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00:00Sal Capaccio on the West Her Hotline, thanks for sitting through that.
00:05Sal, so this is one of those days where you can't watch practice, correct?
00:09Unfortunately, security's too tight.
00:13Yeah, we're not invited. The media, we get one day.
00:17I'll be honest, I don't know today. I don't think today they did anything.
00:22I could be wrong, because they had a community day today.
00:24Some of the players visited a local school, so a lot of times when that's happening,
00:28that's because it's their off day, but you're only allowed, I believe,
00:33three days of OTAs through a week, so they have to plan those out accordingly for the players.
00:37They don't go five days, for sure.
00:39So then maybe there's enough license to sort of ask a broad question here.
00:44I'm not sure. I probably should have run this by you earlier, but I know you'll have thoughts.
00:49Are they done in free agency?
00:52You have a collection of recent bills, especially on defense,
00:57like recent bills players that are, I think, not signed yet, or they could.
01:00I know it's a new scheme and everything like that.
01:02Maybe it should tell us everything that, you know, they're not back already.
01:07And then also receiver, and I guess I dare to include that in this question.
01:12Thinking of my fantasy show last night,
01:15and they're talking about Diggs and Debo Samuel and Ayuk even,
01:19who would have to be traded.
01:21Like, just names that are possibly available or certainly available.
01:26And I just kind of wanted to ask you if you think it's just,
01:29there's no point in bringing the bills up for any of these players.
01:35I would say there would be points to bring them up.
01:38Like, you're right.
01:39I think you could think about some of these guys.
01:43I'm thinking more about, like, Tredavious White, right?
01:46Like, I still think they could use something on the outside,
01:49another outside corner, some depth.
01:51That's a player who, you know him, he knows you.
01:54I know it's a new system, but you know he'll come in ready to work.
01:57So you don't have to do anything now.
01:58You can evaluate what you have.
02:00Maybe Toriano Pride becomes something you're like, okay, we're good here.
02:03Maybe not, though, and you feel like you need a little something more.
02:07To answer your question literally, are they done with free agency?
02:09And I know, I don't think you mean literally.
02:11No, I mean, they literally signed a guy today.
02:13Right.
02:13He's a linebacker today.
02:14Right.
02:15Yeah.
02:15So, which is funny.
02:17He actually was a converted defensive back.
02:18He's a smaller linebacker.
02:19He's more of a, to me, a special teams guy.
02:22More of a kind of big nickel type of guy.
02:25That's really what he would play, I think, in this defense.
02:27But I think it's more special teams.
02:29So, no, they're not done in free agency from that respect.
02:32Are they done in free agency from anything notable?
02:35Yeah, I don't really know who's out there.
02:36Like, is there a notable name out there that, you know, they could think about grabbing?
02:41I don't even know what money they would have to do that with.
02:44Again, maybe a guy like a Tredavious White.
02:47I don't think, I mean, I'm not going to include Matt Milano, but he's not signed.
02:52Right.
02:52If they don't like what they have at linebacker, could they visit something like that?
02:55Sure.
02:56I think it's notable that they haven't given out 27 or 58 for numbers yet.
02:59Right.
03:00I don't think it has to mean anything.
03:01But, you know, it's just something you notice.
03:04Yeah, it is.
03:05You know, I don't know that we've really talked much about this.
03:08We've made mention, and Mike just did it again, the list of guys.
03:11And you went right to Tredavious White.
03:14It's pretty remarkable how many guys that were not just on the Bills, but were playing major roles, starting roles,
03:24or like, you know, most percentage of snap count at a position type roles on this team that just aren't
03:33signed.
03:35I mean, it's kind of stark.
03:38Like, it makes me respect how good a season they had.
03:42If they had so many guys that were, as the league has judged them, maybe at the end of the
03:48line.
03:49Like, we'll see.
03:49These guys may get a flyer taken on them, and maybe that holds in any of the names that have
03:55come up here.
03:55But, man, it's really, really something that they were as good as they were, and so many key guys that
04:04played big roles are still not employed.
04:07Yeah, especially on defense, right?
04:09Right.
