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Gabe Davis Back In Buffalo? - 1st And 5 Podcast · Built In Buffalo Podcast Network

0:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Bill's Mafia, what's going on?
0:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Happy Tuesday, August, nineteenth for your edition of today's first and five podcasts.
0:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I am your host Dave Myers, owner and founder of Billton Buffalo, and yes, we have some news.
0:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like the wide receiver drama is going to continue on into the end of the preseason and into the regular season.
0:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So familiar face, again, is going to be visiting with the Buffalo bills in Gabe Davis.
0:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is obviously the hottest topic that's going on.
0:48
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all over Twitter right now.
0:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody's talking about it.
0:52
[SPEAKER_00]: What would it look like for a reunion with Gabe Davis?
0:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it seems like a lot of bills fans are on the fence one way or the other.
1:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Some fans like it, some fans don't.
1:04
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people want to talk about
1:06
[SPEAKER_00]: The negative way he left the team when he was injured and, you know, we saw him arguing with fans.
1:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody brings up drops and stuff with that, but you can't deny the fact that Gabe Davis was a very productive receiver for the Buffalo bills.
1:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we don't know
1:24
[SPEAKER_00]: What a contract would look like.
1:25
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know what Gabe's asking for.
1:28
[SPEAKER_00]: We obviously know he's coming off of an injury from last season.
1:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Looks like he's in full health.
1:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Looks like he's fully recovered.
1:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I've seen some things.
1:38
[SPEAKER_00]: The social media doctors on, you know, on X talking about the timelines should be good.
1:45
[SPEAKER_00]: He should be good to go.
1:46
[SPEAKER_00]: He should be able to pass a physical things like that.
1:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just wanted to come on here and have an open dialogue about it.
1:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I have some mixed emotions about it.
1:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I have some mixed feelings about it.
1:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I like to look at things from both perspectives, right, pros and cons, positive negatives, however you want to spend it.
2:09
[SPEAKER_00]: If you could do one thing for me before we get really going here, if you could smash the like button,
2:14
[SPEAKER_00]: That helps me in all the algorithms, especially on YouTube.
2:16
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2:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So you know that one first and five and all of our other live shows are up on the channel.
2:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you want to drop some comments, let's get a nice discussion about Gabe Davis going in the chat.
2:32
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're watching this in the rewatch,
2:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Just write in the, you know, write some comments in, you know, do you think it would be positive for the bills to sign Gabe Davis?
2:40
[SPEAKER_00]: What would it look like?
2:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you forward?
2:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you against it?
2:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Thumbs up thumbs down?
2:43
[SPEAKER_00]: However, you want to do it in the chat in the comment section that would be great.
2:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So I put everything up there on the screen, you know, it's, there's a lot of pros to bringing in a Gabe Davis.
2:59
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, the biggest thing that stands out about this wide receiver room, since the start of the off season,
3:07
[SPEAKER_00]: is the Mac Hollens role, right?
3:10
[SPEAKER_00]: We saw on Hardknock's Joe Brady, there was a clip when he was standing in front of the projector screen and he was talking about, you know, look at this, this is a Joe Brady route.
3:22
[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna block, you're not gonna get targeted on this route, but you're doing your one-eleventh, you're getting downfield and you're helping whoever has the ball in their hands, you know, extend the plane, get some yards, things like that.
3:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And when Mac Collins left, I think a lot of Bill's mafia was like, well, who are we going to get to replace Mac Collins?
3:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously Mac Collins, the persona, obviously the barefoot and the costumes and the stuff like that.
3:47
[SPEAKER_00]: But then there was also Mac Collins, the player who was a huge part and played huge role in this team, not just catching passes, blocking an offense, but he was a key piece to the Bill's special teams.
4:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And we all know how much McDermott
4:02
[SPEAKER_00]: likes his special teams, guys, guys that are willing to be gunners, guys that are willing to do the not sexy plays and positions and you know cover punts and cover kicks and things like that.
4:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And the bill's brought in Joshua Palmer and I don't think that it was a one for one swap.
4:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I do think you get more of production out of a Joshua Palmer.
4:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously we've seen in his career he's been a more productive writer, seever.
