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I think when you look at the body of work
and what was asked of these two quarterbacks,
you have to start with the question,
who needed to do more to carry their football team
to play well, Ty Simpson,
and it's not close between those two quarterbacks.
Who took more games over throughout the course of the season?
Ty Simpson, it's not even close.
And if we're asking like, okay,
we're trying to see what you are as a player in college
and what you're gonna be asked to do in the NFL,
I would much rather have,
and I like Fernando Mendoza.
This is not the slight Mendoza.
I would rather have Ty Simpson at the 15 to 20 range
than Fernando Mendoza at one.
ESPN's Dan Arlovsky.
Good morning, Jeremy and Joe.
If you want to give us a call
in the last night's Sabers game, you can.
They lost the Bruins in overtime four to three
after holding a three to lead.
It's a point, but they do lose.
So that's back-to-back losses.
It's also back-to-back games with a point.
We talked about a plenty.
You can give us a call in that 803-0-550
next up the Troy, then Seattle,
then the Islanders all on this homestand
as the March towards the playoff continues.
The magic number shrank a little bit
because they got their point.
And 11, I think?
11 now, okay.
So, you know, the clinching could happen
in the next week or so based on what happens
in the down part of the standings.
The magic number is points they gain
and points that the ninth place team loses, right?
The cut line, where the cut line peaks at.
So you can give us a call in that if you want.
803-0-550.
Or Lovsky, he was almost really stirred something up.
What's the one phrase machine?
Some manager used to phrase like his rear,
he's in the jackpot, something like that.
Oh, this guy's in the jackpot.
Now he's in the, he's getting heat.
He went on McAfee and they went at each other.
And, or Lovsky stepped on one landmine here.
He made one really big mistake, I think, in his case,
when he said what big game,
what did Fernando Mendoza do in big games?
I mean, they won the national, they won them all.
So, right, that's a tough, that one's a tough case to make.
He also did leap into the end zone on a fourth and goal,
or fourth and one, whatever it was.
Yeah, the game winning touchdown.
It is like the risk of being, you know, takes on takes here.
I am going to defend Daniel Lovsky
and his right to think the second best quarterback
is the best quarterback because that is, of course,
a reasonable thing for any person to think,
especially when almost everybody that thinks
the first quarterback is the first quarterback,
isn't that good of a first quarterback?
That is right, man.
This is not Andrew Luck.
This is not even Caleb Williams.
It's not a year where there are three guys.
Everybody seems to think Mendoza is not a true number one
overall pick.
He's like Cam Ward.
I've seen, if you slide of them in
with the 2024 quarterback class, where would they all be?
And the answer is like in the bone mix range.
Hmm.
So, the, the sin here for Lovsky
is thinking the second guy is better.
That's it.
It is more for me about why it should be thought of as acceptable,
even if I don't agree with it.
And I don't think most should probably agree with it
is nothing to do with Ty Simpson.
Cause nothing about Ty Simpson is impressive to me,
even when I hear Lovsky talk about him.
We, Chris Drapasso was on the station yesterday
and like, all right, even Drapasso doesn't hate Ty Simpson,
but we're in Cursons comparisons.
And how, yeah, there's some accuracy here
and there's a little bit of mobility that's,
you know, you're not gonna have him scramble,
but there's enough and the things he was asked to do
at Alabama, but there's no wild trait.
Not one, not one wild trait from Ty Simpson.
Like, okay, I'm out.
I'm good.
He could be fine in the league.
He also compared with Jacobi Brissette.
Like, he could have a long career in the league
being like, I'm guy, solid guy.
But to me, that doesn't excite me,
but Mendoza's not an elite quarterback prospect.
He's the best of a, of a weak class.
Next year I saw that he might be the fifth guy
if the, if he was a year later.
So, I guess he can love Ty Simpson all he wants.
For me, it's more about the top guy is not perfect.
Yeah, you don't find anybody to say he's like perfect.
So there should be some room for someone
could be better than him.
If he's not an elite quarterback prospect,
he's just a good one.
If we're talking about a couple of bone X's here,
yeah, like one bone X can be better than the other,
but I'm kind of in the same category, I think.
I think Mendoza might kind of be the same thing.
Isn't he like, what's the wow trait of Mendoza?
Is it this giant cannon of an arm?
Is it, his accuracy for him, it actually might be that.
Like, pinpoint accuracy that he had in Indiana.
Like, he did make some throws,
like where he's fitting it into a window.
But he's not like the crazy athlete either.
He's got, he's good.
It's pretty good.
I think, how is this relevant to the bills?
If Ty Simpson has enough fans,
then somebody will draft him in the first round
and could that someone move into the 26th spot
to take the bills pick, the bills drop back
and you know, add some picks and add some players.
Like that's the thing to watch,
where I think the thing that's more likely
than the bills trading out for Ty Simpson
or someone else to come in and get Ty Simpson.
Yeah, more likely is he's gone before the bills pick.
Yeah, like quarterbacks get overdrafted.
So if you are the, if you are a trade down candidate,
I also feel like the other thing working against
by the way, Oralowski,
that I'm really like realizing now
looking back at some of the quarterback draft history
is we don't do this very often.
How often are we debating who the number one quarterback is?
We did it in 2018.
But since then, how many times has there been a real debate?
I mean, the draft gets talked about every day
all the time, everywhere in sports.
How often has the number one pick been a talking point?
Since Mayfield, Alan, Darnell, Lamar Jackson,
since then, Kyler Murray,
who is the other quarterback? Daniel Jones.
I don't think there's much debate.
Never was there a debate on that.
Joe Burrow versus Tua,
not much of a debate.
Not after the season, it was,
Burrow, it was a consensus.
Burrow's gonna go one,
Trevor Lawrence against Zach Wilson.
Not a debate. Never was a debate.
The Kenny Pickett year, like that's not a...
Nobody even talked about quarterbacks, yeah.
Maybe there's one other here.
Was there a debate the year Bryce Young went first
and CJ Stroud and Anthony Richardson went right after?
Definitely.
Okay, so that's one year.
There was definitely a young versus Stroud.
Caleb Williams.
That was a debate too,
and Orlowski pointed out yesterday
that he had Jaden Daniels number one.
Okay, but not many were,
like Williams was such a...
That's a highly talented guy.
That's probably right.
I mean, it was not on the fringes of the draft conversation.
That's a year it goes one, two, three.
You're right, though, the couple,
I remember there were a couple people
that did say Daniels.
It was not up many,
but they were not roasted like Orlowski has been.
And then last year, Cam Ward,
and it was the whole,
like no one ever talked about Cam Ward
because it was just assumed he's the number one guy.
He's going to go number one.
So in the last eight years,
we've done this one time.
We're truly debated who the top quarterback is.
So now here it's, okay,
this is another consensus here.
We know who the top guy is.
For the most part, yeah.
And a month before the draft,
here's somebody on one of the big networks to tell you,
no, he's actually not the number one guy
and he's kind of on an island with that
for something we're not used to doing.
That's, I think, why he just got dragged in the last 24 hours.
It's just funny, though, like if you were to ask,
who is the current best quarterback in football?
100 of the top analysts are panelled.
Yeah.
Who's the best quarterback in football?
Josh Allen, does he win that vote?
He might, okay.
How many quarterbacks are named?
Four, maybe four?
Allen would get a vote.
My home's a good vote.
Jackson would get votes.
Borough would get votes.
And Borough would get votes.
Is that it?
That's the list.
Sam Monson voting.
He voted him for MVP.
Justin Herbert.
No, I don't know if it's kidding.
I don't know if Megan's votes.
Let's say, all right, fine.
No, it'd be four guys.
Four guys get votes.
Those are the four of them.
Is anybody else like Stafford get a vote?
No.
All right, just who's the best right now?
With Brady, this all exists.
You were not allowed to question Tom Brady, right?
He was the one.
But now, but someone voted for Manning.
Yeah, sure.
Yeah.
My point is, so here we have a scenario
where I've given you hypothetical.
It's who's the best quarterback in football?
And there are four names.
And we have seen them all play the sport.
A lot.
And this debate for Alaska is, which of these two
will be the best?
No one has seen them.
And the idea that you think like,
well, I think the other guy could be obvious.
You're a jerk.
How dare you?
No one has seen them play.
When we've seen them all, but not in the NFL, right?
When we've seen the guys play in the NFL,
there's not a consensus.
When we haven't seen them play in the NFL,
there must be a consensus.
Who's the top?
White receiver in the strap.
That would be, you don't get consensus there.
That would be to say, how stunning would it be?
If in five years, I told you
that Ty Simpson's a better NFL quarterback
than Fernando Mendoza's.
It would be not stunning at all, right?
Or whatever, it might be surprising,
but should you really be stunned?
Should you really be stunned that Malik neighbors
is better than Marvin Harrison Jr. right now?
I mean, we're only...
Marvin Harrison Jr. was the consensus number one receiver,
except there were a couple that thought,
like, you know what, I kind of like neighbors.
Well, we're only a year later from last year's draft,
which I just mentioned, like there was never
any conversation whatsoever
about who the top quarterback was.
It was always Cam Ward, Cam Ward's going number one
and a story, let's talk about something else.
And a year later, how many of those same hundred people
would tell you that Jackson Darts better than Cam Ward?
Some, some might, maybe a good amount.
And last year, it might have been zero.
Yeah.
So I do think that can happen.
Again, I don't like Ty Simpson, with any of this.
And I don't hear a lot of reasons to love him
other than what Orlovsky's getting.
Right now, we're giving out.
I don't know, it's, I don't think it needs to be
as big of a story as it is.
And I think there should be some room for it.
I don't see many allies taking up for him though.
Like, on, this is not a crazy take.
803-0550.
The draft is four weeks from tonight.
You have a least favorite idea?
803-0550.
Did anybody have a least favorite idea?
Speaking of like consensus.
Consensus for bills fans seems to be, you know,
draft some players for your defense, right?
You're gonna need some help over there.
And if you, I think a lot are at,
if you mix in a receiver early enough, then we're good.
Whether that's the first or the third,
or maybe the fourth, we're all kind of lined up
in the same spot, right?
The offense is nearly fully built.
What's the worst idea for the draft?
And I might cheat here and say,
saying trade up is bad and trade back is good.
I often think like leading into the draft,
that can be a trap because, well, whatever.
Like if you, if I were to tell you right now,
like, I like the idea of trading down
and everybody that says that says,
and then take the same player I was just about to take, right?
I like player X.
Now, I can trade down seven spots and take him.
That'd be a good move.
Like, well, yeah, I'm sure lots of teams would like to do that.
But what's everybody's least favorite move?