04:10I would extend that to, I mean, I know that the defense wasn't great, like, and we can say, like,
04:16the problems they had or in the playoffs, they certainly had, you know, some challenges and, you know, didn't have
04:23enough depth in that wound up being their undoing.
04:26But I look at the job that they did on defense and what Sean McDermott did.
04:30It was arguably one of his better coaching jobs on the defensive side last year, considering everything we're talking about.
04:34I mean, they had guys that aren't even in the league now, and yet they were still going out there
04:40and, you know, staying in games, making plays, and being a part of a team that, you know, ultimately got
04:46to the second round of the playoffs.
04:48So I think that is absolutely a fair point to make.
04:51But as I've said many times, I think the head coach switch was just as much to do about the
04:58defense than it was about to do with the head coach, if not more.
05:01Which is, you can't change the defense if Sean McDermott's your head coach.
05:06And if you want to change the defense, and maybe, maybe the Bills and their front office and their scouts,
05:12you know, that's their job, right?
05:13Let's look around the league.
05:13What's happening?
05:14And if their pro personnel department felt, look, we got guys here that just shouldn't really be playing right now.
05:22And we know that this head coach, that these are his guys, this is his defense.
05:26We got to change everything.
05:28That's how you get to changing out the head coach who's a defensive head coach.
05:33We talked about yesterday for a minute, the run versus pass element of this, and whether Leonard can sustain what
05:41the Bills were best at over the years with McDermott on defense was pass defense.
05:45And even last year, I mean, the numbers are really good.
05:49They were literally first in the league in passing yards allowed last year.
05:53They were 28th against the run, maybe ironic that Denver only ran for 70 yards in that playoff game.
05:59Like, it was not.
06:00Jacksonville, I've said this a lot.
06:02I think if Jacksonville, especially Tootin, but even ETN, if they had just leaned into that harder, they'd win that
06:09game.
06:09I mean, they were getting gashed pretty good, the Bills, in Jacksonville.
06:13But, I don't know, I don't want to say they got cute, because you only say that when a team
06:17loses.
06:17But they didn't do, easy in hindsight, maybe enough of that.
06:22But that's not how Denver did it.
06:24I mean, Denver did not run the ball in that playoff game, and they still put up 33 points.
06:29So, I don't know.
06:31In the end, the run defense isn't what got them beat.
06:35No, there were times where the run defense was really good last year.
06:37They go to Carolina.
06:38Remember that game?
06:39Like, Carolina has this really great, you know, potent rushing attack.
06:43And the Bills go to Carolina.
06:44And I'm going to look up the stats right now.
06:45Last year, they ran for 4.1 yards a carry.
06:50They had, what, 114 total yards.
06:53You'll take that all day against that team.
06:55But, you know, you look at the big numbers they gave up.
06:57238 in the opener against the Baltimore Ravens.
07:01130 against Miami a couple weeks later.
07:03And then New Orleans runs for 189 on them, by the way.
07:05They have a nice little run.
07:07Atlanta, they give up over 200.
07:09They give up over 200 against Tampa Bay.
07:11Close to 200 again against Miami.
07:13Big numbers.
07:15And then, but you had games where they actually did a nice job.
07:18They kept Cincinnati, Pittsburgh.
07:20I know these aren't great rushing attack.
07:22Kansas City, down below.
07:24New England, the first time they played them.
07:25You know, so it kind of was feast or famine to me for the run game issue sometimes.
07:29I also want to point out, and I think this hasn't been talked about enough, which is part of the,
07:34a big part of the issue with the run game.
07:37When we think about teams, like when we think about, okay, they're just not good against the run.
07:42I think it's a general thought in football to think about the middle of defense.
07:46While that means they're not good up front, they're not good in the middle.
07:48They're not good.
07:49You know, at nose tackle, at defensive tackle.
07:51I don't think that's where the Bills had their biggest issues last year.
07:54The biggest issues were maybe on the edge defending the run last year.
07:57Like, teams were killing them on the edge.
07:59Joey Bosa was terrible against defending the run last year.
08:02We all saw that at times.
08:03It wasn't just him, though.
08:04And I think a big part of what they're trying to do with this new defensive coordinator and this new
08:09defense is to fix that.
