TGAF: Bills season swings on Cook, Coleman, Kincaid; Small-time Sabres

TGAF: Bills season swings on Cook, Coleman, Kincaid; Small-time Sabres

ctbk gives executives and owners of mid-market 
businesses unparalleled confidence and clarity so you can focus on strategic objectives and 
organizational success their multidisciplinary adviserss accountants and team members have 
a wealth of experience and are all available and responsive to each client to ensure the 
most effective advice actions and outcomes no matter the situation or complexity level 
that experience base and one team approach combined with integrated and efficient way of 
operating enable them to be truly proactive partners doing the best thing for their client 
every time visit ctbk.com or call 716-630-2400 to learn how CTBK can work for you you are 
hate listening to Tim Graham and friends it’s Tim Graham and friends brought to you 
by CTBK CPAs and business consultants i’m   Tim Graham of The Athletic here with Jonah 
Bronstein of Bronstein Sports Plus and the Bills have just wrapped up their mini camp 
going on a fiveweek break if you’re a Bills fan you should hope you don’t hear from the 
Bills for those five weeks because this is   that time of year where if you uh if you are 
seeing Bills news it’s probably bad because somebody did something to make the police 
blotter uh or an injury while working out uh so it’s that uneasy time although 
this team’s pretty dull we haven’t had much Jonah have we in recent years or under the 
Shawn McDermott uh Brandon Bean overview that really tended to make you nervous the Marcel 
Darius arrest for synthetic weed or street racing incident or fill in the blank uh the the team’s 
been pretty dull under Brandon Bean and Shawn McDermott good and dull which is exactly how every 
NFL team wishes it could be yeah and it makes it easier for us not having to chase down you know 
police reports and stories like that over the next six weeks i mean I do think you could see some 
positive type stories coming out you know movies and weddings and that’s already happened but I 
think those kind of things offseason activities from some of the celebrity bills well that’s 
why I made it a point to say news if you’re   seeing news like Yeah puff pieces or little human 
interest things that’s not really news if you see a headline if there is a development an unexpected 
development going on with the Bills i guess the big one would be a James Cook contract if they’re 
able to figure out a compromise and get James Cook at 10 or 11 million dollars a year and he’s happy 
and he’s signed his extension and you know he’s going to show up on day one which he probably 
is anyway but he’s not going to do a hold in   or he’s not going to let any hard feelings seep 
into the regular season hard knocks isn’t going to make you choose sides which they’re going 
to do uh that’s one of the sexier storylines and I wrote about that this week at the Athletic 
regarding how hard knocks will you know it needs some drama it’s a television show and they’re not 
necessarily going to manufacture it uh but James Cook and his dissatisfaction with his contract at 
the Buffalo Bills while being the NFL’s reigning or co-raing touchdown leader uh among r for 
rushing touchdowns anyway um he’s a big name and that’s going to provide some some drama for 
Hard Knocks and if the Bills are able to hammer out that contract compromise before the cameras 
start rolling at St john Fischer University then I think that would be good news but I can’t really 
think what else would be like good unexpected news there could be knock on wood a non-foot injury 
and Naim Hines that seems to be the last time I said a good one well be good news no that would 
I guess a trade or something like that maybe something exciting those usually don’t happen now 
everybody goes on vacation it’s hard to negotiate with another general manager when he is with his 
family in Italy or on a boat in Cabo San Lucas so you usually don’t see trades this time of 
year but again if you’re a Bills fan unplug hopefully you are able to unplug and not worry 
about your team for five weeks until they show up surrounded by the NFL films cameras to 
chronicle your beloved Buffalo Bills out in Pittsver New York what did we learn at mini 
camp this week james Cook showed up that was uh a question Adam Shfter even said on his podcast 
last week erroneously infamously erroneously that James Cook wasn’t going to be there that the 
sides were far apart and Adam Shfter even hinting that this could drag into training camp i Let’s 
talk about that actually Jonah from a journalism standpoint I think a lot of people uh and I think 
misguidedly were saying that Adam Shfter carrying water for James Cook’s agent maybe used he got 
used uh he was had so I don’t think that’s true i this is what I think happened and I don’t 
know but this is what I think happened because   Adam Shfter did not tweet anything which he would 
certainly do if he had what he thought was a scoop or breaking news that James Cook was not going to 
be in attendance at Bill’s mini camp or training camp as he said on his podcast i think this is a 
case of a media member having too many outlets or trying to satisfy all the different platforms that 
they’re on and got to talking about a player one of hundreds and hundreds of players that Adam Sher 
gets paid millions of dollars to have information on or have an opinion on and I think Adam Sher 
just went off the top of his head a little too   much i don’t think that he had bad info or he was 
um you know fraudulently abused by James Cook’s agent i think it was just he got on a roll talking 
about James Cook’s contract situation thought he knew the situation better than he remembered it 
as the words were coming out of his mouth and just was was wrong lazy i don’t know it’s hard to it’s 
hard to accuse somebody of being lazy when they have so much to be on the clock for you know like 
I said he’s got all these different things that he has to do he has to do television he was in the 
news this week for being banned from Pat McAfee show because he had to do ESPN 2 and Pat McAfee 
got offended that he wasn’t on the Pat McAfee show adam Sher has a lot of masters to serve 
at ESPN podcast social media whatever probably things that we maybe he’s working on two or three 
books i I I don’t know but I mean he’s got a lot going on i He’s not lazy but I think it’s one of 
those thing and we see Stephen A smith do this all the time starts talking off the top of your 
head and you misspeak because you just have too many irons in the fire too many projects going 