I think right now, my least favorite move
is the interior defensive lineman idea.
Think right, of like the realistic idea.
So I'm not gonna give you a running back,
because I'm not doing that.
Kaden McDonald who Joe Marino loves,
Christopher Paso does not.
Very differing opinions on that, right?
Like Joe Marino yesterday loves that idea,
do you say, would run to the podium?
Run to the podium.
And Christopher Paso, I think he said,
like, I would give him an F for this.
Well, he's very much for run, he's a run stopper.
And there's not much offered in the past defense.
And that's why I don't love the idea of,
I mean, I could make it specific about that.
It's especially the guy who is a great run defender,
monster that you're just not gonna run on.
I mean, I never have cared about what they are stopping the run,
especially in the playoffs.
So the idea of spending a first round pick
on that specific trait already doesn't sit well with me.
But where you're at with that position right now,
I do think they need another guy.
Go just sign DJ Reader.
Just go do that.
Like needing to spend your first round pick
on that position,
unless it's a guy that can be a monster
getting after the quarterback,
I just don't know why you would do that.
You have at Oliver, you have Dion Walker
who looked good as a rookie.
Sanders came along a bit at the end of the year,
part of that was because it looked so poor at the beginning.
Well, also they put him in position
because he was playing defensive end.
That too.
So I'm hopeful you could still get,
I'm not so dead in the water with the DJ Sanders pick
that that can't give me anything.
I would want to be hopeful about that.
You've got a fedarian math this.
That's a position where you can often go cheap
and get guys to produce for you.
Again, Reader could be one of that.
And taking some of my cues from Trapaso again,
like he's bringing up guys in the third and fourth round
that you can pick that will give you
the same type of skill set to go fill in, play snaps,
stop the run, big eaters in the middle of your defensive line.
I just think that should be something you can address
without having to spend your first round pick on it.
Interior defensive line.
Sometimes it feels like these conversations
about what they should do in the first round for the defense
ends up sounding like we're talking about specialists.
Kate McDonald would be a specialist in the run game
to help them be a stout run defense.
And then if I'm talking about Cassius Howell
or one of these DPR's designated pass rushers
who's not gonna help me in the run game,
should I spend my first round pick on a pass rusher
if it's just to get off the field on third down,
just to be the speed guy that's gonna get there on whatever,
gonna be a designated pass rusher.
And this team is, what are they looking for?
Aren't they looking for specialists to some degree?
You know, we went through the players
that have left this defense that haven't signed anywhere,
but the players that are returning,
they're good bones on this defense
and just like run through the list of players
that we think are probably provably good.
You know, you don't have to debate how great they are,
but I've got good bones on this defense
in Benford, Bishop, Hairston,
and I want to include CJ Gardner Johnson,
like I can play, those are good bones in the secondary.
And the offensive line, you know, Rousseau and Chubb
and Ed Oliver and Michael Hoyt,
like these are good pieces.
It's definitely not complete.
I don't know what the plan is at linebacker,
me at this draft pick there, but,
but aren't they talking right now in defense
about guys that maybe aren't specialists,
that are truly versatile,
whether that's the positions you play,
or whether that's also the situations that you play,
that Bradley Chubb is not a guy that's just gonna plan
third down, he's gonna play on all the downs
for you, the D. Alfred isn't a guy that's just out there
when you're a nickel,
you might also have him out there
when you are in two corner sets.
Like Gardner Johnson can play all around.
I start to think about the idea of saying you are
a versatile roster is something that's great to say.
Well, right, but what is the true,
I mean, sure.
Cause I don't know if they've said that in the past
and they actually haven't been that.
They have been a defense where,
no, Milano's got to come off the field here
and I got to put a safety out,
or this linebacker, Dorian Williams
got to come on now like different situations
I'm making all these personnel changes.
Aren't they now actually making moves that look like,
no, this guy actually does play here, here, and here,
whether it's first down and, or it's third and 10.
If I could go to the offensive side of the ball, though,
they've loved to say that about their offense,
but how true is it?
Well, it hasn't been true on offense.
She here does not go outside and Coleman hasn't moved
to the slide.
And King Cade is, does he make them more versatile?
Doesn't he kind of make them a little bit predictable?
James Cook doesn't actually,
same with, right, same with Jackson Halls.
Like when he's on the field, you know,
generally what his job is.
Yeah.
So you could talk a big game about being versatile.
What's better than being versatile,
I think maybe is being just absolutely lethal
in a specialist role.
Like we've got, would you rather have four receivers
that can move around or four receivers
that are absolutely the best at what they do?
And in that role, they're unstoppable.
It seems to me that versatility is something
that covers up for the fact that you don't have
that elite specialist.
I guess I don't even need to be making it all about
though like you can play in different spots
in different positions.
It's about for me the situations.
Like why, if you, and maybe like,
I want to go back and listen to Joe Moreno again.
Like maybe he thinks that there is more for Mcdonald there
to be something in the past rush game.
He doesn't just have to be,
that guy's got to come off the field
because that's what would scare me is,
if you're spending a first round pick on a guy
where when the other quarterback,
who I've been preaching for years,
I got to get the other team's quarterback on the ground.
Now when he's dropping back to pass,
I've got to bring him off.
The guy picked in the first round.
It's third and sixth and I know they're passing.
He can't be on the field.
I don't want to spend my first round pick on a guy like that.
Like that to me would be versatility is,
no, I'm picking a guy that,
if I think they're running on first down,
he's on the field.
If I know they're passing on third down,
he's on the field.
Yeah, and what I might say to that is,
if I have the best on first down,
then come off the field and get me somebody else
that's the best on third down.
And I've got, what Joe Brady might be talking about here,
they said it, they say it would land,
they said it recently.
They want to get the ball back for Josh Allen.
What's the best way to do that?
They did not say get turnovers.
What they say, stop the run.
Stop the run.
And we have watched the bills for,
how many, I should have the number of top of my head.
Is it eight years of McDermott?
For eight years of McDermott,
they might have wanted to talk about stopping the run,
but they never really looked like it was the most importance
to them nine years by the way.
Nine years, there you go.
Nine years of McDermott,
and I often defended that.
Like I don't need you to stop the run.
I will accept being not that good against the run.
If you're great against the past,
that's what you'd rather be.
Here they're talking that they want to be great against the run.
That's part of the reason Chubs here.
That's maybe one of the reasons
they're switching the scheme of the defense.
That's going to be,
they're going to invest in linebacker.
That's how this nose tackle idea is going to come up, right?
Like so if they draft a guy in the first round
to be great against the run,
the whole idea would be,
we're going to take our chances.
We're going to stop you on first down,
force you to pass,
and then that's where we're going to win
because you won't be able to run against us.
Teams had long drives against the bills.
Teams have run against the bills somewhat successfully.
I would say it really, whatever.
You've got your one-offs and your games here and there
where guys went for 150 or 200 yards rushing,
but it never ended their season.
It never truly,
if we're doing that whole game about what gets them beat,
it is never the run game.
It was always their inability to stop the pass.
That's right.
In big moments.
Although last year that was better, right?
Like their secondary got better.
Two years ago,
they were getting lit up all the time.
Yeah.
And Hamlin's out there in big situations.
They didn't have safeties.
They, their corners were getting injured.
Like two years ago,
it was a critical problem.
I wonder if part of that could be,
they have faith in the past defense.
They have faith in the back seven right now
with Alfred as the nickel to say,
Bishop ascended,
Harrison's going to and gave us some good signs in year one.
Benford is a dude.
Like we've got a secondary
that we can go forward with and trust
to give us good results in that department.
That would be how you get to.
All right. Well, if I'm addressing defense
and I do have faith with Gardner Johnson out here too,
that my secondary can handle all that.
Well, where's the next thing to address?
It would be, well, the only thing left is run defense.
I just can't imagine, though,
that it should be that valued,
that you're spending your first round pick
if the guy also can't give you something on a passing down.
Mario and Jacksonville is up on the draft.
Hey, Mario.
Hey, guys, thanks for taking my call.
Yeah, of course.
So what I don't want them to do is trade down with the chiefs
and then draft a receiver
who was like a former basketball player and had some problems.
No.
I honestly, I still want them to draft receiver.
I would love for them to trade up
even if it's in like the 15 through 19 area.
Because there's like three or four receivers,
I think, that are pretty good.
They strapped.
And then I'm fine with them going defense the rest of the way.
I just, after all these seasons,
where they've been injury prone and plagued with injuries,
I don't like that bottom three guys being, you know,
Coleman Shavers and some practice squad guy.
I want a little bit more depth there, some youth.
So I would love for them to go receiver still in the first round
and then go defense.
Can I share a saber story with you guys?
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Kind of funny.
In November, my son Luigi was born
and the sabers were like the bottom two teams
and in his baby book, it like asks about things
and we say I wrote sabers
or the worst team in hockey, like go figure.
And then December happened in early January.
I remember the baby book and I rushed to my wife.
We got to change the book.
She said, this is not emergent.
I'm like, no, you don't understand.
We have to change the book.
So we changed the book.
I wrote there the best team in hockey.
And since then, you only think he's allowed to watch right now
because you don't do screen time.
Yeah.
It's the sabers games during after bath time.
And he's like 24, 1 and 1 since we made it.
Nice 4, 1 and 1.
So these are good luck chart.
Yeah.
So anyway, thanks for saying my call.
Go Bill, go sabers.
Thanks, Mario.
To that point about like screen time and the games.
Sometimes, you know, we'll finish an episode of the kids
are going to watch one episode.
Like, all right, that's it.
We're done for the day.
And then I'll turn on like the sabers or the bills.
And one of the kids said, I thought you said no TV.
I'm like, this is not TV.
This is the bills.
This is not the same.
This is the bills game.
Right.
Or this is the sabers or soccer.
This is an exception.
It's not what's made.
You know, blaring songs and 3D and this is different.
And that's how you indoctrinate your kids to sports.
That's how it works.
By the way, the Kaden McDonald NFL comparison
from Lancaster Online is DJ Reader.
Okay.
Well, if you can get that for like $4 million instead
of a first round draft pick, yeah, that's probably, you know.
But we'll see.
8030550.
The absurd names for the Las Vegas basketball team.
I have 40 names.
40.
I think it's like almost 40 names.
I want you to think of the worst name you could possibly think of.
And I bet I could beat it on this list of names.
All right.
There's your homework.
Think of the worst name you can think of.
Let's like not an actual swear word or something.
We're going to run through these.
We're going to pick one.
We're going to endorse one name for that Vegas basketball team.
Shot to body coming up at 9 o'clock as well.
Sabers Bruins.
Hate losing to the Bruins.
Stupid Bruins.
