mushypeaches

I've given some thought to compiling this type of analysis, but would require a pretty big effort. At least for the Bills, I know or can easily reference who we kept and why. I don't think it has as much to do with not wanting to play in Buffalo as much as management not having the right strategy toward team building and/or constant turnover, and not wanting to overpay for commensurate talent & production. Players will stay if they're valued and paid

Yes - I went back to 1985 draft picks - only wanted to count those drafted from 1989 onward, as 1993 would have been the first year that they would have started receiving second contracts. Also didn't count others such as Bruce Smith, Will Wolford, Nate Odomes, Keith McKeller, and Mark Pike - who got second contracts before the onset of modern free agency in 1993

With this year's draft complete and everyone high on our choices, as well as a lot of the current regimes decisions over the past 2 years, I decided to delve into the Bills draft history over the past 30 or so years, just to remember the history of hits & misses, and try to think about why we've been largely stuck in the mud since the SB era. One can analyze our draft history in lots of different ways, most of them leading to frustration, but I decided to look at how many of our draft picks over time received 2nd contracts from the team. There are so many reasons why we haven't been successful, with mediocre drafting being one piece of the puzzle. But along with having constant turnover in coaching staffs and philosophies, I'm willing to bet that we have one of the lowest percentages of re-signing our draft picks since the start of the modern Free Agency era (1993). A lot of it is "chicken vs egg" - meaning that with turnover in regimes, the new braintrust changes schemes and wants to bring in their own guys to fit them - so it does become somewhat self-fulfilling. Since the 1989 draft, of the 217 eligible players (meaning not counting draft picks since 2016 that are still on the team), we have only re-signed 30 of those players to 2nd contracts - 13.8%. The most sobering truth of this number is that with the retirement of Kyle Williams, we currently have ZERO players on the roster that were drafted by the Bills and on a 2nd contract. Hard to fathom, even with the emphasis on younger players in the new CBA. It does appear that the current regime is trying to reverse that trend, but it takes a long time to build continuity and clear direction. Breaking down positions - here's some additional detail: QB - none since Jim Kelly & Frank Reich. No need to belabor our lack of success in drafting & developing this position RB - none since Thurman Thomas. I know that RB is a fungible position, but how many times did we draft high only to lather, rinse, and repeat 3-4 years later? WR - Eric Moulds, Josh Reed, Lee Evans, Roscoe Parrish, Stevie Johnson, and wait for it... Marcus Easley (!) TE - Jay Riemersma OL - Cordy Glenn, Eric Wood, Ruben Brown, and John Fina D-Line - Marcell Dareus, Chris Kelsay, Ryan Denney, Aaron Schobel LB - last ones were Sam Rogers, Marlo Perry, Mark Maddox & Marvcus Patton. Long time ago, and not a star to be found there DB - Aaron Williams, Leodis McKelvin, Terrance McGee, Nate Clements, Ken Irvin, Kurt Schulz, Henry Jones Going back and looking at the guys we drafted but didn't re-sign, it always felt like we were either up against the cap, or didn't really value the guys that we had. It's tough because you don't want to overpay for talent, but you then have to draft their replacements or end up overpaying in Free Agency anyways. A look back at guys from previous drafts that we didn't re-sign: 2012 - Stephon Gilmore - big $, but should have been kept 2009 - Andy Levitre - got paid, but how much have we churned the line since then? He's still in the league 2007 - Marshawn Lynch - yes, he had issues, but what did we really gain by drafting CJ Spiller in 2010 2007 - Paul Posluszny - not a great player, but ended up playing 11 years in the league 2006 - Donte Whitner - see previous comment 2003 - Willis McGahee - similar to Marshawn, another 11 year player in the league 2002 - Justin Bannan - never a great player, but bounced around as depth for 12 seasons 2001 - Ron Edwards - same comment, another 12 year vet 2000 - Sammy Morris - 12 years in the league - highly valued by the Pats on ST 1999 - Antoine Winfield - 14 seasons - think we should have kept him? 1997 - Marcellus Wiley - again, we were up against the cap at the time, but should have been kept 1994 - Jeff Burris - wanted too much money, but played 10 years 1993 - Thomas Smith - same comment as Burris 1993 - Corbin Lacina - never more than a stopgap starter, but played for 11 years So here's to hoping that even if our most recent picks don't all end up as stars, that we continue to develop them, and maybe hang on to a few. Depth and continuity are still to be valued, and hanging on to your own guys helps them know that they are valued by the team and not just counting the time until someone else pays them.

