This Could Be BAD News for the Bills… Hairston Injury Update

Good morning party people. Welcome to another edition of the Dom Mafia Report. Man, Max Haristen. What the hell is going on with our first round draft pick that was seen down on the field for a significant amount of time yesterday during practice? We are going to unpack everything. We are going to unpack everything that we know. I’m also going to look at some conversations I have had separately or offscreen with thigh do so I can at least give you somewhat expectations of what we finally hear from Shawn McDermott Brandon Bean/ whoever tomorrow when practice ends up picking back up. But I mean, hell, dude, you hate to see it. If each and every single one of you have been joining my live play-by-play training camp episodes, you’ll probably notice that a big trend for the Buffalo Bills and also the rest of the NFL has been injuries, injuries, injuries, injuries. And I like to remind everybody that it’s tough because we’re just operating off of recency bias. We’re acting like this is something or something unique to 2025 only. Unfortunately, it is just it’s part of the game when it comes into this time of the year. Like have a bunch of players that are coming off of an off season and you can prepare as much as humanly possible leading up into this time, but it’s very difficult to keep your bodies in playing shape. So, unfortunately, things like this do happen. But, I think we heard some sort of optimistic news. We are going to be taking a look at that. We’re also going to be taking a look at a rumor that is circulating around the internet right now where James Cook allegedly wants the same money as Saquon Barkley. So stick around folks and welcome to another edition of the Don Mafia Report. Guys, as you are coming in, please do me a favor. Hit that thumbs up sign. Man, we have been having an average of like 250 to 300 people watching us each and every single morning since I have shifted over to my 9:00 a.m. start time. How we accomplished that was everybody pulling their weight, everybody hitting that thumbs up sign. So, go on ahead, guys. Let’s run this up. Currently, we have 148 people watching, 89 on YouTube, 52 on X. There should be 89 like buttons hit. Let’s pump that out to the YouTube universe. As many of you know, I am absolutely nosy. So, do me a favor, tune in and let me know where are you tuning in from. Where are you located? I want to see how far Bill’s Mafia truly ends up extending. We are building a family here and uh we want to make sure that all of us are uh aware, all right, that Bill’s Mafia is truly all over the world. Real Bill P, I got to tell you, real Bill P is indeed the man, all right? like he has just discovered my channel a couple of days ago. He has been a great supporter thus far. Bill, we appreciate you. And he loves Bob, man. Bob has been starting to get some beatdowns. Uh especially with all of this injury news that has been occurring in Buffalo. Uh but that is interesting. Good morning, Dan. Khalil Shakir is in the chat, ladies and gents. Dan, you’re here. Good morning, John Mitchell. Hope all is well, my friend. He’s located on the West Coast, 5:30 in the morning. And he said, “Dan, you are up and you’re still giving us Bill’s content.” Absolutely right, my friend. Monday through Friday at 9:00 am EST. That is where you will find me. Beyman 95, man. Mod of the year. Love Beanie. What’s going on, man? Hope all is well. Hope you’re living, man. Good morning, Dan the man. Good morning, Dan. How are you? All right, let’s get into this roll call, folks. Do not be shy. I am talking about the lurkers in the chat who just like to use me as a radio station or a podcast. Feel free, let yourself be known in the chat. Rochester, New York is in the building. Utah is in the building. Jr., what’s going on, man? We got Calgary. We have Memphis, Tennessee. Ice Reaper Frost, what’s going on, my friend? We have Buffalo, fool. Relax, fool. We have Wilmington, North Carolina. Uh, we have Bay, Louisiana is in the building. Chattanooga is in the building. Geneva, New York, Buffalo, Minnesota, Saratoga, New York. Is there any Max updates? I’ll tell you what, we are about to unpack that adnauseium on today’s episode. Rochester, New York, working and having you on earbuds to make the morning go by quicker. Thanks for all you do. Go Bills. Jimbo, man, I appreciate that and I hope you have a great day at work and I hope I’m able to make this workday go by a little faster for you today. We have Albon, New York, Port Charlotte, Florida, Apollo Beach, Florida, Syracuse, New York. We have Myrtle Beach. Don, what’s going on, man? I lived in Myrtle Beach for quite some time, my friend. So, I’m sure we probably ran into each other at a Bill’s Backer Bar at one point. We have Orchard Park is in the building. Fyville, Tennessee, New Brunswick, New Jersey. West Cliff, Colorado. What’s up, Dan? We have Orlando, Florida in the building. Wyoming. Beautiful state in this country, baby. We have Palm Coast. All right, let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about it, folks. We heard some news yesterday that I feel like no Bills fans particularly want to see. And it had everything to do uh with our good friend Maxwell Haristen. As many of you remember, I’m going to go on ahead and get this locked and loaded for us. At the very beginning of practice, we saw this video circulating on the internet with Max Haristen on the ground. And uh we ended up hearing several updates, a lot of speculation, and I got to tell you what, we can go on ahead and play this so we can get a good understanding. He was probably on the ground for about a minute to a minute and a half. And I got to tell you what is making me nervous is that we have yet to hear an update. This happened close to 24 hours ago. So I want to say this happened within the first 15 to 20 minutes of practice and still nothing. Haven’t heard from the coaches. Have not heard from the organization. Have not heard from Adam Shfter. And why this makes me nervous is for one main reason. You look at how injuries are typically announced. Yesterday, the Baltimore Ravens saw Isaiah likely go down. He was carded off of the field. And we heard an update, I’d say a half hour later where John Harbaugh hit the podium or we heard from the Baltimore Ravens organization that all Isaiah likely had was a rolled ankle and he should be out for a couple of weeks. We’ve also heard of these ACL tears, so announced relatively quick as well. Normally, the more significant the injury is, it takes a bit of time before we learn anything. And a lot of people will watch this video and say, “Hey, well, you know what? He was walking off with slight assistance from our strength and conditioning coach, so he has to be okay. There’s no way that it could be an ACL.” That’s not necessarily the case. I have seen several players walk off of the field, sometimes even by themselves. It just depends on what grade of an ACL injury it truly is. And that’s based off of like what we hear from thigh doctor from from what we hear from various medical experts uh right around the corner. But it’s it’s less than ideal for the guy. It really really is. And what added a cherry on top was starting to hear some of his teammates sentiments. Now remember, this injury was not contact. This was a non-cont injury that occurred on the field yesterday. And when I ultimately end up hearing players sound like this talking about like this that specific event, it’s less than ideal. Let’s hear what Christian Benford had to say directly after practice. upset. Um cuz it’s know somebody that’s like a pure hearty kid. Um somebody that you work with like off the field so much, you put in so much time with them and then they fall like they f like that. Something happen to them. You never pray for you never want that to happen. You never want to see that happen. You don’t work. You don’t even pray on your worst enemies. You know what I’m saying? And saying that and that’s my brother. You should know like how I feel about that. Sick about that. Even any of them DBs felt like I’ve been sick because we put so much time in and coming from Max that he’s such a purearted kid. Like he’s a great kid. You know what I’m saying? Something like that. Dang. What’s going on that only him and God know about? You know what I’m saying? God causes to happen. So when I hear players talking about how great of a person that their teammate is and how bad they feel, it’s typically not a good sign. It’s typically not a good sign. We heard from Taran Johnson as well as he described it as a freak accident and it sucks, right? Because again, this is adding to the narrative. And by the way, if anybody in here, I saw a couple of people on Axe sound off when this injury occurred. People were like, “Oh my god, here comes Brandon Bean with his first round picks again, drafting all these injuryprone players.” First off, I would like to say I’d probably hold that back. I’d probably hold that back. Max Harrison has had zero history of any sort of knee issues, of any lower leg sort of issues in his entire career in college. I do want to say it had something to do with his shoulder, but don’t blame Brandon Bean for this. Do not blame Brandon Bean for this. It was just yet again another freak accident that occurred on field and unfortunately it is something that a lot of football organizations need to. We have Ravens Fan for Life coming in saying I hate to see this but non- contact is never good. You’re right, man. You’re right. And then we wish nothing but the best for Isaiah likely as well. It’s good to hear that he should be back by week one uh with a fractured foot, but still waiting patiently. One would assume we should be able to hear something from the young man, but a lot of people are feeling encouraged largely because he hit his Instagram story yesterday and we’re all speculating here. But Max Haristen himself posted this on his Instagram story late last night where he ultimately said, “I am beyond blessed. Thank you, God.” So, what does this mean? Does this mean that the injury is not nearly as bad as we are anticipating, as we are speculating on this stream right now, or is this a young man that has just accepted the facts that he will be missing the entirety of the first season? Um, I don’t know. It’s it’s speculation thus far. So, on this stream while I’m going to manifest that he is okay. And while I’m going to manifest, hey, for all we know, it is a high ankle sprain and we’ll see him on week two, week three. Or maybe he just sprained his ACL, like he slightly aggravated it. It’s not a complete tear and we’ll see him about week five, week six. I don’t think it’s the end of the world. I don’t think it’s the end of the world whatsoever because based off of what we have been seeing from Maxwell Haristen for the p first six to seven practices, it doesn’t sound like he was running away with the starting CB2 responsibilities. In fact, ironically enough, it’s all been Trey White. We have been hearing nothing but positives from Tradavius White being able to fill in on this CB2 position so far. And if training camp were to end today or if yesterday was the last practice, even if Max Haristen did not get hurt in the first place, I feel like everything was trending that Tradavius White was going to be named the CB2. A lot can happen, especially based off of preseason performances, but it still sucks not to have him because we drafted them for one reason and one reason only, right? This team is predominantly a zone defense and we needed a guy that could theoretically go stride for strride with some of the fastest wide receivers in the NFL. Now, imagining a world where Maxwell Haristen is not on this team and he is out for the season. Again, I had a pretty good understanding that Trey White, based off of context clues, was going to be getting the nod at least toward the beginning of the season. We no longer have that speed in the secondary. And maybe outside of a couple of examples where players were taking advantage of said secondary, which there is zero proof of that last year. In fact, while Buffalo ultimately ended up leading by a significant margin in turnover differential last year, all of that production is returning to the Buffalo Bills this year. So, Maxwell Harist, we are not necessarily replacing any production from the turnover side of things. We still have Taran Johnson. We still have Christian Benford. And all we need to do is just replace what Raul Douglas brought out on the field for us last