08:11Which is, we're not going to get beat on the edge because this defense schematically is going to help that.
08:16And we have a guy, Greg Rousseau, who we like to do this, but Bradley Chubb is very good at
08:20this.
08:20TJ Parker, we drafted, is very good at this.
08:22We're going to funnel everything inside, and that really wasn't our issue last year.
08:25And I think the Bills have made a concerted effort to fix the edge of the defense when it comes
08:31to the run game this year under Jim Leonard.
08:34There were a couple of big ones where, like, Bijon.
08:37Yeah, that's right.
08:38They gave up eight 30-plus-yard touchdown runs last year.
08:44Travion Henderson, two in that game in Foxborough.
08:47And the Bills, for their part, had five such touchdown runs.
08:52They were all 40-plus.
08:54Cook, three times.
08:56But, yeah, like, or four times, actually.
08:58But you can think, you can remember those plays, like the Bijon one, HN, you know, in Miami.
09:05Sean Tucker, right, Sal?
09:07I mean, Syracuse guy that didn't have much of a season overall, didn't play a lot, but still had a
09:13day here.
09:15Sal, as you're talking about the defense and what they want to improve on as far as defending the run
09:24and funneling everything inside,
09:26my brain went to Terrell Bernard.
09:29And that's not a guy that I know we heard from Jim Leonard yesterday and we went over a lot
09:33of what he talked about.
09:34And I know, I don't think Dorian Williams came up in here yesterday when we were visiting with you,
09:39but I know Leonard mentioned him as someone specifically who has a chance to really carve out a role or
09:46something to that effect in this defense.
09:48How much of a better feel, if at all, do you have now of the fit of Bernard in the
09:54middle of this defense?
09:55I have felt since this defense switch that Terrell Bernard would be a better fit in this new defense than
10:01he was in the former defense.
10:02And I've felt for a while watching Terrell Bernard that he probably is more suited in the NFL to be
10:08a 3-4 inside linebacker
10:10than a 4-3 middle linebacker simply because of his size.
10:12I think he's fine as a, like, the way he plays is fine as a 4-3 middle linebacker.
10:17I just think the size wears on him, right?
10:19He's just too small to withstand a 17-game season and the rigors of what goes against.
10:23It's not that he can't do the job, he can, but, you know, that really weighs on you and wears
10:27on you,
10:28and that's why he's had some injuries.
10:29I think this new defense will keep him healthier.
10:32I think Terrell Bernard in this new defense is going to be a much more frequent blitzer,
10:39and that's going to be a big deal for the Bills.
10:41He's a good blitzer, and I think they'll use him in that role more, to be able to blitz,
10:44and to be able to find seams, and he doesn't have to be just go take on, you know,
10:48big offensive linemen all the time and do the role of a traditional 4-3 middle backer.
10:53So I do think that that's going to be a really nice fit for him.
10:55Now, we also know that he's still, in whatever capacity, recovering from an ankle injury last year
11:03or making sure, at least, that they're not doing anything dumb so he doesn't have any setbacks
11:07and they want him full go, and we talked about this with him this past week,
11:11and Jim Leonard's mentioned that.
11:12Not that he can't.
11:13He's participating, right?
11:14But you just want to be smart with these guys right now because you do want him fully healthy.
11:17But next to him, yes, Leonard did talk about Doreen Williams.
11:21It's funny because he said a lot of really nice things about Doreen Williams.
11:24I thought he really talked really well about Caleb Elarms Orr, the new rookie inside linebacker.
11:32I think, guys, the more that this is going on, A, this is the biggest open competition on the team.
11:40Like, we could talk about left guard.
11:41Inside linebacker, yeah.
11:42Yep, yep.
11:43We could talk about left guard, but I think that's Alec Anderson's to lose.
11:46Like, yes, it's a competition.
11:47They're not going to hand it to him.
11:48But I think Alec Anderson, that's his job.
11:51If he doesn't win it, then that's on him.
11:54To me, like, I don't know if I could handicap a guy right now at inside linebacker.
11:59You're going to see, most likely, Doreen Williams line up and take the first snap at training camp
12:04because he's a four-year veteran over a rookie.
