00:00The Bills make a little bit of news today bringing back DeMar Hamlin. I was glad to hear about it.
00:05I think I always want to have Hamlin play for the Bills.
00:08But, you know, I'm sure this wasn't mostly for sentimental reasons. What do you think of this all and sort
00:14of the fit now under a new defensive coordinator?
00:18He's a polarizing player. And, Mike, I think there are Bills fans who do think they do it for sentimental
00:23reasons. I agree with you. That's not why. You do it because you think he's going to help your roster.
00:28But he's been polarizing. Part of it is because he was put in a situation a couple years ago where,
00:32quite frankly, he shouldn't have been in because he wasn't, you know, a high-level safety.
00:37But he had to play because that's kind of all they had. And it was just a stark difference and
00:44unfair to him, really, to be compared to Micah Hyde and Jordan Boyer a year after they didn't have those
00:48two guys because he's not those guys.
00:51And I'm quite frankly surprised, too. Like, I did not think Damar Hamlin would come back.
00:54And a big reason for me is my natural reflex on a lot of these things over nine years has
00:58been, oh, yeah, well, you know, it was a system.
01:00Well, it's a new system now. And there's like 13 free agents that they did not resign.
01:06When you guys laid them out, we talked about it last week, all the defensive guys who are still free
01:12agents who haven't resigned, if you're going to say, like, order them on their likelihood to come back, I wouldn't
01:17get to Damar very quickly for that very reason.
01:20Like, Damar represents to me a high-floor guy but low-ceiling guy that you can do much better than.
01:28But I've always said also, like, every team has players like Damar Hamlin.
01:33If you're expecting him, he's not a pro bowler. He's not an all-pro.
01:36But the fact that they have this new defensive coordinator, the fact that they had such an overhaul on defense,
01:42I just didn't expect it.
01:44But I'm also here to tell you, like, he's fine. He doesn't even know. He might not even make the
01:48team. We don't know.
01:49Yeah, this is where I'm waiting for you to say to think about the 90 players.
01:53Yeah, 90 players. He might not make the team.
01:55And by the way, what's his number going to be? Probably minimum salary?
01:59He might not even count on the top 51 salary cap books at this point, to be honest with you.
02:03Yeah, like, the biggest criticism I could make here is, well, we know the ceiling's low, so if he's a
02:13depth guy, get a different depth guy, a younger, newer depth guy, that you might uncover.
02:18Like, you know, oh, wow, look, this guy can really help us.
02:21He can really, you know, be more than just a backup or a special team or whatever, but they can
02:27still do that.
02:28That's the 90-player point, right?
02:30It's like, you know, I'm not, you know, ready to, you know, go to the mattresses over it, hardly.
02:36I mean, like, okay, like you said, we'll see if he makes it.
02:39Like, I think he's outranked by the two guys they signed a couple weeks ago already that started games in
02:44the league last year, Geno Stone and C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
02:48And maybe Hamlin right now is their fourth safety, and we'll see what else, you know, they end up doing.
02:55And actually, I thought Geno Stone was a Damar-Hamlin replacement, basically.
02:59Yeah.
03:00Like, to me, he just screams like a player like Damar, which is, he's not going to make these wild
03:05plays and game-changing plays.
03:06He's not a guy you want on the field all the time, but he's insurance that if you need somebody
03:11to get through a game, you've got to start him here and there.
03:13That's fine.
03:14He can play a lot of special teams for you.
03:16No problem.
03:17I thought, okay, when they signed Geno Smith, that was even more of a, oh, yeah, like, Damar's probably done.
03:22Like, not sure where he winds up.
03:24So, I'm surprised by this.
03:25But, look, I mean, if Damar Hamlin and his agent went to the Bills and said, we don't want to
03:30play anywhere else, we're going to come back at a minimum deal, and, you know, we'd love to be here.
03:36The Bills look at the roster and go, okay, what can it hurt?
03:38It doesn't mean he has to be here, you know, on September 9th, 10th, 11th, whenever the season starts.
03:43So, yeah, I think it's a really – but he's super polarizing.
03:47I mean, the reaction online from fans, just like last year, super predictable, which is, oh, my God, why are
03:54they doing this?
03:55He stinks.
03:56Or, oh, yeah, great story.
03:58They just like to feel good PR.
03:59That's not why they're doing it.
04:00They're doing it because they need players like this, whether his name is Damar Hamlin or Geno Smith or Joe
04:07whatever.
04:08These are players that every team has on their roster.
04:11Right.
04:12Geno Stone.
04:13I don't know how much –
04:15Geno Stone.
04:16I don't know how much PR juice is left anyway with Hamlin.
04:20Like, for anybody to sort of be outraged over it, I think, doesn't have an understanding of really what the
04:26cost-benefit is.
04:27I mean, there's a little bit – my hand is up because I think about this, you know, what happened
04:34with him when the news breaks.
04:36What is safety anymore for them as a draft priority?
04:40And we might have talked about this a little bit on Wednesday or recently, I know.
04:44But with every signing at a position, I kind of want to just double back to, you know, not that
04:49Damar Hamlin means they wouldn't draft a safety in the first round or anything like that.
04:53But is that possible?
04:55There are mock drafts that would put a safety on the Bills.
04:59You haven't mentioned Jordan Hancock before you start answering, Sal, and that's another young – there's maybe the young guy
05:04that I'm even thinking of that, you know, could come on and help you.
05:07We'll see.
05:08He was more of a developmental guy, fifth-round pick from last year.
05:12All right, sorry.
05:13What do you think?
05:13Safety as far as the draft goes.
05:15Now they've got five guys here.
05:19I wonder if they view Jordan Hancock more as a nickel going into this year because, you know, you have
05:24Dee Alford, you sign, you let Taron Johnson go.
05:25Now you've signed another safety.
05:27So I wonder if they – maybe that's where he falls and that's why you bring back a guy like
05:32Damar.
05:32And, yes, Geno Stone.
05:33And, by the way, every time I do it, I say Geno Smith, right?
05:36It's just such a reflex to say Geno Smith when I say Geno Stone.
05:40But maybe that's the case.
05:41I do think safety is still something they could do early in the draft, even first round.
05:48It's a good safety class.
05:50I just think I'm fascinated by C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
05:53Like, he's going to start.
05:54Like, he's got to be the starter right now.
05:56You're paying him starter's money.
05:57He's a really good player, but he's such a wild card.
06:01You don't know what you're going to get with him.
06:02And the chances are that he's going to be on this team for one year because he'll come in and
06:07you're going to have him play.
06:09And then you're going to move off him because that's just what happens.
06:11That's the book on him.
06:12Every team does this.
06:13So you need a longer-term solution.
06:15You have Cole Bishop for two more years on his rookie contract.
06:19And then you just have a bunch of one-year guys other than Jordan Hancock to Bulldog's point, which is
06:23right,
06:24unless you feel that he can develop into something and maybe that winds up and you don't have to revisit
06:27it.
06:28But it would be nice to have a pair of younger safeties, you know, that you can really rely on
06:33because I just don't know what C.J. Gardner-Johnson is going to bring.
06:37And he could wind up being – honestly, he could wind up being an all-pro
06:41or he could wind up being, like, not on the team in week six.
06:44I have no idea.
06:44Cut by Halloween, yeah, right.
06:45Yeah, that's right.
06:47Good luck with Iowa.
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