year, which I have to tell you, as far as Rul Douglas is concerned, he made zero turnovers. So, it’s not particularly the end of the world, but I don’t know. So, I feel like at this point, uh, we just need to go on ahead and just hope for the best. And I would anticipate that we probably will be hearing something today or not unless Shawn McDerman and the Buffalo Bills organization would just like to um sort of make a sweat for one more day leading up into practice tomorrow. But uh regardless, we will be having these said conversations. Guys, 195 of you are currently watching right now. All right. As many of you know, we have been having about 250 to 300 people in this live stream each and every single day. So, do me a favor, guys. Hit that thumbs up sign. If there is 537 of you in total, we should have 537 like buttons. Hit 193 on YouTube specifically. Hit that thumbs up sign. Let’s lock in. And I got to tell you what, my favorite time of the day, we are going to be welcoming. So, we are going to be welcoming on some callers today for the show this morning. It So, it’s called the Garage Beer Hotline, folks. Thanks to Garage Beer, our proud sponsor of 2025, they have allowed us to implement a call-in line for anybody that has something that they would like to get off of their chest this morning. It can be pertaining to the Maxwell Haristston injury. It could be pertaining to anything else that is on your mind. So, Bill’s Mafia, I am here for you today. Feel free to call in and tell me exactly what is on your mind. Link is pinned at the top of this chat. Smash that like button and let’s lock in. Why be afraid of losing Harrison when we have Dane Jackson. So, I’ll tell you what, man. That certainly makes a path for Dane Jackson and Dorian Strong to make this team. say that we’re just anticipating the worst and obviously we are hoping for the best. We are anticipating the worst. I think that’s something that like we can really uh sort of trust, but this ultimately ends up giving this Buffalo Bills team a question mark at what the depth is going to look like for this quarterback room. Leading up into camp, we all thought that it was going to be either Dane Jackson or Dorian Strong. And from what I understand, Strong has been making the most of his opportunities while he has been running with the twos and the threes. So maybe now Strong and maybe now Dane Jackson are also automatically cemented into this organization. But again, like I said, what we’re doing is preparing for the worst here. We are still obviously hoping for the best. Any work lurkers today? Big Daddy D is coming on in and he is wondering if anybody is listening to the show at work. Let’s see. We have New Hampshire is in the building. Uh, we have Lumberton, Texas. Let’s go, Buffalo. Look at that, man. Guys, listen, as you are coming in, don’t be shy. Let me know where you are tuning in from. Jeff Mayar is in the building. Dane has played quality reps for this team before. He’s not elite at all, but he has experience and he is familiar with the Shawn McDermott system. I don’t buy into the fact that he got traded over to Carolina and did not have a good season by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m refusing to believe that he cannot bring some sort of production into Shawn McDermott being reunited with this defensive scheme once again. So, you and I share the exact same sentiment. We don’t need our depth players to be 95 overalls on Madden. And that’s the best metaphor I can think of or that’s the best analogy that I can think of. But we do need to have them have that base of execution when their number is called. And that’s just basically how it is. Guys, 212 of you are currently rocking with me on YouTube right now. Again, I do want to remind everybody that the Garage Beer hotline is live in the chat. So, say, for example, that you would like to call in, do not be shy. Feel free to uh so roll in, say what you have to say, let me know what’s on your mind. Burn up a question for me. The garage beer hotline is wide open. Waiting for my friends to come on in. What was Dorian Strong’s 40 time? I would say uh was lock step in with the vast majority of the corners we have on the roster already. He’s not very fast. 445 say that I remember correctly. It’s It’s nowhere near as fast as Maxwell Harist. Feather has come in. Ideally, Dorian Strong pans out. Look at what happened the last time we drafted Elum and we ended up getting Benford. I love the optimistic energy. I really, really do. But I do think the Christian Benford pick was a bit of an anomaly. I would be pleased if that happens again, but I don’t know. All right, we have our first caller of the day, Matthew. What’s on your mind, brother? Talk to me. Morning, Dan. Good morning, man. How you doing? How you feeling? Uh, just join. So, what’s the update on Harrison? Max Harrison, man. So, we ultimately ended up seeing him post something on his Instagram story late last night, which should make a lot of us optimistic. He said he is beyond blessed. Thank you, God. So, that could mean one of two things. number one that his injury is nowhere near as serious as we think or he has accepted that he is going to miss the entirety of his first year in the NFL. So, uh right now we are just living in a world of speculation waiting for the official announcement which I’d anticipate we’d hear today or later today. Do we know what he might have heard? It’s tough to say. It’s definitely a lower leg. Uh many are expecting the worst and saying that it is a knee injury. Uh whether or not it’s ACL, it’s MCL. Um yeah, it’s it’s tough. I have still yet to speak to thigh doctor who was supposed to come on the show last night, but we had a scheduling conflict. Hopefully say that we don’t hear anything by 4 or 5:00 p.m. tonight. I’m going to have him on and get his speculation, but we’re just gonna have to wait. I see. I see. It sucks that we are, but I mean, what can you do? Yeah. I mean, he was looking good and like Well, so I look at it this way, right? Say that training camp were to end yesterday, I think it’s pretty clear that Tradavius White would have gotten the nod for the CB2, at least toward the beginning of the season. And granted, like he could like really catch speed in camp and he could have had a crazy performance in one of the preseason games and he could have eclipsed whites. But um say that it’s a sprained ACL or a sprained MCL. Maybe for example, we are going to be missing him for about four to five games. It’s it’s not even so much this, right? since he’s a rookie, say that he even has sprained his MCL and he’s only set to miss four weeks. The big issue for me is that he’s going to follow the exact same road as Cole Bishop followed last year, right? He’s missing these very important reps in training camp. Shawn McDermott is not going to trust him. Even if he is out for the first four to five games, Shawn McDermott’s likely not going to trust him to go out there. Maybe we start to see that trust by like week 10 or week 11. But that’s exactly what happened with Cole Bishop last year. He got hurt training camp. He came back week five, week six, got absolutely burned by Nico Collins versus Houston. Shawn McDermott lost trust in him. And we didn’t see Cole out there for many significant reps. So, we’ll see. Best case scenario, maybe it’s a low ankle sprain and they’re just making us sweat. It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility, but here we are. Yeah. I mean, I was about to make that Cole Bishop analogy, but like then he beat me do it. Yeah, dude. Dude, it is like say that he was a vet and say that he sprains something or whatnot. Like he would be back week four and then Shawn would throw him in there immediately. But now that he’s going to be missing some significant time at training camp, this slows down his development so much. He’s not going to be a first year contributor for us. And that’s just going off of how Shawn McDermott has handled these situations in the past. But then again, it’s really not a bad thing because so when you look at the Buffalo Bills secondary, we were number one in turnover differential last year. And right out of Max Harrison. Yeah. So without Max Harist, all of the players that generated those numbers to make us number one in turnover differential, all of them are still on this defense. All of them are. So Max Harrison was really just so an additional cherry on top or so a new weapon that we were trying to add to look after speed in case we ended up losing some starters. So it’s not a massive effect in the Buffalo Bills. I don’t think that him being out for a significant amount of time or him likely not going to be a day one contributor going into 2025 is going to change my record prediction or anything. It’s not changing sort of how I look at how the Bills are going to perform. But it sucks, dude. It sucks for sure. I know. I’ll leave you to it, Dan. Have a good one. Yeah. Well, hey, Matthew, I appreciate that. But we have a lot of callers backstage, man. Shout out to everybody in here. Let me go grab a water real fast, folks. I will be right back. San Pelgro in the chat, ladies and gentlemen. Some sparkling water. 815 of you rocking with me in the chat right now, folks. 227 of you are on YouTube hanging out today. Highly recommend, guys, do me a favor. I just checked and how it looks where we are currently sitting. We are sitting at 80, no, excuse me, 120 like buttons, folks. 223 of you in here. Let’s pump this up to 223 thumbs up signs. We are building hopefully one of the most dedicated and loving audiences on the internet with Bills fans, with NFL fans. So, help me accomplish our goal here and grow our family even more. We have Julian backstage. What’s on your mind, Julian? And welcome to the Garage Beer Hotline. Oh, uh, what’s up, Dan? Uh, I’m just going to say I’m a really huge fan and thanks for having me. Yeah. Uh, on the stage. So, I have one really important question and it is, if you were to rank the top five Bills defenders on the Buffalo Bills, who would they be and why? Out of importance. Oh, man. Out of importance. So, right now, when it comes into like actual proven production, number one for me is going to be Christian Benford. Okay. And I think the proof is in the pudding there because how the Buffalo Bills sort of have that operation when he is off of the field is very very telling. So give me Benford number one. Number two for me is going to be Taran Johnson. He’s probably one of the most slept on players especially at the slot corner position across the NFL. He is tasked to be guarding some of the great slot receivers in this league, some of the tight ends, and he always ultimately ends up delivering. Unfortunately, he also has an injury history. Number three, I would say so Matt Milano, and I understand that a lot of people have bought out on Matt Milano because of course he suffered with injuries for the past, you know, like few years, but based off of what we have been seeing at camp, he’s starting to show glimmers of what he was a few years ago. Yeah. When him and Bernard are out on the field together, this defense just operates beautifully for me. And then fourth player for me is probably going to be Greg Russo. I know that he’s not particularly somebody that dominates that statistical category by itself. However, very talented edge rusher, especially when it comes into setting the edge and stopping the run. He is absolutely massive to this team. And then number five for me is going to be Ed Oliver. He’s not that kind of guy that’s going to elevate that defensive line. like he’s the guy that does as well as who is next to him. But those are my top five. Now, as far as expectations as far as players that I’m high on and I need to produce in 2025, has to be Daquin Jones. Has to be that one tech defensive tackle. He’s the dude that makes sure the rest of the defensive line eats. And then number two, And then number two for me is Bosa. We we really need Bosa to not only stay healthy but also give us that opportunity of him reaching his ceiling. