Reported Bills UDFA signing - 11 signed, 3 Camp Invites *Updated* 09:32 (4 open spots)

[BillsVet]

13 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

I love the Von Miller signing..........but that was only part of their spending spree on defense.

 

I'm underwhelmed by the relative amount of assets that they've put into addressing the offensive side of the ball...........which had systemic problems that only using Josh Allen like a RB down the stretch really resolved.    That approach is obviously not sustainable.

 

I like the Von Miller for Hughes/Addison swap A LOT better than old man Saffold for the more reliable/available Daryl Williams.

 

Seems to me they are putting ENORMOUS trust in Aaron Kromer and Ken Dorsey.    It's almost like they believe the struggles were all due to Daboll.     

 

They seem to prioritize offense only when they have to...like 2018 when they needed a QB and recognized it'd take some maneuvering in round 1.  Or, in 2019 when their moribund offense needed a major talent infusion.  Even 2020 trading for Diggs after their WR group proved good but not good enough against better teams and in the post-season.  

 

And amazingly those 3 off-seasons were before Josh ascended into being a veritable franchise QB.   

 

For all the joking around about the roster being so deep and picks not making it out of camp, their depth on offense is not aligned with Beane's comments about protecting Josh.  

 

I wonder after 2021 and 2022 off-seasons what authority Beane has at OBD.  Or, if he goes defense to keep the HC satisfied.  

 

I'd just hate to be in a meeting with ownership after 2022 following another playoff loss to explain that the plan of featuring a new blocking scheme, new offensive coaches and aging UFA OL signings was insufficient.   

[LabattBlue]

11 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

For all the joking around about the roster being so deep and picks not making it out of camp, their depth on offense is not aligned with Beane's comments about protecting Josh.  

 

I wonder after 2021 and 2022 off-seasons what authority Beane has at OBD.  Or, if he goes defense to keep the HC satisfied.  

 

I'd just hate to be in a meeting with ownership after 2022 following another playoff loss to explain that the plan of featuring a new blocking scheme, new offensive coaches and aging UFA OL signings was insufficient.   

This!

[BillsVet]

 

3 hours ago, Starr Almighty said:

The Bills didn't lose because of their OL. They couldn't get a pass rush on Mahomes causing them to lose.What do they go and do? Sign Von Miller

 

Rarely when assessing why something went wrong is there one and only one true cause.  Not putting Mahomes down was one contributing cause.  Another was, for the second year in a row, not interrupting the routes Hill and Kelce ran and giving them free release off the LOS.  Another was the rush and pass blocking.  Their off-season review I would have thought identified all three as areas to improve.  Their response was to overwhelmingly address 1.  The second, well, it's McD's scheme Frazier is running and that will likely not change.  And 3...that's what we're talking about here.  

 

This off-season the bias toward defense continued.  And, as Beane has noted, you likely need to improve the areas where you lose your last game if it's in the playoffs.  They haven't done that - again. 

 

1 hour ago, Doc said:

You can always do more.  The problem is there are constraints with resource allocation and Beane would also tell you that.  Sure it would be great to have all-pros at every position, but there's not enough money for any team to accommodate that, much less one with a $40M/year QB.  So you do the best you can. 

 

This first sentence is the lead to Conflation 101.  

[Doc]

10 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

The flaw in that argument is that Beane says repeatedly that it all starts up front, on both sides of the ball, and that's how he builds the team.  He says that we have to protect Josh Allen, and part of that is the run game (which he acknowledges was limited by the OL more than the backs last year).  So we're not talking "every position".  We're talking key positions, as defined by Brandon "it all starts up front" "we've got to protect Josh Allen" "that's how I build the team" Beane.

 

Then he cheaps out on OL and ignores it in the draft, while spending widely on DL and using high draft picks on D.

 

I'm not making a specific argument "shoulda drafted this guy or that guy".  But since other teams are finding value in the draft and FA - I find it a bit hard to believe that Beane couldn't do more - not at EVERY position, but specifically on OL.  You know, up front - where Beane says he prioritizes building the team.

