Ryan "Rick" Bates Watch Thread

[Logic]

3 minutes ago, MrEpsYtown said:

 

Hernandez is the guy I like. Totally mismanaged in NY. 

I'm curious what makes you say he was mismanaged. I'm not disagreeing, because I don't know. Just wondering if you have some insight you can share. The article below from a Giants blog points out that he's done a ton to try to improve, and it just hasn't happened. Sounds like their version of Cody Ford.

https://www.bigblueview.com/2022/2/18/22933335/giants-2022-free-agency-g-will-hernandez

 

"He just hasn’t played well enough. Hernandez showed promise as a rookie, but the PFF grades he posted in 2018 (62.9 run blocking, 73.1 pass blocking and 67.9 overall) ended up as the best of his four seasons.

His run blocking has never met expectations. His pass blocking seems to have gotten worse instead of better. Despite playing more than 3,600 NFL snaps, he still struggles to read and react to basic defensive line stunts.

Hernandez switched positions from left guard to right guard in 2021. He also spent part of last offseason training with highly-regarded offensive line expert and founder/creator of OL Masterminds Duke Manyweather.

The pair watched tons of film and worked on Hernandez’s movement skills. Hernandez also dropped considerable weight.

It didn’t help. Hernandez surrendered career-worsts in sacks (7), quarterback hits (7), committed a career-worst 8 penalties (after committing 7 in three seasons) and posted the worst PFF score (55.9) of his career.

The Giants have now tried Hernandez at two positions. He has worked with Manyweather, considered the best in the business. Four offensive line coaches — Hal Hunter, Marc Colombo, Dave DeGuglielmo, Rob Sale — have tried to reach him."

 

[njbuff]

The Bills went out of their way to trade for Bates in 2019 and have always kept him around because they were high on him.

 

He got his chance in 2021 and performed well. So, we are supposed to believe they are simply just going to let him walk away?

[Doc]

16 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

Who knows?  There are reports linking him to the Giants, but hard to tell if they're press speculation based on coach associations, or substantial

 

SAT time - Panthers:Bills :: Bills:________

 

7 minutes ago, Logic said:

 

 

Hell no to Spain.  But the rest are possibilities.

[YoloinOhio]

7 minutes ago, njbuff said:

The Bills went out of their way to trade for Bates in 2019 and have always kept him around because they were high on him.

 

He got his chance in 2021 and performed well. So, we are supposed to believe they are simply just going to let him walk away?

Yes, if they don’t value him at the same price point as the Bears. Also, his OL coach the whole time he’s been here is now gone, and that could be factor in what route they take. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 minutes ago, Logic said:

 

 

Good Gravy what a list from Cover1.  NOT Greg Tompsett's best work!

 

Billy Price, Trey Hopkins, and JC Tretter played most of their career at C.  There's usually a reason for that, and it doesn't mean they'll be good RGs

Duvernay-Tardiff was seen as "needs upgrade" by KC.  Why is a guy not good enough to protect Mahomes, "fine" with us?  What do we think will change?

Quinton Spain was a malcontent here and started on a horrid OL in Cincy.  Why is that "fine"?

 

Williams was OK here at RG, so while I'd like an upgrade, I'll grant him that Williams would be a "starting point" if we draft a rookie.

Trai (spell his name correctly Greg!) Turner was a good OG in his time, would be his 9th season, might be fine

Will Hernandez - has he played RG?  The Giants whole OL sucked, and he seems like another 2nd round bust from that POV, but maybe he's a reclamation project

Ereck (again, spell his name right, Greg!) Flowers  a 1st round bust at OT for the Giants, has bounced around at LG - can he play RG?  didn't stick at LG

Tyrell Crosby - has played RT for the Lions, why do we think he can play RG?

 

Maybe one or more names on that list besides Williams would be OK, but we'd all like an upgrade from Williams.

 

 

7 minutes ago, Doc said:

Hell no to Spain.  But the rest are possibilities.

 

See above - disagree.  Especially there are three guys on that list who are C.  C get help on both sides.  They don't necessarily make good guards.

[njbuff]

2 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Yes, if they don’t value him at the same price point as the Bears. Also, his OL coach the whole time he’s been here is now gone, and that could be factor in what route they take. 