If this guy is taking significant snaps for us this year, then we are in trouble. Need more DE talent than what we have

How do these tinfoil hats keep reproducing within our fan base?

But, but, but...... the national narrative is that Josh Allen sucks and will never get better I'm still liking him as early career John Elway

The best answer is that we don't... CJ Spiller Marshawn Lynch Willis Mcgahee Travis Henry Antowain Smith Lather, rinse, repeat, and finish 7-9

Draft will be 75% defense. I think that Beane recognizes that he needs quality over quantity at this point as well as filling out special teams and even creating depth on the Practice Squad. This is why I'm hopeful to see some bundling and/or trading of later round picks to focus on getting a couple of high impact players this year, or re-setting ourselves up to do the same next year. There are a couple of decent sized holes left to fill, and you're never going to go into a draft feeling 100% comfortable with your current roster, but I can't remember a time in recent memory where we were truly able to go BPA and not reach for a need or compensate for self-inflicted wounds (like not giving second contracts to your own previous draft picks)

My opinion is that by halfway through the season, there was no harm in putting him into the lineup given the stiffs that we were parading out there on a weekly basis. Frankly, they should have been doing more of this, and earlier, given the outlook on the season. He had his ups, and his downs, which is all that anyone should have reasonably expected. Now, with more talent presumably coming into the pipeline, we can make a reasonable evaluation

If we spend $10M+ on a LB, without improvement to the DL, then we've wasted our money. This is a luxury for us at this stage in our development.

Kelly was really not well liked until well into his 5th year when the K-Gun started clicking. Up until then, most of the fan base remained very skeptical and often railed on him on a week-to-week basis. Not that he played particularly badly, but our offensive philosophy was mostly conservative at best and he often tried to force the issue. Not hard to think about how this could play out in the near future with Josh Allen. Poor line play, plus conservative coaching and play calling will keep him from reaching his ceiling from a play perspective. But his positive attitude, leadership, and running ability probably already have him ahead of Kelly from a fan approval perspective. Maybe based more on lower expectations than anything else though.

If we draft another WR with a top 10 pick, I may take the gas pipe... Doesn't have to be any more complicated than building the lines, and the skill positions will take care of themselves

Depressing that we have not beaten the Steelers since 1999. Doug Flutie vs Kordell Stewart

Let’s all take off the tinfoil hats

I’ve had about all I can stomach of safe.

Give it a rest folks. We all cried about the endless mediocrity of the previous 17 years. We all whined about not investing draft resources into a top QB. We all b*tched about paying too much for mediocre free agents and the wrong drafted players. Our leadership (rightly) decided on strategies that required a patient, thoughtful approach instead of the half-assed model that was previously employed. We all enjoyed breaking the streak last year, but it would have been foolhardy to think that we would be better this year. This is OK, and it's also OK to take a deep breath and walk away from the keyboard. This year will likely not be a lot of fun to watch, but just recognize that we're building towards better days and you'll feel better too. Sometimes it takes being really bad for awhile before you can be really good.

And no one is trading for Clay either with his age and salary cap hit. Yes, I know that we got someone to take Dareus off our hands, but trading Clay doesn't seem realistic or anything remotely resembling a good move

They are not getting rid of Clay. He's still a very good player and just what this offense needs. At this point, we should NOT be looking to get rid of receiving talent

Ummm... I'm not sure I would ever characterize him that way. He wasn't Earl Campbell or OJ Simpson and straight-ahead was absolutely not the way he got the majority of those tough extra yards. Not all the way on the other end of the spectrum like a Barry Sanders, but you get the point.

