Bills TE Lee Smith is contemplating retirement

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

Cap wise, do the Bills come out ahead in any way by him retiring instead of being cut?  Or is it a wash either way. 

[YoloinOhio]

39 minutes ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

Cap wise, do the Bills come out ahead in any way by him retiring instead of being cut?  Or is it a wash either way. 

 

[YoloinOhio]

 

[Bob in STL]

4 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

I'm sure in a perfect world the Bills would like to hang on to him.

 

But when they're cap-strapped, that's $2.25M they can use to sign rookies or sign McKenzie or depth on OL.

 

Correct.  
 

He will be missed by Allen.  He really watched over him from a mentorship perspective.   

[DrPJax]

5 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

I'm making my way through the cover1 video on the Bills 2020 run game

The Society for Decent Blocking at Bills TE Position says 😱

This breakdown is excellent and the I just recommended it to Gunnerbill.  Very eye opening.  We need a new o line coach, perhaps new RB coach , and we need one back with power and speed enough to hit the holes when they are there for the taking.  Huge amount of line issues exposed tho and guard play, Williams , Knox were abysmal at run blocking in the zone scheme.  Morse who is great at gap blocking still had a good year but was misused in this zone scheme. At one point they mention they quit breaking down simple trap plays cuz the line was so lost trying to do them. Not like the days of Kelly, Thurman , Hull, House Ballard etc.   So not sure if these guys were just “ dim” or the o line coaching was that atrocious!  Great watch tho. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

9 minutes ago, DrPJax said:

This breakdown is excellent and the I just recommended it to Gunnerbill.  Very eye opening.  We need a new o line coach, perhaps new RB coach , and we need one back with power and speed enough to hit the holes when they are there for the taking.  Huge amount of line issues exposed tho and guard play, Williams , Knox were abysmal at run blocking in the zone scheme.  Morse who is great at gap blocking still had a good year but was misused in this zone scheme. At one point they mention they quit breaking down simple trap plays cuz the line was so lost trying to do them. Not like the days of Kelly, Thurman , Hull, House Ballard etc.   So not sure if these guys were just “ dim” or the o line coaching was that atrocious!  Great watch tho. 

 

Agree completely the breakdown is excellent.  I've been working my way back through games to verify that they aren't cherry picking the awful, and so far, they aren't. 😱

 

I'm not sure we need to be so drastic as fire the OL and RB coach.  I've said elsewhere that with limited offseason and a new star WR (as well as a rookie) to work into the offense, the team's offensive priority was ensuring that the pass game had every chance for success.  I don't think it was just Daboll; I think it went through McDermott and Beane as well. 

 

It makes sense, right?  With a decent pass blocking OL, a true #1 WR and 2+ quality guys behind him,THE most important offensive priority for the season was to be able to make a clear call on Allen, is he your guy?  I think that was the focus of the team's offseason and the focus of most of their practice snaps during the week.  And then it makes sense that when we focused on the run, prior to the 1st Patriots game and after the bye, we were able to execute the run but as soon as the focus of attention shifted back to pass blocking (and receiving, for Knox) there went the run.

 

But even so, we have got to upgrade especially at guard and we have got to practice and focus on the run enough to be able to execute it, even if it's not the team' focus.  So if the OL coach and RB coach aren't able to bring some energy and help their guys maintain focus then yeah, we need a change.

[SectionC3]

Considering that the very full dumpster sitting in his driveway has a mattress sitting on top of it, I’ll be surprised if he comes back to Buffalo.  I figured he was gone when I saw that thing show up a week or two ago. 

[DrPJax]

2 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Agree completely the breakdown is excellent.  I've been working my way back through games to verify that they aren't cherry picking the awful, and so far, they aren't. 😱

 

I'm not sure we need to be so drastic as fire the OL and RB coach.  I've said elsewhere that with limited offseason and a new star WR (as well as a rookie) to work into the offense, the team's offensive priority was ensuring that the pass game had every chance for success.  I don't think it was just Daboll; I think it went through McDermott and Beane as well. 

 

It makes sense, right?  With a decent pass blocking OL, a true #1 WR and 2+ quality guys behind him,THE most important offensive priority for the season was to be able to make a clear call on Allen, is he your guy?  I think that was the focus of the team's offseason and the focus of most of their practice snaps during the week.  And then it makes sense that when we focused on the run, prior to the 1st Patriots game and after the bye, we were able to execute the run but as soon as the focus of attention shifted back to pass blocking (and receiving, for Knox) there went the run.

