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Commies like Bill don’t want you to look into context. That’s why they just ***t post and meme. Any withdrawals and final withdrawals - conditions had to be met or we keep troops there in order to prevent what happened under Brandon from happening: After taking office, Biden undertook a superficial review of our Afghanistan policy—one that totally ignored the advice of his top military advisor and his commanders on the ground. On April 14, 2021, he reversed the Trump administration’s conditions-based drawdown policy and announced that all U.S. forces would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 of that year, whether or not the Taliban had met its commitments under the 2020 agreement. Eight days after Biden’s announcement, the commander of U.S. Central Command, U.S. Marines Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie Jr., told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he was concerned about the “ability of the Afghan military to hold the ground that they’re on now without the support that they have been used to for many years.” He also acknowledged that counterterrorism strikes would be much harder without a U.S. presence. In May 2021, USA Today reported that Afghan translators, who had worked alongside U.S. personnel for years, feared that the Taliban would take over and kill them once U.S. troops departed. They begged the Biden administration for help—and members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, echoed their pleas to start evacuating U.S. citizens and partners. Meanwhile, the Taliban saw Biden’s unconditional withdrawal as an invitation to ramp up their offensive. Afghan government forces stood down because they saw no chance of winning without U.S. support. Throughout this period, Biden refused to reexamine his policy. On July 8, 2021, even as the Taliban were on the march, he insisted that the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan was not yet inevitable. Meanwhile, his administration refused to expedite the evacuation of U.S. citizens and Afghan partners because it feared this would signal a lack of confidence in the Afghan government. When the Taliban finally entered Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, they took the Afghan capital without a fight. Even with many thousands of U.S. citizens and Afghan partners still in the country, the Biden administration stuck to its new, self-imposed Aug. 31 deadline for completing the withdrawal. The result was utter chaos: Thousands of U.S. service members were suddenly deployed to Kabul’s international airport to assist the evacuation effort and contend with masses of ordinary Afghans desperate to escape Taliban rule. https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/08/15/afghanistan-withdrawal-pullout-military-taliban-chaos-evacuation-biden-inhofe/ Trump - no wars. No conflicts. Biden: Putin moves in Ukraine Afghanistan falls to the Taliban Hamas attacks Israel Covid was probably a bio weapon - nothing to Xi here.

FEAR. .

