down to brass tacks, it comes down to what the Bills expect to get out of the players. Go back to 2008 and the Bills had Lee Evans and pretty much nothing else. They expected Hardy to come in and produce as a legitimate #2. Last year, the Bills drafted Zay Jones and expected him to come in and produce as a legitimate #2 to Benjamin. To reiterate what a lot would say, his college statistics are pretty irrelevant at this point. Comes down to expectations. I wouldn't compare him to Robert Parrish, Robert Woods, or Peerless Price, who were clearly drafted to be a different type of receiver. Compare him to Josh Reed if you want to, but he never really panned out as anything but a serviceable #3.

Sadly, he reminds me so much of James Hardy. I don't know if you remember him, but a 2nd round pick as well with size. Supposed to be "the man". Flamed out in 2 years.

More hyped and picked earlier than Allen include: Mitch Trubisky, Jameis Winston, Eric Fisher, Robert Griffin, JaMarcus Russell, Ronnie Brown, Charles Rogers, Courtney Brown, Tim Couch, Ryan Leaf, Jake Long, Jason Smith. That's just in the last 20 years. Allen isn't being "hyped" at all. Most don't even believe he'll be ready right out of the gates. Not sure what delusion you're living in.

It's good that he's there and hopefully he is beginning to work already. His character and attitude were never in question. In terms of the "he hasn't signed his contract" doomsayers, it's simply not a big deal. His agent is actually negotiating for 7 other rookies besides Allen. The issue isn't the dollars, which are predetermined, but by offset language. Basically, it says that if they are cut or traded before their 4 year guaranteed deal is done, that the guaranteed money is offset by whatever he makes elsewhere. His agent wants it removed from all of these rookie deals, while teams are balking. It will get worked out none the less.

NFL rules set the minimum spend per individual team at 89% of the cap for the cumulative 2017-2020 season. On average for all teams combined, teams have to spend 85% of the cap in a given season. Notwithstanding what the Bills spent last year, let's just say the cumulative salary cap for 4 years is $720 million, they have to spend $641 million during this time period. They can roll over cap space from year to year, but after the 2020 season is over, it resets for the next 4 years. There's some fairly complex points about how the rollover works, but those are the basics. By way of reference, the Bills rolled over $2.8 million from last season and the NFL average was $9.2 million. The Browns this season rolled over $50.1 million from last year, which is ridiculous. Then again, they had a record of 1-31 over the last two seasons. Does anyone honestly believe that having an extra $50.1 million this year is taking them to the Superbowl. I don't.

I expect White and Dawkins to be starters going forward absent injury. I think that White was as good as any defensive rookie last season. Lots of pressure, but no reason he can't succeed. Dawkins surprised the heck out of me. I'll be very interested to see what he can do. I don't believe that Richie was really that big of a crutch last season. Milano had some decent starts and if he can stay healthy could remain a starter as well. The rest is gravy if it works out and not really a loss if it doesn't. Zay Jones strange behavior worries me more than his injury. Vallejo is really just a rotational player. He's a guy you have to have on a 55 man roster, but isn't going to make or break you on defense. If you took any draft class in recent history and said that a team would have 2-3 starters, I think that most fans would say that was a good draft. Some would haggle over WHERE a player was drafted, but I think that's a wasted mental exercise.

Here's the stat that you want to know regarding whether he'll see a start this year. 31/33. In the last 20 years, there have been 33 QB's drafted in the top ten. Of those 33, 31 saw starts at some point in their very first season. The exceptions were Jack Locker (sitting behind Matt Hasselbeck) and Phillip Rivers (sitting behind Drew Brees). To say that it's not often that a QB drafted early in the first round doesn't play very soon out of the gate is an understatement to say the least.

TO stands for Terribly Old these days. I saw him doing some track work and he looked SLOW.

Kamara to Ingram: "That's a really sharp teal suit that you have there". Ingram to Kamara: "I like the new haircut....are those new shoes?"

While I've read the NFLPA Agreement in it's entirety for laughs (no joke), I don't recall the fine points of the exempt list.

I could have used a different example. Didn't realize he was not. So Adrian Peterson, Pacman Jones, Ray Rice....

Some of this has to do with just how long (far too long) TT held onto the football. I'm guessing we'll know pretty quickly into the preseason if that's the case or not.

Don't forget Alvin Kamara last year was the same thing. I think the guy had 80+ receptions. It feels to me like the NFL is entering a new norm where teams have multiple guys that run the ball, but that RB's are a lot more involved in the receiving game. I might be wrong, and will say that I have not looked at the historical statistics on this.

I'll give you a like for that NewEra and would concur. Dennison was a proverbial dumpster fire. Tyrod Terrible hasn't been willing to try to throw a receiver open in 3 years. I think unlike most preseasons, that we're going to know a little bit from seeing preseason games. The Bills will be working on some of the basics of the offense. I'm hopeful none the less that it's not run/screen pass; run/screen pass; pass and punt. There was far too much of that last season.

My point is that there has to be something. For Elliott, there were police reports and evidence of D.V. The exempt list is for "unusual circumstances" per NFLPA conduct agreement, and not some bat **** crazy woman "believing" that somehow her ex must be connected to a home robbery.

This in a nutshell is what I keep coming back to. Someone needs to define what the conduct actually is that violated NFL policy. If the NFL tried to put him on the exempt list without an ounce of evidence, they would get sued. Thus far, there is nothing but an Instagram allegation that was retracted, restated, and then retracted again. That, quite frankly, isn't evidence. Tell me that they have the guy in custody that did the robbery and you could make a compelling argument that there's "facts" that could make that happen. Until then, it's no more proof than saying that McCoy is actually Princess Ariel from Frozen. I see your baseless statement and raise you an eye roll. LOL.

$100 says I'm right.

We simply do not know what we have in terms of the offense. Overall, the offense was 29th in the NFL last year, and that was made better by the fact that they had the 6th best rushing attack. They mustered a whopping 176.6 YPG passing, which was 2nd worst only to the Bears. I can't fathom being worse than that.

This nails my sentiments exactly. I think Groy's flexibility allows them to use him at a number of spots, depending on what happens at other positions.

Just got my tickets for this game and will be looking forward to it.

I don't think Tanya is a "he", but what do I know? With the nickname "Pitbull in a skirt" (trademarked), maybe it's a he with a different gender identify?

Based on all of what has come out so far, there's no evidence to suggest that you won't be shocked then.

If Peterman is under center (throwing passes to the Ravens), they lose.

You're 100% right. It's sad none the less, that ESPN just parrots what her counsel is saying as if it's fact. There's almost no journalistic integrity today.