- 19 minutes ago
Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase get things started on Tuesday morning by discussing the Bears and Seahawks Monday night game, which leads the guys to a long discussion about how the Bills should approach this year’s NFL Trade Deadline. Jeremy points out that after the Bears made a huge trade for DT Jefferey Simmons and the Rams acquired Myles Garrett, we’ve seen teams at both the start and end of their winning windows make a splash. This leads them to discuss who the BEST target for the Bills could be.
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00:00The Bears are, well, they're not the new Rams, but have they not entered?
00:05I've had my love affair with the Bears, and I still will continue to
00:08because their coach is brilliant, their messaging is cool,
00:12they draft players that I want the Bills to draft two years in a row,
00:15Roma Duns and Luther Burton.
00:17They make this trade for Jeffrey Simmons.
00:19That puts them in a different conversation now.
00:23Now, if I'm a Bills fan and the GM doesn't do much,
00:26I'll say, why can't you be like the Rams?
00:29Sorry, the Bears.
00:30Why can't you be like the Bears?
00:32And, in fact, I was putting together a tweet this morning
00:34because last night watching the Bears, watching Jeffrey Simmons,
00:38it all came to me, Joe.
00:40It all became crystal clear to me.
00:42Do you know why the Bills fans are so hungry for Brandon Bean
00:48to make a move this year and why?
00:50We got calls yesterday about who?
00:52Let's run through it.
00:53Devontae Smith?
00:56Garrett Wilson?
00:57Of course, there's your Buda Bakers, Miles Garrett over the years.
01:01Start naming some players.
01:02And when we do this and I say, all right, who do you want?
01:05Let's talk trade deadline.
01:06We will get names across the board.
01:09We'll get safeties, linebackers, maybe edge rushers.
01:12Maybe you'll get a couple receivers.
01:13I can't think of any other positions you might get the occasion.
01:17Max Crosby came up.
01:18Okay, Max Crosby.
01:18Just because he's like – I don't think edge rusher would come up otherwise.
01:21And the reason I feel like it's coming up now, even absent of a real big-name target.
01:30Last year, we were talking receiver.
01:32We talked Brian Thomas Jr. and Jalen Waddell right around the deadline.
01:36I remember where I was when I heard the Bills turn that down.
01:40I was in Columbus, Ohio, listening to the radio hearing talk about what?
01:43They said no to Jalen Waddell, this team that needs a receiver.
01:47Anyway, they couldn't get it done.
01:48Maybe it's in the division.
01:49Anyway, my point is this, though.
01:51When the Rams make those bleep-them-picks trades, that's always under the context
01:57or in the context of, well, their quarterback's about to retire.
02:00They have to do this.
02:02They have to get desperate.
02:04And then there are the Bears, whose quarterback is in what year of his prime?
02:10One?
02:11Is it year one?
02:13Are we even at year one?
02:16If his trajectory continues, is his prime start next year?
02:21Right?
02:21They are ground floor.
02:24And they went with a two first-round pick trade for Jeffrey Simmons.
02:27So I've got the old guy GM and the young guy GM both went two first-round picks
02:34for a guy to try to win a Super Bowl.
02:35It's not going well for the Rams because Myles Garrett's hurt.
02:37But they've done it before.
02:39I mean, they did it for Stafford himself.
02:41Anyway, I think my thesis statement on this here, and then if anybody wants to call in
02:47on this, is this.
02:50There's an undeniable hunger for Bills fans for the GM to do something potentially big.
02:54And I wonder, and by wonder, I'm telling you, I think a lot of that feeling is that one window
03:00to have done it has already passed.
03:02And just like the Bills making the Super Bowl itself, it feels overdue, and fans feel desperate
03:09for it.
03:12They already missed a chance to do this six times.
03:15To really do what the Bears just did.
03:18To really do what the Rams did.
03:21Yeah.
03:22To go big.
03:23They missed that window six times.
03:25Yeah.
03:26I mean, six is just a number I'm throwing out.
03:27But Amari Cooper was half measure, right?
03:30Rasul Douglas was a nice move, right?
03:33Nice move.
03:33Trey White got hurt.
03:34You got Rasul Douglas.
03:36Last year, no move at all.