4:32
[SPEAKER_00]: in his tenure with the chargers.
4:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think the bills needed to find in our still looking for that guy that is willing to block on run plays, block on past plays, run routes just for the sake of running routes.
4:49
[SPEAKER_00]: and Gabe Davis for all accounts, you know, can be that guy.
4:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Big physical receiver can block really well.
4:58
[SPEAKER_00]: As you all know, he was always the touch push guy, but he was also thrown in line to block on, on pass and run plays.
5:07
[SPEAKER_00]: you know he was that contested catch guy that we hoped would just eventually break out obviously the huge game against the chiefs right where he had the four touchdowns and you know two hundred yards and all that stuff and we thought that that was going to be his coming out party we thought that that was going to be okay here we go this is the launching point but then it just never really went anywhere and I'm not even going to harp on
5:34
[SPEAKER_00]: you know a lot of fans want to bring up the drops okay a lot of fans want to talk about you know his inability to make plays in big moments right besides the chief scheme that divisional game the thirteen seconds game out take that game away from from the equation a lot of fans
5:56
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, say, well, we're just waiting for him to have a Gabe Davis moment.
5:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And there was a sprinkle here and there where he would make some nice, you know, nice plays and you know, I vividly remember.
6:08
[SPEAKER_00]: the season opener against the Rams, the Rams coming off that Super Bowl win and the bills going to play their Thursday night football, it opened up the NFL season and Gabe Davis had a big game.
6:19
[SPEAKER_00]: He showed out and everybody was like, oh, yeah, Gabe's, Gabe's coming.
6:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it kind of seemingly was just average.
6:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, it was just average.
6:30
[SPEAKER_00]: that on.
6:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if you look at his numbers, I mean, he's got thirty three career rushing touchdowns or thirty three career receiving touchdowns, including the postseason with the bills.
6:39
[SPEAKER_00]: That's nothing to seize that in just four years.
6:41
[SPEAKER_00]: He was a very productive receiver and depth of target guy was always a big depth of target guy was always that big downfield threat.
6:51
[SPEAKER_00]: It just never seemed to be consistent.
6:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So
6:56
[SPEAKER_00]: What does that mean in regards to Gabe Davis playing with the bills for four years?
7:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Gabe Davis getting a huge contract with the Jacksonville Jaguar's playing there only one season getting injured, giving released, and he's now a free agent.
7:11
[SPEAKER_00]: This week will be his second visit with the bills.
7:14
[SPEAKER_00]: He's obviously scheduled to visit with the Steelers this week as well.
7:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think if something was set in stone with the Steelers I don't know if that visit now things could change right obviously it's the NFL It's an every evolving landscape one free agent visits happen so
7:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I see the chats very active.
7:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate you guys.
7:34
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7:38
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7:42
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7:47
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7:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So all of the talk this off season back.
7:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, Brandon Bean won on WGR and there was that whole issue of him just kind of going off about the wide receiver position and saying he doesn't understand how fans and media outlets and whatnot can say that he's ignored the position and we scored thirty points a game and eight straight games last year, second high scoring team and the NFL, all the stuff that he spewed.
8:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And I simply think that the WGR guys were just saying, hey, look,
8:28
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a lot of big contracts coming up.
8:30
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a lot of big extensions coming up.
8:33
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to start drafting replacement players that can be on team friendly deals, i.e.
8:39
[SPEAKER_00]: rookie contracts, right?
8:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that was the biggest point of what they were trying to get at.
8:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So then you see Brandon being goes out and he signs Elijah Moore immediately like literally the same day that he had that rant on WGR.
8:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And everybody's like, see, he's reacting, he's doing this and doing that.
8:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously, since March, things have come out that Brandon Bean was was absolutely going to look at the wide receiver position in the draft.
9:05
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't say he was going to draft one high first or second row, but he was, he was monitoring the position.
9:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was seeing how the boards are going to fall.
9:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And they obviously drafted very defense heavy rightfully so.
9:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And now here we are, right?
9:21
[SPEAKER_00]: We have Elijah Moore.
9:22
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know what Elijah Moore is, honestly.
9:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I was very high on the signing because I thought that the lack of quarterback play that Elijah Moore's had in his career was kind of holding him back.