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Uh but thank you for your opinion and uh yeah, I’ll leave it to you, my boy Julian. Man, feel free to call in anytime, my friend. Have some young Bills fans in here talking ball. Ladies and gents, the Garage Beer Hotline is is live. Charles the Hammer. Charles, how you doing this morning, man? Um, doing okay, Dan. I just have um a statement to make. Can you hear me? Yeah. Yeah. Loud and clear. Okay. I have a statement to make. I think right now we should not panic until we absolutely have to panic. until I hear from medical doctors or the front office course what’s going on with Maxwell. Okay, I’m not even sweating it. Find out what’s happening with the doctor or with the front office. Then we know whether to panic or not to panic. But I don’t think it’s any reason for us to blindly panic until we absolutely have to panic. Like you said, it could be a sprain. It could be anything. It could be an ankle. We really don’t know anything right now. Sure. Sure. Uh um so that’s a great way of looking at it. And so again, right, like when it comes into Max Harist, he was a luxury pick for the Buffalo Bills. Again, what made us so great last year from a secondary perspective was how often we were able to generate turnovers. And I’m not sure if anybody realizes this, but Maxwell Harrison in 2024 had zero turnovers for the Buffalo Bills last year. And based off of camp thus far, if camp were to end, based off of reports, Trey White more than likely would have been given the nod for the CB2 position. If not, I feel like we’re good with Ingram. Uh we’ve seen Dane Jackson. He is also had his number called to be a starter when we have been in a pinch. We have been hearing promising things from Dorian Strong. So, I’d have to agree with you, Charles. Right. Even if it is worst case scenario, this Buffalo Bills team is going to be fine. I am much more concerned with the development of what our defensive line can produce rather no than having this rookie come back and being a day one contributor in year one. So, you and I are on the same page, man. Now, I just want to add one more point. Last year during the championship game, I think it was what Bernard went out or whatever and we got tireum to go in when we had Ty Elim go in. I was watching it on TV where we had Tyer Elum go in. I said, “We’re about to lose because right now Patrick Mahomes is going to throw to whoever the wide receiver is because he’s going to get a defensive pass and appearance.” And sure enough, Patrick Mahomes threw to whatever wide receiver that Ker Elim was covering. Yeah, they were getting four styles because of pass interference. If Ker Ilum hadn’t been in that game, Patrick Mahomes would not have been thrown to those wide receivers on that side. I’m not saying that he lost the game, but I’ve been knowing this since college retire was in college. He was always two handsy and whenever he’s on the field, they’re always going to throw to whoever receivers there because they’re going to get an instant passing appearance and they’re going to get an instant first down. And when he came on the field, I said, “We’re going to lose this game right now.” And we did. I’m not saying it all rests on him. Yeah. But he played a good portion of it. Yeah. So nothing against Kier like right as a person, but when you are a predominantly zone corner that is going up against a wide receiver where where you know that if you were asked to run stride by stride with him and try and run man I didn’t think that Ka Elim was mentally strong enough. There are several corners on this team. Benford’s probably the perfect example where likely he’s going to be mismatched by some of the more speedy wide receivers in the NFL, but he’s mentally strong. He has high football IQ. He’s physical, but he’s not physical enough to be able to draw a flag. That’s the type of player that we trust. And you’re absolutely right. So Mahomes was not targeting him as often. If Benford was out there, we probably wouldn’t have seen as many targets from from Worthy. But now I am a bit more optimistic in depth. And that is even considering that there is a world where we hear bad news from Max Harrison this morning. I like where we’re at from a quarterback perspective with or without Max Harrison. And so I feel I just want to say one last thing. Go ahead. People talk about the injury to Maxwell Harrison. To me, we got to the championship last year without Maxwell Harrison. I don’t think this is a panic situation for us right now. Would we like to go beyond the Would we like to go beyond the championship game? Of course. But everybody has to realize one thing. We got to the championship last year without him. Would we love to have him? 100% would love to have him. But we got there without him last year. It’s not like if we don’t have them, it’s not like we’re gonna say, “Okay, forget about the Super Bowl. We’re not going to.” No. No. That’s crazy thinking right there. We can go to the Super Bowl this year. We can go back to the championship game. We didn’t even have BSA last year. We didn’t have Harrison last year. So, having this right here, Michael Hoy and Larry Oak and Joby and Joey Bosa and everything, we didn’t have those guys last year and we went to the championship game. We did. We have these guys now. Yeah. So, no, no problem whatsoever. Uh, hey, well, listen, Charles. So, I can say that we all appreciate this optimism and so again, I can assure you that we are on the same page about this. I am not nearly as concerned as many others are, but it would be nice to have him. And let’s wait for the doctors and let’s wait for the organization to come out with an official report. 100%. Yeah, it’s precisely what I’m talking about. Yeah. Thank you so much. Now, well, hey, Charles, listen, man. I appreciate you. Thank you so much for tuning in, man. And thank you for calling. Shout out to my boy Charles, man. He is regular viewer and I can appreciate that. All right, shout out to Charles, man. That’s my guy. Thank you for coming in. Next caller, Pedro Martinez. What’s going on, man? Hey, how are you, man? How you been? Oh, man. I’m living the dream. I’m trying to. I probably could be a little bit better if our first round draft pick wasn’t hurt yesterday, but you know, just living in anxiety, you know what I mean? How about yourself? I’m not too bad. Uh, first I want to say I’m a I’m a big fan of you. Love what you’re doing. Thank you. Um, so I’m g just drop in what what what I got to say. Um, first, defense is always the reason why we don’t get to the bowl. Yeah. No. And let’s be honest, you know, the bread is in the pudding. There’s always injuries. There’s always something that comes up. And last I knew, I remember having White Johnson, um, you know, all these guys in our team before and we still lost. Yeah, I know. So, it’s just mindboggling, you know, to to to to know that Harrison Harrison is is gone down, you know, cuz that’s a big hope. Another thing, Joey Bosa, fine. We we we knew what he used to be, but is he the guy that’s going to get us to the bowl? Or are we just trying to invent something that it’s it’s not there? Yeah. And it’s it’s frustrating because we have to me the greatest quarterback in the NFL. Yes, I agree with you. You know what I mean? And this guy is incredible. I’ve never seen anything like Josh Allen. And I’m not because I’m biased or because I’m a belch man, but let’s be honest, there’s no one like Josh Allen. So, we have something so special and there’s only one thing that’s keeping us down from getting to the bowl. Yep. It’s defense, man. Every playoff game shows up besides that one with with um with with the Bengals. He shows up. Exactly. He goes blow forblow with Patrick Mahomes. Like there is no one. He goes toe-to-toe with anyone and he shows up against the um the the the Rams. He showed up. He was on fire and that yet our defense lets us down, you know. So it it’s just frustrating, you know. The defense is really the problem why we’re we don’t have three Super Bowls right now. Yeah. No, man. It’s it’s definitely tough, right? because like you’re definitely on to something here because when I reflect back to the 13 seconds game, it had nothing to do with injuries, but it had everything to do with that play call of running prevent defense and allowing Kansas City to march back in 13 seconds. Past two times more so had to do with a significant drop off in depth because again, our guys just couldn’t stay healthy. And whether or not that we want to point blame at the strength and conditioning or whether or not that there is just a dark cloud of football misery surrounding the Buffalo Bills, it’s something that we just haven’t been able to get over. What’s optimistic for me here, Pedro, is that it’s clear that Buffalo has acknowledged that because this off season, 90% of our moves were addressing depth because they are self-aware enough to understand that, hey, listen, we have some players on this defense that have the propensity to get banged up toward the back half of the season. So, we want to double down on this and make sure that if somebody were to go down, we have somebody serviceable enough that can step up. May not be as good as our starter, but somebody that can at least make a play when their number is called. It sucks losing out on Max Harrison. It really, really does. But one thing that makes me feel better, Pedro, is that last year Max Harrison made zero turnovers for the Buffalo Bills, right? All of the guys that are on this roster that helped us get to that turnover differential last year, hands down, are back on this defense. So, that’s encouraging. Um, my biggest concern to this day is is not secondary. It is pass rush. We can [ __ ] on Kyrie Elum and trust me, I have done my fair share of that. However, if our defensive line was actually able to generate some sort of pass rush on Mahomes last year during the AFC Championship game, we would not have bled as much as we bled. So even with Max Harrison potentially being out for the season and and that’s just potentially if we can get some sort of semblance of a defensive line that consistently gets to the damn quarterback then we are going to be happy and we are finally going to get over the hump. That’s my take. Oh, and that’s a really good take and I appreciate you. Listen, what you’ve been doing solid solid for the Bills community. Hell yeah, man. I’m a big fan of you. I I love hearing you. When I don’t get to see you live, I I always catch up. I’m a truck driver, so Hell yeah, man. Hell yeah, man. Hell yeah. Shout out to my boy Pedro. Thank you so much for calling in on the garage beer hotline, man. Safe travels out there. And uh guys, look, like I have become self-aware that it’s very clear that several of you are watching me while you’re going through your workday. I am so glad that I am able to be a person uh that can maybe help out your workday go by a bit faster. Whether or not that you are a bluecollar brother out there sweating it out, you know, on the road or whether or not that you were just going into the office and doing that thing right on your computer where you click the mouse and you drag it just and just making boxes right all over the place to pretend that you’re working in front of your boss. Whatever it is, folks, I am here to make sure that you are indeed entertained. All I ask right now, we have 248 of you rocking with me right now. However, we need to get 248 thumbs up signs smashed as we continue. There are over 120 of you rocking with me today that have not had the opportunity of hitting that thumbs up sign. Let’s propel this out to the YouTube algorithm. Well over 1,000 of you rocking with me on Twitter and also on YouTube combined. Absolutely insane. Good morning as we welcome in our next garage beer hotline caller, Western New Yorker. So, it looks like you’re on the road, too, man. Uh, yo, man. What’s up? Is you there? All right, folks. We have my boy. He’s backstage right now. I’m not sure if he is frozen. Whether or not that he just drove into a um so a bad service point of town. Where is my boy real fast? Hey, Western Yorker, say that you’re listening. Let me know. I will try to bring you back in here in a second. Just give me a thumbs up in front of the camera. Uh once you are all said and done, shout out to the working boys listening. Lord knows this helps us get through the day. Hey man, listen. Shout out to everybody working right now and locking on in. Is there any Kaden Prather news? From what I understand with Kaden Prather, he was a soft tissue injury, so I think it was a hamstring. Shouldn’t be that much of a concern. Shouldn’t be that much of a concern. We have thumbs up right there. He’s giving me a thumbs up. Uh, Western Yorker, feel free to call back in, man. Let me know. I am ready for you. I just hope that Terry Pagula fires McDermott after we fall short again this season. That’s all I can hope for. So, so the thing is, say that Shawn McDermott was fired, he literally would have a job in a day, right? Say