 

But even so, we have got to upgrade especially at guard.

Great points.  After watching the issues they pointed out , it just seemed like so. Much of that was related mistakes that proper coaching should have corrected. They did do well in a couple of games , yet there are times when guys aren’t even making full efforts and were just whiffing or standing after whiffing and not looking for someone to hit. If it was all talent based , you would think the effort would consistently be there. But when basic footwork is bad, the effort is bad, they had to go away from trap plays completely as the players looked like they were lost , it seems that comes down to consistent coaching. In medicine, once you learn a procedure and do it once or so, it’s not like suddenly you then forget how to do it later. These guys are at the pinnacle of talent supposedly , yet they could not execute basic run schemes. To me that means they are not being taught proper technique, not being held accountable , or they might not belong on the line in the first place.

 

I just thought it might come down to $ and be easier to see if you can get more with different or a better o line coach , especially since it was a drop off from 2019 with the same talent.   Regarding  rbs, I can see where moss has issues due to inexperience. Harder to explain Devins regression , and as the film showed , it wasn’t all on the o line. Several times he had open holes and misread the blocking angles and cut into being tackled.  Doesn’t that come down to being accountable and coaching ?  He actually was better last year so o Line issues were an issue, but when you see him reading angles poorly that in my eye should be corrected by coaching and why would he lose those skills just cuz they focus one week more on the passing gsme?  It’s a chicken/ egg thing I guess! 😀.  Great breakdown by those guys tho ! 

[Buffalo716]

5 hours ago, ExWNYer said:

Didn't commit one penalty this season just FYI

[Doc Brown]

8 hours ago, ColoradoBills said:

It seems to me fans confuse the difference between a pass catching TE, a blocking TE and an all around TE.

With confusing descriptions like that it's no wonder fans have such a hard time.

[machine gun kelly]

9 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Yeah, it was pretty strange.  Lee Smith barely saw the field the first 7 weeks of the season, Covid-19 notwithstanding. 

After the bye, it was like someone smacked a relevant coach upside the Haid and said "Dawson Knox just can't block, if you want to run the ball put Lee Smith in there" and he started to see 25,30, 40% of the offensive snaps.  Run game picked up a notch.

 

Then we get to the playoffs, very little Lee Smith, no run game. 

 

Not saying that's correlated, it's just such a move away from the last weeks of the season when our offense was firing pretty well.

Lee was productive for his skills.  I wish him well.  I’d rather have one less TE, although three makes sense, and find a very good blocking FB.

 

Just like people didn’t realize Star’s value, also a number of people didn’t realize what DiMarco did for our running game.  I’m not saying he was great, but he served a purpose.  Having someone to pave the way can really help.  Look at juscszyk.  What a name.  Anyway, he doesn’t have a lot of yards, but he in 2019 was a big part of their excellent running game.  He opened holes and once past the D Line, guys were able to get some yards.

Edited February 4, 2021 by machine gun kelly

[ExWNYer]

7 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

Didn't commit one penalty this season just FYI

 

Yeah...that was a (tongue-in-cheek) comment on his overall body of work in Buffalo, just FYI.

[JMF2006]

He finally learned how to catch the ball on his second go round

 

He finally quit getting holding penalties every other play on his second go round

 

Sure go ahead and retire when you finally find a way to contribute

 

J/K....Enjoy life after football Lee

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

What's that saying in the NFL ranks?

 

when you contemplate retirement ....  You've already retired. 

[Don Otreply]

12 hours ago, NewEra said:

In 2020, he did what was asked of him and had zero penalties that I can remember.  I wished we would’ve used him vs the chiefs

Agree, the non use of available players during the season and post season was head a scratcher a lot of the time. Imo coach missed opportunities because of this. 
 

Go Bills!!!

[blacklabel]

I wonder if they still intend to keep developing Tommy Sweeney. Those couple games he played in early 2019 he didn't look too bad. I know injuries sidelined him a lot this season. We shall see, I guess. As for Lee Smith, good for him if he decides to hang it up. 

[SoCal Deek]

I was never a Lee Smith fan but somehow both he and Jerry Hughes were able to shed the penalty bug this year. I’d love to find out what changed. Was it the quiet stadiums? They were both good for at least one Offside or illegal motion per week. 

[Punching Bag]

16 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

I was never a Lee Smith fan but somehow both he and Jerry Hughes were able to shed the penalty bug this year. I’d love to find out what changed. Was it the quiet stadiums? They were both good for at least one Offside or illegal motion per week. 

