This roster is a disaster however…..

[Buffalo716]

1 minute ago, ganesh said:

It begs the question on what happened in Houston.  How did that OL allow 8 sacks on the reigning league MVP...Made his work so hard by running in circles in that stadium

Both our tackles playing hurt on a fast field in their dome.. 

 

A lot of 5 man protections 

 

But that's something our line can adjust to and game plan for better seeing it now if we have to go up against them again.. we'll see more six man protections and chips and block and releases 

[Flipnmi]

13 hours ago, GaryPinC said:

It's a difficulty, but good GMs find a way to ID those players and get it done.  He's had 8 drafts + McDermott in 2017.  

Please give me examples to support your blanket statement. Every GM including Beane, have had a few picks that outplay their draft position, but real game changing talent usually come out of the top 10 picks. 

Edited 20 hours ago by Flipnmi
Typo

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, GaryPinC said:

That's great for building a strong regular season team and culture, but we need to draft guys willing to step up and be difference makers in the playoffs. That's where we are at and Beane has to make the drafting shift.  Seems like he's starting to tune into it with this year's draft, but he needed to shift 2-4 years ago.

 

WRT salary concerns, that even more favors the first contract salary discounts through drafting.

People say this, and I get the point, but when you're drafting 30th every year, who's a difference maker is a crap shoot. It's not so much a shift as it to be better at finding the right guys. Elam and now Coleman really hurt. You aren't likely to get a star at 30 or later, but you absolutely can't afford a bust/near bust.  Bishop looks like a winner, and Cook was. Kincaid hasn't had the impact people hoped. Beane needs to be better in the first and second round. 

 

He's never going to draft away from culture and team players. That's what McDermott wants. 

[Old Coot]

With this disaster of a roster, all the injuries and poor coaching. I'll bet we must be 4-9.

[GunnerBill]

4 hours ago, NewEra said:

And equally impressive that we still have a very good OL.  2 2nd rd picks, a 3rd rd, a higher mid tier FA to go with one of the best value OGs in Edwards.  Beane did a good job constructing it

 

On offensive line he inherited, from McDermott's draft, a franchise left tackle and that is the most important peice. The second most important peice (especially for a young Quarterback) is a center and after blowing it when Josh was a rookie with Russ Bodine and Ryan Groy (Beane's own words a "horrible job") he went out and paid what at the time was the biggest center deal in NFL history for Mitch Morse. 

 

He has spent a 2nd round pick (bust) and a 3rd round pick (hit) at right tackle and a 2nd round pick at guard. 

 

While McGovern and Edwards were great value FAs and they have built some good depth with clever scouting - I do think his level of investment on oline has been about right for a team with an established top 10/12 Left Tackle. If they every had to replace Dion then I think they would have  to consider using a 1st round pick... but my guess is that will be for the next regime to worry about in some shape or form. 

 

Compare that to WR where he all he inherited from McDermott's draft was Zay Jones. He traded a 1st and a 4th for Diggs and spent a 2nd on Keon Coleman and that is it in terms of early draft investments. After that he got great value in Gabe Davis (4th) and Shakir (5th) but hasn't allocated big assets. And it is not like he has spent big cap dollars either. Diggs is also the only receiver they have ever paid close to a top of the market deal to (the extension didn't work out as well as the trade, obviously). It is just mind boggling to me. If he is still in a job by March (I think he will be) it MUST be with an ultimatum from Pegula that by hook or by crook Josh Allen needs a #1 receiver on this team in 2026.

[HappyDays]

6 hours ago, folz said:

You could say, yeah but that's because Burrow has been hurt so much, and I would respond, yeah well how much does his offensive line have to do with that?

 

Burrow is just injury prone. He takes normal NFL hits and misses half the season. If he was in Allen's place against Houston he would have left the stadium in a body bag.

 

Being able to throw to an elite WR tandem means he can almost always hit the top of his drop and get the ball out immediately which more than cancels out whatever pass protection issues they have. I mean Joe Flacco has the mobility of the Tin Man and had the Bengals averaging 29 PPG in his games so I'm not going to buy that the OL is some fatal flaw for that team.

