billsfan89

Luckily he can be restructured to lower his hit or they can cut him next season when he will only be about 2.5 million dead cap. It's not the best contract although I still think he is a productive player just not worth his cap hit.

Since 2019 the Bills have drafted Ed Oliver, Knox, Singletary, Gabe Davis, Bass, Dane Jackson, Groot, and Spencer Brown. That's a lot of impact in the past three draft classes and there are still a lot of players that can develop like Boogie who flashed his rookie season, Moss who played well at times and AJ who has not had an easy transition into the NFL. I wouldn't knock the Bills drafting ability. Even on the D-line where many think this team hasn't developed players in the past few years this team has Ed Oliver and Phillips who are really good players and they got a solid rookie season out of Groot while Boogie flashed as a rookie on a crowded D-line. There are a lot of internal free agents I would let go or only resign on the cheap. But with only about 36 million in space resigning a few key players will eat up a nice chunk of that and take the Bills out of range for a large signing. For example looking at the Bills list of free agents below I am comfortable letting everyone go except H.Phillips, Mac, T.Jones (for special teams), Levi Wallace and either Hughes or Addison on a lower end deal if possible. I also want to keep Bates and Zimmer in the fold as restricted free agents and would offer Neal a one year deal and Ike a camp tryout contract. Guys like Efe, Butler, Mitch (would love to have him back but not at what it would cost), Sanders, Addison or Hughes (can't have both back), and Bredia I can live without but there are several key starters that need to be brought back or replaced. That's going to eat up a nice chunk of the limited cap space this team will have. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/buffalo-bills/

The Bills can free up a lot of space restructuring contracts and they have the option to cut Beasley and Mongo. If they cut those two players and restructure Josh, Diggs, Milano, Tre, Dawkins, Hyde and D.Williams they will have about 36 million in cap space and another 3 million if they want to restructure Star but that would make Star harder to cut in 2023 so pick your poison on that one. Given how the Bills restructured many contracts last off-season I will not be shocked to see them do the same this off-season. With about 36-39 million to work with the Bills will easily have enough space to resign many of their own free agents but likely not enough to go "big name" hunting in free agency either. Expect the off-season to look similar to 2021 where the team's biggest acquisition (Sanders) was a mid-level acquisition and the rest of the moves were mainly to resign the team's current talent. The draft will likely be where "upgrades" happen.

I do wonder if there is another QB like Josh that defied more modern scouting techniques will more teams return to drafting big arm QB's with strong physical profiles? The old adage was that you could more easily fix accuracy than straighten someone's arm. But quickly that was disproven by the amount of big arm QB's with accuracy issues not fixing those issues throughout their pro-careers. With Josh's success story I do wonder will there be a market correction as teams try to find the "next" Josh Allen.

CB is definitely in play for the first three rounds. Personally I think it would be foolish to go CB in round 1 in general given how good the team has developed later round picks (Levi was undrafted, T. Johnson a 4th round pick and Dane a 6th round pick also Poyer wasn't exactly a high caliber player before coming here) but it might shake out that a CB is both a need (depending on if Levi resigns and if Tre is progressing from injury) and the BPA. I hope that this team is able to resign Levi and have the luxury of going O-line or DT in round 1 and then go DB in round 2 or 3 for depth.

I think so too. Right now in addition to the starting 5 you have Mongo off the bench (if he isn’t cut for cap reasons) who is a great back up with the ability to play guard and center, Tommy Doyle who is a young player with some Potential and Ford a reclamation project. That’s not bad off the bench and that’s in addition to having an appetite to draft a player there early.

Seems more like gossip. Either way Daboll got an offer and the Bills promoted the right guy to take over for him.

There is also solid talent to work with. Mitch is a quality center, Dawkins a good LT, D.Williams a good vet, Spencer Brown an up and coming player and Bates a restricted free agent played well to end the season at guard. It isn't like you don't have a solid unit to work with either.

Very happy to hear this. It made far more sense for Dorsey to take the Bills job and be an offensive coordinator under a defensive head coach with a great QB in a system you know than it would be to be under an offensive head coach in Daboll with bad offensive talent. I wasn't too inspired by the possible OC choices, going in house with Josh's QB coach seemed like the best idea and I am glad they were able to get Dorsey to stay.

