Alright, welcome back to the Buffalo Bread podcast. JG and Dan here with you and we are one week away from football. The kickoff game happens this coming Thursday. It is Friday, August 30th and we have a 53 man roster for these Buffalo Bills whom we love. Dan, what are your thoughts, my friend? My thoughts are that we are one week closer to meaningful football being played than we were last week and I am very ready to talk about the 53 man.
A ton of surprises I think based on how training camp was playing out but I think now that the roster is solidified, JJ, easier for us to talk about some of the open question marks, some of the areas of real strength for this unit and it gives us our best idea yet of how we feel like our Buffalo Bills are going to match up against their 17 team schedule to date.
Obviously, we are going to get more info as they play more games but the 53 man is a good place to start as any to figure out what kind of season the Bills are going to have so I am ready to dive in. Very good, very good. So I guess we will start, you just want to start at the top with the position groups each as they go. JJ, starting with the QB room I think makes the most sense.
We all know that Joshua Patrick Allen is our force multiplier on this roster and regardless of whatever strengths and deficiencies are present in the other rooms, the fulcrum for our success constantly swings around JA17. So starting with the QB room I think makes a lot of sense. So JJ, your thoughts on the composition of the QB room?
It's such a fun, it's like such a foregone thing for all of the Bills Mafia because if Josh Allen is good then we are awesome and if he is down with injury or missing for any period of time we are absolutely fragger neckl screwed.
So with that Mitch Trubisky I think they signed him into a two year deal then I think they may regret that because he is, he looks like he was inefficient and you know spectacular in his last visit in Buffalo and then he went to Pittsburgh and sucked worse and then came back to be yet worse again which I didn't think was possible. So I don't know, I get the tools right like he has the kind of tools that Josh Allen might have in terms of physicality.
But he just does not, it seems like his will is completely broken. So behind Josh Allen the QB room is there's nothing to really talk, speak to. I think that the fact that they got Mike White on the practice squad is probably the most substantial thing outside Josh Allen. But again the team goes as JA17 goes as you have so aptly said. Absolutely. I think, and I agree with your take on Trubisky, we talked about a last pod.
It's a lot of guaranteed money for a backup QB that has shown us who he is in this league and that is someone who is largely ineffective. Other than having some of the same physical measurables as Josh Allen, there's not a lot in the game plan that he can replicate particularly with his lack of short area yardage accuracy which it feels like and we saw a sign of this with Joe Brady last year, they just want to be free yardage merchants.
If people are going to play with light boxes against them and they're going to play cover two and they're going to take away the deep ball from Josh, then Brady has schemed up successfully last season and it looks like heading into this year, a scheme that will take advantage of that short area yards, which I think is why the signing of Mike White is somewhat significant.
This is a dude who has successful starting reps in the league for a New York Jets squad that was underperforming offensively at the time he took it over and he's able to spark them simply by getting the ball out quickly and on time. You and I joked this 400 yard game against the Bengals is like career breakout moment fed mostly by the 80% of those yards that came after the catch.
But if you're going to run the route concepts that it looks like Brady is going to run based on everything we've seen in camp, you just need a guy in a reserve situation who hopefully only has to come in for a couple of games. And if you can keep the offense off on time and take advantage of some of those quick game routes that Brady wants to build into short area situations, Mike White is a good at any who can exploit some of that stuff against opposing defenses.
So I think make listen, may this never come to pass. But if Josh has to miss any time whatsoever, I could actually see the team quickly elevating Mike White over Mitch Trebisky and putting him in for some starting reps. And I think that he even joked with the media that he made a condition of his signing with the bills that they keep Matt Milano away from him.
And so the fact that Matt Milano is on IR I think is appropriate and maybe he may not have signed if he was going to be sharing a field with Matt Milano at any point in time. Those two forever linked in internet meme land. Ever linked an internet meme and also I'm pretty sure that if you tested either of their bodies you'd find the other person's DNA from that one hit two years ago. Like it's no LinkedIn more ways than one.
I think that probably they're going to pass on each other's genes if they ever procreate. That is the that's the QB room. I think that's pretty pretty cut and dry. There's not a lot to say. The next room is one that I'm super excited about the running back room. Somebody I think it might have been on one bills live or somewhere commented that James Cook had like the quietest 1500 yard from scrimmage season anyone's had in the past 10 years that people are sleeping on him.
And I was just talking to a buddy today about fantasy football and I mentioned that James Cook went like the seventh round in my draft and I was able to snatch him up that late, which was I felt like a massive coup because even if he's not getting goal line touches, I think he's going to have a reasonable production game after game as long as he stays healthy. Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. A little concern JJ about the amount of drops that he has had in training camp.
This is something that we wanted to see cook really course correct from last year. Last season you could count it. He had three, maybe four wide open touchdown receptions in his hands from Josh that he just wet hit the turf last year. That being said though, the Brady scheme really does involve getting running backs involved in the passing game.
And there is nothing at least that I've seen coming out of camp that suggests that he may that he won't play a role in the past game when they get into the red zone to your point, it's going to be a different story. He only got about 23% of the red zone reps last season with Ray Davis in the backfield and his catching ability out of the backfield.
I don't think it's going to be an increase in workload in the red zone for cook, but he brings a ton of value in keeping the chains moving, being a threat in the traditional run game as well as the passing game as well. He is by and large, I feel like by the bills best weapon out of the backfield is going to be key to keeping that offense running. When you look to replace the production of a Stefan digs, there's not any individual guy who's going to replace that production for you very likely.
But what cook brings to the table is the ability paired with some other guys to bring some of that production in the aggregate at the very least if you want to money ball that situation. But cook is going to be an important piece of this offense JJ. And I think we all got to remember too, he didn't get going until Brady took over the reins of play calling. So we only got a half a season of productive James Cook this year at 17 straight games.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what cook puts together in this offense. Absolutely. And I think to the scheme definitely fits him a whole off season of preparing for scheming him up fits him. And then I do think that Ray Davis is probably going to be a 500 or 600 yard back in this league from scrimmage with additional probably two or 300 yards receiving because I do think that he's a perfect spell for James Cook and his physical style.
He's a little bit more durable is a little bit more thicker in the lower half. So I think that Ray Davis is going to be an excellent kind of thunder to James Cook's lightning in that we saw that great season from James Cook and a really good season rushing the football from basically the same exact offensive line without a reliable backup runner because most of the season it was the old one who what the hell was his name he played for the Raiders for a long time.
You're thinking of oh God why am I blanking on it now we're both blanking on it now. What is wrong with us. Hang on I got it right here. He's a local guy. He's a local guy. He's from Syracuse. Yeah. Tavius Murray. It's such a unique name to how would we forget it. Yeah Tavius Murray was the oldest running back in the league and was their option and he looked awesome for the first three weeks and then he absolutely tailed off and clearly the years had caught up with him.
