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Where Do the Buffalo Bills Go From Here? | DC · Disguised Coverage

0:00
It's thirty eight. All bills can win in here, Wake puts it down.
0:03
The kick is on the way and dock m the bell good one?
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How the hell that one home? How one? They were a party one
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not party way? Incredible? Why not combat by my bell? Jacksonville's perfect
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record on the line right here, quick kicking, look excited. Touchdown Kyle
0:43
Williams touchdound amazing, unbelievable. They Puttied william Who's hats to full back and
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he scores a touchdown. It's wealthier to face tackle. What's good? Folks,
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family friends, loved ones, enemies, frienemies, wizards, which is
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muggles, mud bloods, people of Middle Earth to a Buffalo Bill's exit from
1:26
the playoffs edition of Disguise coverage. I'm your host, Anthony Preska. Find
1:30
me on Twitter at Pro Underscore, Underscore ant that's pro two underscores, A
1:34
and T. The Show, of Course, is the only show that gives
1:38
you an equal amount of blueberries in each muffin and is presented by the best
1:41
pizza in Buffalo, New York, and that is One by Pizza. Find
1:44
me on my menu in the episode show notes, whether here on YouTube or
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whichever podcasting app and or platform you are listening to this show on. In
1:53
this episode, man, I'm gonna gonna try and digest some of the pieces
1:57
from the Buffalo Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round.
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We're going to try and make this episode as engaging as possible. I usually
2:05
like to do this for the kind of end of season into the off season
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episode, especially one that involves so many emotions and thoughts and feelings as this
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one where the Bills lose in heartbreaking fashion to a team that they seem to
2:21
consistently lose to in the playoffs and also consistently lose to in heartbreaking fashions too.
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All these pieces, so throughout the entirety of this episode, questions,
2:28
thoughts, commons, concerns, anything, you folks gott I you know,
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if I knew how many people were going to be doing or being in the
2:35
chaff the for live in this episode. These episodes are always kind of walking
2:38
in terms of who's feeling what, who wants to consume content. I know,
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as a person who obviously does this weekly, this episode is always kind
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of like a slog in terms of likeugh, but you know the show must
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go on. But anybody who rolls in questions, thoughts, commons, concerns
2:52
will make this as engaging as possible. But I'm going to digest some of
2:55
the Bills lost to the Chiefs in this episode, also going to talk about
3:00
some things in relation to where the Buffalo Bills go from here, hence the
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title kind of table setting pieces for the off season. This is going to
3:07
be a very pivotal off season for the Buffalo Bills. I thought last year
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would be a pivotal one as well, mainly because of what I saw coming
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down the pike. For this off season, there are several important pending free
3:23
agents for this team that most likely probably leave. There are some position groups
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that are going to need bodies that are going to need a facelift, that
3:30
needed dressing in some form or fashion. And I also think within that conversation
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there are some positives from this past season that was a roller coaster of a
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season emotionally on and off the field, and all these pieces, but some
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positives to draw upon that will impact the off season roadmap and discussion that happens
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for this team. And then on the back end of this episode, kind
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of like midway halfway through this episode, I will be joined by one of
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my favorite guests to help me navigate that conversation in terms of, you know,
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where do the Buffalo Bills go from here? What does that conversation look
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like, and any and all those pieces I guess, you know, to
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start off this episode again, just to put a nice little bow and anybody
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who's riding with me live here on this episode right now. Questions, thoughts,
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comments, concerns, anything and everything that is stuck in your you know,
4:15
crawl or your mind or your head or your heart. After this Bill's
4:18
lost to the chief, feel free to put it up into the chat.
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Something that you like, something that you didn't, something that's still bothering you,
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something you think is gonna bother you forever or at least this offseason.
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Whatever you got, throwed up into the chat for a little group therapy session
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as we again try and digest the Buffalo Bill's loss. Here this quick comment
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here from Riemann saying, dream free agency and draft acquisitions. Just trying to
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move on. Yeah, I think you know, for me, I started
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trying to turn the page yesterday. I'm going to the Senior Bowl next week,
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myself and Eric and John and Daniel from Cover one Draft Weekly, you
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know, two of the new acquisitions to the brand and to the team.
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The four of us will be down in Mobile, Alabama next week for the
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Senior Bowl, live in person for the meat of the week when it comes
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to the practices and competition pieces and all that. So he started to flip
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the page towards the offseason. I I'm always into college football, regularly watching
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it and you know, getting into tape and really trying to set myself up
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for success when it comes to prospect breakdowns and evaluations. But as soon as
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Monday hit this week, so yesterday I started just fully diving into Senior Bowl
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prep and some college stuff in general, just watching tape evaluating players. I
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think that kind for me that helps again, kind of turning that page and
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moving on from the season, in addition to needing to do it because I
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will be in Mobile next week again for the Senior Bowl, so I wanted
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to be as prepped as possible. But yeah, I think that thought comes
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in of those free agency pieces, the draft pieces. Again, you're just
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trying to think of, you know, what can make me feel better about
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how this season ended for me? In those dream free agency and draft acquisitions,
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and I'm going to talk about in a little bit in the episode if
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they could, I mean, for me dream it always kind of have like
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the real realism aspect to but man, if they could somehow bring in like
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I would love Mike Evans on this team. I would love Antoine Winfield on
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this team. I think both those dudes are obviously going to be priced out
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of the Buffalo Bills market, like there's no no shot, But those would
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be dream free agent acquisitions for me, more realistic free free agent acquisitions and
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draft acquisitions. I'm going to get into as this episode goes on, but
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I'm in the same spot in terms of where my head is at and all
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those pieces, Trank coming in and saying, the best D line in the
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McDermott era disappeared when it mattered most like the Avatar. How do we keep
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that trailer for Avatar that came out for Netflix? I think today was pretty
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sweet. How do we keep the D line from disappearing come playoff time next
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year when they'll have a good regular season. I think that's a fair question.
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It seems like no matter what, even this year too, right,
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Like I don't want ed Oliver to be painted into the box of one game
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from that division round again the Chiefs, where he struggled mightily. The next
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gen stats came out in terms of when he was one on one with Joe
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Tooey and just the lack of pressure and all those pieces. I will say
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for everything, much like the Cincinnati lost last year, there is that marriage
7:15
of pass rushing coverage that needs to happen. And if the coverage piece isn't
7:19
there on the back end, the pressure like doesn't matter. Right if you
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win your matchup in a second and a half or two seconds, but the
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ball is coming out in one second or a second and a half, it
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looks like you're not getting any pressure. But really, aside from this very
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the second play of the game for the Chiefs offense, where Rousseau beat Donovan
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Smith off the right side of the Bills defense, got inside, got his
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hands on Mahomes, Mahomes got away and flung it out to Rashi Rice because
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Mahomes scrambling broke down the coverage home, Mahomes got it the Rice and Rice
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took off. Aside from that, and I still have to finish the defense
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tape. But aside from that, maybe one or two plays from Leonard Floyd.
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Yeah, there wasn't a ton of pressure on Mahomes in this game,
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which was disappointing. And I think to answer the question like how do you
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keep the d line from disappearing come playoff time next year, I think one
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piece is health of the defense. I don't think Floyd was healthy down the
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stretch. Daikwon came back, but he's still not healthy. Russoll I think
8:18
got healthy yeer as the season went on, but we know he played banged
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up a bunch. It's tough. I think a lot of it too,
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comes down to who you are playing. And for as much maligned as the
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Chiefs offensive tackles were, on the interior, they have all pro caliber players
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Greed Humphrey at center and then the bookend guards with Joe Toney and Tray Smith
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like they have a good squad on the interior. I definitely thought the Bills
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had the opportunity to win on the outside, but the Chiefs did things to
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help protect on the outside. Mahomes got the ball out quickly. Mahomes knows
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how to navigate the pocket. He's one of the best quarterbacks year in and
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year out, and not allowing pressures to be converted to sacks. He's a
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dude who does it against everybody in the league. He's a hard dude to
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sack and pressure in general. But let alone like get home and get down
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on. But yeah, I don't think this performance is as deflating as the
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Bengals won. But it was disappointing to see the lack of pressure in this
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game for the Bills defense, again, especially knowing how strong they had been
9:20
throughout the entirety of the season, Like at Oliver had a beast of a
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season in every way, shape and form, and to know that a lot
9:30
of how this game went down and people's minds will define the season that he
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had in terms of thinking, you know, he had a horrible season,
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or he disappears when it matters most, And I understand where that notion comes
9:43
from. But yeah, it was disappointing for me. The bigger disappointment for
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the defensive line was getting pushed around as much as they did in the run
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game, and they tried to schematically make some corrections as the game went on
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in terms of run fits and gap integrity in terms of who was doing what
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from a responsibility perspective. The amount that they got pushed around up front,
10:01
I thought was alarming and disappointing, even more so than the pass rush.
10:07
But yeah, not great. Roy comes in and says, just running back
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with Deontay Hardy and Trent Sherfield laugh out loud. Not great. Oh Rod's
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comment here echoes what I just said. No, shame not pressuring Mahomes.
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He's one of the least sack pressure qbs in the league. Yeah he gets
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he gets pressured a bunch from a volume perspective because they pass a ton.
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But yeah, he and Allen were both tied for the second least percent of
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pressures converted to sacks on the year, which was ten point four percent,
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and each one of them was, like, I think Allen was pressured like
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two hundred and forty seven times, Mahomes was pressured like two fifty or so
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somewhere around there. Like both towards the top end of the league. Again,
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both are high volume passing attacks, but yeah, they're both tremendous when
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it comes to not allowing those pressures turning into sacks. Yeah, and good
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comment here from Ko Muri saying regards the D line at the Chiefs thought they
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would be saying the same thing. Zero sacks, run down the throats,
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et cetera. It is very funny how the game gets painted. What's the
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old adage like the the history is always told by like the winners or the
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winning side or whatever like that. And yeah, if the Chiefs had lost
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this game, you're sitting there thinking, man, we played too much man
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early on, and Allen took advantage of us with his legs. Weren't able
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to stop. The ground game got pushed around a ton. The Bills were
11:18
very successful on the ground in this game against the Chiefs. I put out
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a tweet about it yesterday. Let me go and pull that up. But
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they pushed the Chiefs around a bunch. Yeah. So the Bills offense in
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that game against the Chiefs fifty seven point seven success rate overall, a sixty
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point six rushing success rate, which was second on the weekend, behind only
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the Detroit Lions. They had a fifty five point six dropback success rate,
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which was third, and they were fifth in EPA per play. They really
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didn't struggle to run the ball ever against the Chiefs, except for like maybe
11:54
three or four reps in the second half where the Chiefs just sold out against
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the run and Drew Trankwill made a play. They set the edge really well
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and Bolton made a play. Those negative plays on the ground ended up setting
12:05
the Bills back and led to some unsuccessful drives, especially in the fourth quarter
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for the Bills. But yeah, Chris Jones was largely not a factor.
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Granted, they were trying to do some rush things to kind of keep Allen
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Hemmed in the pocket, especially in the low red zone. But yeah,
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but the story is always told from the victory side. It's it's disappointing coming
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here from Pop saying when the linebackers or corners are herd it makes it harder
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for the d line and gets sacks. The corner piece was huge. Christian
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ben I know Benford was the story all we are. Bernard was the story
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all weeken understandable. I think I said it earlier today, Like Chorell,
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Bernard has become the brain of the Buffalo Bills defense and he was tremendously missed
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in it. He would have been missed in general, but especially in this
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game, considering how the Chiefs like to attack you, how they can attack
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you, and the players they have on offense mainly Travis Kelcey, but he
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was a huge miss in this game. But the corners affected this game tremendously.
12:56
You know, Benford being out, I thought it was an under rated
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piece all week. I talked about it leading into the game with how good
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of a year he's had as CB two for the Bills. And then Rasul
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Douglas. I know he said he was one hundred percent and good to go,
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but you could tell he was just laboring out there. He did not
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look one hundred percent. And I give him credit for even, you know,
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strapping up and trying to give it a go and make things happen.
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But man, it was, it was. It was rough watching him at
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times. Again, I just don't think it was healthy. And so you're
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you're down one of your starting corners, your other starting corner is hurt,
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and Trey White's already down, so Jane Dane Jackson is starting, and you're
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down to depth, depth, depth guys at the linebacker spot. They just
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injuries just too much to overcome. It's disappointing. Disappointing. Oh Steve saying,
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playing as many games as they play, I would love to see teams
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get two BI weeks to maximize helf in the playoff. Yeah, I would
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have thought with the added regular season game that they had in the whole week
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eighteen piece, I wondered if there would be an extra bye week mixed in.
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But we'll see if that's uh, that's a piece down the road.
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Ah Bits coming in saying history is written by the victors. Thank you.
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I was close. I was close. I was close like seventy percent,
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like seven out of ten there, I was close. Common here saying hot
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take as the Bills take a wide receiver in the first, safety in the
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second, and defensive tackle on the third. Unless there is an incredible player
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who falls, I don't have a hot take. I kind of would reverse
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that, depending on how the board falls. I would like to go safety
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in the first and then take a receiver in the second or defensive line.
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If a tremendous defensive lineman falls in the first, I we'll see what happens
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with wide receiver. There's a ton in this draft class, which means you
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can get a stud early on, or you can invest in another position early
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on, knowing you can go receiver in round two or round three, knowing
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that there isn't as much of a drop off at receiver as there is at
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other positions, So it's kind of that balancing act. But you know,
14:43
we'll see kind of what happens there for that piece. Troy saying, it
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isn't great losing in the divisional round, but the Bills are a fun team
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to watch and root for. It. It's frustrating, but only a matter
14:52
of time until we win a championship. I think the matter of time piece
14:56
is the one like how much is a matter of time? Is it two
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years? Is it two hundred years? Is it twenty years? Because man,
15:01
they it's been a matter of time for a long time. Roy saying
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Von Miller played actually played pretty well when he was in there. That's a
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big one too. I'm gonna talk about it in a minute. We'll see
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what he looks like going forward. Man. Disappointing, disappointing, disappointing.
15:16
Jared says, what jersey are you wearing? I am wearing a forty nine
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Ers Ronnie Lott jersey before. I really like the forty nine Ers when I
15:26
was a kid. Still love soft spot for him in my heart as I
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do for the Baltimore Ravens. Ed Reid is my favorite football player of all
15:33
time. I really love Terrell Suggs too, so I'm obviously clued in every
15:37
football weekend, but I'm big time on the forty nine ers and Ravens bandwagons.
15:41
This weekend, I was gonna wear Ravens jersey, but I found the
15:45
Rodney lot one first, and so it is what it is. Ooh Raemon
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saying favorite Okata destination, go back to New Japan. I want him to
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go back to New Japan. He shouldn't lose. I don't trust the presentation
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anywhere else he goes. If I had to pick, I would pick AW,
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but I don't even love that. I don't want him to go to
16:02
WWE or NXT or whatever. I truly don't know where he's gonna go.
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I would prefer for him to go to AW, but selfishly, I would
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like him to just stay in New Japan and help build up those young dudes
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and pass the torch and tell the story. But yeah, yeah, yeah,
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yeah, good question, good question, good question. So let's go
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into some of the conversation pieces. You know, one of the von Miller
16:27
comments. I'm just gonna go and queue this up right now. So the
16:30
first segment here, the defensive line needs to be addressed. And then I
16:33
put in parentheses again. I know, I know this is going to make
16:37
so many people angry and disappointed or upset or bothered. I wouldn't be surprised
16:42
if the Bills went defensive line in the first round of the draft. Again,
16:48
there's so much moving and shaking. I don't think there we even need
16:51
to get to the spot right now where we start saying this is what,
16:53
this is what, how the first round is going to shake out? This
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prospect is here. There's so much to be done in free agency. Teams
16:59
are going to you know, fill different needs, which is going to change
17:02
draft boards, which is going to change who falls in each round, and
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so on and so forth. So free agency does so much, the combine
17:08
does so much, the Senior Bowl does so much. The draft stocks of
17:12
players go up and down, and things change so much that it's absolutely wild
17:21
to kind of get into a predictive spot right now. But when you look
17:23
at the Buffalo Bills, defensive line will need to be addressed in some form
17:27
or fashion. I say right now, like, I wouldn't be surprised if
17:30
they went d line in the first round. But even if it's not in
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the first round, they're going to be addressing defensive line at some point.
17:37
I want to share my screen real quick, and we're going answer this question
17:40
real quick from Kurt saying, who do you root for in the Super Bowl
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between forty nine Ers and Ravens. I wouldn't carry either way. That would
17:45
be one where there's nobody I hate, and I can just sit back and
17:48
relax and enjoy football and not have to worry about some team that I hate
17:52
winning the Super Bowl. I would maybe lean. I probably lean Ravens slightly
17:59
because I love the style football they play more, but I would be cool
18:02
either way. So I want to share my screen. Pull this up here.
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So this is spot Track the Buffalo Bill's spending for twenty twenty four.
18:21
Some people use over the cap. I use, Yeah, Kurt said,
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that is the best feeling. Yeah, when you have two teams in the
18:26
Super Bowl, they you like both teams or you don't carry either way.
18:29
You can just sit back and watch football without having to be like I hate
18:32
this one team and I hope they don't win, so much more stress free.
18:37
I use spot Track just because I like the user interface. I think
18:41
over the cap is a bit more accurate, but spot Track is close enough
18:45
and pretty good overall. Plus I like their user interface, and especially from
18:48
a presentation standpoint for shows, I think this is more easily digestible with how
18:52
it's organized from an interface perspective than over the Cap is. But over the
18:56
Cap is tremendous. So this right now is the twenty twenty four positional spending
19:03
on the defensive line for the Buffalo Bills. Now, the big thing to
19:07
look at here the cap dollars. The ones that are in orange, those
19:12
are void years and voyd years. I don't want to get too much into
19:15
a salary cap conversation now, but basically void years are just dummy years on
19:21
a contract, so they count towards the cap, but that doesn't mean the
19:25
player is under contract for that year. So basically, think of these orange
19:30
The orange lines are players that are not actually on the roster as of twenty
19:33
twenty four. So if we're going down this list right now, who you
19:37
have on your roster for the defensive line in twenty twenty four is Von Miller,
19:44
ed Oliver, Greg Russo, Kingsley, Jonathan. I don't know why
19:48
Cameron Clients listed at zero and zero Bill's also made a move today signing Ilionkhu
19:55
to that reserve future contract, so he'll be included. This just hasn't been
19:59
updated at that point. But you're basically looking at five on the defensive line
20:02
roster as of now, and we know how Brandon Being and Sean McDermott both
20:08
fully believe in terms of how to build a defense. They believe. They've
20:12
said it multiple times going back to when they first started, when I feel
20:15
like they've said it almost every offseason at some point. They believe in building
20:22
from the defensive line out. Dean Marlow when he joined myself and Eric in
20:26
the film room earlier this year, he talked about it as well, like
20:29
there's so many pieces for the defense that start with the defensive line for Brandon
20:34
Being and Sean McDermott. But even if that wasn't the case, even if
20:37
they didn't believe in building from the defensive line out, just from a body's
20:41
perspective, the Bills are gonna have to address this defensive line because again they're
20:45
rolling with five guys under contract right now, So not only are they lacking
20:51
quality across the defensive line in twenty twenty four, they just lack bodies,
20:55
Like they just don't have enough players on the defensive line as of right now.
21:00
Whether it's in free agency, whether it's in the draft, this position
21:03
group is going to have to be addressed. And it ties into a bit
21:07
of the conversation we were having earlier with the defensive line disappearing and you know,
21:11
dream draft acquisitions or free agency acquisitions and all these pieces. So much
21:17
of it will come down to positions of need that have to be addressed,
21:21
Like some spots are like, man, I'd love for them to upgrade here.
