BillsVet

Buffalo's 2019 schedule was 3rd easiest in the league. Their 2020 strength of schedule was 12th hardest and it's a big reason why their defense slipped to middle of the pack ratings why. And you've been wrong the entire time. Why else would Buffalo demand SL take a pay cut last off-season? And, if it weren't for COVID, probably sever the contract altogether before Star exercised his out-clause? Players at the heart of a defense aren't candidates for pay cuts. If this were a logical conclusion, other causes would be considered before arbitrarily pointing at Star's absence. You've arrived at a cause that just happens to align with your opinion. Perhaps if Star was a dominant interior DL then perhaps we could draw that conclusion, but their run defense was 10th in 2019 and 17th in 2020. The average yards allowed only went from 103 to 119 yards per game.

He is not a Bills prospect unless he's in for an official visit. Misleading thread title.

Thus far, the team's starters looks much like last season. Same OL. Same DL save for Jefferson. Same skill position players on both sides with exception of John Brown. Have to hope Josh continues refining his game, but in an ever changing league, same isn't always better even if you advance to the AFC Championship.

Rampant anxiety about everything combined with lockdowns have left us pondering the backup QB next season. I'll take it a step farther...is Davis Webb offended by this sighing? And, how does Jake Fromm feel about this? Should we have an apologetic thread for both of them? These are the worries I have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWdd6_ZxX8c

I think we are, for the most part in agreement. ST is not the major driver of cap issues, but a key ingredient of a McD coached team. We'll find out whether that can be maintained long term because McD is gonna be here long term.

I said the ST spending it is a contributing and not a root cause of their issues. In my experience there is a difference, but I can understand some might not read it the way I explained. At the same time, my issue with your analysis remains that you always know the cost to the discussion, but lack the understanding of the value. Aside from field goals, special teams is being minimized in overall strategy. Punt and kick return games have been clipped (no pun intended) by virtue of rules changes and needing these specialist types isn't essential like 10 years ago when formations weren't outlawed. Moreover, when I look at ST snap counts, I see more than just those specialists who were acquired as vets and primarily contribute there. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/2020-snap-counts.htm You've made the point that the cap unexpectedly decreased given the anomaly of the pandemic's affects on NFL finances. Understood. But between Matakevich, Andre Smith, Dean Marlowe, Taiwan Jones, Reggie Gilliam, and Andre Roberts, the team spent about 9M on ST specific type players. And @BADOLBILZ has already pointed out how there is a development issue employing multiple specialists who do not typically play outside of ST. They prevent younger players from seeing the field and there's really no quantifying that either. That's the value piece. I also disagree that 9M is chump change and, about represents ~5% of the cap dollars allotted this year. It would have come in handy this year. If we're talking root cause, spending on defense (at the risk of belaboring the issue) is a root cause of their cap management challenges. You've answered the question, which I've done in another thread as well. That will become a major issue by next year when it's clear McD will need to yield on signing all these big dollar contracts and using high(er) draft picks on defense.

How did it come to pass that people acclimated to beginning sentences with, "so?" Grammar is becoming a lost art, as is handwriting.

ST spending isn't the main driver of their cap issues, but it's a contributing cause to why they're up against it without paying the QB or his top receiving target. I mentioned this in another thread, but it bears repeating. The strategic roster building plan's insistence on ST and defense is going to run into maintaining a solid offense in the coming years. At some point, those contracts and draft picks devoted to lesser valued positions are going to hinder what they can do on offense. And oh by the way, the cost to maintain that offensive unit went up dramatically over the past 12 months. Even understanding that Morse took a pay cut, Dawkins, Feliciano, and Daryl Williams received sizable increases. Josh and Diggs will, yet they're spending the same or close to it on defense and special teams. And I know the cap was down this year and it'll be back up again. Eventually the strategy needs to come in-line with reality. They'll need to find rookies and vet minimum guys who aren't making 2-3M to play on the kickoff/punt units. Or, replace players looking to cash in with rookies. That's what the draft is for and why signing all your own guys (not a bad problem) is not possible. Bills fans haven't had to face these issues in the cap era because A) they never found the QB to pay B) they didn't have the money during the RW years and C) they didn't retain some solid draft picks into their 2nd contract. One hopes McD will learn that his success runs through the QB, not defense and special teams.