Especially when they're not even that good.
Yeah.
A lot of Bruins fans in the building last night.
A lot.
A lot.
Source told me a surprising number of Bruins fans.
What's a lot?
A thousand?
Sure.
I don't know.
Wasn't scientific.
8030550.
Our number.
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I'm Brian, I work at United Health Care.
So Brian, why do you care?
I care because I don't want to leave anybody behinds.
I oversee one of the biggest resource center
in United Health Care.
I see people walked in in my office every day,
just like my parents.
They have no idea about the health care.
I feel like they're my uncles, aunties.
I treat it as people's life family.
I'm Brian, and I'm committed to care.
I believe, and it's not going on a limb,
Thai Simpson will be a first round draping.
That's all I'm comfortable saying right now.
We will revisit this topic many times
as the draft marches closer.
We're one month out exactly.
And again, I think that'll probably be
one of the central focal storylines
of the first round of the draft,
where does Thai Simpson go?
Adam Schefter, Thai Simpson, the Alabama quarterback.
Kind of strange.
Are we talking to Christopher Paso tomorrow?
I think we are.
We should be, yep.
He remembers this from last year or no, from the fall.
When I was watching an Alabama game,
probably because I had a bet on it.
And wow, this guy, I like him.
And I might have reached out to Chris
for his opinion on Thai Simpson.
And he brought that back a month or so ago with us,
like, I remember you liked Thai Simpson.
And I'm not sure I really want to be the guy
that likes quote, likes Thai Simpson.
I'm not your name on that from September or whatever it was.
He sounds like this year's version of,
are we really serious with this idea?
There was a video making the rounds yesterday
of Dan Rolowski, also ESPN.
First, one of those panes that had desk,
and not just some podcast or something.
It was on ESPN.
And he said, I think he's QB1.
Dan Rolowski said, Thai Simpson, he believes it's QB1.
I did not watch the entire, all the content to know
if how many different ways it was couched.
If it was, this is what I think,
but I don't think that it's gonna play out that way,
blah, blah, blah, or whatever.
Just like, I think looking at the two guys,
this guy's the better guy.
Well, now I'm really excited for the same thing.
So that's happening, and it was funny.
The place I came across it was Matt Verteram's feed
because he had a tweet from, I don't know,
a week or a month or some time frame ago,
saying like, just wait, we're getting to the part of the cycle
where the crazy stuff starts happening,
and he quoted that onto like, here we go, here comes.
It's Thai Simpson is better than Fernando Mendoza's season.
Well, I guess, I don't wanna represent
that you couldn't possibly think that.
I'm not an expert on these guys anyway.
So I can't really say that,
but this makes me to the earlier conversation,
glad to have the hockey playoffs
because that's the kind of stuff that's just such an eye roll.
Having to decide whether that's actually someone's take
or they're just trying to get attention,
how that gets accused of people all the time.
Here's Brian with us, Alobryon.
Hey guys, how are you?
Good, thank you.
Good, just, I was in Buffalo, Thursday for the NCAA.
It was a great, great time.
Good little stadium, they're good food at your stadium.
Really enjoyed my time there on the afternoon session.
Good time.
Yeah, Matt, good question.
Now I'm just trying to say what they're not saying.
So is it possible that Mr. Bean might be looking at,
look, I trade my second round pick.
Would he dare trade his first round pick
and go a little lower and try and get two value second round
picks, high in the second round?
Does this say, what do you think about that?
I don't think he's going to do it.
But me, my buddies are just talking like,
maybe you never know with him.
He does like to trade down thoughts on that
or maybe this is not the year to be doing that.
I think anything is possible.
And I think that makes a lot of sense.
They have a lot of holes.
This is not in any way, shape, or form, me saying,
I think he will do that.
But could he is your question?
Yeah.
Yeah, they have holes.
And you make the case, the main highlight of your point here
is that he traded away a second round pick.
Sure, he'd like to recoup that.
I think it really depends on, obviously,
how much do they like or does he like the, what's available?
What's in the pool at 26?
Is there a guy that we've had targeted
that we think can step in and help us right away?
If there's not, then that's where you start seeing
if there is that for somebody else that
wants to come up and take that pick from you
and you do the dance.
But yeah, I mean, I think it's absolutely possible,
but I would stop way shorter saying it's likely or something,
because I mean, I have no idea.
But they could be looking to recoup a pick.
They do need guys, and they don't need another safety
anymore, they've addressed that, right?
But they're still really...
That's debatable.
They're really nowhere at linebacker.
It is really, they signed two guys
that have started games in the league last year.
Well, I still see it mocked to them a lot.
Yeah, so it's supposed to be a good year for it.
And Gardiner Johnson is a one-year deal.
Like that could just work out or blow up.
I don't know.
Yeah, I just, I'm not, okay, I guess I just mean
they don't need to fill a hole immediately
with a starter if they've got guys.
So that lowers the temperature on that one position
for me a little bit, urgently wise.
But they don't, I don't know what they're doing
at linebacker.
They still need an edge guy.
The question really starts to get into
how much do you think an edge guy drafted 26 overall
is gonna do for you right away
and in the immediate future versus KC Conceptsion if he's there.
Like what's the value to the team
and the impact short-term and long-term?
You gotta take a lot of things into account there,
but I wouldn't rule out them trading down
just because they still have needs.
I mean, you really never should rule it out, I think.
And I don't know, it's my favorite thing
about the draft every year is the campaign for that.
Interesting that the caller used the word,
would he dare to do it?
What's the dare?
I mean, it's probably smart.
No matter what your roster looks like,
I don't have to give you the whole speech every time,
but this is how you win at the draft.
And the bills are not picking 10th, they're picking 26th,
which is very different.
I mean, that for them, it's been,
they've been in that range for a few years now,
but once you get to the back end of the first round,
I mean, there's a lot that's kind of done already,
top talent, and I think you're looking at,
you know, it's like a chart where as you naturally,
like just like in hockey, when you get lower in the draft,
the difference in talent is minimized.
What I've got the chart out, right?
So 26th, draft tech is my go-to for this draft chart.
They're all different,
but they all seem to have about the same amount of credibility
teams might have their preferences, I'm sure they do.
Pick 26 is 700 points.
That's equivalent to picks 50 and 60.
Now, different teams hold 50 and 60,
so you can't just do that, but mid second, late second,
or 40 and 78 are also the same number of points as 26.
Like it's a free day to pick,
if you're willing to bite the bullet on the first round.
What has to happen there is you have to,
and look, they might even have a decent idea
about this themselves,
because they're stacking these players up,
and they'll know if they think this is the bills now, right?
If they're looking at how many first rounders are there,
really, 15, 20, whatever there are,
there certainly aren't 26.
I'll bet on the bills board,
and maybe every team in the leagues board.
So how much of a plateau is there
from wherever that drops off, right?
Where does the first round figuratively end?
Like as far as talent goes,
and if that's 20, how far does that step down extend?
In other words, if I'm drafting all guy at 26,
and his athletic score, his traits,
how much we like him, whatever,
it's comparable to guys in the range that you just said,
somewhere in the second round,
well then you should absolutely get out of there,
and get two of those guys instead of just the one.
Like that's just the sensible thing to do,
if there's a team out there that can facilitate that for you.
But it really depends on where that shelf is,
and how steep a drop, and then how long it lasts
before another drop.
But if you've got players from 20 to say 60,
comparably graded, then the sensible thing to do
is to get two for one, if you can.
I think. Easy game.
I mean, yes, I'm here for that every single year,
almost no matter what.
Kansas City has 40 and 74.
You want to do that?
Want to trade with the chiefs?
40, would you do it?
Well, you would not, just no matter what the offer is,
you just not trading with the chiefs.
A higher second, higher to mid third equals pick 26.
Look, it's one thing to just consider this
on like a philosophical level.
All the points about improving your odds of good players
and filling holes.
Sure.
The bills did this when they picked Coleman.
Forget it was, that it was Kansas City.
Like, leave that out.
I mean, worthy hasn't been that good himself for the chiefs.
So that's not the point.
But they did not really take advantage of the move,
or moves, because there was a second move that same night
with Carolina.
They did a little better, as I recall,
by the points with Carolina.
What they got for Kansas City was what?
A fourth was negligible.
Yeah, they really did not do well in that trade.
Like, to move down eight spots or whatever that was.
Remember, Kansas City was 32.
Right, bills might have been 25, that year.
It was 28.
28?
Pretty late, yeah.
So it shouldn't have been that big,
but it's still, I remember just reading
that they did not get the value they should have got.
Yeah, that was my feeling about it,
is that that's an exciting,
but it pops up on the screen trade,
and the bills are moving down.
I'm for it.
I'm ready.
That to me should be a good opportunity.
Teams might want the first round picked
for the fifth year option,
or have a favorite quarterback or something.
Like, maybe you can really pounce there.
And the bills did say, okay, in that trade.
And then maybe they weren't,
but a lot of us were haunted by worthy versus Coleman.
Then the second trade with Carolina was the one spot,
but it gave them, as I've said many times,
all of Friday to do something else with that pick.
When the whole day, teams can come to you
with offers and ideas,
and the bills ended up just using that pick,
which is not uncommon.
But, yeah, I'm all for it.
I mean, trading up is for what?
Oh, trading, like a future first probably.
The second is a really valuable piece in draft trade stuff
because it rates high enough
where you could move up and round one,
but after the second round, it gets pretty cheap.
The bill's second pick is 91.
And using this chart again,
if they were to offer their third with their first,
they could maybe move up five spots in the first round.
And that's another player gone.
So I would definitely not be for that.
If you want to trade up higher than five spots
in the first round,
we're talking next year's one probably.
Right.
I think looking back at how we feel,
how I feel about that draft trade from 2024
with the chiefs,
as much as I hated doing it
and was really mad at their tone,
I just hang up.
It hasn't mattered at all, really.
Right?
I mean, were they had a good game in the AFC title game
eventually, but like did against Buffalo?
Right, but how much of a difference did that make?
The bill still had their opportunities to win that game
despite Xavier worthy being over there
and getting really nothing from Coleman.
I think I would still, I think I would do it again.
I don't think I would prohibit that.
Like in my mind, the chiefs call,
they want to make a trade.
I want to make a good trade.
Like I don't want to get three quarters value
or whatever they got in this worthy trade
or less than that.
So I want full value, but I think I would do it.
I think I would do business with them.
I'd let them come up and get their guy
and I would take two picks for it.
And that's because of what all my complaining
and handling about it, it hasn't really mattered.
Okay.
Like the trade's a wash.
Pretty much, like I don't think Coleman's that much worse.
