Bills 2024 Thread - Misery loves company

[MSOrange]

Curious to see what the Bills do at WR. The FA market is god awful this season (of course) and I find it highly unlikely they are using there top pick on a WR again. Higgins seems highly highly unlikely with the lack of cap space. I like Godwin but he's not really a fit with Shakir. Do you call Seattle and see if Metcalf can be had, though he has the same Diva issues Diggs had. Go WR in RD 2 with one of the two picks?

Big no on Higgins. He's only played 12 games each of the last 2 seasons, which was frustrating as hell with him on my fantasy team. Of the names you mentioned, my preference is to see what's in the draft and hope we do better than Coleman.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I've checked out since they signed Carr. Their ineptitude is the main reason I've followed Buffalo more recently. Loomis 70 and been there 25 years. It's time for him to retire. The entire organization needs to start out fresh and bottom out. They've been in cap hell since well before Brees retirement.

Agreed they need a complete rebuild, Nick Wright actually said something I agreed with on them, they need 2 years of just doing nothing but getting the cap straightened out and in year 3 be ready to compete.

 

[kirbivore]

The Chiefs are significantly better on the coaching and front office side than the Bills. And by front office, I specifically mean drafting in the first two rounds. The Bills have whiffed a ton since 2019. And it is coming back to bite them big time with the cap the way it is.

The Bills offense is just as good as the Chiefs defense, in large part because of Josh Allen. Chiefs are able to consistently get pressure on the Bills - credit to their scheme, which works well against everyone.

The Bills defense is not nearly good enough to stay with the Chiefs. And the scheme is fatally flawed. We have seen it time and time again in big games, and again last night.

The best players on the Bills' defense are whom? Matt Milano made a few plays, but who else? Benford going out hurt big time - he's #2.

Bernard regressed significantly this year, and is a below average starting MLB, even with the splash plays. He is out of position all the time, is a bowling pin trying to stop the run, and I just don't see it with him. Rousseau was nowhere last night, along with every other defensive lineman. Was that scheme? Was that the players not being up for the challenge? Ed Oliver was average at best, and he's the best we have.

A lot of rambling, a lot of frustration. But besides Allen, Cook, Shakir & the OL, I'm not sure if any of the others are difference makers. And you need difference makers to win games.

Why would you trade with them

 

[kirbivore]

Very displeased with Joe Brady from the 3rd quarter last week and last night. He made it very difficult on Josh to perform. Don’t even get me started with Cook’s usage. Starting to get sick of wasting a generational talent with coaches that have their butts get tight on the playoffs.

Last 2 AFC title games you’re scratching your head at lack of run attempts. That will not be a problem with Philly. Fly Eagles Fly.

 

[Eric15]

They need to figure out a way to GPS track footballs so that first downs aren’t left up to chance. The technology to do this can’t be that complicated in the year 2025.

 

[pattycuse]

Very displeased with Joe Brady from the 3rd quarter last week and last night. He made it very difficult on Josh to perform. Don’t even get me started with Cook’s usage. Starting to get sick of wasting a generational talent with coaches that have their butts get tight on the playoffs.

Co-sign. All of this.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Agreed they need a complete rebuild, Nick Wright actually said something I agreed with on them, they need 2 years of just doing nothing but getting the cap straightened out and in year 3 be ready to compete.

yeah they really need to move on from Loomis who is just so arrogant and thumbed his nose at the salary cap for years even after Sean Payton left. fall on the sword, strip it down and start over

 

[Melancer46]

Agreed on Kincaid, no reason to abandon him in year 2, he has certainly flashed at times but we do need him to be more consistent. I think it's clear the Bills have to get an above average WR. How exactly they are gonna do that I have no idea. Clearly the top WR on the market isn't a realistic option but Cooper and Coleman aren't gonna work and Cooper is obviously a FA.

We've been asking for god knows how long, but once again, I'd really like to see us take multiple bites out of the WR apple. I guess we kinda did this year drafting Coleman, signing Hollins/Samuel, and trading for Cooper, but I'd like to see multiple draft picks. Issue of course is identifying the type of wide out that we can slot in next to Shakir (and hopefully next to Coleman provided he develops) to complete the WR corps. Obviously a little homer-ish here, but I really wouldn't mind taking Meeks late in the draft (assuming that's where he'll be taken). His skills releasing against press coverage could be really helpful and he's got good hands. Xavier Restrepo is probably more slot depth behind Shakir, but he seems like a decent risk/reward bet to outplay his draft position. Elic Ayomanor feels like the type of WRs we've targeted in the past: big, strong blocker, downfield threat, but has a lengthy injury history.

