Bills claim Casey rogers off waivers

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

9 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

 

That's my read on Hamlin too, I think Cover 1 and some more detailed film junkies on Youtube have said similar things. That Hamlin is very fundamentally sound in knowing where to be in the system while also being a willing tackler he just lacks the speed to close like an elite safety. 

 

Not a big hitter, but an alright tackler.  Not fast, but where he needs to be for the most part.  Won't make splash plays or anything particularly exciting, but a relatively steady hand.  

 

I don't love the player because physical limitations are pretty difficult to overcome without some next level training, but for depth i don't hate it.  I don't even know if anyone would claim him off the PS if he ended up there either.  

[Simon]

On 5/9/2025 at 10:54 PM, DCofNC said:

Why is everyone all excited about a guy that was a bottom of the barrel signing?  He’s the Andy Isabella of Safeties.

 

Says a guy that has never watched him play or even heard of him until the Bills signed him. 

[billsfan89]

Just now, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

 

Not a big hitter, but an alright tackler.  Not fast, but where he needs to be for the most part.  Won't make splash plays or anything particularly exciting, but a relatively steady hand.  

 

I don't love the player because physical limitations are pretty difficult to overcome without some next level training, but for depth i don't hate it.  I don't even know if anyone would claim him off the PS if he ended up there either.  

 

I think a team would 100% claim him. There's not many teams with 4 safeties better than him and the fact that he's a willing special teams player means that teams won't be burning a roster spot on a pure backup. He's well worth a roster spot in my opinion. Ideally the team has Bishop displace him but having a steady backup who at worst flexes into a ST role is still good injuries happen and this team could do a lot worse than having Hamlin plug in for a few games. 

[NeverOutNick]

On 5/11/2025 at 3:53 PM, BullBuchanan said:

I'm going to need to see receipts, because I haven't seen any evidence that this is the case. I've seen FAR more mental errors from Rapp, and especially Bishop than Hamlin.

No. that's the definition of cheap in today's NFL. He's the 64th highest paid safety.

Mike Edwards made 2.8M from us last year to not play at all.

 

13 hours ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

 

This is hardly true.  I'd argue Cam lewis was by far the weakest link on our defense last year.  

It’s 100% true. Just watch last year’s games. I don’t have game film in my pocket to share (wish I did) but spend an hour of any game just focusing on Hamlin. He’s clueless out there and absolute garbage in coverage but sure he’s a willing tackler. And yes Lewis is 2nd worst on the list but even he shows mild situational awareness. 
 

Bishop was a second round reach and made rookie mistakes but you can see that he knows how to play the position and he’s athletic enough to stay with guys when he’s focused and to not leave corners on an island.

 

Do I love our safeties, no, I think that’s a huge weakness still but at least with crazy heat seeking missile Rapp I get a guy who understands how to play safety, even if he doesn’t care about his or any other players well-being. I’m hopeful that Hancock and Forest are the real deal but that’s a stretch because even if they outperform others in camp it’s not McDs MO to give newbies a starting gig over his guys

Edited 17 hours ago by NeverOutNick

[Paup 1995MVP]

19 minutes ago, NeverOutNick said:

 

It’s 100% true. Just watch last year’s games. I don’t have game film in my pocket to share (wish I did) but spend an hour of any game just focusing on Hamlin. He’s clueless out there and absolute garbage in coverage but sure he’s a willing tackler. And yes Lewis is 2nd worst on the list but even he shows mild situational awareness. 
 

Bishop was a second round reach and made rookie mistakes but you can see that he knows how to play the position and he’s athletic enough to stay with guys when’s focused to not leave corners on an island.

 

Do I love our safeties, no, I think that’s a huge weakness still but at least with crazy heat sealing missile Rapp I get a guy who understands how to play safety, even if he doesn’t care about his or any other players well-being. I’m hopeful that Hancock and Forest are the real deal but that’s a stretch because even if they outperform others in camp it’s not McDs MO to give newbies a starting gig over his guys

That's a great summary of our safety play last year.  Lets hope Rapp and Bishop are a real good tandem together this coming year.  Don't know much about Forrest, but have heard he is athletic and played real well in 2022 when healthy for Washington.  As for Hancock, he played and started some for the Nat Champion Buckeyes.  There should be a place for him in the defensive rotation sooner than later. 