too many balls in the air as a juggler and I I think that’s all it was well the difference or 
the distinction here is that Adam Shfter wasn’t reporting with sourcing that James Cook was going 
to skip mandatory mini camp he was offering his opinion and analysis on a podcast but because he 
breaks so much news it got aggregated as an Adam Shfter report in a way uh he probably read a 
little too much wasn’t the only one into the James Cook putting his house up for sale or his 
uh property on the market which might have been an agent ploy to you know for the negotiations 
um you know there are some other tea leaves about James Cook with some camps that he’s running in 
Buffalo area in July and appearances he’s made in the area that indicate he hasn’t really left 
the area and hasn’t disconnected from Buffalo in   the way that that real estate listing makes it 
seem um so I mean I think maybe the journalism lesson is that someone in Adam Sheper’s position 
and then the rest of us need to be clearer about what is a sourced report and of fact or you know 
information that’s being given to a reporter and what is off-the- cuff talking analysis like 
we do on this podcast because a lot of that has melded together and there’s some gray area 
especially for national reporters about whether it’s you know your opinion or what you think of 
a question you’ve been asked or what uh an agent or a team official has told you is something 
that’s going to happen or is happening yeah it it I was trying to think of the analogy now I 
can’t get away from it it’s a little crude but yeah we as journalists our job is to consume and 
absorb as much information as we can uh but where the journalist part comes in is then following 
up on it with your own work to try to learn the context learn the nuance and you just mentioned 
several points especially regarding whether he is or is not in Western New York there’s a 
belief that he because of the house listing   that he just evaporated and said “I’m not coming 
back.” act which is kind of what Adam Sher um uh what he elucidated i suppose he didn’t really 
I mean um but yeah he has been around he was in Rochester at an event he’s got a football camp 
coming up he’s like he has been around but yeah what what happens is you consume here’s the crude 
analogy there are a lot of people out there who   are aggregators you know the Pro Football Talks 
and you know well I don’t need to name them there’s there’s so many uh and you consume and 
consume and consume and then you try to digest and come up with some sort of take to make it original 
and then you crap out this thing that reads as fact when it’s really your opinion and that’s the 
thing with Adam Shifter on that podcast with James   Cook is you’re right it was his opinion probably 
but it was presented as fact i mean I listened to it it’s he was saying it pretty much like this 
is how it is and he should have said according to this source or according to that source 
or according to my own sources he’s got them he doesn’t need to aggregate his his information 
and try to come up with something out of it by smashing it all together and and and trying to 
find uh a deeper meaning um so yeah that’s where it came off as as pretty dangerous and and it’s a 
Yeah you’re right it’s a lesson it’s a lesson for for all of us that just because it’s been reported 
out there um and then there’s that temptation to want to put your spin on it to make it your report 
or your information and uh anyway so I yeah I don’t think it was Adam Shfter being used by James 
Cook’s agents as a lot of people have surmised um so James Cook was out adam Shfter also called it 
uh termed it a dark cloud that could hang over the Bills throughout the season and and I don’t know 
if I would agree with it being a dark cloud but I do think it’s something it’s a cloudy situation i 
don’t think it’s settled just cuz James Cook came to mini camp and said “I like my money and 
that’s why it’s here.” Uh he still doesn’t   have the contract he wants he still hasn’t been 
shown the appreciation that he’s seeking and it seems to be in a good place right now but as the 
season goes along you know it could resurface as a potential fissure in the chemistry of the locker 
room well and as I was mentioning with Hard Knocks and that’s why I reached out to Herm Edwards who 
was the Kansas City Chiefs head coach in 2007 when they had two notable contract holdouts that went 
into their training camp that was portrayed on Hard Knocks and that was running back Larry 
Johnson and rookie receiver Dwayne Bo now you don’t have the rookie training camp holdouts 
anymore uh because the NFL has baked things into the collective bargaining agreement that makes it 
prohibitive for rookies to want to do that they’re   just slotted in at these different rates and the 
fines become um just too much to to to want to use that you you the rookies just don’t have the 
leverage that they used to back in 2007 when   Dwayne Bo was was exercising it um and so I talked 
to Herm Edwards about that experience and I also talked with former New York Jets general manager 
Mike Tannenbomb who one of the biggest contract holdouts of any type whether you’re on hard knocks 
or not was cornerback Derell Rivas first ballot Hall of Famer the best player on a team that had 
just reached the AFC Championship game and they needed that guy signed and happy and the Hard 
Knocks cameras being present it’s not zero it’s not nothing uh and of course both people said it 
really doesn’t affect how you want to do business because you have to hold true to what you believe 
in and what’s best for the team and the salary cap um but and this is the the quote that that 
Herm Edwards uh used that I thought was uh was uh notable is that in today’s media landscape 
there needs to be a bad guy for the for ratings purposes for disc even for discussion purposes to 
just to get you through an episode of First Take or Colin Coward’s show or you name it Jim Rome 
you friction you need a good guy and a bad guy you need to choose a side and they’re going to put 
and this is so Herm Edwards quote was “You got to put the black hat on somebody let’s put the black 
hat on this guy.” And he wasn’t necessarily saying   James Cook but it’s whoever you decide you’re 
going to put the black hat on and I think that when it comes to the Bills unlike a lot of teams 
I think everybody’s going to side on this one with with Brandon Bean like if this were the Sabres 
obviously everybody’s siding with the player uh and it depends on who your established good 