I mean, Coleman's worse off than worthy,
but worthy's not popping in some undeniable way
that I feel like I've missed out on some.
We'll see how that plays out.
I mean, after, you're kind of saying it, right?
That after the first year,
it was a little more of a downer.
Right.
And now after two years,
it didn't really pop for worthy.
Were they 685 and a score against the bills
in that AFC championship?
He had a big, the game was probably over by them.
He had a big touchdown in the Super Bowl too
against Philadelphia, but kind of a down year last year.
I would give worthy, I think, a better chance
of establishing himself in the league
than I would give Coleman at this point.
I mean, I don't disagree with that.
Coleman is, it's the B word so far.
It's a bust so far, even if it is pick 33.
It's high enough, I would say, to qualify
or kind of non-first round pick ever be a bust.
I don't know.
It was a big moment for the bills.
Trading down twice, getting him
and getting only what they've gotten so far.
What we don't get to know is if that was the guy
that they were sold on at 20,
like that was their favorite idea at 28.
And if they're intel, like whatever they thought
was gonna happen was, again, we don't get to know this,
but we can go back, we can keep going back.
That's the guy we want, right?
It's a miss if that's their thought process,
but if it was, then at least they got paid
for getting the guy they were gonna pick anyway
and not just sitting there and doing it at 28.
Well, of course, the most recent version of that
is that the coaches wanted Coleman.
Right.
Sure, whatever you say.
So, I'm not sure what we do with that, but yeah.
NFL Draft is a month from yesterday, April 23rd.
Mike Schopen, the Bulldog here at 803-0550,
this is WGR.
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Testing season is right around the corner
and this is when confidence really matters.
When kids take time to review key concepts
and strengthen their skills before assessments,
it can make all the difference.
IXL helps reinforce what they're learning right now.
So they walk into every test feeling prepared,
capable and confident.
IXL is an award-winning online learning platform
that helps kids truly understand what they're learning,
whether they're building math confidence,
strengthening reading and writing skills,
or reviewing science concepts.
Designed for students from pre-K through 12th grade,
IXL delivers personalized interactive practice
that adapts to your child's level and pace.
It's an easy, effective way to support learning
as the school year heads into its final stretch.
Studies show kids who use IXL score higher on tests,
proven in all 50 states.
IXL is used in 96 of the top 100 school districts in the US.
Make an impact on your child's learning.
Get IXL now and listeners can get an exclusive
20% off IXL membership when they sign up today
at IXLlearning.com slash audio.
Visit IXLlearning.com slash audio
to get the most effective learning program out there
at the best price.
I'm Spencer and I work at United Healthcare.
Suspenser, why do you care?
I care because my daughter Adeline has special needs.
I am motivated by Adeline who inspires me every day.
I am driven to help families like mine
navigate the healthcare system.
I'm so blessed to lead an amazing team
at United Healthcare focusing on the member experience
and making that better.
I'm Spencer and I'm committed to care.
Did you know that you can buy your car completely online
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Really, autotrader makes it easy to buy your car online
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Autotrader, buy your car online, really.
So how about you joining us on the Western Hotline?
Bill's made a couple of moves yesterday
signing three new players.
Wide receiver Trent Sherfield makes a return
and then on the offensive line,
Senator Lloyd Kushnberry and a guard Austin Corbett,
both who have played extensively in the league, Sal, right?
Like that's one thing about these two signings
on the offensive line.
These guys have a lot, by the way,
good morning, sorry.
Jumping right into it here.
These guys have a lot of experience.
Yeah, good morning, guys.
Sorry about that, I got you now.
Sorry, I lost you for a second.
But that's kind of the MO of the bills
and what they've always had here,
which is bringing in a guy a little bit later
in the process that has some experience,
has some flexibility.
And then you kind of just create the competition.
There's really only one spot where there's competition here
and that is left guard with Elk Anderson.
As to me, the kind of penciled in,
go to OTAs as the starter.
That doesn't mean it's Elk Anderson's job.
He's never been a full-time starter.
I think the team, it'd be great if Elk Anderson
could win that job.
But now you have other guys there
who have done it in the league.
They've started in the league
and you have a little flexibility
if Elk Anderson isn't able to win that job.
And let's be honest, I mean, injuries happen, right?
I mean, you go through OTAs, you go through training camp,
before you even settle on who you're starting five hour,
you may have to kind of start shuffling things.
That happens every year.
And then, at least you have some guys
back up.
The third part of that is,
you kind of let the draft come to you a little bit
by doing this because you don't have to pigeonhole
yourself later in the draft and go,
you know, we really could use another lineman.
Well, if you already have a couple guys that are,
you know, you brought in,
you don't have to think that way
and it opens it up a little bit more.
Yeah, I wonder also, Sel, like the process of,
you're not necessarily building a new line.
Maybe if Conor McGovern had left,
you would think about younger players,
but all they have to do is say,
all right, what kind of profile fits
between McGovern and Dawkins?
Where we've got one change to make here.
So Elk Anderson, we know.
And then this Corbett or Cushion Berry's plate
is almost exclusively center, right?
So like that might be less of an option here,
but whatever.
There are bodies in the mix.
That's right.
And when you bring in veterans who have played
in the league and have played a different systems,
the, I guess I'd call it,
onboarding process doesn't have to be as long either.
You know what I mean?
Like they are guys who've kind of been there
done that.
They've seen a little bit of everything.
So you can kind of put them right in.
You look at Lloyd Cushion Berry.
Yeah.
I mean, he's played 80 NFL games.
You know, when he started 80, yeah, yeah.
I mean, he has, he has started every single game
of his NFL career.
They just signed a starter.
Now there has been some chatter.
And I've wondered and people have said,
could this mean that maybe McGovern could move to guard?
I've never believed that.
We asked, Conor McGovern was on our
always game day in Buffalo podcast.
And I basically asked him this question,
like, hey, what about you moving to guard?
And you know, he didn't say like, that's not happening,
but you know, it's very clear that Conor McGovern
most playing center.
And the reason why he came to Buffalo in the first place
is because the bills gave him a chance to play center.
He said, when he came in the league,
you know, he wanted to be a center,
but he, I don't know if you guys know this,
but listeners might not as much.
The, when Conor McGovern was coming out of high school,
he was one of the top rated centers
in the country in high school.
He went to Penn State and played center.
Then the Cowboys moved him to guard,
but he's a center.
He wants to play center.
So when I look at him, like, okay,
is there any sort of design on him moving to guard?
And then I think, if not,
and you bring in Cushion Berry,
what does that mean for Cedric Van Fran Granger?
Like, is there, is this a way for maybe Brandon
mean to, you know, get an extra draft pick
with a young center on a rookie contract
who basically has no path to start right now?
I just think there's a lot of possibilities right now.
Yeah, but the thing, I'd want to see the money
on Cushion Berry too, because I don't,
him dictating what you do with McGovern
who you just paid a lot of money to,
feels like a lot.
But right, like, how does that play in then behind him?
Did you sign Cushion Berry to be a backup
when he started 80 games?
Because I looked for him, Sal.
He has not played a single snap at any position
other than center since his freshman year in college.
And by the way, he does have a connection with Joe Brady.
He was the center on the LSU team,
the one the national championship.
So they, they, they, they, they've got that.
But again, like, if he's got no positional flexibility,
I think he's a center, but I don't know,
like, what, is he, is he good enough,
I guess would be the question,
because he's played a lot,
but is he good enough to dictate what you do with McGovern?
No, exactly, and I agree with you.
And I, and I think again, that you're not
resigning counter McGovern unless you're probably
keeping him at center, right?
I mean, that's your center.
You want Josh to feel comfortable with him.
He wants to play center.
I, I think you'd have to be transparent.
It's not like, I highly doubt you would tell him,
oh, yeah, we're signing you and you're our center.
And then you say, oh, by the way,
we're going to move you to guard.
Like, I just don't think that works like that.
I wonder, I wonder if this could be one of those there,
because wasn't this McGovern a little bit
how McGovern hadn't really played center in the NFL,
but he had done it in college.
He knew he could do it.
Like, mate, I wonder if this could be one of those two,
where Kush and Barry has not played guard,
but maybe he could tell them or he would know,
like, oh, I can though.
Like, I could kick out there and do it
if you needed a competition.
Yeah, I think that's what, you know,
May is for, June is for, right?
And again, I think this might say more about
Cedric Vamparing Granger, maybe we'll see that.
Here's a guy they drafted in the middle rounds two years ago.
He's been a backup for two years.
He was on a highly successful Georgia program.
He's on a rookie contract for two more years.
He's very, you know, cheap from that standard.
And how, where's his path to play?
He's, he doesn't play guard.
They, they did try him a little bit there
in his first, off season when he first came in it,
you know, and then they just kept him at center,
but where's he playing?
So maybe this is, could we see something
with him being moved at some point?
And even if it's not now, the draft,
but maybe a training camp, you say,
we have all these guys, Brandon Bean,
the one position he's traded more than any other,
I think, has been lined with Wyatt Teller and Ryan Bates.
And who was the other guy they did,
they traded that center to, to New England
if he used a bowdine, bowdine, yeah.
Like, this is the one position
where he's been able to actually
recoup a mid or late round draft pick at some point.
So I just wonder about, you know,
Vampran Granger as well,
and maybe how he fits into this.
So Capaccio on the Western Hotline.
So how about Trent Sherfield?
A return for him.
This is, is he the same kind of role
that Shavers played, except Shavers got a little bit more run
in the passing game because they had a need out there?
Sherfield is blocker, right?
Very committed to blocking in the run game,
play special teams, gives them good speed.
I know they must have liked him and liked his character.
So he returns and it's more like a,
we'll see if he sticks on the roster kind of guy,
but a familiar face if nothing else.
Yeah, that's exactly what I think he is, guys.
You know, he's never had more than,
I mean, his high watermark for catches in the season
was 30 and he's never even come close to that a second time.
It was 19 and 11.
Like 30, 19, 11, look at his top three
receiving years.
And the last time he had anything in double digits
was three, four years ago.
And I just, including in Buffalo, by the way,
we only had 11 catches on the season.
And the bills, as you guys remember in that,
Kansas City playoff game, he was targeted down the field
on a late play, right?
Like they put him in in situations
or when we needed with injuries and things like that.
But this is not a player that has been on the field a lot
in the passing game, in the offense.
But it's someone that if you want on the field,
you can put out there and trust him
to know where he's supposed to be,
to be able to block, be a willing blocker.
And yeah, he's caught some passes in the league.
What he really does is offer you kind of the ability
to play kind of all four downs though.
If you want to put him out there
in first and second out of the run game, fine.
If you're on a third down,
you need an extra receiver on the field.