 

Our defense was trash last year.  There needs to be a plan to incorporate all 6 players drafted on defense this year into the rotation pretty quickly.  The guys in front of them on the D Line and secondary were pretty bad with little to no upside.  That has to change.  McDermott is a ***** coach if he can not see that.  And yes Hamlin was lousy last year.  Lacks the basic athleticism to be playing NFL football.  Pretty much the same w Cam Lewis.  Its a speed game in the modern NFL.  The old time safety's like David Fulcher (remember him from Cincinnati) are bigger then many LB's in today's game.  We need to keep up with better athleticism.    

[pennstate10]

17 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

It's really not that big of a deal. There's a reason they move corners who have gotten too slow to safety. It's an area you can hide if you have enough game knowledge. It's especially if you have great ball skills and play a lot of zone. If Hamlin can stick around long enough to acquire the game knowledge due to playing hard and his ST contributions. I wouldn't be shocked to see a guy like him play into his mid thirties as a contributor.

I think it’s a pretty big deal.
 

Especially for a team in its Super Bowl window.
 

Hamlin supposedly ran 4.6 at his pro day, but he plays slower than that. he’s not Micah Hyde. 
 

Id prefer that he play into his mid thirties as a contributor for the Jets. 

[DCofNC]

21 hours ago, Simon said:

 

Says a guy that has never watched him play or even heard of him until the Bills signed him. 

Says the whole NFL, who bid his deal all the way up to just over vet min… but I’m sure the all knowing, fearless leader or TBD knows more from seeing a couple of YouTube highlights.

[DCofNC]

20 hours ago, NeverOutNick said:

 

It’s 100% true. Just watch last year’s games. I don’t have game film in my pocket to share (wish I did) but spend an hour of any game just focusing on Hamlin. He’s clueless out there and absolute garbage in coverage but sure he’s a willing tackler. And yes Lewis is 2nd worst on the list but even he shows mild situational awareness. 
 

Bishop was a second round reach and made rookie mistakes but you can see that he knows how to play the position and he’s athletic enough to stay with guys when he’s focused and to not leave corners on an island.

 

Do I love our safeties, no, I think that’s a huge weakness still but at least with crazy heat seeking missile Rapp I get a guy who understands how to play safety, even if he doesn’t care about his or any other players well-being. I’m hopeful that Hancock and Forest are the real deal but that’s a stretch because even if they outperform others in camp it’s not McDs MO to give newbies a starting gig over his guys

I don’t think Bishop was really reach, I was not a fan of the draft strategy at all last year, Cooper Dejean would have been pick 1 and a WR #2 if I were running the show, probably still could have had Coleman in all reality.  I think Bishop was drafted around where he was projected/should have gone.  
 

The way the Safety position was handled at large?  Awful.  They went into last year with one guy who is a quality back up (Rapp) as the clear best starter in the room and then drafted Bishop who basically plays the same role, signed Edwards for the sake of spending money I guess, but again wanting a back up as a potential contributor and left camp with Rapp and Hamlin, who isn’t even quality depth as the starters.  It was worse than assuming Gabe Davis was your #2 and having nobody else on the roster below him at WR they pulled the year before.  
 

Credit where credit is due, in my opinion, this is the absolute best draft Beane has ever had.  He drafted to the strength of the draft, picked up guys that looked to be much higher value than where he got them, he restocked the shelves of a defense that needed a major overhaul and really set the team up to free up a lot of cap space over the next 2 years if the draft class performs.   I’m not saying he picked all the right guys, but I am saying he retooled a WEAK secondary, restocked the DL, opened up the opportunity to cut Knox, let Edwards walk, and potentially move on from Oliver’s contract as well as possibly plugged the hole at 1T, again depending on how the guys perform.  If he picked the right guys, this will be the best draft he’s ever had, aside from the obvious of picking Allen. 

[finn]

19 hours ago, Paup 1995MVP said:

We need to keep up with better athleticism.    

Hamlin's RAS score: 6.98. Lewis: 4.5. It's impressive the Bills went as far as they did last year with these two playing such big roles. Not saying they should have been cut, but you don't want this level of athleticism in your starters.

[BuffaloBill]

On 5/9/2025 at 5:41 PM, BullBuchanan said:

Camp body, but still weird to me to bring in an 8th pure DT.

The fact that Beane has done basically nothing to increase competition at S is the most perplexing non-move of the offseason to me. I 100% agree with the approach to prioritize the front 4, but I would have brought in a couple UDFAs and brought in some cheap options there that have real potential.

 

 

The Bills are keen to improve the d-line.