 

Having a $258M QB and then having your major effort to improve an OL you describe as "a starting place" be:

1) a 33 year old G who only played 87% and 82% of the snaps and 15 games the last 2 seasons - which translates to only missing 2 games last season, but playing less than 60% of the snaps in 4 more games, signed for 1 year at $6.2M

2) resigning an RFA with 4 games of experience for $2.3M cap this year

3) signing 4 more OLmen to vet min or near vet min deals - one coming back from an Achilles tear, and one named Bobby Hart

4) drafting an OT with Pick 31 in the 6th round - an OT described on NFL.com as "a potential undrafted free agent and could struggle to compete at the pro level"

does not compute with actually walking the walk Beane talks.

 

C'mon, man, don't try to defend that with the "can't have all pros at every position" schtick.  We're not talking "every position" here, we're talking the guys charged with keeping Josh Allen clean and giving him time to throw.

 

I did mean on the OL, since that was the topic of discussion. 

 

Again they had the choice of Saffold or Norwell.  They went with Saffold.  You'll have to ask them why when the money was similar and they're both essentially on 1-year deals.  A rookie late 2nd rounder, much less later, likely wouldn't start.  I doubt that Bucs OG will.

 

Bates is averaging $4.25M/year, which puts him at 26th in the league.  That's starting money.  And they matched it when they could have easily let him go.

 

Again it leaves just RT.  Do you give up on Brown is basically what I'm asking?

 

 

4 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

This first sentence is the lead to Conflation 101.  

 

It's true, you can always do more.  Only in hindsight do you know if you did enough.

[f0neguy]

I admit that I’m no expert on line play but the Bills have invested in young lineman.  Brown, Doyle, Ike, and Rick are all younger guys.  They also drafted Anderson who they lost to the Eagles off of the PS last year.  (Not even counting Ford)

 

Maybe Kromer saw something in the kid they just drafted that he can work with.  Young lineman take time and Josh covers up problems.  At this point I’m not too worried,  I expect they’ll be better this year.  Compared to what they’ve put on the field in the past we’re okay 👍.

[Ralonzo]

2 hours ago, wppete said:

Prince Emili DT from Penn look impressive. We might have something here. Impressive quickness and dissects the run plays quick using OLine ques. Im excited to see him develop. 
 

 

It's an impressive change of direction once he gets past the line of scrimmage. Reminds me of Pat Williams as a UDFA in preseason just annihilating 2's and 3's playing as a one-gap tackle.

[wppete]

1 minute ago, Ralonzo said:

 

It's an impressive change of direction once he gets past the line of scrimmage. Reminds me of Pat Williams as a UDFA in preseason just annihilating 2's and 3's playing as a one-gap tackle.

Do you see him as a 3 tech? 

[Mopreme]

I don’t understand why Bills won’t pull trigger on Justyn Ross. Yes, injury concerns but at this point he would just be undrafted free agent with minimal financial impact. Am I missing something? A couple of years ago they look a change on that tackle who had horrid medicals. Yes, didn’t work out for him but why not take a chance on a first round talent? 

[Ralonzo]

1 minute ago, wppete said:

Do you see him as a 3 tech? 

 

His build seems similar to Oliver, 6'2" 300 is probably not stout enough for 1T and looks like he has the get-off to be a one-gap disruptor, at least on the highlights. May not be room on the 53, the DL is pretty stacked.

[wppete]

3 minutes ago, Ralonzo said:

 

His build seems similar to Oliver, 6'2" 300 is probably not stout enough for 1T and looks like he has the get-off to be a one-gap disruptor, at least on the highlights. May not be room on the 53, the DL is pretty stacked.

Yeah I agree. I think he would play similar role as Harrison Phillips. But he needs work, I see him on the PS for a couple of years with potential after that to crack the lineup. But he does have promise. Looking forward to seeing him develop. 

[John from Riverside]

24 minutes ago, Mopreme said:

I don’t understand why Bills won’t pull trigger on Justyn Ross. Yes, injury concerns but at this point he would just be undrafted free agent with minimal financial impact. Am I missing something? A couple of years ago they look a change on that tackle who had horrid medicals. Yes, didn’t work out for him but why not take a chance on a first round talent? 

Because dont you know the bills are the only team in the league and they are playing hardball for his services.

[BillsVet]

57 minutes ago, Doc said:

It's true, you can always do more.  Only in hindsight do you know if you did enough.

 

With that rationale, they didn't do enough last year coming off 2020.  And in their off-season review this season and by virtue of their offensive personnel changes, they took a similar approach for 2022.  

 

At this point, one does not need hindsight to cast doubt on those measures being sufficient.  

