BillsVet

KC was ridiculed here trading Hill last off-season, but their plan to feature Kelce and a sum is greater than the parts WR group obviously was enough for Mahomes. No one flashy among that latter group, and their points scored even increased slightly. OBD will have a renewed emphasis on offense this off-season, but it's purely reactive. Another thread opined that it's not poor draft execution, but strategy and that should be expanded to all personnel acquisitions. Buffalo tends to fix issues in one off-season only after an issue has emerged in the previous year which in this case is a less than adequate investment on offense. One of the weaknesses of the structure at OBD is Buffalo is led by a coach who is a more pedestrian mind, particularly on offense. For all the criticism of Dorsey, the OC and QB did not have the WR/TE talent necessary to maximize offensive production. That should have been anticipated after 2021, but alas, here we are.

Price has to be correct for a team currently 20M above the cap. Still, Woods doesn't provide the deep option this team needs desperately. But he could play outside, which is something this team did not have depth at last year. Noticeable that his catch rate was down significantly from career norms, although the QB situation probably contributed to that. . None of that should diminish the need to draft and develop a WR...where Buffalo can only show Gabriel Davis between 2017 and 2021.

Buffalo's draft picks typically are reflective of the HC. As in, all too often OBD takes the safe approach that limits risk, but means the reward is typically smaller. The one time they abandoned that principle was taking Josh, who was physically the most gifted talent in that draft. Rousseau and Spencer Brown fit that concept, but then they went back to safe in 2022 taking Cook and Bernard along with another RD1 CB. They're just not bold very often and that's the price teams need to pay to remain competitive. These 6 off-seasons have been a slow grind of improving, over-paying or paying market value for talent, and struggling to keep up with the league's elite. In that regard, their strategy is safe and frequently decisions to support that are not executed well.

Just because a guy is on staff doesn't mean he's consulted in decision making: https://www.nfl.com/news/buffalo-bills-head-coach-doug-marrone-meets-the-press-0ap1000000123380 I never got the feeling Marrone embraced analytics, but they had a lead there. Then again, we could debate endlessly what it means to use analytics and get nowhere in the process. It is to drive decisions, like in game-planning or personnel? Or should it be supporting decision making? Perhaps it's used for the latter at OBD now, but definitely does not feature prominently particularly when it comes up against McD's vision of NFL football. I can't imagine their Analytics Director in the room during draft prep in a deep debate with McBeane about how drafting a RD2 RB or signing another DT is probably not a good idea.

Do you believe that McD embraces analytical data and uses that in his decision making process? Because most professional coaches aren't enamored with analytics or the prospect of of using data to shape game-plans or even personnel acquisition. I think more innovative HC's are looking for advantages and are moving toward this, but many are not. If anything, cap challenges are driving their decisions on special teams and what they do on the special teams unit.

But how do we really know that Tipster isn't really ChatGPT now?

Who was the Great Bambino... ...telling Charlie Root and the Cubs bench he'd hit the ball down their ***da** throats.

Gonna mean no more highly paid strong side LBs, core ST'ers (Matakevich), or 2-3 UFA DLinemen every year. In the Edmunds thread I saw someone say this is evidence McD is changing for the better. Nah, this is the HC finally up against a cap that they weren't facing pre-Josh's contract kicking in. This is when the personnel group lives up to their reputation or shows they were all hype. They have to get value out of the depth signings more than they've ever needed to since McBeane came in 6 years ago.

The heck you say...those ratings are for realz.

You could always go with raisins rather than be pro-sour grapes. Doesn't have to be a love or hate relationship though.

In the XFL or new USFL? The drama. Can't have a discussion without buckets full of it. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/2022/cap-hit/inside-linebacker/ ILB is not a highly paid position, and only 1 (Fred Warner) participated in a Championship game last year. They'll find a replacement, that player will provide similar production at a reduced rate, and within 1-2 seasons the fanboys clamoring for Edmunds will melt away to occasionally admit his new team made a mistake.

Tennessee hasn't won a playoff game since 2019 with Henry and the Giants have never won in the post-season with Barkley. Problem with BPA for people like you who think in absolutes is that it's not that simple. I mean it is if you see mock drafts like a fantasy football thing, but there's positional value to using a top-100 pick. And RB has almost zero compared to at least 6 other positions on the field. I had no issue with taking Rousseau in 2021 because he played a position of huge value (DE) and offered youth where Buffalo had little. A case could be made for Elam...but a RB is about the dumbest thing you can do with a RD1 pick. High probability for injury, takes away from your passing game featuring perhaps the best QB in the NFL and will get you no more than 5 yards per carry. I'd rather focus on players who Josh can increase his 7.4 yards per attempt average since 2020.