9:34
[SPEAKER_00]: But here, if you watch the preseason game again, take preseason for what it's worth, it's preseason.
9:40
[SPEAKER_00]: He had two drops in the preseason game.
9:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know if his position on the team is secured.
9:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You have Curtis Samuel, who
9:48
[SPEAKER_00]: For two seasons now, going into his second season now, just can't seem to stay healthy.
9:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Is this a situation where maybe the bills are looking for a guy to be on the roster?
9:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Kurosay, you know, can go on the beginnings of the season IR?
10:02
[SPEAKER_00]: That could be a potential.
10:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Are the bills looking to keep six receivers, and they're not completely sold on Tyrell Shavers, or Lovska Chanel, or KJ Hamler?
10:11
[SPEAKER_00]: So, maybe Gabe's competition.
10:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's very interesting the dynamics of the room, but I will keep going back to the fact that the bills do not have that role player that they had in Mac Hollins last year.
10:26
[SPEAKER_00]: He came in.
10:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of fans didn't know what he was about who he was.
10:31
[SPEAKER_00]: They saw that he was kind of a journeymen wide receiver played some special teams.
10:34
[SPEAKER_00]: They just assumed that Mac Hollens was going to be that McDermott special teams guy right we we thought he was just going to be a gunner.
10:43
[SPEAKER_00]: He was going to cover kicks and puns.
10:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe get some targets here and there.
10:46
[SPEAKER_00]: But as the season progressed, the trust factor.
10:51
[SPEAKER_00]: that Josh had with Mac Collins to make plays seem to grow increasingly more as the season progressed.
10:59
[SPEAKER_00]: He had that really big catch to end the half against the chiefs in the AFC championship game.
11:04
[SPEAKER_00]: That was an amazing play and for a guy that
11:10
[SPEAKER_00]: who was asked to do all the dirty work cover the puns and cover kicks in block and do all this stuff for him to make a big play like that says a lot about the player right and a lot about the trust that Josh had in that receiver now as the season starts
11:27
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, obviously Josh Allen has really good chemistry with Khalil Shakir.
11:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
11:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to take Khalil Shakir out of this equation because we know what he is.
11:37
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that he's a top-fifteen, top-fringe, top-ten-ish slot receiver in the NFL.
11:44
[SPEAKER_00]: He's obviously the bills.
11:46
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't say they have a number one, but I wholeheartedly believe that Khalil Shakir is the bill's number one-wide receiver.
11:53
[SPEAKER_00]: It's different because people usually look at an outside receiver, as a number one, but collish here's the bills number one receiver.
12:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So then after that,
12:02
[SPEAKER_00]: You obviously have Kian Coleman who physical stature is very similar to Gabe Davis.
12:08
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to be that guy who's going to be your red zone, contested catch guy, big body guy, physical.
12:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You have Joshua Palmer, another big guy that can separate, get down field and make plays.
12:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And then after that, you have Curtis Samuel.
12:24
[SPEAKER_00]: You have Elijah Moore.
12:25
[SPEAKER_00]: You have Tyrell Sheavers.
12:27
[SPEAKER_00]: You have a little viscitional.
12:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You have those guys kind of jacking for that four, five, and six position.
12:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And now, the interesting question about Gabe Davis is because we know how he is with Josh Allen.
12:40
[SPEAKER_00]: We know how Josh Allen feels about Gabe Davis.
12:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Their relationship was great.
12:44
[SPEAKER_00]: They seem to be
12:46
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, on pace and on par and they seem to have, they co-exist really well.
12:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think Josh did trust him, even though there was sometimes when Gabe, you know, was unable to make big plays.
12:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Josh still trusted him.
13:01
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they were on the same team together for four years.
13:03
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Gabe came in when Josh had that breakout year in, in, a lot of people have to,
13:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, remember and start thinking about the fact that we all talk about the two thousand twenty season as the Josh Allen coming out party right it's was the Josh Allen breakout season he had MVP type stats.
13:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Really look dynamic in every aspect of his game.
13:27
[SPEAKER_00]: We all.
13:29
[SPEAKER_00]: immediately assume and and we tie stuff on digs to the Josh Allen coming out party of two thousand and twenty.
