If you are cutting Hamlin, do it now...

[Dick_Cheney]

21 minutes ago, Einstein said:

It would almost funny, if it wasn’t my team harmed by it

 

 

That was...not good. 

[NoName]

On 7/18/2025 at 2:26 PM, Billsflyer12 said:

First person I’ve heard to have actually gotten camp tickets.

 

Literally every friend or family member I know that tried this year was completely shut out.

He does more than Bishop.

[BuffaloBillyG]

1 hour ago, BullBuchanan said:

Beane really needed to find a way to address S this offseason and he flunked hard. Getting Minkah Fitzpatrick or someone of his caliber may have been more important than landing a big time pass rusher.

Hamlin is the 2nd best safety on the roster, but that isn't even the biggest problem. The biggest problem is Rapp is the best safety on the roster. We've deluded ourselves into forgetting he sucks too. We couldn't be farther from prime Hyde/Poyer right now, and I think it'll be our undoing come January. Quality safety play is critical the way we play defense.

This is spot on. 

 

People are so obsessed with Hamlin and his play that Rapp gets a pass. But he's just as much a liability as Hamlin is out there as a starter. 

 

Another issue is we were spoiled for almost a decade with Poyer/Hyde. Even league average safeties would look terrible to our eyes at this point. And Rapp/Hamlin are below league average which makes it look even worse.

[BullBuchanan]

33 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Rapp played well vs Denver in the playoffs and came out early due to injury in the Baltimore game. He didn't play vs KC. He's not a superstar but he doesn't suck. He's a decent starting-caliber NFL safety. It's the other position that's the problem, although Bishop at least has physical talent and upside. Hamlin is not quick or fast enough to be starting in any NFL secondary.   

Are you thinking about a different player on a different team?

He was the 118th highest ranked safety on the regular season and he was the 33rd highest ranked safety of the playoffs - where there are 16 teams and 32 starting safeties.

[Big Blitz]

He will get 3 picks off Flacco for getting screwed out of the Comeback player of the year award.  

[jaybee]

15 hours ago, QCity said:

McD is too emotionally invested in him to cut him unfortunately.

That's the mentality of a Marty Schottenheimer level coach.  I said it before the injury, after the injury and still do today.  Taxi squad level ain't gonna cut it in this league.  Hamlin a great story, should be toast as far as a starter.  

[dave mcbride]

55 minutes ago, BullBuchanan said:

Are you thinking about a different player on a different team?

He was the 118th highest ranked safety on the regular season and he was the 33rd highest ranked safety of the playoffs - where there are 16 teams and 32 starting safeties.

Ah PFF. I don't really take that very seriously. They graded him poorly on pass defense in the regular season (but 9th out of 171 in run defense: https://www.pff.com/nfl/players/taylor-rapp/51172), but they did the same to Tre White in his best years and when the Bills essentially led the league in pass D (or were close to it). He was a first team all-pro on the league's best pass defense in 2019 but they didn't even rate him among their top 100 players. The Bills' pass D tends to fare poorly according to their metrics because they play off and allow a lot of short completions and focus on preventing big plays.  

 

Rapp played five quarters in the playoffs and Denver had 224 yards and the ball for 18:17.   

 

Anyway, you and I are going to disagree. He's just not that bad, and exaggerating his badness to catastrophize the situation isn't convincing. Mind you, I'm not saying he's *good*, and yes, the Bills need a better player at the safety position. But he did start for a good Rams defense for years and has a Super Bowl ring. If he's your second best safety, you're not in horrible shape.  He's a league-average starter and barring injury is likely to have a ten-year career. He is a LOT better than Hamlin, of course. 

Edited August 18 by dave mcbride

[Ayjent]

Honestly Hancock if his injury isn't that bad could play himself into a starting role at some point this season if they keep him.  He played the first touchdown too shallow and wasn't aware enough of the receiver's depth, so I did see some warts in his game.  But the guy looks like more aware of where he needs to be and how to play things than Bishop.  I have honestly not seen a thing from Bishop that makes me think he is going to be anything but an injury prone meh player at best.  I really hope that is a terrible take I'm making, but at this point he should be way more in command of where he needs to be and how to play things.   Is that also a product of being paired with Hamlin?  Could be.  Hamlin forces the defense to play deeper than they need and there is no way a pass rush is getting home when the quick underneath routes are wide open all over the place.  Pair that with bad tackling and short underneath routes are house calls.  Hamlin may have the starting experience, but the reason the pass D was terrible last year was more a product of the Safeties than the DL.  You can have guys getting close to home but if a decent QB is behind center they've already figured out where to go before the pass rush gets there because it ain't like the Bills are choking up the receivers with tight coverage.  I get that personnel deficiencies in one spot can hurt your entire defense, but sometimes you've got to give some part of your D a chance to succeed.  Play tighter and give the DL a chance to win.  If you give up a big play fine, at least you aren't getting destroyed all game.  If you aren't then you didn't need to go all in on upgrading the DL.

[BillsFanForever19]

16 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

There will be an incredible amount of emotion around cutting Hamlin.  He's just terrible and its obvious he needs to go.  He's a wonderful survival story and he turned a terrible near tragedy into an amazing positive national story and education opportunity.  It's time to move on though.  Bills can not afford the distraction of cutting him after the next game and in the leadup to week 1.  Do it tomorrow or Tuesday.  Then start working the phones and move a reserve OL for a backup safety that at least belongs in the NFL.  

 

I don't see any reason to do it now other than some sort of personal gratification for you. What distraction? Maybe a question or two from the local media? 

 

It's a moot point though. McDermott works a base defense and doesn't scheme during the Pre-Season. He doesn't have the Starters out there. We look HORRIBLE every Pre-Season. Hell, we played the Bears last year and lost 33-6. It means absolutely nothing.