03:38You just get yourself into these spots where Calvin Benjamin, nice move at the time, I guess.
03:44I mean, if we're even considering that.
03:46Like, Naheem Hines.
03:48What?
03:49Right.
03:49Right?
03:50Oh, he's going to be a part of the offense, and he got six touches in his life with this
03:53team.
03:53So, I think that a lot of the, I want him to do something, it's almost like a Darcy Regeer
04:00level, what do you do here, man?
04:03We need you to do the thing you're supposed to do.
04:06And I keep saying, as this trade deadline approaches, I don't really see the move, which is something
04:13to probably mention, because any year you think, nah, not this year, I don't like the
04:17prices, maybe next year.
04:18Maybe next year there literally won't really be a move, and you won't feel like there's
04:24a move for you.
04:25So, it's deadline week.
04:27It's a week from today.
04:29I expect rumors.
04:30I expect to talk about a couple players today.
04:32I want to dig a little further into Brian Thomas Jr. as an idea, because I want to
04:37say that that has bubbled up in my circles.
04:42But I think a lot of what we're going to hear in the next week is a side effect of
04:47people
04:48thinking they already missed a chance to do this when they should have.
04:51They're overdue.
04:54Would you qualify Vaughn as this move?
04:59Sure.
05:00That's just...
05:01It's just not a trade.
05:03It's not a trade.
05:03But I'm thinking about...
05:04I think Vaughn is this move.
05:06They went and signed the biggest fish on the market.
05:07$120 million contract.
05:09And I...
05:10Did it go well?
05:12No.
05:12But that was beyond their control, and I think they should make that move 10 times out
05:15of 10.
05:16Right.
05:16And I think, really, there were two moves that kind of fit this qualification that the
05:22Bills made that were pretty close together.
05:24They traded a first-round pick for Diggs, and they signed Vaughn Miller to a $120 million
05:28contract.
05:29Those were big moves to win right then and there, to get great players, make your roster
05:35the best in football right then and there, and they have not really done anything that
05:42even comes close to either one of those moves in the four years, four and a half years since
05:48they signed Vaughn.
05:49Right.
05:50What's the next biggest move from that?
05:52Since then, it is...
05:54It...
05:54You can't say...
05:55...tales in comparison.
05:56You can't say trading up three spots.
05:58No.
05:58Like, for Kincaid.
05:59I wouldn't want to say, like, Bradley Chubb, who's a middle-of-the-road defensive end contract.
06:04Yeah, like, there is not...
06:05There's no high-ticket item anywhere.
06:07Honestly, it's D.J. Moore is the biggest move since Vaughn.
06:10That's probably right.
06:10It's D.J. Moore.
06:11That's probably right.
06:12Second-round pick.
06:12Yep.
06:12A late second-round pick and a contract.
06:15And a contract.
06:15Yep.
06:15A pretty healthy contract.
06:17That is the next closest.
06:18And it's not a coincidence that everybody kind of feels like that has worked and gone
06:23really well.
06:24Even though it was a seeming...
06:26It seemed like they overpaid.
06:27Right?
06:28Like, at the time...
06:29Like, wait, he went for a second-round pick with what was going on in Chicago?
06:32And guess what?
06:32Oh, he looks like one of their best players.
06:34Immediately.
06:35And he can't stay on the field so far this year.
06:38But when he is on the field, and hopefully that just hangs on from now on, he's great.
06:43And I don't know that they win the Super Bowl without him.
06:46Why not go do something like that again?
06:48And maybe they just...
06:50They did it with Vaughn, and his knee blew up, and they got spooked by it?
06:56Or they just felt like, yeah, that's not the way we want to do things anymore.
07:01Because we put all these chips and all this money into that basket, and then he couldn't
07:06make it through one year, and then we were kind of left holding the bag, and we couldn't
07:10really do another one of those because we were going to be paying him for a couple more
07:14years.
07:15So, I wonder if that leaked into their mentality because they have acted very different since
07:21then.
07:22Yeah.
07:22It's all, you know, pay our own middle-of-the-road contracts, everybody at the middle of their
07:27position.
07:28It's just, it's very different than that.
07:31That all-in mentality where it doesn't even have to be all-in for the one year, right?