21:23
Man, I'd love for this position to get a facelift or to get
21:26
some fine tuning. When it comes to the defensive line, they don't have
21:30
anybody, and Ed Oliver is basically the only defensive tackle that's on the roster
21:36
for next year. We'll see what happens with Daikwon Jones. We'll see what
21:38
happens with Leonard Floyd coming back. Yeah, he made a comment I know
21:41
the other day like he'd love to be back, but he wants to get
21:44
paid. We'll see what happens with aj Apanessa. But you're looking at it
21:48
right now again, daik One's years of void year, Tim Settle's years a
21:51
void year, Leonard Floyd's years a void year. So none of those guys
21:55
are under contract. Even if everybody was listed here was under contract, it
22:00
would only be eight, which is still not good enough. And then there's
22:03
still a question about quality overall. But I wanted to pull up that piece
22:07
again because I think it is pretty telling given the state of where the defensive
22:11
line is from a roster spot as of now. And that ties into again
22:15
the von Miller conversation, because we'll see what von Miller looks like from a
22:23
and I think he's a huge part of this conversation obviously, but we'll see
22:26
what he looks like with a full off season of just being able to work
22:30
out right, just being able to get ready, work out, get his
22:32
body back into shape, not having to worry about rehab and the mental stress
22:37
and the mental work of making sure your knee is okay, let alone the
22:40
physical rehab work and the physical therapy and everything that you're trying to do to
22:42
get ready. But it'll be it'll be interesting to see what he is in
22:48
twenty twenty four. There were is one of the comments there earlier indicated like
22:52
there were some flashes from him more positive as you know, the season went
22:57
on from him coming off the edge. So again, if he gets a
23:02
regular offseason under his belt and he's not injured, it usually is always that
23:06
second year back from an ACL injury when players see a return to form.
23:10
So fingers crossed and holding out hope for Bond to be impactful in twenty twenty
23:15
four, but they need him to be given the state of this defensive line,
23:18
like the cap situation is not good. As Eric's in the comments,
23:21
there's always money in the banana. Stant love that. That's one of my
23:22
favorite quotes. I mean, I love Arrested Development. So there's a lot
23:26
of quotes that I love. But yeah, there's definitely some you know,
23:29
shaking and moving that they can do financially, which again I don't want to
23:30
dive into too much of that right now because it gets his way off track
23:33
for the conversation, But there will be addressing for the defensive line, and
23:37
I know that makes everybody eye roll or shrug or grown. And as ourj
23:41
says right here, for a team that through so many resources of the defensive
23:44
line, there's literally no one next year. Yeah, like you're your known
23:48
quantities going into next year, right now on the defensive line are literally just
23:53
at Oliver and Greg Russo, Like, I guess you kind of know what
23:56
you're getting out of Kingsley Jonathan, but you're known like starting caliber, quantity
24:03
quality dudes, it's at Oliver and Greg Russo, you don't know what you're
24:07
gonna get from von Miller. Kingsley Jonathan has just been at best a rotational
24:11
or kind of deaf guy at this point. And that's why I say,
24:15
like, defensive line needs to be addressed. And it's frustrating, I know
24:18
for a lot of people because it seems like it's a yearly thing. Every
24:21
year, this team having to go to the well to address the defensive line
24:25
and spend resources and allocate resources, whether in free agency, whether in the
24:29
draft, all these pieces all to kind of again reinforce the defensive line and
24:33
consistently be in a situation where it's a little bit of a merry go round
24:37
in terms of addressing that position year after year and having there be some turnover.
24:45
And what's also worrisome is not only do you not have like the bodies
24:48
which impacts you for twenty twenty four, but then like long term, right
24:52
if you don't address it in a certain way. Say you don't draft,
24:53
and you're just signing guys to one or two year deals in free agency.
24:57
You're kind of in this situation again next offseason and potentially in the offseason after
25:02
that, and it's kind of this rotating revolving door of defensive line addressing,
25:06
defensive line addressing, defensive line addressing. So if they do go someone in
25:10
round one and they hit cool, you know you still have Greg Russo's fifth
25:12
year option to exercise, so he'll be around here for several more years or
25:17
a couple more years. At Oliver got signed long term last year last year,
25:21
so you know they're in for the long haul. But this position group
25:22
will be addressed just one because they don't have bodies. Like even if the
25:29
Bills and McDermott and Bean didn't believe in valuing the defensive line, just off
25:33
of how many people they have signed or don't have signed, I guess I
25:37
should say they're gonna have to address the defensive line. But then even more
25:41
so, considering again being a McDermott believe in building a defense and that that
25:47
starts with the defensive line. You build it from the defensive line out,
25:49
So there's always a ton of defensive linemen available in free agency, edges and
25:55
defensive tackles, guys who put the scheme, not guys that are gonna break
25:57
the bank. You know. I don't think they're gonna come out out and
26:00
sign Brian Burns, like. I don't think that's a realistic possibility considering what
26:03
he's probably gonna fetch on the open market. But they'll piece it together with
26:08
dudes in free agency. I would expect it to get addressed somehow someway in
26:12
the draft. They have ten picks in the draft this year again as of
26:17
right now, and so much will change as we go forward, but I
26:19
really wouldn't be shocked to see them go defensive line at the end of Round
26:23
one. That's always a sweet spot for defensive tackles, edges, all those
26:30
pieces. Oh Steve saying, goodyear to have nine draft picks, Yeah,
26:32
nine or ten? I forget what they have. I haven't fully gone into
26:34
those pieces or no. I know they traded because they traded two and got
26:38
one back and the Rasoul Douglas deal, So yeah, maybe it is nine
26:45
at this point. Good call there. I wouldn't be surprised if if defensive
26:48
line was addressed in round one, it'll get addressed multiple times, I would
26:52
think in the draft and in in free agency, the combination of those two.
26:55
This is going to be another offseason where the Bills are looking at defensive
26:59
one and they have to And I know that's frustrating for people. I know
27:02
people want to look and see it and see and talk about man weapons for
27:06
Josh Allen and weapons for Josh Allen and sexier picks and sexier pieces. But
27:11
it's tough, like knowing what they have from a roster standpoint, the bodies
27:17
that they have, the bodies they don't have, the team philosophy, this
27:19
defensive line has to get addressed. And then again adding on top of that
27:22
the question of von Miller. You don't know what you're gonna get from von
27:26
Miller. So that's also part of the impetus for having to address the defensive
27:32
line because again, the only known quantities you have on the roster next year
27:34
at defensive line for the Buffalo Bills are Ed Oliver and Greg Russoe. That
27:38
is it. Von Miller's a wild card and Kingsley Jonathan at best is a
27:42
rotational or depth guy. That's it, and then you got ilonku like worrisome,
27:48
worriesom worrisom worrisome. I appreciate the superchat coming in from Barrick Kennedy.
27:53
Thank you for being here, thank you for the super chat. Comment here
27:56
is McDermott is peaked with this team. I go back and forth in this
28:03
a lot. I see the comments all the time in regards to Sean McDermott
28:11
and not being able to get his team over the hump, and all of
28:15
these pieces that come through. It's tough. I don't ever try to go
28:22
for the notion of like a coach peaking with a team. My thing in
28:27
the conversation with it always for me is it's really hard to win a Super
28:32
Bowl. And this isn't me giving McDermott a pass. Like the odds of
28:36
your one team winning it versus versus the odds of your one team winning a
28:44
championship in any sport, but especially football, the odds of your one team
28:47
winning it versus the field, you're always gonna go with the field, especially
28:51
in football. There's no best of seven series, there's no best of five,
28:53
There's no opportunity for you to course correct and come back. There's no
28:57
opportunity to try improve you're the better team over a series. It's one and
29:02
done. If you have a bad game, or there's a bad matchup,
29:03
or it's bad weather, you're done. You're out. And it's so tough,
29:11
and I think that clouds so much, like guys go from being a
29:14
good coach to a horrible coach to an amazing coach just because they won a
29:18
Super Bowl, Like so many things change, Like the narrative around Andy Reid
29:22
has changed so much in the past several years, Like he was run out
29:25
of Philly and people were singing and dancing because he couldn't get over the hump,
29:27
and then it was the exact same thing in Kse and then all of
29:30
a sudden he gets Patrick Mahomes and everything changes. My whole thing with the
29:37
McDermot conversation is I don't think he's going anywhere, So the conversation for me
29:41
is moved, like whether or not you want him out, whether or not
29:44
you want him to stay. I don't really think any of it matters because
29:47
you're just shouting into the ether because he's not going anywhere, Like he's done
29:51
enough to earn tenure in a pretty long leash with this team, whether we
29:56
like it or not, whether you like it or not, I'm just saying
29:57
you in the general sense, not you beara but yeah, I don't think
30:02
he's going anywhere. So the conversation for me is move. I think he's
30:04
a good coach. I think he can win a super Bowl. I think
30:07
it's hard to win a super Bowl. I wouldn't be upset if he went
30:11
out and they got someone else. I also don't want him to go,
30:14
like, I understand all the sides of it, but regardless of it,
30:17
I think the conversation is pointless because he ain't going anywhere, Like I just
30:22
I just don't think he's going anywhere. I also don't trust Terry Purgoula to
30:23
hire a new coach and bring somebody in, like I just yeah, not
30:29
great. Darryl's saying, do you think he can win a super Bowl?
30:32
Yeah? I think Sean McDermot can win a super Bowl. There's so many
30:36
there's so many coaches that were just duds and guys that people hated, and
30:41
narratives were out on this person, and all of a sudden, lightning strikes
30:45
and everything alignes. I also think too, again, not to give McDermott
30:48
a pass because I'm not. So many things have to go right, from
30:52
like a matchup standpoint, an injury standpoint, a health standpoint. There's so
30:56
many things that have to align to win a Super Bowl that that's, honestly,
31:00
as much as I hate to say it, what makes the Patriots run
31:02
so much more impressive because they were so They were doing it so consistently in
31:06
an era where it is hard to do so, given the puzzle pieces that
31:10
have to consistently align for you as a team, I think he can win
31:15
a super Bowl. But again, I see a lot of the conversation pieces,
31:18
like if McDermott left, I wouldn't be distraught, right if it was,
31:23
Hey, they fired Sean McDermot, they're bringing in a new coach,
31:26
I'd be like, okay, you know I again he's coming back, which
31:29
I'm also like, okay, I just think the whole conversation is pointless because
31:33
he's not going anywhere. Like I wouldn't stress the conversation. I wouldn't waste
31:37
the breath, I wouldn't waste the energy or the mental bandwidth thinking about man
31:41
he should go. And I'd love to have Ben Johnson or Bobby Slowick or
31:45
any other coach that's out there that like kind of fits your fancy or floats
31:48
your boat. I just I don't think he's going anywhere, So it really
31:52
never even crosses my mind. I said it earlier in the year when the
31:56
team was struggling, when they were six and six and things look bad.
31:57
If he stayed cool, if he left cool, I think there's merits to
32:01
both sides of the conversation. I don't always think the grass is greener on
32:06
the other side, I don't think that means you should always, you know,
32:09
dance with the devil that you know, right. But my whole thing
32:14
is I think it's moot because he's not going anywhere, Like he's earned a
32:16
decent leash with this team and he's got tenure. I just don't think he's
32:22
going anywhere. So for me, the conversation is kind of just ma oh.
32:25
And as RUFH. Wilson Senior says, yeah, we could end up
32:28
with the NFL version of Donnie Meatballs, because that's a part too, like
32:30
I and this isn't the like fearmongering to be like, no, that's why
32:35
you should stay with him, because things could get so much worse. Like,
32:37
I just don't think there's a guarantee that you bring in a new coach
32:39
and that person's awesome. Like how many times have teams brought in new coaches
32:44
and everybody was like, Man, this is gonna be the year we're gonna
32:47
take off. Now. I said it before earlier in the year in episode
32:52
on dis Guy's coverage, Like you could they Bills could get rid of Sean
32:53
McDermott and they could be significantly worse. They could get rid of Sean McDermott
32:58
and be significantly better. It's literally a toss up. And if you want
33:00
to take the chance on that toss up, cool, like one hundred percent
33:04
you can, But it's a toss up. Like, I just think too
33:07
many people look at McDermott peaking or blaming things on McDermott and making a concrete
33:12
assumption that a new coach will solve everything and automatically be better. I don't
33:16
think that's that that's necessarily the same thing. Could things get better, sure,
33:22
could they get worse? Sure, Like that's the that's the way you
33:24
have to approach it. But again, regardless of all of it, I
33:29
just don't think it matters. I don't think Sean McDermott is going anywhere,
33:30
so I don't even like waste a brain cell or breath really thinking about it.
33:37
And Bob says, this team is not the team of the seventies where
33:38
no one wanted to coach them. This team would have the pick of the
33:42
litera sure like they could. I'm sure there's a lot of dudes that would
33:45
love to lead a team that has Josh Allen and has some of the pieces
33:47
this team has. That doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna work out, especially when
33:52
you go to the coordinator route right, Like there's there's a lot of coaches
33:54
who were tremendous coordinators and failed miserably as coaches, Rex Ryan kind of being
34:00
one of them, although we succeeded early on with the Jets. I just
34:04
don't think there's a game. My whole thing is and there's something to be
34:07
said for both both sides, right, trying to take I like this comment
34:10
from Steve, how many coaches have the maple leafs had did anything change?
34:14
Nice? Going back to this common here from Bob, though, you can
34:17
make the case for both sides, right, I just don't think there is
34:22
a guarantee that if you get a new coach everything is sunshine and rainbows.
34:25
It could be sunshine and rainbows. It could also be a disaster and it
34:29
could be a train wreck. And going from a coordinator to a head coach
34:32
is a big jump for a lot of people. It's when you're a coordinator,
34:37
it's more x's and o's and you running a side of the ball versus
34:42
when you're a head coach. You're almost a people manager more than you are
34:45
anything. There's so much more that goes into a head coach than it is
34:47
from a coordinator spot. That's part of the risk assessment for me as well.
34:52
Right, Like, you could take a guy I'll just use Ben Johnson's
34:53
name from the Lions, because everybody's talking about Ben Johnson. Tremendous offensive coordinator,
34:58
good timing, good rhythm offense. He's done with golf, the pieces
35:00
and the weapons and all this kind of stuff. Right Like, he might
35:04
be horrible with people, he might be horrible with being a head coach,
35:07
and he could take over somebody and his team could be awful. Like,
35:09
there's no guarantee that his offense translates to a new team. But you also
35:14
have to take time to build the team around what he wants. Maybe he's
35:16
not as good as you know at morphing his system to players as he is
35:22
having the right players for the right system at the right time. Like,
35:24
there's just a multitude of questions that exist, and I feel like a lot
35:28
of people that want McDermott out, which is again, is fine if you
35:31
do. I just don't think it's a guarantee that if he leaves, the
35:36
team immediately gets better and team gets over the hump. And Joey coming in
35:40
saying, you know how long it took Andy Reid to get over the hump?
35:43
A long time? Yeah, absolutely, And I know there's marriage the
35:45
conversation of you know, Andy Reid went to four straight championships and they lost
35:51
each time with the Eagles. But again, go back to that conversation.
35:53
Now, I'm not saying you, Joey, but people in general, like
35:57
everybody talking about, yeah, well Andy Reid did this. At the time,
36:00
people were using that as a negative like this, dude can only go
36:02
to the NFC Championship. He sucks. We can never get to a super
36:06
Bowl because Andy Reid sucks. And then they get to a Super Bowl and
36:08
Terrell Owens is playing on a metal leg because his leg is destroyed, and
36:13
they lose, and everybody's like, yep, see, Andy Reid can't get
36:15
past the big one, and then he's losing in Kansas City over and over
36:19
again. All it takes is one run or one game to kind of change
36:22
the notion or feelings or opinions about a coach. And again, so the
36:27
whole McDermot piece is muddy overall. And if you want if, if people
36:30
want him out, I understand why, and I get it. If people
36:34
want him to stay, I understand and I get it. I do think
36:37
the conversation is moot because he's not going anywhere, especially this offseason. And
36:40
my other big thing with it is it's not guaranteed that if you fire him
36:46
and bring in a new coach, this team takes a jump, right,
36:51
Like there's an equal amount of chance that the team takes a jump with the
36:53
new coach as there is the team fails and burns catastrophically, like it's not
36:58
a given. All. This is good comment here too from Riema, saying
37:00
the way the players talked about mcde and the exit interviews has me bought in
37:05
the de credits him so much for their development. I mean, I don't
37:07
really aside fro him. I guess the anonymous ones in ty Dunn's report,
37:12
you don't really, you don't really hear a lot of negatives about Sean McDermott,
37:15
Like ed Oliver sung his praises, Emmanuel Sanders talked about him positively,
37:20
like I know Bernard talked about him today and exit interviews, like there are
37:25
a lot of positives that come with Sean McDermott. He's a significant part of
37:30
the locker room and the culture. Like you saw that victory rose it against
37:34
Kansas City in the regular season, Like what was it right after that ton
37:37
that Ti dumb piece came out, he got a game ball and whoever said
37:40
what they said and everybody in the locker room saying, we got your back,
37:43
coach, Like all the pieces that came through for that man. There's
37:46
there's a lot of belief in Sean McDermott internally within the players. And if
37:50
he has the buying of the players, that's a big piece. On the
37:52
day where he loses the buy in of the players, I think that's more
37:55
where we're worry and that's more where we kind of have to switch that conversation,
38:00
but I'm going to bring up my guest at this time. I mentioned
38:05
earlier one of my favorite guests who is living this rock star lifestyle on the
38:09
West Coast and Los Angeles, but he takes the time every once in a
38:15
while to come back to the little people, to come back to his roots.
38:19
And I appreciate that about him, because he is this trendsetter, living
38:22
this jet center lifestyle out there on the West Coast, wearing sunglasses all the
38:25
time, playing volleyball shirtless on the beach like he's in top gun, just
38:30
living the life out there in La Mister Kendall Mursky, I appreciate you taking
38:37
the time. Welcome to the show. I wish it was a more fun
38:38
episode and the Bills had won. But nonetheless, I always love every time
38:44
you come back. I love talking ball with you. You and I text
38:45
a bunch still, and I think it's cool to have you on, to
38:49
be able to kind of have this table setting off season conversation with you.
38:52
So welcome to the show. Thanks man, Thanks for having me. I
38:57
wish my life was exactly as you explained it. I wish I wasn't here
39:00
in the circumstances that I'm here, but I think it's funny. As soon
39:06
as the comments already came, Pop said, do we get to see him?
39:10
And then Roy has like momby let him out of his room. R
39:14
J says Kendall, Oh, Charles, nice with the wedding crash. Everyone
39:16
knows the vibes. Yeah, everybody gets it. Everyone gets it. No,
39:20
everybody gets it. Oh and go sorry real quick at this comment from
39:22
Very. Yeah, no, absolutely, Ver. I know you didn't say
39:24
he was bad, you said he peaud. I just wanted to shift that
39:27
to another conversation and use your use your comment as a stepping stool or stepping
39:30
stool, stepping stone to that jump off point of should mcdermot's day, Should
39:35
McDermot gough It was good like your comic got a ton of people in the
39:37
chat kind of talking and engaging. So I appreciate that comment. It was
39:40
a good thought. It was a good thought. But I see you would
39:43
recognize you. Yeah, Kendall Man, before you came in, I'll kind
39:49
of give you. Uh So the conversation shifted to some Sean McDermott talk,
39:52
But right before you came in, I was talking briefly on everybody's favorite topic,
39:59
which is how the Bills have to always address the defensive line. And
40:02
I just showed the positional spending from spot track for next year. Orange lines
40:07
are the voided lines or avoided years, I should say for contracts. So
40:10
the only people the Bills have under contract next year on the defensive line are
40:14
Von Miller, who's a big question mark at Oliver, Greg Russeau, Kingsley,
40:17
Jonathan again, Cameron Clin showed in there with no dollars as a placeholder,
40:21
and then they did sign Ilonku today to a reserve futures quarter track.
40:25
But you know, since you joined right in at the tail end of that
40:28
conversation, what are your thoughts on the defensive line? Are you frustrated that
40:31
they're going to have to retool it again? Because my big thing with it
40:36
was not only are they missing quality at this position, they're just missing bodies
40:39
and quantity. And added on top of that, we know McDermott and Bean's
40:44
philosophy is defensively based on building from the defensive line out, so there's gonna
40:49
be a lot of moving and shaking here, which I know people don't like
40:52
that, Like I even title, The defensive line needs to be addressed again,
40:54
I know, which I know people don't like, but what are your
40:58
thoughts on the defensive line and you know again it to be retooled again.
