BillsVet

You don't keep Daboll. This is the territory Bills fans have not been in for years: having a good team with coaches who may be prospects for HC jobs. Same as having good players you choose not to re-sign because they play positions of lesser value. And so, you have to replace them via the draft and allocate cap dollars to more important positions. This is the price of success. I will take it every year if it means having an 11+ win team. I get that people like familiarity with players, coaches, front office staff, etc. But things change and good teams identify those you can't exist without. Right now, Buffalo identified 2 as McD and Beane in management. On-field, for now, it's Allen, Dawkins, Tre, and I guess we'll find out. Enjoy the ride.

"Hear me out" to lead a thread off? The TBD kiss of death. McD and this franchise aren't willingly losing anything. No need to worry about anything.

This is the potential cost of winning. And good organizations reload both their on-field, coaching and front office talent. Not worried.

I'd like Buffalo to re-structure their media talent as they hopefully remain a top NFL team in the coming years. Murphy's PbP voie is horrid and particularly with many of us remembering Van Miller's calls. Then again, they are likely under contract and there's no telling how long those last. But for goodness sake find a real PbP guy minus the fake radio voice. That'd go a long way to featuring a better media broadcast.

Let's say you cut any of those players mentioned. Now tell us who's coming as their replacement? McD gotta have his DL rotation and at last count it was 51M in 2020 without most of Star's contract. OK. Who replaces Brown at the Z? Or a new center for Morse? And don't say they'll find someone in the draft. That looks awfully similar to the RW years where the draft was used to replace departed veterans and that never worked. Besides, the UFAs you've noted where all signed since 2019. Without some strategic changes to roster building and personnel assessment, they'll keep going down the road of finding types that are a bridge to nowhere, i.e. there's no initial contract type player to step in. There aren't many perennial playoff teams, but the ones who do have an advantage on draft day/UDFA and/or can attract low cost talent in UFA. Buffalo isn't there yet, but if they hope to be it'll be on the back of one of those other methods not signing veterans to market rate contracts. And if you keep trying that method, as @BADOLBILZ noted, it'll show up eventually in the cap balances because you don't cut your way out of that problem.

Right....and it'll mean being efficient with picks in rounds 3-4 at the harder to find positions. RBs in the 3rd round aren't going to cut it anymore. UFA has bought Beane time to develop younger players behind the veterans. Now the real work for that front office of "future GM" candidates begins. Whatever the method for remaining competitive, be it the NE or Pittsburgh way, the onus remains on the amateur scouting people.

Not 1 GM in Buffalo during the cap era was successful at maintaining a successfully rebuilt roster. Because of course, no GM ever rebuilt. As tough as the former is, the latter may be more difficult. And that efficiency is gonna mean some players revered on this board will not be re-signed. Gonna be interesting to see how McBeane are thought of when someone doesn't get that next contract and get replaced by (as the top franchises do) by a cheaper draft picks. It's the way of the NFL and soon it'll hopefully produce on-field results with cap flexibility.

Right back at ya, Spanky.

Great...another click bait post. Just say what you want in the thread title. That said, who cares where they were drafted? Doesn't matter on this day, nor will it when the playoffs start.

Posts such as the OP's are what TBD was all about years ago. People basically talking football...be it the players or the games. I wish there were fewer "what if" or LAMP type threads where people are trying to get clicks . Nice post and find CT. 👍

27yanks as a screen name? Awesome...best team in MLB history right there! 6 HOFers and the best 3-4 batting combination that will ever be seen! The Waner boys never knew what hit them.

Yes, but Bosa was able to feast on Dion Dawkins most snaps. In contrast, Klein was blocked on many plays.

We get older. That's all I got. LOL.

Bill Belichick: 26 NFL seasons as HC. 6 SB wisn. 3 other appearances. 31-12 in playoffs. Mike Tomlin: 14 NFL seasons as HC. 1 SB win. 1 other appearance. 8-7 in playoffs. Kyle Shanahan: 3 NFL seasons as HC. 1 SB appearance. 2-1 in playoffs. Mike Vrabel: 2 NFL seasons as HC. 2-1 in playoffs. Sean McDermott: 3 NFL seasons as HC. 0-2 in playoffs. Who needs to prove themselves? And who has done that/on the way before 2020? Is that really hard to understand?

More Quibbling. Class is filling up fast today.