that you’re not Andy Reid or say that you’re not Sirani or say that you’re not uh Shawn McVey. A lot of coaches, a lot of coaches haven’t gotten over the hump. So, the thing is, and a common misconception is many people think that winning the Super Bowl is just easy and like you should you should be able to do it. It’s not about being a good coach. It also has a very massive luck factor. So, when it comes into each and every single season, you have to be a very well coached team and have a talented roster, but then you also ultimately need to have some luck, right? You need to be the healthiest team going into the playoffs, right? And I promise you folks, a lot of the NFL feels the exact same way about their head coach. All 31 teams each and every single season that do not raise the Lombardi. Everybody is clamoring for their head coach to be fired. In my opinion, I continuously see us being so damn close each and every single year that us starting from scratch and us bringing in an offensive coordinator or a defensive coordinator that has never been a head coach before, that’s wasting Josh Allen’s prime. That’s wasting it. Like that’s being I would say borderline reckless of saying, “Hey, yeah, let’s get rid of the head coach that has brought us to the second highest win percentage five years combined.” And the only domino that we can’t seem to get past is the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s almost like it’s uniform for us to make it to the AFC Championship or get to the Kansas City Chiefs. In my opinion, I don’t really know who else would be a better option. I really really don’t because what our options would be would be a former disgraced head coach or an offensive and defensive coordinator who are completely unproven. So for me, I’m good on Shawn McDermott, I would say. So the only way that I would ever let go of Shawn McDermott would have to be if uh we missed the playoffs entirely. And that would be with us like having a fully healthy roster or a fully healthy Josh Allen. Say that like one year we had like a losing record or like we were nine and eight and we missed the playoffs and for the most part we stayed healthy. That’s when I would pull the trigger because I don’t really know what you guys expect. Like whether or not that like we bring in some unproven coordinator that’s never been a head coach before and like you want to completely flip ship where the quite literally the only team in the NFL that Buffalo has not beaten was the Philadelphia Eagles. Like we like that’s me. That’s me. We have Dirty Dan. What up Dirty Dan? What’s up, man? How you doing? Oh, man. Um, so I suppose I could be doing better with this Maxwell Harrison news, but hey, you know what? That’s the life of a Bills fan. Am I right? Yeah, you’re right. Yeah, man. What’s on your mind today? Talk to me. And so, you’re muted, Dan. Oh. Um, I was just, uh, wondering your thoughts on Oh, how Joey Bosa’s been playing. Yeah. Yeah. Um, it’s tough with Joey Bosa because like we really haven’t been seeing crazy headlines of, oh, he got a tackle for loss or oh, he ultimately ended up getting a sack. But one thing that’s encouraging is that two days ago in practice when we heard that Josh Allen had to scramble quite a bit, that tells me that he’s at least getting pressure. He did have a really good rep right against Osiris Torrance, who is nothing to sneeze at. like he’s one of our most slept on offensive linemen and he’s definitely powering some of these offensive linemen and that’s even including some of our vets. While we haven’t heard that oh with Boso would have had two sacks or he would have had like three tackles for losses, it’s it’s still a slow cook. But from what I have been hearing, I’ve heard that Joey Bosa is kind of on a pitch count at least toward the beginning of training camp because it’s that important that this man is actually healthy. for some of those significant games we have this year. So, it’s encouraging, but we’re still not getting like, oh my god, he would have had three sacks or four tackles for losses. His power is still on full display. So, that’s optimistic at least. Okay. Oh, I’m also going to the red and blue practice tomorrow. So, if you want to if you want me to keep you guys updated, I can. Dude, listen. Dirty Dan. Say for example that you are in the stands and you notice something that happens. Don’t be shy. Uh let us know man. You know that like we end up leveraging all of our fans that are in the stands. Same thing with the beat reporters. So feel free and uh we would love all of those updates. Like zero questions asked. All right. Thank you. Thank you for taking my call. Yeah. Dirty Dan, man. Shout out to my boy Dirty Dan. He’s on the job too, man. All my boys are sitting here working and they are calling in on the garage beer hotline telling me what is on their mind. We have uh Mo Bills, excuse me, Ma Bills tuning in from Japan. Good evening to you. Good evening to you Ma Bills. Look at that guys. That is the most unique place we have seen in roll call right now guys. In fact, let’s do another roll call. So, we typically do this about two to three times per episode. I’m just curious to see how far this family truly extends. Guys, do me a favor. Let me know where you are tuning in from. What corner of the United States? What corner of the world are we talking Buffalo Bills? Where are we talking Buffalo Bills? Man, do not be shy. I am talking about all of the lurkers in the chat as well. 820 of you on X, folks. A lot of you are quiet on X. I’m not going to lie. We’d probably call you lurkers, but that’s okay. Like, we are fine with lurkers. Don’t be shy. Let us know where you’re tuning in from. Let me see how far this goes. We have real Bill P. Virginia is in the building. Courtland, New York is in the building. Oh, look at that. We have Corfu, New York. Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. We got Go Bills from Kentucky. Saratoga, New York. Uh, we have Work Lurker right in Niagara Falls. No problem, man. all are more than welcome to lurk on this stream. I’m just glad you’re here. We have Tennessee, Victor, New York, Sanford, Florida is in the building. Staty, New York, Charlotte, North Carolina. Shout out Janet in the building. Crystal River, Florida. Sodas, New York, California. Detroit, Buffalo, native. Welcome Japan. Absolutely. Winston Salem, North Carolina. Elmyra, New York. at work. Syracuse, New York, the heart of Buffalo, Main Street. Sheriff, what’s going on? Sheriff Somerville. Hope all is well. Go Bills. Washington DC is in the building. Melbourne, Australia. Okay, so Japan and Australia, they are certainly in a competition with the most unique place tuning in. Haverton, Pennsylvania driving up for camp tonight. I love to hear it. South Florida. Go Bills. Have you ever been to Corfu? I have not been there. We have Omaha in the building. Udica, New York. Connecticut is in the building. Tampa, baby. Jacksonville, North Carolina. Dan Dan the Mafia man. That’s what I’m talking about. Chicago North. LA. Saratoga, New York. Once again, we have Fort Bliss. We have Fort Bliss. We have Florida is in the building. Yuma, Arizona. South Africa is in the building, man. Oh my god. Let’s talk about this. Germany. Here we go. Eerie, Pennsylvania. Welcome to Bye-bye. I love it. Guys, again, we have the Garage Beer Hotline live and ready to go. Garage Beer, beer tasting beer for those of you that are over the age of 21 and always drink responsibly. Go check out some Garage Beer, man. I got to tell you, it is beautiful. Shout out to Garage Beer for being a proud partner for this upcoming season as Jay from Long Island is in the building. Jay, what’s up, man? How you living? Yeah, good morning, D. How you doing? Uh man, I’m doing good, dude. I’m doing good. It’s a nice day. Uh my house is filled with boxes right now. I am moving into a brand new house on Friday, but it’s good. I certainly wish it was better with this Max Harist news, but here we are. Yeah, I just came out of bed and I just I mean, I know yesterday I heard that Maxwell Harrison is has a knee injury. I hope it wasn’t severe, but I mean so it’s alleged. So it’s allegedly really really not that good, honestly. So we’ll see how it turns out. I mean, it’s not ACL. I don’t think cuz when you hear knee injury, you think, “Oh, maybe it’s his ACL.” It’s not as good. It’s not his ACL. I mean, hopefully he’s ready by week one at least. I mean, I don’t think he’ll play like Let’s see if he plays the week one preseason game against the Giants, but I mean Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s just rough. I mean, also, I mean, we’re hoping Spencer Brown’s okay. I think Spencer Brown will be all right, but like Yeah. And um I think Joey Bos is healthy at least. I think um everyone else should be healthy, but like Yeah. Maxwell Harrison’s the first round your first round pick this year you just hope and we expect a lot of big things out of him obviously because our main problem last year was defense you know the secondary because we lack the CB2 and Maxwell Harrison we hope he’s the CB2 of the future for us because you know we only got Benford but we need someone who can support Benford and that’s Maxwell Harrison. Yeah, it’s so with Spencer Brown, man, like he just has a flare up in his back and I think Buffalo is just being super careful because that’s what he had to deal with a few years ago back when Buffalo completely gave up on the guy. Then last year he played some of his best football ever. So I’m not so much concerned about Brown as far as Maxwell Haristen. So here was my theory on this player right in the first place. White has been dominating in practice and Max would have had to be a very consistent player moving forward and almost being perfect if he had it. So, an opportunity of winning that job right in the first place. But what I was hoping was is that he can continue his development through these reps in training camp, through the regular season, and then we could slowly work him into this defensive scheme. I’d say around week 10, week 11 when we needed him and like we’re going up against these fast wide receivers. Say that he misses like three to four weeks or say that he’s available by week one. Like he’s following the exact same path as Cole Bishop where Shawn McDermott is not going to trust him because his training camp is going to pick back up once he’s healthy. Whether or not that that like he’s gone for week four, I guarantee you that that young man is going to be in a quasi or an impromptu type training camp behind the scenes. And we’re not going to see this kid really be a productive piece of this roster until far later. And maybe that’s okay, but it sucks that we have to slow his development because based off of what I’m seeing, it’s nice that I saw this Instagram story where he says, “I’m beyond thankful. Thank you, God.” That can mean two things. Number one, it’s it’s not as bad as we thought. Or number two, he’s accepted it. And there’s no in between. Yeah. I don’t know who would step up if Maxwell Harrison is named down. probably trad but I don’t really think I would trust Davis White as of right now honestly I mean I just cuz at least believe in Maxwell Harrison someone more younger and I don’t I mean when Maxwell Harrison I hope he doesn’t go down the Javius White route with too many injuries. Yeah. Um so to be honest with you man so with Trey White has been really shown out in camp like he has had incredible reps against Josh Palmer locking him down. um has done very well right against some of our starters out there. Like while I’m optimistic with Max, there has been a couple of reps from what we have seen where he largely looks confused out there. And when I hear that Keon Coleman who runs a 4640 is gaining significant separation on Maxwell Haristen, then like maybe I’m telling myself like okay, like maybe the young man like needs to take his rookie lumps and it’s going to take a little bit. But I wouldn’t sleep on Trey. He’s been looking pretty good. But the question is, can he stay healthy? Luckily, he’s coming off of a full year healthy, so that’s ideal. But, um, I don’t know, man. It’s just a sticky situation. Unfortunately, this is common in all training camps all across the league. I don’t know. I don’t know, man. I have nothing else to say. Unfortunately, I just want to ask you one one thing on James Cook. So, yeah, as of right now, how you feeling about like maybe are we going to extension Joe with him? Because he says he still wants Saquon money, which I mean, come on, Cook. He