07:36Like, the Bears, Jeffrey Simmons got a sack last night, and he had another, he had a bunch
07:42of big plays last night.
07:43He played a ton.
07:44He looked awesome.
07:45He's 29 years old.
07:46Like, he's going to play...
07:47He's part of their future.
07:48He's going to play for a lot of Caleb Williams' prime.
07:50It's not a rental.
07:51It's, right, it's a let's win the Super Bowl this year, or next, or the next, or the next.
07:55Right.
07:55And I think even if that name isn't out there, and that's going to be the tricky part, there's
08:00going to be a desire for, like, let me do that again.
08:03I remember the day after they signed Vaughn.
08:04We all felt like they were going to win the Super Bowl.
08:07Everybody picked them to win the Super Bowl.
08:09They might have won the Super Bowl if he didn't get hurt.
08:11They really might have.
08:13And I think everybody really misses that feeling.
08:18803-0550.
08:19It is trade deadline week.
08:23A week from today.
08:24They'll play the Vikings before that.
08:26We've got plenty to get to on that.
08:27We're going to talk with Matthew Collar of Purple Insider later in the week.
08:30They might not have Kyler Murray for that game.
08:32Another backup quarterback.
08:34I want to say this backup quarterback, though, the difference is nowhere near, like, what
08:38last week was.
08:39There really is no comparison to the guy they played last week.
08:43No.
08:44And is the drop-off from Murray to Wentz even much at all?
08:47Listen, we can dig into a lot of things.
08:49The Bills talked about how their communication was elite on Sunday.
08:53Is that because the scout team quarterback doesn't know any checks?
08:57Would he check into anything?
08:59Would he have seen what the defense is doing and said, move these pieces?
09:03And then that's where the Bills would normally have to communicate on defense about what they
09:08might be changing into?
09:09Instead, it's a guy that didn't throw the pass longer than five yards.
09:12Like, I got some numbers on Joe Feniano, our new buddy.
09:17But anyway, the deadline.
09:20I guess I have to think about Brian Thomas Jr. seriously because I think the Bills are thinking
09:23about it again.
09:25And then there's the part about if they were to trade for a receiver, which is brought
09:29up often by you guys, would people be mad about that?
09:35Or would it feel like they are, in fact, leaning into strength, which is something that they
09:41kind of wanted to do with Joe Brady?
09:42And the other thing about this, I don't know that anyone's ever made the accusation that
09:48McDermott was here to squash Bean's trades at the deadline, right?
09:53They'll say that about draft picks.
09:55Oh, he picked the guys that Bean wanted, or that McDermott wanted.
09:58Bean just picked the guys.
10:00He picked players from McDermott's defense.
10:01Did he also, at the deadline, defer to the head coach?
10:05I wouldn't think so.
10:06No one's ever made that accusation before.
10:09But I do want to bring in this part of it.
10:11But Joe Brady's out here talking about wanting to be aggressive for aggression's sake.
10:15He wants the ball first because of vibes, right?
10:18Maybe that'll change.
10:19Pretty much.
10:20Maybe that'll change.
10:21Right now we want vibes.
10:22We're going to put Josh Allen on the field.
10:23Great.
10:23All right.
10:24You're aggressive.
10:25He doesn't want to lead the league in fewest penalties.
10:29Right.
10:29He said that yesterday because he wants them to play with an edge.
10:33Brady's went for, Tim Graham had the stat yesterday, how many fourth downs they went
10:36for on Sunday.
10:38They went for five fourth downs.
10:40He wants to be aggressive and super aggressive and extra, extra, extra, uber aggressive.
10:46Does that mentality reach the GM where Brady says, listen, we're going to win this thing.
10:52Here's how we're going to do it.
10:53Josh Allen's on the field.
10:54And I want, yeah, one more guy.
10:57If Josh Palmer is out, I'm down a man.
11:00Respect to Tyrell Shavers?
11:01No.
11:02Respect to Greg Dortch?
11:03No.
11:04I want another guy in here because they have to play us.
11:07And he starts giving the stuff about like, you know, his slogans.
11:12Brady could get them to lean into the offense in a way that maybe he couldn't before because
11:17the GM wouldn't have just listened to the offensive coordinator.