[GoBills808]

2 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

Burrow is just injury prone. He takes normal NFL hits and misses half the season. If he was in Allen's place against Houston he would have left the stadium in a body bag.

 

Being able to throw to an elite WR tandem means he can almost always hit the top of his drop and get the ball out immediately which more than cancels out whatever pass protection issues they have. I mean Joe Flacco has the mobility of the Tin Man and had the Bengals averaging 29 PPG in his games so I'm not going to buy that the OL is some fatal flaw for that team.

Just needs to #diagnosethepressure better right😂😂

[Nitro]

Disaster?  Not hardly.   Hindsight is 20/20.  They have a very solid core of players and depth which you need.  Injuries hit every team but the Bills have overcome key players hurt and still have a winning record.  I live in Indy and their season is over.  Trying out Rivers to see if he can still play.  Be happy to have the best QB in football, a top five RB and a very good O line.  They are better than you think.  

[NewEra]

13 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

i agree

 

and i dont think OP is being fair to the team's overall talent

 

i would just like to see the priorities adjusted wrt where we allocate resources

👍🏻 

that’s refreshing.  

I was developing a hunch that @Xwnyer was your burner account used when you’re feeling Xtra Josh Alleny  😉 

[GaryPinC]

16 hours ago, Flipnmi said:

Please give me examples to support your blanket statement. Every GM including Beane, have had a few picks that outplay their draft position, but real game changing talent usually come out of the top 10 picks. 

 

16 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

People say this, and I get the point, but when you're drafting 30th every year, who's a difference maker is a crap shoot. It's not so much a shift as it to be better at finding the right guys. Elam and now Coleman really hurt. You aren't likely to get a star at 30 or later, but you absolutely can't afford a bust/near bust.  Bishop looks like a winner, and Cook was. Kincaid hasn't had the impact people hoped. Beane needs to be better in the first and second round. 

 

He's never going to draft away from culture and team players. That's what McDermott wants. 

Just a few examples: late first to third round All-pro or emerging receivers:

2019 DK Metcalf(2nd, #64)

2020. Brandon Aiyuk(1st, #25)

2021  Nico Collins (third, #89)

2022 George Pickens (2nd, #52)

2023 Zay Flowers (1st, 22)

 

Trying to say you have to pick top 10 is garbage.   Sure does help, but know what you need, have the right scouts and system in place, and top 10 is not necessary once you have Josh Allen.  I'm tired of the late route picking excuse.   We are an established winning franchise.  Some years, yes, you need extra picks because of roster turnover.

 

Other years you trade away picks to move up and get that one difference maker.  Like the Chiefs did in the 2017 draft when they moved to 10 from 27.

 

Shaw, you talk about Elam and Coleman, and rightly so.  Neither one has the brainpower, Coleman doesn't have the speed and Elam just wasn't a good fit for our system. 

 

That's a failure of our evaluation system.   Hopefully they fix that. Get the people in who can get it right. Honestly,  Coleman feels like they just picked him because Josh liked him, lol.

 

[newcam2012]

On 12/8/2025 at 3:47 AM, GunnerBill said:

The roster is not a disaster. It is deep. Brandon Beane prioritises depth in his roster builds. Always has. I would argue the Bills at one point in camp this past year had around 65 guys who could probably be serviceable NFL football players without being liabilities on the field if called upon to play in spot duty. That allows the coaches to piece together a competitive team even when, for example, you are down both starting tackles or when, for example, you have multiple safeties done for the year or when, for example, your defensive tackle room is decimated by November. 

 

If anyone has ever tried to criticise Brandon Beane for depth they were barking up the wrong tree. He consistently succeeds if that is your metric. The issue is his depth approach feels like, at times, it has come at the expense of genuine game changers. Particularly up front on defense and at wide receiver.  And when you add that to the fact he has struggled to draft true game changers it leaves the very top of the roster a little thin. 