guy is so Brandon Bean is the established good guy therefore anybody who goes counter to Brandon 
Bean’s thought process or wishes becomes the bad guy so I think James Cook becomes the bad guy 
in this situation when usually it’s the player um or a lot of times it’s the player who uh people 
are like “Hey man give that guy what he deserves get it over with let’s move on let’s go win the 
Super Bowl.” Uh but when it comes to James Cook   I I see a lot of fans talking about “Well Ray Ray 
Davis can pick that up josh Allen more tush pushes we can pick up those 16 touchdowns somewhere.” Um 
I don’t think so and uh that’s another thing that I had in my my story regarding oh that I mean 
Ray Davis is going to be a hard knocks darling because of his origin story as a foster child his 
parents being incarcerated being an older rookie all of the different things that he’s done from a 
philanthropy standpoint big brothers big sisters uh what a triumphant story Ray Davis is so James 
Cook I think on Hard Knocks is it’s going to be bad guy James Cook good guy Ray Davis and the F I 
mean they NFL Films knows what it’s doing there’s a reason this show has been around for 25 years 
there’s a reason that NFL Films makes these these um has all these shows they keep adding these 
shows there’s an inseason version of this show   now there’s an offseason version of this show this 
is the established classic version of Hard Knocks of the training camp but there’s so much they 
keep anyways um they’re good at it they’re good at getting you to want to watch and I think James 
Cook is going to be one of the leading characters and beyond that into the season you know you 
mentioned Ray Davis and Josh Alen if the Bills don’t use James Cook quite as often on the goal 
line if he’s not approaching those 18 touchdowns again you know that can hurt his market value 
going into free agency or in trying to get a deal from the Bills a year from now i think that’s 
where the disharmony can come into play the fans   love Tai Johnson too let’s not forget him i I 
probably should have mentioned Ty Johnson in my story more but that’s another element to it of I 
think that we’ve seen the reaction to James Cook’s dissatisfaction of his contract is from the fans 
generally speaking is you’re not worth it yeah i mean I I think I’ve seen a lot of fans that do 
at least maybe early on that do think James Cook earned that you know that tremendous run for a 
touchdown in the AFC Championship game not the 15 million a year is what I’m saying sorry yeah 
maybe i mean there’s other players on the team   making 15 million a year i think there’s an idea 
that running backs aren’t worth paying on second contracts quite that much but I think in terms 
of what James Cook contributed to the Bills last season and the salary cap if you know if it was 
a equity based system based on production from the previous year you know I think James Cook has 
earned one of the higher contracts on the Bills you know I understand the uh you know salary cap 
allocation of resources to certain positions but the Bills did seem to make a priority and 
Brandon Bean will say at every opportunity how much they like to draft and develop and 
resign and keep their own players but that   doesn’t seem to apply to running backs 
no matter what the production level is yeah he has an aversion to paying running backs 
which is why he drafts them where he does and hasn’t really hasn’t really has he resigned a 
running back any I mean on smaller contracts tyson’s been here a couple times i guess I should 
say has he resigned any running back that he is   drafted over time well no devin Singleary they 
let him go zach Moss they didn’t give LSA McCoy the big contract and seemed rather eager to get 
out of the LSA McCoy big contract and yeah Zach Moss another one meanwhile Khalil Shakir Gregory 
Rouso Terrell Bernard Christian Benford am I missing anybody am I leaving anybody out draft 
picks who were extended this off season so yeah I could see where James Cook is in his feelings 
and I specifically asked him that like what is it about running backs in which you need to you know 
earn your money and a lot of people have made the comparison regarding uh his big brother Dalvin 
Cook who by the way is only 29 I think right or he was 29 his last season let me make sure I 
don’t put out some some bad info regarding Dvin Cook but a lot of people say well he learned this 
from they stay 29 forever every birthday beyond 29 is another 29th birthday right he’ll be uh he’ll 
be 30 in August so Dvin Cook is still 29 so Dvin Cook did hold out with the Minnesota Vikings or 
No no I take it back i take it back he let it be known that he wanted a new contract he threatened 
to hold out he ended up not holding out with the   Vikings so there was some contract discontent 
and a deal eventually was signed because he demanded it he raised his hand and said “I’m worth 
more give me more.” And so it’s easy to make the connection regarding Dvin Cook having done it 
successfully with the Minnesota Vikings as to   why James Cook would want to try to do the same 
but I think that one of the one of the points that needs to be emphasized isn’t just that Dvin 
Cook did that with the Minnesota Vikings it’s that Dvin Cook at 27 28 years old was considered 
washed up i mean James Cook is going to be 26 uh James Cook is going to be 26 in September james Cook’s going to be 26 in 
September so not only is it just Dvin Cook did this successfully my brother my big brother did 
this successfully with the Minnesota Vikings it’s   got to be look what’s happened to my big brother 
since scratching for jobs before he’s even 30 years old getting cut unable to get on the field 
people talking about how he’s lost it i mean this is what happens to running backs and it’s why 
Brandon Bean doesn’t want to pay him so you’re   dealing with a a general manager who says who’s 
thinking “Look yeah your big brother is a great example of why we don’t want to extend you.” And 
James Cook thinking “My big brother is the prime example of why I have to get what I’m owed now 
before it’s too late.” I don’t rookie contract be damned i know there’s the sentiment out there 
you got to go earn it go back out there and do   it again but at what point does James Cook have 
leverage or does he look when he’s 28 and he’s rushing for you know 400 yards a season with the 
with the Denver Broncos and he’s like damn I guess I should have fought what I was for what I was 
worth when I had the chance so you got to you got to understand where this guy’s coming from and not 