So the fact that they have fresh legs and Ray Davis immediately behind James Cook and then Ty Johnson is still there and looks healthy and they saved Daryton Evans who had a pretty good preseason as expected to return player which was surprising that there's only eight of those designations that you can use in a season and they used two of them on Darynton Evans and Matt Milano. So they looks like they have a plan for Darynton Evans. It's because otherwise you wouldn't.
Yeah. Yeah it's probably the return games. He showed some chops on special teams and that is an area I think of real concern this season. We'll get it to we'll get it get into that when we talk about the cornerback room. But Evans has real return game chops which I think is the reason why they tagged him with that designation. But also he got the nod over Frank or Jr. who I know is a fan favorite coming out of training camp. Luckily he made it back to the practice squad too.
I think too with Ray Davis what I like about this is that he is a capable backup to James Cook but unlike Latavius Murray last year the coaching staff will not unless Cook is an absolute dumpster fire will not be looking for reasons to insert Davis over Cook for the majority of the snaps before they hit the red zone like they did with Murray last year.
The James Cook stuff for the past couple of seasons right up until Brady took over to me is just the weirdest management of talent I've ever seen. He's in for some. He's out for some. The reality is he's a much more well rounded runner Cook than I think he gets a lot of credit for. He rushed for 1100 yards last season and then rushed for 1100 yards last season and JJ half of those yards came after contact. He was averaging just about three yards a carry after initial contact.
You pair that with the elite push that this offensive line was able to generate last season and dude could fall forward and get nine yards. It was a really great pairing of offensive line scheme and talent running back and I'm looking forward to seeing that maximized over a full schedule so long as Cook can elevate his game here this season the way we need him to.
So JJ JJ let's move on because running back is an exciting one but this is the unit here and I don't know if you want to talk about room specifically or talk about this group as a whole but we have past catchers up next.
We've got our wide receiver room and then we have the tight end room and I think it might be more effective to talk about them together only because it looks like in this scheme and we saw this last year there are going to be multiple pass catchers out on the field with Josh at the same time even though it might not be in the traditional 11 personnel type of package with three wide receivers that were used to seeing from other teams and even from these Buffalo Bills very recently.
So do you want to talk about these rooms individually or talk about the package deal my friend?
No let's talk about the entire assemblage of eight players which would be to run through it on the 53 Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Curtis Samuel, Matt Collins, those were all the expected anticipated top four wide receivers and then Marcus Valdez Scantling who I don't know I'm guessing the coaching staff sees something in him in practice and in the meeting rooms that everyone else can't see because he did not look good at all but he got one
of those coveted five spots while they let other people like Terrell Shavers and Justin Shorter and still others like India Isabella, Kajik Hamler, all those guys are gone and then some of them have returned to the practice squad but MvS is on the team and injured no less and then the three tight ends Dalton Kinkade, Dawson Knox, Quentin Morris.
I think what you're going to most likely see as you can have five players out and routes in any particular play is some combination of Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman and Curtis Samuel and then Dalton Kinkade and Dawson Knox or Dalton Kinkade and Matt Collins.
You're going to probably have Matt Collins and my guess is that when there are four catchers, pass catchers, you're going to see three wide receivers and one tight end and then they're going to be in 12th personnel with two receivers and two tight ends occasionally when they really want to run the rock. And if they really want to get weird with it, put Curtis Samuel on the running back spot let him run her out out of the backfield too.
Oh, I can see them run in some 22 personnel with Curtis Samuel and James Cook in the backfield and both Dawson Knox and Dalton Kinkade on the field. I actually want to see that very badly. Absolutely. And JJ, this is a unit that is with the way Kinkade is so fluid with his routes, so deceptive with his motion and with his cuts, his ability is uncanny to find space against both man and zone.
You got to imagine this is going to be a season where for the first time, maybe ever, we need to look at this. You're going to have a tight end on the Buffalo Bills potentially lead this group, this pass catching group and both targets, receptions and potentially yards. I just feel like he's not just going to be a safety net for Josh with the way he can get open and get separation. I feel like he's going to be a game breaker.
And what we didn't see a lot last year out of Kinkade, but we saw this in his college tape and in his college game at Utah, his ability to exploit the seam as well. I think this is something that as we talk about the bills needing to develop more deep threats down the field to balance out this offense and keep opposing defenses honest. Other than MVS and I would argue Khalil Shakira's got great long speed.
You don't have a lot of traditional downfield burners and this wide receiver pass catching group. I wouldn't necessarily sleep though on Kinkade opening up downfield by exploiting the seam all out what Rob Gronkowski did on so many of those New England Patriots teams that also didn't have an elite deep threat at wide receiver. And I think too, it's especially with the way that the bills are played so often with too deep safeties and a split coverage look, the middle is open most of the time.
And if those teams are expecting a nickel corner or a linebacker to carry Dalton Kinkade all the way up the middle of the seam, it's not going to happen for them. I expect them to, I hope that they run some concepts where they have Dalton Kinkade do some double moves where they get him into the little hook zone right behind the linebackers or out to the hashes.
And then he runs a double move off of it towards the post straight up the gut because if teams get really cute about trying to cut off that hook route, they can get absolutely burned by him just turning around and running straight upfield. And the bills have shown that they schemed a couple of different things in the playoff game against the Steelers. Dalton Kinkade caught a seam route for a touchdown that was an absolute dime from Josh Allen.
And both he and Josh Allen said that before that play went, Brady basically dialed it up and he was like, it's going to be there because we're getting the looks we want.
That's the kind of scheming open that I think that we're going to see this year on the field with Dalton Kinkade getting more opportunities and teams being more attentive to him is actually going to cause some vulnerabilities because the bills can do some things where they show him in certain ways week after week and then exploit those ways to have a different route stem off of it because he's as savvy as they come even as a second year player when it
comes to nuance of route and finding empty spaces and zone and setting guys up to do double moves, setting guys up to snap off a route stem in a different way. I totally agree. We've seen this year over year with the Buffalo Bills and we're hoping that this year is different based off of what we've seen in training camp, but they really they just really have always struggled to onboard new weapons into this offense.