 

That is a different roster build than Baltimore or Kansas City. They are more top heavy builds and they are not able to roll with the punches from injuries as well as Buffalo is. I'll exclude Cincy from this conversation because (while their roster has issues, especially on defense) when you lose your Quarterback for 9 games no amount of depth is saving you. 

There are plenty of examples where Beane has fallen short. A reasonable argument can be made that he's fallen short in this area as well. Look at the mid season acquisitions he has made the last few seasons. Consistently signing WRs because the roster isn't good, linebackers and defensive tackles off their couches. The theme for several years is the Bills have issues stopping the run, can't generate a consistent pass rush, and has a serious WR problem especially at the X position. Imho, the depth hasn't been good in any of these areas. Lastly, he's always made the decision to go cheap at the backup QB position. Thus far, the depth at that position hasn't been tested. With that said, if Allen goes done for an extended period of time you can kiss the season goodbye. In short, I think you are giving Beane too much credit here. He really missed his opportunities to upgrade the team when Allen was on his rookie contract!!! Now he is handicapped and has limited opportunities. He created it. 

Edited 2 hours ago by newcam2012

[L Ron Burgundy]

I think as others have pointed out we have a lot of pretty good players but very little elite talent.   And the biggest problem and mistake is we've paid some good but not great players high end money.  That's gotta get rectified.  Beane has to get more comfortable with letting his own draft picks walk when necessary.  Based on our talent level we should not be near the cap.  I also wish he'd be more aggressive trading.  Not dinky trade ups or trade downs.  Some GM's over value draft picks.  Use them to bring in top level talent other teams are trying to offload.

[GunnerBill]

8 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

There are plenty of examples where Beane has fallen short. A reasonable argument can be made that he's fallen short in this area as well. Look at the mid season acquisitions he has made the last few seasons. Consistently signing WRs because the roster isn't good, linebackers and defensive tackles off their couches. The theme for several years is the Bills have issues stopping the run, can't generate a consistent pass rush, and has a serious WR problem especially at the X position. Imho, the depth hasn't been good in any of these areas. Lastly, he's always made the decision to go cheap at the backup QB position. Thus far, the depth at that position hasn't been tested. With that said, if Allen goes done for an extended period of time you can kiss the season goodbye. In short, I think you are giving Beane too much credit here. He really missed his opportunities to upgrade the team when Allen was on his rookie contract!!! Now he is handicapped and has limited opportunities. He created it. 

 

Strong disagree. You are expecting depth players to be difference makers. They are never going to be that. The Bills depth at those spots has been good. To be without the guys the Bills were without on the defensive line on Sunday and to still have serviceable NFL players there is an excellent depth job.

 

They don't have enough difference makers. That is the issue. Not the depth. 

 

And I agree he didn't maximise the opportunity while Josh was on a rookie deal, although he wasn't helped by the timing of a global pandemic and cap reduction, but I agree there were missed opportunities there. 

 

This is not a Brandon Beane is great post. But building serviceable depth is the thing he does best as a GM.

[RyanC883]

On 12/8/2025 at 6:36 AM, thenorthremembers said:

The WR position is a disaster.  Outside of that it’s a good oft injured roster.  Luckily we have 17.

Imagine if we had Jacobi Meyers.  Glad we kept those mid round picks. 

[newcam2012]

15 hours ago, Nitro said:

Disaster?  Not hardly.   Hindsight is 20/20.  They have a very solid core of players and depth which you need.  Injuries hit every team but the Bills have overcome key players hurt and still have a winning record.  I live in Indy and their season is over.  Trying out Rivers to see if he can still play.  Be happy to have the best QB in football, a top five RB and a very good O line.  They are better than you think.  

I get what you are saying. Can we really truly be happy about being in year nine of Josh Allen with not even a super bowl appearance? I really thought by now we would have seen it and truthfully a hoisting of the Lombardi trophy too. Football has been a lot more fun the last decade or so. However, I can't help but to feel a little disappointed. 