just hey go out there and do it again man and then you’ll be filthy rich and you won’t have to worry 
about it because teams will be vying for your   services if you do it again go out there and score 
even 12 touchdowns you’ll you’ll be richest beyond rich beyond your wildest dreams and then Yeah true 
or he could blow out his knee and that’s that so that’s what running backs kind of been forced 
to do and there is a little bit of the pendulum swinging back towards running backs we saw it 
with Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley doing what   they did record-breaking seasons with new teams 
they weren’t wanted by their previous teams or at least weren’t resigned by their previous teams 
and went out and did it so running backs are kind of coming back a little bit but not at one Bill’s 
drive you’re not going to convince Brandon Bean of   that it’ll be interesting to see what James Cook 
would get on the open market if the if the Bills would let him well they wouldn’t they wouldn’t 
let him but it would be interesting if he were   free agent this year uh what he would have gotten 
maybe not the 15 million but a hell of a lot more than he’s making now do we think there’s a number 
that the Bills are willing to pay him that they think is fair compensation uh it’s not 15 million 
a year but it’s something yeah i wonder if there is though i wonder if the Bills really just want 
to go cheap at the running back position no matter   what and in a way even though they like James 
Cook uh they kind of are maybe glad that he’s not willing to accept 12 or 13 million because that 
might be a little too rich for their blood uh at that position that’s what they say makes a great 
compromise right is if both sides are a little   uncomfortable and that would be probably the Bills 
thinking man we’re overpaying here i hope it works out a little bit we’re a little out of our comfort 
zone and James Cook thinking well I took less than   I wanted um I maybe I could have gotten more next 
year on the open market um but yeah there’s a number and and Brandon Bean has alluded to that 
he’s talked about how the sides are far apart so   they have had discussions it’s not as though the 
Bills are like “No play out this contract screw off you know you’re under contract show up do your 
job.” No they they’ve talked and Brandon Bean has said that every time that that when they do talk 
they’re just too far apart and too so far apart   that that there’s no sense in even continuing the 
discussions as far as Brandon Bean said back at uh the NFL owners meetings a couple of months 
ago now perhaps that was a that was a ploy to say that publicly and to maybe get James Cook’s 
representation to lower their asking price a little bit but he did say it publicly he did go 
there and um I don’t Random Bean doesn’t strike me as a liar i’ve never caught him lying to me 
before so if he’s going to say that publicly then I I think there’s there’s truth to it uh so James 
Cook shows up he says he’s going to show up to   training camp he did answer one question by saying 
“Yeah I’m there this is my team training camp i’m going to participate.” But when I followed up by 
saying about the possibility of a holdin he had a big smile on his face and he said “We’ll see man.” 
Uh he did so he did leave the door open to showing up on day one of training camp so that way he can 
get credited for his um acred season towards free agency because if he doesn’t show up on the first 
day of training camp there’s a mechanism that the   Bills can trigger within the CBA and he’s he 
would be a restricted free agent next year and not an unrestricted free agent so there’s that 
little wrinkle but that doesn’t mean he has to necessarily participate in the drills and the 
practices he could stand there with his hands on   his hips and and watch drills or maybe not even 
put his helmet on uh what else did we learn at uh at mini camp this week uh Jonah anything stood 
out to you i mean it is mini camp and we we spent a good chunk of time last week talking about how 
it’s kind of overrated um but we saw three days everybody seems healthy i mean Brandon Bean says 
let me let me uh focus that statement a little bit brandon Bean says that when training camp 
begins he expects everybody to be on the field   and practicing and that includes Maxwell Haristen 
the rookie quarterback who tweaked his hamstring this week Joey Bosa with the calf injury um so 
anyway that to me was all that was newsworthy yeah I mean I think there could be a small 
concern with Maxwell Harist it’s good timing   for an injury like that he now has five to 
six weeks to completely rest it and treat it uh it doesn’t seem like a major hamstring 
injury but if this was training camp preseason uh you take a week or two off you come back you 
tweak it again hamstring injuries can come and go and linger like that probably unfair to make this 
judgment right now but you know he had a shoulder   injury in his last year of college now a hamstring 
injury in his first off season with the Bills is there some durability concerns it would be you 
know unfair to make that judgment right away but you know getting some data points going towards 
that um but he was moving around pretty well on the sideline even though he didn’t practice on 
Thursday and it didn’t seem to be a significant uh injury it kind of maybe a tweak in the Bills 
just being extra careful there were a number of   players held out of practices or limited over the 
mini camp with what seemed to be minor injuries but the Bills didn’t want to push them at all at 
this time of year a player who’s not injured I   thought caught many of our eyes is Dalton Concade 
he battled through injuries at the last end of last season uh looked healthy and a lot closer 
to I think the player the Bills thought they were drafting and uh if not headed for a breakout 
season at least maybe redeeming himself after you know dropping that last pass in the last game 
do you think he could be unleashed this year i wonder I wonder if he really is that Pro Bowl 
caliber Travis Kelce type tight end to begin with uh but I do think now is the time healthy in his 
third year uh that you should see the first round caliber tight end that the Bills traded up in the 
first round for and if they don’t then I think you really got to be concerned i think the excuses 
are over and he looked that way in practice at   various times but it’s practice you know Josh 
Allen might be trying to build his confidence and looking for him a little more than some 
other people you know what I like that I saw   out of Daltton Concaid and a lot of people can 