Yeah, of course not. This stuff is more complex than social media discussions in a forum, few people agree exactly. I'll comment on a few of your points. Agree with that in one sense, it's always been a premise of mine that a team loaded with players that play in the 6-8 range (1-to-10 scale) is more apt to perform optimally than a team that has say three or four 9 or 10s but a lot of 2-5's as well due to cap issues. The 9s and 10s always cost a lot unless you draft 'em and get 5 years out of 'em. Beane has generally done a good job overall, but his drafts leave much to be desired in that way. And as to value, Beane has never, outside of Allen, gotten great value from out day 1 & 2 picks. If anything it's been on the lesser value side. Starters, sure, but premiere/elite, not. That's where the crux of our differences seem to lie. I would rephrase that to say that he's a victim of his own past decison-making. To put that into context, I'll cite how every season one or two, sometimes more, threads go up with who would you have drafted given a certain situation, in this case for this offseason, the depature of both Diggs and Davis. My response to that is always that I would not have allowed that situation to come about. To put that into a practical frame of reference, several examples. First, since when has Beane ever drafted a WR in round 1 or 2, prior to this season? or heck, even round 3. The obvious answer is never. Davis was the highest in late round 4. If you're never going to draft a top WR, it's incredibly unlikely that one will manifest itself from day 3 picks. Some of us believe that McD is dictating to Beane what not to do, we simply do not know the extent to which that occurs. So Beane goes big-bucks and assumes risks, that once again have played out here surprise surprise, when he too could have had say Jefferson instead with the pick he traded to get the now departed Diggs. He also could have had Aiyuk, Higgins, or Pittman too, for cheap, rather than for big-bucks. That would have allowed him to do more elsewhere. The point is, that in his "grand scheme" plan, there's never been an emphasis on WR, and until last season much at TE either. Which is incredibly odd given that we have what will go down in history as one of the all-time great passers at QB. Same for OL to an extent. His philosophy until Torrence last year, has been picking up 1 & 2 year signees to fill in until ..., until what, the next 1 or 2 year signee that's junk? There's been zero obvious plan at OL. Here's the thing about that, everyone's crying about a deep-threat, so we ditch two of 'em, and replace them with yet another short-medium specialist. Certainly there's very little high-end production in Coleman's collegiate dossier. It's incredibly doubtful that he's going to emerge as some downfield threat as such in his rookie season. OK, so then we'll have to wait until next year, McD's 9th. We're pushing a decade of this playoff futility. Maybe, but the great GMs have a plan as such. He does not seem to have one. Frankly, IMO he's being influenced too much by McD to be able to put his plan in place, and knowing that he owes McD for the opportunity. Correct, because the players he's chosen, apart from Allen, simply dont' step up come playoff time. Whether that's coaching (AHEM, it seems to be) or not, the core reasons are not being corrected. Yes, exactly. More on that below however. Again, yes, pretty much exactly, but the reason is clear. It's in the playoffs where you find the best coaches and the best teams. Being "good enough" is relative. The coaches in the secondary (post wild-card) rounds are the best, and can see what we've done and do and successfully scheme us to their advantage. How else does anyone explain the fact that we take a #1 or #2 regular-season defense into the playoffs where it plays like a mediocre, at best, defense. In short, we've routinely been outcoached in the playoffs. The narrative is that Reid/Mahomes are simply too good. What a defeatest attitude. Other teams have beaten them in the Super Bowl and D and C rounds. Only we can't. Let's find someone that can. Again, they're nowhere near even top-10 come playoff time, whereas our counterparts, that's not true. Agree with some of that. But again, it's paramount to distinguish between the drastically different levels of play for Bills Regular Season Football, and Bills Playoff Football where Allen does everything, more so than during the season as the other top players all routinely disappear with rare exceptions. That's without question a coaching thing. Will it change? Why would it? Many including myself are not nearly that optimistic and have seen enough. I could not disagree more on Brady building an offense that is feared aroiund the league at McD's behest. To the contrary. McD's stuck on this '80s/'90s Run/D/Ball-Control gig, hence his "complimentary football approach. He's trying to turn Kelly into Aikman. That will not work nor does it play to Allen's strengths. If McD really wanted to do what you're saying, he'd have invested in some serious offensive braintrust on his staff. He's taken the opposite approach, put in people that he can control to get the offense to match his extremely conservative philosophy. As to Beane, if that weren't the case, our drafts would be littered with WRs and OL-men in rounds 1 & 2. McD knows defense. He knows nothing about offense. How can anyone possibly expect a coach with a mind like that know what's best for the offense, and given that we have Allen, for the team. Last season scoring under Brady was down and horrifically low-end to finish off the season. (Last 3 games) Either way, he's entering his 8th season with only one D-round playoff win. Not one coach considered to be great has such a dubious distinction, namely only one D-round or better playoff round win in 7 seasons. Furthermore, it's ridiculous to consider that many coaches considered anything but great, that coached teams to 7, 8, 9, or 10 wins regularly, with Allen wouldn't be doing at least what we're doing in the regular season. Allen is easily worth at least 4 wins/season, easily. We'll see what happens. But this configuration of WRs is not within Allen's primary skillset. We'll see if "deep threats" develop or not. We'll also see how tight the choker chain around Brady's neck is. A lot of people have a disheartening premonition about this season, myself included. Thanks for the civil, hearty, and quite engaging back-n-forth despite the notion that we agree on much. Go Bills!