feels kind of delusional by asking asking for Saquon money. I mean, come on. So, so I can tell you this. Uh, you remember when I ultimately had Zack Hiller on the show a couple of days ago? So, his agent? Uh, no. I remember you having the side doctor on, though. Yeah. So, I had Zack Hiller, so the agent for James Cook seriously on about three or four days ago. Uh, we had a conversation about the contract, etc. And I followed up with him on Instagram and I screenshotted this and I asked him whether or not that it was true and he said absolutely not. It is not true whatsoever. So, sources confirm that this thing that we got from Ricky on X, folks, completely untrue. I like to hear that. Um, one, it is completely untrue, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah. One non- football question. Uh, did you watch Abby Gilmore, too? I did. You enjoyed that? I did, as a matter of fact. Um, solid sequel. So, I feel like it does get a lot of hate. It’s one of those Adam Sandler movies, man, where like you watch it for the first time. So, you watch it for the first time and you’re like, “Ah, it’s Adam Sandler. Ah, it’s Adam Sandler.” Right? But then like once you keep watching it, like you’re like, “This is an instant classic.” That’s how Adam Sandler movies typically are. It’s like fine wine and they grow with you. So, it’s it’s solid. It’s definitely not better than the original, but I mean, here we are. Yeah. I also feel like, you know, when it comes to like Travis Kelce being in that movie, when you saw him like get honey on him from Bad Bunny, it’s going to be used in a meme this season. I feel like it’s going to be used in memes when the Chiefs are probably going to lose or Travis Kelce has bad games this year. if you get what I’m saying. Mhm. It gets locked down by some safeties. I mean, let’s just see how uh one of our Bills safeties can probably lock down Travis Kelce. And I remember the Bills this last this past season actually did pretty good against Travis Kelce. Mhm. So, the thing with Tra Yeah. So, the thing with Travis Kelce, man, like he’s definitely outstanding his welcome. Like, maybe he has like another three to four games left in him or something along those lines, but uh Yeah. Yeah. So the times of Travis Kelce dominating the league are far from over. Definitely. It’s it’s now Michael not Michael. I was thinking Michael May from is now Brock Bowers. It’s now still George KD. It’s also Trey McBry. It’s now their time obviously as tight end. Yeah. Yeah. I hope King K can get in that conversation, you know. Yeah. No, dude. You know what? Like we have all of the expectations for King Kade to have a bounceback year because I mean Lord knows we need him to. Definitely. But Jay, man, I appreciate you tuning in, my friend. Appreciate you, man. I’m glad every time I get a chance. You have a good rest of your day and I’m gonna keep on watching this live. Hell yeah, man. You are the man. But yeah, folks, listen. Right before we let in our next caller, I did need to sort of discuss this. So, this news was circulating around the internet last night. I saw it. It is from Ricky or Ricky Scoops. He is a guy on Twitter that has gotten quite a few things right. Right. Like he has announced several free agency signings, several extensions. I’m not sure whether or not that he’s plugged in to a certain extent, but normally people end up reading these tweets and having a bit more trust than just a random anonymous account since he does have a pedigree of particularly being on point. But Ricky said, and this is all like his take. Scroll on down and like you’ll see it’s it’s definitely going viral. Has 224,000 views on X. He said that James Cook has asked the Bills for a deal in line with Saquon Barkley’s current contract. However, Bills have countered with a significantly lower offer and have made it clear that they won’t reset the running back market. So folks, I do got to tell you, I did follow up with my source and this is untrue. So be careful with what you believe on the internet. And let’s talk about where I think the James Cook contract negotiations are going. I don’t have any inside information. I have no idea of what Buffalo’s mindset is going into these to these negotiations. But here’s my thought right now. Buffalo is currently sitting at 32nd ranked in the league for available cap spend. And I do think that there are a couple of things that Buffalo could do to create even more money to give us an insurance policy in case we need to make some free agency transactions prior to the trade deadline slashprior to what have you. So extending James Cook would get that done. Right now, he has a cap hit of around $4.5 million. He has $5 million to his contract paid out in salary, zero guarantees. So, that’s going against the cap immediately. If Buffalo were to elect to extend James Cook, they could turn that base salary and significantly mitigate that cap hit in 2025 and create some space. That would be an option. plus restructuring Deion Dawkins, plus restructuring Dawson Knox. Although that I have a feeling that Buffalo is experimenting with a world where Knox wouldn’t be a Buffalo Bill next off season because we have an out on his contract. What I think Buffalo wants to do is see what we have in Jackson Haw. See if he could be that blocking tight end that could fill his role at a much more affordable contract. But that’s one reason why I think Buffalo truly is considering it. Again, I have no inside information about this. I have not heard anything of the status of said conversations. All I know is that this statement from Ricky is completely false. So, do not take this and run with it. Don’t take this and run with it. Um, I’m very curious to see I’m very very curious to see how Buffalo is going to value a player like this. And one thing I will say about James Cook, many of us, including myself, have put a lot of weight into the offensive line for the Buffalo Bills, right? And it was all up until I started watching some film where I kind of ended up backtracking on that take. Sure, I’d say this offensive line has played a big factor, but what Cook brings to the table with his elite vision, all right, with his speed on the outside, he has that dual threat where he’s also able to make plays specifically in the passcatching side of things. It’s definitely pretty good with James Cook. I’m not going to lie to you. Many of us forget last year that Josh Allen had a broken hand for about half half of the season. And I will tell you that I am not convinced that Buffalo would have been able to win some of those games as QB1 was dealing with a broken hand. I’m talking about that Miami game where uh was all James Cook. Same thing uh with that Jaguars game was all James Cook. Several other games were the James Cook show and that largely had to do with Josh Allen basically playing with one hand in 2025. That’s not exclusively offensive line. You know that that running back is bringing something to the table. One other common thing that we often hear is, “Oh, Cook is not a third down running back or he is not a three down back.” based off of what we heard from Joe Brady yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, and this could just be coach speak, but I actually think he’s on to something and I actually think he’s being sincere about all of this. He said that James Cook is more than capable of running at third down. We don’t not see James Cook out at third down opportunities because he is incapable of being a three down back. We want to make sure that we preserve James Cook because of the threat that he brings to the table. It sounds like to me that Brady looks at James Cook as a weapon that he just wants to utilize in first and second down situations because of his impact in the game. He has all the trust in the world that he could be a three down back and be equally effective. Be that red zone guy. But it sounds like that Brady values Cook’s production to this offense so much. That’s why he uses Tai Johnson. That’s why he uses Ray Davis. He’s really buying into this running back by committee approach. And that’s not a bad thing. But I’m not so much convinced that if James Cook were on a different team and he was asked to be a three down back that he would just all of a sudden not be good anymore. That’s not the case here. So, me personally, I would not be upset with Cook getting a contract. I still reserve this theory that I do not believe. I don’t believe that he cares about average annual value because that’s BS. And so, I feel like we shouldn’t be paying attention to the average salary per contract. That’s for damn sure. So, that’s for damn sure. but more so guaranteed money. So, I think what would get it done for James Cook, and this is just a speculation. Again, I have no inside information on this whatsoever. What I think would get it done would be a three-year extension, $36 million in total, $30 million guaranteed. That’s what I think he cares about. I think he cares about guarantees far more than just some magic number that says, “Oh, if, for example, you’re on this team by year three or uh you hit these certain escalators that are not 100% confirmed, then you would make 45 million.” No, what I think he’s looking for is guarantees. So, a three-year extension of the first two years guaranteed and then an out after the second year. So, I personally think could be done. It’s just a matter of time, man. It’s just a matter of time. We have six rings in the building. What’s going on, man? Talking I’m good. Two things. Yeah. Working, you know, a lot of work, but got to make ends meet, you know. I was at work and we’re talking football with my buddy. He’s a Bears fan and he’s a rehab. He helps with the rehab department of the patients. Okay. And he’s high on Drake May. He said this year he thinks he’s going to have a good year. Is that right? And he’s higher than Caleb Williams, actually. He’s high on Caleb Williams, too. He’s good. Yeah. But he thinks Drake’s a little better. He wish he traed back, actually. Uhhuh. But I came to talk about Cook again. Talk to me. I was talking to a Bills fan and some of them don’t want to pay him. Uhhuh. But I think and they started using the Patriots for an example and you’re right but our and but the Patriots we had good running backs but if you look at guys like Sony Michelle they and James White they came up so clutch in the Super Bowls. Mhm. So I do think you pay him like he’s I think one of the best offensive weapons in our whole conference in the whole AFC. I mean 15. He had 15 16 touchdowns. Mhm. Dude, honestly, 20 plus. Yeah, it was 20 plus, as a matter of fact. It was 20. Oh, wow. Yeah, that’s better than Squan on paper. It is. And like if you guys don’t pay him, there’s a lot of teams out there that I think would give him that $15 million contract, $18 million on short term. Mhm. So, I don’t particularly think, right, so when it comes into this James Cook conversation that um some people are like, “Oh my god, we need to pay him or this Buffalo Bills team is going to take a significant step back.” And there’s people that are saying, “No, we don’t need him at all.” I honestly think that most Bills fans are right in the middle. Right? Because we do have a very good offensive line. We do. But then again with James Cook, he has that very elite trait of having some of the best vision. He identifies holes better than anybody out there. Um he’s got the speed. He also ends up bringing in that passcatching side of things for us as well. Me personally, I really don’t care whether or not that Buffalo does sign him, right? Like people are acting like $15 million is a significant amount of money. I really want everyone to take a look at what quarterbacks, what defensive ends, what wide receivers are making. $15 million a year. And that’s not even the full number either because folks average. So when you see average annual salary, don’t look at that number. Do not look at that number, folks. Look at guarantees and then divide it by the length of the contract. That will make you feel a lot better about contracts. Because some players don’t get the full money. There’s the guarantee in there. Exactly. Some give him 15 million, but guarantee him 12 or something, you know, and look at those numbers, too. But I think he’s elite. And last thing before I let you, I like the Nirvana shirt. One of my favorite bands. Look at that, man. Old school AC/DC, Alexis on Fire. Like, those are old school bands. Oh, dude. Listen, I love Alexis on Fire, dude. That’s my gym playlist right