11:21He instead would listen to the coach.
11:22I'm not here to make that case, but it's something I wondered.
11:26If Brady's, we have to be so aggressive, we're changing what we do on the coin toss, will leak
11:33all the way into their mentality at the deadline.
11:35Yep.
11:37I mean, it would be all gas, no brakes.
11:41I do think, as much as it would be popular for many, if they did that, it would be exciting.
11:48I also do think there would be, I mean, how many calls do we get?
11:52It's like, well, you've got to fix the defense.
11:54This defense, you can't win the Super Bowl with this defense.
11:56You've got to get better.
11:58You've got to trade for a linebacker or a safety.
12:00That crowd, well, it depends.
12:03If they trade for Brian Thomas Jr., are they not also going to acquire something on defense?
12:08Good question.
12:08Because if they just acquired a receiver and did not do anything else on the defensive
12:12side of the football, I'd kind of respect the mentality of it, where I've just got to
12:17outscore teams because I don't think my defense is going to be a top-level defense, so how
12:21do I play football?
12:22How am I going to win the Super Bowl?
12:23I've got to just outscore everybody, and that's how I'm going to do it.
12:26That's how I'm winning games this year in a lot of them.
12:29But not everybody feels that way.
12:31I think there is a lot of desire, like, get this defense to at least a middle-of-the-pack
12:36level unit, and I've got to add somebody in order to do that.
12:40If they trade for a receiver and don't do anything on the defensive side of the football,
12:44I do think there will be a lot of people that are like, what did you just do?
12:48Right.
12:49You added a backup receiver?
12:51That's kind of what he would be.
12:54He'd be rotational at minimum, right?
12:56Like, he'd be playing in Coleman spot a lot.
12:59Maybe.
12:59Coleman plays 77% of the snaps yesterday in this last game and got, you know, one catch
13:05for four yards.
13:07Yep.
13:07So, I wonder their own real harshest evaluation of their own offense.
13:13Because in Coleman and Kincaid, they have two players that can contribute in a big way
13:18and that we've seen them contribute.
13:19But they're both very, what?
13:24The book on them is not confusing.
13:26There's not.
13:27I feel like we know who they are.
13:29We know exactly.
13:30We know who they are at this point.
13:31And how they must be used.
13:32Like, they know how Kincaid, you're not going to run to his side.
13:35He was on the field.
13:36He's probably going to be a pass play more than a run play.
13:39Yep.
13:40He's a pretty good separator.
13:42Yep.
13:42He's got good hands.
13:43I know he had a drop on Sunday, but he's got good hands.
13:45And with Coleman, you know, if it's zone, he can beat it.
13:48And if it's man, he's not going to beat it.
13:49Yep.
13:50You've got those things built into your offense that can help.
13:53But does Josh Palmer's injury mean they really feel that something there
13:59should be, whatever, should be upgraded?
14:02Isn't it the combination of Palmer's injury and Moore?
14:06Moore's going to the medical tent every game this year?
14:08Yeah.
14:08All but one?
14:09How concerned should we be about, he's definitely not, you know,
14:14made of glass, but he's taking a beating.
14:16Right.
14:16And he's like a tough player.
14:17He's playing through a lot of it.
14:19He wants to be playing through even more of it, right?
14:21Like, you know, Brady talking about how he wanted to be out there
14:25playing through the shoulder injury.
14:27Like, maybe they're protecting him from himself a little bit.
14:30So I don't question that part at all from him.
14:32Like, if there's a playoff game and he's not feeling 100%,
14:35I feel like he's going to be out there.
14:37He's going to have to go.
14:38But, you know, he's your only good separator at that position.
14:44And you might feel like, well, we want one other one in case he can't
14:50be out there full go.
14:52And Palmer was, I think, kind of an insurance policy idea,
14:56and that just has blown up totally.
14:59803-0550.
15:00We'll get some calls in.
15:01We'll talk with you on this Tuesday morning.
15:04A little rain out there today.
15:06Misty.
15:07Misty rain.
15:07Misty rain.
15:08Pretty gross.
15:09A little misty rain.
15:10But the weather and the forecast the next couple days, amazing.
15:12High today of 71.