There is no way that Chris Ivory will be our starting RB. They'll scan the waiver wire, look for FA's, try out rookies - whatever. But 250 carries for Ivory is just not gonna happen...

Nope - Ferguson was barely adequate enough for the era that he played in. Allen either needs to be much more (so that we finally have a QB worthy of a second contract) or much less (so that we QUICKLY know that we drafted a dud and can move on)

Couldn't disagree more. The circumstances of the team have little correlation to McDermott's approach to game day management. Yes, there are factors that would lean toward a more conservative approach, which you've noted, but I don't think the team's success in 2017 had much to do with McDermott's game management, and in many cases, they had success DESPITE some very questionable and probably overly conservative in-game decisions. Bill Belichick has won 5 SB's. Does he get the benefit of the doubt for benching Malcolm Butler in the last one, even though that possibly cost his team the game? He does not. My point is that McDermott has a lot to improve upon in this area and it will be a big factor in whether he can build a perennial playoff contender or whether we just saw his ceiling as a coach.

Can you elaborate on your remark? I don't think it's wrong to ask if our current coach has the ability to be more aggressive with his approach to game management

I think that overall, we are pretty pleased with Sean McDermott's performance over the past year. He's proven to be disciplined, organized, good with players, media, and team personnel. No one can question that reaching the playoffs in 2017 was an amazing accomplishment, due in no small part to his leadership and actual competence as a head coach (which we almost forgot what that looked like). But I never felt last year that he was that great at in-game management. Yes, he had the team prepared most weeks - the game plans were well-structured, the players & coaches knew what they were doing, and it largely manifested on the field with fewer mistakes & turnovers, players were in the right spots, and the team at least looked better on a week-to-week basis, some stinker performances notwithstanding. Having said all of these things, I don't yet see Sean McDermott as any more than an adequate game-day coach. I see this most in the area of aggressiveness - going for it on 4th down, risky play calls & gadgets, in-game adjustments, clock management. Too often, it felt like we were playing not to lose, instead of aggressively getting after it - dictating the flow of play, forcing the action, and making the other team prepare and respond to what we are doing, instead of the other way around. Don't get me wrong, I like the overall direction of the team, but I want my coach to be more like a Sean Payton - Mike Tomlin - Bruce Arians. Guys who aren't afraid to push the envelope and strategically try to play parts of the game differently. These guys are good at forcing their coordinators to be innovative, and enabling creativity within their teams. I'm not saying that everything they do is successful, but I like that they're on the AGGRESSIVE end of the spectrum. I know that our last buffoon of a head coach was aggressive, but I'm not including him in this discussion. You also have to be intelligent and have a measure of self-control to qualify... What I'm afraid of is that when things come to a point or when we face adversity or a rough season, that McDermott becomes more of a Ron Rivera, or a Marvin Lewis, or a Jim Caldwell. These guys all were somewhat competent in their own way, but they were never going to out-coach the good/great coaches, the true innovators. Most of the time, they just rolled over, maybe because they didn't get enough "breaks" to win the game. The point is that I want McDermott to coach in a way that we make our own breaks, that we push the envelope, that we try new things and make other teams respond to us, instead of always having to be the reacting team. Can he take the next step? Can he overcome his basic conservative nature? Can he get the best of his coordinators and position coaches? That's what I'll be watching for in 2018, regardless of the other big factors (like a new QB, overall talent, etc)

Good for her for at least being somewhat honest and transparent about the entire decision-making process - instead of parroting the endless cycle that we see in other cities of BS, graft, and outright lies between team owners, politicians, and the NFL. And it's not like this is exclusive to football, just the $$$ figures are the most exaggerated. I'd love to see her in the room with the Jerrah and the Ginger Hammer and telling her in a discreet, polite way to eff off and stay the hell out of trying to tell her and the family what's best for Buffalo