41:00
I mean, I feel like my thoughts are kind of like in the parentheses
41:05
below. It's just like, yeah, I know, like it's got to
41:08
happen again. I mean, but that's that's kind of what's happening when you
41:12
swing and miss, and like you're addressing this position via free agency, especially
41:16
one two year deals over yeah, again, you're constantly having to dip back
41:20
in the pool and you have to do the one and two year deals because
41:22
you know, this Josh Allen money is setting in this year. Like you
41:25
can't afford to put money into the future too far because you're already you know,
41:30
you're already handcuffed by the Josh Allen deal as is. So, I
41:35
mean, trading bogie not hitting on boogie is kind of like the big one.
41:38
I know a lot of people didn't even love the back to back dip
41:42
at edge, but like if that hit it, it would look pretty solid
41:45
right now, and like a really good forecasting by being to just understand where
41:51
the books are headed and how to kind of get in front of that problem.
41:54
And this is kind of where we lie right now, Like we got
41:58
one more year Greg was and then you got to figure out, like fifth
42:00
year option, what are we doing there. I mean, he's a good
42:05
player. I'm not upset with that or anything like that, but it's still
42:08
it's just another another decision to be made at a position that has a lot
42:13
of issues with depth. And I mean we saw depth tested this entire year
42:19
on the defensive side, and I mean it honestly was really admirable how the
42:22
defense played, but I mean you need depth everywhere, and I mean it
42:29
was just an old position. Like youngest guys are Rousseau and Oliver really that
42:34
you can depend on. And it's nice that we have Oliver locked up,
42:37
especially I mean truly breakout year from him. It's a shame that he kind
42:44
of was so ineffective against the Chiefs because I feel like that's how people are
42:47
going to remember his season. I Mean it's tough though, because you look
42:51
at the Chiefs. Yeah, no one should think about it like that,
42:53
but if you look at the Chiefs offensive line, like if you're a defensive
42:57
line and you're going to struggle if you're in the interior like our Edges had
43:00
to eat in that game. They've got three caliber interior offensive lineman Trey Smith
43:05
and Creed and Tuney. They're all sick. Yeah, they're They're fantastic.
43:08
I think I think MGS has their interior as like top or I guess fourth
43:14
fewest pressure rate allowed in the middle three. You nailed it, though,
43:17
Like the tackles are the weak spot that Edges had to eat. Yeah,
43:21
it's just how it had to go. And I mean it sucks. I
43:24
mean, I feel like we really didn't feel Leonard Floyd down the stretch too
43:28
much this year. He played fantastic, he was some I'm sure, I
43:35
mean, he was theirs. The league is painted up at this point.
43:38
But he was getting like there were a bunch of reps down the stretch where
43:40
he would be like working his shoulder and grimacing, or like holding his knee
43:45
or his ankle, or the rotation would be off of when he was cycling,
43:49
and I'm I'm so paranoid all the time that I'd be like he's hurt,
43:52
but like he would just be working different things. And I mean,
43:54
dude's thirty one played a ton of snaps early on, and like you said,
43:58
like, don't you get to I don't know, once you're at like
44:00
week eight, everybody's springing hurt. It's just a matter of how hurt are
44:04
you? Right? I think the tough part I mean, specifically to stay
44:07
on Leonard Floyd is like he played so well early I don't even know if
44:13
the Bills can afford to bring him back. Like there has to be money
44:16
coming his way this offseason because of how well he played early in the season
44:21
and honestly through what like week fourteen, fifteen something like that. Like it's
44:24
not like there was some crazy drop off in his production or anything. It's
44:28
just, oh, it's gonna be tough to bring him back, and they
44:30
need to bring bodies back. I mean, d line definitely needs to be
44:34
addressed. But I think, I mean, I know we've talked about it
44:37
offline, Like I want a wide receiver and a safety in the first two
44:42
rounds. I want those as the first two picks. I would love an
44:45
edge and a defensive tackle in this draft as well. But like just mixing
44:52
and matching the opportunity cost of it all and trying to figure out like where
44:55
you're going to really strike on that return on investment is kind of my biggest
45:00
issue because I look at this game and sure, the defense definitely could have
45:05
been better. Like I have some stats that I have on the defense,
45:07
but it's kind of more on a McDermott level for for those stats. But
45:12
I think I really look at the offense and how little Josh Allen had to
45:19
work within this game, Like it was his second lowest air yards per attempt
45:22
in a game in his entire career, including I know his A out was
45:27
like five point eight. What was I'd have to throw it one second.
45:30
I have it on one of these tabs here. So while wal Kendall does
45:35
that, I wanted to confirm the Bills have nine picks in this draft.
45:37
I know we were going back, yeah with in the chat with a lot
45:39
of late ones. Yeah, which maybe they can use and trade up.
45:45
Yeah, they're definitely going to try to get I couldn't remember if there was
45:46
like an added pick from them sent to Green Bay, if it was like
45:52
a two for one pick and Douglas coming back. I couldn't remember, but
45:54
I look it up just uh quick right now. Anyways, Yeah, five
45:59
point five areas per attempt, which is yeah, second lowest of his career,
46:04
I mean career, sorry, second lowest of this season including the playoffs,
46:07
which is really funny because the lowest of this season was the Raiders game,
46:12
which came right after his absolutely terrible performance against the Jets, where he
46:16
was just chucking it downfield all game and well, and here's absolutely but it
46:22
worked out well because the Raiders were testing him to do that and he balled
46:24
out doing it. But even in the in that vein, and I'm going
46:29
to bring up the chart from next Gen Stats, like the coverage was dictating
46:34
the Bills running the ball and all these underneath pads. There was a ton
46:37
of quarters in this game, a ton of cover two and they were playing
46:38
the sticks, they were playing back. But like you show again, I
46:43
mean we talked about it with his a dot in his air yards like there
46:45
is the passing chart, the spray chart for Josh Allen, and forget about
46:50
you know what was completed, what was in all those things. Just look
46:53
at everything behind the line of scrimmage and five yards in under like and so
46:58
you look at that chart and you hear those number, it makes absolute sense.
47:00
Like the Chiefs were forcing him to play nickel and dime football the entirety
47:04
of the game. Yeah, no, And I mean, I know the
47:07
broadcast said it like Bills are missing Gabe Davis, and I'm sure the chat
47:09
doesn't want to hear it or anything like that, but I mean, I
47:13
didn't even want to hear it. But at the end of the day,
47:15
like he is a deep threat and people respect him, and God knows,
47:20
the chiefs of any team are gonna respect him more than anyone, Like you
47:24
have to respect the deep threat that is Gabe Davis. And who else are
47:28
you going to respect as a pass catcher getting beyond you other than Daggs,
47:32
Like there there is no other person to respect, I mean, and for
47:37
that reason, you see this spray chart. So yeah, it's just tough.
47:40
And for my money, I just I really want to go wide receiver
47:44
and yeah, get some bang for the buck in that in that area and
47:47
give Josh some more to work with because it's really just Diggs and Kinkaid.
47:52
And every time Kinkay caught a pass in this past game, they took him
47:57
off field. He was playing banged up, he was wearing that brace or
48:00
that rap on that shoulder. You could tell he was starting to feel it
48:04
a little bit. When when you're looking at this offseason and you know you
48:07
already spoke to the wide receiver piece, But is that like priority number one?
48:12
Is that where your head is at? Like do you think or I
48:15
know we talked about safety, We can get into a kind of like in
48:17
general, but is there do you have like a checklist of things that you
48:22
want addressed for this Bills team in this offseason? Like cause my whole thing
48:27
and I kind of prefaced it on the lead in given the cap situation,
48:30
which is kind of kind of exist every year, But yeah, I thought
48:35
last year was a pivotal offseason. We talked about it a bunch on the
48:37
show, We talked about in the film room, like last year was a
48:38
pivotal off season because of what was coming down the pike this offseason. And
48:44
now this offseason, you've got players exiting, You've got Josh more, Josh
48:47
Allen's money starting to kick in, you've got the salary cap, you know,
48:51
gymnastics that you can complete to kind of free up some money. You've
48:53
got picks coming down the pike. But this off season was going to be
48:58
important because of what we saw looming for the defensive line, what we anticipated
49:04
happening with the safeties, which happened the wide receiver developments, Like there are
49:07
positional needs in terms of upgrades, there's positional needs in terms of facelifts.
49:15
Is that where your head is at it is something bigger or more philosophical,
49:19
like when you think about this offseason, like where does your head go in
49:22
terms of like importance ranking things like anything and everything. I mean, I've
49:27
always thought this way just because like the prominence of my life as a Bills
49:31
fan has been billed via the draft, But this year it's so much more
49:36
important with like thirty million extra dollars hitting the cap this year on Josh Allen
49:39
specifically, like this, this is when it starts. This is truly the
49:45
next phase of the franchise, and you have to pivot your attention and how
49:51
you're going to build this roster now that you're officially paying that quarterback like he's
49:58
ranked in the NFL. So yeah, it's really the draft and then via
50:04
the draft, I mean, yeah, there are certain positions that I have
50:07
more priority over, like I've said, wide receiver, safety, either defensive
50:14
tackle, edge probably in that order, and then another running back, because
50:19
it's clear, well, you know, the other running back thing. I
50:22
think needs the caveat of Joe Brady staying, because if Joe Brady stays,
50:29
it's very clear that he wants to balance things with James Cook. Like he
50:34
definitely enjoys James Cook, but it's clear that his usage of Ty Johnson shows
50:38
he wants someone to compliment him in some way. And I was not thinking,
50:44
like, man, Joe Brady's taken over. You know who was gonna
50:46
get injected into this offense? Ty Johnson. And we talked about it a
50:50
little bit after the Broncos game. We did like and it again credit to
50:54
him and also credit to Ty Johnson, who he also This is very like
51:00
hindsight, but I remember thinking of it when he left the Jets because there
51:02
was that year when it was him and Michael Carter as the one two for
51:06
the Jets. They both ate. Ty Johnson was like a legitimate fantasy football
51:12
contributing running back and they released him, and then he did. He looked
51:15
good in the preseason. I remember thinking like, maybe he could be something,
51:19
but like he was, he was legitimately effective as a number two or
51:22
three, depending on how you view Latavius Murray, I would welcome him back.
51:27
But I also liked the notion of get somebody in I don't know,
51:30
like the fifth or sixth round in the draft, and then you're set for
51:34
the next like four years or two with paired with Cook, and then you
51:37
can continue to reevaluate. But I love what Ty Johnson did. Yeah,
51:39
that's that's pretty much where I'm at. And Heines is back to see how
51:44
healthy that is? True, I do always forget that, but like the
51:47
nahem Heinz thing is always it's been interesting, even before the terrible incident that
51:53
happened to him, Like what is that overlap? Like what is the skill
51:59
set overlap between him and Cook? And I'm sure a lot of people are
52:01
upset with with Cook and how many drops he had this year they were always
52:06
in such like it wasn't like always always a potential touchdown. Yeah, every
52:10
like gotta be at least eighty percent of his drops were potential touchdown. But
52:15
I think that also speaks to the Brady usage piece, which is he's really
52:17
good at scheming up running backs in the low red zone. But do you
52:23
want to be paying a nahem Heines someone who wouldn't be paid like a rookie,
52:30
and then you would have to find like do you do you want to
52:35
pay Ty Johnson a one year deal to be the compliment to Cook? Like
52:39
the way I see it is, if you're gonna pay Nahem, heines to
52:43
be the receiving threat, you need to have two rookies as well in that
52:46
in that room, which I don't love the idea of that personally, Like
52:52
if there's gonna be one vet, I want that vet to be so different
52:55
from the rest. And I feel like the idea of having like a hammer
53:01
like a downhill right thumpers, like a like a like an aj Dillon to
53:06
pair with a James Cook or something, or someone whose skill set is unique
53:09
enough or different enough that you have a different dynamic pressent. The idea of
53:13
what Latavious Murray was this year or even also Oversatavious Murray was tremendous given what
53:19
he was supposed to be one hundred percent. But that's kind of my point,
53:22
you see, and Bill's are electric. He has it as a five
53:25
point five million it's too expensive, and I mean, I guess that's what
53:29
spot track shows him as a right now, James Cook's cap hit for twenty
53:32
twenty four is one point five to nine. Nahim Hines His cap hit as
53:36
of right now is five point four eight, And I'm sure there's probably gonna
53:39
be some moving and shaking with that because of like injury settlements and all sorts
53:43
of things. But yeah, I just think there needs to be one vet
53:47
to stabilize the room. And if it is or isn't Hines, who knows,
53:52
and probably two rookies, just just for some financial security, just so
53:59
you know, Like I don't want to do another one and done with Ty
54:01
Johnson. I like Ty Johnson. I would love to have him back,
54:05
but like I don't want to just have one year of Ty Johnson. Who
54:09
knows? We maybe you gonna be the same person. You're never gonna knows
54:15
with Hines. Yeah, if they cut him or trade him any point pre
54:19
June first, post June first, they it's only a dead cap hit of
54:22
five hundred k. They can save four point nine to eight million by just
54:25
saying deuces and you can trade huh what a trade? Bro Like? I
54:32
no, it happened. So that's the NFL. Like you take a swing
54:36
and sometimes he missed and then again what I would have loved to see him
54:40
fully integrated into the offense, even under Dorsey with a full off season,
54:45
but then especially under Brady. But I mean, you know, again,
54:49
things happen unfortunately for him. Yeah, no, it's tough, but but
54:52
I mean that's kind of my thinking with with every position right now. It's
54:57
it's so everything is so on financial stability by just having rookies that you can
55:06
lean on for like a lot of contribution, their cost effective, and if
55:09
they're also good, then you get you get the term in addition to that,
55:14
Like and that's to your point when you when you're paying to Josh Allen,
55:17
you need to hit on these other pieces because the quarterback's taking up so
55:22
much of your cap that you need this cost effective talent that gives you term
55:25
and quality snaps. And the way to do that is through the draft.
55:29
And the whole thing is like you look at the Chiefs as the case study
55:31
is like dealing dealing Tyreek Hill and what they did afterwards to rebuild their defense
55:37
with youth, and how many contributions they got from guys on rookie deals,
55:43
like sure they spent on Justin Reid to replace on Tyron Matthew. But like
55:46
they move on from their quote unquote superstars and they become less star dependent,
55:52
but they put more on rookies plates and there is obviously a risk, but
55:59
the reward to that is if you hit, there's a massive return on investment.
56:04
And on top of that is the potential growth that you could see in
56:08
the four years or three years of a rookie deal is like, it's not
56:14
you can't calculate that, Like, you have no idea how much someone could
56:16
grow from year twenty one of their life to year twenty four of their life,
56:22
and you have them at this fixed cost that is absolutely an absolute steal
56:28
and honestly not fair to the player at all. But like you compare that
56:32
to Leonard Floyd and what you paid Leonard Floyd this year for one year,
56:37
and to be honest, he outperformed that. But now you cannot, like
56:42
you likely cannot get him back at that same price point. He likely outplayed
56:47
that price point and is going to get paid relative to his production this past
56:52
year for the next year. You look at like what the packers are going
56:57
to do and what they're going to pay Jordan Love. They're paying him for
57:00
what they project him to be into the future. What you look at Ty
57:05
Johnson, what you look at Latavious Murray, you look at all these veterans,
57:09
they're getting paid based on their prior season's production, not what they project
57:15
to be. You know, the projection is the past. So it's just
57:21
it's a completely different phase for this team, and it has to be through
57:23
the draft, and there need to be more rookie snaps across the board for
57:28
this team. There's no more of this easing rookies into things like it's just
57:31
a different phase. It just has to be more built and reliant on people
57:37
on rookie deals, and you're just gonna have to live with the mistakes and
57:40
hopefully the growth. I think the Aja Panessa Leonard Floyd conversation is such a
57:46
good microcosm of everything you said there, because it's like, Okay, if
57:50
you're paying Floyd, he's going to be thirty two when the season starts,
57:54
he's towards the end of his career. He's the better edge player right now
58:00
and aj Panessa, but you're paying him based off of priors and then it's
58:04
like, Okay, what does he look like going forward? Is he looking
58:07
for a two year or a three year deal, does it make it or
58:09
even longer, like does it make sense to sign a player at that age?
58:13
Or are you paying aj Apanessa and again paying to think, well,
58:17
you know what, we think he's going to continue on this upward trajectory and
58:21
we're paying him for more of the projection and we think he can be edge
58:24
three instead of edge four and he still could reach edge two potential. Like
58:29
that conversation is such a good microcosm of like that whole piece in terms of
58:34
what you're planting paying And I think you nailed it, like the idea of
58:37
the and again I said it before you came on, Like the reason the
58:40
defensive line is constantly in this state of flux is because you know you've got
58:45
your core, You've got your Ed Oliver and you've got your Greg Russaou and
58:49
Von Miller was going to be a core piece to the injury threw everything out
58:52
of whack. But a lot of the dudes have been on you know,
58:54
one year deal here, like one year deal for Shaq Lawson, one year
58:58
deal for Jordan Phillips, two years deal for Tim Settle, two year deal
59:01
for Daikwon Jones, like all these kind of roundabout similar thing that happened with
59:06
Mario Addison when he came through and Quentin Jefferson like kind of dipping your hand
59:09
at your foot into that pool over and over again. And that's fine,
59:14
but even if it works, you're still having to go, you know,
59:19
around that merry go round every couple of years off season. You have the
59:22
same issue every single time. Whereas if you invest in the draft and then
59:27
granted you have to hit in the draft. Yeah, but then that's why
59:30
I think your boogie point is great. Like I did not like to pick,
59:32
but man, if boogie also hit, they're in a lot better shape
59:37
right now because the easy good foresight by being if that pick hits, like
59:40
massive foresight, it's cost effective. You've got term at a position of me
59:45
at at a premium position in the NFL, plus even more of a premium
59:50
position, knowing how the Bills value their defense and how they like to build
59:52
their defense. Yeah, Like it's that the edge piece and the defensive line
59:58
conversation is such a good micro cost of everything you said. But if we
1:00:01
if we flip it to the wide receiver piece, I guess like, let's
1:00:06
kind of because I had I had broken down in like multiple spots. But
1:00:08
two of the things that I wanted to talk about here were the wide receiver
1:00:12
room and the safety position. Let's start with the wide receiver piece as of
1:00:15
now, and if we're just looking at who's under contract for the Bills at
1:00:20
wide receiver in twenty twenty four, Stefan Diggs, Deontay Hardy, Khalioshakir,
1:00:27
Justin Shorter. I know they signed kJ Handler like they are you're looking at,
1:00:30
and I'm talking from like a known quantity perspective in terms of what we
1:00:34
think like guys like not just like oh yeah, well, like they can
1:00:37
end Isabella and Tyrol Shavers and guys like this, Like the wide receiver room
1:00:40
is in a state of flux in general, but even more so Gabe Davis,
1:00:45
whether it's good rittence for people or people are going to miss him,
1:00:49
He's not coming back. I think he's gonna get too much money on the
1:00:52
open market. They need to add to this wide receiver room. There are
1:00:55
some options in free agency, but a lot of the dudes that fit that
1:01:00
high end wide receiver two wide receiver one piece are again going to be out
1:01:04
price for the bills, like Mike Evans is going to be too expensive for
1:01:07
people if we're like I don't. I think Curtis Samuel is going to be
1:01:12
too expensive. If anybody likes Curtis Samuel, I like the idea of flirting
1:01:15
with Tyler Boyd, but I think he's probably going to be too expensive.
1:01:20
Like you're probably gonna have to Nickel and Diamond free agency there if you're looking
1:01:22
at a wide receiver. But like we've talked about in text, like you
1:01:25
mentioned here earlier, kind of leading into this topic. And I think as
1:01:30
everybody in Bill's Mafia and really everybody should know if you're an NFL fan,
1:01:35
the wide receiver class in this draft is absolutely loaded. But that also presents
1:01:39
that conversation piece tying into the other position of needs, which is, okay,
1:01:45
do you take a wide receiver at the end of the first round or
1:01:46
do you take one in round two or round three as your first wide receiver
1:01:52
taken, because there's less of a drop off at wide receiver than there is
1:01:54
at safety or edge or defensive tackle. And is this at where the round
1:02:00
two receivers are like the year with metcalf and McLaurin and Deebo where you can
1:02:05
get a stud in round two because it's so deep and there's so much depth
1:02:07
to it, and there's so much quality at the wide receiver position coming out
1:02:10
of college. I guess let's just talk about that piece, Like, are
1:02:14
you I know we've talked about the idea of safety and wide receiver early on.