So despite the fact that they've got Curtis Samuel, Matt Collins, Keon Coleman added to the group, you trust in the wide receiver group and past Ketcher group is something that's very big for all QBs, but Josh in particular, we saw the change with Isaiah McKenzie from one year to the next the minute McKenzie started dropping passes, right? And all of a sudden was no longer a
favored target for Josh. With all that being said in historical context fully in play, Kinkade returning to the offense and in the scheme for another season, Kulil Shakir may have a breakout season. Dude, his catch percentage led the league last season at 86.3%. His routes are always on time. I'll I've said it before and I'll say it again, don't sleep on his long speed down the field either. He could potentially take the roof off of some defenses have schemed
up correctly. And he's got positional versatility based on where you can put him on the field. Dawson Knox, we talked about this last pod old reliable as far as a red zone target goes. There is there is some scheme continuity personnel continuity here that I think has been largely overlooked because of the digs trade and because of the Davis departure. But there are there the cupboard here is not entirely empty. And I think there are some weapons to be excited about that
are returning. And then we've got the new guys who I think are going to be a question, Mark. Listen, I love Mack Hollins and his vibe and his energy. He's obviously a great leader. To me, his leadership is going to be invaluable on the squad this year for a group that jettison so many veterans. I've seen though a lot of prognostication that says he might actually be wide receiver one on
this group when it's all said and done from a staff perspective. And I get he'd had a one good year of production with I think it was the Raiders way back when I don't see him taking meaningful targets away from Keon Coleman and his development, Cluel Shakir and his continued progression, or Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox, which leaves amongst the new weapons Curtis Samuel, who you who you hope is more of a successful kind of gadgety type of addition, then what they wanted
Isaiah McKenzie to be back when Brian Dable was scheming funky stuff up for him. And then you've got Keon Coleman, who based on what we've seen out of camp, they're not going to ask him JJ to do anything that he is uncomfortable with. I think they know where he's at in his development. And they're going to put him in a position to succeed. And I think because of some of the returning players to this past catcher room, he'll have the opportunity where he can grow but also show
his strengths on a game by game scheme by scheme basis. So I'm excited for this group. I'm higher on this group than I think I was at the start of the season. I really I got to see it though with my own eyes. Can they attack the latter third of the field when teams decide to load up the box against Cook, which you know they're going to do eventually. And when they decide to take away the shorter parts of the field, are they going to do they have enough juice in this room to attack
over the top? And that's an open question for me that I just I don't know until I see it happen. Well, that actually I think you bring up a really good point in what's going to happen when they start crowd when teams start crowding the line against the team against the bills with what we think Brady scheme is going to be. And the thing that actually scares me is the presence of MVS Marquez Valdes scantling on this roster as the one of the only players on the bill's 90 man
roster during training camp who is a deep burner type. The fact that he made it to the 53 makes me a little bit worried that they're counting on that skill set from him him from him the person. Because I don't believe in him. I think he's probably a pretty bad wide receiver. There's a reason that he's on the fourth team and he's had excellent quarterbacks at every stop. Played with Patrick Mahomes last year as many of us remember right right granted he saved his
best moments for the postseason last year. And he can provide some postseason leadership, but you got to make the playoffs first. And I don't know that MVS even as your fifth wide receiver and only true deep threat. I don't know if he is enough to equalize what we think is going to ultimately be be a defensive scheme that will adjust as the season goes on to the way these bills want to play. I don't think he's enough of a nuclear deterrent. You know what I mean?
He's not that he's not the paradigm changer. He's not a player who can shift how teams defend you. Even it. Yeah. Go ahead. No. Oh, I was going to say yeah, even if they start crowding the box and the bills have nobody that's getting deep getting open deep. It's really I think that they're going to look to key on Coleman and MVS. And if neither of them can get it done, the bills might hit a pretty significant low on offense. I do think there is a low floor and a low ceiling to this kind
of offense if the bills want to run it. We'll see though, we'll see because we haven't seen a full Joe Brady scheme in play yet. But if there was a worry in the wide receiver room or the pass catcher room, it's the lack of a true deep threat, which in fairness was a vulnerability for them heading into the off season. And maybe they think they've addressed it, but I've got my doubts. It was a vulnerability all of last year. And they still made it. They still won the FC East
and made the playoffs. Right, exactly. I just I don't know if I don't know if losing in the divisional round again to the chiefs is going to keep jobs in this organization. True. That hurts. I know, I'm just saying. So JJ, moving on, let's talk about the final room that we need to discuss here. And that is the offensive line room, which no surprises in the starting five. I think the second unit, definitely not the depth and the experience that we benefited from last
year. There was a Joe Biscali, I did a great job on his pod earlier on today of delineating the difference between the starting five and the backups for this Buffalo Bills offensive line unit. The backups have 47 total NFL snaps to their name, all of which are owned by one Ryan Vandermark. He is the only person with NFL game real NFL game experience on that second unit O-line. This is an O-line that benefited from historic levels of health last season.
And if you believe in a regression back to the mean, someone is going to get hurt on this offensive line. Spencer Brown's had a history of injuries. Deion Dawkins has dealt with his own injury issues in the past before someone on the second unit is going to play JJ, someone is going to play. So how are we feeling about this room as a whole, not just the starting five?
I'm bullish. I mean, I love the starting five. And I think that we can we can both agree that they should not take a massive step back because all the players of the start four of the five players in the starting five played every snap last year. So Deion Dawkins, Connor McGovern, Osiris Torrance and Spencer Brown, even though Connor McGovern is playing in a different position, now moving over to the pivot at center, that's a change. But then bringing David Edwards into that
left guard position who has started in the past, I feel really good about the starters. And I'm not that actually worried about them losing some snaps to injury and requiring Ryan Vandermark or Alec Anderson to play mostly because of what I saw in the preseason. I saw Ryan Vandermark come in and play at both tackle spots throughout the preseason in games, live games against decent competition at times, and show very well, I think that he was well, pretty well rated. He's still
steaming better at left tackle than at right tackle. But left tackle is a more difficult position to play for most players or for most offensive linemen. So the fact that he's clearly above and ahead on that makes me feel pretty good about them having Tylen Grable come into fill in for right tackle, who was a good, it was a good grab, it was good to keep him on the team as well. I
think that he showed really well in the preseason. And for me, it's the fact that the archetype of the offensive linemen is straight in line with what Aaron Cromer has been successful with throughout his career. They've got the right players with the right skill sets and the right body types to be successful starters based on who he's coached up to all pro statuses. And so I'm not saying Cedric Van Prang ranger Alec Anderson, Ryan Vandermark or Tylen Grable are going to be all
pros. But I do feel a really solid level of consistent trust that Cromer is going to have whomever needs to step up able to step up. Yeah, I share most of your optimism about the starting
unit. I think Conor McGovern has really progressed and started to own the center role in a very important way, not just clean snaps to Josh Allen, which were an issue at the beginning of camp, but also the way he is calling checks at the line now he's got a really good command, I think, of play to play what this offense needs to do and recognizing and opposing defenses where the soft spots are going to be. I think that's going to be really important.