 

What I'm getting at is that with all the Safeties looking subpar, Bishop's penchant for getting dinged up, Hancock dinged up rn, and McDermott's belief in Hamlin - you're unlikely to see him cut IMO. Bad performances in the Pre-Season don't mean much to him when it comes to guys he believes in.

[Don Otreply]

9 hours ago, eball said:

 

Don’t sell yourself short.  You were mocked for plenty of other things as well.

 

Excellent eball, excellent, 🤣

[zow2]

Hamlin could not stand out amongst 2nd and 3rd stringers.

[Ayjent]

BTW - I think Andreesen may have played himself off the team last night.  He had a really tough night.

11 minutes ago, zow2 said:

Hamlin could not stand out amongst 2nd and 3rd stringers.

Oh he stood out...as a liability.  But I don't disagree with those who are saying he is safe.  He is.  And that is the issue, not because there are better options, but bc there aren't.

[Mr. WEO]

16 hours ago, Thrivefourfive said:

He’s not getting cut. Those guys watched him die on the field. Is what it is

 

last night?

[Buffalo Boy]

6 hours ago, dorquemada said:

It would seem that we'll be an all D draft next year too, we'll need a couple safeties and probably some more DL.  At what point does this become success limiting?

Uh, how about the last four years on D🤷‍♂️

[Jukester]

6 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Um he was bad last year. Its not an overreaction to yesterday.  It's a rationale evaluation of a player not good enough to play but has an emotional tie to the coach, his teammates, and the community.  

Its time to move on

I agree he isn’t very good. Bench him if you’ve got someone better but to say cut him is an absolute overreaction.

[JohnNord]

18 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

There will be an incredible amount of emotion around cutting Hamlin.  He's just terrible and its obvious he needs to go.  He's a wonderful survival story and he turned a terrible near tragedy into an amazing positive national story and education opportunity.  It's time to move on though.  Bills can not afford the distraction of cutting him after the next game and in the leadup to week 1.  Do it tomorrow or Tuesday.  Then start working the phones and move a reserve OL for a backup safety that at least belongs in the NFL.  

Damar has clear limitations.  He’s a fringe average/below average starter at safety.  But Buffalo has a fairly large sample size of using him in a way where he can do enough without hurting the defense.  You can say the same thing for other safeties on the team.

 

i don’t buy that Buffalo brought him back because of emotional attachment.  He signed for just over the vet minimum as special teamer and insurance at safety.  If they had their way Bishop would be starting.  But he can’t stay on the field and when he has, he’s been bad.

 

So if you cut Damar what are your options?  Darrick Forrest (sucks)?  Cam Lewis (injured)?  Jordan Hancock (injured)?  

[Buffalo Boy]

6 hours ago, FormerLV-BILLS said:

Usually true.  However, the Ravens are loaded.  They most likely wouldn't suck without Lamar.  But they obviously woudn't be as good.  Same with the Eagles.  I'm pretty sure they wouldn't suck.  The Lions probably wouldn't suck without their best player.  Hell, they were missing about 10 of them last year, and didn't suck.    

 

The Bills.........well...........who the hell would they have left?  Without Allen, who the hell would they have left on either side of the ball?  There are no other superstars on this team.  Not even close to a second one.  On offense, who would make a play without Allen out there?  On defense, we already know they can't stop good QB's.  Imagine if they were on the field more, because the Bills didn't have Allen.  

 

Eight years of this regime.  One star player.  A couple of nice players.  The rest (probably 80% of the starters) are interchangeable, mediocre, players.  Again, if any of the WR's get hurt, is it really a big deal?  We kind of miss Shakir, but they are almost all interchangeable.  

Been preaching this for a couple years.

Josh and the Jags at the skill positions ( excepting Cook) 

That is squarely on Beane.

[pennstate10]

13 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

This is absolutely right IMO. 

 

He is the 2nd best safety on the roster and yet we all know he isn't good enough.

Gunner, you have a lot of good opinions. And you spend far more time studying the Bills than I do. 
 

But I think you have blinders on when it comes to Hamlin. 
 

He’s not an NFL caliber athlete. He’s too slow, has poor reaction time, and doesn’t anticipate well. He’s in position, to sometimes make a play.  But not when he’s up against good athletes. 
 

Lewis isn’t very good either. 
 

Id rather see Hancock or Bishop. At least those guys are mid level nfl athletes. 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

34 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

Damar has clear limitations.  He’s a fringe average/below average starter at safety.  But Buffalo has a fairly large sample size of using him in a way where he can do enough without hurting the defense.  You can say the same thing for other safeties on the team.

 

i don’t buy that Buffalo brought him back because of emotional attachment.  He signed for just over the vet minimum as special teamer and insurance at safety.  If they had their way Bishop would be starting.  But he can’t stay on the field and when he has, he’s been bad.

 

So if you cut Damar what are your options?  Darrick Forrest (sucks)?  Cam Lewis (injured)?  Jordan Hancock (injured)?  

Minkah Fitzpatrick was traded on Sept 16th the year he went to the Dolphins.  There are always options. Im really not convinced Hamlin is good enough for any NFL roster let alone starting on the Bills. Plenty of draft ammo. Make a move. 

[QCity]

57 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

Damar has clear limitations.  He’s a fringe average/below average starter at safety. But Buffalo has a fairly large sample size of using him in a way where he can do enough without hurting the defense

 

He is not a below average starter. That "using him in a way" you describe means blowing out teams like the Jags, Titans, Jets, etc and forcing them into a 1-dimensional offense. When he's in prevent/dime he can be somewhat serviceable as his athletic limitations can be masked. That won't happen against the top AFC teams in the playoffs - they will target him.