PB - This is really good stuff. I don't agree with it all, but even where we disagree, it's getting to the heart of the matter. First, overall, I think it has to come down to coaching. Player personnel to some extent, but coaching primarily. In some ways, that's the point of my essay - Beane's job is to present the HC with a better mix of players than the HS coach can expect to get out of the random selection of kids in his school. We can argue about this player or that player, this trade or that signing, but in the end, Beane's delivering a pretty good collection of players, and the coach's job is to figure out how to win. We've pretty much all felt over the past few years that the roster was good enough to win it all, and they didn't. Roster could have been better, but it was good enough. After listening to Beane for several years, I don't think it's possible to "plan" personnel the way you say. There's too much that the GM can't control. Beane's probably been thinking since October that he needed a new #1 receiver, but he wasn't thinking that a year ago. He might have had a crystal ball, sure, but he really didn't have any way to know for sure that Diggs would go sideways in 2023 and then kind of separate himself from the team. If he had some sort of plan for the receiver room before then, it went out the window. So, starting in October, he's thinking about what he's going to do about a receiver. But by then, his cap situation was determined, his draft situation was more or less determined. He wasn't going to be able to get a stud rookie. There wasn't a stud veteran who was available. What does he do? He talks to the coaches about what sort of receiving help they could use, given where Shakir and Kincaid are in their development, what kind of offense they want to run, etc. Beane comes up with some ideas, and then he does the best he can. It's hard to stick to a plan in that kind of situation. So, he comes up with what he can, in this case Coleman, and he already got Samuel. Pretty good choices, guys with some interesting skills, interesting personality, and in many respects they're good building blocks to work with. They're both different from Shakir and Kincaid, and they probably make sense in terms of what Brady and McDermott said they'd like to do with the passing game. I think that demonstrates that Beane might have an overall philosophy that he's following, but it's not really a plan. Your primary point however, seems to be the truly critical point: the coaches seem to be quite good at taking what Beane gives them year to year and building a team that is successful in the regular season, but those teams never have been very successful at playoff football. My view for the past few years has been that McDermott's philosophy, and therefore Beane's player selection, works well in the regular season and not so well in the playoffs. McDermott's philosophy is that his his team will be good at everything, able to play any kind of game, adapt from week to week. Pass one week, run the next. Blitz one week, defend the next. The philosophy demands that the Bills have jack-knife players: o-linemen who can pass block one week, run block the next. It means you have a guy like Spencer Brown at right tackle. In the receiver room, it means you want to have five or six guys, all of whom can do a lot of things pretty well - run routes, catch contested balls, run after catch, block, etc. And McDermott is good at running that kind of team, as we've seen. It makes a team resilient, to use the popular word. But the playoffs are different. In the playoffs, there may be one or two teams that are multi- like your team is, and then it's just mano-a-mano. But there are also are teams that are very good at some things and just okay at other things. The Bills haven't been good enough to stop what the other team does really well and haven't been outstanding enough to take advantage of what the other team does not so well. It's like the Bills are stuck in some sort of high-end mediocrity across all aspects of their game. It's been that way on offense some times, but it's particularly been that way on defense. What's to be done about it? Although I've been saying for years it's primarily about coaching (and I believe it is), on the personnel side I think (as many other do) that pursuit of these jack-knife players means that the Bills roster doesn't have true game changers (other than Allen). There's no Chris Jones. We hoped Diggs would be one, but he never quite got there. The safeties weren't outstanding, but they were outstanding within the system. It's hard to be that guy from Milano's position. They hoped Miller would be that guy, and the Bills have had bad luck with him. Maybe he comes back. Rousseau and Oliver are good examples - both probably top 10 at their positions, and excellent at what they do, but they're top 10, not top 3. Maybe Beane and McDermott don't think they need a standout playmaker, but I do. On the personnel side, that's what I think. The coaching side is, in my mind, more of a problem. I think it's really hard to get the jack-of-all-trades philosophy to win in the playoffs. In particular in recent years, it's been necessary not just to be really good, but to raise your game to the level of offensive and defensive excellence that Chiefs have had. What Reid has done in KC puts him, I think, way up on the list of all-time great coaches. His teams always seem to have an answer. It's scheme and creativity on the coaching side, and it's outstanding playmaking on the personnel side. But it's mostly coaching. I think, and it appears that several posters here agree, that regardless of what one might think about the players Beane has assembled, they are good enough to win the Super Bowl. The potential is there to have a top-three offense. The defense may be a little weak. I think a lot depends on Bishop and Edwards, and on Miller. I'm assuming Milano and Bernard will be back, and I actually expect that we'll see some great stuff from Dorian Williams. I'm more optimistic than most, because I have more confidence in McDermott than most people. McDermott is not about doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get better results. His system is to examine, constantly, what works and what doesn't and to make changes. I like to think that he knows what I've just said, and he's working at changing those things that haven't worked. He is, for example, challenging Brady to build an offense that is feared around the league, and they have a vision of what that will look like. He has a vision for what his defense will look like. (On defense, I think he now has what he had in Carolina - a linebacker corps that can drive a great defense.) But my optimism doesn't win football games. McDermott 's approach may make sense, but sooner or later has to win in the playoffs. He could use another player or two, but fundamentally it's up to him to raise his game.