12:05I get it.
12:07I think, absolutely, Caleb Elarms Orr could win that job.
12:11You know, you mentioned him.
12:12That's a fourth-round pick.
12:14We had a word on Igbenosan yesterday.
12:16That's a late second-round pick at corner.
12:20T.J. Parker, the first player the Bills drafted, early second in this draft, trading out of the first round.
12:26What are his prospects for you?
12:27How high is the ceiling, even as a rookie?
12:31Well, I don't think the ceiling is super high.
12:33I do think the floor is pretty good, though.
12:35I like what he can bring to the table right away to be a contributor and a guy that you
12:38can trust to be on the field.
12:40I don't think he's going to be a guy that you're going to be getting these wild plays from.
12:43And, you know, he's out there going and, you know, like, is he going to be on the all-rookie
12:47team?
12:47You know, I mean, like, those are probably really too lofty of expectations.
12:51But I think that the way I see him and fitting into this defense, we're not going to blink too
12:57much when you see him on the field on first and second down sometimes.
13:00I'm like, okay, yep, he can do the job.
13:02He'll be fine.
13:02He's going to know exactly where to be.
13:04He's going to do his job properly.
13:06I think that's why they drafted him.
13:07They needed, you know, Brandon Bean compared his game to Bradley Chubb.
13:10Bradley Chubb's, like, the perfect fit for this defense.
13:13They targeted him specifically.
13:14They hired Jim Leonard.
13:16Bradley Chubb comes from, Bradley Chubb's first year in Miami, I think, was under Vance Joseph.
13:21Well, Vance Joseph was in Denver.
13:22Where did Jim Leonard come from?
13:24Denver, right?
13:24So, like, I think that they identified him right away as a guy.
13:27Okay, he can come in.
13:28He can play this spot.
13:29We really like him.
13:30We need guys just like him.
13:32TJ Parker, Brandon Bean said, has a very similar game.
13:35So, I think he's going to fit seamlessly into what they want to do.
13:39Sure, will there be some, you know, growing pains as a rookie?
13:41That might happen.
13:42But I think this is a three-down player.
13:44They're going to use him and not really worry about necessarily protecting him and just kind of putting him in
13:49as the rotation.
13:50So, to answer your question, Mike, I don't think the floor is super high.
13:52I'm sorry, I don't think the ceiling is super high in year one.
13:54But I think his floor is pretty high where he's going to be on the field and contribute.
13:58How about Rousseau in this defense, Sal?
14:00I don't feel like we've really talked much about him and the transition, however much of one it will be,
14:07right?
14:07I assume less or no hand on the ground listed as a linebacker.
14:12Do you think this has the potential to sort of free him up?
14:15Or, I don't know, could he get bogged down trying to figure out how to subtly play a different position?
14:22He might be the guy in the front seven I'm more the most interested in this question because I don't
14:27know.
14:27I think Greg Rousseau, his physical traits just allow him to be a good football player, right?
14:32I mean, like, I know that, you know, the Bills made him a first-round pick.
14:35And there's always this debate on, you know, well, he hasn't even had double-digit sacks.
14:40I get it.
14:40He's a good football player.
14:41He helps out this team.
14:42And, you know, they gave him a nice contract, right?
14:45He's going into his sixth season.
14:46He had, what, seven sacks last year, eight the year before that.
14:50But he's a good run defender, and he just does everything really solid.
14:53And that brings me back to Chubb and TJ Parker, and those guys are good at that.
14:57But I'm just really interested in this question myself, Bulldog.
15:00I don't know.
15:01Like, I could see two different, this could go two different ways.
15:04I think we could be talking, you know, halfway through the year about, oh, my God.
15:08Like, geez, he is so good in this scheme.
15:11Like, wow, great.
15:12They have unlocked him.
15:13He goes inside.
15:14He uses his length.
15:15They can move him around.
15:16We could also be halfway through the year going, yeah, you know, this just is one of
15:20those guys that they might need to get out of this contract because he does not fit in
15:24this scheme.
15:24I don't know.
15:25It's going to be really interesting.