1:02:19
Let's park the safety conversation for the next topic. What you're gonna get
1:02:22
into, Let's focus on that wide receiver spot. Like, what are your
1:02:25
thoughts on wide receiver? Do you want to address anything at all in free
1:02:28
agency? Do you have anyone in mind? Or are you focused full steam
1:02:30
ahead on the draft because it's loaded lock up term try to get a wire
1:02:36
in arsenal two? Are you looking for more of a wide receiver? Two?
1:02:38
Are you looking for someone that can be the air apparent just to find
1:02:42
Diggs? Is there a specific skill set you're looking for or what are you
1:02:45
looking for in a wide receiver to bring it? So I'll hit free agency
1:02:49
first because I think there's only one name that I'm actually interested in, and
1:02:52
it's Darnell Mooney. Just kind of curious like what his price point would be
1:02:58
because I feel like his I feel like it's going to be tough for the
1:03:00
NFL to really gauge what that price point is because the playing in Chicago.
1:03:07
Yeah, it's just so hard to evaluate anyone in that offense right now.
1:03:10
So I feel like there's a chance that we could get him on the cheap
1:03:14
for multiple years, and I feel like he would probably want to play with
1:03:19
an established quarterback and an established offense, established winning culture like all that stuff.
1:03:22
I feel like there's potential for him to take a little bit less to
1:03:25
come here versus like, I don't know, go to the Titans for a
1:03:29
lot of money, you know what I mean? So yeah, after like
1:03:31
five years and like seventy million or something exactly, Like, I feel like
1:03:35
there's potential for something like that to happen with a Darnell Mooney just because of
1:03:38
what he's gone through in his rookie deal. But yeah, if it's too
1:03:43
much, as too much in my eyes are definitely more so towards the draft.
1:03:46
That's just kind of like the one name that I think could slide down
1:03:50
a little bit. But yeah, admittedly I have not done a lot of
1:03:53
work in terms of the wide receiver class. I know that it's stacked just
1:03:59
through the great vine and I don't know how deep it goes, but hell
1:04:03
if it goes deep enough into the third round, Like I'm okay waiting the
1:04:10
idea of like what am I positioning or what am I targeting? Skill set
1:04:15
wise, I feel like it's it is kind of the air apparent to Digs
1:04:20
in the sense that it's like, I don't think Diggs is on the bills
1:04:27
in like twenty twenty six. I gotta pull up his contract real quick,
1:04:30
but I think it's yeah, Like I think they move on from Digs after
1:04:32
twenty twenty five, so I think we still have two more like two good
1:04:36
years with Digs, and I would like to see if there's a wide receiver
1:04:42
drafted now. That means there's two years with Digs and there's two years after
1:04:45
Digs. If you draft him in the first round, you also have the
1:04:46
fifth year option the third year on the rookie contract without Digs. So I'm
1:04:53
I'm thinking someone air apparent to Digs. But like first step is not air
1:04:57
apparent Digs. First step is definitely like satisfy wide receiver two role. I
1:05:01
don't think we both love Khalil Shakir, but I don't think he's that type
1:05:08
of guy. I think he's someone that like he serves a very very high
1:05:13
contributing role into the offense, but it's not as like a primary outside threat
1:05:18
that's gonna take the top off defenses. It's it's not gonna be like that.
1:05:21
It's gonna be a nuanced position. He plays a role. It's gonna
1:05:25
be moved around, schemed up, like he can separate in his own way.
1:05:28
But you know what I mean, like he plays a role and you
1:05:30
know, no, I completely agree, Like I don't think he's ever gonna
1:05:32
put up like wide receiver two numbers. I think Shakira is going to be
1:05:36
this like high EPA per target right, meaningful he's gonna have three to seven
1:05:45
catches per game, but each one is going to be for like a key
1:05:47
third down or a touchdown or some big chain move in play, Like he's
1:05:51
an impact player. But I don't think the offensive coordinators are gonna love Khalil
1:05:55
Shakir, but he's not necessarily gonna be like a fantasy football study very fair.
1:06:01
Uh So, yeah, Like I love Khalil Shakir, but I don't
1:06:03
think he's like wide receiver two. He's like a really good high end wide
1:06:08
receiver three in my opinion. So I'm really looking at someone who can be
1:06:13
a deep threat like Gabe Davis has been. But it needs to be more
1:06:17
than just that. It needs to check more than just like be physical,
1:06:21
be able to block, be able to push downfield, and you know,
1:06:27
stack defenders go up catch the ball like it just I want a more complete
1:06:30
skill set. And that's kind of where the air apparent to Diggs comes in,
1:06:34
where it's like Diggs is the complete skill set. He can do it
1:06:39
all. I mean probably outside of blocking, like Diggs can do it all.
1:06:42
He has the complete skill set. And that's what I want. I
1:06:45
want a guy who maybe he's not like top of the class type of wide
1:06:50
receiver, but you can see him check each box, whether it's you know,
1:06:55
a B minus check mark in each box, but just as long as
1:06:59
there's a check in each box and you have room for growth because he's you
1:07:03
know, twenty one years old, I have's kind of the type that I'm
1:07:06
looking for. I was laughing because I literally have in my notes more of
1:07:11
a complete skill set and less of an individual dynamic Like I think I don't
1:07:15
need another role player like exactly you need another it is an air apparent digs,
1:07:19
but like that's not what they're needed to do for the first two years.
1:07:23
I don't want somebody who's like, well, man, he's got size
1:07:27
and it's like cool, like what else It's like, No, I don't
1:07:29
want a dk ME Like no, I don't want to dk met And I
1:07:31
don't even just want a weird thing to say I know right, like I
1:07:34
don't. But I don't want somebody who is like, well, no,
1:07:38
he's got this one a plus thing and then everything else is murky, even
1:07:42
if that a plus thing is speed, Like I think speed is tremendously important.
1:07:45
But yeah, I want give me somebody who is a B minus in
1:07:48
everything or a B to it, a minus in a bunch of stuff,
1:07:51
and that are workable and coachable. Yes, give me. I think that
1:07:57
the one trade that I do want. I want speed to be present.
1:07:59
I would I like a wide receiver two that again, I think putting it
1:08:03
in the there's so many more important things than just forty time, But to
1:08:08
put it in perspective for people for forty time, like I would like somebody
1:08:12
who runs in the four fource closer to the little four fource, like if
1:08:15
we're talking Madden, I want somebody whose speed is at least a ninety three,
1:08:18
But I love my wide receiver two to be like ninety five ninety six
1:08:21
speed. But within that, I want some I want route running like as
1:08:26
that wide receiver two piece, like so much of what Diggs does is route
1:08:30
running based and obviously like I'd love a burner, and it's somebody who ticks
1:08:33
all the boxes, like somebody who can win at the catch point and plays
1:08:36
big at the catch point. But I want you guys who can route dudes
1:08:40
up. I want someone who has the traits and the physical tools to either
1:08:45
be developed into a route runner or who's already showcasing that at the college level.
1:08:49
Like I want that sink. I want that hip fluidity. I want
1:08:54
that ball winning ability that doesn't have to just happen because of size. It
1:08:57
could be because of body positioning and understanding how to separate at the catch point
1:09:00
with little subtleties like I think you nailed it again into my notes, like
1:09:04
more of that complete wide receiver skill set, Like I think Gabe was fine
1:09:11
as a wide receiver two for what they asked of him. But I think
1:09:15
what they asked of him was due to him not having a complete wide receiver
1:09:19
s. It's a limitation thing which defined his role. And that's why we're
1:09:24
both saying, like we just want a guy that I don't care if he's
1:09:28
B minuses across the board. He's not going to be held back anywhere because
1:09:31
offensive coordinators can feel like they can deploy him anywhere, which is kind of
1:09:35
like where we are with Shakir, where I feel like Shakira is at least
1:09:40
a C plus everywhere, you know what I mean, Just to put it
1:09:43
in like a grade place like that's kind of the thing. We want a
1:09:45
Shakir, but maybe a hair faster, maybe a hair taller, maybe a
1:09:49
hair heavier, maybe a hair you know what I mean. It's just like
1:09:53
just one uptick in each attribute in what Shakiir is, because Shakir is a
1:09:59
complete one receiver in really every way. It's just that his floor, like
1:10:03
that's why he went in the fifth round, Like his floor is just a
1:10:08
little bit lower than what is needed for a wide receiver. Two. Yeah,
1:10:12
and I and I think that that longevity piece also speaks to the more
1:10:17
complete aspect, Like I would man if we could wish you could go back
1:10:23
to a couple of years and I'd be like, man, like give me,
1:10:25
like give me Johan Dotson, like give yeah, yeah, yeah,
1:10:28
something like that. Yeah, right, give me. And I know he
1:10:30
went higher and is baled out, but like what a lave was potentially or
1:10:35
so like it doesn't have to be somebody who is your prototypical like, but
1:10:39
to be fair, that skill set of Johan Dotson, like there was a
1:10:43
world pre draft season for that draft where people thought he was going mid twos.
1:10:47
Oh absolutely, we's kind of the art, right, Like that's the
1:10:51
argument where it's like there is a guy that the Bills could trade up in
1:10:56
the second round four that's going to be that type of skill set where it's
1:11:00
like, oh he's a little slight, he's like five to eleven, but
1:11:02
you know he jumps high, runs fast, like he plays bigger than his
1:11:05
size. Like there are definitely some limitations here, but like he's at least
1:11:09
to be across the board. Yeah, Like that's the thing. And if
1:11:13
someone put Tank Dell in the chat, like there's right, like there's there's
1:11:16
limitations in terms of like oh there's there's this box that like oh the the
1:11:21
height, weight like that could be a problem, but like turn on the
1:11:24
tape, all the technical ability is there. So like it's just in terms
1:11:29
of everything I said about Khalil Shakir being like an offensive coordinator's dream that I
1:11:33
want another guy like that who isn't gonna limit the offensive coordinator. Yeah,
1:11:39
I think. And the route running piece for me is so important because the
1:11:44
route running, route running more than speed leads to separation for wide receivers.
1:11:49
Yeah, and Josh Allen is not and I'm not saying this negatively, Josh
1:11:54
Allen is not a big anticipatory thrower. He's not. Somebody say it negatively
1:11:59
fair enough. Well, I mean you love just you love Justin Herbert,
1:12:00
so it's expected. But like he's not a big anticipatory thrower. He is
1:12:06
like, Oh, I want to see you separate and get open, and
1:12:09
then I don't care if I'm do it exactly, and I can be laid
1:12:13
on my throat because I've got ninety nine throw power and I know I can
1:12:15
fit it in there and I'm going to go. Makes me different, absolutely,
1:12:19
and so that separation piece is so important. And time and time again,
1:12:26
the best separators in the NFL. Now, granted, some of the
1:12:29
best route runners have speed to them, but route running it takes takes precedent
1:12:34
for me over anything and everything. I want somebody who could run that complete
1:12:38
routetree. I would put that in. That's why I wanted tanked out last
1:12:41
year. And I know the size was a concern. I was sitting here
1:12:44
defending him to Joe Marino, like I had Joe on the show and we
1:12:46
were building our ideal draft, and I remember my ideal third round pick was
1:12:50
tanked out and he smirked and he was like Anthony huge outlier. I was
1:12:56
like, dude, I know. But not only was it the size,
1:12:59
but like also his usage at Houston was so weird, like it was hard
1:13:01
to evaluate him with the way they have they deployed him. They were just
1:13:05
like, you know what bubble screen, just get it in his hands,
1:13:08
and it was like, well, what is his rout tree? But they
1:13:12
like watching him, Like I remember seeing him at the Senior Bowl was comming
1:13:15
from Timus LANs. We got Saint Brown at the fourth you can find oh
1:13:17
what I what I would do for Aman rossaying. But that's another thing,
1:13:21
like that's that's the Khalil Shakir type of thing. Where it's like that guy
1:13:25
should not have fallen because people people were so scared of this like high floor
1:13:30
type of guy where he was just checking all the boxes, but like he
1:13:34
wasn't putting gold stars in each box. Like that's what we're saying. It's
1:13:40
a mon Rossaint Brown, It's Khalil Shakir. It's it's that type of guy
1:13:43
where it's like we don't need flash everywhere, we just need solid everywhere.
1:13:49
And then the coachability aspect that allows you to grow. Yeah, and there
1:13:56
again the good news is, and I'm gonna keep banging this drum all off
1:13:59
season. Like I think I think there's a chance that, like especially if
1:14:02
more quarterbacks get pushed into the first round, which I'd absolutely love, But
1:14:06
I think there's a chance that one of the potential Tier two, tier three
1:14:15
wide receivers fall. But I really doubt it. Like all the names,
1:14:19
like a Donsay from Washington isn't falling, Neighbors from LSU isn't falling. Brian
1:14:25
Thomas maybe from LSU might fall. I gotta do my tape, my due,
1:14:29
diligen I love neighbors and I love Donsay, but I got to do
1:14:31
my due dilig to the tape on all these guys. But there are quality.
1:14:34
There is quality to be had in the second round. The way things
1:14:39
are shaping up right now. And again I think this is this is where
1:14:43
that conversation comes through of Okay, do you go receiver in the first round
1:14:47
or do you take that other position of need because there's more of a drop
1:14:53
off at defensive tackle or edge or safety that there is at wide receiver.
1:14:58
And with that being said, well, anything else on the wide receiver position
1:15:00
before we switch? No, man, Yeah, you're good on the segue.
1:15:03
Oh, thank you so much, Thank you so much. You hit
1:15:05
it. No, I mean, you hit it. I appreciate. I
1:15:08
pride myself, but it's hard to tell because I can't see your face.
1:15:12
You know you're good to go. So that's why I was like, let
1:15:15
me switch sure safety position. So I labeled it facelift for the safety position
1:15:20
because I mean, I just thought it was a good adage of verbage with
1:15:24
him. But it's a position you mentioned, It's a position. It's my
1:15:28
favorite position. M M. It's also the hardest position to scout. I
1:15:32
feel like you need to watch like eight games just to scout a sing and
1:15:39
it's always tough because there's so many reps where like they don't do anything.
1:15:44
That's what I think by eight games, Yeah, exactly, because you have
1:15:45
to get you have to get the sample roll away, yes, like oh
1:15:48
great, Like this team, the team they played ran the ball fifty times
1:15:53
and it was always got a better I got a better one, I got
1:15:56
a better one. He's oh man. They they're just playing him at post
1:16:00
safety all game and the other team's just running RBO bubbles, bang glance glance
1:16:04
rout for like, I have nothing to evaluate here. It's not even making
1:16:09
the tackle because the quarterbacks are making the tackle. I love the arm sleeve
1:16:13
he wears super cool like but even too like. And it's tough because then
1:16:16
like if they don't get targeted right, like you have to watch for how
1:16:20
are they spacing the route distribution? Like yeah, what are their angles to
1:16:25
It's tough like in but you're almost scouting, you're with safeties. I find
1:16:30
myself scouting less of the ball production as I am the potential for ball production.
1:16:36
I'm like, I'm looking at it from what are your angles to the
1:16:41
football, Like do you miss tackles? How do you shit to run?
1:16:44
Exactly what is your positioning do you bait the quarterback? Like there are like
1:16:47
a ton of checkless pieces from a dB perspective, I guess not even just
1:16:54
from like dB, but especially like that safety perspective. Yeah, Like I'm
1:16:58
looking at like what do you do and run support? Like what kind of
1:17:00
range do you have your open field tackling ability? The ball skills? Like
1:17:04
can you function in man? And if you do function in man, who
1:17:08
is it against? Like is it slot receivers, is it tight ends?
1:17:11
Is it running backs? Like? Where how far downfield? All these pieces,
1:17:15
there's two that I love that are top tier in the draft that I
1:17:19
would die for right now. I would also love Antoine Winfield junior. But
1:17:24
he's going to potentially reset the safety market. He ain't coming. But let's
1:17:28
talk about the safety position again. You mentioned it, I mentioned it,
1:17:30
and I think the big piece with it is Micah Hides a UFA. He
1:17:35
might even potentially retire the way he was talking, and I know his wife
1:17:39
puts something out on social media like he might kind of be riding off into
1:17:43
the sunset man, not the sun. You wouldn't want to ride off into
1:17:45
the sun you die. I'm not great Kris got too close and his wings
1:17:50
melted. Hides a UFA. Jordan Poyer is under contract for next year,
1:17:55
but he has a dead cap hit of two million if he gets cut,
1:17:58
and a savings of five point for seven million regardless of visa preer, post
1:18:02
June first release or trade. It absolutely pains me to say this, but
1:18:09
I think we and I don't think this is a nuanced thought. I think
1:18:11
we've reached the point where Hide and Poyer both have to be moved on from.
1:18:15
I think the Bills need more juice at the safety position. The miles
1:18:18
on the tires really started to show for both of them this year, especially
1:18:23
from a downhill run fit perspective. It just seemed like a lot of snaps
1:18:27
this year where Poyer was just falling off dudes left and right. I don't
1:18:30
also don't mind the notion of bringing in a good safety and playing them with
1:18:34
Jordan Poyer, because when we were talking about this over text last month or
1:18:39
whatever, you had a great point of like, you know, you don't
1:18:41
want to start two rookie safeties. That's a hard thing to do. And
1:18:44
then it's like, Okay, who are you bringing in from free agency?
1:18:46
All this kind of mixing. But no matter how you slice it, the
1:18:48
safety position needs to be addressed for twenty twenty four, but also beyond,
1:18:53
given what they have on this roster, when it comes to that safety spot,
1:18:56
what do you think in this offseason? So it is really dependent on
1:19:00
the Poyer thing. Yeah, Like I really do want to harp on that.
1:19:04
Like I I just don't think it's wise to have both safeties. I'm
1:19:10
sorry. I like this comedy ko Mory said Jordan Whitehead, So he can't
1:19:13
keep picking picking us off because he always says, somebody picks against Allen.
1:19:15
He does have that pixicans sound. I think he only had three all year,
1:19:19
and all three came in that first game. Of course the Jets naturally,
1:19:25
No, you're good. It really does depend on the Poyer situation.
1:19:29
I personally, like you said, I don't want to start two rookies at
1:19:31
safety. It's it's a very like high leverage. So are you bringing Poyer
1:19:35
back or are you bringing in another safety off free agency on like a one
1:19:39
year deal? See that that sigh is the exact Like, It's just it's
1:19:45
a hard thing, that's the problem. It's it's really tough. I think
1:19:47
as much as Poyer fell off, I do think keeping him for a year
1:19:51
isn't isn't the worst thing in the world, especially in the idea of like
1:19:58
handing the torch, just like I like the idea of carrying him first round
1:20:01
safety. Right. So my my pushback though, is like I really want
1:20:08
to find a Kyle Hamilton type, like a type that can really just move
1:20:13
around into everything. But I worry there is a little bit of redundancy there
1:20:18
with Poyer, Like I don't want Poyer playing post safety, you know what
1:20:23
I mean, Like and and now that's what I mean, and and I
1:20:27
don't want if I'm drafting a Kyle Hamilton type, I don't want that guy
1:20:30
playing post safety all the time. So you can want to use him like
1:20:34
you want to use him like a jack of all trade, like we use
1:20:38
Jordan Poyer. Like. You know what's super funny how someone said this on
1:20:42
Twitter? So this isn't mine the Ravens like or I think it was.