 

If they don't sign Bates, then IOL is in play early in the draft, cause how in the world can they count on Ford to be the starter at RG when he is already a proven failure there.

[MrEpsYtown]

5 minutes ago, Logic said:

I'm curious what makes you say he was mismanaged. I'm not disagreeing, because I don't know. Just wondering if you have some insight you can share. The article below from a Giants blog points out that he's done a ton to try to improve, and it just hasn't happened. Sounds like their version of Cody Ford.

https://www.bigblueview.com/2022/2/18/22933335/giants-2022-free-agency-g-will-hernandez

 

"He just hasn’t played well enough. Hernandez showed promise as a rookie, but the PFF grades he posted in 2018 (62.9 run blocking, 73.1 pass blocking and 67.9 overall) ended up as the best of his four seasons.

His run blocking has never met expectations. His pass blocking seems to have gotten worse instead of better. Despite playing more than 3,600 NFL snaps, he still struggles to read and react to basic defensive line stunts.

Hernandez switched positions from left guard to right guard in 2021. He also spent part of last offseason training with highly-regarded offensive line expert and founder/creator of OL Masterminds Duke Manyweather.

The pair watched tons of film and worked on Hernandez’s movement skills. Hernandez also dropped considerable weight.

It didn’t help. Hernandez surrendered career-worsts in sacks (7), quarterback hits (7), committed a career-worst 8 penalties (after committing 7 in three seasons) and posted the worst PFF score (55.9) of his career.

The Giants have now tried Hernandez at two positions. He has worked with Manyweather, considered the best in the business. Four offensive line coaches — Hal Hunter, Marc Colombo, Dave DeGuglielmo, Rob Sale — have tried to reach him."

 

 

It is just a bad situation. He had played a ton at left guard and was growing into it. He was extremely durable and then essentially lost his job because he got COVID. He hits the bench, then flipped over the right side. He went through a number of OL coaches and played 4 years with 4 different centers and four different left  tackles. Hernandez got blamed for Andrew Thomas' poor play as well. I think he was a little raw coming out, they threw him out there and didn't really do a great job of developing him. Then they threw him into this weird rotation where he was getting a few plays here and there on both sides. But the lack of continuity in the coaching there is what totally screwed up his career imo. Similar in some ways to Ford in that they did not stick with him at RT and got better players and he hit the bench. The Bills beleived that Ford was an impact RT and they didn't really let him prove it. Again, raw guy coming out, but the team didn't really commit to his development. 

 

[YoloinOhio]

21 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Or maybe they have a plan….we just don’t know what it may be.  

If they didn’t have any other plan B at RG and had him penciled in to start there, they certainly aren’t giving him the lowest tender.

Just now, njbuff said:

 

If they don't sign Bates, then IOL is in play early in the draft, cause how in the world can they count on Ford to be the starter at RG when he is already a proven failure there.

It should be, whether bates is here or not. They need to invest in young talent at the position. Bates was a UDFA I believe, which is fine. 

[Yobogoya!]

1 minute ago, YoloinOhio said:

If they didn’t have any other plan B at RG and had him penciled in to start there, they certainly aren’t giving him the lowest tender.

 

If Beane is penciling in guys to start who aren't under contract, we need to revoke his "wizard" status ASAP! 😅

[Logic]

7 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Ereck (again, spell his name right, Greg!) Flowers  a 1st round bust at OT for the Giants, has bounced around at LG - can he play RG?  didn't stick at LG

I don't really disagree with any of the nits you picked.

Though Flowers -- a notorious bust at OT -- has apparently been pretty decent at guard, improving every season he's been there. Apparently a weaker run blocker than pass blocker, but not the tire fire that hew as at OT. Don't get me wrong, I'm not stumping for him or anything, but if it's a vet minimum, "compete for your spot" type thing, well...
 

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by Logic

[MrEpsYtown]

7 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Good Gravy what a list from Cover1.  NOT Greg Tompsett's best work!

 

Billy Price, Trey Hopkins, and JC Tretter played most of their career at C.  There's usually a reason for that, and it doesn't mean they'll be good RGs

Duvernay-Tardiff was seen as "needs upgrade" by KC.  Why is a guy not good enough to protect Mahomes, "fine" with us?  What do we think will change?

Quinton Spain was a malcontent here and started on a horrid OL in Cincy.  Why is that "fine"?