He's capable and then he can play on special teams.
So really yes, it's more of a replacement to me
for Tyrell Shavers, who is coming off the knee injury.
We don't know the timeline on that yet.
Maybe we'll get a little bit more clarity
on that next week from Brandon Bean.
I'm sure he would say that he's recovering
and we'll see where it goes in the off season.
But in the meantime, I think you have your guy
that you would probably put out there in lieu of,
I'm sorry, Tyrell Shavers, if they had to play a game
in the next several months.
Sal Kapachi with us, we kind of skipped over Corbett
a little bit by the way, is he any different for you
than just what you'd kind of laid out in general?
Like veteran guard, like anything else
would be no kind of about him?
The only way he's different for me is he's more of a guard
than a center at this point.
I think like he did play more center last year,
but he is a true swing man.
Joe, like he can play all the interior spots.
This isn't like we just talked about Cushion Berry's
kind of just a center, like that's not him.
He plays guard, he has played guard, he has played center,
and he's a starter too, but he has also had
a couple of injuries over the years.
So from the aspect of depth from competition,
no, not any different from me, but from the point of,
okay, well, if you're looking for more of a flexible guy
and not trying to pigeonhole him, what are we doing here?
Corbett's the guy there that, you know,
that comes to mind more than Cushion Berry for sure.
Saw some other free agent news like DJ Reader
had a visit with the raiders, sorry, Ravens.
And Ravens, yeah.
Yeah, maybe we're getting to a spot
where the second tier of free agents
start to settle in, like the bills adding three guys.
Yesterday, seeing Reader had a visit yesterday,
he's been a name on the minds for many bills fans
sell about like, you know, filling out this roster.
Then there's guys that could return, you know,
who knows if it's, well,
Surefield's on a return here.
I've mentioned the idea of like Vaughn Miller returning
on a very cheap deal.
I don't know if Declan Jones has anything left in the tank.
Like the bills, we see these three moves on the offense.
I would expect some similar adding to the 90 moves
on the defensive side in the next week or so as well.
Yeah, and yes, before the draft, you generally get it.
We've already gotten here in March.
So yeah, I would think so.
It's generally kind of how you operate.
Again, I'll go back to, you let the draft come to you
a little bit.
You protect yourself and say, well,
let's just not force ourselves in the draft.
Let's go get a guy.
And I always use Trudevius White lately as this from last year.
Maybe he's a guy you could go for this year, right?
Like he's still out there.
Like could you bring in a Trudevius White?
So you don't say, you know what?
We should get a really mid-round pick on another corner.
If you signed Trudevius White today
to a lesser deal than you did the last year,
aren't you feeling much more comfortable
about where your corner position is?
Because right now, you're outside corners
are Christian Benford, Maxwell Hirston.
That's it.
I mean, if you want to go to T'Kori Kouch
at MJ Devonshire and Darryl Porter, Jr.,
we don't know about Dorian Strong's situation.
So right now, that's it.
That's all they have.
You go to the draft, you gotta add.
You gotta add.
So if you get somebody before the draft,
it may be not.
So I would think that's a spot you could look at
before the draft starts.
But yeah, for sure, you're gonna probably see
another two, three guys added.
And if not, they don't have to either.
Like they could just kind of wait it out.
They could play it and say,
let's just wait until after the draft, see where we are.
Because I just say these waves of free agency,
there are still guys out there.
You know, and teams are doing the same thing
the bills are doing.
So unless you know that a guy might sign somewhere
and say, you know what, we want a little depth there.
I could definitely see them adding.
I would say outside corner is one spot where they could add.
I mean, I'm never gonna be surprised
if they add an extra wide receiver.
I mean, you're gonna bring like, you know,
15, 17 to camp basically.
They sign one yesterday.
And then yeah, right now,
that maybe the most glaring spot
might be that interior D line where we're all kind of
figuring out who's gonna play where
and what they wanna do there.
As you lay out corner there, Sal,
do you think that's one of the reasons that
maybe you've noticed,
you're seeing some mock drafts suggesting
the bills could go corner early,
which I think most bills fans kind of think,
I don't see that happening with their biggest asset
of this draft.
But when you're talking adding corner,
you're talking veteran guy,
would you see it in the fourth, fifth,
like somewhere down the board a bit?
Obviously, like you're always,
what's the old phrase like you can never have enough cornerbacks?
I would imagine they had somebody,
especially with the Dorian's strong situation
and not knowing what's there.
But you're not putting it in the first round bucket, right?
I am not right now.
I mean, the only way I would
would be in a situation where we're not really privy to
and they feel there's something with Max Harrison
that he can't get on the field, right?
You know what I mean?
Like Kirsten Benford is his contract.
By the way, that contract's looking really good right now.
You know, take a look at Kirsten Benford's money
and like he signed that contract extension.
I don't even think he's top 20 paid in the league at this point.
And yet he's just going into that contract extension
and that's such a great value for him.
Max Harrison and a rookie deal.
And again, coming off the injury,
I would have no reason to think
that there's any reason he couldn't play.
But if there was some reason he couldn't, then sure,
but that's all.
Otherwise, why would you take a,
where's that guy playing?
Why would you use that?
As you said, Jim, or your best asset,
especially considering you don't have a second rounder.
It's not like, I mean, if you take a first round or that,
to meet your first rounder is right now,
like he needs to play.
And that's generally the case every year.
But when you don't have a second rounder,
that even makes it kind of more of a bit of a pressure
for him to hit on that for that guy to play.
So where is he going to play?
I could still keep the door open for safety
only because he's a Gardner Johnson
is a on a one year deal and be a wild card, right?
And like you want to have a guy.
So I could keep the door open for safety,
especially because it's a good safety class.
You never know who's there.
But even then, like I just think
the starting secondary is set right now.
Bishop and Gardner Johnson in the back end,
Benford and Harrison on the ends, corners,
DL for it at nickel.
Like if you want to starter,
I don't know where it comes from with that five grouping
when it comes to the draft.
I just can't see it at this point.
You mentioned the defensive line too.
Where are you at with TJ Sanders?
Like I think everyone likes Deon Walker at this point,
liked his rookie season.
And Sanders was tricky, right?
Like it was not a great start
and there was positional stuff.
So I don't like, could he be someone you think
where between what happens between now
and the start of the regular season
will tell us a lot about what they think of him?
Because they spent a lot to get him, right?
Like they traded up in the second round to take him.
And I just, I don't know where they would be at
and how much trust they have in him
to be a regular starter or regular player on their defense.
Yeah, I think they like him, Joe.
I think that they like a lot of the progress he made last year.
It wasn't linear, of course, with him and Deon Walker.
They certainly had different rookie seasons
as far as development.
But that's what happens.
You don't get everybody.
I point to Cole Bishop last year with like this.
Cole Bishop his first year.
I mean, even last year, a couple of weeks into the year,
Bill's fans just wanted to get this guy off the team.
Like, oh my God, he was injured.
He didn't have a great rookie year.
And then look what happened.
Like I just think you'll give it time.
You gotta let it breathe sometimes.
Deon Walker is a bit of an outlier.
You draft him in the mid rounds
and look what happened last year.
He's one of the best rookie defensive lineman in the NFL.
TJ Sanders didn't have that quite a year.
But I think there were times where you felt, okay,
like I see what he can bring to the table here.
I think the biggest question
with the TJ Sanders is kind of where he fits
in this new defense.
Now I do think he fits on the outside as a, you know,
a defensive tackle, not a nose tackle in a three, four.
But I think you have to kind of figure all that out.
Dwayne Carter is still on this team.
You know, they made a, they made a conscious effort
to bring back Fadarian Mathis right away.
As soon as the season ended, let's not forget that.
That tells you something.
He guy was going to become a free agent.
And they're like, no, we want him back.
Why is that?
Then somebody, somebody walked in that building
and said, get, keep that guy on the team, right?
So I mean, like I'm looking at like,
what do they think about some of these guys
and where they fit?
And I think that's the big question you have with TJ Sanders.
So Capaccio on the Western hotline.
Thanks, Cell.
You got a guy, so have a great day.
You too.
A couple of additions for the bills in free agency.
And maybe a couple of additions on the defensive side
in the coming days.
803-0550-1888-552-550 to join us.
Miles Garrick got a lot of attention yesterday.
The Browns said they're not trading him.
They just did this thing.
And they're saying, pay no attention to it.
Meanwhile in Cleveland, the conversations on Cleveland radio
are all about, of course, you should trade this player.
Like in what world would we hang onto this player
for another year or two of finding your way to a quarterback
and rebuilding?
Just go ahead, rip the bandaid off.
It's that spot when you're a team like the Browns.
You've been bad for a while.
You just fired your coach.
Now you have a new coach, and you're starting from zero.
But with the best defensive player in the league, right?
If you are the best offensive player in the league,
singularly, that'd be a quarterback.
And you might compete, but on the defensive side,
you not do it because you want to sell tickets to games
and people like to see Miles Garrett.
On some level, it becomes what?
Wait till the deadline, see if we can do it
where a team can get him at the deadline.
Every year that goes further,
doesn't his value diminish?
Not that even he has to drop off,
but if I'm trading for Miles Garrett at age 30
versus Miles Garrett at age 31, 32,
just becomes less and less appealing.
He is coming off the best season anyone's ever had.
He's 30, maybe the season was too good
and the asking price is scaring teams off.
But he's 30, and this will be his age 30 season.
I feel like you'll get the most you'll ever get.
But him, right, as an asset, it's a sell high.
And if you think you're going to win,
then by all means, keep him and try to get the most out.
Try to go one more year, and if it doesn't work,
then you trade him after that.
I just don't know how they could think they're gonna win.
I don't know how they can reasonably think it's worth.
Let's go one more year and see what we can do.
What are you gonna do?
You win nine games at best?
I just, I think their whole existence right now
needs to be about escaping the Dishon Watson contract
and replacing him with a good young quarterback
at some point in the future.
Probably next year's when you'd want to do that
because that is the year that all these quarterback
prospects are coming.
And if you get draft capital that you can dump
into the 2027 draft, yeah, you're not going to have
a very competitive 2026, but there's nothing you can do.
You're like, it's over.
I think the Shudder Sanders or Watson,
if he's back on the field, I just don't see
how they are a competitive team this season.
So I think they should absolutely be looking to trade him
and cash out, go get, go see if you get three first round picks.
They're going to start Shudder Sanders the whole season.
I think they're going to start Watson.
The owner is paying him in a gigantic sum of money.
I think that owner is going to say, make it work.
It may be Sanders can get out there too
because Watson's probably still terrible,
but yeah, I think they're going to give that another swing.
They can't get out of it.