1:20:45
Kyle Hamilton is what everybody thought. Isaiah Simmons was going to be a one
1:20:50
hundred percent such one perfect Yeah, Sam pills are electric, says he was
1:20:58
the fourteenth pick. I mean, I want the type of player, the
1:21:00
archetype, not necessarily the high draft capital. I use a first round pick
1:21:05
on the safety for two specific ones, I'll keep one. No no,
1:21:10
no no, But that's kind of the point, Like I would use the
1:21:12
first round pick on whatever safety it takes. The point is is I kind
1:21:18
of want that archetype. That's the physical guy. You can move him into
1:21:21
the slot. You can play him in the box, you can rush him
1:21:25
off the edge, you can play him at post, you can you can
1:21:27
play him anywhere. I want that type of safety. I do think there
1:21:31
are guys that could be had later. I mean, like Jeremy Chin,
1:21:34
Like he is not drafted in the first round. I know you have a
1:21:38
thing for Jeremy. But that's the point. It's like those guys, especially
1:21:43
especially those type of safeties. Those type of safeties are trying to make their
1:21:47
way into the mainstream the past like two three years now, so they're just
1:21:53
starting to move up draft boards in my opinion, so you can find them,
1:21:59
in my opinion, in rounds one through three. It's harder to find
1:22:01
the high quality ones past that. But that's the type I want. If
1:22:08
Poyer comes back, you gotta look at the more traditional like free state free
1:22:13
safety type of guy, the guy that's just nails in zone coverage, like
1:22:16
he just knows how to space things and he knows how to play the ball
1:22:19
in the air, quick closing speed, all that kind of stuff. So
1:22:26
it really does depend on the first domino falling and how you want to address
1:22:30
that first domino that is Jordan Poyer. That's a fair point, and I
1:22:35
I'm okay with Poyer coming back, especially if you're pairing him with like a
1:22:44
a day one or day two safety that is kind of going to take that
1:22:49
torch and then you go from that spot right And again I too. There's
1:22:54
also the other side of the conversation, which is you know, looking at
1:22:58
Jordan Poyer and looking at mic A Hyde becoming arguably the best safety tandem in
1:23:01
the NFL. Both did it is under the radar signings like Mike Hyde was
1:23:06
more high profile than Poyer, but not a high profile signing, like he
1:23:11
was a slot corner safety punt returner at Green Bay. That the Bill sign
1:23:16
and people were like, Oh, I guess he's gonna play safety. Now,
1:23:18
we'll see how that works out. And Poyer got signed and everybody was
1:23:21
just like who cares? Who? Yeah, who cares? A dude was
1:23:25
hurt. He played for the Browns. The brown suck like whatever. So
1:23:28
there is something to be said for taking a late safety or taking somebody from
1:23:31
the free agency scrap heap and turning them into something more like we've seen.
1:23:35
I mean, dude, you and I have talked about all the time,
1:23:38
like what Sean McDermott has done, or what Bill's dbs have done under Sean
1:23:44
McDermott and in his tenure, like Trey going from like a late round CB
1:23:48
to becoming an all pro Taron Johnson was a fourth round pick who became an
1:23:51
All pro. Hide Poyer, Christian Benford, Levi Wallace like, even if
1:23:57
you don't like Dan Jackson, the fact that they took a seventh round made
1:24:00
him a solid like CB three and a depth guy like the success rate they've
1:24:03
had. So it goes to both conversation pieces of like, Okay, well,
1:24:09
just put low resource allocation in that position and you can shine up anything
1:24:14
and make it shiny. But then the other conversation is, yeah, but
1:24:16
what if you do, like invest in that position monetarily or with draft capital,
1:24:21
what can you turn that position or that person into and what can you
1:24:25
do? I love that you mention Jeremy Chin. He's gonna be on my
1:24:28
free agency watch this all year. The one thing that is interesting though,
1:24:31
and I poked around a couple of Panther sources during the year about it,
1:24:36
because he this year and even last year to a degree as well, he
1:24:43
stopped playing Like last year. He was still kind of jack of all trades,
1:24:46
but more of his snaps were spent in the box and as apex than
1:24:50
yeah, then as a deep safety, but he still had last year one
1:24:55
hundred and seventy nine deep safety reps. He got hurt last year, so
1:24:58
one hundred and seventy nine deep safety reps, two eighty four in the slot
1:25:01
or the apex, and one hundred and seventy four in the box. This
1:25:04
year again got banged up. He only had two deep safety snaps. He
1:25:10
had one hundred and seven box snaps one hundred and forty three slot corner snaps.
1:25:15
Kind of got phased out of the rotation in Carolina. I don't know
1:25:18
what, and I haven't I know what he was coming out and I know
1:25:23
what he was his first couple of years in Carolina, which was kind of
1:25:28
and I don't want to make this comp but kind of like Troy Polamalu esque,
1:25:31
like he was everywhere. He was deep, he was a linebacker,
1:25:35
he was apex, he would cover down on tight ends, he blitzed,
1:25:39
like you could use him anywhere and do anything. I still believe he's that
1:25:43
guy who can play a deep haf safety and play a post safety role.
1:25:46
But then if it's him employer, is that a little too redundant? Why
1:25:50
was he just yeah? Why was he just a box safety guy? Like
1:25:56
and kind of got penned into that, like and it's also too not like
1:25:59
everybody was him in Hall and like, man, they're really misusing Jeremy Chin.
1:26:02
But for what he could be, I would I would love to kick
1:26:05
the tires on Jeremy Chin again. I need to watch the tape on him
1:26:09
from this year and really in last year to and really see if he can
1:26:12
still be that deep safety piece. But if we're looking at free agency,
1:26:15
I love Chin, and I think he could be on the cheap, well
1:26:17
relatively cheap, given you know how his time ended in Carolina, outside outside,
1:26:24
outside, outside, chance at Kyle Duggar. But I think he's gonna
1:26:27
get paid, Yeah, that was the other type of guy that that fits
1:26:30
that archetype that can kind of move around. Yeah, and I love what
1:26:33
he does, but I think he's gonna get paid and probably priced out.
1:26:36
Winfield is like my top tier pipe dream. But again, like no,
1:26:40
I think he's gonna get paid in a way that either potentially resets the safety
1:26:44
market or at the very least top tier, Like I don't know if he's
1:26:45
going to get Mike Fitzpatrick money, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had
1:26:49
something that was like the most guaranteed, Like he doesn't have the highest AAV
1:26:55
but he got the most guaranteed money or some piece like that. He's an
1:26:57
all pro. He's been solid year after year. I really from a draft
1:27:02
perspective, there's two that I love. One is going to be at the
1:27:05
Senior Bowl even though he's not a senior, so Cam Kitchens from Miami and
1:27:10
Tyler Nuben, the safety from Minnesota. I would take either of them at
1:27:14
the back end of the first round right now as things have shaped up.
1:27:16
I've said a ton of the type of guys are each let me pull up
1:27:21
my he's got notes, I do, got my scouting notes. I absolutely
1:27:27
do have my scouting notes. You know me, I I don't know why
1:27:29
I I closed out my scouting doc. Yeah. That should never be closed.
1:27:31
This should always be working. It's always open. But I had like
1:27:34
ninety five windows open earlier, like in all these tabs, and I was
1:27:38
like this is it was giving me so much anxiety. All right, So
1:27:42
we'll start with Tyler nuben So what's nice with Nuban is the range that he
1:27:45
has, but also paired with the size. He's six foot two, two
1:27:48
hundred and ten pounds, okay, and you see it like he's your prototypical
1:27:54
communicator quarterback of the defense. He's got really good peripheral vision. He reads
1:27:59
the quarterbacks eye, he closes and triggers like he's got good he's got prototypical
1:28:02
size, he's got the range, he's got ball skills. He has a
1:28:06
thirteen interceptions for his career, which is the record for Minnesota. He's out
1:28:11
there making like diving interceptions. He's jumping routes. So where do we talk
1:28:15
in alignment wise like post safety, post safety, single high. So this
1:28:21
is that's ability. What about usage? Like is it truly a mix in
1:28:28
terms of how he gets used? Yeah, yeah, I mean they based
1:28:30
on what Minnesota did, Like he was getting a little bit of both,
1:28:33
like he's playing single high and Cover one and Cover three, getting a bunch
1:28:38
of splits split field work and Cover two and Cover four. Also boundary safety
1:28:42
because he's really good at fitting the run, but he can also play he
1:28:45
plays wide side from a range perspective and from a fit the run perspective.
1:28:48
He's a sure tackler coming forward, you can also walking down. He can
1:28:51
man cover versus tight ends. He will get misled from time to time,
1:28:59
like I think diagnosing, like I think almost like he gets blinders on and
1:29:02
in twenty twenty two, this happened more than twenty twenty three, but he
1:29:06
would like lock in on what was happening in the backfield and then would get
1:29:12
cracked and like taken out of the play. He got his head more on
1:29:14
a swivel in twenty twenty three. But he both him and Cam Kitchens Kitchens
1:29:17
I'll talk about in a minute, but both of them are your their first
1:29:21
round safety prospects or like early second because they can kind of do anything you
1:29:27
want to play in the post cool, you want to man cover somebody,
1:29:30
tight end, running back, cool. You want them to fit the alley
1:29:32
or fit the run. Cool, You want them to play deep cool,
1:29:35
you want ball production cool. They each like Nuban also, actually both of
1:29:40
them have a little bit of edge to their game. Like Nuban's had a
1:29:43
couple of hits that are borderline late and he's just burying dudes like he he
1:29:49
loves to play over the top on crossers and let the quarterback throw it and
1:29:53
then just absolutely murder whoever the wide receiver is that may not fly at the
1:29:58
next level. No, the hill get flag more. My only My one
1:30:02
big thing is I'd like him to play a bit more with his size when
1:30:05
it comes to him playing the run, especially as a force player, like
1:30:08
at six two Again, how this is what they're listed at, but at
1:30:12
six two two ten, I would like my safety to be more of a
1:30:15
tone setter in terms of being a forced player on the edge or a box
1:30:18
player on the edge. Not that he's not, but I think he could
1:30:21
get better there. Not to a level that his side suggest, yes,
1:30:25
but considering how good his ranges, like, okay, work on this one
1:30:30
thing because everything else is almost makes you wonder if he's mislisted, if he's
1:30:33
moving faster than his size suggests, and he's playing less physical than his size
1:30:36
suggests could be. It's a fair point Cam Kitchens on the other aspect from
1:30:42
Miami safety. From Miami, he is the opposite. He's listed at six
1:30:45
foot two oh five, but he plays like a tank. And my Miami's
1:30:51
defense last year and this year so fun to watch, Like they're so attack
1:30:55
minded, like really leverage base, they're blitzing, they're doing all this stuff.
1:31:00
He is everything is impact, he's physical at the tackle point. He
1:31:03
hits like a freight train. But he's also got good form similar to the
1:31:06
Nuban though split field post safety look open, size closed. It's a little
1:31:11
different though from a coverage perspective than Nuban, Like Nuban is playing I don't
1:31:15
want to say NFL coverages like Kitchens isn't, but Nuban is more of Oh
1:31:19
they're playing cover one, Oh they're playing cover three, they're Cover two,
1:31:23
Cover four. Miami's defense is very much like we're throwing all these crazy blitzes
1:31:28
and we're trying to rotate out of it. Basically like we're matching off of
1:31:31
fire zone coverages because we're blitzing this and we're doing this, so it's a
1:31:35
little I'm actually gonna ask me a bunch about it. Yeah, and so
1:31:39
it's very like but which also works because the Bills play a bunch of match
1:31:43
covers. So him having that ability, Oh, it's encouraging. Yeah,
1:31:47
both of these dudes are first I think first round caliber safety's back end of
1:31:55
first round early too, Like, I don't think either of them are there
1:31:59
for the Bills with their second and round pick. Like, so if you're
1:32:00
gonna get one of them, you have to get them at the end of
1:32:02
the first maybe one goes earlier, Like I mean, testing is always so
1:32:10
so important, Like if one of them comes out and runs like a low
1:32:13
four four or low four five for a safety, that's like, oh my
1:32:15
god, Like, well, I mean, safety's tested so badly. Last
1:32:19
year. The last year was awful. My favorite safety was Chris Smith from
1:32:25
Georgia, who, like I really loved how we played and then people were
1:32:28
like, oh, where do you haven't projected? I was like the fourth
1:32:30
round yeah, and it's like, oh, okay, yeah, it just
1:32:34
wasn't a good class. There's more, I think, more depth overall to
1:32:38
this class, especially if you know Cooper Dejane, the cornerback from Iowa who
1:32:42
people project the safety a little bit depending on where you throw him in there.
1:32:45
He kind of functions as that Kyle Hamilton piece that you were talking to
1:32:48
ironically, But yeah, wait, he played primarily corner this year, but
1:32:53
he only played last year. I actually let me. I started every Iowa
1:32:58
snap. Last year he played mostly safety or slot last So this year I'm
1:33:05
on PFF right now. This year he six hundred, so he had eight
1:33:11
hundred and seventy two snaps. Six hundred and thirty were at outside corner,
1:33:15
twenty three it's in the slot, twenty three in the box, and then
1:33:18
twenty eight on the defensive line as a blitzer. He had one actual safety
1:33:24
snap, like free safety snap last year. No, last year was the
1:33:27
same thing. Five hundred and fifty three wide corner, one hundred and forty
1:33:31
slot ninety one in the box. That's what I thought, because in my
1:33:35
head, I was like, he's never he's never played like safety. But
1:33:41
he's six one two o seven, he's thick. I have to actually like
1:33:44
watch his taste. Yeah, I wonder I I would implore you to watch
1:33:47
early twenty twenty two Iowa because I know they had some injuries and they moved
1:33:51
him. They moved him to corner as they got more injured on the secondary
1:33:57
last year, but I'm pretty sure he started the year. Iowa plays their
1:34:00
safeties in a really weird way too. Iowa as a team pisses me off.
1:34:04
Every year they have no offense, like, and they always have a
1:34:08
really good deal bast like a five hour every year and the one good player,
1:34:13
it's like, man, they got Sam Laporta. What about the reciue
1:34:15
offense? It sucks? And then they would hit this really good defense and
1:34:18
every year they go to the Big Ten Championship and their defense does well,
1:34:23
but they lose like twenty to three because they have no something like that.
1:34:27
I'll take their punter or two. Oh yeah, crank it. And I'll
1:34:30
take Cooper Dejane as a partner turner. He's electric with that. But yeah,
1:34:32
there's there's so much with the conversation, like and again, there's so
1:34:36
much to be had for I'm early in the draft process. I know you
1:34:41
are as well, and there's so much to the evaluation process going forward.
1:34:44
Like we got to see these guys at their pro day's at the combine at
1:34:47
the Senior Bowl wherever else they test and get to kind of show their metal
1:34:50
and what they do. But I think there's an opportunity for the Bills to
1:34:54
go safety in the first round, and there's obviously dudes that they can nail
1:34:58
like second, third round. It's just a different skill set piece. I
1:35:00
got a weird workaround question for you. Oh, I like it, is
1:35:03
there anyone on the Bills roster currently that's not listed at safety that you would
1:35:10
be excited about thinking to move to safety? Is this like a like cam
1:35:15
Lewis Christian Benford question? And it's not even like a spec you do you
1:35:20
have an answer? Not really. I just kind of have thoughts like I
1:35:25
I have, like if I had about to Ron Johnson, like you know
1:35:30
what I mean, Like they just like thought, not necessarily, oh I
1:35:34
would do this. It's so tough because the the way you see the game
1:35:40
is drastically different. Oh my god, so much, so much more to
1:35:44
process absolutely, like and how you're angled, Yes, your angles to everything
1:35:47
are completely different, like how you're coming up to fit the run, not
1:35:51
even just from responsibility perspective, literally just the vantage point from which you see
1:35:56
and process. So it's a hard thing. If I had, if I
1:36:01
had to have, like if you told me Anthony, you have to take
1:36:04
a corner and move him to safety on this team. I don't even know
1:36:10
if I'd wanted to be Daron Johnson, just an all pro slot like,
1:36:14
so I want to move him like and I like what Benford does a corner.
1:36:18
I'm not moving anyway. I know everybody says Kyri Elam Kyer Elam,
1:36:21
No, can'tckle, he can't tackle. So he did a little bit against
1:36:27
Pittsburgh, like he stepped up a bit after he got trucked by Friar Muth.
1:36:30
But man like, I I don't see that working because of how Kyer
1:36:35
tackles and plays the run. I don't see that working at safety. Benford,
1:36:40
I think would probably be the best steck like, but he's like kind
1:36:45
the starting corner right, no, not even kind of like he is c
1:36:47
B two on this team. And it's a real conversation next year depending on
1:36:51
how Trey White comes back. What it's Trey Rausseul Douglas and Christian Benford.
1:36:58
You have three legitimate starting corners like and I think corner is more premium than
1:37:04
safety. So I'm not moving Benford. Like I'm not moving Benford, I'm
1:37:10
not moving Douglas. I'm not moving Trey. If I had to move somebody,
1:37:13
it would be Benford. But again I'm also not because it doesn't make
1:37:16
it seem I honestly didn't have any of those. It was really I think
1:37:20
between I think it was really I guess it was a Taron Johnson question.
1:37:25
I think I think maybe it's a Taron Johnson question relative to the slot corner
1:37:30
class, right, like do you want to reset the slot corner and move
1:37:36
him back? I didn't even know that as I was asking it. By
1:37:40
the way, I look how you like you kind of like workshopped it as
1:37:43
it went through. It really was, And it's also like Tarren plays such,
1:37:49
I think the slot corner position is tremendously important to be important, and
1:37:55
the teams to this defense, yes, absolutely, and teams that have really
1:38:00
good slot corners like the Chiefs, like the Bengals, like the Bills,
1:38:06
like what the Colts have done for a bunch of Kenny Moore, Like I
1:38:09
know he had a down year this year, but like when you have a
1:38:12
legit apex, I mean there's also a reason, Yeah, the Rams took
1:38:17
Jalen Ramsey and made him that that apex. That quote unquote star position was
1:38:23
just a fancy way of saying he plays slot, Like there's a reason they
1:38:26
put him in there when you've got Now, now here's an interesting no.
1:38:30
See, I was gonna say the interesting one. I was gonna be like,
1:38:31
now, if you want to take Taron Johnson and move him to safety
1:38:34
because you want to play big nickel and put Jeremy Chin as your apex,
1:38:39
seeing this is kind of what I meant by like they're different, play Chin
1:38:43
at safety, right, right, right, It's just interesting. But it's
1:38:46
because of the defense. I know, right, it's just interesting because of
1:38:49
the defense the Bills play and there's only two linebackers on the field most of
1:38:54
the time. Like, if you want that movable safety, you're only moving
1:38:58
him so you can get into one. I shall, You're not moving him
1:39:01
to play slot corner. You're you're just moving him to take a safety away
1:39:06
from deep. You're just moving him closer to the line of scrimmage to fit
1:39:11
the run. That's all you're doing. True, And now I'm I want
1:39:15
to grab this real quick from Steve who said, so what do you do
1:39:16
when other teams go heavier, always staying nickel, Yeah, or you bring
1:39:18
in a third they do now it is what they do now? Or do
1:39:21
you bring in a third linebacker to replace Tarin? But I think the bigger
1:39:27
thing is teams don't go heavy like that, so like it might happen.
1:39:30
Hey, I will say the Chiefs had eight runs with thirteen personnel this game.
1:39:35
Ten yards per carry oh, ten yards per carrying person this week.
1:39:40
You know, bro, you don't have to tell me. It was one
1:39:42
of our matchup things with me at lane from the Casey Sports Network on last
1:39:45
week's episode, like smart when there's only four linebackers. Absolutely, but also
1:39:50
within that that was very much like an oddity, like teams don't run a
1:39:56
ton of thirteen. Teams don't go a bunch of heavy and even that right,
1:39:58
like the chief the Chiefs did it a bunch in that game quote unquote,
1:40:01
and it was how many reps eight like eight runs, yeah, but
1:40:04
there were twenty four pass out of it. Yeah, like game, teams
1:40:10
don't go super heavy like that. And if you get matched up like that,
1:40:14
that's fine, but you also have to you kind of have to play
1:40:15
the numbers like you can't be like, well, we have to build our
1:40:17
defense because what if teams go heavy? But it's like the odds that happening
1:40:21
are smaller. Now here's a bigger galaxy brain conversation, like we're getting to.
1:40:26
If you want to go to if you take Taron Johnson and you want
1:40:31
to move them, if you say you bring in Jeremy Chin, then you
1:40:35
go to this, you start to move toward this defense or just this yeah,
1:40:40
positionless defense where you don't know who is it single high, is it
1:40:44
too high, who's playing safety, who's the apex? Are they blitzing it?
1:40:46
At least it's kind of why I'm asking, because the Bills drops Johnson
1:40:50
into a deep half a deep third regularly, especially especially when they would run
1:40:55
those Tampa two robber looks and Hide would drop as the robber and yeah,
1:40:58
yeah, like they're already doing it, so like maybe you don't call him
1:41:02
a safety, like he's still playing the same position. So I guess I'm
1:41:05
asking a stupid question to begin with, because I think we can do a
1:41:10
whole episode on just like the positionless idea. But then you really then oh
1:41:15
man, man, man, I got another one too. Well, bro,
1:41:16
what if you signed Dugger and Chin right, and this is what you
1:41:21
lean all the way into it, and it's just when you're running zones like
1:41:27
the rotation combinations are endless, absolutely finis and the disguis no no pun intended
1:41:33
for the name of the show, the potential to disguise coverage, it's endless.
