Voice of the Eagles Merrill Reese: the word is Bills are close to finalizing deal with Zach Ertz

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

4 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

Josh Allen looked as bad first two years?

 

Well if this trade does go through, that means our coaching staff and GM don’t have confidence in Knox because they’re trading for a #1 tight end….which is the opinion of many of this board.

Gene Hackman is my #2.

 

It certainly is a position they could improve on. To me it says we're bringing in another TE who's still likely pretty good, but is approaching the end of his career.  If Knox does show good improvement, keep him and let Ertz go in 1 to 2 years. If there's still no improvement this year from Knox, then agree time to move on.

[Victory Formation]

1 minute ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

 

Sure, If you want to say he's struggled, hasn't looked good, etc, that's fine, but when you say "time to move on" you're saying my opinion is I'm smarter than the coaches.

 

You very well may be right as more players fail than succeed overall, but if we were to move on from every player after 2 years who's struggled, we'd be back to being a bad team again

When I say move on, it could mean numerous things. We could trade for Zach Ertz, we could draft a TE next year, we could go after a free agent. Obviously he has a cheap contract, so that matters, but you tell me, what makes you think Dawson Knox is any good? Tell me, what are you seeing?

[Bobby Hooks]

2 minutes ago, teef said:

on a number of levels...yes.

don't piggy back off my *****.

I think technically I’m piggy backing Royale. You wouldn’t know a good Gene unless it had Levi’s slapped on the pocket. 

[BillsShredder83]

8 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

But you know the words to every Luke Bryan song, right?

BBBBUUUUURRRRRNNNNNNNN

[teef]

Just now, Bobby Hooks said:

I think technically I’m piggy backing Royale. You wouldn’t know a good Gene unless it had Levi’s slapped on the pocket. 

there's playfulness, and then there's trying to hurt someone.  i think we know what you were going for here.

[Royale with Cheese]

4 minutes ago, teef said:

our board gene or gene hackman?

Our Gene wouldn’t have brought Milan HS in Hickory, IN a Championship.  He wouldn’t have given them hope….hope is all you need sometimes.

 

But at the same time, Red will tell you hope is a dangerous thing.  It can drive a man mad.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

3 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

We moved on from Zay Jones after 2 years….did you view that as a mistake?

 

Actually was about 1/3 of the way into his 3rd season when they traded him.  Plus wasn't there some issue that happened that prompted the sudden departure.  Gave up on a play or something

[Augie]

4 minutes ago, Victory Formation said:

When I say move on, it could mean numerous things. We could trade for Zach Ertz, we could draft a TE next year, we could go after a free agent. Obviously he has a cheap contract, so that matters, but you tell me, what makes you think Dawson Knox is any good? Tell me, what are you seeing?

 

Knox has definitely shown some very impressive flashes. I think that would be hard to argue against. The question is can he play at that level consistently? I don’t know the answer, but I hope he can focus and the answer is yes. 

 

 

.

Edited June 30, 2021 by Augie

[Royale with Cheese]

Just now, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

 

Actually was about 1/3 of the way into his 3rd season when they traded him.  Plus wasn't there some issue that happened that prompted the sudden departure.  Gave up on a play or something

I think it was simply he wasn’t getting anything done and unreliable.

 

Knox scares me because of his mental lapses.  

[Victory Formation]

Just now, Augie said:

 

Knox has definitely shown some impressive flashes. I think that would be hard to argue against. The question is can he play at that level consistently? I don’t know the answer, but I hope he can focus and the answer is yes. 

Oh, absolutely and I’m not necessarily saying we should cut him, that’s madness, but I’m also not advocating that we should wait for him to develop over the next 2-3 years while our Super Bowl window closes. TE is our biggest weakness, inject talent there and let the chips fall where they may.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

F5 time.

 

[Shaw66]

3 minutes ago, Victory Formation said:

When I say move on, it could mean numerous things. We could trade for Zach Ertz, we could draft a TE next year, we could go after a free agent. Obviously he has a cheap contract, so that matters, but you tell me, what makes you think Dawson Knox is any good? Tell me, what are you seeing?

1.  I think the Bills should get Ertz.  I think TE may be the only position in the starting lineup where the Bills don't have a truly good football player.

 

2.  I don't think that getting Ertz means they're moving on from Knox.  I think it means that the Bills think that by getting Ertz they may be able to put a truly good football player at that position this year.   The Bills also know, however, that by getting Ertz they could be getting Kelvin Benjamin.  