I wish you were right. Would be a better world. But I fear "very many people...feel as though they know better" than whomever disagrees with them. In general. This board is better than most forums, to be clear. I think fans generally wanted a speedy deep threat WR (because we don't really have that threat on the roster), and would have LOVED if we traded with KC and they took Coleman...and ultimately we took Worthy. Was even getting to the point where Worthy was the guy I wanted the Bills to draft above all others, and thought he'd be gone by 28. (Conversely, I definitely also shared some posts here the past few months proclaiming my counterintuitive optimism for Keon Coleman's prospects, given his combine gauntlet and best-in-class hands. Earlier in the winter, I was definitely concerned with Coleman's contested catch rate, lumping him in with the likes of Q Johnson and N'Keal Harry. It's been a journey.) Is the color-coding on these route graphics inconsistent? Slant and Screen routes, for example, are mis-colored on both infographics, according to their own internal logic.

Did you catch the video of Bean & Pegula when they picked Bishop? You could see how relieved Bean was that he didn't have to trade up to land the guy. And Pegula's reaction told me that they had talked to him about how much they wanted Bishop. And this reminded me of the stress and gamesmanship a good GM like Bean has to do on draft day. They badly wanted Coleman & Bishop but Bean squeezed everything he could out of the picks and still landed his guys. Had Bean taken Coleman at 28 we would not have gotten that 3rd round pick from KC and had he feared losing Bishop and had traded our 4th round pick to move up maybe we don't get the running back. By taking a couple of chances Bean likley landed two additional starters or key subs in addition to landing the 2 players they wanted.

Oh look! More guns means more gun deaths! What a surprise! Seems impossible though, since I've been reassured that there will be a good guy with a gun who will stop the bad guy with a gun... Gun Ownership and Firearm-related Deaths "There was a significant positive correlation between guns per capita per country and the rate of firearm-related deaths (r ¼ 0.80; P <.0001) (Figure, A), with Japan being on one end of the spectrum and the US being on the other." "We then sought to evaluate whether possessing guns would make a nation safer, as has been a widespread contention. We used the crime rate per 100,000 population as an indicator of safety of the nation. There was no significant correlation (r ¼ 0.33) between guns per capita per country and crime rate (P ¼ .10), arguing against the notion of more guns translating into less crime (Figure, B)." "The present data suggest that the number of guns per capita per country correlated strongly and was an independent predictor of firearm-related deaths. Additionally, in a linear regression model there was a correlation with mental illness, but this was of borderline significance in a multivariable model. Although correlation is not synonymous with causation, it seems conceivable that abundant gun availability facilitates firearm-related deaths. Conversely, high crime rates may instigate widespread anxiety and fear, thereby motivating people to arm themselves and give rise to increased gun ownership, which, in turn, increases availability. The resulting vicious cycle could, bit-by-bit, lead to the polarized status that is now the case with the US. Regardless of exact cause and effect, however, the current study debunks the widely quoted hypothesis purporting to show that countries with the higher gun ownership are safer than those with low gun ownership."

Ironic that their defense has been well-defined since Day 1 of this regime schematically and in personnel. Offense, not so much. I think McD has always wanted a strong(er) running game, because he prioritizes the offense along what he fears most on defense. And his defense can be susceptible to a strong running game. Still, that's maybe not ideal given league-wide trends that favor passing and who he has at QB. Problem is, the OC's he hired all saw they had Josh Allen and weren't going to avoid using him like Brady seems willing to given the priorities and lack of complete passing options. Issue with this offense...it's safe and predictable. Running the ball complemented with a short to intermediate passing game and personnel to match. The quick-strike ability doesn't fit with reducing the defense's time on field. Then again, that's the HC. He plays it safe on draft day with Beane. Safe offense. A defense that is structured, but the scheme hasn't changed much in years. Safe gets you perhaps into the playoffs, but not much further as demonstrated by the past few years.

I generally agree. We need Brady to draw up schemes that leverage the unique skills of our players. I still hope McBeane lands a high level deep threat at WR in the next year or so (one defenses truly fear) but I hope Brady maximizes the talent he has at his disposal. I’m confident that Coleman has enough juice to do some real damage if used well. I want to see a smash mouth running game and an A level deep threat added in the future.