1:41:39
It's truly endless. But yeah, it's very, very unlikely that the
1:41:45
Bills give Dugger and Chin. I just went through the free agents. The
1:41:48
name I'm actually kind of looking at that I want to do some film work
1:41:51
on. Is Ashton Davis. Oh from the dude from cal who played for
1:41:57
the Jets. The Jets, Yeah, kind he kind of dropped off.
1:42:00
He never really got a chance with the Jets. I think he got injured
1:42:01
a little bit and he started though for a top taking more years. I
1:42:06
want to say he started early, got injured and then I think he started
1:42:11
a couple of games this year. But like it sposed out to Tony Adams
1:42:14
or whatever. Yeah that was. I can't believe Tony Adams is a starter.
1:42:17
Now. I did late work on him last year. I was like,
1:42:20
this dude's an athlete, do the and now he's got it. The
1:42:25
Jets guy who I had on for Week one, who also does like a
1:42:29
ton of college football stuff. Like the person he was most excited to see
1:42:31
this year was Tony Adams because of like everything he was doing in camp and
1:42:35
everything he did in the preseason. I was like, damn Tony Adams.
1:42:38
And yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I was like, I
1:42:40
can't believe he was a sleeper. I was afraid to talk about that's funny.
1:42:44
Yeah, but it was all like Tony Adams, Tony Adams, and
1:42:47
I was like, oh, okay, and like he made some plays here
1:42:49
and there. He actually made some a couple plays the previous season too.
1:42:53
The safety conversation is so fun no like and again, I think that's kind
1:42:56
of why I labeled it like facelift for the safety position. There's a lot
1:43:00
of directions you could go in. You could maintain the status quo. You
1:43:04
could bring in two new starters. You could draft early, and might say
1:43:10
early, I mean day one or day two. You could draft late.
1:43:13
You could do some free agency spending. You could also do different things schematically
1:43:15
based on what you're looking for. Like there's a lot of good potential for
1:43:21
what can happen at this position because traditionally you really don't have to come out
1:43:27
of pocket for safeties. Like look at what CJ. Garden Johnson signed last
1:43:30
year, one year bro like you could even I wanted him super bad last
1:43:35
year on the Bills defense. I take him again this year. I don't
1:43:38
think he's going to sign another one year deal low money. Maybe he does,
1:43:40
though, because he got injured this year and there's that inconsistency. Plus
1:43:44
he's kind of maybe a psychopath who knows, but I think there's probably a
1:43:47
light way of saying it a little bit, yeah, just kind of be
1:43:50
nice with it. But there's he But that's what I like. I wanted
1:43:55
more juice physically, and juice from an edge and a bite perspective, and
1:43:59
he plate, he plays fast, and he gets in dude's faces, and
1:44:03
he's a difference maker mentally and physically, and also I like from a match
1:44:08
coverage perspective, he's but he's also in that mold like post safety split look
1:44:13
slot, you want him to blitz, You want to play as endless possibilities
1:44:16
with him too, And that's really I think when I said Kyle Hamilton,
1:44:21
what I meant was positionlessness. But the thing with Kyle Hamilton, the thing
1:44:25
with like the Isaiah Simmons failure experiment, like all of it is in this
1:44:30
this like tweener body, right, And I also think that's what I was
1:44:34
hoping for, But it doesn't need to be that. No, and I
1:44:38
know what you meant, but I also think like Isaiah Simmons failed be I
1:44:40
think Detroit, Detroit, Arizona failed Isaiah Simmons like they put Arizona failed everyone
1:44:45
on that defense fair They put him at linebacker, and I think that screwed
1:44:48
him up, like they should have let him be a safety monster man,
1:44:51
roamer type of dude. They didn't. They were like, oh yeah,
1:44:54
let's take him and put him an off ball linebacker, which he didn't play
1:44:57
the majority of the Clemson That screwed him up. And but there is something
1:45:01
to be said for that idea and hide employer at their peaks, we're both
1:45:08
in that mold of you know, quote unquote position list like they came along.
1:45:11
The Bills were the forefront of that movement where it was it wasn't free
1:45:16
and strong safety anymore, it was just safety. You had guys who could
1:45:19
because in their prime hide employer. They could both play in a split safety.
1:45:24
Look, they could both play in a post safety. Granted Hyde was
1:45:28
more of the post guy. Employer was more of the box, you know,
1:45:30
buzz safety kind of dude. But they can do either. They could
1:45:32
cover down on tight ends, they could cover out of the slot, you
1:45:35
could pick up running backs, you could do all these things. There is
1:45:39
something to be said for that, And I think if you're looking at like
1:45:43
Baltimore is a bit of a unicorn defense, but how they're built defensively,
1:45:46
a lot of it comes from that Kyle Hamilton because like, oh cool,
1:45:49
he's lined up in the slot. Is he going to cover the slot or
1:45:54
like, is he gonna drop and play split field. They've also done stuff
1:45:57
too where Kyle Hamilton lines up in the slot and he ends up as like
1:45:59
the post safety in like cover three or like they blitz and it's a you
1:46:02
know, it's a fire zone and it's like three to three behind it.
1:46:04
He's the post, or he's matching, or he's carrying. Like But to
1:46:08
your point, you can only do that with a specific body type and or
1:46:12
skill set, and I think those body types and skill sets exist to a
1:46:15
degree, maybe not to the level of Kyle Hamilton because he's tremendous, but
1:46:20
like exists to a degree in free agency in potentially the higher end of the
1:46:26
draft. Again, like I think Kinchins and new Win or two of the
1:46:29
better safeties that have come out in recent years, Like we haven't had true
1:46:32
first round safety prospects and a draft like in especially compared to last year.
1:46:38
But I feel like the past couple of years and even the three agency he's
1:46:41
like, I I would love the idea of Jeremy Chin and this defense.
1:46:44
Again, I want to grind the tape and make sure, like is can
1:46:46
he still play safety safety? Can he still play a single high like post
1:46:50
safety middle of the field? Can he still play as you know, a
1:46:54
cloud safety over the top or in quarters? Or like why did he just
1:46:57
get moved to the box? I still think he has that in him,
1:46:59
Like, I don't think that just goes away. And if anybody can get
1:47:02
it out of him, it's Sean McDermott. Yeah, yeah, no,
1:47:06
I completely agree. I Uh, through this whole conversation, I think I've
1:47:11
I think I've pivoted to draft safety in round one. Wow, come yeah,
1:47:16
I think I think I've pivoted. I feel like Cooper's definitely going to
1:47:20
go in first round. There's so much hype around him, right absolutely.
1:47:26
I I mean whether it's a safety or corner like whatever he's scouted as.
1:47:30
I feel like the hype around him is already he what I also think is
1:47:33
gonna happen to I think, oh, well, he's injured. We got
1:47:38
injured. I don't know how that's going to carry into draft seasons. But
1:47:42
always I imagined he was going to test very well, yes, and I
1:47:47
think that was going to push him further. People were going to see him
1:47:50
jump out of the gym, people were going to see him run everything.
1:47:55
He was going to hit everything, a good forty, a good twenty,
1:47:57
a good short shuttle, a good three cone, like he was gonna hit
1:48:00
a bunch of measurables. And then you put on the tape. You know
1:48:03
the defense he comes from. You see the body type of the skill set.
1:48:06
I mean he's listed at six one, two oh seven. He's electric
1:48:11
as a returner. Like, yeah, I think he's a first round dude.
1:48:14
I just need to I haven't watched him. I watched him on broadcast
1:48:17
a bunch. I've seen Iowa, but I need to, like watch the
1:48:19
tape tape to see because also too like he was a really good corner,
1:48:23
so why not just leave him? He's and I've heard a couple of people
1:48:27
say this. I feel like he's in that Jalen Ramsey conversation where people were
1:48:31
like, oh, Ramsey can be a sick corner or a six safety,
1:48:34
you can do whatever. And I always remember hearing the Ravens were gonna take
1:48:40
Ramsey and make him a safety, but the Jags took him and put him
1:48:45
at corner, and it was that conversation of like, well, his body
1:48:49
type and skill set, and then it was like, yeah, but he
1:48:50
really only played one, so why would you move him to the other.
1:48:54
And it was like, well, corner is a premier position and he kind
1:48:57
of have it like flipped here, like corner is more of a premium position
1:49:00
in safety. Cooper Degene already plays corner and he plays it well. And
1:49:03
this isn't like not to compare him to another white corner from Iowa. This
1:49:08
isn't like a Riley Moss situation where you're like, oh, that dude can
1:49:10
kind of play football. No, like, Cooper Degene plays well at a
1:49:13
premium position and if he tests well that's fine. I also think it's hard
1:49:16
to do that projection game of being like, yeah, like this dude's a
1:49:20
big corner, let's move him to safety, and it's like, but he's
1:49:25
good at corners. Just the positionlessness thing, though, Like you have another
1:49:30
guy like that and it's like, well, you can still just do more,
1:49:34
Like it just allows you to do more whether you're calling him or a
1:49:38
safety or not. You put him on the field and you can just do
1:49:41
more as a defense in terms of what you're disguising. Man. So okay,
1:49:45
so here's what we're doing. We are we're signing Dugger and Chin and
1:49:49
then drafting Cooper. No, no, there's not enough money. There's not
1:49:55
enough money. No one's gonna be No, it has to be Dugger or
1:50:00
Nope, it's both Tugger or Chin. Cut Allen signed Dugger, sign Chin,
1:50:08
draft Degene positionless football on defense, then re sign Ty Johnson, draft
1:50:15
are running back, put that running back into quarterback, triple football aka positionless
1:50:21
football. Tell me how that doesn't work. I can't exactly because I lost
1:50:29
to you about like five transactions in yeah way, yeah no. But I
1:50:32
honestly, the big thing to me right now is still Jordan Poyer, like
1:50:36
I think I'm first step is obviously free agency, just in terms of chronological
1:50:42
order, you figure out who can you get on the cheap. I think
1:50:45
those are the first two guys that you're looking at. You're looking at Dougger
1:50:47
and Chin and who Dougler is interesting because I feel like he could get paid,
1:50:53
But I also feel like he could absolutely get He could absolutely get looked
1:50:58
over. People could just be like, no, he's a linebacker that Bill
1:51:00
Belichick just knew how to use. And his you know what's funny is his
1:51:08
his I mean not that like spot tracking over the cap and all these pieces
1:51:12
are necessarily like the end all be all. Oh do they have a market
1:51:15
value on him? Yeah, his market value is only ten point nine per
1:51:17
year, which would pay him as safety six. But Mike Hyde was making
1:51:23
like nine point five as a cap hit last year, so it's not too
1:51:27
far off from what they had with Hyde already. Granted, I think Chin
1:51:30
is gonna be significantly cheaper, but like, that's a horrible price for Dugger.
1:51:36
In my eyes, you go for the cheaper guy just in the life
1:51:40
cycle of the team, like you and I like Chi. I mean you
1:51:44
don't have to. Yeah, I'm not gonna pull your arm about that.
1:51:46
Oh man, I can only get Jeremy Chan That sucks. Like, but
1:51:50
like I think, I think what I'm thinking is you go for the cheaper
1:51:54
one of those two. If you get one, you cut player, and
1:51:59
then you draft a safety. I think that's that's my preferred option. If
1:52:03
you can't get either, then you keep Poyer and draft to safety. I
1:52:08
think that's where I'm leaning right now. I am the safety market. In
1:52:12
terms of free agency, I'm interested to see, like because Chauncey Gardner Johnson
1:52:16
is on it, Antoine Winfield is on it, and then there's all these
1:52:18
other like Jordan Whitehead, Darnell Savage, Mike Edwards, Jashaun Gibson, Xavier
1:52:26
McKinney, Winfield, but he doesn't count. He's in his own thing like
1:52:30
rap is on their chin. There's all gonna get so much money, like
1:52:33
you think, I I think McKinney's gonna get more than Douggar and Chin.
1:52:39
His market value is ten point six, so a little under what Douggers is
1:52:43
right now. But the fact that's funny that they're in the same ballpark,
1:52:45
because I would take Douger ten out of ten times or Xavier McKinney. I
1:52:49
would take all three of them happily. Okay, so let's take all three.
1:52:56
Draft Cooper Degene, where are we going wrong? Why won't you join
1:52:59
any more safeties? All safety defense? That's safety? Who needs linebackers?
1:53:04
They just get injured. Yeah, they just let you down by getting hurt.
1:53:09
And also, what was Matt Milano former safety? I know, all
1:53:12
right, we'll get who's playing what you know what dropped? Terrell Bernard has
1:53:15
a deep safety. He's only two hundred and twenty pounds. Let him play.
1:53:18
Who cares no. But it's funny because we're half joking like there is
1:53:24
some actual intrigue in what we're saying. Like obviously we don't want to sign
1:53:29
for safeties and just absolutely go to cap Hell for the next five years.
1:53:33
But getting these these guys that are tweener linebacker safeties and just getting more of
1:53:40
them with already tweener linebacker safeties playing linebacker like it just creates this athletic defense.
1:53:47
Granted it'll probably be hard to stop the run. Then you get to
1:53:54
a Dallas Cowboys defense situation where Mark and you have to win your one gap
1:54:02
and you have to penetrate and if not, you're gonna get gouged because you
1:54:08
are outweighed heavily. Like I mean, but again, the Bills aren't gonna
1:54:12
be in a situation where you know, Marcus Bell is playing starting linebacker like
1:54:15
at that size, right, right, But I think that's that's the risk
1:54:20
you run, and that's what happens to these teams do that. But there
1:54:24
is something to be said. I mean, like I was gonna say,
1:54:27
like you can do that, but then like, look, the Patriots kind
1:54:30
of moved to that, right, Like they're playing with three safeties on the
1:54:32
field all the time, and at a minimum, yeah, at a minimum,
1:54:35
like you don't know like who's dropping is it Mills? Is it last
1:54:40
year? Like was it mccordy, was it Doug or like who's doing what?
1:54:43
Who's doing this? But then you look at how their defensive line is
1:54:45
built and who are their linebackers like Jelani Tavai and Joan Bentley who are both
1:54:50
to thumpers. So you have to change. You have to be able to
1:54:55
fit that run somehow someway. And if you're gonna go with this like a
1:55:00
algamation of safeties, on defense and this positionless piece and the secondary and on
1:55:03
the back end you have to have thumper somewhere at the linebacker spot, which
1:55:06
they wouldn't. But the idea is still president Again, they're not going to
1:55:11
do We're having fun with that conversation, but I think there is merit to
1:55:14
the core idea of it, which is, do you take that safety position
1:55:18
and move it more towards not necessarily positionless, but more towards a blending of
1:55:25
tweener skill set or body frames. So you can play further into the idea
1:55:30
of changing the pre to post snap picture on a quarterback and making them think,
1:55:34
Okay, that guy sometimes he's at the apex, sometimes he blitzes,
1:55:40
sometimes he drops. He can man cover, he can do a similar to
1:55:44
the wide receiver conversation. This guy is a B minus at everything, so
1:55:47
I have to respect him doing anything because he can do a bunch. Yeah
1:55:53
no, And I mean, let's be honest, so much of the Bill's
1:55:55
coverage is dictated on that pre post snap change, So why not lean into
1:56:00
it. I'm for it. I'm for it. Give me jerm Man.
1:56:04
I really I've been waiting for this offseason for so long. Jeremy Jeremy to
1:56:09
become available. Like I just think he fits again and I want to see
1:56:15
what he can do from that post safety and deep field safety perspective. But
1:56:19
like he and it's such a weird thing, like he he balled out the
1:56:25
granted the Bills won the game, but when the Bills played Carolina two years
1:56:28
ago, uh, two years ago, yeah, two years ago he balled
1:56:31
out or three years ago, two years ago, figure, I don't know,
1:56:35
I can't remember. But he was like he was making he was jumping
1:56:40
routes and he was he was doing Troy Polam model things where like he was
1:56:43
supposed to like play this zone, but he read what Allen was doing and
1:56:47
just went rogue and made a play and got a PBu and almost had a
1:56:50
pick, like he was doing all this crazy stuff. That again, he'd
1:56:54
have to be rained in a little bit, but man, his skill set
1:56:57
is so fun. But there's an opportunity there again, like you've got the
1:56:59
idea of going early dipping into the free agency pool. I think the good
1:57:03
news is because of McDermott's track record with the position. Even if they don't
1:57:09
allocate heavy resources, even if it's not some sexy safety name and free agency
1:57:14
or an early draft capital investment. There is something to be said for being
1:57:17
like, you know what it'll pull. McDermot will make it work. He's
1:57:20
done it before he can do it again. Like, I think that's a
1:57:24
fun little piece. Do you have anything on the safety pieces before we move
1:57:29
on to one more topic? Nah? No, we're good. Do you
1:57:31
have anything in specific you want to speak about before I bring up this other
1:57:34
topic? How was the chat on Sean McDermott slash Josh Allen just more of
1:57:43
a temperature question. I not too much on Josh Allen. More focus on
1:57:46
Sean McDermott and whether or not he's peaked and whether or not he can be
1:57:50
the coach to win the Super Bowl and kind of divided, kind of just
1:57:56
back and forth conversation. Okay, and we're good because that's honestly where it
1:58:00
is. Beautiful. Yeah, I'm saying it's kind of status quo as it's
1:58:03
been. Yeah, the last piece I want to talk about, and it's
1:58:05
not anything too in depth. I just think a positive from this year is
1:58:11
the year two players who took jumps in their game. So obviously Dalan kan
1:58:14
K doesn't count but I think he had a good rookie year. But what
1:58:16
the Bills got this year from Torell Bernard kind of growing into the brain of
1:58:21
the defense, Christian Benford becoming a legitimate CB two and honestly, like I
1:58:28
still think Christian Benford is trending up, Like I don't think he hit his
1:58:31
ceiling, like he and theory should still get better. What you got from
1:58:35
James Cook Again, I think the Pro Bowl is worthless, but the fact
1:58:38
that he got invited to the Pro Bowl straight off rip is a testament to
1:58:43
the stats that he put up and that just that level of production. Again,
1:58:45
I think Brady helped out, but he was on a good track even
1:58:49
under Dors like he had a good year. And then what we got from
1:58:54
Khalil Shakir this year, like those four I think really highlighting we we've talked
1:58:59
about before the core of this team as okay, like you had to pay
1:59:03
Edmonds or Oliver? Who do you pay? Okay, it's Oliver, Edmonds
1:59:06
is gone, Poyer and Hyde are getting a little older, Tray's been banged
1:59:11
up, Like what is your core? And if you looked at who the
1:59:14
Bills have paid, it was like, okay, the core is Josh Allen,
1:59:16
Stefan Diggs, Matt Mulano, Tarren Johnson, then Von Miller kind of.
1:59:23
But it was like, if you're looking at your young guys to kind
1:59:26
of be that core and lead you into the future, who is it?
1:59:29
And I think these four are proven that they have core potential if they're not
1:59:32
already a significant part of it. And then they also fit into the conversation
1:59:36
we had earlier, which is hitting on players in the draft who give you
1:59:42
cost effective control and quality production at the same time. And those four just
1:59:46
took a big jump this year and I think they'll be integral to the success
1:59:50
going forward obviously, but you do have to build and stack on top of
1:59:54
them because I don't think them individually are enough to kind of push this team
1:59:58
over the hump. Yeah, it's it's really Cook, Bernard Shakir and Benford
2:00:02
and they they all really took that step. I gotta say, like,
2:00:08
looking at it though, the cost control is really key with these guys,
2:00:12
because I'm looking when you look at those four guys, the only one I'm
2:00:17
like truly excited about the second contract with I honestly think is Christian Benford.
2:00:25
Like I don't. I mean, we don't know what the bills are gonna
2:00:28
do with running back position, like as good as James Cook is gonna be
2:00:30
like and if he's gonna be like I still have a little bit of concern
2:00:35
with James Cook, but like, is there a world where Brandon Bean pays
2:00:41
running back? Right? So I just don't know that question. And then
2:00:45
obviously we're years away from the tell Terrell Bernard potential extension. I don't know
2:00:50
if Khalil Shakiir it's necessarily gonna get a worthwhile extension, but I don't know.