 

Williams was OK here at RG, so while I'd like an upgrade, I'll grant him that Williams would be a "starting point" if we draft a rookie.

Trai (spell his name correctly Greg!) Turner was a good OG in his time, would be his 9th season, might be fine

Will Hernandez - has he played RG?  The Giants whole OL sucked, and he seems like another 2nd round bust from that POV, but maybe he's a reclamation project

Ereck (again, spell his name right, Greg!) Flowers  a 1st round bust at OT for the Giants, has bounced around at LG - can he play RG?  didn't stick at LG

Tyrell Crosby - has played RT for the Lions, why do we think he can play RG?

 

Maybe one or more names on that list besides Williams would be OK, but we'd all like an upgrade from Williams.

 

 

 

See above - disagree.  Especially there are three guys on that list who are C.  C get help on both sides.  They don't necessarily make good guards.

 

Price played a bunch of guard, as has Hopkins, but they were both pretty bad. I like Turner as the vet and Hernandez as the young reclamation project. We already had an Erik Flowers and he blew. 

[Doc]

19 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

See above - disagree.  Especially there are three guys on that list who are C.  C get help on both sides.  They don't necessarily make good guards.

 

I agree with your assessment.  I should have said "a few from the list."

[thenorthremembers]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Not so fast.  In addition to missing 2 games, Saffold missed almost 20% of the snaps last season.  He needs at a minimum, quality backup.

Second, who is playing RG?  If it's not Bates, it might be Williams - but would Williams be a happy and motivated guy to sign for $2M or less?

 

With Saffolds age, I fully expect them to draft a guard.  That player ends up being your swing guard.   In a pinch, Mancz has also played guard.

 

On the Williams thing, he better be motivated to play for less than what he made the last few years, getting kind of long into free agency to be looking for money like that. 

[YoloinOhio]

23 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

 

With Saffolds age, I fully expect them to draft a guard.  That player ends up being your swing guard.   In a pinch, Mancz has also played guard.

 

On the Williams thing, he better be motivated to play for less than what he made the last few years, getting kind of long into free agency to be looking for money like that. 

Probably waiting to see if anyone will sign him to play RT

42 minutes ago, Yobogoya! said:

 

If Beane is penciling in guys to start who aren't under contract, we need to revoke his "wizard" status ASAP! 😅

Well he’s an RFA so he could have penciled him in if he wanted to.

[billsfan89]

Any word on the numbers for Bates yet? 

[BigAl2526]

I think no news with regards to Bates is probably good news.  It may be he was hoping too be blown away by an offer, but hasn't been.  If he can only get a contract close to the tender offer, he might choose to stick with the Bills for a year and take the chance he could get a Super Bowl ring.

[Punching Bag]

3 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I'd like to respectfully suggest that Josh should recognize that it's not his area of expertise to evaluate OL play - both on the Bills and around the league - or to value the contracts due players.

 

Allen certainly would have input especially if he said he would make changes to his compensation to get linemen he wants.

Money talks.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

 

So....who's the journalist who can get those details, hmmmmmmm?

[JaCrispy]

I think the Bills just blew their Rick Bates money on Taiwan Jones...😉

 

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by JaCrispy

[John from Riverside]

14 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Nah…

Scott this seems to be your problem

 

The bills dont have to justify a damn thing....they are getting it done you however B word and moan at ever step

[Mr. WEO]

But is Bates really 6 times more worthy than Taiwan Jones??

[Mike in Horseheads]

1 hour ago, JaCrispy said:

I think the Bills just blew their Rick Bates money on Taiwan Jones...😉

 

 

When did he become Rick Bates? I thought he was Ryan?

[YoloinOhio]

7 minutes ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

When did he become Rick Bates? I thought he was Ryan?

He’s only Rick in Buffalo. If he goes to the Bears it goes back to Ryan.

 

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by YoloinOhio

[JaCrispy]

2 minutes ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

When did he become Rick Bates? I thought he was Ryan?

I think some of the guys on the team decided he looked more like a Rick...so the nickname stuck...👍

Edited March 24, 2022 by JaCrispy

[John from Riverside]

Just now, ScottLaw said:

It was sarcasm John… and they haven’t got anything done yet. 

To think that lamenting every move simply because they have not won a super bowl is folly.