 

Half of Lee Smith's  Offside or illegal motion per week were in your head in 2019.  You have a very good imagination. I am guessing that you will still blame him for them when he is not playing for Bills.

[TheBeaneBandit]

27 minutes ago, blacklabel said:

I wonder if they still intend to keep developing Tommy Sweeney. Those couple games he played in early 2019 he didn't look too bad. I know injuries sidelined him a lot this season. We shall see, I guess. As for Lee Smith, good for him if he decides to hang it up. 

I know people like to pull for the late round guy, but let's bring in some high end talent at the position. Time to join modern times. The Super Bowl alone has a chance to feature 4 TEs that are better than what we got. 4

[Hapless Bills Fan]

39 minutes ago, blacklabel said:

I wonder if they still intend to keep developing Tommy Sweeney. Those couple games he played in early 2019 he didn't look too bad. I know injuries sidelined him a lot had him on IR this entire season. We shall see, I guess. As for Lee Smith, good for him if he decides to hang it up. 

 

FIFY.  Sweeney wasn't "sidelined a lot", he was on IR from the start of the season.  Then he caught covid and got sidelined by covid complications.  Never even practiced.

[ExWNYer]

12 hours ago, DrPJax said:

This breakdown is excellent and the I just recommended it to Gunnerbill.  Very eye opening.  We need a new o line coach, perhaps new RB coach , and we need one back with power and speed enough to hit the holes when they are there for the taking.  Huge amount of line issues exposed tho and guard play, Williams , Knox were abysmal at run blocking in the zone scheme.  Morse who is great at gap blocking still had a good year but was misused in this zone scheme. At one point they mention they quit breaking down simple trap plays cuz the line was so lost trying to do them. Not like the days of Kelly, Thurman , Hull, House Ballard etc.   So not sure if these guys were just “ dim” or the o line coaching was that atrocious!  Great watch tho. 

 

12 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Agree completely the breakdown is excellent.  I've been working my way back through games to verify that they aren't cherry picking the awful, and so far, they aren't. 😱

 

I'm not sure we need to be so drastic as fire the OL and RB coach.  I've said elsewhere that with limited offseason and a new star WR (as well as a rookie) to work into the offense, the team's offensive priority was ensuring that the pass game had every chance for success.  I don't think it was just Daboll; I think it went through McDermott and Beane as well. 

 

It makes sense, right?  With a decent pass blocking OL, a true #1 WR and 2+ quality guys behind him,THE most important offensive priority for the season was to be able to make a clear call on Allen, is he your guy?  I think that was the focus of the team's offseason and the focus of most of their practice snaps during the week.  And then it makes sense that when we focused on the run, prior to the 1st Patriots game and after the bye, we were able to execute the run but as soon as the focus of attention shifted back to pass blocking (and receiving, for Knox) there went the run.

 

But even so, we have got to upgrade especially at guard and we have got to practice and focus on the run enough to be able to execute it, even if it's not the team' focus.  So if the OL coach and RB coach aren't able to bring some energy and help their guys maintain focus then yeah, we need a change.

 

The issues with the run game certainly need to be addressed this off-season. Whether it's coaching or scheme, it goes deeper than just Singletary and Moss being ineffective or 'slow'. The Bills' run game ranked near the bottom of the league this year against 'light boxes' (6 defenders or fewer). That is disturbing and cannot continue.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

29 minutes ago, TheBeaneBandit said:

I know people like to pull for the late round guy, but let's bring in some high end talent at the position. Time to join modern times. The Super Bowl alone has a chance to feature 4 TEs that are better than what we got. 4

 

Curious who are these 4 TE in your view?

 

Some top receiving TE in the league this year sorted by YPG.  Define breakout as 45 ypg, >65% catch

Kelce 2015 3rd.  Breakout: year 2

Kittle 2017 5th round.  Breakout: year 2

Waller 2016 6th round.  Breakout: year 4

Andrews 2018 3rd round Breakout: year 2

Goedert 2018 2nd round Breakout: year 3

Hockinson 2019 1st round.  Breakout: year 2

Fant 2019 1st round  Breakout: Year 2

Hunter Henry 2nd round 2016.  Breakout: year 4

 

Gronkowski should be on the list for his whole body of work, but 58% catch and 38 ypg this season.