Amen. Even if the Bills do FINALLY decide that 2025 is the year they're going to seriously invest in some offensive weaponry in the draft, then we'll hear "well, rookie WRs are slow to adapt to the NFL. 2026 is the year we should really be ready to dominate!". The can keeps getting kicked. It's always "next year" that we'll address these deficiencies once and for all. There will never stop being defensive depth needs and special teams needs. Until this team decides that they're going to prioritize using premium capital on offense ANYWAY, I fear we'll keep getting to January and having to count on guys like Trent Sherfield, Mack Hollins, and the ghosts of John Brown or Cole Beasley.

Ball of Confusion. The Temptations 1970. Rock band Tesla did a great cover of the song. Read the lyics. Nothing much has changed in the country and the big cities despite 50 years of liberal control and policies. What's their answer to their failures? More of the same until it works. "Politicians say more taxes will solve everything"! One, two One, two, three, four People moving out, people moving in Why? Because of the color of their skin Run, run, run but you sure can't hide An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth Vote for me and I'll set you free Rap on, brother, rap on Well, the only person talking about love thy brother is the preacher And it seems nobody's interested in learning but the teacher Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to my nation Ball of confusion Oh yeah, that's what the world is today Woo, hey, hey The sale of pills are at an all time high Young folks walking round with their heads in the sky The cities ablaze in the summer time And oh, the beat goes on Evolution, revolution, gun control, sound of soul Shooting rockets to the moon, kids growing up too soon Politicians say more taxes will solve everything And the band played on So, round and around and around we go Where the world's headed, said nobody knows Oh, great Googamooga Can't you hear me talking to you? Just a ball of confusion Oh yeah, that's what the world is today Woo, hey, hey Fear in the air, tension everywhere Unemployment rising fast, the Beatles new record's a gas And the only safe place to live is on an Indian reservation And the band played on Eve of destruction, tax deduction, city inspectors, bill collectors Mod clothes in demand, population out of hand, suicide, too many bills Hippies moving to the hills, people all over the world are shouting 'End the war' and the band played on Great Googamooga Can't you hear me talking to you? It's a ball of confusion That's what the world is today, hey, hey Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya Sayin' ball of confusion That's what the world is today, hey, hey Let me hear ya, let me hear ya Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya Sayin' ball of confusion

Just because there were rumors that the Patriots wanted Keon Coleman and that’s why the Bills didn’t move down from 33. Could have also been the reason why Morgan moved up 1 spot out of fear that maybe the Patriots wanted Legette so two friends helped each other out

I've given my fair-share of criticism towards the Bills over the last few days. But all this whining and crying over the Chiefs/Xavier Worthy is short-sighted and ridiculous. No disrespect to their franchise as a whole. But outside of Tyreek Hill and maybe Rashee Rice (who was looking OK the end of last season), the Kansas City Chiefs have been one of the worst drafting teams in the entire NFL when it comes to the Wide Receiver position. Chris Conley, DeMarcus Robinson, Jehu Chesson, Mecole Hardman, Skyy Moore. Not to mention trading for Kadarius Toney. This fear that Andy Reid is going to develop Worthy into some kind of unstoppable force is not rooted in fact or reality. Also, in my 30+ years watching football, I've seen zero correlation between lightning fast 40-Time runners and success at the WR position. That's why I wasn't personally high on Worthy. Being a track star does not make you a great receiver. There are hundreds, if not thousands of examples. And yes, the chances the Chiefs would still end up with Worthy (without us trading) are pretty good. Very possibly at 32 without it costing them any other draft capitol. Baltimore and Dallas weren't taking a receiver, so the Chiefs could have worked a trade with either to move up too. Maybe San Francisco takes Worthy instead of Ricky Pearsall, but they seem to value versatility more than pure one-dimensional speed. So basically, fans would have been happier if the Bills just stayed put at 32. Drafted Keon Coleman five spots earlier. Not moved up an entire round later in the draft from the 4th to 3rd Round. And then just let the Chiefs pick their guy anyway without a trade-up.

Dang. It's like business as usual in America. Sad. We had a kid shoot a security officer in the head 20mins from me at a football game this year. I try and tell my kids not to live in fear, and I truly mean it, but it's just so hard to live my my own words

You can scheme it up and maybe improve deep but if they don’t fear you getting over them, the underneath has a knack for getting tight.