I heard that as well and it aligns with those personalities that have had control of their private business. They buy a pro sports team and delegate authority to people they hired. Ralph couldn't do it and he had years of bad Bills teams. The irony is the Pegula's hockey knowledge is more limited than they're willing to acknowledge. Something anecdotal, but a friend of mine covers the Sabres and once remarked that Terry frowned on Russian prospects at draft time because one (I think Grigorenko) didn't work out. It was part of the reason they passed on a Russian defenseman in a later draft who's pretty good now in favor of a forward they traded. The Pegula's have created a vicious circle in management. They make bad hires, progressively get more insulated from the hockey world, and the results get worse. They respond with the Ralph strategy of hiring strictly insiders like Adams who has no experience. Wash, rinse, repeat. I really wonder how they'll handle getting a trade demand from Eichel. Will they blame him to cover their own butts? I don't know, but at this point it's an emperor has no clothes sort of situation. They just don't know how bad they are and don't seem willing to look in the mirror.

The NHL and the NFL are apples and oranges. In one, fellow owners essentially help others and finding good management is not as challenging. There's a massive television contract to divide. In the other, well, it's run by Bettman and a lot of clowns and owners tend to look out for their own interests. As a result, the Pegula's are now making decisions more based on money than anything else. This, compared to the Bills who are guaranteed a 300M yearly share of television revenue.

Who could possibly oppose signing the 2021 Nickelodeon Valuable Player? https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/TrubMi00.htm Championship!

I miss old Foghorn Leghorn...for the quotes not the transactions. Talking down about the Raiders at your introductory press conference really ranks up there. Even if he did draft CJ Spiller with his first draft pick.

Does he point them to an approved jeweler and help plan the wedding? Perhaps he even does the proposal on behalf of the player in dire situations? That's a long list of job responsibilities.

Terry and Kim have become the emperor(s) who have the proverbial lack of clothes on. That is, they no longer can look in the mirror and acknowledge they are in way over their heads. Blaming everyone but themselves and occasionally bemoaning a lack of cash flow from a moribund team they mismanage. I know COVID hit them hard, but even before that franchise was losing money. Gone are the days of season ticket wait lists. Or, parties in the plaza. Maybe when Eichel demands a trade they'll have the humility to see it's they're fault. God help us if they try to wrest control away from McDermott and Beane.

It's the process dangit! Trust it or hand in the fan card!

Forget it, they're rolling.

Don't ask me, ask McBeane. It's their personnel decision to support the scheme.

Winning and improving on the field position battle is important to the team's strategy. Probably a motivating factor to signing a new punter for McD.

How many 50M DT's and 44M centers are not supposed to be "difference makers/core types" are there? Those guys weren't exactly acquired to be spare parts. Lot of verbal gymnastics to differentiate between a safety who signed for 32M over 5 years in 2017 versus Star's deal in 2018 and Morse a year later.

The Star and Morse contracts were big deals. Brown, Beasley, Addison, Butler, Hyde (yes 2017) and Murphy were more mid-tier. They've been no different than any other team in the era of McBeane.

The NFL will hand out a stimulus I guess. I don't know where people keep thinking there's a near unlimited amount to spend or ignore that Diggs and Allen are gonna need contracts in short order. Josh's window opened and Diggs you'd expect wants to get paid after last season's performance. Not this year, and that's essentially what matters. Those 4 players eat up 16% of their cap in 2021.

Did you hear what the team el presidente said? https://www.si.com/nfl/bills/news/why-bills-owner-kim-pegula-believes-2020-was-just-the-floor

That was so Billsy circa 2006-07. Spending now isn't as much on a CB every year, but in general the entire defense. Because that's the ticket to success.

With this cause identified for NE's 2021 spree, does that mean BB drove Buffalo to spend big bucks in 2019-20? Correlation does not mean causality and yes, I'd agree they had set themselves up Dave for these signings in 2021.