2:00:56
I feel like Benford might be a guy that's gonna be here, like
2:01:00
long, long term. He's the if you're looking at right now, like
2:01:03
as sad as it is, Trey's Trey White's future is very much up in
2:01:09
the air, Like what does he look like coming back from another devastating injury
2:01:15
in addition to the miles on the tires and the position he plays and the
2:01:17
stress on those joints and spots in his body, Like, what does he
2:01:19
look like? Rasseul Douglas is on. You know, he's under contract for
2:01:24
next year. If he somehow sucks or they want to bail he's got no
2:01:27
dead cap, he's got no dead cap hits. They could release him at
2:01:29
any point, but he's gonna stay. But after next year. So next
2:01:33
year is Christian Benford's third year. He's earned the ability to start. But
2:01:38
he like, he looks like your cornerback of the future right now, Like
2:01:41
if he like we talked about, he's still in that upward trajectory. Trey,
2:01:45
I don't know what he's gonna look like come week one, but I
2:01:48
just I Christian Benford is going to be starting week one for me for the
2:01:53
Buffalo Bills. Yeah, and then if, when, if, and when
2:01:56
Trey comes back, do they rotate him in what you get? What do
2:02:00
you get with your school Douglas to kind of play this game? I think
2:02:03
Christian Benfer gets a second contract, like and he's yeah, that's kind of
2:02:08
where I feel like, out of these four guys, Like, who were
2:02:10
you most confident in getting that second contract, especially in a phase of the
2:02:15
franchise where you're honestly penny pinching, Like you're really penny pinching every chance you
2:02:20
get. Oh. Absolutely, And I wonder, let me go back to
2:02:29
the Bills corner spending. Yeah, So you've got I want to pull up
2:02:32
Tredavious White's contract, So Trey has potential out in twenty twenty four. Oh,
2:02:43
no dead cap. You can split up the debt, you save ten
2:02:45
million, but he's got a dead cap at ten twenty twenty five. If
2:02:49
the Bills cut Tray in twenty twenty five pre June first or post June first,
2:02:56
release or trade, he's got a dead cap hit a four point one
2:02:59
million, and a HAP savings of twelve point five. That would be his
2:03:02
age thirty season in twenty twenty five. So you have that opportunity to potentially
2:03:08
shed his contract if he just doesn't come back to what you want. But
2:03:12
I really feel like you need to see he's not gonna be the Trey White
2:03:16
that anybody wants next year. Like same thing with him coming back last year
2:03:20
from the ACL Like it's the same thing with von Miller, Like year two
2:03:25
removed from that injury is when you start to see. So we'll see what
2:03:28
von Miller looks like in twenty twenty four, because I wasn't expecting much from
2:03:30
twenty twenty three. Same thing with Trey. What's he gonna look like in
2:03:33
twenty twenty three? Because I wasn't expecting much from twenty twenty two. But
2:03:36
same thing again now with the stupid Achilles, Like I'm not expecting much in
2:03:40
twenty twenty four, let's see what he is in twenty twenty five. He
2:03:43
muddies all of it. But then even wanna get twenty twenty five year thirty
2:03:47
Tray White, Well, that's what I'm saying, like that out and then
2:03:50
that's the conversation too. And then even if you're looking at Rausseull Douglas like
2:03:54
he's sweet, he's thirty next year in that twenty twenty four season. Meanwhile
2:04:00
us and Benford is sitting here at twenty four years old right now and under
2:04:03
contract again through twenty twenty five. His his bro, he's gonna he's a
2:04:10
legitimate CB two right now. His cap pit this year was nine hundred and
2:04:13
eighteen thousand. Next year it'll be one point zero three million, and in
2:04:16
twenty twenty five it'll be one point one four eight Like that value, you're
2:04:21
getting a premium position corner two still again on the upward trend, for under
2:04:29
two million dollars a season. That's why you if you hit on the I
2:04:32
mean, Benford's also an extreme example, right, Like you got a CB
2:04:35
two in round six, Right, that doesn't happen, But that goes to
2:04:39
the wells k. I mean they've done it multiple times. Levi Wallace,
2:04:43
Dane Jackson, Christian Benford and Levi was unsigned. Like they took another of
2:04:46
the free agent and made him like a low tier court. And I know
2:04:49
people are gonna be like, yeah, but Levi sucks and Dane sucks.
2:04:53
You took a seventh round pick and Dane and made him like a CB three,
2:04:56
low low end CB two. You took Levi Wallace and made them a
2:04:59
low NCB two and got him paid with Pittsburgh. Like, man that there's
2:05:04
there's something to be said for that. Yeah. Absolutely, like their late
2:05:06
round pieces. But yeah, like that corner spot is real interesting. And
2:05:11
Benford I'm in a similar boat, like I've throughout the entirety of the year.
2:05:15
Like I know, and Bernard deserves his flowers, absolutely, But I
2:05:18
kept trying to talk up Benford as much as I could, Like, I
2:05:21
just he's making plays on the ball and punch it. The ball skills are
2:05:25
what really got me. Yeah, the PBUs, the interceptions, the fumbles,
2:05:30
like the peanut punches and his ability to make tackles and put his head
2:05:35
or shoulder on the football to jar the ball loose. It's not an accident
2:05:40
with the way he plays. And then you add it on top of the
2:05:43
skill set and the frame, like he's physical, he can tackle, he's
2:05:48
improved with his coverage. I still can't believe he's made that jump. And
2:05:51
I tell this story all the time whenever I talk about him. We didn't
2:05:55
have a lot of film on him, and all you and I got to
2:05:57
watch was his Villanova tape against Penn State. And the first stat Behnd dots
2:06:01
and turns him inside out on a post and burns him and we were like,
2:06:04
oh, it was so the stamming. I wrote him off. And
2:06:08
then you look at the stats and it's like he's got all this bull though,
2:06:12
like we didn't have the tape. In watching that game because that was
2:06:15
the only game that we had, I was really encouraged with his physicality.
2:06:19
I was like, this guy is stacking blocks, he's active in the run
2:06:23
game, Like I really like what he's doing. But we were just fresh
2:06:26
cover. I know. I was like, I don't have enough information on
2:06:30
what he's doing in coverage. Other than like stats, it's the stats.
2:06:33
It was like, well, he's got all these interceptions in PBUs and I
2:06:35
was like, really, he got cooked all the time, all the time
2:06:41
in this one playoffs one game. And we always kept giving the caveat like
2:06:44
people are like, oh, what do you think of Benford? And we
2:06:45
were like in the film room, we'd be like, we only had this
2:06:47
one game, but like not good oh man, yeah yeah, actually,
2:06:54
and even now, he's only twenty three right now. He'll be twenty four
2:06:58
during the twenty twenty four season, twenty three and one hundred and twenty nine
2:07:01
days right now, So even within that, like you have a CP two
2:07:06
who's twenty three years old right now and who is under cost control for the
2:07:10
next two years. Like and that's a premium position, right, Like if
2:07:14
I had to pay I know what Bernard does, right, and I love
2:07:16
it. If I have to pay a linebacker or a corner, I'm paying
2:07:19
a corner, right And this is this is kind of what I meant about,
2:07:23
like who's getting that second contract? Because same thing with the conversation,
2:07:27
like, but what was it like last year? It was like or last
2:07:31
the previous offseason before twenty twenty two started before Knox got his extension, it
2:07:35
was like, okay, who The conversation was, like, who are you
2:07:39
extending? Gabe Davis, Dawson, Knox, Tremaine Edmunds at Oliver and it
2:07:43
was like, well, based on positional importance, it should probably be at
2:07:46
Oliver, but he's kind of wishy washy. That's also another one, like
2:07:51
that Dawson Knox contract pisses me off, like they're just not getting the value
2:07:56
out of it. I know he's been in there, but like, no,
2:08:00
I'm low key looking to trade him this offseason. Ooh, I don't
2:08:05
know who's willing to take that at this moment, but like that's kind of
2:08:09
where I'm at. Dame Kendall dropping the hammer, Well, it's just tough
2:08:13
because it's like, you know, you have cost control behind him. That's
2:08:16
better in pretty much every facet of the position other than the blocking stuff which
2:08:22
you can get from other people, Like that's not a hard part of the
2:08:26
position to replace. Knox has a cap hit this year of fifteen point four
2:08:31
million dollars I'm sorry, fourteen point three, and then uh, twenty twenty
2:08:35
five, he has a dead cap hit of seven point eight that you can
2:08:41
spread over the last two years, but you would save eleven point five million
2:08:45
if you cut him. Twenty twenty six is the big one. You could
2:08:48
cut him and save twelve mil and then only have a dead cap at a
2:08:52
three point four. But that just like we can't wait that long. It's
2:08:54
just it's too much time. Like you either need to start using him,
2:08:56
figure out how to do more stuff out of twelve personnel, or you gotta
2:09:01
you gotta find a trade partner, like he traded to the Giants. He
2:09:05
he's paid like a top ten tight end and I still don't know if he's
2:09:09
ninth and the ninth t ninth, Yeah, And that's my problem, Like
2:09:15
it's not the player, like Dawson Knox is a good player. It's just
2:09:20
the price point, it's really all it is. Like I have no problem.
2:09:24
He's got to stay healthy, right, but I'm getting up And that's
2:09:28
almost that's like not even his fault, you know, that's just the s
2:09:31
that's lot. But that's like a part you have to include because like I
2:09:33
feel like anybody who's pro Dawson Knox is going to play Devil's advocate and say,
2:09:37
well, yeah, but he hasn't had the opportunity to make these plays
2:09:41
because he's hurt. Yeah, fair, Yeah, I get what you're saying.
2:09:43
But yeah, it's like, I I want Dawson Knox on this team,
2:09:46
but I don't want Dawson Knox on this team as the ninth highest paid
2:09:48
tight end in the league like that, he's top fifteen, Like I'm easy
2:09:54
saying top fifteen, top sixteen, like top half of the league. But
2:09:56
like it's it's still like that's a high price point as is anyways, because
2:10:01
we've seen these tight end contracts go up and kind of balloon in the last
2:10:05
few years. So yeah, and obviously having the juxtaposition of Dalton Kincaid in
2:10:13
terms of talent makes it much harder of a pill to swallow. Absolutely,
2:10:18
it is. It's very much less than ideal. And yeah, I'm just
2:10:22
I'm starting to go down, Kah. I can't do that right now.
2:10:24
Yeah, we can't do that. We can't do that right now. But
2:10:26
James Cook, I'm curious, how do you feel about James Cook moving forward?
2:10:31
Like if he were to incrementally grow on this season, if you were
2:10:35
to stack two more seasons like this one, but just you know, a
2:10:39
hair better in each progressive season. How would you feel about a second contract
2:10:45
for James Cook, you know, like hair less, drops a little bit
2:10:48
more yards after contact, like just little improvements in each year the next year.
2:10:52
I'm always so torn with running backs because I see Jason Common that came
2:10:56
through this that I am full team don't play running back. I feel bad
2:11:01
devaluing a position monetarily, and I and I do value running backs, but
2:11:07
it just it just seems like running backs come out of the word. Ty
2:11:11
Johnson is a really good example. That's the example, honestly, seeing what
2:11:16
Joe Brady did with every single running back that was in the running back room
2:11:20
this year, Like, give me a better example of why the physician is
2:11:24
devalued, Like you can just keep taking running backs in like the third round
2:11:30
or fourth round, like and you for even as much as everybody was,
2:11:33
like Zach Moss sucked. Zach Moss kind of balled out with the Colts this
2:11:37
year, Like you don't need to tell me twice. I know you don't
2:11:39
need to tell but that's again, like or look what even Devin Singletary did
2:11:45
with Houston, Like I still think Singletary is what he is, but again,
2:11:48
Singletary was a one year deal for the Texans. Like, there's there's
2:11:52
so many examples of these one year running backs coming in and doing well,
2:11:56
or late round running backs that get picked and turn into something like I just
2:12:01
I find it hard to pay running backs knowing and this sounds cruel, but
2:12:09
knowing how easily replaceable they are or how easy it is to replicate their production.
2:12:13
Now, if you have a unicorn, I'm okay paying like I'm okay
2:12:18
paying Alvin Kamara and I'm okay paying Jonathan Taylor. So hold on. This
2:12:24
goes back to my original question. Do you think incrementally growing on what he
2:12:30
did this year over the next two years, is that enough to get into
2:12:35
that Alvin Kamara type of unicorn. He would have to become the legitimate,
2:12:41
like second option focal point of the offense like after Stefan Diggs, Like we're
2:12:46
not talking wide receiver to like oh in Dalton Kinkaid, Like we're talking like,
2:12:52
oh, the offense kind of funnels through James Like if James Cook,
2:12:56
Actually I should put it this way, Jamiir Gibbs, like right now,
2:13:01
if he if he improves the next three years on the season, that he
2:13:05
just had like you're already thinking about unicorn running back payment, right, Well,
2:13:11
yeah, but I like Jamier Gibbs a lot more than I like James
2:13:13
Cook, right, And this is but this is kind of the point,
2:13:16
right, Like this, this is the point where it's like what level is
2:13:20
it okay to make that investment? And I think right now as great as
2:13:24
James Cook was this year, but we're both in lockstep where it's like it
2:13:28
just needs to get to that elite level where it's like, yes, I
2:13:31
am, I have no qualms right now bringing in a Ti Johnson and being
2:13:35
like he's a running back above replacement. But also true, but also here's
2:13:41
the thought to you, even with Detroit, like Jamiir Gibbs is awesome,
2:13:43
David Montgomery killed it too, and you know partially why because the Lions offensive
2:13:48
line is sick. Yeah, So like I even at that the other of
2:13:52
the third running back Reynolds who balled out against Tampa Bay in the regular season,
2:13:56
Like that's also part of it too, Like I'm like, I don't
2:14:00
know, you take a good offensive line, like even the Cowboys, right,
2:14:03
like Ezekiel Elliott went away and then it was like Tony Pollard sick and
2:14:05
then even it was it doubtle like another running back this year, like was
2:14:09
putting up numbers and like not to say that they're not good, but if
2:14:13
you have a good offensive line, you can kind of running backs just switch
2:14:18
them in and switch them in. It's kind of like the old Denver Broncos
2:14:20
it was like man like Terrell Davis went out and it was like, cool,
2:14:22
here's Mike Anderson, cool, here's Olanda Scary, cool, here's Clinton
2:14:26
portis like, just keep rotating them in because our offensive line is sick and
2:14:28
our scheme is sick. But I do think there's something to be said for
2:14:33
unicorn pieces. The skill set has to be there. But I do think
2:14:39
paying a running back is more of a luxury than it is, Like I
2:14:43
like that's also part of it too, like depending on what money they're going
2:14:46
to command, Like I don't know if the Bills are gonna have the cap
2:14:48
space to pay a running back like that when and I don't know if that
2:14:52
juice is exactly and I don't know if that juice is worth the squeeze.
2:14:56
Then just taking a cool running back in the third second round again like a
2:15:01
James Cook or like I don't know, Like I like Marshawn Lloyd from USC
2:15:05
Like cool, if you can get him in like the fourth round, why
2:15:07
not. Like take these running backs that seem to just come out of the
2:15:11
woodwork year after year and again, like you said, and like we said,
2:15:15
Tyd Johnson's the perfect example. They took this running back that everybody was
2:15:18
like, okay, whatever, like and look what they got on the Latavious
2:15:20
Murray and Damien Harris was even successful. Like but in the offense this year,
2:15:24
Like you can make a case either way for it, but you'd really
2:15:28
have to. You really have to be the focal point of the offense for
2:15:33
me to give you a second contract. But then also on the other side
2:15:37
of it, that's also a double edged sword because then I'm like, oh,
2:15:39
well, you were the focal point, you deserve this contract. But
2:15:41
then I'm like, yeah, but now you got a lot more like wear
2:15:43
and tear on you. Are you gonna break down if I give you this
2:15:46
money? Like look at the heat. He needs a compliment anyways, And
2:15:50
that's the thing, Like I don't think his frame is gonna sustain that going
2:15:54
forward. He doesn't have the thickness and the frame to handle that regular wear
2:15:58
and tear, like as much as he would get subbed out, Like I
2:16:01
don't think Cook is meant to be a feature back. No, he's not
2:16:05
like a twenty. He can be a feature back, but he's a feature
2:16:07
as like the one A. He's not a feature like right, he's twenty
2:16:11
touches, but like he not all that every week. No, like he's
2:16:16
not. And I was gonna say this, I was gonna see it.
2:16:18
I was gonna be like, oh, he's not like Aaron Jones, but
2:16:20
Aaron Jones breaks down all the time too, Like it's just hard to stay
2:16:24
healthy as a running back, which is why they don't get paid. Yeah,
2:16:28
it sucks. I hate being negative about James Cook, Like I am
2:16:31
really excited about him, but like seeing someone who is a very very similar
2:16:35
skill set to him and Jamier Gibbs, and he's just so much more explosive
2:16:39
in and out of his cuts. He's making catches, he's he's picking up
2:16:43
blocks like it's his speed is just James Cook is fast and has burst.
2:16:48
Jamiir Gibbs is explosive in every aspect of the word. His gidio man that
2:16:56
the touchdown run he had on Sunday, the one where like he ended it
2:17:01
by like stiff arming Antoine Winfield, like Winfield is nasty and Winfield comes down
2:17:07
from the post safety and breaks down, and Gibbs is just like and just
2:17:11
like people aren't talking about Gibbs and how angry he runs like Pacheco, you
2:17:20
know, like people talk about how angry Pachecko runs because of like his gait
2:17:24
and just how it looks. But like Gibbs kind of similar Chinese push.
2:17:28
He's like punching the ground with his feet and runs. He runs, but
2:17:33
he doesn't have that style of play, so to speak. It's it's it's
2:17:37
a little abrasive to like the type of player he is. Pachecko has the
2:17:43
physicality that exactly is the running style Whereatly, Gibbs can break tackles, but
2:17:48
he's he's just the speed like and he his speed, James Cook's speed makes
2:17:52
difference. I posted the one clip today from the game against the Chiefs where
2:17:56
they run like weak side mid zone and Justin it's like second and four and
2:18:01
Justin Reid comes down into the boundary and Cook just hesitates to make him freeze
2:18:05
and then just right Ito's right by him and gets like six yards easy.
2:18:09
But then like you take Gibbs and he's just it's just next lef. He
2:18:13
doesn't even hesitate. He just knows he has the edge on the guy and
2:18:16
he does it so and he can get it from anywhere, like if you
2:18:20
he can run through the hole and if your angle is slightly off, he's
2:18:24
gone. And he's that dude who can go horizontal even when it's not there
2:18:28
and still do that the corner. And it's but again that i'd I'd still
2:18:33
have a hard time being like, yeah, I should pay him, even
2:18:37
though he's nasty like day No, I understand. I think obviously this whole
2:18:41
conversation is a little bit uh muddy, just because of the Josh Allen thing.
2:18:46
And I mean, that's just life now. And I've said it all
2:18:50
the time to a running back, like like one of my favorite off the
2:18:54
field, I just try to separate as much as like can on the field
2:18:56
and off the field. And what he did wasn't the worst thing. But
2:18:58
like one of my favorite plays in the league has been Alvin Kamara. And
2:19:03
I don't know if I would have paid Alvin Kamara what the Saints paid Alvin
2:19:05
Kamara right right, but he's also again he he's he's he's a workhorse like
2:19:13
back like and does everything. But he started to show some wear and tear
2:19:18
a little bit, but his tear doesn't they take him off the field a
2:19:22
little bit sometimes though, like that, that's they take him off like the
2:19:26
the right Yes, the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter touches.
2:19:31
They have like a rhythm and routine so that way if they need it in
2:19:35
the fourth quarter, you're like, hey, bro, you're not leaving the
2:19:37
field. Yeah, and we're gonna give it to you like every single time.