Spencer Brown is interesting to me because he's in a contract here this year. Last season was his first fully healthy season. He's been a little dinged up in training camp this year, which is nothing he hasn't dealt with before. But if they're not that you wish ill health on anyone, but if there were a candidate right now in the starting five, who I would say is right, feels the most vulnerable based on playstyle history and the amount of contact that they
absorb their position. Brown feels to me like one who might be the most likely to miss some time, which means gray bull or Vandemarck absolutely into the starting unit. I've got confidence in Vandemarck. I think the bills have been so good at this draft stash and develop philosophy that they've really infused into the organization on the offensive
line. I would feel good about Vandemarck. Anybody else goes down though, JJ, and you've got to dip into I get Alec Anderson as the every man on the interior of that offensive line, but you get into real game situations. I don't care how well you're coached. There's a learning curve. There's an absolute learning curve that's going to hit a replacement or two replacements or three.
And then if you're talking two or three replacements at any given time, which we have seen not too long ago, not too far off ago, in Buffalo Bill's recent history, I think then this team could be in trouble. Can they afford to lose one, maybe two people potentially? But if it's for extended amounts of time or it's any more than that, I do worry about the second unit holding up, particularly with the level of physicality that they're going to be asked to play with
for the entire season. But starting five, I feel pretty good about, and I feel good about the direction that they're headed. Sure. No, it's a good summary. And I think that it's right to be, if we both take my position on this particular group, then we're just sitting here promising everybody that it's going to be all sunshine and rainbows. And James Cook's going to rush for a 2000 yards this season. You are right to be measured. I'm I have to be measured. I have to
set myself up for lower expectations. Absolutely. All right. defensive line. You want to flip to the other side of the ball? Yeah. And I think with this defensive line, let's take it like we would with the wide receiver and tight end just bundle it together full defensive line. Yeah. And as expected, we the bills ended up keeping four DT's interior and five or six ed rushers, I'm sorry.
And I found one surprise, I think that we were both pretty pretty lock stock and standard with a lot of media members and build mafia to believe that it was going to be Dequan Jones at Oliver's the starting DT pair. And then Austin Johnson and DeWayne Carter as a third round pick as backups to the interior of the defensive line. And so that was pretty pretty much chalk. But then Greg Rousseau, AJ Epinezza, the starting outside ends, DeWayne, smooth and Von Miller ranked behind them.
And Javon Solomon making it as a late round pick, I thought was excellent. And he showed a lot in the initial preseason of his career. Casey tool. What do you what do you make of that? I don't know. And I said, I'm glad for guys to get their shot and get their money. But I personally blame Casey to hill for the reason why Dequan Hardy is not on this roster. I looked at Dequan Hardy is a lock for this cornerback room, especially with his return skills. I did not
anticipate that the Buffalo Bills were going to keep six edge rushers. I thought they were going to run with nine total defensive linemen, five at edge, four on the interior. And they decided they needed the extra juice with to hill. And the only thing I can think about because he does bring, he's one of those high RAS score guys, like he brings a lot of athleticism to the table. We talked about the concerns we saw with Epinezza over the course of training camp.
We don't know what Von Miller is going to be this season necessarily. And Greg Russo has had a history of getting dinged up. So Von Miller also is now going to be two years removed from AC from his ACL injury. I think the bills are hedging at edge. We know how important the edge rotation and defensive line rotation is to this overall scheme. You've got a couple of guys with injury histories. You've got a couple of guys on the roster underachieving. They wanted to throw another
iron on the fire. And he's a guy who meets their athletic profile and then some, and he's a guy who think who they probably think in season, they can develop to be what they to be a suitable rotational piece here, especially if one of the guys they have slotted in the top four or five of the rotation doesn't make it. That's the only thing I can think of. Yeah. And that's probably,
I think there's also a possibility that it has something to do with special teams. Because as you mentioned, he has a high RAS score and defensive ends and linebackers in that particular, the new kind of active kickoff or whatever they're calling it, are probably pretty, it was pretty high premium and value on players who are larger bodies with the ability to move quickly in short areas and tackle because it is very much like a wide zone run play.
Once that ball hits inside the landing zone and is returned. Yeah. So I think too, I totally agree with you in that special teams because of the change to kickoff rules this year is probably influencing a lot of 53 man decisions in ways that it has not in the past because teams just ultimately don't know in the limited sample size of pre-season how these new rules and these new formations are going to play out. So there's a lot of hedging
probably on both ends of that. JJ to me, this defensive line overall and their ability in
particular to generate pass rush is going to be so important. It's always important to this scheme, but I think more so in that this year with the questions at safety, which we're going to get to at the end of this, the reliable roof that has been on the house that is this defense for so long, now potentially showing some holes, you're going to need an extraordinary effort from this defensive line in passing situations to help potentially cover up for something that the bills have not
had to cover up for in the history of the McDermott era. And that is deficiencies in the secondary and deficiencies in the linebacker room. This line you could argue is the most experienced returning unit to the defensive side of the ball. There's a lot of other new pieces in the other rooms that we'll get to here that are going to be seeing starting reps, a lot of them for the
first time, a lot in this scheme. I think this defensive line doesn't just have to be reliable, it has to be outstanding if the bills are going to avoid being in shootouts game after game. Yeah, no, I agree. And I think that for me, the answer of whether or not this line is going to be outstanding has nothing to do with von Miller. It's actually the question of whether or not Greg Russo can have a fully healthy campaign because he has struggled with lower body foot and
other lower body injuries every year of his career. And last year, he looked like he was ready to take a step and become like a double digit sack and impact player like a top 15 in the league end. And then he wrecked his foot and was not the same for the rest of the season. I see the same kind of burst I saw early in the first few games last season out of him in preseason in
the limited snaps he had. And it's really the question of Ken Gregor's state, Russo stay healthy because if he can, I think he can be a real problem for opposing offenses and deliver the kind of impact that you're talking about that they desperately need the defensive line to deliver. The same for Dequan Jones and Ed Oliver. If they can both stay healthy, I think that there's the sky to the limit for them together lined up next to each other.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Let's move on to the linebacker room here. Listen, this is where the trepidation and the pessimism is beginning to sink in. From this exact level all the way back. All the way back. All the way back. So we know and we have lamented as has all of Bill's mafia, we will be losing Matt Milano. What we're losing is not just someone who is a ferocious leader and a sideline to sideline missile in the run stopping game, but he has been essential to what
the bills have done in protecting the middle of the field in the passing game as well. Last season today when Matt Milano played opposing QBs held on to the ball for a full half a second longer than they did when he didn't play valuable time in this era of quick passing games to let your pass rush get to you. Zero TDs and four INTs recorded when Milano was patrolling the middle of the field by the spellfellow bills defense, seven touchdowns to zero interceptions after
Milano left with his injury. Teams are going to exploit the middle of this field JJ early and often and it's going to be up to this linebacker quarter be up to the task to stop it. The good news is we've got really smart coaches that know that this is going to be coming and they've had an entire off season to game plan for it. So JJ let's break down this linebacker room the good
the bad and the ugly. Where do you want to start? Let's start with the good which is Terrell Bernard coming back having an excellent training camp and year two as the middle linebacker the green dot player who receives the calls from the coaching staff. I think that he is you know he's the kind of player he showed out last year even after they lost Matt Milano in week five.
