biggerdaddynj

Nice!! Bringing me back to my childhood—Muncie and Galbreath (have the old football cards somewhere in my basement!).

Value pick—can’t get upset about that (I know it’s not flashy—that was the Diggs’ trade—gotta trust in McBeane—earned our trust).

As a Jersey boy, it was the most fun I had at a Bills/Jets game at the Meadowlands. Whipped them on MNF as their fans worked up from chants of “Joe must go” (in honor of Joe Walton) to setting fires in the aisles (think they were burning posters that were handed out). Best heckling I took was when some drunken Jets’ fan called me a [slow adult] for wearing my Bills’ hat with my Rutgers’ sweatshirt (censoring software struck!). Made it down behind the Bills’ sideline and we were all celebrating. Good times!

This means we’ll finally get a big comp. pick because Kroft is going to have a BIG year ?.

Like the Spain signing—as everyone said, continuity is imperative with OL. As for the Ford talk, McBeane is married to him at RT after moving up specifically to take him as a RT—unlike most teams who projected him at G (but with high marks FWIW). So, the FO will give him every chance and then some to succeed at RT. I was happy we got him on draft day and want him to succeed at RT—just hope they don’t push the situation merely to try to prove he’s capable of playing RT even if he’s not an early 2nd rd OT selection but could be a value at that pick at G. Whether we like it or not, there is that “stick with your guy” dynamic to a FO with certain FA signings and early draft choices (and trading up increases the pressure). Keeping my fingers crossed that Ford proves his naysayers and the nervous optimists wrong (and from his perspective all the doubters should be a big motivator for him!).

But every year I wait to see if any teams will literally botch the selection process ... (ironically it seems like they get it right when they miss their initial selection—further proof of the intrinsic value of the whole pre-draft scouting process): http://www.espn.com/nfldraft/columnist?id=1545117

Gotta go back to the draft to think about the pick in context: https://buffalonews.com/2019/04/26/buffalo-bills-nfl-draft-dawson-knox/ Don’t think I violated any copyright but apologize if I did: After Singletary was selected with the 74th overall pick, Beane watched as two tight ends were chosen -- Texas A&M's Jace Sternberger and San Diego State's Kahale Warring. "There was starting to be a run on tight ends and you're kind of holding your breath and you start looking," Beane said. "Our next pick was 112. He fit the value where we picked him, and we were going 'there's enough teams that still can use tight ends.' We just didn't see any way that he would fall, and the next one that we had ranked was starting to be significantly lower. We just felt this was the time to jump. That was still another position that we wanted to address in this draft." The Bills entered the draft with 10 picks. After Beane's two moves Friday, he has used four of those and has four more to come on the final day of the draft. "Picks to me, I always talk about them as currency and it's kind of where the state of your roster is and what you've done," Beane said. "We came in where we didn't have a lot of positions that we felt we needed to address. So we said, 'let's follow the board, set the board right, don't skew it, and then when the board tells you you need to move up in the Cody Ford sense and again in the Dawson Knox sense, take advantage of those extra picks that you have and try and get those players at either the value you have on the board.' "

“Lights out in London”—Michael Schenker guitar solo—now that was a UFO that rocked!