On the free agent WR front, my assumption is Amari Cooper will not return (unless on the cheap, which, we'll see). Hollins is a free agent as well and has probably earned a raise. He obviously outplayed his contract for us this year but not sure I want to count on him as a starter; he's just a relatively low ceiling guy. I don't think we can really get out of Curtis Samuel's contract; this season was probably the worst he's looked since like his rookie season so hopefully he comes back fully healthy and can be more of a difference maker. I think we have a path to getting roughly $30 mil in cap space, so we could theoretically pursue a difference making WR but we'll see; not sure how much of an appetite they have for that given the cap issues we endured this season.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I'm exhausted. I guess 45' of sleep will do that. Also tiring avoiding all sports mentions.

 

[Melancer46]

Curious to see what the Bills do at WR. The FA market is god awful this season (of course) and I find it highly unlikely they are using there top pick on a WR again. Higgins seems highly highly unlikely with the lack of cap space. I like Godwin but he's not really a fit with Shakir. Do you call Seattle and see if Metcalf can be had, though he has the same Diva issues Diggs had. Go WR in RD 2 with one of the two picks?

Godwin has mostly played out of the slot, and as his injuries have added up, it may help prolong his career a little, but I do think he's equally effective lined up out wide. Could make sense if we're willing to gamble on his injuries. I think in terms of talent, he's a top 15ish WR in the league.

If we go the route of multiple relatively cheap WRs again, some names that might be worth considering would be:

• Hollywood Brown (some divaness, injury history, but talented player when he's on the field)
• Darius Slayton (been rumored as a Bills trade target for like 3 years now, decent deep threat)
• Elijah Moore (some divaness and more of a slot guy, but he looked very promising for the Jets his rookie season)
• Diontae Johnson (major divaness and burned out with multiple teams known for handling divas well, but he's generally been very good on the field when he's out there)
• Dyami Brown (hasn't panned out with Washington but if he comes cheap, you can do worse than gambling on a young guy that was at one point expected to go in the first round)

 

[JeremyCuse]

Godwin has mostly played out of the slot, and as his injuries have added up, it may help prolong his career a little, but I do think he's equally effective lined up out wide. Could make sense if we're willing to gamble on his injuries. I think in terms of talent, he's a top 15ish WR in the league.

If we go the route of multiple relatively cheap WRs again, some names that might be worth considering would be:

• Hollywood Brown (some divaness, injury history, but talented player when he's on the field)
• Darius Slayton (been rumored as a Bills trade target for like 3 years now, decent deep threat)
• Elijah Moore (some divaness and more of a slot guy, but he looked very promising for the Jets his rookie season)
• Diontae Johnson (major divaness and burned out with multiple teams known for handling divas well, but he's generally been very good on the field when he's out there)
• Dyami Brown (hasn't panned out with Washington but if he comes cheap, you can do worse than gambling on a young guy that was at one point expected to go in the first round)

Ya I really like Godwin but the injury history is very concerning. I think TB wants him back desperately but I certainly wouldn't mind if Buffalo took a run at him. Not much in the way of cheap WR's that standout but Slayton and Diontae Johnson are intriguing. Slayton as a deep threat who would clearly be cheap is something I wouldn't mind seeing. I still hope they draft at least one WR relatively early but I think they do have to backfill a bit as I think Cooper is clearly gone and even if you bring back Hollins clearly you need more there. Johnson seems to have some major issues hence the problems with Pitt and Baltimore but again with limited cap space sometimes you gotta take a gamble.

I am also unclear what the plan is with Samuel. Nice player but clearly we struggled to use him right and it didn't work. I expect he re-works his deal to take less and will be back.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

the bills had amazing turnover “luck” this year. 19 STRAIGHT games they have won the turnover battle. This kind of thing doesn’t tend to reproduce year over year. that alone will provide the potential for significant regression record wise

 

[Melancer46]

the bills had amazing turnover “luck” this year. 19 STRAIGHT games they have won the turnover battle. This kind of thing doesn’t tend to reproduce year over year. that alone will provide the potential for significant regression record wise

Were very fortunate to win the turnover battle last night too. A couple bounces and a couple dropped INTs and last night's game could have easily been a blowout.