there. surprising. Although I’m well off topic at one point that was they were up there with Guns and Roses, but I guess they made that second album and it was they couldn’t capital. It was too high. They set the bar too high with Smells Like Teen Spirit and Lithium and all those songs. Dude, it’s it’s here. But bro, listen, man. I sincerely appreciate you tuning on in and showing me a little bit of love. I saw the Jets fans and they projected 11 wins. Oh. the loser. They’re not getting 11 wins. They haven’t made the playoffs in 14 years and now they’re saying 11 wins. 11 wins, man. Not happening. I’m a Patriots fan and I can say 12 wins, but realistic nine and eight, eight and nine. I think our offensive line needs to improve a bit. Hey man, Super Bowls, we’re going to get 14 wins. So just one So just one more off season and y’all will be fine. And shout out to Six Rings, man. He he is always coming in here and showing a little bit of love on the garage beer hotline, letting me know his thoughts pertaining to the Buffalo Bills to the James Cook situation. He is a massive proponent in getting James Cook on the books for Buffalo in 2025. Here’s my boy DTN. What up DTN? What up, bro? How’s life? Uh, nothing much. I really want to talk about well since I saw the uh title talking about the Maxwell Haristen injury. It makes me think about like how this off season particularly with training camp how there’s like so many injuries to cornerbacks. Like I I don’t get it. Like obviously um Gonzalez down too. Yeah. But thankfully he had like a grade one hamstring injury so that means he’s going to be out for the majority of training camp. Basically, he’s going to be sidelineed for training camp and then be ready for week one. But when I heard about the Dolphins injury and the Browns injury, I’m like, how how is it these quarterbacks are getting injured left and right? Yeah. Yeah, man. So, so unfortunately, so this happens each and every single year. And when you scroll on X, you would think that this is so the first year ever where players are just dropping like flies. Especially when it comes into soft tissue things, you know, like hamstrings, that’s common. Like you go on ahead and just filter out tweets from this exact point in time, but in 2024, you would be seeing the exact same thing. It’s, oh, so and so is going to miss a couple of practices because of a tight hamstring. So and so is out because of a strained calf. It happens, right? So, I’m not saying that that so these players are slacking on their offseason workout programs, but it takes a lot for you to get your body back in playing shape and going out there and running and actually having reps against your teammates, especially when pads go on. I promise all of you that we are nowhere near the end of significant injuries or soft tissue problems being a massive headline. It’s going to be the same thing for the remainder of camp. Luckily, all right, once the red blue game for the Buffalo Bills is over with, I think we only have a couple of practices and then it goes into just regular practice leading up into the preseason. Training camp exercises are a hell of a lot worse for anybody than actual games. And that’s including preseason games. Yeah. Yo. Yo, I just re Oh yo, I just received some news from my Patriots Discord from my Patriots global discord. And I just heard that the Patriots just signed a uh brand new uh guard, Alec Lindstöm, and that’s signing. But then I also learned that um Zack Moss left Cincinnati. And since you’re talking about Jim uh James Cook, how will Cincinnati survive without Zack Moss? Considering that now I don’t think they have a running back unless Chase Brown could be like their savior or maybe like Yeah, I think so. Brown’s a good running back. So a Brown’s a good running back as a matter of fact. And when you have a wide receiver core like Cincinnati has, all right, with Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. Yep. And don’t you dare sleep on Yosi Vas as well. He’s actually a pretty damn good slot. I love your US. Yeah. Yeah. He’s Yeah, he’s actually a pretty good slot corner for them. It’s not particularly a need, but don’t sleep on Chase Brown as far as like Zack Moss. Like, yes, he did do pretty well, but I don’t think Cincinnati would really have a good shot at running the football effectively this year just due to their offensive line. because while they’re bad at pass protection, they are significantly worse at run blocking. Significantly worse. So, I don’t think that’s Cincinnati’s identity. And so, I trust Burrow and Chase and T. Higgins to very easily dominate their possessions. Uh, but and so it is just something. And look at that, folks. We have Trey Hendrickson arriving at Cincinnati Bengals camp as we speak. I love to hear those news. I I hope that Trey Henderson gets a contract considering that he was the lead leader in uh he was the leader in sacks and I it would be a disservice to Trey Hendendrickson if they don’t give him a contract since Watt got his contract. Garrett got his contract. Tren Hendrickerson should get his contract. We all know Cincinnati and the motive like every single year like they just give out money to like big players. Like after I heard about the uh contract they give to T. Higgins, which I think was the dumbest move, like I love T. Higgins, but why not develop your young wide receivers like Yucas and Germaine Burton? Like you could have used some of that money to like extend Trey Henderson or maybe get some good cog on defense. Like I don’t get it. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, man. It’s uh it’s pretty clear because this is actually interesting. We heard the news yesterday that he decided to fly in from Florida. He was down in Jacksonville, Florida hanging out with his wife and many Bengals fans on the internet were celebrating. Oh my god, here he is and y’all are wrong. He’s here. That is not the case, ladies and gentlemen. Because when you end up looking at this video clip that I have frozen, uh we see his teammates in full pads and helmet and we see my guy looking like he’s just coming back. um from a coffee run. So, it is very clear, ladies and gentlemen, that the Cincinnati Bengals are not out of the woods just yet, but uh he has started his hold in because remember he was getting fined $50,000 a day and I want to say that Cincinnati has had six practices already. So, uh $300,000 just got withdrawn from his bank account. I’m sure he’s fine. I’m sure it’s nothing significant in the grand scheme of things to him, but he made this as a financial decision. He is still very much unhappy. He’s still very much looking for a deal. Y the holdin has officially began, folks. And fi and finally uh before I I don’t know if there’s going to be another call in come in, but the last thing I want to say is about Shamar Stewart. And I know I saw I think it was back in January where you did an interview with Shamar Stewart at the Senior Bowl. I don’t know if there’s like any current updates with Shamar Stewart ever since he got his um rookie deal. I don’t know if he’s like back at college or he’s um at training camp. So the update is is that they did end up reaching an agreement with him. Uh we actually had his agent on two days ago on the show which is super cool, right? like he talked about Shamar, he talked about James Cook as well, but he ultimately ended up signing his deal that clause where, say, for example, he has any sort of off the- field issues, his guarantees could be voided. He accepted that, but he accepted that for $500,000 more in a signing bonus. So, he is there. Now, based off of production and based off of sentiments from Bengals fans, sounds like they’re not too happy with his performance thus far. That could be, of course, because so they’re just still salty from this overall contracts fiasco that happened all off season, but it’s going to take some time, especially since, you know, he’s finally taking team reps where he missed quite a bit from OTAAS, he missed quite a bit from mandatory mini camp, the whole nine. But I mean, here we are. Oh, definitely. But yeah, thank you so much as always, Dan. I I’m I’m excited to hear some Buffalo Bills training camp, even though I know I don’t know like your schedule for training camp. I know the Patriots schedule because obviously I keep a track with the Patriots. And I know training camp day six or day seven is today. So, I’m really excited for that. But yeah, it should be. But have a great rest of your day, Dan. Yeah, man. you as well. We’ll see you a bit later uh when it comes into Fourth and Forever. Shout out to DTN. He is always coming in and showing a little bit of love. AFC East, he’s a Patriots fan, folks. Let’s give him a warm welcome as uh we have a new caller backstage on the Garage Beer Hotline, folks. Beer tasting beer. Jeff, what’s going on, man? How you feeling today? Hey, Dan. Uh I’m doing pretty good, man. Uh I I you know, just tuning in. Uh have you heard any news on the whole Maxwell thing going on? So, I got to tell you what, man. So, the only thing that we saw was Maxwell Haristen. He ultimately ended up posting something on his Instagram story where he has a selfie of himself and it says, “I am blessed. Thank God right here.” So, it’s still just speculation for all we know. So this does mean that maybe it’s not quite as significant as we initially anticipated or this is energy where like he is just accepting the inevitable and we’ve heard and so the worst. So uh short answer is we are still uh waiting for the official update. Yeah, usually it’s like these types of things you see usually reporters will come in and say something right off the rip if it’s bad. So I feel like that’s a good news. I feel like somebody would have said something. So, I guess we’re just hoping and praying, man. Thanks for the stream, man. I watch just about every other day. That’s all I want to say. Keep up the good work, man. Yeah. Yeah. Well, hey, Jeff, I definitely appreciate you calling in, man. Feel free to hop in with a question or a statement. But, so, as far as Maxwell Harist, man, you know, like we end up seeing situations like Isaiah likely yesterday, so he was carded off of the field and just 30 minutes later, we heard that he rolled his ankle or he had a fractured foot and they gave us a timeline immediately. So, I suppose there’s two schools of thought. Like, we can be nervous that we haven’t heard anything, or we could feel optimistic because we haven’t heard anything and go by the no news is good news type mentality. Knowing Buffalo and knowing Shawn McDermott and knowing this front office, I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t hear word until the opening press conference tomorrow at practice. It’s frustrating, but I’m kind of thinking that’s what’s going to happen. Hey, man, that’s ball. Go Bills, man. Keep up the good screen. appreciate you. Go Bills, man. Jeff, I appreciate you calling in, showing a little bit of love. Go Bills indeed. Guys, listen. If you are interested, the garage beer hotline is live. Frank has come in. Everyone should be mad if Maxwell Harrison is hurt. I wouldn’t overtrain first round players. Go Buffalo. God bless. Um, it’s tough to say, right, Frank? because like he had he had zero zero knee issues in college, right? Zero evidence of that at all. And it was truly what it was was a non-cont injury. Say, for example, that this was like on a one-on-one and one of our players was included on in this injury or one of our players caused this injury to happen, then maybe we would be having an entire different conversation. But like, dude was just running a drill where he saw no coverage and he just stepped a funky way and he was on the ground with an injury. It was just a freak accident, man. It sucks. It’s It’s how it is. My boy DJ Finesse is in the building. What up, dude? Hey, what up DJ? What’s up? Hey, man. Living the dream. What’s on your mind? You at work today? Hold on. Let me pause. I got you on two phones. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No issue, man. Dude, look at that. My guy, dude. Two phones on here. I’m at work. I tune in every day, dude. Hey, man. Listen, we see you in the chat and I uh it’s nice to officially meet you, man. I appreciate it. Yeah. What’s on your mind? I just think um Do you think we got enough on the defensive line to really put some pressure on like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson? I mean, dude, I hope so. So, I hope so, dude. I think we do. I’ve been telling I think it’s a way better defensive line than last year. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So, so the thing is is that once OG Joby and once Michael Hoy are back, then I’m going to be feeling a hell of a lot better. But like we’re going to be without them right up until week eight. So, I want to see what TJ Sanders does. And so, we haven’t seen any significant headlines from him, but I’m still optimistic. As far as Dion Walker, like I’m sure right in a pinch, I’m sure that he can fit in for uh so Jones. But really, how it works out, man, like we just need to hope that Daquin and Ed Oliver can stay as healthy as humanly possible and let them take on the vast majority like right of those reps for the first six weeks. And once Ogen Joby and Hoy are back, then I honestly do believe that we are going to see a significant jump in rate in production because Lord knows we need it. Lord knows we damn need it and that’s been our biggest weakness for the longest time. I know a lot of people love [ __ ] on Kyrie last year and so myself did it as well because I was just frustrated he was getting burned. He was being cooked. He was being cooked that game against the Chiefs. I feel like every time Patrick Mahomes said go, he looked at him first and he threw to wherever he was at. Yeah, look man, you know what? I can’t blame Mahomes. Have to identify the weakest link in the secondary and take advantage. But say for example, we had some sort of pass rush too. That could have shifted that outcome of that game as well. Say, for example, that like we were getting pressure right in the interior, then maybe Cir like wouldn’t have been as screwed as he was. It’s a well operating machine that needs to be fixed on all fronts. Wait, I got another question. I actually I’m going to practice tomorrow. I’m going for a practice tomorrow on Thursday. I’m getting a room in Rochester for tonight and I’m going to go there tomorrow. I can’t wait. Well, uh well, let us know in the chat, man. Say for example, like you see anything out on the field. Please let us know. Uh we are all hungry for some updates on what’s going on with this team. Hopefully, you’re the good luck charm and none of our one question though too about the players. Um Elijah Moore, I I was watching some of his clips like past years ago. That dude is a dog. But I hope he can make a team, though. He is, dude. It’s It’s really tough for me not to see him make this team, right? Like he’s that speed guy right on the outside, right? Oh, yeah. He Oh, yeah. Uh he’s been doing very well. He’s been establishing that chemistry with Josh. His speed is there. His route running is there. I do want to see him more uh right um so within that downfield game because he had leg soreness right on the day when Buffalo is running third and long and the two-minute offense, but he was absolutely cooking when it came into that short game side of things. Like he’s breaking people’s ankles out there. He has that speed. He’s going to be a personnel that like we’ve needed on this squad for quite some time. And I’m really hoping that it’s not just speculation because like what we feel about this wide receiver is hey like he’s only ever had Zack Wilson and Tim Bole and the ghost of Deshun Watson throwing him the football. So that’s why he hasn’t really taken over the league. I’m just hoping that Josh Allen is able to really bring out his full potential because say that he can then with this offense is going to see even a larger improvement than last year. That’s Ellen the goat. He gonna pull out everybody full of potential. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah, man. That’s what I’m talking about. DJ, that’s all I wanted. Well, hey DJ, listen man. I sincerely appreciate you tuning in and showing a little bit of love. Safe travels tonight right down to Rochester. Hopefully we see you in the chat tomorrow and uh you let us know any tidbits of information that you might notice. No, for sure. I am. I’m I’m tuning in every day till the season is over. Oh, dude. That’s what I’m talking about, man. Listen, that’s what I’m talking about, man. Listen, we are a 24 Hey, 365 day a year type show. So, I hope you stick around for the offseason, too, man. We have a good time over here. But, all right, man. For sure. All right. Hey, man. We’ll see you around. Peace. DJ has committed saying, “Dan, I am not going to miss a 9 a.m. show all season.” Folks, look, again, I do want to remind everybody I am live Monday through Friday at 9:00 a.m. EST, and we are going to be discussing every single topic that comes from this team and also across the NFL that has a direct correlation with the Buffalo Bills. All right. Uh, dude, 1,400 people are in here. That is insane. We have,00 on X. We have 256 on YouTube. That is absolutely nuts. That is nuts. Folks, I ask that if you haven’t already, smash that like button, subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already, and turn on bell notifications. In fact, where we are right now, I’m going to double check. We have 254 of you watching. 236 like buttons have been smashed. I can’t be upset about that. I really, really can’t. You guys are pulling the weight of growing this family as much as humanly possible. I ask if you haven’t hit that thumbs up sign, please do it because we want to recruit to this family. And uh again, the garage beer hotline is live and ready if anybody is here. I love it for you, Dan. Spidey, you are the man. Dylan 427. What up, Dylan? What’s up? Oh, man. Living the dream. Living the dream. What about you? Good. Good. I’m a summer vacation right now. So, sick. Just Yeah. Nice. When does school start back up for you guys? Uh, September. September. Okay, that’s cool. Yeah. And so you at least have one more full month right before it comes down. Yes, sir. Yeah. What’s going on, man? What’s on your mind? All right. A little bit of a non Bills related question. Yeah. Um, who is like a sleeper playoff team you can see making the AFC? Sleeper playoff team. Yeah. I’m probably going to get a lot of hate for this because people hate on this quarterback and they hate on this team and they have this like narrative attached to them each and every single time. I have for the Chicago Bears. It’s the Chicago Bears for me. It really, really is. It’s not even so much that I believe in Caleb Williams, but what I believe in, my friend, is that offensive line that they’ve built this off season. I have been tapping in uh with some of the updates that that are coming out of Bears camp. And when I tell you that this that this offensive line can threaten to potentially be the best unit in the NFL, it’s going to give Caleb all the time in the world where he could theoretically drop back, make himself a sandwich, and then scan the field and find an open receiver. He’s going to have all the damn time in the world. And that’s the biggest piece people really aren’t talking about. You have quality weapons and now that Caleb is going to have that right in the back of his head where he’s like, “Okay, now I’m protected and now I don’t need to worry about having pressure in my face. I can take a breath and I can scan the field and end up making the appropriate throw because that was the issue.” And then my boy Jesse said AFC. So an AFC team sleeper picked to make the playoffs. Um, Patriots and the New England Patriots. I know it’s the Patriots for me in the AFC. I I hate that Drake May kind of reminds me of Josh Allen. It doesn’t make me happy. He does, man. But, you know, like that whole thing of, hey, you know what? This player could be the next Josh Allen. We heard the exact same thing about Trey Lance, right? Just a couple of years ago. I don’t think people acknowledge how rare the jump from Josh Allen from college into the NFL truly was. Like people that’s why it frustrates me so much when I hear somebody say that’s the next Josh Allen largely because so I’m saying like you’re acting like this is easy or you’re acting like this is so easily replicated when it’s not because dude was coming out of college averaging 58% completion percentage and then all of a sudden like he pulls a space jam and he steals the talents of some of the best quarterbacks right in the NFL and he sees significant improvements in not only taking care of the football, but in completion percentage in general. Um, but May is interesting. He’s good, man. Listen, like, he’s been looking solid. I still don’t trust his offensive line as much as I nearly thought that we would, but um I don’t know. Yeah, that’s my thing. It doesn’t m at the end of the It doesn’t matter because we’re still winning the division. So, yeah, dude. Listen, it does not matter. So, the Patriots, and again, it’s a sleeper pick. So, say that they do, it’s going to be them falling in ass backwards uh with the seventh seed. But, y I’m not willing to hop on the bandwagon that I don’t think they are close from actually being a threat to us next year, especially say that they can um have yet another good free agency and have another good draft class and perfect that offensive line. I do think that they will be a genuine threat to us in 2026. this year sleeper. Next year I think might be the one year where we finally have some competition within the division where it could genuinely go either way. Mhm. Yeah, it’s my take. All right. I like it. Yeah, man. Yeah, man. What about you, man? Uh what are your sleepers for the AFC and NFC? I think it’s not much of a sleeper. I think I know everyone’s been saying it for years, but I think the Broncos have a really easy schedule. I could kind of see winning the division. I know it’s like every year’s like, “Oh, this is the this is the time the Chiefs fall down.” But like, hey, we’re all manifesting the Chiefs downfall. Each and every single one of us have been doing that for a while. But dude, listen, say that any team could take down the Chiefs and win the division, I’d probably give it or give my vote to Denver as well. Yeah. Yeah, because like really on paper, man, great defense. In fact, I’d probably argue best defense in the NFL on paper, but then again, I feel like we also need to look at the best defense in the NFL on paper last off season, and that team was the New York Jets. So, can they actually execute and be a good defense? That’s left to be seen. So, I don’t know. I don’t know, my friend. But Dylan, dude, I appreciate you calling in. Yeah, man. No issue at all. I hope that you enjoy the rest of your summer vacation and do not hesitate to call in again. As you know, we are live over here Monday through Friday at 9:00 a.m. EST. All right, have a nice day. See you, brother. Yeah, man. You as well. Shout out to Dylan coming on in talking a little ball with you, boy. 1500 of you in here. Absolutely sane. We have DJ Finesse and you goed. Thank you, man. No, you are, my friend. You are just joining. Is there any word on Max Haristen? Not yet. So, the Buffalo Bills organization is really uh uh really terrorizing us right now. We haven’t heard anything. I am going to double check and see if anything has crossed my screen. Still no word from Max Haristen. So folks, like really how I look at this is more than likely we are about to be getting word during the press conference tomorrow or the opening press conference into the second third day of camp. It’s good. It’s so it’s a good feeling that we saw that from Max Haristen that his Instagram story suggested that everything is okay. But is it okay? Right. Time will tell. Time will tell. 29 years old. Damn, I am screwed, Scott. And so I feel like that each and every single time. Uh when somebody like looks at a player and says, “Oh my god, he’s 31. He is old. He is ancient.” And then I just go to my bathroom and I look in the mirror and I realize I’m 34. Right. So So what does that say about us? What does that say about us? That is a question indeed, folks. I sincerely appreciate you for tuning in. And Matthew, yes indeed, there is an AFC East round table this evening. Strap up. It’s going to be a hell of a show. Um, I do appreciate you tuning in and showing me some love. Y’all are the most dedicated audience in the world. Over 1500 of you in here at one point just talking ball. I really appreciate that, guys. I would not have a channel without you guys. Uh, without you contributing to the conversation. again say that you didn’t call in on the garage beer hotline. I encourage that you give it a try next time when we’re live over here. Hit that thumbs up sign for me. Subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already. And we will see you next time. Peace.