15:26I should have asked him at that blackjack thing.
15:29Right.
15:30That was my chance.
15:31Well, you sure don't.
15:32Get some, you know, some blackjack table.
15:34One-on-one questions.
15:35All right.
15:36I sat next to him at that from Seneca Niagara, the celebrity blackjack.
15:42I didn't hear much about the, how did you do in that?
15:46I, well, you could laugh.
15:48I played great.
15:50Okay.
15:50Let me just start with that.
15:51I played great.
15:52He didn't win, so.
15:53I did not win any of the first nine hands.
15:57Oh, my God.
15:57And one of the, Lee Evans was at my table.
15:59How are you giving yourself a, I played great if you didn't win any of the nine hands?
16:03Because there are good and bad plays in blackjack.
16:05And even in a tournament, you asked me now, even in a tournament context, I made a couple
16:10of moves like against my table that they tell you that you want to do.
16:13Yeah.
16:13But I was just, you know, I was having fun with it.
16:17And Evans, who I have known a little bit and really like Lee Evans, he was across at the
16:22same time.
16:22He won the table.
16:23And at one point he said to me, it only takes one hand, Mike.
16:27I'm like, yeah, but that was it.
16:29The one that I just lost.
16:30That was the one hand.
16:31Like you're not, I had 20.
16:32Okay.
16:33I wasn't supposed to lose that one.
16:34I had 20.
16:35Yeah.
16:35But are you, sorry, you book, are you book rule guy at the blackjack table?
16:38Usually, but in a tournament, you're not playing against the dealer as much as you're playing
16:43against the, like Rousseau and Evans.
16:44Like that's who I was trying.
16:46I was trying to beat them.
16:47There was a hand that, uh, we all lost.
16:50Like the dealer got blackjack or something and the whole table lost.
16:53And Rousseau was like, oh, like, no, that's good.
16:57Cause those guys bet more than we did.
16:59So that's good for us.
17:00We lost less.
17:01You got to have some of those too.
17:02All right.
17:03That's your blackjack, uh, quota.
17:05Um, back, if I may back to talking about like free agent possibilities, I just would be
17:11curious for your thoughts on digs, not even necessarily for the bills, if it's so unlikely
17:16or just not ever going to happen.
17:18Uh, Debo Samuel too.
17:20Like we could, we always, we've done it for years.
17:22We can always make an argument that the bills could use another weapon.
17:25I know those guys are older, but, um, I wonder digs, especially because of course of his
17:31history here, uh, do you, have you thought about like what kind of fit maybe there is
17:36for him somewhere?
17:37Do you like a certain team for him?
17:39Perhaps he did new England ran him off, but he did have what did he have a thousand yards
17:44for them last year?
17:45He had a season, very good year.
17:47I would say maybe not great, but very good.
17:49Like, I mean, I don't know what, I don't know, I don't know what team wants to kind
17:56of deal with that with everything that goes along with it.
17:58But at the same time, yeah, you're bringing in a guy who just year after year seems to
18:01produce.
18:02I would say that would stun me.
18:07Like if you woke up tomorrow and found out like the bills were doing that, wow.
18:13So that would stun me almost more than anything I could think of this off season.
18:17Yeah.
18:17Just not, that's not happening.
18:18He's not coming back to Buffalo.
18:20The bills aren't to me interested in that at any capacity.
18:23Um, but, but you know, there's just a lot of noise around that.
18:26And I just wonder, I don't know if there's a team that you could see.
18:30I like Vegas sale.
18:32I, well, I was thinking about, I was thinking about Baltimore, right?
18:34Because aren't they a team that kind of does things like that once in a while?
18:37Like you, you fit, Oh, well, they just signed stuff on digs, you know?
18:40Um, yeah, well, Vegas, I'm interesting.
18:43Yeah.
18:43Interesting there.
18:43They're trying to win, you know, they're trying to kind of turn everything around over
18:46there, but no, I don't know about him specifically and he is getting older.
18:49And I think there's been over the last few years, maybe a little bit diminishing returns
18:53as the season's gone on, even last year, a little bit in new England.
18:55And we saw that in Buffalo, um, before his tenure ended here.