 

[syrBossHogg]

FWIW

Groot is 3rd among DE/LBs in sacks from the 2021 draft class
Epenesa is 7th among DE/LBs in sacks from the 2020 draft class
Oliver is 5th among DTs in sacks from the 2019 draft class

The issue is as others have stated is these guys are solid/good players but not true impact players like Chris Jones. Need to get a gamewrecker either thru the draft/FA/trade. They gambled on Von but caught a bad break when he tore his ACL

 

[syrBossHogg]

Were very fortunate to win the turnover battle last night too. A couple bounces and a couple dropped INTs and last night's game could have easily been a blowout.

That was my biggest fear about the game

 

[Willy75]

They need to figure out a way to GPS track footballs so that first downs aren’t left up to chance. The technology to do this can’t be that complicated in the year 2025.

If they can do it at TopGolf they can do it in the NFL.

 

[upperdeck]

you mean like this

In the midst of the debate over the ball's placement, it might come as a surprise that the NFL tracks the location of each game ball in real time using an RFID tracking chip.

 

[tbonezone]

i mean as a dolphin fan i definitely don't want to see the KC win three in a row . on the other hand a true dolphin fan NEVER roots for the bILLS. suck it losers ! and GO EAGLES.

 

[upperdeck]

top golf/trackman doesnt track, it uses cameras and guess work,

Much like Hawkeye in tennis doesn't really spot the ball where it hits, it guesses based on speed and spin.

fball just has the added issue of 22 bodies blocking the camera.

the NFL could use some of those billions to have better Camera angles since it only has 30+ fields unlike college. They could have like multiple RFID chips but even then its gonna be off a bit.

 

[SUFan44]

FWIW

Groot is 3rd among DE/LBs in sacks from the 2021 draft class
Epenesa is 7th among DE/LBs in sacks from the 2020 draft class
Oliver is 5th among DTs in sacks from the 2019 draft class

The issue is as others have stated is these guys are solid/good players but not true impact players like Chris Jones. Need to get a gamewrecker either thru the draft/FA/trade. They gambled on Von but caught a bad break when he tore his ACL

They're fine.

But they're not Justin Reid, Nick Bolton, Chris Jones. Or McDuffie.

We don't have enough high end talent -- that, or they're not being put into positions or being coached to be in position to have those levels of impact.

Milano MIGHT be the only guy who is that level. But he's hurt all the time and has significant issues too.

 

[SUFan44]

They're fine.

But they're not Justin Reid, Nick Bolton, Chris Jones. Or McDuffie.

We don't have enough high end talent -- that, or they're not being put into positions or being coached to be in position to have those levels of impact.

Milano MIGHT be the only guy who is that level. But he's hurt all the time and has significant issues too.

Also, just to follow up:

Justin Reid - FA signing - 3 years, $31M
Nick Bolton - 2021 2nd Round Pick
Trent McDuffie - 2022 1st Round Pick
Chris Jones - 2016 2nd Round Pick

By contrast...

Boogie Basham - 2021 2nd Round Pick
Kaiir Elam - 2022 1st Round Pick
Shaq Lawson/Reggie Ragland - 2016 1st/2nd Round Pick

There isn't even a comparison to Justin Reid because the Bills have not signed anyone outside of Von Miller to a defensive free agent deal for more than $10M/year. They're all bargain basement guys like Rapp, Austin Johnson, etc.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Still pretty damn broken.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Still pretty damn broken.

I feel for you man, I am so used to the inevitable that I took yesterday really well but I knew you and others were probably hurting. Keep your head up, one day we will breakthrough. Whether that's in our lifetime I don't know but someday it will happen.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I feel for you man, I am so used to the inevitable that I took yesterday really well but I knew you and others were probably hurting. Keep your head up, one day we will breakthrough. Whether that's in our lifetime I don't know but someday it will happen.

You think so, man? Will it ever? Just doesn't seem possible. The thought of going through another long season a year from now... just draining tbh. The longer it takes the longer it also seems unlikely, if that makes sense (w current 'core').

I also was dreading yesterday, literally for months, so the loss was not shocking to me. Just, how it happens. It's just painstaking. Hell, wish we lost to the Ravens. Been texting a couple Bills' diehard buddies today. Those guys were more optimistic than I, but all pretty bummed out.

Again...

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I don’t care in the immediate time period who wins the superbowl . However . Once the immediacy of this situation fades…..let there be no doubt that Philly beating the chiefs will allow this last loss to fade into oblivion more easily.