Sometimes?

People are just realizing McShay doesn't know anything? Maybe when it's realized that most draftniks want to generate clicks that it'll make sense why the RD1 RB narrative gains steam.

Only on TBD do fans believe that taking a RD1 RB will work. Somehow it's a value-added decision that will take the ball out of your franchise QB's hands, diverts resources from the OL and WR, and means your 2nd round pick from last year has fewer touches. Did taking Spiller with Marshawn and Fred on the roster not happen? That's be a straight-up Buddy Nix level duncery-type call.

Timeless.

McD went with Dorsey because, among other things, Josh would not need to learn an entirely new offense and approved the move. But that was a false sense of security for the HC, who ultimately thought this gave him room to improve the defense even more because the offense was now sustained. I've never thought McD has embraced the HC role and seems to abdicate offense over to the OC. I would compare the promotion from coordinator to HC to becoming a general officer in the Army or Marine Corps. You leave behind the branch you were commissioned into, become a "general" officer and thus need to see a greater picture beyond your specific background. McD just comes off as a super-DC with personnel authority who tolerates the offensive side and doesn't want to nor try to understand the other side of the ball. Oddly enough, it's like a reverse Chan Gailey who was de fact OC, but really had little clue what George Edwards or Wannstache were doing on defense.

Andre Reed went into his 2nd season 37 years ago. Appropriate comparisons have left the building.

A mutual decision...but maybe he wanted to go to an organization that invests in the position after Diggs and beyond what was on the field this season.

Josh Allen had the right stuff in between the ears. Yeah, few people have his physical talent, particularly the arm strength (as we saw at the end of the Lions game) but it's the mental part of overcoming adversity and learning from his mistakes. He'd be one of the last people latching onto the TBD narrative about how hard it was this season with all the off-field stuff. I have no doubt McBeane saw this in the scouting process and it's a big reason why they pursued him.

Philly won the SB under a previous HC (Doug Pederson) when this was written. Writing like this reinforces how large market teams' coverage demands success and, when not achieved, don't hold back in their criticism. If Buffalo was a big market, there'd be a lot more of this writing after the '21 and '22 season playoffs ended for the Bills.

OBD largely does retroactive corrective actions and underperforms against their competition at being proactive and anticipating problems. And that's their job, not looking back, fixing what didn't work the previous season and then seeing new problems unfold. WR is a perfect example...where they over-estimated their own talent, made no moves to improve the position beside a late round pick and 1 year UFA contract, and the offense limped into the off-season. And that happened as @BADOLBILZ noted Brown and Beasley declined/aged.

The Bills created a situation where they spent liberally on UFAs, then didn't draft a replacement for those types, and now find themselves with cap issues and few options. WR is a perfect example. When they signed Brown in Beasley to 3 and 4 year deals respectively, they should have simultaneously planned to replace them. But they didn't, and we're back to needing WR help. Or, they'll sign Emanuel Sanders to a 1 year deal and then just assume Davis will step up. Really poor personnel planning. Need to start drafting better...on offense especially. No to a veteran UFA who is looking at a moderate sized contract at 2 or 3 years unless they're going to draft someone high as well who can step in if the veteran falters.

A root cause of Buffalo's 2022 season ending in flames (again) was their inability to run the ball effectively. And the best action to address this is to add a high priced back with 1200 touches in 5 seasons. Sure. Sports media clearly peddling click-bait articles and not doing real in-depth analysis of this team's problems. If they did, they'd see the lack of quality investment in the OL was a prime cause and yet, even minus Josh's carries, Buffalo averaged 4.8 yards per carry last season. (1,470 yards on 306 carries). Because unless Barkley gives them north of 6.0 yards per carry and 9.0 yards per reception , this is not close to value. And even then, on what he'll want in UFA...it's not value.

Every single team is bound by resource limitations...it's how an organization scores their positional priorities that matters. Compare any position group on defense versus the offense and you'll see this. The DB's, LBs, and DL all have received more in picks/UFA dollars compared to the OL, RB/WR/TE position groups. If (and it's only 'if) they believed Davis could graduate to being a WR2 on the basis of that 2021 AFC Divisional Round game, then their decision makers are extremely lacking.