19:00I don't think the bills are looking to add a, you know, a wide receiver at this point,
19:04especially like a name, like a guy that like, Oh, that's interesting.
19:07But I would tell you the last two weeks I've gone out to practice for the days we can watch
19:12and Josh Palmer's working off to the side.
19:14Right.
19:15And he had injuries last year and Shakir had a thing.
19:19Yeah.
19:19Yeah.
19:20And Shakir, Shakir had in the off season, you mean in the off season, right?
19:23When he had the, yeah, yeah.
19:24But he's been out there working, but like Josh Palmer hasn't, I mean, he's there.
19:28It looks like it started right back up where we left off in January.
19:31Yeah.
19:32So I'm thinking, well, let's just play this out.
19:34But what if you, what are you just really unsure is Josh Palmer going to play this year?
19:37Is there going to be injuries?
19:38Is he like, what does that look like?
19:40Because now you're looking at DJ Moore, Khalil Shakir, a question, a questionable key on
19:45Coleman, because of everything, a questionable Skylar Bell, because he's a rookie and you
19:48just, you, you hope, but like now you are at a spot where you got to start thinking about
19:52maybe adding someone.
19:54Ravens are.
19:55So this came up on ADP chasing last night.
19:57Like, so, I mean, in a sense, perfect for the digs idea.
20:01Remember Des Bryant in the playoff game here for Baltimore, uh, the Taron Johnson game,
20:06Des Bryant's getting targets.
20:07Didn't they just do Hopkins?
20:08DeAndre Hopkins.
20:09Yes.
20:10They've done plenty of this kind of thing.
20:12Bolden.
20:12Was he late stage Bolden when he was in Baltimore?
20:15Like sort of like that's, that's the right team for the stereotype would be, I like it for
20:20Vegas digs for Vegas.
20:21Even though the obvious points you can make about, you know, lifestyle, but you know,
20:27they could use one more.
20:28He could be their Myers.
20:29They traded Myers last year possession.
20:32He would have possibly, I can't say for sure.
20:35If not for the injury mid season in Houston, he would be on a Mike Evans like streak of eight
20:42straight thousand yard years digs.
20:45But you know, he doesn't have that because of what happened in Houston, but he was on that
20:49kind of pace.
20:50I wonder what's happening.
20:52What's, do we know what's going on with Devante Adams?
20:53Could LA be a team that could be, could do something like that?
20:56Like they could use a guy.
20:57That's interesting.
20:58You know, that would scare me for fantasy because those two guys are so locked in, but
21:02people do talk about the Rams as a team that could use one more.
21:05That's right.
21:06Their wide receiver.
21:07Three names are really like, you couldn't even name them.
21:10Yes.
21:10So while there's a guy on their roster, I'm looking at a name named true Edwards.
21:13I don't even know that in his T-R-U, no E true Edwards, true or false.
21:18He goes by what do you think happens?
21:21What do you think happens to a U because he might be the best player.
21:26Well, when we last saw him, I mean, what is, what is that?
21:29That's going on two years now.
21:31That's got to be June one, right?
21:33This is such a bizarre situation.
21:35Like I, I just, and I don't feel like we really hear anything about it, but you're right.
21:39June one, maybe, maybe we'll get some action here in the next few days because with, you
21:44know, June one coming, AJ Brown, whatever, Washington.
21:47I tell you what, and I know this is something you've probably talked about in your fantasy
21:50circles, Mike, but all this stuff with Malik neighbors is interesting, right?
21:52And the giants are right there and you know, they're trying to kind of elevate themselves
21:56a little bit.
21:57And I wonder what they're going to do at wide receiver.
21:58That's a good one.
21:59Um, that that's a really sticky one because neighbors will be back.
22:03So how big of an investment would they want to make in a player, but they might think we
22:07don't really have an X receiver to start the season here.
22:10And we're trying to establish a quarterback and yeah, I don't know.
22:14Darnell Mooney is probably not that guy for the giants who he's who there.
22:18He's who is there.
22:19Okay.
22:20Sal, thanks for your time.
22:21As always.
22:21You got it guys.
22:22Thanks.
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