 

And close:

Gesicki 2018 2nd round Breakout: Close in year 3 (catch %)

Thomas 2014 4th round.  Breakout: close in year 5 (ypg)

Engram 2017 1st round.  Breakout: year 2 (but off this year)

 

So, those are pretty much the top 10 receiving TE in the league (I listed more in case anyone wants to quibble) - the ones you want to stop from going off.

2 1st round picks (year 2)

3 2nd round picks (year 3-4)

2 3rd round picks (year 2)

2 4th or later picks (year 2-5)

 

I guess that really shows where ya need to draft to get a good TE and how long you need to give 'em to develop? 

 

Paradox: We've got folks "oh, we gave up on Logan Thomas too soon" when he's finally looking good in Year 5, but ready to kick Knox to the curb after year 2.

 

Knox FWIW is 24 ypg and 55% catch in year 2.  We are asking him to be an all-around TE with good blocking, so possibly that slows his development overall.  Some of the guys on that list are pretty much receiving TE. 

 

 

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

12 hours ago, DrPJax said:

I just thought it might come down to $ and be easier to see if you can get more with different or a better o line coach , especially since it was a drop off from 2019 with the same talent.  

 

But was it the same talent?

 

RT Ford/Nsekhe -> Daryl Williams  Upgrade at pass pro, but I'm concerned about the run blocking aspect after watching this

Feliciano -> Winters -> Feliciano Winters downgrade overall IMO, but Feliciano had some stinky whiffs

Spain -> Ford -> Boettger  It looks to me as though both Ford and Boettger were downgrades in the run game from Spain

 

I think we need a talent upgrade especially on the interior of the OL. 

 

12 hours ago, DrPJax said:

Regarding  rbs, I can see where moss has issues due to inexperience. Harder to explain Devins regression , and as the film showed , it wasn’t all on the o line. Several times he had open holes and misread the blocking angles and cut into being tackled.  Doesn’t that come down to being accountable and coaching ?

 

You have a point where (let's say) we focused on the run game one week, then didn't run at all the following week - if there is a good "base" and accountability, you would expect there to be continued success.  But if there isn't a good "base" and the improvement is the result of focus and accountability one week, but the focus isn't sustained - maybe the improvement backslides.  I don't know.

 

I think Devin's regression has to be upstairs and that's where possibly the style of coaching and the lack of a vet presence in the RB room made a difference.  Daboll has mentioned from his own experience, the challenge of coaching WR or TE to keep going hard when they aren't getting the ball (or aren't having success for reasons outside their control).  It's possible that the RB and TE coaches aren't the best people to accomplish that, I don't know. 

 

But it seemed to me that at times when the backs did have a hole, they were running without vision as though they expected to just get to their original planned hole and get nailed, vs being able to read the block and choose differently or evade.  It was like a self-perpetuating conclusion.  Hard to watch.

[Mr. WEO]

18 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

 

Knox FWIW is 24 ypg and 55% catch in year 2.  We are asking him to be an all-around TE with good blocking, so possibly that slows his development overall.  Some of the guys on that list are pretty much receiving TE. 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't see how teaching a TE to block should/could limit his ability to catch a thrown ball (and without then falling on the ground).

[TheBeaneBandit]

31 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Curious who are these 4 TE in your view?

 

Some top receiving TE in the league this year sorted by YPG.  Define breakout as 45 ypg, >65% catch

Kelce 2015 3rd.  Breakout: year 2

Kittle 2017 5th round.  Breakout: year 2

Waller 2016 6th round.  Breakout: year 4

Andrews 2018 3rd round Breakout: year 2

Goedert 2018 2nd round Breakout: year 3

Hockinson 2019 1st round.  Breakout: year 2

Fant 2019 1st round  Breakout: Year 2

Hunter Henry 2nd round 2016.  Breakout: year 4

 

Gronkowski should be on the list for his whole body of work, but 58% catch and 38 ypg this season.

 

And close:

Gesicki 2018 2nd round Breakout: Close in year 3 (catch %)

Thomas 2014 4th round.  Breakout: close in year 5 (ypg)

Engram 2017 1st round.  Breakout: year 2 (but off this year)

 

So, those are pretty much the top 10 receiving TE in the league (I listed more in case anyone wants to quibble) - the ones you want to stop from going off.

2 1st round picks (year 2)

3 2nd round picks (year 3-4)

2 3rd round picks (year 2)

2 4th or later picks (year 2-5)

 

I guess that really shows where ya need to draft to get a good TE and how long you need to give 'em to develop? 

 

Paradox: We've got folks "oh, we gave up on Logan Thomas too soon" when he's finally looking good in Year 5, but ready to kick Knox to the curb after year 2.