[John from Riverside]

2 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Except I don’t lament every move….I lamented them not doing jack ***** last offseason besides bringing it back and I was proven right…. I think they are the best team in the AFC, but have some glaring holes at the moment that need to be addressed. 

I dont necessarily think they were wrong.

 

They were 13 seconds away from the AFC Championship.....everyone wants to talk about that 13 seconds but the fact is EVERYTHING had to go right for the Chiefs to escape that game.

[Turbo44]

1 hour ago, JaCrispy said:

I think the Bills just blew their Rick Bates money on Taiwan Jones...😉

 

 

Nope - Jones will have got vet minimum and, once you knock off whatever guy is 51st $$ on the Bill's roster, Jones will cost a couple hundred thousand  the cap.  Virtually nothing

[NewEra]

13 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

It was sarcasm John… and they haven’t won a super bowl yet.

Fixed. They definitely have done “anything”.  They haven’t accomplished the end goal. 

[John from Riverside]

5 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Huh? Chiefs were winning for most of the game and out playing/out coaching them as well….I’m not even talking about the 13 seconds. The Bills were lucky to be ahead at that point as I thought they were outplayed throughout most of it as Chiefs were clearly the more talented team. 

You just cant help yourself

The Cheifs were NOT winning for most of the game

When Josh Allen left the field we were winning

[Beerball]

9 hours ago, MrEpsYtown said:

 

they have a QB on a rookie contract so they can overspend. 

The good old days, eh?

[Golden]

36 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

They out-gained us in every statistical category… even without the overtime…. They were up 9 at one point… regardless, I am not trying to hijack the thread…. Let’s hope they do a lot more to upgrade the offensive line because as it stands now it’s a gigantic work in progress.👍🏻

Perhaps because they had the ball in OT & we did not.  👍

[Simon]

Report that Bates intends to sign Bears offer sheet

 

 

 

 

[The Jokeman]

4 minutes ago, Simon said:

Report that Bates intends to sign Bears offer sheet

 

 

 

 

Do we know for how much?

[Ethan in Cleveland]

2 hours ago, The Jokeman said:

Do we know for how much?

No dollars released as far as I could find. 5 days to match. Beane has spent most of his money already so he can take the full 5 days to decide what to do.

[Locomark]

It is on Thursday’s NFL transaction list that Bates signed the Bears offer sheet. So the ball is our court to match or punt. I expect a match with a 2 year deal unless the Beats offer is silly and front loaded. 

Edited March 25, 2022 by Locomark

[BillsFanForever19]

If it's that important to them, maybe we should just let them have it. They need it more than we do and we hardly play with that toy anymore 😛

Edited March 25, 2022 by BillsFanForever19

[GunnerBill]

5 hours ago, Simon said:

Report that Bates intends to sign Bears offer sheet

 

 

 

 

 

I mean I reported this two days ago 👀

2 hours ago, Locomark said:

It is on Thursday’s NFL transaction list that Bates signed the Bears offer sheet. So the ball is our court to match or punt. I expect a match with a 2 year deal unless the Beats offer is silly and front loaded. 

 

It is poison pilled to make it very hard for Buffalo to match. 

 

He is a Bear. 

[CSBill]

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

It is poison pilled to make it very hard for Buffalo to match. 

 

 

Not hard to imagine that being the case. If he goes, this is the one Bills Free Agent that I will be truly disappointed that we did not bring back. It just does not jive with the "protect Josh" mantra of Beane at the end of the season. .... I guess they know more than I do, but I not seeing the plan here ????

 

Edited March 25, 2022 by CSBill

[GunnerBill]

5 minutes ago, CSBill said:

 

Not hard to imagine that being the case. If he goes, this is the one Bills Free Agent that I will be truly disappointed that we did not bring back. It just does not jive with the "protect Josh" mantra of Beane at the end of the season. .... I guess they know more than I do, but I not seeing the plan here ????

 

 

The problem is we have such a small sample size to really evaluate Bates on. He is a risk to commit a serious chunk of change to. A team like the Bears, miles away from anything can afford to take that risk more than a team like the Bills loading up for a run where every penny counts. I am a bit disappointed with what they have done at guard in FA though. Got to believe we will see an interior OL in the meat and potatoes rounds of this draft (2 through 4).

[BarleyNY]

31 pages and we don’t even know the offer.  Wow