13:37
[SPEAKER_00]: But a lot of people don't give some credit to Gabe Davis.
13:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Gabe Davis that was his rookie season.
13:42
[SPEAKER_00]: That was he had he had a really big season.
13:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Stuff on digs even was joking seemingly all the time about your catch and more touchdowns and me, you need to slow down.
13:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Now,
13:55
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of that could be because of the stuff on digs, alpha, number one, wide receiver, you know, aspects, right?
14:02
[SPEAKER_00]: He was warm, she covered.
14:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So Gabe Davis was the unknown.
14:04
[SPEAKER_00]: He was a rookie, right?
14:06
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think to some degree, we have to start talking about Gabe Davis was a portion of Josh Allen's progression in, in, in, in, in, that big leap that he took in year three.
14:20
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to talk about that.
14:21
[SPEAKER_00]: That has to be part of of the conversation.
14:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So to me, I honestly have thought all along since the beginning of training camp that the bills were going to keep six wider severs.
14:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Who was going to be the sixth guy?
14:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Was it going to be Tyrell Shivers?
14:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Was it going to be
14:47
[SPEAKER_00]: The Leviska Chanel was going to be KJ Hamler.
14:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, Chanel can return puns and Leviska Chanel's look really good for two years now.
14:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think it's been kind of, I don't want to say it's been Tyrell Shavers position to lose, but he's been the more consistent guy.
15:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you watch
15:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Sundays, preseason game if you if you if you for whatever reason would want to go back and look at that.
15:15
[SPEAKER_00]: That try to see of a preseason game, uh, Leviska Chanel was playing in the fourth quarter.
15:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And that doesn't bode well for his chances on the roster now.
15:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I know against the giants he had some nice kick returns.
15:26
[SPEAKER_00]: He did return upon.
15:27
[SPEAKER_00]: He was he was out there playing gunner.
15:29
[SPEAKER_00]: He had that nice two point conversion catch.
15:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I know all of that, but
15:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Gabe Davis is better version of a little additional.
15:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I also think that Gabe Davis is a better version than a better version of Tyrell Shavers.
15:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, people will argue with me back and forth that we know what Gabe Davis is sealing is.
15:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, that's fine, but we're not asking Gabe Davis to come in and be a wide receiver to anymore, right?
15:55
[SPEAKER_00]: We would be asking Gabe Davis to be the Mac Hollen's role
16:00
[SPEAKER_00]: run some routes, do some blocking, make some plays if targeted.
16:05
[SPEAKER_00]: That's all they're gonna ask if him now.
16:07
[SPEAKER_00]: The one key piece to this, and I saw the comment in the comment section is the special teams aspect of it because you have to roster special teams.
16:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to, whether it's backup linebackers, backup safeties, backup corners, backup wide receivers, rookies, draft picks, things like that.
16:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's something that is Gabe Davis willing to do that, as part of like I said, the Mac Hollens-esque rule.
16:37
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know.
16:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure if that's ever been asked of him.
16:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure if that's something that is going to be asked of him.
16:44
[SPEAKER_00]: All I know is that going into a season I'd rather have Gabe Davis as my wide receiver, six, five than a Tyrell Shapers.
16:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And who knows, maybe Gabe has a new
16:58
[SPEAKER_00]: look outlook on what he is as a receiver.
17:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm saying like maybe he just wants to come in and help contribute and get a super boring.
17:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he's at a point in his career where
17:13
[SPEAKER_00]: He chased the big contract.
17:14
[SPEAKER_00]: He got the big contract.
17:16
[SPEAKER_00]: It didn't work out.
17:17
[SPEAKER_00]: He had an injury.
17:17
[SPEAKER_00]: It didn't work out with the Jaguars.
17:19
[SPEAKER_00]: He's back in a familiar space.
17:20
[SPEAKER_00]: He's back with his familiar quarterback, who is coming off an MVP season.
17:25
[SPEAKER_00]: The offense is schemeed completely different.
17:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he's been on the outside looking at how the bill's operated last season.
17:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm pretty sure he was on the record this offseason saying that he was paying close attention obviously because he has relationships and bonds with the players on this team.
17:43
[SPEAKER_00]: He was paying attention to how the bills were doing and Josh Allen was playing and how things have evolved in Buffalo and things like that.
17:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So again,
17:52
[SPEAKER_00]: It's interesting the visit is scheduled for this week.
17:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Not quite sure what contract looks like he's getting money still from Jacksonville because they they released him and he had a bunch of guaranteed money when he signed there.
18:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm not sure what you know what that looks like.
18:11
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's it's I'm on board for it, you know, if if he's willing to come in.
18:17
[SPEAKER_00]: at a reasonable deal because obviously the bills have just over a million dollars available in salary cap.
18:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So it would have to be something where it's cost-effective for the team.
18:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm all for it.
18:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm all for, you know, Gabe coming in and not being forced targets.
18:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm all for Gabe coming in and working his way back into, you know, a good rapport with Josh Allen.
18:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't really see a downside to it.
18:45
[SPEAKER_00]: a lot of people are gonna argue well he would be taking reps away from an upstart, you know, a guy who's on a trajectory like a Tyrell shivers.
18:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Well,
18:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we know what game Davis is.
18:56
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know what Tyrell shivers is.
18:58
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a guy who had a long bubble screen, sixty nine yard touchdown reception in a meaningless part of a game.
19:05
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a big reception in a preseason game playing against the twos and threes against the giants.
19:12
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a nice reception in the game against the bears.
19:17
[SPEAKER_00]: He's also a guy that would be nice as a depth piece that would be on the practice squad, you know, same with like all of his kishanol.
19:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Like if you head down the stretch and you have the kishanol on your practice squad and you need a guy to call up for put returns, have at it, you know, he's there.
19:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So the history is there, the history with Josh is there.
19:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like it wouldn't be a bad thing.
19:45
[SPEAKER_00]: to bring in a Gabe Davis.
19:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Because people get caught up in the whole what he, how his career with the bills, how his initial contract ended.
20:00
[SPEAKER_00]: People get caught up in looking at, you know, he was dropping passes or he just wasn't reliable or
20:08
[SPEAKER_00]: you know he just wasn't he just didn't turn out to be what everybody thought he was going to be after he exploded his rookie year was nice and then he had that big postseason when he when he went off against the chiefs and a lot of the pressure I think was
20:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think it was self-inflicted.
20:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of us were hoping that he was going to be that guy.
20:31
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of us wanted him to be that guy.
20:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And then there was signs when a lot of us who have group texts or group chats would be like, there's Gabe Davis.
20:41
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, there's the big Gabe Davis play.
20:43
[SPEAKER_00]: But then there was times when we felt like where's Gabe Davis?
20:46
[SPEAKER_00]: We need a big play from Gabe Davis.
20:49
[SPEAKER_00]: They're blanketing digs.
20:51
[SPEAKER_00]: We need somebody else to make a play.
20:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, to me, I think if you bring in Gabe, if it's team friendly contract, which I think he's not going to be asking for much.
21:00
[SPEAKER_00]: If you just have him be a version of Mac Hollins from last year where the expectations aren't there.
21:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a low risk high reward situation.
21:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Get him some targets.
21:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Get him involved when you can.
21:12
[SPEAKER_00]: If not,
21:14
[SPEAKER_00]: He's your third fourth or fifth wide receiver.
21:16
[SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing wrong with having a Gabe Davis as your third fourth or fifth receiver.
21:22
[SPEAKER_00]: There's just now.
21:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So I've seen a lot of comments coming through.
21:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to get all that out there.
21:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that was a rough twenty one minutes, but again, the news came out that he's visiting with the bills.
21:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, hopefully we'll get some insight after the visit happens.
21:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Now to me, and I'm going to change courses here.
21:45
[SPEAKER_00]: because I think, twenty, twenty-two minutes on Gabe Davis, I think is plenty on the wide receiver room in Gabe Davis.
21:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I've talked about the wide receivers seemingly the last two weeks, and I'm kind of, I just want this stuff to play out, pick the five or six you're gonna go with, and then let's move on.
22:02
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, it's interesting, and I put something out on social media yesterday about the safety position, and I'm not gonna harp on this too much,
22:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's see you guys in the chat or talking about it.
22:18
[SPEAKER_00]: The safety position to me right now is the biggest glaring need on this team.
22:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Say what you want about Taylor rap.
22:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Say what you want about tomorrow.
22:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Hamlin.
22:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Say what you want about.
22:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Cool bishop.
22:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Say what you want about Derek Forest.
22:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that going into the season
22:43
[SPEAKER_00]: with high expectations like we have, being concerned about safety is a good thing.
22:49
[SPEAKER_00]: When McDermott's defense for the first six years, seven years, he was here.
22:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Safety was a position that was locked down.
22:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I understand you can't just replace a Jordan Poir and you can't just replace a like a hide.
23:08
[SPEAKER_00]: But to me, that's the position
23:11
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the position that should have been looked at earlier than it was to have a contingency plan going forward.
23:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I think Taylor rap, the signing of Taylor rap, one poyer and high were still here was great.
23:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was get him, you know, get him introduced to the bill scheme, get him a season under his belt and have him be a contingency plan for one of those two guys.
23:37
[SPEAKER_00]: That worked out.
23:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you spent a second round draft pick on cold bishop.
23:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, you can't knock the player.
23:46
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't knock the player for injuries.
23:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, if he has a completely healthy college career or a couple of small injuries here or there, like you can't knock the guy for that.
23:59
[SPEAKER_00]: But the best ability is to have availability.
24:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And what I saw on Sunday
24:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Although he only played sixteen snaps, it was limited sample sites.
24:11
[SPEAKER_00]: What I saw on Sunday is by far not enough to be able to start week one.
24:18
[SPEAKER_00]: What I saw from Demar Hamlin last season, what I saw from Demar Hamlin against the giants in week one preseason, what I saw from Demar Hamlin, he was the lowest graded bills defender in PFF.
24:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Say what you want about PFF, like there's a grading system, and if you understand the grading system, you know that it actually does mean something.
24:39
[SPEAKER_00]: It's valuable.
24:41
[SPEAKER_00]: But I saw enough from Demar Hamlin.
24:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Last year, I saw enough from Demar Hamlin.
24:44
[SPEAKER_00]: The first two preseason games doesn't look like he's giving full effort.
24:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't look like he understands assignments.
24:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't look like he puts himself or other players in proper position to make a play or to stop a play.
25:00
[SPEAKER_00]: The opening drive against the bears was embarrassing.
25:03
[SPEAKER_00]: To be honest with you, Demar Hamlin was diving to try to make a tackle.
25:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Cole Bishop was jumping over a diving Demar Hamlin like that's we can't have that.
25:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And I understand it's preseason.
25:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand there's still time to figure things out.
25:15
[SPEAKER_00]: But like McDermott said last week, we're running out of time.
25:20
[SPEAKER_00]: We're running out of time at the safety position, and especially with Cole Bishop to figure it out.
25:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And then on the other hand, you have Taylor Rap who seemingly gets banged up a lot.
25:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, you can't fault players for injuries, but part of Taylor Rap's, how he plays a physical style similar to Terran Johnson, like a part of the injuries are self-inflicted.
25:48
[SPEAKER_00]: up like if you look at the injured, the Terran Johnson had against the giants like that seemed to be self-inflicted because he was playing a thousand miles an hour, which is how he plays and find I get that, but we have to figure out the safety position.
26:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying throw money at Justin Simmons.
26:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying find a guy and throw money at him, but if there's somebody there, there's something that needs to be an honest look.
26:15
[SPEAKER_00]: It needs to be
26:17
[SPEAKER_00]: something that is a dress.
26:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously, we thought that Cole Bishop would progress from year one to year two.
26:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he will.
26:25
[SPEAKER_00]: We were talking about Terrell Bernard, year one, he played that one game and didn't look great.
26:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Tremaine Edmund's left, and then we were playing preseason games with Terrell Bernard at middle linebacker, and a lot of us were like, oh, yikes.
26:41
[SPEAKER_00]: It's Tyrell, that's him going to be
26:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Is he going to be the middle line back or like, what are we doing?
26:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Terrell Bernard picked up the game and he figured things out.
26:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So coaching aspect.
26:55
[SPEAKER_00]: The player progression aspect, I'm a little concerned.
26:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So hopefully we'll see what happens in the coming weeks.
27:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously there's one more preseason game against the buck and ears on Saturday and then they have a little bit of time, you know, as roster could cut down to fifty three.
27:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe there will be something that some trees get shaken and some things fall out of trees and there will be a free agent safety that would work in this build system.
27:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I honestly think
27:21
[SPEAKER_00]: The bills would value from having a veteran white, a veteran safety on this roster.
27:28
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't mean he needs to start all seventeen games.
27:31
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't mean that he needs to just take over reps for coal bishop.
27:36
[SPEAKER_00]: What it means is if there's
27:40
[SPEAKER_00]: a veteran out there like a Justin Simmons that a coal bishop can learn from?
27:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I can tell you right now, say what you want about Taylor Rap, he's a very serviceable safety and I think he can start seventeen games and be productive for the bills and be a good safety.
27:57
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's cold bishop in that room, learning a ton from Demar Hamlin.
28:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not a shot at Demar Hamlin.
28:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want anybody to sit here and think I'm taking shots at Demar Hamlin.
28:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I just know his ceiling.
28:11
[SPEAKER_00]: We saw it last year and it wasn't good enough on a roster that is fighting for a Super Bowl, fighting to get the number one seed in the AFC.
28:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there needs to be another veteran they brought in a Derek Forest who we were sold on that he started games in the league, right?
28:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't even know if he's going to make the fifty three at this point.
28:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he played on Sunday, nothing really stood out.
28:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't come away with anything other than he was on the field because they needed a safety on the field.
28:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't heard anything from camp.
28:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't heard anything that he's pushing for a starting position.
28:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't really heard anything other than the fact that he's played.
28:58
[SPEAKER_00]: He started for NFL teams in this past in his career.
29:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, cool.
29:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike Edwards also started for the Kansas City Chiefs and he didn't even make the roster last year when they signed him.
29:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know if there was another way they could have addressed it.
29:16
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of rumblings around the draft were that the bills were going to.
29:19
[SPEAKER_00]: They were looking at Malachi Starks and in this guy in that guy and then obviously people laughed at them and said how could how would we do that when we need.
29:26
[SPEAKER_00]: We need defensive lineman and we need a corner and we need a defensive tackle and all this stuff.
29:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So.
29:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, it's going to be really interesting to see what they do at the safety position, but I think it needs to be addressed.
29:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you need to restructure D on Dawkins and save a bunch of money if you need to restructure a Dawson Knox and save a bunch of money, but something needs to happen for the bills to free up a little bit of cap space, bring it a veteran, and if the veteran gets benched halfway through the season because they feel like coal bishop is ready to go, so be it.
29:56
[SPEAKER_00]: You have that veteran if something happens to coal bishop or Taylor rap.
30:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's that's what I'm looking for for the next, you know, nineteen days up until September seven against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night football.
30:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So let me know what you guys think.
30:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Drop some comments.
30:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate everybody.
30:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry.
30:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't get to all your comments.
30:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I was just kind of I wanted to get my spin out there on a couple topics, but I'll do I'll leave.
30:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll leave you guys with this and
30:24
[SPEAKER_00]: A few months back when Gabe Davis visited the bills, I was against it.
30:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Just because I felt like we need to focus on who we have already on the roster, Shakir, Keon, Palmer, Samuel, they had just signed a lies and more.
30:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I was sold on those guys, but as things have progressed,
30:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the bills might be in the similar mindset of, we're not at where we thought we would be at the wider receiver position.
30:50
[SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing wrong with calling Gabe Davis.
30:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Having him come to town, taking him out to dinner and seeing what he's looking for and seeing if it can work.
31:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would honestly be okay if by the end of the week, Gabe Davis is above a little bill.
31:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think it puts any added pressure on Kean Coleman, on Khalil Shakir, on Joshua Palmer.
31:12
[SPEAKER_00]: The guys that it does put a little pressure on of the Curtis Samuels and the Elijah Moore's and the Tyrell Shavors.
31:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And what does Sean McMurman say?
31:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I earn sharpen's iron.
31:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'll leave you guys with that.
31:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for watching First and Five.
31:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I will be back this week.
31:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate each and every one of you.
31:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Go Bills.