WhitewalkerInPhilly

I mean, that's something that has bipartisan support

Do you have a link to it? I'm at work so I can't listen on the radio. Agree on safety. I am not theoretically against taking a safety in the 1st round but none of the guys I've seen have moved the needle so far, and there is value to be had there in rounds 2-4. Receiver is a no duh. I think this encapsulates the situation for me. I am not saying that I was bowled away by Elam in the times that he made it to the field. He made mistakes and got beat. On the flip side, when pushed into the fire he made plays like his INT vs the Steelers. It mystified me that the team would rather grab guys off the street rather than see what their 1st round pick could do. That said, we are so incredibly thin at depth at CB that I would be mystified if we cut Douglas. I get not throwing money at an aging player, but does anyone think that he's going to command major free agent dollars on the open market?

Disagree on Bates, mostly because I can't knock the team for taking an IOL insurance policy that's cheap but it's hard to argue that McGovern and Torrence weren't upgrades

Greg Tompset at Cover One noted that the difference in the current NFLPA cap numbers was the number of Oliver and McGovern's potential base salary restructure, so I believe you are right. Honestly, I am ok with it. Oliver frankly outplayed his contract last year, and though quieter I think McGovern did too, and he can be an emergency center if necessary. I am ok with both of those. My only surprise is that I expected Dawkins, Johnson and Douglas to get deals done first, but in retrospect the restructures were probably quicker ones to bang out so Beane knows how to structure the extensions.

I mean, the motive doesn't have to be complex here. The one they are explicitly saying out loud seems plausible. Eric Washington and John Butler are older than Babbich, and were heads of their position groups longer. Going a season with no DC and then being passed over is a common reason to move elsewhere in a lot of professions. God knows I've done it.

I think the best analogy I've heard is effectively how property investors will take on debt. So long as the base income keeps growing, it is very possible to juggle debt sustainably. Sometimes your acquisitions have to slow as you pay out what is owed, or call some projects a wash and take a hit to get it off your spreadsheets. But careful management means sustainable growth and improvement. Alternately, you max out everything and pray it works out. The Saints did the latter. Oh I agree. Things were bad when Peyton left, but I hadn't realized that they had kept going.

To make the post of Brees swan song years. If they had taken a second title, I don't think they would have regretted it. The Bills might do the same with Josh.

My path did none on those things: Josh restructure: 22M Extensions for Dawkins, Taron and Rasul Douglas- ~6M in savings per by most estimates for ~18M Cut Harty- 4m Cut or pay it Hines -2-5 million Cut Siran Neal- 3 M There, even on conservative estimates that gets to my states amount without doing any of the stuff you were worried about. That means Von and Knox are cuttable or the Bills at least have leverage to redo the contract Diggs is the one I really scratch my head on that people are so terrified of. With his money he's already almost a lock for 2025 and in his worst year with us was still top 15 in receiving yards and yet it's become a personal crusade to show him the door

Jesus I can't imagine what their cap looks like when they have to pay Chase as well.

Blowhole?

Possible...but stupid. I'll take it for the Phins I'm not going to object to the Dolphins shooting themselves in the foot

It *is* Friday

Whoever did this is very much looking at numbers and not the team. Why would we deal Bates when we could paycut or release Morse who is older? Why would you restructure anything on Miller when his salary is ignored and guarantees are voided if suspended? Why on earth would we add 3 void years onto poyer when he's a legit cut candidate?

I mean we say that like a bad thing. Realistically, how often do you look at a player contract 3-4 years later and go "oh boy THAT was worth it!" I think the best one in recent memory for the Bills (fortunately) was Josh Allen's. A lot of the time players can't play up to expectations because it was nearly statistically impossible to play up to that level. Hyde and Poyer were journeymen when the came here and turned into one of the best safety tandems in the league. Morse and Beasley weren't bank breakers. Taron Johnson, Dawkins, Milano and Ed Oliver all have played up to or exceeded their contracts so far. I would include Tre White as well, if not for the injuries.

I mean, I am looking over some of the recommended cuts and it's incredibly east to shed $49M

I mean how much can you advance to Shawn Hochuli?

Very much. Also, the Bills were never going to be legal tampering and Day 1 bidders. More to the point, that's not how I personally view as the path to long term success. Our biggest free agent signing that wasn't a retention contract is Von Miller, and ask around here to see how popular that is. Let's not forget how the Bills slowly dragged themselves to playoff contention before Josh got here: journeymen FA to fill positions of need, draft BPA and do your best to retain your successes. Sure, we still needed a QB but that was the core that took the Bills as far as the did in 2020 and 2021.

I mean, I won't say "everything". But that amount is the difference of renegotiating Diggs or not I am quoting myself, quoting @DrDawkinstein quoting an early Cover 1 installment but here are some very basic moves that I would say 99% of this board would agree with: That puts the Bills at $9-12 million over the cap without doing the classic "convert base salary to signing bonus" outside of Josh Allen (who is worth the money and we want here a long time). I honestly will be surprised if anyone here objects to these moves. After that...it gets harder, but I am no longer worried about having to gut the roster or make extreme long term restructures to field a competitive team. With that money, I can very much see the Bills swapping Poyer for a new pair of journeyman safeties and picking up 1-2 free agents on defense and then backfilling BPA defense and WR2 in the draft.

It's sad to see the direction of the league has moved away from Best Wiliams Available

No, but there are a few signs he wouldn't be coming back. For one, his contract is over. With our cap situation, throwing money at a skill position player in his mid-30s is typically not a great investment. Two, there are legitimate reasons to think that he's going to retire. His wife put out a message on social media thanking Bills mafia right around the end of the season. He took a bad injury that might seriously affect his long term health back in 2022, and he took a neck stinger at the end of the year that had a lot of fans holding his breath. I would not blame him in the slightest for setting a hard line in the sand on what he thinks is worth playing for and retiring for his health if he doesn't see it.

same Spotrac has it at $11.5 M AAV, but again that's not impossible to swing if backloaded to 2026

2025 it's possible. I am not sure what you'd get for him that would make it worthwhile

Well thanks for reminding us how much we loved it at the time. I guess? I'm not going to pretend that the last two years were not disappointing but I find it useful to look at when and where the dropoff happened. Even in his best year Knox didn't put up crazy yards but was a massive RedZone threat I don't think it's a coincidence that along with the personal stuff and injuries going from 9 TDs to massive dropoff conincided with Daboll leaving and an uptick in RedZone a few weeks after he returned with Brady calling plays.

Exactly my plan. I think we can possibly get Daquan before he hits the market and then pick up a rotational DE and at least one S. I am also not against cutting Poyer and picking up two S's (and then drafting one in 3rd or 4th round)

OK, I thought I saw something that his contract with us would be $7M? Spotrac has his base salary as $15M. One Beane can *maybe* afford, the other we just cannot.