poo poo the extracurricular stuff or the things that you see away from the field but what’s 
impressed me with Dalton Concaid the past few weeks is that he’s doing indepth interviews 
and he is talking to reporters and with the season that he had there’s a temptation I think 
for some depending on how you’re wired to just nope you know I it was an embarrassing end to the 
season last year his general manager and his head coach pretty much called him out the It’s not a 
crooked line to get to the dissatisfaction that the Bills front office and coaching staff had 
with Dalton Concincaid and uh Keon Coleman and their strength and conditioning coach being fired 
so Dalton Concaid and his the disappointment that the Bills had in him maybe got somebody lost lost 
somebody’s job uh and Dalton K so Dalton K’s got a lot to deal with answer for be sheepish about but 
he’s doing interviews he’s doing long interviews too so I I I commend him for that and that’s that 
shows that there’s a willingness to be accountable and again it doesn’t necessarily make him a great 
tight end but it at least shows a glimpse into the kind of guy that he is that he’s he’s facing 
this and seems to not be running from it i think the issue with Dalton Concade and maybe this is 
slightly unfair to him but is that you know he’s   not a bad player he hasn’t been a bust he’s maybe 
trending towards being a good player but he needs to be a great player he drafted in the first 
round as a tight end they moved up slightly   they already had a tight end that they were paying 
decent money and last year at the beginning of the year when presumably he was healthy he was okay 
he just hasn’t been a differencemaker enough and then when he got hurt you know Dawson Knox came 
in and made a few more plays and Dawson Knox is the guy they drafted later and some fans maybe 
think he’s expendable because of the contract   they’re paying him and having these two tight ends 
and supposedly maybe the best tight end combo in the league that hasn’t come to fruition yet the 
Bills don’t dominate and scare opponents with their multiple tight end sets and that needs to 
happen sooner than later or that was not a wise draft pick taking Daltton Concaid when they did 
uh anything else uh regarding on the field stuff at training camp jonah Dalton keon Coleman he was 
he seemed pretty frank when he spoke on Wednesday uh regarding how his when he takes a look 
at his tape it was [ __ ] i like that too um seems honest self-reflection i don’t think it 
was [ __ ] i mean obviously there’s he’s being a little hard on himself there were some 
things to like um well he’s I think he’s another player i saw him make some nice looking 
catches contested catches which is his strength uh I saw him miss a couple plays there was one 
deep one that looked like he might have dropped   the ball or Haristston might have broken that 
up actually that might have been at the OTAA last week um but we’re not really going to see 
this in practice we’ll see it more in the games he needs to be a dynamic receiver that uh gets 
open more than he had as a rookie and commands double teams and scares defenses to command to 
justify his draft position and it’s too early to give up on him but uh you know you need to 
see more of a star receiver quality and less of just being a good possession receiver 
which is what he showed glimpses of last year yeah the thing about that though and I was 
asked this in my most recent satchel let me uh h anything else come to mind while I’m looking up 
my satchel there’s a stat that I have regarding players who were drafted in the neighborhood that 
Keon Coleman was uh receivers who were drafted that way anyway I would say Joe Andre uh you know 
a year ago he was kind of a a cute story of a a young player a young local player from University 
of Buffalo in Lancaster that got the last roster spot out of the rookie camp and you know if he 
was worked really hard and tried his best he could maybe claim a spot on the practice squad 
now he seems pretty close to being entrenched   as a backup middle linebacker and core special 
teams player i I think most people projecting this roster have him on the roster when that was 
not the case a year ago he some injuries and a really strong preseason performance snuck him onto 
the 53 at the end of last training camp so for Western New York football and him and the Buffalo 
Joe story it seems like he’s going to be sticking around and part of the Bills and following that 
Cam Lewis Jammarcus Ingram where these guys come in and you don’t think much of them right away 
and then be they become you know long tenure Bills uh going forward we hearing anything about Shawn 
Dolac i haven’t really seen much of him Jonah but   I don’t know if maybe he’s been on your radar at 
all in the summer i have i read one thing and the quotes were not from a Rams writer they were from 
a Buffalo based writer really talking him up you I might take another look and see how that goes but 
I haven’t seen much but you we didn’t hear rave reviews of Joe Andre or even notice it ourselves 
a year ago at this time you know he was down on the third string pretty buried on the death chart 
going into training camp and it was after Balen   Spectre got hurt and Terrell Bernard got hurt and 
there was a preseason game where Andre started and made a ton of tackles and then I think proved his 
worth on special teams there was uh I’m forgetting his name but there was a veteran linebacker that 
was hurt all through training camp last year and   didn’t really get to uh keep Joe Andre from taking 
some of those snaps uh and Joe Andre absolutely earned his spot on the team and earned his role 
with the team but it took several veteran injuries I think for him to get those opportunities and 
Shawn Doolak might be in a similar position out there with the Rams yeah and you’re right uh we’re 
not going to hear any coverage of Shawn Dolac unless he were in Buffalo i mean that’s not a guy 
that gets covered at training camp he’s an un an undrafted rookie from a Mid-American Conference 
College yeah the That’s true uh so I should have thought of that um you might see something about 
him um in preseason you know guys like him are going to play extensively in the second half of 
preseason games and especially that last preseason   game and you know if he makes some plays you know 
he could be another Joe Andrea out with that team but I think that’s when you’ll start to see things 
and hear things and notice whether he’s making his way as an NFL player so I found those stats that 
