2025 OTAs are underway

[hikerprof2]

21 hours ago, MikePJ76 said:

Which safety spot do you see Forrest playing?  
 

 

I think our ideal combo with the greatest upside is Bishop at SS and Forrest at FS. That's their natural positions. Ideally, we recreate a Poyer and Hyde combo. Poyer was the SS and Hyde the FS, and while on specific plays they could and did switch as coverage dictated, this doesn't mean they were 50% interchangeable and that the Bills didn't have dedicated safety positions. Right now the coaching staff has a lot of faith in Rapp, and they should-he is underrated by Bills fans. So we are reluctant to move him out of SS -but we also want the draft capitol of Bishop on the field, so we are unnaturally slotting him into the FS position, where he has more upside than Hamlin, who is an inspirational story but a JAG -he's not bad, he's not good, he's a veteran who won't make many mistakes but has low upside athletic potential. Ideally Bishop shows enough the coaching staff are confident he can handle SS as well or better than Rapp, and Forrest also has a strong camp and wins the FS position. I feel its more likely that we start with Rapp at SS and Bishop as FS (yes they will interchange on certain plays and schemes, like Poyer/Hyde) but it will take the almost inevitable injury to the hard charging (friend or foe) Rapp to move Bishop to his natural SS safety spot, and Forrest to the FS spot, and we have the ideal pair to replace the Poyer/Hyde regime.

 

Unless Forrest blows it in camp. Haven't heard much news on him.

 

[Logic]

1 hour ago, hikerprof2 said:

I think our ideal combo with the greatest upside is Bishop at SS and Forrest at FS. That's their natural positions. Ideally, we recreate a Poyer and Hyde combo. Poyer was the SS and Hyde the FS, and while on specific plays they could and did switch as coverage dictated, this doesn't mean they were 50% interchangeable and that the Bills didn't have dedicated safety positions. Right now the coaching staff has a lot of faith in Rapp, and they should-he is underrated by Bills fans. So we are reluctant to move him out of SS -but we also want the draft capitol of Bishop on the field, so we are unnaturally slotting him into the FS position, where he has more upside than Hamlin, who is an inspirational story but a JAG -he's not bad, he's not good, he's a veteran who won't make many mistakes but has low upside athletic potential. Ideally Bishop shows enough the coaching staff are confident he can handle SS as well or better than Rapp, and Forrest also has a strong camp and wins the FS position. I feel its more likely that we start with Rapp at SS and Bishop as FS (yes they will interchange on certain plays and schemes, like Poyer/Hyde) but it will take the almost inevitable injury to the hard charging (friend or foe) Rapp to move Bishop to his natural SS safety spot, and Forrest to the FS spot, and we have the ideal pair to replace the Poyer/Hyde regime.

 

Unless Forrest blows it in camp. Haven't heard much news on him.

 

Great post. I agree with all of it.

Bishop is a natural SS. He's a Poyer, not a Hyde. Unfortunately, Rapp is ALSO a Poyer type. Rapp is a good player, but as you say, he's a bit reckless and may not have the upside and long term fixture/leadership potential that Bishop has. Important to note that Rapp only has a dead cap number of $666,000 in 2026.

In an ideal world, Bishop would be the long term SS, starting in 2026. That means they need a long term free safety. I, too, like what I've heard/read about Forrest, and I hope he makes some noise and forces the coaches' hand.