 

Knox FWIW is 24 ypg and 55% catch in year 2.  We are asking him to be an all-around TE with good blocking, so possibly that slows his development overall.  Some of the guys on that list are pretty much receiving TE. 

 

 

 

Obviously Kelse he's the premiere TE period but all 3 of TBs Gronk, Brate, and Howard are all better than Knox IMO.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

4 minutes ago, TheBeaneBandit said:

Obviously Kelse he's the premiere TE period but all 3 of TBs Gronk, Brate, and Howard are all better than Knox IMO.

 

Historically Gronk is of course one of the top TE of all time.  Kelse unquestionably.  Plenty of other TE in the league, sure.

 

Brate and Howard, you're gonna have to walk me through that.

[TheBeaneBandit]

Brate and Howard are both better blockers than Knox and have shown just as much if not more reliability recieving than Knox, which isn't exactly a bold statement but it is what it is. IMO both would get the nod as the #1 TE on the Bills.

[RyanC883]

15 hours ago, Bob in STL said:

Correct.  
 

He will be missed by Allen.  He really watched over him from a mentorship perspective.   

 

I think this mentorship of Allen thing is overblown.  It seems like most of our marginal veteran offensive players "mentored" Allen.  Lee, Barkley, etc.   I'm sure we can replace Lee with someone who can help Allen, to the extent he continues to need it beyond the QB Coach/OC.  

2 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Curious who are these 4 TE in your view?

 

Some top receiving TE in the league this year sorted by YPG.  Define breakout as 45 ypg, >65% catch

Kelce 2015 3rd.  Breakout: year 2

Kittle 2017 5th round.  Breakout: year 2

Waller 2016 6th round.  Breakout: year 4

Andrews 2018 3rd round Breakout: year 2

Goedert 2018 2nd round Breakout: year 3

Hockinson 2019 1st round.  Breakout: year 2

Fant 2019 1st round  Breakout: Year 2

Hunter Henry 2nd round 2016.  Breakout: year 4

 

Gronkowski should be on the list for his whole body of work, but 58% catch and 38 ypg this season.

 

And close:

Gesicki 2018 2nd round Breakout: Close in year 3 (catch %)

Thomas 2014 4th round.  Breakout: close in year 5 (ypg)

Engram 2017 1st round.  Breakout: year 2 (but off this year)

 

So, those are pretty much the top 10 receiving TE in the league (I listed more in case anyone wants to quibble) - the ones you want to stop from going off.

2 1st round picks (year 2)

3 2nd round picks (year 3-4)

2 3rd round picks (year 2)

2 4th or later picks (year 2-5)

 

I guess that really shows where ya need to draft to get a good TE and how long you need to give 'em to develop? 

 

Paradox: We've got folks "oh, we gave up on Logan Thomas too soon" when he's finally looking good in Year 5, but ready to kick Knox to the curb after year 2.

 

Knox FWIW is 24 ypg and 55% catch in year 2.  We are asking him to be an all-around TE with good blocking, so possibly that slows his development overall.  Some of the guys on that list are pretty much receiving TE. 

 

 

 

 

Henry had Gates ahead of him, which led his breakout year being later.   I'm fine with Knox as a receiver, but his blocking is horrid.  

 

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

26 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

Henry had Gates ahead of him, which led his breakout year being later.   I'm fine with Knox as a receiver, but his blocking is horrid. 

 

It's worse than horrid, it's inconsistent.

 

Some plays he actually blocks decently (there are a number in the cover1 run game video if you want to see).  Other plays he acts as though he doesn't grasp that he's actually supposed to block the guy who needs to be blocked.

 

If Knox were a totally crap blocker, one could get the flick that "OK, it's a running play, someone else needs to be in there to block".

 

I'm not fine with Knox as a receiver.  54.5% catch % simply does not cut it for a receiving TE and 9.1% drops (4 out of 44 targets) is positive only when viewed in the context of 20% drops (10 out of 50 targets) his rookie year.  And the receiving is only part of it.  He doesn't get a clean release off the line and he's not a physical route runner.  We saw occasional flashes this season (good arm over, for example) but only flashes.

 

I'm not saying he might not improve, but he's got a lot of work to do.

 

Re: Henry I think he actually entirely missed year 3, which probably was the bigger delay. 

 

 

[4_kidd_4]

Fare thee well, Mr. Smith.
 

May we never forget the time you leapt into the stands and nobody caught you.