[Simon]

54 minutes ago, DCofNC said:

Says the whole NFL, who bid his deal all the way up to just over vet min… but I’m sure the all knowing, fearless leader or TBD knows more from seeing a couple of YouTube highlights.

 

We don't really know jack-shlt as of yet; that still puts us well ahead of you which is perhaps why we don't feel the need to cluelessly rag on some kid we know nothing about.

[MrEpsYtown]

53 minutes ago, DCofNC said:

The way the Safety position was handled at large?  Awful.  They went into last year with one guy who is a quality back up (Rapp) as the clear best starter in the room and then drafted Bishop who basically plays the same role, signed Edwards for the sake of spending money I guess, but again wanting a back up as a potential contributor and left camp with Rapp and Hamlin, who isn’t even quality depth as the starters.  It was worse than assuming Gabe Davis was your #2 and having nobody else on the roster below him at WR they pulled the year before.  

 

They backed themselves into a corner with the safety spot. I think they wanted Edwards or Bishop to start with Rapp and knew they were better than Damar, and they both got hurt in training camp and then they just couldn't justify playing them over Hamlin. And that is why keeping those guys around is a bad thing. To cut or bench a very popular teammate/player in Hamlin to play a guy like Edwards, who had done nothing to earn the spot, borders on losing the locker room. Please get rid of the feel-good stories in the offseason and then you won't feel the pressure to play them. There is no galaxy where Hamlin is a better player than Mike Edwards. And after all that, Hamlin is still around because no one was interested in free agency. I hope the front office has the courage to move on from him so they don't feel forced to play him. I respect all that he has been through, but he is one of the worst safeties in the NFL and isn't good functional depth because people like him so much they feel the need to play him. Move on from the solid good guys who are terrible athletes at the bottom of the roster and replace them with younger, faster, cheaper. It's nothing personal, he just isn't good. 

 

But anyway, how about that Casey Rogers guy? 

Edited 7 hours ago by MrEpsYtown

[Paup 1995MVP]

1 hour ago, finn said:

Hamlin's RAS score: 6.98. Lewis: 4.5. It's impressive the Bills went as far as they did last year with these two playing such big roles. Not saying they should have been cut, but you don't want this level of athleticism in your starters.

Thank you for expounding on what I said.  Hamlin’s score seems very mediocre, at best.  And Lewis far below that.  They are solid football players.  But we need better athletes, who are good football players to win at the highest level.  Hopefully the new additions in the secondary will provide that.  
 

Do you know what the 3 new DB’s RAS scores are?

 

But to your point, it shows how well are coaches can coach DB’s up to at least be competent on the back end for the most part.  Although the defensive effort against the Rams last year was god awful.  And exposed us for the lack of athleticism we had on the back end.  And that was fortified the next week against the Lions. 

[Cash]

2 hours ago, Paup 1995MVP said:

Thank you for expounding on what I said.  Hamlin’s score seems very mediocre, at best.  And Lewis far below that.  They are solid football players.  But we need better athletes, who are good football players to win at the highest level.  Hopefully the new additions in the secondary will provide that.  
 

Do you know what the 3 new DB’s RAS scores are?

 

https://ras.football/

 

Hairston: INCOMPLETE, but on pace for 9.63 pending agility drills.  (And based on his highlights, he probably would've done well on the agility drills.)

Hancock: 9.82 - and that's at CB.  Likely would be even higher at S if that's where he winds up.

Strong: 8.34

[BigDingus]

On 5/9/2025 at 5:33 PM, MJS said:

Darrick Forrest, a UDFA (Wande Owens), and a draft pick in Hancock. Seems like they have brought in safeties to me.

Yeah, he is better than Hamlin. More upside, too. So, even if Bishop isn't ready to start, Forrest is still a good option.

 

If Forrest leaps Bishop on the depth chart, that would make me view Bishop as another Kaiir Elam. Another early round draft pick getting passed over by late rounders or UDFAs? Not a great sign. 

[JakeFrommStateFarm]

On 5/9/2025 at 5:48 PM, PonyBoy said:

@The Wiz 

You missed your chance at starting Hot Replies!

 

You should have titled the thread "Bills sign Rogers!"

 

Who cares about the spelling, by the time this board figured it out it would be En Fuego 🔥😀

He could have said:

 

"Bills sign Rodgers, expected to challenge for starting role !!!"

[MJS]

45 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

If Forrest leaps Bishop on the depth chart, that would make me view Bishop as another Kaiir Elam. Another early round draft pick getting passed over by late rounders or UDFAs? Not a great sign. 

Why would he leap Bishop?