He showed out that he could have an all pro campaign this season he's such an excellent impact player he did that I forget what the exact stats were but he was like the first player in 30 years or something to record the number of sacks interceptions and fumbles that he forced and recovered in a single season and so definitely there with the splash plays I feel really good about Terrell Bernard I think that he's going to take a step forward as a leader and
kind of the quarterback of the defense I am otherwise really worried that's it right the bills only really play two linebackers and it's Terrell Bernard who I know they're going to highly depend on for his consistency but I think that's the biggest problem is behind Terrell Bernard you're you're asking for the other linebacker spot if you go three linebackers two linebacker spots to be filled by players that I I have not seen prove any level of consistency
and those are Dorian Williams which we've talked at length about Dorian Williams and his benefits he looked a lot better in the offseason and training and in the limited snaps he had in preseason games um but then Nicholas Moreau who played almost no time at all um and looked okay I guess when he did play in the preseason Edifuan Olifocio who has again was injured for most of training camp and then came back for just a little bit of the last preseason game played
decently but also got cooked on some coverage snaps Bale Inspector who's injured yet again and who I have absolutely zero faith will ever play a meaningful role in defense because he goes in for four snaps every game that he plays and gets injured immediately like I just I feel like he's got that like rare condition that Samuel Jackson had in Unbreakable where his bones are made of glass because damn dude no I have no I'm he is an NFL player he is far more impressive as a human specimen
and athlete than I'll ever achieve but I'm just being blunt as a fan of a team what I see as a player who is so freaking injury prone that I don't think he has anything they can depend on and until he proves me wrong so be it we have the title for this pod when it gets posted Balan bones of glass specter bones of glass specter no he is just it's banana I feel bad because I actually think he's likable he's a likable guy a likable player and he seems to be impactful and know what
he's doing when he is on the field and he's got an athletic profile for it it's just dude you've seen it right he just gets hurt immediately upon stepping on the field every time he comes in relief no listen I totally get it and this is why the favorite son of Buffalo yes Prince who was left I left Joe for you Joe and Treson is on this roster so excited to see Buffalo Joe make this squad listen I know he had a rough one in the final preseason game against the Panthers but I think
what we saw to Joe was the ability to flow to the play great pass-run recognition really good coverage chops and he's going to benefit as you so eloquently put it last pod from being able to play snaps depending on what level of the rotation he gets into with some of the starting unit on this defensive line that'll help keep him clean in that area and allow him to focus more appropriately on his 111 I just dude this is the story Bill's mafia needs undrafted rookie free agent hometown
kid helps lead what we all think will be a decrepit Buffalo Bill's defense to glory in a Super Bowl victory with Joshua Patrick Allen sign me up for those movie rights now my friend absolutely Oh yeah no and it's he is it is everything at the story the look and the fact that yeah he looked he I think that somebody looked at the part yeah he looked the part when he was playing with the ones and playing as the green dot linebacker making the calls and the checks with the defense
in that Pittsburgh preseason game I was there were snaps where I was like that looks exactly like Matt Milano like shooting the run gap getting exactly to his landmark and making a play like I was there's no way to compare him because Matt Milano's an all-pro and Joe Andreessen's a first year undrafted unsigned BFA who was a tryout player at rookie at a rookie minicamp but I will say like he's she's checked the box is hard enough to get on the 53 and he did it over a former all-pro
Deon Jones so I like what I've seen so far and if he has some juice and he can stay healthy I think that he could really make an impact this season as he learns that defense absolutely dude all right let's talk about the cornerback room I have never had this relationship with the bill's cornerback room before where I feel so good about the starting two and have so many questions about who's going to be behind them now normally this wouldn't matter because let's be honest
if the Buffalo Bills have their way Rizul Douglas and Christian Benford are going to be playing 92 to 96 percent of the snaps every game and we're only going to see limited glimpses of Jammarga Sangram and Kair Elam but the reality is Benford does not have a healthy see fully healthy season to his name yet and Rizul Douglas who I love his risk-taking I love his instincts he has been dinged up throughout the course of the past two seasons as well like the offensive line room
injury regression and regression back to the mean is a real thing it is very likely we're going to see based on recent history some extended glimpses of one Kair Elam or Jammarga Sangram and I have real concerns about the depth in this cornerback room but I couldn't love the starting duo more I think they level each other off in the best possible way Benford keeps everything in front of them Douglas looking to turn the opposing team over they're a great thunder and lightning type of
combo they can blow both play with some chip and physicality when they need to I love the starting two the question is will we see them all season yeah you're right they both have had injury issues in their past in their career and it does not feel great that your next man up is Kair Elam and after that is Jammarga Sangram I think they both had decent pre-season and training camps but I think actually Jammarga Sangram had a better deep pre-season and training camp than Kair Elam even
though many of the beat reporters and people who are out at practice every day said that Kair Elam looked like a different player and looked much less hesitant and more self-assured and more confident in his reps and that's awesome because that's what's he what he's needed to provide but it's it's pretty worrying that it's okay it's Russell Douglas Christian Benford Taryn Johnson of course who's a stalwart and one of the best nick corners in the league and then Kair Elam and
Jammarga Sangram and then Brandon Codrington whose corner snaps were not good but he's a returner only he is he's on the field something has gone wrong something has gone terribly wrong it's the kind of thing where you actually bring Cam Lewis from the safety bench to replace Taryn Johnson before Brandon Codrington is as much a DB as Saron Neal has been he's a special teams player who just has the is in the CB room because they need a place to put him yeah pretty much Taryn Johnson man
thank god Dequan Hardy is on this practice squad Taryn Johnson I think and and this is all due respect to Matt Milano Taryn Johnson is the person on the defensive side of the ball we can least afford to lose he is the reason why the bills play base nickel they only roll out two linebackers and they're not rolling out a standard four three set in rundowns in particular because Johnson does everything and then some in his role at nickel corner to hedge up the run game play ferociously
in the past game it means a chimes had it right when she was when she tweeted out about this a few weeks ago Taryn Johnson is the most underrated player in the NFL he could be a linebacker he plays like a safety at certain points but he has the the technical ability and the physical tools to play the position he plays at nickel corner I would say the best in the league and the bills are lucky to have him and he's the dude we can least afford to lose out of this entire room I
would argue I would completely agree and I think that too you know in the world where rasool Douglas and christian benford and Taryn Johnson are all healthy you may make your weak linebacker depth right by subbing in one of the safeties we're about to talk about but if you lose any one of those first top three cbs you're in trouble because I don't know I don't know any player from the safety room or the linebacker room was going to be able to like help cover that gap
as much as a safety could help out the linebackers it's not going to go the other way around absolutely totally I totally couldn't agree more all right so let's talk about those safeties JJ it's uh I don't love this and listen we've this is the we saved the worst for last but it's unless you want to talk about Tyler bass because we could go worse or if we needed to based on his pre we can do we can hit that right now let's just hit it special teams Tyler bash you better get
your shit together because otherwise you're going to be a massive dead cap hit and replaced by yet another inconsistent kicker oh god it's just so bad like he he needs to get out of his head the the bills are going to play the bills traditionally play a ton of close games field goals and extra points are going to matter in those games we need Tyler bass to play better JJ we also need by week seven for Micahide to come out of retirement based on how the safety room is
shaping up right now what do you see because that can't cover the deep third of the field yeah that's exactly what I see too I what I see is in less cold bishop or Mike Edwards okay so first thing if I'm just looking at a depth chart we have two healthy safeties period present and I know that we're still 10 days or nine days from the bill starting the actual season but we have Taylor wrap and Cam Lewis everybody else is questionable the Marhamlin cold Bishop Mike Edwards Mike Edwards
has been injured his entire the moment he put a bill's jersey on he's been injured and I know he's a solid player he has two Super Bowl rings with two different teams but I haven't seen enough I haven't seen anything from him he played in the last preseason game a little bit but also got dinged up again and I'm just really hopeful that when week one rolls around Taylor wrap and either cold Bishop or Mike Edwards is out there as the starting pair because even though DeMarie
Hamlin's story is super inspiring he's a run fitting box safety who struggles in coverage and that is not the answer for what the bills are going to be facing with one of the top five hardest schedules in the NFL and so many premier quarterbacks on that schedule.