I looked up regarding Keon Coleman and uh I went back to uh NFL’s 2002 realignment which would 
also have the the right number of slots in the draft so you can’t just say first round second 
round or you know so you I I went with players   who were taken from 28th to 35th overall receivers 
taken from 28th to 35th overall the reason I chose 28th is because that’s the draft slot that the 
Bills had that they traded out of and of course the Chiefs used 28 to take Xavier Worthy and 
I went with 35 because I thought it provided a little wiggle room without getting too far away 
from Coleman’s slot so you didn’t want to water it down with you know some you know so I went 
I went two I thought 28 to 35 was a good good sweet spot uh and I stopped at uh the year 2022 
i didn’t want to include the Lad Macy’s and the Xavier Worthies because they haven’t played very 
long so I went with guys who could have played you know a few years this is the average NFL game 
by a receiver who was drafted between 28 and 35 over a two decade span during the NFL’s current 
realignment the way the divisions are the draft slots all that this is the way it’s been for 20 
years the average NFL game five targets three catches 44 yards,.3 touchdowns that’s the average 
game the average NFL season for a receiver taken uh in that spot 13 games a year meaning they 
miss a little time 35 catches 471 yards three touchdowns their average NFL career 77 games 
203 catches for 2,691 yards and 15 touchdowns so the you know okay that receiver like it it 
gets skewed because that receiver was taken with a kind of a first round pick he came in with 
Stfan Diggs leaving he was considered the Stfan Diggs replacement so there’s added emphasis on him 
on Keon Coleman but this player historically is not a star this this player historically is Elijah 
Moore who the Bills signed who’s on his third team uh in just a few years in the league elijah 
Moore is about what Ke that’s the Keon Coleman   neighborhood the top five careers among the 
21 receivers in that group are not exactly uh a list of uh future gold jackets jabar Gaffne 
Kenny Britt Hakee Nicks T higgins of course T higgins that’s great and Michael Pikman uh the 
10th greatest career of a player of a receiver drafted in that in that neighborhood uh was 
Kelvin Benjamin so Keon Coleman the idea of Keon Coleman needing to carry the receiver room 
probably is going to disappoint you as a Bills fan he’s probably not going to be the ace wide 
receiver one all that stuff uh you know fantasy draft i mean how many how many team how many 
leagues are going to have Keon Coleman taken in their in their fantasy drafts um certainly not 
early i’m going to take them in my work league well that’s because you take all Bills as a lark 
how’ you do last year by the way last place what tell me again though remind me of that they’re 
not all active they can be former Bills right i take as many active Bills as I can and yeah I took 
Devin Singleary Zack Moss Gabe Davis Bill out the roster all right had trouble trading for a Mari 
Cooper mid-season nobody wanted to give him up mari Cooper out of work unsigned free agent the 
guys who the guys who Brandon Bean have let go are not employed right now right von Miller 
Amari Cooper there’s somebody else oh um Rul Douglas russell Douglas yeah three and then you 
can even go back a year they got Gabe Davis you want to go back a couple years and whoever was 
last year’s version of Billy Buffalo right they’re looking for a new Billy Buffalo um Stefon Diggs 
just a couple of weeks ago was reportedly on the brink of being a free agent again uh with his uh 
boating exploits gabe Davis is he still unsigned i said Gabe Davis oh okay sorry yeah he is still 
unsigned um one quick point on Keon Coleman and it’s connected to the point about Dalton Concade 
i just think yeah guys picked later in the first round aren’t as likely to hit as star players and 
he broke down very well why at the wide receiver that’s a riskier proposition but in consecutive 
years the Bills not getting uh first round value out of Dalton Concade Keon Coleman yet uh Kyrie 
Elim before that drafting these positions for need when there might have been other good players 
at other positions uh you just can’t do that year after year so it might be maybe a little unfair 
to Keon Coleman or Dalton Concaid individually to say they have to be Pro Bowl caliber players but 
the Bills need more of these first round picks to hit there’s some pressure on Maxwell Harrison 
in the same boat or it’s just not they’re not replenishing the talent well enough and you know 
overemphasizing positions of need instead of the best player available in those drafts year after 
year and that eventually uh turns into a problem uh you don’t have to hit on that every year 
but you do sometimes speaking of drafts and Bill’s mini camp there were some special guests 
on Wednesday kim Pagula was there by the way she was watching um I did not see her there but I 
heard that she was there and uh that’s was good to good to hear that she’s around One Bill’s Drive 
but Kevin Adams and Sabers senior advisor Jarmmo Keolinan were checking out the facility because 
the Sabres are going to use the Bills draft room when the NHL draft takes place June 2728 so that’s 
in a couple of weeks and um the NHL draft usually is at a single location all the teams migrate 
to one local at an NHL arena they are on the arena floor with their little groups around the 
table well the NHL this year is trying the NFL’s method where you stay at your own facility and 
the NHL and the NBA does it this way too right um you stay at your own compound and you can have 
your discussions without anybody overhearing you and you can have your privacy and run your 
tables and have your computers and whatever   so uh two points I guess to make about this so the 
Sabres don’t have a place I guess so they’re going to use the Bills the Bills are used to having 
a a draft room and Synergies Pagula owned teams um I had a when when it was revealed that the 
the Sabres were going to be using the Bills uh headquarters for this I had a couple of 
readers reach out to me and remind me of the story that was written in 2020 uh regarding Pagula 
Sports and Entertainment the toxic culture uh when a bunch of people had been laid off we were 
entering COVID around that time but the Pagoulas had already told employees long before the word CO 
entered our daily vernacular months before CO was uh a problem in the United States that there was 
going to be some belt tightening and that the Pagoulas uh needed to maintain their lifestyle 
while they were building their super yacht and   of course you know the story people who familiar 