Risner all-rookie team as G (where he was projected—no “wishing and hoping and thinking and praying”— https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.nfl.com/news/story/0a3000001083965/article/2019-nfl-allrookie-team-offense-josh-jacobs-oroy-favorite%3FnetworkId%3D4595%26site%3D.news%26zone%3Dstory%26zoneUrl%3Durl%3Dstory%26zoneKeys%3Ds1%3Dstory%26env%3D%26pageKeyValues%3Dprtnr%3Dposition-power-rankings%26p.ct%3DPosition%2BPower%2BRankings%26p.adsm%3Dfalse%26p.tcm%3D%23000%26p.bgc1m%3D%23EAEAEA%26sr%3Damp Risner went from C to starting RT at K-State and then to LG for Denver during OTAs where he never looked back—he was one of just 10 rookies in the league to start all 16 games, and he tallied the eighth most snaps of any rookie last season). Made seamless transition to G at pro level (where he should be close to all-pro level plug and play for a long time ((and he has the ability to swing to T when needed)) to back up for Ty. But, as I’ve said before, I was excited when we got Ford was just nervous about us declaring him as RT (FO has a lot riding on Ford making it as RT) but last off-season I was all in on ”the process”—and the regular season reaffirmed my faith after decades of crossing my fingers and holding my breath—just anxious about some of the FO decisions: leaving Peterman as our safety net for Josh), later on discovering the shortcomings of the smurfs, and not turning the reigns over to Gore late in the season—but there is always going to be 20/20 hindsight/nitpicking—let’s see what McBeane does this off-season with lots of cap space—FA (setting up long term deals to retain young nucleus while supplementing with short term cap friendly win now additions, the draft and the development of Allen ((Daboll ?), Oliver, as well as Ford and Knox, and Singletary’s usage. Thanks for letting me share (bored—post-hospital release for back ?).

And he caught over 70 passes—doubling past receptions—and as others noted, he’s been in a bad situation lately—blocking has been HORRIBLE and offensive situation no good (actually coming off good season all things considered): https://www.google.com/amp/s/clutchpoints.com/grading-the-2019-nfl-season-for-jaguars-rb-leonard-fournette/amp/ But, I’m merely a casual fan—ask Jags fans or “experts” about his 2019 season (it was two different seasons, but it wasn’t on him). And, it’s a pipe dream for a 5th. Fantasy football GM stuff.

Agree Ford needs chance to pan out but comparing expectations with Knox to those with Ford isn’t “apples to apples”—with Ford there were much higher expectations—we traded back into the top of the 2nd rd to take a player most projected as a G who we declared as RT (so the FO has a lot riding on Ford making it as RT) when Risner was still there. And, people said Ford was a great deal where we got him—so he was supposed to be instant starter quality (just most said at G). Totally different situation than taking the last TE they projected with athleticism before they said there was about to be a big drop off in talent and they did so using a second 3rd pick (obtained with extra draft capital we could spare—with all those FA signings not a lot of open spots). And, I was happy Ford was there and we moved up—so I’m not revising my opinion—and I trusted their judgment/logic with the Knox pick. I hope BOTH players develop!!

Martin did take down a thief at the Versace Store (and thanks to him we got three (?) pro bowl seasons from Incognito). Though now it sounds like Martin had his own demons too (aside from Incognito and Pouncey, et al). Please ignore and resume Dillard fantasy talk...

I get that gut feeling too and that’s why we’ll get mocked (though we know the “draft experts” are wrong more than they’re right—there’s a litany of horrible first round locks). We’ve been looking for a WR who is “open even when he’s covered” since Buddy Nix. While Higgins has shown that ability in college (and at Clemson with tough competition), I’m leery that with Higgins we’re getting tunnel vision by focusing on size when it comes to the Bills taking Higgins in the first (and we all know size doesn’t matter ?). Guess what I’m saying is that while I don’t want another smurf, players who are open even when they’re covered come in different flavors—not just 6’4” (may James Hardy rest in peace)—and there are so many WRs this year that I want that second round WR like Michael Thomas. I’m still thinking edge and then trade up with draft capital to grab our BPA who I think has a good chance of being a WR with the outstanding depth available.

Agree that it’s time to move on but give Hauschka some credit for turning things around very nicely at the end of the season when the pitchforks were out and people wanted to run him out of town for some unproven nobodies. Send the guy off with the dignity he earned. Think we can all agree on that. And, I'm not just blaming you—I meant to post this before but the occasion never arose.

Need to replace Lorax. Use top 3 picks for edge and WRs (BPA).