[blacklabel]

7 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

FIFY.  Sweeney wasn't "sidelined a lot", he was on IR from the start of the season.  Then he caught covid and got sidelined by covid complications.  Never even practiced.

 

Well that's a bummer for him.

[Bob in STL]

5 hours ago, RyanC883 said:

 

I think this mentorship of Allen thing is overblown.  It seems like most of our marginal veteran offensive players "mentored" Allen.  Lee, Barkley, etc.   I'm sure we can replace Lee with someone who can help Allen, to the extent he continues to need it beyond the QB Coach/OC.  

 

Henry had Gates ahead of him, which led his breakout year being later.   I'm fine with Knox as a receiver, but his blocking is horrid.  

 

 

Mentorship is real and it’s effective.   If your trying to say Allen can move on from the relationship with Smith?  Yes,  Allen is now the team leader.  
 

I was only pointing out the Smith helped him out when he was “the kid”.  Alien has acknowledged it before.  

[without a drought]

Contemplating retirement, running a passing route, tough to tell the difference.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

So returning to the "Contemplating Retirement" here's the radio segment

 

https://post.futurimedia.com/wgfx/playlist/21/listen-13993.html?cb=1612292735.056689

 

🤣🤣 They ask him how to get rid of moles from their lawn.  He says "well where I come from, you pour gasoline down the hole and light that joker on fire, but when we were in California we had a mole issue and my wife got these fancy traps, I don't know where she got them but they were very effective, I can tell you that much"

🤣🤣

 

I believe Smith is from Tennessee, that sounds about right.  The hosts object that the gasoline would set the lawn on fire, and Smith says if they had dinner with his wife she'd tell them that half the stuff he does is just to have the story about what comes later, not to solve the problem.  😆

 

It's  fun listen.  He said that the last couple of years he needed to be sure he was "all in" and could give his teammates the best of himself, and he felt he could do that because of the men in the building, starting with Josh: "when your QB is...I mean, he's like a 10 year old, I think he and my 12 year old have a lot more in common than me and him do, he's like a child out there having fun which is Awesome, fun to play with"

 

Talking about the impact of social media and some younger players on the Titans (unnamed) that are making mistakes in public: "I've got two boys...you can't make a single mistake now a days because someone's gonna take a damn picture of you at 2 oclock in the morning when you've drank too much......  The majority of the males I've been around, especially males that are professional athletes, we're a little screwy between the ears and we've got to learn the hard way at times"

 

He talks about how his wife was the first person he really didn't want to let down - he didn't care about letting himself down and he got thrown out of Tennessee.  Then he got married his freshman year at Marshall and his wife got pregnant a few months later and he said "OK, it's time to buckle up because you've got other people, it's not just letting yourself down any more...I had to just look at my wife and newborn and say 'I'm not going to let you all down" and that was all it took for me.

 

About 11:30 in starts talking about Josh, says he's "a man's man" and he's one of the first guys on the team he'd grab to go into a bar fight and he can't think of many QB he's been around he could say that about...says he's been around a lot of great ones, HOF talent, and Josh has lot to prove before he becomes that, but there aren't many guys at that position that are "just friggin' renegades like Josh is...the biggest fear you have is that he's gonna knock himself out every week".  Says it was fun to watch Josh's growth from last year to this year and the sky's the limit.

 

He doesn't really talk about retirement.  Says he's got to talk to Brandon Beane about the best thing for the team and the best thing for his family.  He considers that he's near the end of his career and he enthuses a lot about how it would be great to play in Tennessee.

[BobbyC81]

On 2/3/2021 at 11:37 PM, machine gun kelly said:

Lee was productive for his skills.  I wish him well.  I’d rather have one less TE, although three makes sense, and find a very good blocking FB.

 

Just like people didn’t realize Star’s value, also a number of people didn’t realize what DiMarco did for our running game.  I’m not saying he was great, but he served a purpose.  Having someone to pave the way can really help.  Look at juscszyk.  What a name.  Anyway, he doesn’t have a lot of yards, but he in 2019 was a big part of their excellent running game.  He opened holes and once past the D Line, guys were able to get some yards.

They finally got rid of DiMarco because they didn’t use him as a FB.  Only a couple of teams use one these days.

[YoloinOhio]

22 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Historically Gronk is of course one of the top TE of all time.  Kelse unquestionably.  Plenty of other TE in the league, sure.

 

Brate and Howard, you're gonna have to walk me through that.

TIL Kelce and Gronk are the same age. Guess it makes sense but I didn’t realize that.