I mean, he is, I guess this is the final year of his contract.
He still has these insane cap commitments
after when he's not on the team.
Like, he's got four void years after this season
with capits of 35 million, 26 million, 17 million and 9 million.
2030, he'll cost them 9 million,
not being on the team for five years.
So I don't know, for the amount of money
that the owner is dish out to him,
I feel like that's the guy that could get out there.
And how's that going to go? Probably horribly.
8030550 is our number.
One thing draft stuff quickly here will do this.
Yesterday, talking with Joe Moreno,
we talked to Joe Moreno of Lockdown bills on Wednesday.
And on Wednesday, he said his run to the podium player
was Caden McDonald of the Ohio State.
Buck eyes, defensive tackle, kind of classic nose.
No, he's pegged to go.
I've seen him mocked the bills a few times.
And a little thing happened on the way
to talking to Joe 24 hours later
about who his run to the podium guy was
because he has been Casey Concepcion Pilled.
The kids say you get Pilled, right?
He has, yes, he's in all the way on Casey Concepcion.
The NFL rules of a minority owner.
Well, wrong clip. Hold on one second.
He's been, he's all the way in.
You do not think twice is one of the things he wrote.
Or said, rather, you do not think twice.
If Casey Concepcion's on the board, you do not think twice.
After catch, he separates.
He wins vertically down the field.
He's a really good pop returner.
This has got to be about when you have the opportunity
to give Josh Allen a player like this
as he enters his age 30 season.
And knowing that you'd have five years of cost control
on a rookie deal for a guy that turns 22 in September,
we see the cost of these receivers.
It's going up and up and up in a big, big problem
with the bills and their management
of the wide receiver position
as they simply haven't invested
the draft capital necessary to keep the cupboard full.
Here's your chance.
And I hear every year, there's all these good receivers, right?
It doesn't matter if there's good receivers every year
if you don't participate in picking them.
I don't think the bills should pick a receiver
just to pick a receiver at 26 by no means.
But Casey Concepcion and what he offers
in this dynamic skill set,
the guy's got a chance to be an absolute game breaker.
I love Kate McDonnell, I love Christian Miller.
If Casey Concepcion owns on the board,
he'd turn in the card, you sprint to the podium
and you get real excited about what this passing offense
can look like for five, six years.
So it's Joe Merino from the Bill Squad Show on his net,
he's all the way in.
The bad news is, we'll give you a little bit of bad news
on this, the secrets out.
Yeah, I saw yesterday Hayden Winks underdog
mocked Concepcion to go 13th to the Rams.
I did also see though, I think Charles Davis was the one,
he had a mock draft where he didn't have him
in the first round.
Right, right.
But I have seen some that have put him,
have been putting him a little bit higher.
How does he, how does he make it there?
How does he make it the 26?
That's my question.
Well, is the drops going to be able to lift,
do enough lifting that he is going to fall?
Because that is the only thing, isn't it?
Yeah, pretty much so.
Maybe size a little bit.
The size is not bad.
He's like, it's, it's drops and it's not small.
He's not a gadget guy.
And it would be the other guys at the position.
Like how many teams want to go receiver in the first round
and okay, teams love him.
Do they love him more than Carnel Tate?
Do they love him more than Mackay Lemon?
Maybe that's one that some teams would say
yes to that question.
Maybe.
Do they love him more than Jordan Tyson?
Like, I'm going to need the other receivers
to stay above him for the bills to have a shot.
This gets to every draft, every conversation.
This is Dan Orlovsky on Tyson's and where like,
it just takes one team to like a guy enough, Henry Ruggs
and how high he went, you know,
not saying anything about his career after that
and what happened with him.
But all it takes is somebody thinks this guy is better.
I mean, they're, they're high profile examples of this.
Like when the Saints made the Ricky Williams trade way back
when you remember that very famous
a whole draft for Ricky Williams.
Like, Edger and James was like, oh, that guy.
Edger and James actually going to go ahead of this player.
Like it's, it's kind of nuts.
Sometimes how you think you know things.
Bryant McKinney, I'm going too far back for these examples.
But when the bills took Mike Williams forth overall,
supposed to be Bryant McKinney all the way.
McKinney McKinney McKinney and then the bills went and said,
Mike Williams, we like him better.
Like one team liking a player enough
can vault his draft stock a half around.
When I'm going back again, really far here,
but these are the names I remember.
Dwight Frini is a good example of this.
Dwight Frini, out of Syracuse,
he got taken by the cold set.
I believe 11th and was labeled a reach
because like, a lot of people had him in the later in the first.
And he's just always important to remember.
You might think that guy grades out as a 20th overall pick,
but you pick 11th.
What do you want to do?
You want them or not?
And the cults made that pick and make sense.
So for Concepcion, like the bills might love him at 26.
And if he gets there, they could have a conversation.
But the teams in front of them and that point about wide receiver market.
Every team knows that.
Every team knows that this position is one that you should just take.
And right in front of the bills.
I don't know if the bears would take him.
I bet the bears take somebody along the way,
but could Cleveland?
Yes.
Pittsburgh 21st.
Take care.
Carolina at 19.
Minnesota at 18 is in the market for receiver.
Is Detroit not in the market for a cheap receiver?
The jets, the box.
So I know that Concepcion just had a visit with the Niners
who picked directly behind the bills.
So that's the thing about receiver is that everybody knows most,
but also for most teams, you can have two great ones
and you still have to consider them a possibility to pick one.
Right?
It's a position that because of all the points that are often made
about the value of it and getting one cheap.
And if you hit on it, the success of that,
that you can have teams like Tampa Bay last year be loaded at receiver
and we're still gonna pick at Bucca.
Whereas like, okay, the Lions.
Is that a need of theirs that you would list?
Probably not.
They'll take it.
Jameson Williams, you have to think that they might do it though.
The Niners same thing, like the Vikings have Jefferson and Addison.
They could, they could take a receiver easily.
So there's no team you can really check off.
Like, how many could you?
Like no chance at all they pick a receiver in around one.
How many teams in the league would even be like that?
Green Bay, because they just did it.
I don't want to check.
No, because they just lost Hobbs.
I wouldn't even check off Dallas.
No, I wouldn't check off Dallas.
Just could roll out Pickens Lamb and a cheap stud and decide we're gonna score 50 points.
Like, yeah.
That's the other thing about the position.
It really is.
It's no secret.
Everybody knows this.
Well, it's not off anybody's board.
No, that's right.
Whereas running back would be off your board.
Tight end would be off your board.
If you've got a, if you've got two corners, you're not picking another corner.
Cincinnati could go receiver even though they have chase and Higgins because Higgins is
another contract for that much longer.
All right.
Like, they sign them to an extension but there are quick outs if they want to get out.
And again, like when your pen Cincinnati, probably is the team you could check off.
I wouldn't check them off.
No.
I wouldn't check them off.
No.
You think they're gonna draft defense.
But just the idea that it's somewhere on your board, right, and Cincinnati picks 10th.
So maybe, maybe we'll go 10th.
Maybe he makes it past the bills 8030550.
So it always happens with the draft though.
It's just like your own fantasy league, right?
Fand it.
You got a fantasy football draft in a week.
You think, oh man, I love this player.
I'm gonna get this guy.
I'm gonna sneak this player through in round four, bam off the board in round three.
You're in love with this idea and it's too late 8030550.
On the other side, we're gonna talk tonight's game, Brian Fisher, Lockdown Redwings will join
us, Sabers and Wings Tonight at Keybank Center, and of course here on WTR.
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I treat these people like family.
I'm Brian, and I'm committed to care.
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The Buffalo Sabers could have home-mice advantage in these two cops, I'm just saying.
They certainly can, and it looks like they're going to.
I mean, it's amazing how well they play.
They've caught fire for some reason.
Obviously, they got a tremendous young team.
I think everybody is happy to see Buffalo playing the way they are.
We've all been waiting for them to take that next step.
They've all come of age.
They're all coming to Bage at the same time.
He seemed to have a lot of chemistry right there, getting the goal-tending and Lindy
Ruff.
I mean, you talk about Lindy Ruff.
He's been has some experience there and whatever he's done, he's been able to get that
group to believe in themselves and to play great.
He might be the coach of the year, by the way.
You guys have a chance.
No question.
And it's also just the development of those players.
Seeing Daw Lee take that next step and now become a premier defenseman and a league.
Yeah.
I definitely see Buffalo contending with Tampa to come out of the east.
If I wasn't going to pick Tampa, it would probably be Buffalo.
What world are we living in?
That is amazing to hear that, right?
Come out of the big ESPN analysts about the Sabers.
Yeah, that's great.
I don't know.
I don't think Butchie was in there.
I think I could tell.
Suban was in there.
Either way, that was from ESPN and they're talking Sabers.
The National Hockey League media is talking Sabers.
I mean, they're, that's what they've deserved.
That's what they've earned here.
I love this discussion about Lindy being the coach of the year.
I also kind of hate it because I'm hearing people say that he's not going to get it.
Because John Cooper is going to get it.
Like what are we doing?
John Cooper lifetime achievement award.
Yes.
Okay.
Give him one.
Great.
Okay.
On this ice or any other, that Lindy Ruff doesn't have to serve NHL coach of the year.
The lighting are who we thought they were.
Maybe they're tiny bit better.
I don't know.
Even if they win, even if they win the division.
That's what they're supposed to do and he did a good job.
He deserves credit to take this team from where they were to where and think about where
they were expected to be fighting for a wildcard.
Maybe people thought they would Sabers to where they are now, especially if they win
the division.
Even if they don't, please give Lindy the coach of the year.
He's absolutely deserving.
I mean, come on.
What are we doing here?
Sal Capaccio with you on the north town automotive extra point show here on WGR.
Thanks a lot to Jeremy White.
Thanks a lot to Paul Hamilton.
The first hour going to get you your calls here in the second hour because we're going
to talk more about the Sabers, but also the bills.
Now I did tweet another thing out.
I remember I said, I've tweeted some stuff out that's gotten some reactions.
Some was about the stadium yesterday.
We've talked about that with Jeremy.
Some was about the Sabers and your, I'm taking your calls on this, by the way, your first
Sabers playoff memory.
Got some great, great answers.
Tweeted this out a while ago and let me see how many I have right now.
50 responses in an hour, which is great.
So keep them coming on X, make sure you do that.
And the other thing is I put out a tweet this morning because I wanted to talk about it
and get a reaction about wide receiver for the bills.
And what I've said, I'm showing the bulldog, what I said on it's always game day and
buffalo yesterday with Matt Bove.
Check it out.
We recorded.
You can find it wherever you pod.
Also on YouTube, it sells sports.