with my work know that story it still gets brought up to me all the time by members especially when 
somebody joins a Pagoula organization and I have a discussion with somebody uh you know an executive 
an executive vice president COO uh you know that that’s brought up you know the story and um within 
that story you know you know the Bills were coming off a playoff season you know Josh Allen full 
swing they they coming off an AFC East title And you know the Bills are humming the NFL i 
mean you roll out of bed with a profit in the NFL and the Bills are winning and they have a great 
quarterback and they have continuity and stability at general manager and head coach and they finally 
after 17 years of no playoffs they kind of figured their their stuff out meanwhile the Sabres were 
flailing away and PSSE and their you know the 716 restaurant was closing down and everybody’s 
getting laid off and all these boutique companies uh you know the healthy scratch that Jesse 
and and uh um Kelly Pagoula were running and all the little boot with businesses over 
there at Harbor Center were getting shuttered   and you know they’re selling off their Tim 
Hortons and they’re selling all these things um so I did a story on on the toxic the toxicity 
that the employees were feeling and here is what a Bill’s source told me anonymously for fear 
of retribution being fired you know having trouble getting work he was talking about the 
Bills culture now that things are we’re we’re humming and he says the culture is legitimate 
whatever’s going on with the Sabres I don’t care that’s their problem their [ __ ] better 
not affect what we built and I had a few people reach out to me thinking I wonder what the 
Bills think of the Sabres coming over now I the reason I bring is because I think you know 
that was five years ago pete Guelli as the COO now they’ve been really leaning into different 
things of their synergies i keep using that word but you know their their partnerships their their 
brotherhood whatever it’s going to be sisterhood and okay it just doesn’t seem as bad as but 
it it people remember you know that the and the Bills are have been cognizant of that there 
are people still in that building who are like “Leave us alone sabres go figure your [ __ ] out 
somewhere.” But I think using their facility from the Bill standpoint is probably not considered 
any great sin however you made a great point Jonah uh we were talking about this before we hit the 
record button and your point was well I’ve heard this complaint that I don’t know if I agree with 
but I think there’s a vein of truth to it that   it does look a little small time it looks like the 
Sabres don’t have the resources and the facilities and the means to have their own war room and run 
the draft from Key Bank Center or Harbor Center uh in ways that all of the other 29 or 31 NHL 
clubs are going to do i don’t think that’s the case i think we’ve seen it in beyond the blue and 
gold on trade deadline or free agency days that they do have something that looks like a war room 
and I think there’s a lot of space in the arena   and harbor center where they could make it work 
um it does feed the perception maybe that uh the Savers are less than the Bills and don’t have the 
same resources as the Bills and need to rely on this joint ownership and the team president that 
oversees both teams to execute the draft uh you could look at it that way i’m not sure I’m taking 
that position but I think that some Sabers It does look that way it does sometimes look it does 
look that way in some ways and the Sabres fans   that want it to look that way that don’t that 
resent a little bit of the prioritization that that’s in play with you know Matthew Fairburn’s 
hamster wheel story laid that out that uh since Pagoula bought the Bills it’s been a little bit 
different uh being involved with the Sabres and his time and attention and you know if you read 
some of the quotes from Kevin Adams in the press releases it does seem like this idea came from 
Terry Pigoula and he wants to do the draft where he’s comfortable doing it uh in the Bills war 
room and it’s probably nicer and more space and cooler uh but I don’t know why it’s necessary 
i don’t know why they need the state-of-the-art televisions or how that’s going to help them 
draft better or execute their draft strategy better being in the Bills facility as opposed to 
you know where they work every other day of the year every other week of the year and think about 
these optics too Jonah the facilities you know we’re talking about Orchard Park one Bill’s Drive 
versus Key Bank Center and Harbor Center you have in Orchard Park all that money the public money 
and the pagoula money being built or put into that stadium that’s being built across Abbott Road but 
you also have this facility that the Sabres are going to be using out there in Orchard Park the 
headquarters the training facility you know the   wait room that glass enclosed structure that you 
see when you pull into the parking lot you know the the the ADP pro what I don’t even know if 
it’s it’s not ADPRO anymore because they took   that signage down i don’t know the field house 
that whole thing and the money that’s been put into it from the pagulas out of their own pocket 
and also public money strike that against Key Bank Center which fans especially Sabres fans look at 
as falling apart for years and years and years and yeah they put a new roof on it they put up a new 
scoreboard and those are the things that you’re   going to hang the banners on for the last 14 years 
of them not making the playoffs fans really but there is a disparity between shiny bills the 
bills are nice and shiny and the Sabers kind of falling apart so hey we need to go you know the 
power’s out you know the uh we the gen the power’s out the generator’s broken downtown uh we’re going 
to go stay with uh stay with the in-laws until uh until uh Niagara Mohawk can come and uh and turn 
the power back on down the street uh we want some hot water and some electricity and uh you know 
be able to run run the heat while we sleep and not have to put a hat on uh Niagara Mohawk that 
dates me uh what national F Niagara what is Wait what is it what’s the electrical niagara [ __ ] 
i’m having a brain cramp national fuel national National Fuel is gas national grid national grid 
sorry I got Niagara niagara Mohawk in my head and I couldn’t get rid of it i’m looking to see if 
the arena’s booked for those days and if maybe that’s a factor and I’m struggling to get this 