Yes and I'm only half joking about the Micahide thing I don't know if you're picking up on the same vibes I have from some of these Bean interviews he doesn't sound like he's ruled out Micah coming back he's been like Micah's staying in shape haven't expressed any interest yet but is not this close to the start of the season shut the door on Micah coming back is that the answer I don't know but I can tell you that if by the end of week six the bills are three and three
and they've been shredded in the deep third of the field there's going to be a lot of fans clamoring for that to happen for sure for sure yeah man the safety room absolute an absolute and total concern for me all right so that's our analysis the 53 man roster before we leave you here today folks JJ and I would like to play a little game games yeah I want to play game let's I was gonna pull out my saw voice I'm like I know that's not appropriate it's not the right vibe for this nope
and not what we're going for on this bud and then you follow through and do it what the hell my friend Jesus it's a better saw voice than mine so now I'm definitely not doing it anyway let's play a game guys yeah so for those of you that regularly listen to football podcasts like we do this is the season of rankings everyone's doing QB tiers everyone's doing like these kind of meaningless exercises and preseason power rankings all this stuff that doesn't really matter but yet provides
filler until we get to actual games JJ and I wanted to put our own spin on this so rather than ranking teams against the Buffalo Bills because we're highly biased for sure and we would pick the Bills in most situations we decided we wanted to put a different take on this because this is 53 man roster season and everyone's analyzing room by room we want to take a select number of rooms defensive line cornerback room pass catching room quarterback room on the Bills and see how it stacks
up against some of the opponents that they'll be facing here in the 2024 season we'll give you a room for the Bills we'll give you a room for an opponent and JJ and I will tell you why we're taking the Bills or why we're taking the other team and you can feel free to disagree with us on the comments for this post and also on any of our social media pages at Buffalo Bread so JJ let's kick this thing off room by room would you rather here's the first one we're going to go defensive line would you
rather have the Bills defensive line of at Oliver Dequan Jones AJ Aponeza and Gregor So or would you take the Chiefs defensive line so the Chiefs last season J were 12th overall in pressure rate while the Bills were nine in pressure rate the Chiefs had more total sacks than the Bills did last year and the Bills and Chiefs were about equal and opponents time to throw as well Chris Jones is the biggest disruptor we have seen play the Buffalo Bills in a very long time there are
several signature plays that have ended the Bills season that have his name written all over it and then George Carl Loftus on the Kansas City Chiefs seems to be an emerging pass rush star six six sacks his rookie season 10 and a half sacks in his follow-up campaign JJ who would you rather have Bills or Chiefs just like one clarifying question do I get spags is it just the is it just the players oh yeah we're just gonna we're this is unit for unit okay it's just the
players spags Spagnolo doesn't come because if he if I get the unit and the coordinator I'm taking that 100% of the time because I don't know what Bobby Babbage is gonna be but I can guarantee in his first year as a DC he's not better than Steve Spagnolo so no one's better than no one is yeah exactly so but if it's just the players I am actually I'm going to take the Chiefs I'm gonna take their D line even with all the shocked by that yeah even with all the flowers I threw at
Greg Russo and Ed Oliver and Dequan Jones feet I think that Chris Jones alone is better than the combination of Ed Oliver and Dequan Jones and they have a I think George Carl Aftis is farther along as a pass rusher is a premium pass rusher a premier pass rusher than Greg Russo and I don't know who else the Bills have that they could point to that's on Carl Aftis's level so the fact that Chris Jones is an interior disruptor is greater than the combination of Dequan Jones and Ed Oliver
and George Carl Aftis is a more established sack artist that I want their line over the Bills I want to be super wrong I want Greg Russo Ed Oliver and even Von Miller to prove to me that's a complete idiot take but this is that defensive line has two three Super Bowl rings some of them for a reason yeah I and the Spags factor weighs so heavily and I'm not saying Carl Aftis is like a scheme maven like the sacks that he's generating are a result a lot of due
to a lot of his skill but if I were to rank in order each of these individual players I would put Chris Jones first Ed Oliver probably second Dequan Jones third and I would put Greg Russo over Carl Aftis so having three dudes in the top five of those rankings tells me that there's more potential individual talent while the production hasn't necessarily met that level of talent there's more individual talent on this Bills roster that is to be tapped into and I would take
for that reason alone the Bills defensive line over the Chiefs defensive line I think plus the Bills are a superior unit when it comes to run stopping on the defensive line this is an area where the Chiefs really struggled last year so 20 second and overall and Rush Stop DVOA as much as I can respect that I can remember Chris Jones bumping Josh Allen off of a surefire touchdown pass to Khalil Shakir that would have saved the game for the Buffalo Bills
in a playoff exit game and I can't remember a single freaking play that anybody on the Bills defensive line made that changed any level of that outcome of that game no listen I get it and listen we can go back into our therapy sessions about that game Ed Oliver because of the Joan Dequan Jones injury disappeared more snaps on the regular season being totally gassed we can go through all that I will give you the Chris Jones is the best player amongst those two units I think as a whole
is for the purpose of this exercise the Bills unit is a little bit more well rounded and I would take them okay but we're gonna depart we are gonna depart all right here's another one for you and this is a sneaky one Seattle Seahawks secondary so this is CBs and safeties Seattle Seahawks secondary versus the Buffalo Bills secondary so the reason I bring this up the Seattle Seahawks were not a great secondary last year they have a new head coach and Mike McDonald who is as I think influential
in NFL defensive circles for scheme setup as any coach we've seen in recent memory he is not only a maven when it comes to unlocking pass rush but he also gets the best out of a lot of his DB schemes and there's real talent my friend real talent on the in this secondary for the for the Seattle Seahawks they've got Rick Wollin who had an offseason last season but was a man on fire in his rookie year they've got Sean Jenkins and Julian Love Julian Love Stanford grad solid
journeyman in the NFL has like a Jordan Poyer type of profile at free safety really nice addition to that group and then this year they drafted Devon Witherspoon out of Illinois I this is a secondary JJ where there's a lot to and again factoring in the coach you feel like this unit could take a step up but just on the talent that is in the secondary and then add to that Trey Brown who's oh excuse me sorry add to that Trey Brown who it flashes it right and then
nickel corner for them it's a pretty well rounded unit compare that to what we just talked about with the bills and that we've got Resoul Douglas Christian Benford who we love but then questions on the backup unit and then the safeties being all over the place JJ Seattle or Buffalo who you taken I can appreciate I love Rick Wollin too awesome yeah Rick Wollin coming out I know he had an off season but his rookie season he looked awesome and when he was coming out in the draft he was one