Too bad nobody fears our QB…

Ravens just this last year. No one had over 900 yards receiving and only Flowers had over 600. They won 13 games. It was Lamar that strikes the fear. https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/stats/_/name/bal/baltimore-ravens

A #1 WR is a lot of things, but first and foremost he is a guy that strikes fear into the opposing team. He's someone that coaches go to bed thinking about how to contain him, because he will never truly be stopped. He's an alpha on the field and competes down in and down out. Ideally, although a lead dog, he loves it when his route opens up another guy for a big play. He is someone that impacts the game in a big way even on snaps he doesn't get the ball. He's a guy that forces teams to put multiple sets of eyes on him every play and shifts coverage when he goes in motion. He's a guy that wants the ball in big moments and the brighter the lights, the better he plays. He makes big time plays at key moments. To me, that is a #1 WR. They may not always be WRs, though.....they could be TEs like Kelce that demand targets and can't be stopped in the passing game. He may not be a WR, but he is a #1 playmaker/target.

My slightly irrational fear rn is that unencumbered by older, more experienced OCs w their own philosophies McDermott is going to have Brady install the kind of offense he told us he wanted in 2021: 'That has not been my message from Day 1, I can promise you that. If you were in the team meetings in training camp, you would know what style of offense I want. That identity needs to embody toughness'

Regarding trading with a bitter rival. You compete with them by assembling talent, coaching talent and deploying talent. If you fear outcome or criticism in any of the categories, you’re in the wrong business. Memes and jokes arise because there is a large portion of the population who react to the fear and create an audience for the memes. They're not NFL decision makers and leaders. We know the Bills valued Coleman and a pick exchange greater than they valued Worthy, They may very well have preferred, and therefore taken, Worthy at 28 without a trade if both were available.