2:19:41
And the Bills need to figure that out with Cook. They need to
2:19:45
find that what is that formula to keep him and optimize his his snap count
2:19:52
because I think they're taking him out a little too much. He's like I
2:19:56
think also some of that too is the past protection piece, which I think
2:20:00
he improved on a bit this year. But but yeah, that's the yeah,
2:20:03
that's that's and everybody's always like, man, like you need him in
2:20:05
more on passing downs, but it's like, yeah, teams are still gaming
2:20:09
him up in pass protection like that. But if you get him out into
2:20:11
the route quick, like maybe there's just an option there for josh On,
2:20:16
especially on those blitz looks where he's not always he did. But yeah,
2:20:22
like, I just I don't know Cook Cook is such an interesting topic to
2:20:26
me personally. I guess the last one really is Shakir, Like, do
2:20:33
you see a second contract for Shakir even with the breakout? I it's so
2:20:41
early, like we we still have so much time and he just had his
2:20:43
breakout as a fifth year or fifth round. My my worry for that conversation
2:20:52
is the draft pick. I don't know what the future of the wide receiver
2:20:56
position, yeah, like and what the future position looks like, like is
2:20:58
he it depends on what his contract commands. Is he going to get paid?
2:21:03
Like? Is he looking to get paid like a wide receiver? Two?
2:21:05
Is he looking to get paid like a slot receiver slash wide receiver?
2:21:07
Three? Like? And so much because for the sake of the conversation,
2:21:13
because we know the Bills are kind of strapped for it. If he's just
2:21:16
kind of keeps this status quo, kind of similar to the James Cook conversation,
2:21:20
he incrementally builds on this, he proves that he's an established wise wide
2:21:24
receiver three like the Bills know they they like him in that role, but
2:21:28
he improves upon it and he shows the dependability. Do you think they should
2:21:33
pay him a second contract to be that type of role player or do you
2:21:37
think it's not even worth that money. I think it's potentially worth it,
2:21:41
but it's tied to dalkin cage trajectory. And then it's and a wide receiver
2:21:46
too, because if I'm paying Shakir what he's worth, what is he option
2:21:54
four? Right? Like, That's what I'm saying. Like, so say
2:21:58
they take I'll just who could be a relatively Let's say they take Jalen Polk
2:22:07
wide receiver from Washington and he becomes a wide receiver too, and okay,
2:22:11
like he's a legit, he's what he's as advertised. Okay, are you
2:22:16
paying Polk? Like are you paying Kincaid? But then again, Digs's money
2:22:20
is off the book, so okay is Polk Like how does all that collace
2:22:24
just just at the time that Shakir has to get paid Pulk or yeah,
2:22:31
let's say that, and I'll put it up like this, if Diggs is
2:22:37
out of the picture, hands down, yes, If Diggs is still there
2:22:43
and maintaining and Kincaid is what we think he will be. And that wide
2:22:48
receiver too that they get this year is what we think they will be.
2:22:52
Then I don't think you can afford to pay that piece to secure that's fair,
2:22:58
depending again, depending on what he commands. If he's gonna get like
2:23:01
six million year or seven, I'd be like, okay. But if he's
2:23:05
gonna go on on the market, he's looking for double like you can't afford
2:23:07
to pay Khalil Shakir, No, I think the money was always going to
2:23:11
be seven yes, And so I was gonna say, like, Mom,
2:23:13
I'm drawing the line at like you can't pay Khalil Shakir Jakobi Meyer's money if
2:23:18
you have digs, if Kinkaid is kincaid, and if your wide receiver two
2:23:24
becomes a wide receiver two with potential wide receiver one upside like if all those
2:23:28
hit, it's just you just can't like from a finance or you can.
2:23:33
But then you're a glass cannon and you're trying to patch work together the defense
2:23:37
and then then you similar to the chiefs, you have to hit on this
2:23:43
young talent defensively because you can't dip into the into the bank account of the
2:23:46
banana stand. Even though there's always money in the banana stan, you can't
2:23:50
dip into it to pay your defensive guys because you ballocated so many, so
2:23:52
much resource to the offensive line. Because then the conversation you're also having around
2:23:56
that time with Khalil Shakir coming up, Okay, is Spencer Brown getting paid
2:24:03
before that? Is Osyrus Torrance trending up? And you're gonna pay him,
2:24:07
like is Connor McGovern earning a second contract? Like all these kind of potential
2:24:11
dominos that make the auxiliary pieces can pay them less important. And you're like,
2:24:18
should I just replace via draft? And I say that as a person
2:24:20
who loves Shakir, you this kills me. Bro. I know you got
2:24:24
his jersey, we got his bottom jersey, And I'm like, I might
2:24:28
not even get a second contract out of this, skuy, No, I
2:24:31
didn't get a cook jersey. But but it'll be sweet, like because he'll
2:24:35
go to a team and be successful, and then you can be that dude
2:24:39
who, like when Shakira is balling out with like Anthony Richardson and the and
2:24:45
the Colts on this big time second contract. You can be the cool dude
2:24:48
that's like, oh no, I got a Bill Shaki jersey. They're gonna
2:24:52
be that like O G. Shakir jersey and you're like yeah, and you're
2:24:54
gonna love this. So early in the season, uh, everyone in in
2:25:00
the office has like jerseys on the back of their work chair, right,
2:25:03
And I was just like, oh, that's kind of cool. Should I
2:25:07
bring into Josh Allen jersey? That's pretty sweet? And then I was like,
2:25:09
no, My Josh Allen jersey's like the stitched one, Like I don't
2:25:13
want it to get messed up or anything like that, So I don't do
2:25:16
that. And then weeks go by and Khalil Shakier is starting to get some
2:25:20
run and everyone's like who is this guy? You know, people are writing
2:25:24
notes on the Bills game and I'm like, what do you mean, who
2:25:28
is this guy? Yeah, I'm like I have a Khalil Shakir jersey.
2:25:33
So and then next week on Sunday, I go into work, I bring
2:25:37
in my Khalil Shaker jersey, put it over the back of my chair.
2:25:41
And then this specific like right during this the Steelers game. It was so
2:25:46
funny. Everyone's in the office, you know, writing notes for all the
2:25:48
games, and Bills are looking like they're gonna fold a little bit in the
2:25:52
Steelers game, and what does Khalil Shakir do. He just pops off for
2:25:58
that touchdown. No one sees it coming, and we saw it coming from
2:26:01
a mile away. The dude's got contact balance. We already knew it runs
2:26:03
like a running back once the ball is in his hand. It's crazy.
2:26:07
But yeah, and then that happens, and everyone's just like looking at me,
2:26:09
like, how did you know this? I'm like, because I watched
2:26:11
the tape. Watch the tape. Dog he could like he's a really solid
2:26:16
player. But yeah, it was a really nice like come up, I
2:26:18
love that. I love that. Yeah, I knew who this guy was.
2:26:22
We wanted him to get worked in more last year and then the drop
2:26:26
against Miami and the playoffs like kill that. Of course he had this big
2:26:31
moment, but yeah, we saw come again. It's crazy what happens if
2:26:35
you watch the All twenty two and actually scout you know what you're watching.
2:26:41
Yeah, it's funny what you can see happen. Like my biggest my biggest
2:26:46
thing, like the thing I kept saying because it was just the easiest way
2:26:48
to say it, the most discinct way without using a ton of characters on
2:26:50
Twitter, Like when Shakiir would do things, I would just be like,
2:26:54
oh, Shakiro, he looks like Boise State Khalil Shakir. Like that was
2:26:58
the easiest way for me to put it, because like I've seen these things
2:27:01
before. He did these things. Yeah, he's doing it. Yeah,
2:27:03
Like the game isn't too fast for him, nothing's changed. He looks like
2:27:07
the same player. It's a good way to put it. I like that
2:27:11
a lot. I also like this comment. We regret this comment from Jason
2:27:13
Gonna start to rap. He says, we're taking for granted the lack of
2:27:16
olne issues this year and their ability to stay healthy and play run in the
2:27:18
past. Money will go there to protect the franchise. This is a low
2:27:22
key thing. And I love this point from Jason. The fact that the
2:27:26
Bills had the same offensive line unit for the entirety of the year. Now,
2:27:30
maybe the football gods were like, well, we're going to give you
2:27:33
that, but then murder everyone else with injuries. But yeah, the amount
2:27:37
of consistency and coherent chemistry that they had coherent, that's not right, whatever
2:27:43
doesn't matter. And the amount chemistry that they had no that might be right,
2:27:46
forget, it doesn't matter. The chemistry that they had is un to
2:27:48
combine with the health. Absolutely, And I think you know to that point
2:27:52
going forward again, what do you do with Spencer Brown osirus Torrence is under
2:27:56
term? What do you do with Mitch Morse? You need to look at
2:28:00
the center of the future. Are you still kind of letting Ryan batessimmer?
2:28:03
Is he a future part of the potential plan? Thank you, Bob.
2:28:07
Cohesive is what I was looking for. Not coherent and cohering means something completely
2:28:11
different. I knew as soon as I said it, and I couldn't think
2:28:15
of what else it was. Thank you so much, Bob, Appreciate you.
2:28:18
Yeah, that offensive line health is hard to health in general is hard
2:28:24
to replicate one way or the other. But yeah, I think that's an
2:28:26
interesting point in addition to again the long term piece of like what does this
2:28:31
offensive line look like long term going forward? Because you're gonna have to pay
2:28:35
potentially some of these dudes in some way, shape or form and or replace
2:28:39
them, but let alone just the health, like it would be hard for
2:28:43
them to match that health next year. Yeah, it really was underrated.
2:28:50
They took a big step forward this year. That a huge different they were
2:28:52
one of the Yeah, it was a huge after years of clamoring for it.
2:28:56
It's crazy what happens when you draft a guard in the second round and
2:29:00
then pay money to a good guard in free agency. What did you think?
2:29:03
What did you think of Torrent's full year? Letter grade? Just quick
2:29:07
thought letter grade? Yeah, just quick letter grade. I'd be yeah.
2:29:16
Something felt like he started really strong, yes in the middle, and then
2:29:22
kind of stabilized at the end. I think he's going to be And he
2:29:28
calmed a lot of my worries by by shedding the weight that he did coming
2:29:33
into camp. But we talked about when he was drafted, like he's a
2:29:35
monster of a man, pop in his hands, vice gript all this kind
2:29:39
of stuff, the strength, But what was he going to do against like
2:29:43
NFL quickness and speed inside? And I think there were there were some times
2:29:46
and reps where he saw him get got just because like speed beat him,
2:29:52
or he was laid off the snap and he was done in an instant.
2:29:54
And sometimes he and Spencer Brown would get gamed up with some twists and some
2:29:58
games. But I think overall in the year, I'm very encouraged, Like
2:30:01
I'd give him a bee. I think he potentially looks like like their long
2:30:07
term starter at guard at least of the life of his contract. And I
2:30:09
think he made a big difference in why this offensive line had the physicality it
2:30:15
did and the displacement potential that they did in the run game, and why
2:30:20
they were able to execute multiple schemes because of his physicality and people moving ability.
2:30:26
I feel you. I love it. I'm happy about the pick.
2:30:28
I was surprised with it, but I love it. I just didn't think
2:30:31
he was going to be there. Again, this is coul dude. I
2:30:33
remember. I just remember me and Eric standing behind him at the Senior Bowl
2:30:37
like the spring to each other about how big he was. And then and
2:30:39
then we were at dinner the last night we were there, and he was
2:30:45
at the table behind us being taken out to dinner by the Detroit Lions.
2:30:50
And we were like, oh, like, are the Lions going to take
2:30:54
him? And then we were like, oh, that would be sick.
2:30:56
Like their offensive line is so good they could let him sit for like a
2:30:58
year or do whatever, and oh, man, that'd be crazy. Yeah
2:31:01
it was yeah. And then the Steelers were sitting the Steelers were behind the
2:31:03
Lions, but they weren't taking anybody out. They were just hanging out.
2:31:07
And then Joe Berry, the GM for the Browns, was at a table
2:31:11
by himself with no one or no Andrew Berry. Yeah, it's Joe Berry's
2:31:16
the defensive coordinator for the Packers. For the Packers. Yeah, yeah,
2:31:22
and he was like at this table like by himself, sitting with no one,
2:31:26
and we were like, that's weird, Like why is no one hang
2:31:31
it? Why is no That's conversation another time. But yeah, it was
2:31:33
that whole night. We were like spotting people left and right at this spot.
2:31:37
But yeah, it was cool. Yeah. He but he came into
2:31:39
camp changed his body like there was no way he was going to survive in
2:31:41
the NFL three hundred and thirty seven pounds, and yeah, I think he
2:31:46
had a promising rookie year. Anything you want to add before we get out
2:31:48
of here, No, man, I'm happy to talk bills. Sucks that
2:31:52
we had to do it in this I know this this reasoning, but always
2:31:56
happy to talk bills with you. Man. Yeah, I appreciate, and
2:32:00
there's more to come. This is only again, this is kind of just
2:32:03
early early table setting. There's so much moving and shaking to be done.
2:32:05
There's so much, there's so much to be decided in the free agency dust
2:32:13
and the draft class dust, pro days, workout, Senior Bowl, Shrine
2:32:16
Bowl, combine all this stuff like there is I'm sure someone's going to start
2:32:20
to creep into the first round that nobody in their mother has heard of at
2:32:24
this point. Right now, there's going to be guys that fall. There's
2:32:26
going to be a multitude of stuff and as always, like teams value different
2:32:30
players and positions and all this kind of stuff, and there's a lot of
2:32:33
movement and shaking to be happened, and it happened. But yeah, it's
2:32:37
sad that the Bills are out As always silver lining as I can just dive
2:32:41
into prospect evaluation now and not have to try and blend. Okay, I
2:32:45
gotta do bill stuff and then I got to do college stuff. I can
2:32:46
figure it all out. But yeah, sad times. But it was awesome
2:32:50
to kind of walk through a lot of this off season table setting with you.
2:32:52
I appreciate the hell out of you. Thank you for joining me and
2:32:54
taking the time. And yeah, I'm a thought the banner here. This
2:32:58
has tootle folks, because man, we I was like Jesus says, good
2:33:03
luck on your essay. T never never again, I will never real Hey,
2:33:09
they don't matter anymore, right, Yeah, I don't think they do.
2:33:13
Like I don't even know if they did, like well, right,
2:33:16
but yeah, like they literally don't matter any No, I don't think it.
2:33:20
Yeah, I've school. School doesn't matter. Just like, get really
2:33:22
good at video there could be children listening. No, all the kids out
2:33:26
there, get really good at video games. Start a Twitch when you're like
2:33:30
twelve years old and you're gold coming to that's it. Just play Fortnite,
2:33:35
become the next Ninja. You're good, like, you don't need to do
2:33:37
anything else. Start a podcast, Golden, you don't need no one's podcasting.
2:33:43
I know it's just terrible, but yeah, I hope the banner this
2:33:46
say just don't study, get drop out of school, don't The banner says,
2:33:52
tootles folks, because we're gonna get out here. I did not I
2:33:54
thought this would be like, eh, we'll get in and out. This
2:33:58
is the longest episode I think I've ever done. Sky's covering. Hey,
2:34:00
but it's a general state of the bills. Where do they go from here?
2:34:03
It kind of makes sense. It's important and in a tone setting off
2:34:09
season four. This offseason will go a very long way in terms of determining
2:34:13
what the bills are. It is truly a set the table for what happens
2:34:18
while Josh Allen is paid. Absolutely, like, this is the time where
2:34:22
the whether the he hit the pavement or the tires hit the pavement. I
2:34:26
don't know whoever's been Bob, you corrected me on coquisa versus coci whatever the
2:34:30
phrasing is. Yeah, somebody just hit me with that phrase. Yeah,
2:34:33
this is where stuff starts to hit the fan, Like you need to nail
2:34:37
your draft classes and your player evaluation when your quarterbacks hit these contracts, when
2:34:41
Mahomes hit his, when Rogers hit his, like there are there are stresses
2:34:48
and pain points that come with paying your franchise quarterback, which is why that
2:34:52
model for years was take advantage you get it. Get good young quarterback and
2:34:58
take advantage of them on their rookie deal and pay other spots and go hard
2:35:01
for it, like what the Eagles did with Carson Wentz when they won a
2:35:03
Super Bowl, and or even golf when they went to it when the Rams
2:35:07
went with him on his rookie deal like trying to take advantage of that spot.
2:35:11
But now you've got to pay those quarterbacks, and then you got to
2:35:13
find ways to get that cost effective talent in a variety of ways. And
2:35:16
some positions are going to be revolving doors in terms of one and two year
2:35:20
deals, but you still have to hit on those other ones. You need
2:35:22
to draft core pieces, hope that the you get value out of almost every
2:35:26
round in the draft in some way, shape or form. And yeah,
2:35:28
this year is going to go a long way in terms of determining the fate
2:35:33
of the Buffalo Bills for literally the next several years and through the life cycle
2:35:37
right now of Josh Allen's contract. And it was awesome to have you on
2:35:39
Kendall for this episode. Thank you everybody who wrote with us here in the
2:35:43
live chat. Appreciate all you folks. They get very much. Tavera F.
2:35:48
Kennedy for the super chat earlier in the episode. Before any of you
2:35:50
leave, if you haven't already, please please please and think you drop a
2:35:52
ke on this video. It goes a secerely long way to tell myself and
2:35:56
the entire team to track and trend in front of more eyes and ears.
2:36:00
I always throw it up at different points an episode I mentioned at the beginning
2:36:01
One Pie Pizza the best pizza in Buffalo, New York. Go get yourself
2:36:05
some online menu can be found in the episode show notes. Whether here on
2:36:07
YouTube or whichever podcast in the Apple platform you are listening to this show on
2:36:13
Sweet Sauce, pie cup, and chart Pepperoni, homemade blue Cheese, Nobody
2:36:16
does it better and they also get back to the community in a variety of
2:36:18
ways. Get yourself some one pipe Pizza. Thank you to everyone who joined
2:36:22
us live here on this episode. If you did not join us live,
2:36:26
that's cool. Thank you very much for your post live view on YouTube.
2:36:30
Please drop ake on this video again. Likes are the lifeblood of these streams
2:36:35
in terms of impacting the algorithm, So please, please, please, and
2:36:37
thank you drop alike on this video. If you're listening on one of the
2:36:39
podcasting apps or platforms, that's cool too. Please rate and review and subscribe
2:36:43
to Disguised Coverage. Turn notifications on for the Disguised Coverage playlist here on YouTube.
2:36:50
If you want to join myself and Eric Turner tomorrow Wednesday, seven pm
2:36:54
Eastern for the cover one Film Room we'll be diving into a bunch of the
2:36:58
tape from the Bills Versus chief So if you need and or want more Catharsis,
2:37:01
that'll be fully Bill's Chiefs. No looking forward. We're just going to
2:37:05
kind of close the chapter on the season and what happened in that divisional round.
2:37:09
Thank you to everyone for tuning in live. Thank you very much your
2:37:11
post live, view, listen, download, whatever have you. Thank you
2:37:15
very much to mister Kendall Mursky for taking the time to join me. Kendall,
2:37:18
I love you, Appreciate the hell out of you. Everybody in the
2:37:20
chat. Appreciate you folks. Everybody watch and listen and all that kinds of
2:37:22
stuff. Help you and your family and friends and loved ones. Are all
2:37:26
doing well and staying safe. Be kind to one another, take care of
2:37:30
one another. I will see you, oh next Tuesday, disguised coverage,
2:37:33
so I'll be in Mobile, Alabama next week. I'm going back and forth
2:37:37
between pre recording some Prospects stuff and uploading it at nine pm next Tuesday,
2:37:45
and or going live on like Friday Ish with some Bill stuff, Senior Bull
2:37:52
stuff. I'm not sure yet you will get an episode of disguised coverage next
2:37:56
week. I'm just not sure when. It won't be live Tuesday at nine
2:37:58
pm. It will either be pre recorded and posted live Tuesday at nine pm,
2:38:03
or it'll be later in the week. Stay tuned to my Twitter at
2:38:05
pro Underscore, Underscore and for all those pieces of information. I'll see you
2:38:09
tomorrow in the film room with Eric seven pm Eastern. Appreciate all the kind
2:38:13
words coming in through the chat. Jason with another clutch one. I like
2:38:20
r J's too. I appreciate you Allmorrio, thanks for all the episodes throughout
2:38:22
the season. Go go. Appreciate you folks more than you will possibly know.
2:38:24
Be kind of one another, take care of one another. If you're
2:38:28
on the East Coast or Central time, go to bed, it's late.
2:38:31
We're gonna give Kenda a warm glass of milk and send him off to bedtime
2:38:35
as well. Godspeed. That's always go, Bills,