of my draft crushes that's a player that I absolutely respect and would want on the bill's unit but I have to go Buffalo bills and I'll tell you exactly why proven proven performances by Resoul Douglas Christian Benford and specifically and most importantly Taran Johnson none of the Seahawks you described to me are all pros Taran Johnson all pro best slot corner in the league come at me right I don't know he's if he's not if he's not top three then I am from Mars because
he is amazing and I just don't see the proven production I think that the Seahawks defensive backfield feels like the bill the bills defensive line to me it is the talent the skill set the talent the physicality is all there for them to be outstanding they just haven't proved any of it and so in this regard I'm going to have to go bills how about you I totally agree and it's all about the starting three for the bills I'm including nickel corner in that and the starting three for
the Seahawks their witherspoon incredible potential woollen incredible potential the proven track record of the starting three cornerbacks that the bills are going to be rolling out despite the deficiencies in the safety room I think to me would give them the edge over Seattle but I think bills fans are going to be very much so surprised at how close that's actually going to be because I really do think the Seattle defense is going to be good this year and I think that secondary is going to be
really good this season all right JJ I got one that you're going to hate and everybody listening is going to hate would you rather have the Buffalo bills pass catchers wide receivers and tight ends included throw regigillium in there too or would you rather have the Houston Texans pass catchers bills mafia I'm so sorry I'd rather have the Houston Texans I'd rather have the Houston Texans and I'll tell you the reason is because I'm and this may be cheating on the exercise but I'm
including Joe mixon I think he's one of the best pass catching running backs in the entire league and can do more with the ball in his hands after catching it then anybody the bills have sniffed and that's and that's that's including James cook that's disrespectful to James cook Joe mixon has one of the most reliable pass catching handsets of any running back I've seen in recent memory in the league assuming he this is the problem though with Joe mixon assuming he has a fully healthy season
is a tough assumption to make but for me it's yeah if you mix Joe mix if Joe mixon's in the mix then that's the group for me because Nico Collins and tank Dell I think are better than I think individually each of them is better than any two of the wide receivers you can name from the bills roster and then I think Stefan digs is better than wide receivers three through five on the bills roster and then don't forget Dolan Schultz right he's an pro bow tight end yeah
pro bow tight end and then they also have Robert Woods the best run blocking wide receiver in the league though he's late in his career so it's probably less so now um yeah so for me it's really just it's Nico Collins and tank Dell specifically because they offer so much more as deep threats then the bills really can show right now yeah but I will I'm gonna hedge if Keon Coleman shows something in his first year in the league it could change my answer by the end of the season
specifically if Joe mixon doesn't show out and later in his career and and James Cook has yet another like amazing receiving back season and gets those jobs drops cleaned up then that whole paradigm could shift but for me right now it's just looking at what Nico Collins and tank Dell put on tape last year before the injury for tank Dell I just believe in them so much more you gave a hard answer friend but you gave the correct answer it is Houston and again I went
through the exercise and I asked myself when healthy who are the if you were doing a fantasy draft who would you take and I went three full players before I got to a Buffalo Bills player and these past catching rooms the first Buffalo Bill I would take would be Dalton concave out of would be Dalton concave out of the past catcher room I would take him over Dalton shorts Dalton Dalton Schultz but beyond that there's a lot of unproven commodities in the Bills wide receiver
room there's a lot of potential that hasn't been realized on other teams in the Bills wide receiver room and the reality is we've already seen a glimpse of what tank Dell and Nico Collins can do with CJ Stroud add to that someone who is you can debate his personality you cannot debate the production and Stefan Diggs what he's done now at two different stops add to the fact that unlike when he came to the Bills the Texans have already won without him so he's not going
to be able to in my mind to come in and poison that locker room should he decide just to light it all on fire this season because that is a culture that's already a proven winner as opposed to when the Bills brought Diggs in they needed Diggs not just for the production but for the fabric and culture of that organization the Texans don't need him for anything this is purely transactional when it comes to what he's going to give them on the field and I think it's pretty
indisputable what he's going to give them it's he's arguably the best third wide receiver option in the league right now it's Houston it's Houston by a lot in my opinion yeah same yeah yeah all right sir let's do QB rooms let's do bills QB room against the Ravens QB room and here's why I like this one Lamar Jackson Josh Allen two of my favorite QBs in the league these were the two guys in their 2018 draft class that were the least highly touted with the exception
of Mel Kuiper Jr who was on both of these guys the Sam Darnolds of the world the Baker Mayfields of the world the Josh Rosens of the world much more coveted in that draft class than the two guys who eventually you could argue are the most decorated and the most successful in that group two MVPs to Lamar's name an AFC championship appearance for both him and Josh Josh I think is the only QB in NFL history to have four straight seasons of 4,000 yards and 40 total TDS
like absolute monster when it comes to when it comes to statistical production add to that they're backups we've already talked about one Mitchell Trebisky and then we've got Josh Johnson who's backing up Lamar Jackson in Baltimore who do you got what's the QB room you're taking bills or Ravens it was a Josh Rosen guy in the draft so I was so wrong and we've well established this on the pod I was so wrong but Josh Allen has felt so right there's no way in in the world
I wouldn't take Patrick Mahomes for this team over Josh Allen because I just think that Josh Allen has literally everything that you want in a modern quarterback top to bottom not to mention durability that Lamar Jackson doesn't have and I think that's one of the biggest deciders for me is Josh Johnson's a fine backup I think is probably a better backup than Mitchell Trebisky if I could trade them one for one I would but I would never ever move away from Josh Patrick Allen
he has everything it takes he probably should have been a MVP twice over instead of Lamar Jackson in a lot of ways but he has the stigma hanging over him and that's a reason I also love him is that the league and the national reporters hate him and that I think is a very bills it's a very bills vibe to have is that you are always disputed and unrespected and underappreciated and so for all those reasons it's Josh Allen you're right about him having you know I think in his he has more total
touchdowns than any player in their first six seasons in the league history he has more game winning drives and fourth quarter comebacks than all but Jim Kelly on the bills already in his young career I just I can't pick anybody else my friend and this is no offense to Lamar but Josh has done it in the regular season and he's done it in the postseason against multiple times going up against the best QB of this generation and Patrick Mahoney so it's Josh all day and twice on Sunday it's