15:14Tomorrow, a high of 76.
15:16The Sabres return home and wear their hometown remix jerseys.
15:20Mark in Lockport leads us off.
15:22Hey, Mark.
15:23Hi.
15:23Good morning.
15:24How are you guys doing?
15:24Good.
15:25Good.
15:26I just wanted to bring up the point, especially, like, with the wide receiver.
15:30You guys make an interesting point.
15:31Josh Allen has never had that, like, wide receiver dynamic duo.
15:36In the first half this past weekend against the Ravens, when Josh Allen drops back,
15:41and I'm seeing him throw that bomb to Keon Coleman.
15:45It's just slightly overthrown.
15:47I had flashes back of Josh Allen thrown to Gabe Davis on October 9, 2022,
15:54against when we lit up Kenny Pickett and the Steelers.
15:5698 yards.
15:58Yeah, it was phenomenal.
15:59What a great play.
16:00Everyone in Buffalo was going absolutely crazy.
16:02That stadium was berserk, and rightfully so.
16:05We just – that's the kind of Josh Allen that I'm craving,
16:10and I just want to ask you guys, you know, and not a knock against being,
16:14but does it kind of feel like a Tom Donahoe 2.0?
16:18In 2002, we brought over Drew Bledsoe.
16:22We had Larry Centers, Jay Rehmerzma, and Peerless Price,
16:25and he throws for over 4,300 yards.
16:27The offense is clicking.
16:29We finished 8-8.
16:30We lost two games in overtime, I think, against the Vikings and the Jets that year.
16:35Chad Morton returns two kickoff returns against us.
16:39It just crushes us.
16:40It was devastating.
16:41The ensuing year, all three of those players, Centers, Price,
16:45and Rehmerzma leave in free agency, and we get Jeff Posey, London Fletcher,
16:51and Sam Adams.
16:52So it's like addition by subtraction.
16:54So we keep chasing this back and forth across 20 years since the realignment,
16:58and here we are.
17:00We're cash-strapped with $4.3 million, right?
17:03So as a Buffalo Bills fan, sure, we're hungry.
17:07We're like on the cost each year, and like you just said, Jeremy,
17:10for six years in a row, it's almost like mailing in that absentee ballot.
17:15It's like are we – we're praying.
17:18We're waiting for that moment.
17:20Who's going to put us over the edge?
17:21It felt like maybe we'd get there with Von Miller, but the contract was outrageous,
17:25and it just never came to fruition.
17:27He got hurt.
17:28He had a four-game suspension.
17:30We just had a lot of things going against us,
17:33and we lost Trey White on Thanksgiving the year before.
17:36Excuse me.
17:37So it's just like who is out there now, like you're saying,
17:40that could be that player that, you know, that'll put us over the top.
17:44So I'll hang up and listen.
17:46I just appreciate you guys.
17:47You have a great day.
17:48Thanks, Mark.
17:48Yeah, I kind of hate saying this every, you know, day or every other day.
17:54I don't have a target.
17:57I would love to have a target for them and come in here
18:02and come up with a bunch of segments with, like, names on them
18:05and put meters on the board like the helometer for Connor Hellebuck
18:09or I'd love to stand on the table for a draft pick
18:14or hit that wide receiver train horn.
18:16I don't know the target.
18:19I guess it's like Amani Hooker, Titans safety, or it's Buda Baker,
18:24which those guys should cost in the neighborhood of a third, maybe.
18:28And if you want them to go big, built into this might be that they don't have to go big.
18:33Other teams might feel like they have to.
18:35Maybe the Bears' defense feels like it really had to go big.
18:38Or maybe that guy is a guy they need and the Bills kind of don't need Jeffrey Simmons.
18:43I don't know.
18:44It's just I struggle thinking of who.
18:47Just tell me who.
18:49It's going to be the whole week for me.
18:51You know the phone number?
18:52Call us and tell us who.
18:54And I'm going to keep mentioning Brian Thomas because I think that that could have happened last year
18:59and it wouldn't surprise me if maybe that is on the radar again this year
19:05and that's not just because I'm the receiver guy.
19:07And by the way, the 4.3 million, whatever they have right now in cap space,
19:14in all these years where they've done something at the deadline,
19:17I'm looking right now and this looks like the most cap space that they have had at a trade deadline
19:21in seven years.