I'll start by saying that this was far from my favorite Bills draft. I'm usually Mr Optimistic when it comes to draft classes, but I thought this year's class was just...fine. It was like if you fed Brandon Beane's draft tendencies and the Bills' needs into ChatGPT and asked it to spit out the 2024 Bills draft class. It was completely on brand, it filled the needs we all knew the team had, and it'll probably end up producing a few average players and a couple good ones. Ho-hum. Nobody in this class makes me stand up and say "that guy's really gonna help the Bills get over the hump and win a title". Onto the picks: 1. Keon Coleman - I was not a fan of this pick. For a team whose WR corps needed more speed and separation, this guy made the LEAST sense to me of all the 1st/2nd round WR prospects. Josh Allen has historically thrived with fast, shifty WRs who separate well, and has not clicked with big-bodied guys who struggle with separation. So adding Keon Coleman? It feels like "Square peg, meet round hole". He does have great athleticism and RAC ability for a man his size. He's also young to the position, having played football full time for only two seasons and being only 20 years old. I have concerns about his ability to play X in the NFL, and I'll believe that he's a better fit as a big slot until proven otherwise. Here's hoping I'm wrong about Coleman. The absolute ceiling I see for him is "Solid WR2". Not what I was hoping for in a star studded WR class and with a crying need at the position. 2. Cole Bishop - Looks like he should be just what the doctor ordered at safety for the Bills. He seems to be more Poyer than Hyde, in that he's at his best in the box and playing the run, and he packs a wallop when he tackles. He appears to have untapped man coverage potential, with Dalton Kincaid saying Bishop usually got the better of him 1-on-1 at Utah. He also has freaky speed for the position and a great mental disposition. Should be an easy fit in the Bills' scheme. At the VERY least, I expect him to contribute from day 1 as a dime 'backer, but I'll ultimately be surprised if he doesn't wind up starting at one of the two safety spots by midseason. 3. Dewayne Carter - Good bull rusher, great motor, tons of experience, impeccable character. Seems like a 1T/3T 'tweener. Quickly apparent from his interviews that he's one of the smartest, most likable, easy to root for guys you'll ever see in the NFL. Should be a quality rotational tackle for the Bills and seems like, in time, he will provide quality leadership and a steadying presence on the D-line. May never be a big play guy, but may at least be a "dirty work" guy who allows others around him to thrive. 4. Ray Davis - Hard running inside guy with great vision, ability to get skinny, contact balance, and underrated breakaway ability. Had the most receiving TDs in 2023 of any SEC running back in 25 years. Should provide a nice change of pace to James Cook without the Bills necessarily losing anything in the pass game when he comes on the field. An older prospect, but I don't care, because he's a running back, and he won't be here past his first contract anyway. Another "likability" and leadership All-Star. Davis should provide steadiness and depth, but doesn't do anything that wows you, and I'm not sure he moves the needle much on offense. 5. Sedrick Van Pran - Tons of starting experience at Georgia. Has some traits reminiscent of Mitch Morse in terms of quickness, twitch, and ability on the move. Stop me if you've heard this one before -- lauded for his leadership. Should provide a good backup plan to Connor McGovern at center and/or provide competition at that position. It will not shock me if this guy is starting by year two. Seems like a great value at this point in the draft. One of my favorite picks. 5. Edufuan Ulofoshio - What do you want me to say? You didn't think the Bills would let a draft pass them by without selecting a late round special teams linebacker, did you? The room is starting to get a bit crowded with Milano, Bernard, Williams, Morrow, Spector, and Ulofoshio. However...the Bills lost ST stalwarts Dodsen, Matakevitch, and Neal, and needed some reinforcements there. That's what Ulo seems to be. I'll be surprised if he ever amounts to more than that, but at this point in the draft, that's what you're getting. 5. Javon Soloman - Undersized speed rusher (though he does have a great wingspan for the position) who had absolutely eye-popping production at Troy, where he out-produced Demarcus Ware and Osi Umenyoira. He can be a designated pass rusher and special teams guy and can learn from his idol Von Miller, after whom he says he models his game. Very much a boom/bust prospect, with seemingly equal potential to be the steal of the draft or an outright bust. I liked this pick a lot, and I'm betting on the former over the latter. 6. Tylan Grable - What do you want me to say? Did you think the Bills were gonna let a draft go by without taking a project offensive tackle late? I don't have much to say about this guy. He's just like Tommy Doyle or Luke Tenuta before him: a developmental tackle prospect who's a long shot to make the 53-man roster. With VanDemark and Collins already in place as backup OTs, it's hard to see this guy making the roster. 6. Daequan Hardy - Special teams guy. Standout punt returner and gunner. I usually look to Bills' late round corners with excitement, because they're usually big-bodied guys with zone eyes who only dropped due to underwhelming athleticism. Hardy does not appear to fit that mold. He appears instead to be a punt return candidate and, beyond that, I'm not sure where he'd fit in. His only hope is as a nickel, but the Bills are obviously set there with Taron Johnson. 7. Travis Clayton - At least this one's fun. A guy from the International Pathways program who has never played a down of football in his life. But he's 6'7", 301 lbs and runs a 4.79. The hope is that he turns into the next Jordan Mailata. A fun story and will be fun to track, but obviously a longshot and likely a practice squad guy at best. Overall, it was clear that leadership, maturity, and experience were high priorities for the Bills this year. Again and again, they picked guys who were team captains and lauded for their leadership abilities. Given all the leadership that walked out the door this offseason, that certainly makes sense. Again and again, they picked guys with lots of starting experience, guys who shined at the Senior Bowl, and guys who have their heads screwed on straight. Given that they will be counting on some of these guys to contribute from day one, and given that they seem to be doing a bit of a locker room reset, this also makes sense. The reason that I am ultimately unexcited by this year's draft class is this: I wanted the Bills to prioritize building around Josh Allen. I wanted them to either take a swing for the fences by trading up for a star receiver, or -- failing that -- to go the Packers route and draft a handful of skill position players to surround him with. If they were unable to acquire great quality, then I hoped they would at least acquire quantity. I fear that in choosing Keon Coleman, they may have failed to achieve the "quality" goal, and in refusing to draft any other receivers, they also failed to achieve the "quantity" goal. And Ray Davis is the definition of "uninspiring" at running back. He'll be a fine depth player and grind out tough yards, I'm sure, but he doesn't move the needle much on offense. Neither Coleman nor Davis seem like they upgrade the offense. Just...status quo at best. In a year where I felt the very TOP priority was to improve on offense, I feel the Bills failed to meaningfully do so. In an offseason where I hoped they'd make a bold move or two to try to find an elite player for this offense, they failed to try. After hearing "Josh needs more weapons" for a couple years running, he now seems to have less. The WR corps seems to have regressed, and seems to lack any true downfield explosiveness or viable deep threat. This draft class was not a disaster, by any means. it seems FINE. Just fine. Keon Coleman doesn't scream "Alpha WR1" to me. Ray Davis seems like an average NFL backup. Cole Bishop and Javon Soloman seem to perhaps have playmaking potential on defense. Beyond that -- meh. When the Bills decided to go young and start a roster reset, I had hope that Beane was gonna try to do things differently, since the old way he was doing things didn't get the Bills over the hump. They've been hitting too man singles and doubles over the years and not enough home runs. Instead, he appears to be doing things exactly the same way this time around. He seems to be content to collect character/culture guys, whose ceiling is "good, solid NFL player", rather than taking any risks or big swings for potential stars. He hasn't really taken those swings, to my estimation, since the Allen/Edmunds class. THAT'S why I'm disappointed in this draft class. It seems fine, solid, steady, and logical, but it doesn't seem like it'll move the needle much. I will move on to hoping that the post June 1st money infusion brings us a quality veteran receiver and maybe a pass rusher either via free agency or trade. Failing that, it would be hard for me to conclude anything other than that it looks like the Bills are poised to take a step back this year. 2025 looks promising in terms of cap space and draft capital, but if it's gonna continue to be "business as usual" for Brandon Beane, then I'm not sure how excited I should allow myself to get for that. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

