Magox

Maybe, maybe not.

Because if you’ve been a career backup all your pro life and now you are being offered a 3-4 year contract with millions on the table, you become very tempted to take the deal.

If they did before the tender then they would have offered him a contract. Their hand was forced once the Bears offered him one. With that said, I still think it ends up being a really good value signing because I believe Bates will be our long-term starter.

Personally, I think this is better because I believe Bates will be the long-term option. But, I think in a perfect world they would have wanted to see one more years worth of production before committing to the $8m, hence the 2nd round tender.

I think he miscalculated. If he were to do it all over again he would have given him the 2nd round tender.

This would be excellent news if this holds up. I mentioned it earlier but the sample size doesn’t worry as much as other posters. Bates performed at a high level against key opponents. His pass protection was nearly elite and his run blocking wasn’t too shabby either. Very mobile with heavy hands, I think at the end of the day the Bills will have found a reliable starter for the next few years at a good price for what I believe will end up being a quality starter. One less hole to fill, now we just got to get that quality veteran DB, and serviceable swing tackle to compete against Doyle and the Bills are set going into the draft.

I'd be shocked if he got half of that. I see him more as a $5m a year sort of player

My hopes are the Bills draft something like this: Round 1 WR Round 2 CB Round 3 CB Round 4 IOL Round 5 IOL There are really good WR’s to be had in the first round, potentially Diggs replacement in a couple years.

Levi had arguably his best year as a Bill this past year and always wins out the DB position battle. With that said, I would have still wanted to pick an early round DB to compete and hopefully replace Levi at some point. There is a really good chance that as of right now, the opening week boundary starting CB's will be Dane Jackson and ???. White may not be ready which leaves the Bills with some potential FA CB acquisition and/or a rookie DB. I would have liked to have kept Levi as the short-term guy who we know will give good steady DB play and then going after a rookie DB. In regards to Bates, I think they miscalculated and didn't believe he would garner this much interest and hoped that the tender was going to work. I bet if they had to do it all over again they would have given him the 2nd round tender. What you are implying for both Bates and Wallace is a hope that the Bills will address it with something better. A hope that either a rookie or FA acquisition will be better than two players who provided above average play last year. That is a lot to ask for, specially so out of a rookie. If we don't get two FA acquisitions to replace those two guys that are not viewed on paper as upgrades and go into the draft hoping that the draft choices pan out to be above average players as a rookie, then I think we will come to regret it.

This would be one loss that would hurt. So far, the off season on paper has been a success but I do think there are two potential mistakes/miscalculations Beane has made. Letting Levi Wallace slip away when he could have been had for $4m a year was a mistake. And the other is here with Bates, I think there are too many putting an overemphasis on "too small a sample size". Yes, it's true that the sample isn't that large, but he was really good during that stretch. He gave up by far the least amount of pressures, very mobile and it's not a coincidence the O line began playing much better once he was inserted. This loss would stink and I absolutely believe the Bills would end up regretting it.

These new WR contracts are unsustainable. I agree that the WR market will correct but probably not until it overinflates a little more. I just don’t see how the Bills agree to a $25m + a year contract with Diggs knowing that Allen’s huge numbers are about to hit.

His highlights are uhhhh Insane. Super smooth, instinctive and explosive. Would definitely be an impact player and upgrade.

I think I remember reading that he probably wouldn’t play until October, possibly November.

I can’t possibly fathom Beane not addressing FA with a quality veteran DB. White may not be available by then, which means the Bills would start the year with Dane Jackson and a rookie? No way. He is not going to make all the moves to win it all and go that bare with DB’s. No freaking way!

I’m afraid I would have to agree with this. The WR market has reset and truth be told it’s at a ridiculous valuation that makes it untenable for the Bills or any other $40m+ QB. You just can’t pay $27m to the WR, $40m to the QB and $35m to the top 2 defensive players. That’s over $100m, which would eat up around 40% of the cap on 4 players. The WR market is overinflated and it doesn’t make sense to pay that sort of money. No way, more like $25 -$26m

I wonder if there is more to Beane not wanting to extend Diggs at this point. Diggs will most likely command at a minimum $25-26 Million a year. It’s possible that Beane may end up looking to keep Diggs another year and then trade him going into his last year. I hope not but there are some large contract signings that are coming down the pike. I just hope we hit on our drafts because if not the music could stop for a bit.

Really solid pickup. If the McKissic deal hadn’t gone through, Crowder probably wouldn’t be on the Bills. This is the player that they are planning on picking up the lost production of Beasley. What Beasley did for the team is under appreciated because of his off-field actions and declined YPC production. None the less there was a huge void because of the importance of having that player catch a high volume of underneath passes and those critical third down conversions. At this stage in Beasley’s career and what Crowder can do, barring injury he should be able to fill that void nicely. The Bills really only need to pick up two more significant FA’s, one is to get a swing tackle to compete with Doyle and another quality veteran DB which is a huge priority. A+ off-season so far for Beane

You guys have to understand that WEO doesn’t believe in abstract concepts such as creating a “culture”. If he doesn’t believe that how in the hell do you expect him to understand that a player like Barkley would. E good for the QB room and that there ancillary benefits aside from what he can do on the football field. Which for a 3rd string QB, he is above average.

Whaley has an eye for talent but that was about it. The GM role encompasses much more than that, Whaley would be best served as some sort of head scouting role.

The Bills will probably look to replace some of Beasley’s production which is someone who can get open - produce a relatively high volume of catches who you can trust on third down to make a play. Laviska is not that guy. If McKenzie hadn’t of signed with the Bills then having that gadget role may have been available for a Laviska sort of player. I could be wrong but I don’t think they go this route.

Much better

Are the Bills on the hook for the entire $6m?

Haden would be a great fit. Not sure how much $$ he would command though

Ideally they don’t want to but they may need to.

I’m sure they could continue lowering the cap hit for the next few years and leave larger dead cap hits towards the end