🚨 Maxwell Hairston Injury Update: What It Means for the Buffalo Bills 🚨

Rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston may have suffered a potentially serious injury during Buffalo Bills Training Camp — and this could be BAD news for the team’s secondary depth heading into the season. In this live stream, I break down everything we know so far, what it could mean for the starting lineup, and how the Bills might respond if Hairston misses extended time.

🏈 Hosted by Dan Mitchell | The Don Mafia Report
🟦 Part of Roundtable Sports

📌 Topics Covered:

Maxwell Hairston injury timeline & severity

Impact on Bills’ cornerback depth chart

Possible roster moves if Hairston is sidelined

Reactions from coaches and teammates

💬 Drop your thoughts in the comments: How worried are you about Hairston’s injury?

📺 Subscribe for daily Buffalo Bills updates, camp reports, injury analysis, and more!

#BillsMafia #MaxwellHairston #BuffaloBills #BillsCamp #NFLInjuries #DonMafiaReport

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12 comments

  6. 1:10 minutes of football talk and 27 minutes of asking for likes and comments. You should cut the begging down by 50%. Nothing wrong with asking, but you’re relentless with it. Had to turn it off.

    I support you Dan and appreciate the time you put in to growing your channel and the round table. I’m pulling for you. Just some constructive criticism.

  10. 55:32 I can’t forget the last 4 years of Tre white cause he’s beeen good v avg WR , Tre is not the future he didn’t even help us win it all in his prime , young guys need to have the chance in games that’s the only way they can truly get better but that’s just me feelings it is nice to see Tre do well

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