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, GaryPinC said:

 

Just a few examples: late first to third round All-pro or emerging receivers:

2019 DK Metcalf(2nd, #64)

2020. Brandon Aiyuk(1st, #25)

2021  Nico Collins (third, #89)

2022 George Pickens (2nd, #52)

2023 Zay Flowers (1st, 22)

 

Trying to say you have to pick top 10 is garbage.   Sure does help, but know what you need, have the right scouts and system in place, and top 10 is not necessary once you have Josh Allen.  I'm tired of the late route picking excuse.   We are an established winning franchise.  Some years, yes, you need extra picks because of roster turnover.

 

Other years you trade away picks to move up and get that one difference maker.  Like the Chiefs did in the 2017 draft when they moved to 10 from 27.

 

Shaw, you talk about Elam and Coleman, and rightly so.  Neither one has the brainpower, Coleman doesn't have the speed and Elam just wasn't a good fit for our system. 

 

That's a failure of our evaluation system.   Hopefully they fix that. Get the people in who can get it right. Honestly,  Coleman feels like they just picked him because Josh liked him, lol.

 

Excuse me, but this is largely nonsense. 

 

The only difference maker you trade up for is a quarterback like, as you say, the Chiefs did. But, of course, you ignore that the Bills did exactly the same thing a year later to get Allen.  You do not make moves like that, way up into the first round, for a receiver. They simply aren't worth it. 

 

I've never liked Metcalf (I think he isn't a team player) and Pickens got traded on his rookie contract, so that tells you something about him.  But even given that, of course you can find good receivers in later rounds. If you actually thought about it for, say, two and a half seconds, you'd remember that Beane did exactly that when he found Shakir. The whole league passed on Metcalf, Pickens, and Collins, not just Beane. Whenever a star emerges from later rounds, it means everyone misjudged him. Zay Flowers is playing with a Hall of Fame quarterback, and he's about to miss the playoffs altogether. 

 

You're right, Elam and Coleman were mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. 

 

And you're missing the fundamental point: The Bills do not want to use large resources on receivers. They can get the same production from a receiver by committee approach, and it doesn't cost as much. The Bills are fifth in passer rating and they are 11th in yards per game, which is fine because they are first in rushing yards per game and second in total yards per game. They are fifth in points per game.  They wouldn't have won more games if they had Zay Flowers. 

[Billsatlastin2018]

22 hours ago, folz said:

Hmmm...Gabe got himself in position on the sideline during scramble drill for a nice grab; Keon got leverage on the slant near the end zone. But, because Cincy is so bad at covering TEs (all season), this was a TE/RB focused pass game. The TEs and RBs had 18 targets compared to 9 targets for the WRs. Not because the WRs weren't open, but because the Bills schemed the game for the TEs due to opponent.

 

And I do remember Hawes being schemed for a wide open TD. Seemed like Knox was running free all game, was wide open on the two-point conversion as well. Kincaid was looking pretty open on his catches too.

 

WR isn't the only position in football my friends. [Not that I wouldn't welcome an upgrade.]

Wondered whether somebody was going to go down this road- mentioning the relative ‘strength’ of the TE Receivers. Underlined word being ‘relative’, as in NOBODY but a Pom Pom wearer would out these 3 in the grouping of Gonzalez, Gates, Gronk or Winslow!

 

EVER!

 

They are simply serviceable. But, it is an interesting concept. Because the WR corps is so ***** dreadful, gap one- two of them and play ALL TEs, all the time! They are likely to compete for balls better because of their size and get separation!

 

Until Beanbrain acquires a real, Top 10 #1 WR, perhaps that is the way to go forward!