I do not take wide receiver off the table and round one for the bills.
I don't.
Now I have no idea if they're going to take a wide receiver.
They're not.
I'm not predicting.
I'm just saying, I don't think we should eliminate it.
Even after trading for DJ more because of the financials of the position.
Wide receiver is kind of now like the new quarterback and what we thought about it.
When it comes to contracts and navigating rosters and building a roster and
balancing out your financials, rookie deals.
Everybody used to say you got to win with a quarterback on a rookie deal.
Got to win.
It makes it way easier to be able to spread the money around the roster.
I mean, even not a rookie deal, look at the Seahawks.
They can pay JSN what they did.
Jackson Smith and Jigba, they're not giving Sam Darnold like $50 million a year like Josh
Allen's getting, right?
I mean, it does matter.
Well, wide receivers now, you think about Jackson Smith and Jigba.
You think about Alec Pierce making what, $30 million a year.
It's insane and he's not, he's not, he's not at all Jackson, Jackson Smith and Jigba.
That's just one of what four or five guys you got to pay at that position.
They're not all on a minimum deals, $6 million, $10 million.
Maybe you get a guy for $2 million, whatever.
The money you have to pour into wide receiver now is getting so tough to deal with once they
get to a second contract for the good ones.
So for me, rookie deals versus a contract after three or four years like a JSN, like
it Alec Pierce who's not even at JSN's level for really good ones are so astronomically
different that you have to, to me, consider getting them on rookie deals as often as possible,
but you got to also hit, right?
You got to hit.
The young guy, the drafted early guy, he's got, he's got to hit.
That did not happen so far with Keon Coleman.
Maybe it does this year.
We don't know.
We'll see where it goes.
But you got to hit and if you do and you get that guy for three years, he's amazing.
Then you decide to pay him.
To me, the much more preferable route than deciding to go and get a guy through free
agency or a trade that you have to pay, even the bills getting DJ more, they got to pay
a lot of money for him.
They lowered his cap number.
They're going to pay for him down the road now, whatever, they're going to pay for DJ
more.
Of course they are.
Now I got a little pushback by people saying, well, how is that any different than cornerback
or defensive end?
Well, it is different in my mind.
Two reasons.
Number one, you only need two of those.
So yeah, the ideal situation is you always want to balance it out.
If you can get great defensive ends and great corners on rookie deals, of course, any position.
Even if you have to pay one and you get one on a rookie deal, that's great.
Like the bills had with Christian Benford, they're going to start paying him now in Max
Harrison, right?
That's a really nice situation.
You like that.
But here's the other reason.
I mean, I'm maybe you're wrong.
Maybe you're different than me.
I'm totally willing to pay for a premier pass rusher or even a premier corner, shut down
corner, that kind of money when they're veterans and I have to get them from another team.
That's a different situation with a wide receiver.
I need to back off and think, do I really want to do that?
Like that's a lot of money, $30 million for Alex Pierce.
I'm willing to pay Max Crosby, healthy Max Crosby.
I'm willing to pay Trey Hendrickson.
I'm of course willing to pay Miles Garrett, the best in the business.
But is that the case at wide receiver?
That's why it's different to me.
What's the difference is those positions for that guy that matters that much in the game.
Yes, JSN can matter.
But if you want to get a guy who's already played in league three years, four years at any position,
but now at wide receiver, much more than ever before, you're paying such a fee that I just
don't know if it's worth it to try and do any more versus bringing a guy in on a rookie
deal.
But you got to hit on them and then you can balance out that roster.
So anyway, that's what I thought about it.
803-050 if you want to jump on that, you want to jump on the sabers, your first sabers
play off memory, all right, taking calls on that today.
I have some really interesting historical stuff.
I love to, I'm a nerd for this stuff.
I love to dig into it.
I say to now that I'm the age that I'm at, I love to educate a little bit and there's
some really cool things about the sabers and the playoffs and history that maybe you're
not aware of that I think you'd find pretty cool.
I'll get to that in a minute.
Let's go to CJ and Buffalo.
What's up, CJ?
So, my man, how you doing?
I'm good.
Thanks.
Hey, so I was, like most fans do or some fans, we watch the YouTube videos and all highlights
of the previous season.
So I'm watching the season.
I watch the build versus the Texans game and I watch how long Josh Allen held the ball
before getting hit in the back and then that horrible thing where he's holding his wrist
and he's like kicking his feet.
And when I say my stomach dropped, it did the same thing when it, when it first happened,
I never want to see that again.
So I really want the build to double down a wide receiver for that reason and we're only
one injury away, hopefully not, but from being in the same predicament we were in before
DJ Moore.
So I'd rather them really double down and get somebody where now we have our running
back.
We have our offense align, we have our tight ends, we have our receivers that we have our
quarterback.
And an offensive minded leak now, like the defense, the rules really helped the offense more
than does the defense for the most part.
And I really think the build should go for that.
I wish we had more speed, but I'm okay if we just go get another guy and hopefully the
word's out.
So let me ask you a question, and by the way, as someone who was 10 yards away from watching
that happen, which of course, you know, the same feeling, it's crazy when you see that
and you're like, you know how much that means he means the organization and you, you see
them in that moment.
But my question to you is when you say you see that and that's why you want them to double
down at wide receiver, you're putting it on him, not being able to find guys versus the
protection.
Is that correct?
No, I'm putting on guys can't get open and he's holding it waiting for us to make
a plan.
Yeah, that's what I mean by not being able to find guys, sorry, you're putting it more
on the receivers than the O line of protection or scheme, right?
Correct.
Correct.
And I don't ever want to see that again because we have such a great weapon.
At quarterback, I want to see the most, get the most out of Josh Allen.
I want a, what's the Seattle Seahawks receivers?
They had a Smith and Jigba, but also a, what's the fast guy named?
I can't think of a name.
Yeah, I'll do it.
Oh, I don't know.
Let me see if stats last year.
What's that?
But, but they just, they just recigned them this year.
What, what I'm saying is like that, that's the combination I want.
Where they don't know where to go.
You can't.
Oh, Rashid Shaheed, Rashid Shaheed.
Yeah, Rashid Shaheed.
Yeah.
There you go.
Yeah, by the way, I mean, obviously, as you know, Rashid Shaheed was rumored to be,
you know, a, a bills target at the trade deadline.
And then that's the kind of guy that, you know, could, could help an offense like the
bills, of course, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree.
That's what I'm looking for.
Those how?
All right, buddy.
I should you call 803-050 is the telephone number to call.
So bills first round.
Yeah, I, I, I think wide receiver absolutely still has to be considered like I don't take
it off the table.
I, I don't know.
Are the bills going to do it?
Now if you gave me the percentage of what position do you think the bills will draft
in the first round, I'm not putting wide receiver number one, folks.
That's not what I'm saying here.
Don't misunderstand.
I still think probably it's third or fourth on the list of positions I would put right
now.
I still think defensive line like interior, off ball linebacker, safety could all be
higher.
The only position on offense you're even considering for this by the way is wide receiver,
right?
They're not drafting a guard in the first round.
I mean, that would be kind of wild to me if that happened.
I think they're fine with Alec Anderson or a veteran coming in Austin Corby has a visit.
I just can't see that happening.
It does not seem like the best resource allocation to do that.
Off ball linebackers Marcus Mosher had a really good tweet on this and Jeremy brought
it up this morning when we were on.
There's some really good off ball linebackers every year.
What we mean by off ball linebacker is not guys who put their hand down and they rush
the passer outside linebackers like a Bradley Chubb might be this year.
He's considered a linebacker or like Vaughn Miller was and he was called a linebacker
but he's a pass rusher.
That's an off that's a that's an on ball linebacker.
That's an edge rusher linebacker outside linebacker edge rusher and off ball linebacker
is somebody who plays like a trouble nerd like a mat Milano and like what we think will
be Dorian Williams, right?
So Marcus Mosher had a tweet about off ball linebackers and I believe it is something
like Marcus by the way is locked on Cowboys.
I believe it's something that about like 29, I have to go get it to see exactly where
it was exactly the numbers but I believe he said there were 29 off ball linebackers
that had been drafted in the first round over a certain period of time and out of those
only five of them had actually gotten a second contract from their team.
Now, here we are, here it is, I'll do it that way I have it exactly.
Now I believe someone did correct him.
There was a fifth one but he has Luke Keekley, Dante Hightower, Layton Vander Esch and
Brian Cushing.
Folks, we're going back to 29, 2009, 29 off ball linebackers drafted in the first round
since then.
He said, I believe only four signed a second contract with the team that drafted them
and again, I think there was another one that was in there.
Maybe Shaq Thompson, economist and edge there, but either way, the bills did this.
They drafted an off ball linebacker in the first round.
It was in 2018.
His name was Tremaine Edmonds.
Now, Tremaine Edmonds, when got paid, he got paid from the Chicago Bears.
He was, I believe, the highest paid linebacker in that free agent cycle when his 50 or option
ran out.
He played five years for the bills.
Now the bills did pick up his 50 year option, but he did not sign a second contract.
That year, Layton Vander Esch was taken also the same year by the Cowboys.
They signed them to a second.
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Contract.
Luke Keekley is kind of an outlier, he means the Hall of Famer is great, right?
But generally, even if guys are really good, this is not a point about these players not
being good.
It is not a point about, oh, Op-A-Linebacker's transition NFL, they're not that good.
Yes, some bust out.
I get it.
The point is, teams believe in resource allocation, not having to give the linebacker,
the Op-A-Linebacker, the second contract when they can take that money and give it to
someone else on their roster and just replace him.
The wins above replacement, the performance above replacement, whatever it is, however
we want to say it, teams are basically going in that direction when it comes to that
position.
That doesn't mean you just can't or shouldn't take one in the first round if you really
like somebody and he's going to be on your team and fit.
I'm not telling you that either because right now, the bills are in a window where they
need to win.
And if you tell me right now, they can get the best Op-A-Linebacker who's going to be awesome
for the next four years and let them walk great.
Go do it.
Because you need to win.
Now, this year, next year, the next four years, like you need to win.
So go do it if you find somebody.
I'm not saying they should not do it, but for the long term, you just have to know that's
probably not a guy you're going to have on your team six years from now.
It's just not.
I mean, math says that.
Data says that.
You know what it's like for me?
It's like running back.
Running back is the same way.
Running back used to be this position where you draft them, you'd use them for four years
and you say, be on your way.
That's Devon Singletary, basically, right?
I mean, that's just how it works.
And that's why the whole conversation last year with James Cook going through his contract
revolved a lot around this.
And I didn't want the bills necessarily to pay James Cook.
I mean, he was, like, not big time money.