to work i mean it does look like Kelsey Bellerini is playing June 28th uh at night well isn’t she a 
Pigula employee is she black Rockck Entertainment but that’s at night and then that’s at the 
Saturday of the draft where it’s in the morning   and the first round is the night before so I don’t 
know if that’s really a direct conflict sometimes acts come in and really take over the arena 
space not so sure that’s what’s going on here well again it’s the obvious we’re talking about 
i I like the room that we’ll be in covering the draft i mean what I’m comparing it to also is 
having to cover NHL drafts from a distance in the past I didn’t travel to Vegas or Nashville 
or any of these things so now you get live access to Kevin Adams after the rounds and uh you 
know don’t have to cover it remotely uh the thing that sucks from a coverage standpoint of 
covering it well the what you get from covering   it remotely now of course you you’ll cover it you 
wouldn’t go to St louis or wherever for the draft um but the thing that’s great for the media that 
that does attend the draft is you get everybody so you see Ken Holland walking around you’ll 
see you know um all the draft picks for your notebook you know you can interview anybody you 
can interview the Edmonton Oilers first round   pick you can interview the you know the the the 
LA Kings first it doesn’t matter and then all the general managers are there and you get chances to 
a chance to get insight and information that is R and wide you’re not just stuck talking to just 
the Bills people yeah and the players that get   drafted the players that get drafted in the early 
rounds are generally there and you get scrums with them you know I covered the draft when it was in 
Buffalo i understand that aspect of it and I think I’ve heard or or I don’t know if I’ve read this 
but I think I’ heard that the NHL might go back to the centralized draft a year from now and this 
could be a one-year experiment and maybe that’s   maybe it’s cool that the Sabres are trying this 
out at the Bills facility and it’s kind of a fun little you know in a way maybe it looks small time 
in one perspective one prison that you look at it but maybe it looks like the Sabres do have access 
to these facilities that other NHL teams don’t and and that’s a an advantage that they have over 
the rest of the league they have they have for for years um anyway anything else we need to get 
to Jonah before we wrap it up uh Max Sher starting for the Bison tonight you excited about that i am 
not okay I might check that out christian Benford throwing out the first pitch we’ll see who’s 
better appreciate it or Max uh some local teams playing in the state playoffs nba player doing a 
clinic in Buffalo tomorrow jamal Shed where’s that that’s at Enterprise Charter School on Oak Street 
in Buffalo i do think registration’s closed but it’s you know kind of neat free clinic for local 
basketball players an NBA player who’s not from Buffalo coming in here to do that is somewhat 
notable what’s the hook the hook I believe is uh you know a connection to friend of the show 
Napoleon Kerber who from Buffalo and you know marketing representative for Buffalo Bills players 
and Buffalo athletes when he lived here and has   since moved to Houston and represents different 
players in different leagues on the national level and I think Jamal Shed is doing these 
type of clinics in various cities and Buffalo got on the list because of that local connection 
mo Badger one of the singing cops is involved as kind of the local liaison for this i don’t know 
why the singing cop just that phrase the singing cops makes me laugh i don’t know why it’s what 
they’re called what they do but the singing cops i don’t know it just puts a sm I guess it doesn’t 
make me laugh it puts a smile on my face and there   is an interesting visual with those guys too when 
they do sing you know the height discrepancy and but they’re great i’m not I’m not poking fun and 
I just it makes me smile mo Badger sings national anthems at a lot of basketball games that I cover 
and it’s always a uh you know good performance um I wonder if he pulls you over does he sing 
your charges and the reasons why you got stopped i’d like that i’m going I’m going to try to make 
that happen uh Jonah thanks for this and thanks to everybody out there for listening and for watching 
uh your uh support keeps this show alive please subscribe uh comment we get more and more comments 
i’m enjoying the comments uh for all you out there who’ve made it this far who do comment thank you 
for commenting there’s a bunch of We’re getting   some regulars jonah you don’t get in there too 
much but I get in there and and comment well I’m not a YouTube commentator so maybe I have to get 
that people have things to say about you and to you though like they they enjoy you they enjoy 
you on the show i should get involved with that   i when people tweet at us or ask us questions on 
Twitter I do engage with that um so maybe I’ll try to get on the YouTube i don’t think I’ve ever left 
a YouTube comment on any YouTube video ever i know you can do that but it’s just not in my uh skill 
set thanks to everybody out there for listening on Spotify Amazon iTunes uh we cracked a couple of 
national rankings recently i I hesitate to bring them up because I don’t know how legitimate they 
are but we we were in the top 100 of sports radio uh podcasts and top I think we ranked 21 in 
sports journalism podcast and that’s I don’t know if that’s weekly or what i need to look 
but it was nice i think we take it we’re a top   100 podcast we’re maybe not a consensus top 100 
podcast but we have been ranked in at least one of the ranking systems that’s right i’ll take it 
jonah thank you thanks to everybody out there for checking out Tim Graham and friends brought 
to you by CTBK CPAs and Business Consultants   the financial needs of a business go beyond tax 
and attest services that’s why CTBK goes beyond accounting services and offers outsource solutions 
through their affiliation with CFO Solutions Plus these additional services allow clients to 
focus on their operational and long-term   strategic goals trust CTBK’s outsource 
solutions to provide cost-effective value added financial services tailored to your 
company’s needs call CTBK at 716-6302400 again 716-630-2400 or go to ctbk.com to 
learn more about CTBK’s outsourced solutions

“Tim Graham And Friends” brought to you by CTBK reviews Bills minicamp storylines, most notably James Cook, Keon Coleman and Dalton Kincaid. Plus, why are the Sabres’ using the Bills’ facilities for the NHL Draft?