Josh and just to go back to my previous point I'm with you I agree that until he proves otherwise Patrick Mahomes is number one and Josh is number two of this generation for me and I still wouldn't take Patrick Mahomes because he's weird and he's got a weird voice and I just don't like him personally it how let's just take a step back though like we are living in an era where we get to watch Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson to a lesser extent for me Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert
if he's healthy there's some real Jordan Love, CJ Stroud if they take the next step dude it's a good time just to be a football fan because it's not too long ago that we had to suffer through Case Keenum, Nick Foles, Blake Bortles and Tom Brady in the championship round of the 2017 playoffs right and I was thinking of that too other than Peyton and Brady and maybe one other court there was like there was a dearth of talent at that position for so long during the whole time the
bills were void of a reasonable quarterback most of the league was void of a reasonable quarterback and I could argue that part of Brady's greatness and I won't disagree that he's the greatest quarterback to ever play the game it's proved is he's got the rings he's got the touchdown you know he has 635 touchdowns what the what he's he I don't want to talk we spent so much time talking about Brady I'm glad he's Brady in therapy no I don't want to talk about him again I don't
want to talk about I'm glad he's gone but what I'm saying is you know here's here's a gift for you bills mafia I think part of his greatness is that he didn't have shit to go against yeah I think especially when you look at the AFC East in the divisional games he had to play like he was going against up against nobodies and yeah some girls yeah still managed to lose to Rex Ryan and best of back here somehow unbelievable all right let's move on I got one more of these things that
I want to do for the sake of time and you've already leaned into this a little bit I want to talk about running backs what running back room JJ would you prefer to have the Miami Dolphins or the Buffalo Bills and before you you jump on that one the Miami Dolphins last year had the third highest success rate in the run game in the entire league last year the Buffalo Bills however were first and the 49ers were sandwiched in between them at number two we also know JJ
that this depth chart for the Miami Dolphins is built fully and wholly on speed they've got Rahim Mostert Devon HN Jalen Wright as part of their threesome in the running back room the Buffalo Bills they take a little bit more balanced approach both are going to have run heavy schemes both are going to run successfully out of 11 and 12 personnel JJ who do you got you got the dolphins or you got the bills dolphins it's the dolphins oh my god I'm so sorry it's the dolphins because I know
I'm disappointing a lot of people and I'm glad we didn't do team rankings I'll tell you why I'll tell you what this is the thing though I don't this is why this exercise is fun is because it's not me saying that the Buffalo Bills aren't a good team or they're not competitive it's that they can't possibly have the best unit in every phase of their roster this is impossible in the modern NFL there's just not enough money there's not enough resources not enough high draft picks
so for that reason I do think that Devon HN is a better running back than anyone the bills have in terms of that dude just makes explosive plays happen uh James Cook can do that but he still seems to be chased down by most def defensive players in the league like he he doesn't have the kind of speed where you're just like you have to scheme specifically for it and worry about it and the reason I choose the dolphins running backs is because it I'm like salivating at the concept of
having the dolphin speed behind the incredibly better skilled and equipped bills offensive line because I think we can both agree the dolphins offensive line was a mess the both the past two years like they were good at running the ball but their greatest skill is that two against the ball out in less than 2.8 seconds because they are not a good offensive line overall and so I imagine the kind of speed that the dolphins have which is relatively unmatched in the league in the running
back room behind a more capable bigger more of a bully offensive line and it's absolutely bonkers yeah I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna agree with you and I'm gonna go dolphins oh god I got convinced here you did you did I was gonna make the argument that the bills running back room is more well rounded they are more effective in the past catching game which is true but at the end of the day it is hard to teach speed and it especially when you think of some of the run gap
concepts that the bills want to do right man that speed could kill and listen it is measurably demonstrably a fast backfield last season James Cook had 45 runs that were 15 plus miles an hour according to NFL next gen stats none that were over 20 miles an hour divan hn had six runs last year that were over 20 miles an hour Raheem mostert had three those dudes move man they absolutely move and I get that there would be a little bit of I get there would be a little bit of loss of production
and catches out of the backfield but in the traditional run game you put the buffalo bills in that scheme behind that offensive line or you put these guys on the bills with that scheme in that offensive line shoot dude and again go through the exercise you're probably going to take James Cook second but you'd be hard pressed not to take Raheem mostert or Devon Hn first again pending health and that's the thing the Stolphins running back room has been injury depleted over the past
few years yeah no I think that there's there's other factors certainly the injuries come into play Raheem mostert is one of those players who has not been sturdy or reliable and and when your best ability is availability he hasn't necessarily hit during his career again this is sort of like a fantasy draft we're not it's assuming everybody's healthy and everyone plays a full season um I do agree with you and the fact that you brought up the speed component that I've already talked about
but in terms of actual tangible miles per hour I think about some of the runs that James Cook had where we were like oh my gosh he's going to cut off on the edge but he turned the corner and turned a two-yard loss or a two-yard gain until ten yard or 14-yard gain Devon Hn may turn that into a touchdown if he secures the corner on a defensive end or linebacker who can't reach him and that's the difference between 15 miles an hour and 20 miles an hour and that's why it's a stat that
matters Cook his acceleration is smooth and seamless and he will get to points on the field you do not expect him to Hn and mostert because of their raw speed can exploit that even further basically what we're saying is we're taking a good situation with Cook to great with these guys behind that offensive line right we're not dog and cook or anything like that or Ray Davis but but room for room this is a pretty enticing option but man it's closer than you would think right
like you could really debate this all day and go either way and I think that's a good one to end on right so we've given you our thoughts on the 53 man we've played a little bit of would you rather we're gonna put some polls up on social media at Buffalo bread pod wherever you check you can check us out on threads you can check us out on facebook you can check us out on instagram i'll put up some poll options for you see if you agree with what JJ and I picked as far as room superiority
here at the end of the pod for all of you listening at home as always share and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts youtube soon to come apple and Spotify and as always go bills go bills now