That would fall under "incorrect evaluation of where his WR room is" in my view. I think they had an unrealistic expectation of Davis after the notorious 13 second game. I hope they aren't making the same mistake and thinking Shakir is the new Diggs. He does appear to be ascending, but that's a lot to ask. Taken separately, I haven't hated any of the picks apart from Coleman, and my concern about Coleman is partly because I fear he has to be a big slot to succeed. Maybe that's wrong. I sure hope he will be a solid boundary receiver X. If he's D Hopkins, it's a spectacular hit, but a lot of receivers with his profile bust or end up having to play in the slot, because they can't separate. I thought that Beane said they wanted explosive receivers who separate, and so I find it amusing that when folks are exasperated at the pick, they are treated as if all they did was look at the forty time. The outrage is based on expectations Beane set up, not only in his comments, but by not investing in WR in prior drafts, then letting Davis walk (no loss, I think), and on top of that, trading Diggs and taking on a massive cap hit. Anyway, good luck to him. Beane was either lying, delusional, or has an ace in the hole we don't know about. A trade or post 6/1 FA signing could explain it, and I hope it does.

I was hoping Beane would take some calculated risks. With a few notable exceptions -- Stefon Diggs, Von Miller -- he has always been steady Eddie. Mr "I don't want to sacrifice our ability to compete long term by going all-in for the present year". That's fine. My concern is that he'd rather be very good for the next 10 years than try to be elite for a two or three year stretch. I fear that "very good" will get us to the divisional round every year, but will rarely beat the Chiefs, because the Chiefs are elite. Sometimes I wish he'd sacrifice just a little bit out that steadfast long term thinking for a bigger splash now, yes. For instance, I thought Christian McCaffrey was worth trading our first rounder for. Many disagreed. Beane clearly disagreed. Instead, we kept it and used it on Kaiir Elam. That was the more prudent, "smart", long term thinking move to make. The only problem is that Kaiir Elam looks likely to be a bust, and Christian McCaffrey continues to be an elite offensive weapon and just helped the 49ers reach the Super Bowl and nearly win it. The counter-point, clearly, is that the big swings he HAS taken -- Diggs and Miller -- didn't result in any titles for the Bills, and it was time to get younger and cheaper and re-tool the roster and go back to practical long term planning. Again, that's fine, but you'll have to forgive me if a two-year re-tooling in the name of practicality isn't my favorite thing to be looking at in the middle of Josh Allen's prime.

Okay time for a board update: 1. DJ James, CB, Auburn 2. TJ Tampa, CB, Iowa State 3. Jaden Hicks, S, Washington State 4. Jeremiah Trotter, LB, Clemson 5. Christian Mahogany, IOL, Boston College 6. Jalen Wright, RB, Tennessee 7. Mason McCormick, IOL, South Dakota State 8. Kris Abrams-Draine, CB, Missouri 9. Austin Booker, EDGE, Kansas 10. Sedrick Van Pran, IOL, Georgia IOL and Corner are the depth now. But Austin Booker is intriguing for the Bills. I fear they have missed the receiver stack for now. Cowing, Rice and Washington are my next 3 at that spot. They are my 12th, 14th and 19th best remaining.

I think thats bad business. you always do what best for you. Yeah kc has the rings. I get that. but it is not like they are on another level than the bills. this is why I can't wrap my head around these fear bunkers. do what's best for your team.