[The Jokeman]

1 hour ago, newcam2012 said:

There are plenty of examples where Beane has fallen short. A reasonable argument can be made that he's fallen short in this area as well. Look at the mid season acquisitions he has made the last few seasons. Consistently signing WRs because the roster isn't good, linebackers and defensive tackles off their couches. The theme for several years is the Bills have issues stopping the run, can't generate a consistent pass rush, and has a serious WR problem especially at the X position. Imho, the depth hasn't been good in any of these areas. Lastly, he's always made the decision to go cheap at the backup QB position. Thus far, the depth at that position hasn't been tested. With that said, if Allen goes done for an extended period of time you can kiss the season goodbye. In short, I think you are giving Beane too much credit here. He really missed his opportunities to upgrade the team when Allen was on his rookie contract!!! Now he is handicapped and has limited opportunities. He created it. 

The reason for additional signings. Do you think if Dewayne Carter, Michael Hoecht and Ed Oliver were healthy that the Phidarian Mathis is on the current 53? 

[Shaw66]

5 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

I get what you are saying. Can we really truly be happy about being in year nine of Josh Allen with not even a super bowl appearance? I really thought by now we would have seen it and truthfully a hoisting of the Lombardi trophy too. Football has been a lot more fun the last decade or so. However, I can't help but to feel a little disappointed. 

There's a difference from being disappointed, which is natural - I'm disappointed, too - and concluding the roster is a disaster or that the coach and/or GM are doing a bad job.  Stuff happens, and stuff happened to the Bills, so sure, we're disappointed. McDermott is 6th among active coaches in wins, and he's fourth in winning percentage.  Are the Packers firing Matt LaFleur because he hasn't won a Super Bowl?

 

Might someone else at GM or head coach have won a Super Bowl by now?  Sure, someone. Since McDermott was hired, there probably have been 50 head coach hires. None has a better winning percentage and only three - Sirianni, Zac Taylor, and Dan Quinn - have better playoff winning percentages. 

 

Disappointed?  Yes, but the reality is that the Bills hired one of the very best head coaches available in the past ten years, and one of the best GMs.

 

There's a lot of good discussion to be had about what could or should be done differently, but someone needs to respond to the people on here making up stuff, such as the roster is a disaster.  I know you didn't say that, but you got me going! 

[folz]

59 minutes ago, Billsatlastin2018 said:

Wondered whether somebody was going to go down this road- mentioning the relative ‘strength’ of the TE Receivers. Underlined word being ‘relative’, as in NOBODY but a Pom Pom wearer would out these 3 in the grouping of Gonzalez, Gates, Gronk or Winslow!

 

EVER!

 

They are simply serviceable. But, it is an interesting concept. Because the WR corps is so ***** dreadful, gap one- two of them and play ALL TEs, all the time! They are likely to compete for balls better because of their size and get separation!

 

Until Beanbrain acquires a real, Top 10 #1 WR, perhaps that is the way to go forward!

 

First of all, no one is comparing our TEs to some of the best TEs of all-time. No one. I am comparing them to their contemporaries, to our current competitors (and as a group/room).

 

And I'm not quite sure how you define serviceable. I said they are probably a top-10 group. Well, after doing a lot of adding up, it turns out that our TE group is currently 2nd in the NFL in receiving yards by TEs (behind only Arizona) and 3rd in the NFL in TE Touchdowns (behind only SF and the Rams, by 2 and 1 TDs respectively). Yes, some of that is because other teams throw to their WRs more, but that is also with Dalton Kincaid (the best receiver of our bunch) missing 4-1/2 games and with us being a heavy run team. Plus, Hawes is an elite blocker, Knox is a very high-end blocker, and Kincaid is not bad in that department (it's just not his strong suit). 

 

Are we weak at WR (in comparison to many teams)? Yes. But as I said in another post, it's not the only position on the field.

 

We are #1 in the NFL in Rushing Yards, #1 in Yards per Carry, and #2 in Rushing TDs. Plus our backs are great at receiving out of the backfield.

We are #2 in the NFL in Receiving Yards by TEs, and #3 in Receiving TDs by TES. Plus our TEs are great blockers.

We have a top-tier offensive line (when healthy---but we also have pretty good depth there to cover when we aren't healthy).

We have the best Quarterback.

 

Some of you guys act like none of that (except for Josh) balances out any weaknesses we have at the WR position.