They paid him, I think, a nice price, but it landed in the spot where, now we're looking
back now and going, oh, yeah, glad the bills did that.
I did not expect him to lead the league in rushing, right?
Not that he's a bad player, but it's a running back.
It's a position.
Again, this is not about the player.
It's not about if they're good or bad.
It's about resource allocation, where the position is.
Teams have said, we're not paying that guy, Josh Jacobs, not paying him, right?
They get a couple of, sake one, barkly, little different there, totally different situation,
I get it, but moved on.
I mean, it's just that was that position.
Now running back is a little different now.
It is starting to come back a little bit.
I'm interested to see if some of these teams do give second contracts, but remember, for
the last several years, it was, why draft are running back in the first round?
Why are you doing that?
You can, your performance above replacement for a guy that you don't have to draft in the
first round, you're not really losing much, and you don't have to then pay these guys
and feel like you have to pay them after their contracts up.
I think that's the same thing with off-ball linebacker now.
So if I were to get percentages and put it on, I don't know the exact percentage.
I'd probably, at least put the order, I would say, still interior deline for the bills,
might be number one on my list.
And then maybe off-ball linebacker, but I don't know what they think about Doreen Williams.
And I don't even know if they think that, like, Tarar Bernard is going to be the long-term
solution.
He is the guy this year.
You paid him.
He's going to play.
Health mattered a lot last year with Tarar Bernard.
Trust me.
But do they feel, does Jim Leonard feel, I have my two guys.
I have Bernard.
I have Williams.
And even if you do think that, folks, Doreen Williams is going to the last year of his contract,
too.
Joanne Dreson, I think, is actually a better suit for this defense than he was for the
last one.
But can he count on a guy like Joanne Dreson to suddenly become, like, you know, a player
for you?
And by the way, his contract's up after this year.
He'll be a restricted free agent after three years.
You're going to have to start thinking about this and how they build this.
And I would say interior D line because they do have guys that I think they believe
can play on the interior in this new defense.
Deod walker is probably, you're looking at him as your kind of number one nose tackle.
And I think Deod walker can play that role in this defense.
I don't know if it's the best fit for him, though, to maximize his skill.
You may want to move him a little bit more on the outside of the three technique, right?
You might want to move him like at Oliver.
That's at Oliver now.
You know, if somebody in the middle like Deod walker and outside of him is going to be
at Oliver and TJ Sanders and then outside of them, five man surface.
Remember, I've been talking about this, learn the term, five man service, five guys across,
five man surface nose guard.
Let's say it's Deod walker outside of them at Oliver, TJ Sanders outside of them on
the outside of the defense on the end, edges, Greg or so, Bradley Chubb, five man surface.
But as Deod walker, best use in that position.
I don't know because if I grab a true nose tackle who I, you know, got always loved DJ
reader.
Did DJ readers sign anywhere?
I don't think you did.
I don't think, let me look at it.
I don't think DJ reader in the last several days.
Nope.
He has not.
Still, he's a guy I've always loved, right?
That's a guy that I would put there.
And I can move Deod walker to where TJ Sanders is and at Oliver is and kind of a rotation
there like we do.
And, you know, I just, I think that might be the best use of it.
So I think they could, could use a guy there and I wonder though, is there a player there?
They really like 26, would you use a guy there?
Would you take a guy there?
I'm not sure.
And of course, safety.
I mean, yes, he, Jay Gardner Johnson, but he wears, wears out his welcome, he's a fantastic
player.
Where's out his welcome?
I'm not worried about that right now unless it happens this year, right?
If something happens with CJ Gardner Johnson, you're like, we can't deal with this guy
this year or things are happening.
He's not playing within the structure of the defense.
You better be able to pivot.
Who could you pivot to?
Because you have Cole Bishop and CJ Gardner Johnson and on the cuff, on the surface, that
looks great to me.
Looks great.
Like I love how that feels and looks when I dream it up.
And you got CJ Gardner Johnson roaming around, playing center field.
You got Cole Bishop as a chess piece moving around.
That's great.
You better have a little more there.
And then you better have something on top of CJ Gardner Johnson beyond this year when
you're thinking about building a team out because he's on a one-year deal.
Cole Bishop going to the third of a four-year deal on his rookie contract, 803-0550.
Sabers playoff memories as well on the table.
Let's get to Joe in Hamburg.
What's up, Joe?
Hey, I just want to do a share of quick, not funny, but funny story for yourself.
Like this one.
Okay.
Oh, huge Sabers fan, huge bills fan.
Go to a lot of games.
I should probably buy seasons for the Sabers at this point, but I'm 23 years old.
And the last time the Sabers were in the playoffs, I was in second grade.
So I don't even have playoff memories to share.
But excited to make some.
And I actually think that's why the younger Buffalo crowd is so happy because we've, like,
the party in the plaza.
Everyone talks about my dad and my uncles.
Like, we'd have no clue what that's like.
The winning hockey team, and I can't wait.
Yeah, for sure, dude.
And do you remember the bills breaking the drought, Joe?
Do you remember that?
Oh, I will never forget watching Tyler Boyd catch that against the Ravens.
And I jumped in my dad's arms and we cried together.
Yeah.
And I think it's the same way, right?
Because remember now, leading up to that, you were probably hearing the same kind of stories
from your dad and your uncle and everybody, which is, oh my God, you don't know what it's
like when they're in the playoffs.
It's so awesome.
And then you got to experience that, right?
And it's going to be like reliving that same kind of thing for you, I think, which is
going to be super cool for you to have that memory, man.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, my dad and I joke all the time because he's had season since the 90s.
My uncles had season since the merger for the bills.
And there's been many times where I, like, genuinely would look at my dad and just say,
dad, like, why are we bills fans?
And he would just look at me and be like, you have, you have no idea what this town is
like when we're good.
Like you have no idea.
Yeah.
And it's going to be the same thing for the Sabers.
And I can't wait.
I wonder what it's going to be like when they ultimately clinched that spot.
Thanks, Joe.
A really good call there.
I appreciate that.
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So I'm going to share with you a couple of the.
Yes, oh, somebody here, Trevor says, if you get time as the field, big enough for soccer.
Yes, it is.
We'd love to see some matches here.
Although, Trevor, I do want to say, I think I think there's some differences between like
certain levels of soccer and I'm not the officiant auto on that.
But yes, I mean, the plan is to have some soccer inside the new stadium for sure.
And when you look at the stadium, you can see it kind of looks like a soccer field right
now.
There's no football markings on it for sure.
So thanks for the, thanks for the question on that.
All right, here are some of your memories from the.
Your first ever Sabers playoff memories.
I asked this, got 57 responses on the old X machine.
Now Bulldog chimed in and I have to tell you how cool this response is because of another
response on top of his, all right.
So Bulldog says, maybe he can talk about this today.
I recall the Sabers calling for a measurement of Ken Dryden's pads late in a tie game in
game five, 1973.
The Sabers did not score on that power play, but eventually René Robére scored it over
time.
Oh, they called for a measurement.
Did they actually get the, did they win the measurement?
Is that why they did the power play?
That's interesting.
I didn't realize that.
He says Sabers lost game six at the odd and that was the famous thank you Sabers chant
as the final seconds ticked.
Yeah.
That's a famous chant.
So on top of that, Joe Krozier chimed in and I think Joe, so Joe's got to be Roger Krozier's
son.
I think I'm going to check out what Joe, Joe agent Krozier, he's got to be an agent.
He says I happen to know the coach pretty well.
He was a big fan of Bulldog and Shope.
I myself am a self-analytic.
Thanks a lot.
I appreciate that.
Joe, that's super cool.
Thank you for chiming in, Joe.
I really appreciate that.
Uh, George says listening to game seven of the Adams Division final in the radio in
our bedroom, Brad Park scores in OT, Sabers lose to the Bruins.
My younger brother and I silently cried ourselves asleep.
Me too, man.
We are the same person, George.
We are the same freaking person.
I still have a lot of scar tissue from Brad Park and the Boston Bruins from 1983.
1988 went the other way.
John Tucker, four goals in game three against the Bruins, overtime, winter in game four.
I was at the odd in game four, never heard of building so loud in hockey.
It was amazing to be there.
Um, Paulie 1973, you're I was born.
I don't remember it.
OT against Montreal, René Robert going in on goal, going in on goal.
He shoots.
He scores.
René Robert, René Robert.
Oh, I love it.
He's doing the RJ Sabers of one, the Sabers of one.
I love it.
That's great.
That, um, that was not the fog game, fog was 75, uh, some Howard Howard says, not our
Howard.
I remember the fog game in Philly.
Mark says Ed Staniowski, almost single hand, single handedly stealing a best of three
series for the blues at a 75, 76 season.
The clincher was my first Sabers playoff game I ever attended.
Okay.
That leads me into what I want to talk about next.
I'm going to take a break.
I'm going to come back.
I don't think many of you realize, especially if you're younger, okay?
Some Sabers playoff history and what it was like in the NHL and some of the teams they've
actually played in the playoffs and who they haven't played in the playoffs.
We'll do that next.
I'm the north town automotive extra point joined WGR.
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I'm Spencer and I work at United Healthcare.
So Spencer, why do you care?
I care because my daughter, Adeline, has special needs.
I am motivated by Adeline who inspires me every day.
I am driven to help families like mine navigate the healthcare system.
I'm so blessed to lead an amazing team at United Healthcare focusing on the member experience
and making that better.
I'm Spencer and I'm committed to care.
Did you know that you can buy your car completely online on auto trader?
Really?
Just visit autotrader.com, filter and search through dealer listings for the car you want,
make, model, color, and all the features that matter to you.
Go ahead, get picky whether you're into subcompacts with heated cup holders, crossovers
with all-wheel drive, pickups with kicking sound systems, or SUVs that can survive
whatever chaos your kids unleash.
Just drop in your info and you'll only see cars in your budget.
Really, once you find your one and only, you can do the whole deal online and have
the car delivered to your driveway.
Or you can pick it up at the dealership and drive your new ride right off the lot.
Really, autotrader makes it easy to buy your car online because the whole process is
designed around your once and must have.
Autotrader, buy your car online.
Really.
Breaking news from Good Ranchers, over 85% of grass-fed beef and stores is imported.
Most grocery store meat contains antibiotics, hormones, and harmful seed oils.
Good ranchers does things differently.
All their meat is born and raised on local American farms.
No antibiotics, no added hormones, no seed oils.
Just one ingredient.
Meat.
Visit GoodRanchers.com and get $25 off your first order with Code Ranch 25.
That's Code Ranch 25 for $25 off your first order.
GoodRanchers.com American Meat Delivered.