[UKBillFan]

Apologies, I might be blind but who's our tenth UDFA signing?

[LabattBlue]

2 minutes ago, UKBillFan said:

Apologies, I might be blind but who's our tenth UDFA signing?

They are all listed in OP. 

[UKBillFan]

9 minutes ago, BTB said:

They are all listed in OP. 

 

I didn't think to go back to page one. 🙄 Thanks!

[That's No Moon]

26 minutes ago, John from Riverside said:

Because dont you know the bills are the only team in the league and they are playing hardball for his services.

His representation is probably pushing very hard for some guaranteed money and the teams are pushing very hard back. Both for the same reason.

[Doc]

28 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

With that rationale, they didn't do enough last year coming off 2020.  And in their off-season review this season and by virtue of their offensive personnel changes, they took a similar approach for 2022.  

 

At this point, one does not need hindsight to cast doubt on those measures being sufficient.  

 

They lost to the Chefs because of defense/coaching.  They added more pieces to the DL, namely Von Miller, and drafted a 1st round CB, which hopefully would off-set the loss of a Pro Bowl CB like what happened last year (but hopefully doesn't happen again this year).

[Magox]

59 minutes ago, Mopreme said:

I don’t understand why Bills won’t pull trigger on Justyn Ross. Yes, injury concerns but at this point he would just be undrafted free agent with minimal financial impact. Am I missing something? A couple of years ago they look a change on that tackle who had horrid medicals. Yes, didn’t work out for him but why not take a chance on a first round talent? 

Because it takes two to make the deal.

 

He is most likely negotiating a relatively lucrative deal with someone to obtain his services and deciphering with his agent which place he stands a better chance to make a final roster.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, BillsVet said:

Rarely when assessing why something went wrong is there one and only one true cause.  Not putting Mahomes down was one contributing cause.  Another was, for the second year in a row, not interrupting the routes Hill and Kelce ran and giving them free release off the LOS.  Another was the rush and pass blocking.  Their off-season review I would have thought identified all three as areas to improve.  Their response was to overwhelmingly address 1.  The second, well, it's McD's scheme Frazier is running and that will likely not change.  And 3...that's what we're talking about here. 

 

Just a little note that I'm not sure how you argue that the Bills have only addressed #1.

To #2: We played Hill and Kelce more physically in the regular season KC game (which we won).  The reason they didn't have people trying to jam Hill and Kelce at the LOS was because Jackson and Wallace, while decent zone corners, simply don't have the physical traits to be able to jam guys like Hill and Kelce at the LOS then recover if they don't get 'er done.  We let Wallace walk and drafted Kaiir Elam in the 1st, arguably because we were seeking a second CB who can do that. 

 

#3, yeah, that's what we're talking about here.  Has Beane tried to improve, maybe a little bit but IMHO not enough.  The main strategy seems to be, to count on Kromer to make the existing personnel better.  Maybe he'll get 'er done.  Second strategy, count on our trainers and S&C staff to breathe new life into Saffold.  Maybe they'll get that done too.  I dunno, I don't feel comfortable that "hope" is a "plan" and that seems to be too close to hoping it'll work.

 

1 hour ago, Ralonzo said:

His build seems similar to Oliver, 6'2" 300 is probably not stout enough for 1T and looks like he has the get-off to be a one-gap disruptor, at least on the highlights. May not be room on the 53, the DL is pretty stacked.

 

Please bear in mind that size and height don't make someone a 3TDT vs a 1TDT.  When he was here, BigJ9797 at 6'6", 341 lbs was most definitely a 3TDT.

And Harrison Phillips at 6'3", 307 was definitely a 1TDT as was Star Lotulelei at 6'2", 310.

 

It has to do with mindset and with technique, AFAIK.

[No_Matter_What]

On 4/30/2022 at 10:24 PM, MAJBobby said:

75 on Contract (with draft picks)

10 UDFAs reportedly signed 

 

85 on roster (5 open spots)

 

Not that it matters much, but I just wanted to point out that NFLPA Public Salary Cap Report has Bills at 69 players (before rookies and UDFA). Last month they always listed 2 more players than Sportrac. I have no idea what is the reason but I think its worth mentioning.

 

https://nflpa.com/reports/public-salary-cap-report

 

Sportrac has 67 players + 8 rookies (i.e. 75 you mention).