19:23And that does not mention the lever they still can pull with Deion Dawkins that clears a bunch more cap
19:27space.
19:28I think they have more flexibility this deadline.
19:30Not to say they have a lot.
19:31They don't have as much as the Bears did.
19:33But I think more flexibility this trade deadline than they have had maybe in the entire Josh Allen era.
19:38Even that itself is like another point though here, right?
19:41Is it not the most flexibility you have in six years is $4 million?
19:47Four and a half mil.
19:48I think more of it is that they could, the Dawkins point.
19:52Fine.
19:53You can create, put a bunch.
19:54And I feel like most years, it's like they've already done that.
19:57Like there isn't that lever to pull.
19:59But most years they've exhausted everything possible and they have less than four?
20:04Right.
20:05Yeah, it was two and a half last year, three, under two, 1.5 million.
20:10Like those are some of the past years where I'm looking at right now.
20:13All right.
20:13I just feel like there's a point in there about, and they never ever have room.
20:19They pay everybody.
20:20They sign a lot of guys.
20:22They're 6-1.
20:23They're 6-1.
20:24They're 6-1.
20:25They're in line for the one seed.
20:27Yep.
20:28It's good times.
20:28Good times.
20:29And it's trade deadline week.
20:30And the Bears got Jeffrey Simmons.
20:34Benjamin Solak this morning tweeting about the Bears used the S word.
20:40Super Bowl.
20:41He wrote,
20:42I remain constantly in awe of how many modes the Bears have to win games.
20:46Explosives in the passing game, methodical rushing attack, pre-snap war, dink and dunk,
20:50defense can create explosive swings.
20:52Special teams showed up tonight.
20:54This is what Super Bowl teams look like.
20:57Yep.
20:58The Bears.
20:59Teams the Bills have more cap space than right now.
21:02Seattle, Jacksonville, Chicago, Kansas City, Baltimore, and Carolina.
21:06All right.
21:07That's it.
21:07That's six teams.
21:08I mean, you've got Kansas City in there.
21:09Kansas City's being talked about.
21:11They're going to make a move.
21:12They're going to go for a receiver.
21:13They're going to try.
21:13And they have 1.4 million in space, and they're planning to do something.
21:16The Jaguars would be the biggest fools on earth to trade Brian Thomas Jr. to either
21:20the Chiefs or the Bills.
21:22It would be a colossal mistake for them.
21:24What if you think the player stinks?
21:26He caught a touchdown for you two days ago.
21:28He has 10 catches on the year, though.
21:30He caught a touchdown two days ago.
21:32It was his only target of the game.
21:35You think the player stinks?
21:36Okay, let's give him to Josh Allen.
21:40Okay.
21:41All right.
21:41You try that.
21:42You see how that goes.
21:44By the way, Brian Thomas Jr. on reception perception, if you care, his man coverage success
21:50rate would be the best on the team.
21:51He'd be the best man beater on the team.
21:53He's very good at that.
21:54For a guy that Jacksonville, I think he can't play.
21:57Best on the team against man.
21:58Best on the team against press.
22:00Useless against zone.
22:02That's what you see from Brian Thomas Jr.
22:03I think there, it's not even maybe that he is bad.
22:06It's just they have so many other guys that are good.
22:07Maybe.
22:08Anyway, lots to get to today.
22:10Lots of fun today.
22:11Lindy Ruff joins us at 8 o'clock.
22:13We'll talk with him.
22:14We've got Austin Corbett.
22:16We can ask him what it's like to line up in the backfield.
22:18He did that in this game.
22:20He did.
22:20I heard 63 is eligible a bunch of times on Sunday.
22:24That's exciting.
22:25Hear your name announced by the ref.
22:2663 is eligible.
22:2763 is eligible.
22:28I'm going to bet on him scoring a touchdown by the end of the season.
22:30Austin Corbett, 830, Mike Florio, 915, all part of our usual Tuesday rundown.
22:36Hanging out here, Sabres and Senators, tomorrow.
22:39Trade deadline.
22:40Welcome to the final week of player movement.
22:43Jeremy and Joe here on WGR.