BPA but I’d love to see that 1st pick be at Edge; then one of those deep WRs; then BPA with these in mind—Lorax replacement; CB; WR; RB; and a OL.

Let’s check with PFF before we decide if we can complain about our fullback. ?. FWIW, he did get a good deal for a FB: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/contracts/fullback/

I feel you. I remember the Dolphins dominance against us in the ‘70s and ‘80s—that was pretty bad too—but I really loathe the Pats.

Scrap heap of available OTs from Walterfootball (just using them because their list looks more comprehensive than others I found): https://walterfootball.com/freeagents2019OT.php Injuries this late in the year suck that's why you hope your practice squad has players stashed there who can step in and put in a yeoman's effort. Can't expect much at all. Gotta be realistic.

Sure Hauschka has had some recent issues but give the guy a chance and let’s see if he still has the mental and physical skillset to get back on track. I’m not the astute X’s and O’s football guy a lot of you guys are (no sarcasm intended at all—I respect lots of you)—but I look at kickers like relievers in MLB—they run hot and cold—a guy who is demoted after blowing up in the bottom of the 9th can get his mojo back and guys who are released get back into form with new teams. We won two games solely BECAUSE of the performance of opposing kickers—let’s be honest here—the missed FGs are easy for some to use as a scapegoat but put blame where it lays—with the guys calling the plays and making those decisions. The missed FGs wouldn’t have even been an issue if the game plan had been better.

And, he did a nice job of blocking on the QB sweep TD. He’s a “pro’s pro” and I’m glad I finally get to see it ... and appreciate it (and I hope Singletary is soaking it all up).

The “process” gives me hope—we have a positive football culture and the roster McBeane wanted looks like one that will make this an enjoyable year for us—it’s nice to have hope. Even if it was “only” the Jets and even though Mosley went out, it was a win with 17 unanswered points in the second half after four first half TOs—our guys showed character—grit and poise. And, we’re so lucky to have Hauschka (Jets saved a few million but the real cost...).

We all wanted a TE and another WR for Josh Allen (in fact after the first two picks some people were upset we hadn’t give him any weapons yet—i.e., DK who obviously plummeted for a reason with many WRs we assumed would go much later than him leapfrogging and by a lot). When I saw the Dawson (“Fort”) Knox pick I was initially bummed because I was hoping they’d have moved up for Warring but assuming they wanted to do that the cost most have been too steep (and probably a lot more so with Sternberger) and they clearly must have Knox close on their board or perhaps ahead. Not knowing much much about Dawson, I decided to check on the other TEs who were still available and who I thought we may have been able wait to the fourth without trading up: Caleb Smith, Foster Moreau, Isaac Nauta. When I checked their draft scouting reports (because I don’t profess to be any sort of expert in player personnel) I found that each one of the TEs left after Knox had at least one pretty big deficiency with their game. Then when I went back and checked “Fort Knox”—I noticed his was clearly the cleanest scouting report (sure, somewhat raw and underused but he has a more complete skill set and certainly a higher ceiling than those who would have been there if we waited until four). Though I’m NOT saying any of these reports are the do all, end all, the legit ones do have more insight than many of us do and it’s something that helped me to put the pick in perspective. Seems like after Fort Knox the drop off at TE was real. And, BTW, FWIW, CBS graded the Knox pick as an “A” and Sternberger was graded a “B” and his scouting report wasn’t as well-rounded as Knox (Singletary was a B+). And Drafttek has Knox a mere four OVERALL spots below Sternberger and he's ranked as the next TE after him. I’m one who until this offseason lacked faith in the Process but I’m slowly changing my mind. BTW—does anyone know why Kelvin Harmon has dropped so far—pre-draft I would have liked him in the 3rd.

Better value left at WR. Need to trade back into 2nd to get value or wait and hope we hit. TEs left are less value now. We can get one in 3rd or even 4th.

I know what happened to Mike Quick .. he just announced the Eagles pick in the second round. ?