 

3.  As you say, there are a lot of ways the Bills might move on from Knox, but that way always will be about moving on after they have a reasonably long-term solution who is better.  That's not Ertz - he might be better, but it's not likely he's a reasonably long-term solution. 

 

4.  What I see in Ertz is good speed for a tight end, good but somewhat inconsistent hands, good attitude, willing blocker.  Players improve, and it's up to the Bills coaches to decide how much they think Knox might improve in areas where he is relatively weak.   If he doesn't show some serious improvement this year, I expect the Bills will be looking more aggressively for a better football player who can be a longer-term solution.  The Bills' model is that they don't want a revolving door at any position.  They don't want to be plugging in an Ertz every year.   Veteran acquisitions are to plug holes, not to build the roster.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

5 minutes ago, Victory Formation said:

When I say move on, it could mean numerous things. We could trade for Zach Ertz, we could draft a TE next year, we could go after a free agent. Obviously he has a cheap contract, so that matters, but you tell me, what makes you think Dawson Knox is any good? Tell me, what are you seeing?

 

He has the physical skill set that only a handful of TE's in the league possess.  He also played in an offense in college that hardly used the TE so he's still very raw but to me you hate to give up on those skills.  Add in the injuries, Covid, I'd be very reluctant to give up on him now.

 

You say draft a TE next year.  Agree there, if there's little to no improvement this season from him, then wouldn't argue with moving on, but would like to see 3 full seasons prior.

[Beast]

Could it be Knox straight up for Ertz?

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

7 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

I think it was simply he wasn’t getting anything done and unreliable.

 

Knox scares me because of his mental lapses.  

 

Agree with the mental part, but would want to give him one more full year.  He's really not had any TE's here to learn from that were good pass catching role models like what Etrz would bring and came from a college team that rarely used the TE when he was there.  If they had signed Olson last year, they would have had one there.

[Shaw66]

7 minutes ago, Victory Formation said:

Oh, absolutely and I’m not necessarily saying we should cut him, that’s madness, but I’m also not advocating that we should wait for him to develop over the next 2-3 years while our Super Bowl window closes. TE is our biggest weakness, inject talent there and let the chips fall where they may.

The dreaded Super Bowl window.   You can analyze team building in terms of the Super Bowl window all you want, but McBeane have been abundantly clear that they are not - I repeat they ARE NOT - operating on that assumption.   They're operating on the intention that the team will get better, year over year, for a decade.  

[Victory Formation]

1 minute ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

 

He has the physical skill set that only a handful of TE's in the league possess.  He also played in an offense in college that hardly used the TE so he's still very raw but to me you hate to give up on those skills.  Add in the injuries, Covid, I'd be very reluctant to give up on him now.

 

You say draft a TE next year.  Agree there, if there's little to no improvement this season from him, then wouldn't argue with moving on, but would like to see 3 full seasons prior.

Yup, but where did I say cut him? I’m essentially saying that we need to upgrade the position and by the looks of it our FO agrees. Certainly he can beat out Hollister, but not somebody like Ertz. You say that I think I know more than our FO, but ultimately my opinion reflects their approach like a mirror. If anything, your faith in Knox seems to be antagonistic towards what Beane and McD are doing. Did we not go after Hunter Henry as well? And now Ertz?

1 minute ago, Shaw66 said:

The dreaded Super Bowl window.   You can analyze team building in terms of the Super Bowl window all you want, but McBeane have been abundantly clear that they are not - I repeat they ARE NOT - operating on that assumption.   They're operating on the intention that the team will get better, year over year, for a decade.  

Once again, my opinion is essentially echoing what they’re doing. They went after Hunter Henry and now Ertz, they clearly think we’re soft at TE. If anything, you’re the one going against the grain, by all means.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

 

Well, someone has to take Kroft's place as inactive just about every week.  Might as well be Utz.

Edited June 30, 2021 by Ridgewaycynic2013

[Shaw66]

9 minutes ago, Victory Formation said:

 

Once again, my opinion is essentially echoing what they’re doing. They went after Hunter Henry and now Ertz, they clearly think we’re soft at TE. If anything, you’re the one going against the grain, by all means.

Oh, I agree completely that they want a better tight end.  As I said, I think it's maybe the only position on the field where McBeane feel they have a problem.    I'm just saying that I expect they think that Knox still might be the long-term answer, that Ertz would only be a short-term solution, and that McBeane do not feel any urgency because the so-called Super Bowl window may be closing.  They don't believe in a Super Bowl window.

[Kelly the Dog]

I wanna know why no one stopped him!!