My point was that using UFA too much is gonna get you into cap issues and inhibit the ability to sign home-grown types. For years on TBD when Buffalo wasn't spending, I recall people saying you don't build a team through free agency. That was true then and it is now, but to a point. Aside from Gabe Davis, the top 3 WR's are veterans who command a significant salary. Buffalo is the 4th highest in the NFL spending on WR's. On DL, after 4 off-seasons and not counting the DL savior himself Star Lotulelei they are 1st in the NFL in spending on the DL at $51.2M which is 5M more than the next team. But they're a long ways from being the best DL in the league. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/positional/breakdown/ They do get credit for finding a QB, which OBD hasn't done since the 1980s, while moving this team out of cap issues. Still, they've (like others have said) brought on new ones with their own players and spending big dollars on all these veterans. Thy need to draft better to reduce the reliance on UFA to make them more capable of signing Josh and likely Diggs to the long term extensions they'll seek. You can't do that spending on all these free agents.

Finally! A WR with a number in the 80s! Super Bowl!

The angst over trivial matters just gets ratcheted up a notch every time I visit the board. What if alien's abducted McD? Would Frazier be able to fill in? What if Pegula's money is really just wrapped up in a secret Madoff ponzi scheme we don't know about? What if the Bills are late to the NFL Draft and lose all their draft picks as punishment? Stop worrying and enjoy the season.

Quibbling 101.

Agreed. There's a lot of talk about leadership these days, but in the NFL HC's are not coordinators and as such cannot be completely focused on X's and O's. At the HC level it's about generalship and the off-season/training camp weeks are about building a foundation for when things get difficult. You can't always out X and O your opponent. Lombardi admitted as such back in the 60s and those Packers teams were a reflection of the HC. He got them to play that way, but of course had talent. I remember seeing a picture from the sideline from behind where Lombardi's hands are clasped behind his back. And the photo was captioned about how at that point, there was nothing left to do but bank on everything done before those critical moments. I think that was in the Maraniss book. I'm not demanding McD be exactly like Lombardi, just sharing @BADOLBILZ's observation that Buffalo doesn't reflect their HC in a similar fashion. The penalties and showing up small in big games point to how he he's not reaching them. McD tried to instill "the process" as a way of winning them over, to trust in him, but that's harder to do when you're not winning. Again, it was light years ago, but I'm sure when Lombardi was winning, even the most hardened personality toward VL knew what he expected and wouldn't deviate from. Only winning can accomplish this.

2019 is long gone. Any results-oriented fan expected to see them make the playoffs last year, particularly after they started 6-2. 2020, OTOH, has been all about winning in the playoffs. Trading for Diggs, a 4th year of McBeane's roster along with the improvement of Allen means you expect post-season success. And there was a 4-0 start to boot. Plenty of teams are winning without the 4 year build up. SF was in the SB after 3 years with Shanahan/Lynch. Vrabel was in the AFC Championship in his 2nd season with a new QB. McVay was in the SB his 2nd season as a HC. Should Buffalo not be held to a similar standard? If so, losing in the WC round of the playoffs is not acceptable given the investment of draft, UFA capital and time.

Vrabel - 2 playoff wins last season. After 2 seasons as a HC. Shanahan - 2 playoff wins last season and a SB appearance. After 3 seasons as a HC. McD - 0-2 in the playoffs without advancing past the Wild Card Round after 3 seasons as a HC. One of these is not like the others.

The KC game is being quibbled over at this point and never have I expected any defense to hold a KC offense to a score or less. Bottom line is they lost and that's the point of this thread because: Buffalo comes up small in key games. It's reasonable to consider after recent games whether this team is much better than a Divisional Round participant without advancing. And this is the crux of the issue. We're going to find out where this team is against the big boys when they host Pittsburgh in 11 days.

His then lieutenant and Ravens current GM Eric DeCosta ain't bad himself. Turned down opportunities (including Buffalo) to interview for GM jobs. Beane gets the credit for Josh, but there are some positions on this team they've struggled. The DL has only Oliver and Epenesa (EDIT:also H. Phillips) in the rotation who aren't UFAs/inherited. The top 3 WR's are UFA/trade acquisitions. The OL has one drafted guy starting right now, and the other (who they traded up into the 2nd for) has been IR'd after a mediocre season. They're thin at LB and their 1st round pick there (whom they traded up for) is meh after 2.5 seasons. The safeties are UFAs, although McD hit with Tre (after trading out of the spot Mahomes was taken). The other CB spot has been average at best since McD arrived and they've gone through UDFAs and UFAs without much result. In sum, the WR, DE, and CB positions have depended heavily on players who weren't drafted and developed here. That's the downside of the McD mind on roster development combined with an Admin GM. Hopefully some of the personnel background guys have the voice in the room on draft day.

I've long believed that many fans derive their identity from sports teams they follow. Therefore, being critical of the team is, ipso facto, a criticism of self. And most people will never be self-critical in public, meaning you've got to defend the team, i.e. self, to the hilt. Having high expectations for either the team or self is scary because they may not be met. Therefore, shoot for a safe goal and don't risk failure. Complacency with self and team (EDIT: are) wind up being the goal.