Looking on Spotrac and the Giants can get out of their cap situation pretty easily. Just by restructuring Leonard Williams, Golladay, and Adoree Jackson along with cutting Bradberry and Sterling Sheppard the Giants get to 26 million in cap space. They can also get more space by cutting Kyle Rudolph and Blake Martinez (and restructuring Logan Ryan) and have about 43 million in cap space. There is also possible savings with a Barkley trade. Overall the Giants might not do all of those restructurings but they will at the very least do 2-4 of them and make a few cuts to get into the 25ish million dollars in space and have some space to work with and sign their rookies. The Giants have decent linebackers I don't think they want Tremaine on the last year of his deal, the Bills are better off letting Edmunds play out the last year of his deal instead of getting at best a mid-round pick for him. At worst the Bills will be in position to get a comp pick if they let him walk.

Harrison Phillips blossomed this season and probably would have broken out in 2019 had he not gotten hurt (in the few games he played in 2019 he was looking like he did the back half of this season). Ed Oliver has also been a success story for defensive line development. I would also say that Jordan Phillips and Shaq Lawson were also significantly better under this regime in their limited time here so it isn't like there have been zero success stories along the D-line. Taking a look at the other D-line players who are still a work in progress and I see Groot who had a productive rookie year, Boogie who flashed his rookie year and AJ Epensa who has thus far not done much in two seasons. That's only one player who is just two years in who has done very little. I would hardly qualify that as a failure institutionally.

I think most on here were for the Bills trying to acquire Von Miller…

Would prefer Oline but with Linerbaum and Kenyon Green off the board it is hard to see them getting better value at pick 25 then getting a top WR.

I think the Bills will see how Knox does in 2022 before making a judgement as to how badly they want to keep him. If he continues to break out the price they are willing to pay will go up if he regresses the price goes down pretty simple. Very fortunate to have one more year remaining on the rookie deal with him.

They should have just kept their interim coach he did a really good job considering the circumstances. The Raiders are stuck in no mans land, solid QB and solid roster but not elite in any respect. And in a division with an elite QB and an up and coming QB with elite potential.

The team can do better but in the NFL a running back (in my amateur opinion) is 70% a product of the supporting cast mainly O-line and respect for the passing game. Look at the Steelers with Najee Harris in 2021 vs James Connor in 2020. The Steelers drafted a running back to bolster their running game but Harris wasn't that great (he wasn't bad but not much of a production upgrade vs Connor the previous season.) I also think that Singletary showed me to end the season and in the playoffs he is a solid running back that can contribute to the offense. I look at football as a chess game and when you don't have a lot of maneuverability on the roster due to limited draft capital and cap space do you really want to use the limited resources you have in the off-season to upgrade a position that is highly circumstantially dependent and not all that bad to begin with? I have no issues with this team sinking a late round pick into a running back or signing a veteran on the cheap to compete with Moss. But I just don't see the need to try and upgrade a solid running back like Singletary when there are other needs on the roster that are more urgent and in need of higher resources.

Good for Daboll and a good hire for the Giants to try and capture lightening in a bottle from one of the best organization in football (feels good to say that).

Yes he is

Kenyon Green or a Dline player would be my targets assuming Levi, Bates, Mac and Phillips are resigned the Bills biggest need in my opinion will be to sure up the lines. I know Bates solidified the LG position down the stretch but I think Green would add tremendous depth to the Oline and take over for D Williams or Bates after next season. You can’t go wrong trying to catch lightning in a bottle via drafting more defensive line players. But I am not sure who fits the Bill as a pass rusher either on the interior or edge.

I think if the Bills did make this trade (which I do not see them doing) they would move Diggs to the slot where he would be super lethal (they likely cut Beasley to save on the cap) and have Davis and DK outside. I think the differences between the Bills in 2020 that traded a 1st and 4th for Diggs vs the 2022 Bills is two fold. For one the Bills have Diggs a true WR1 on the roster in 2022, the Bills in 2020 were in desperate need of a WR1. Secondly Josh is on the final year of his rookie deal as opposed to just two years in. Sustaining a good team around Josh is best done by retaining talent and drafting well not splashy trades giving up both draft and cap capital. I am hoping for Kenyon Green the guard falls. I think Green short term add tremendous depth and can push Bates and D Williams at both guard spots. Then he can take over for either player in 2023 and help sustain good Oline play around Josh for years to come.

I see the appeal of a trade, a dynamic talent like that opposite Diggs (who could be moved to the slot) and Davis would be the best WR corps in the NFL. With Knox, Mac (if he is resigned) and Singletary great pieces in the passing game to boot. But I don’t think that would be McBeane’s style. I think as they head into Josh’s extension they want to avoid trading for a player on a big contract or up for a big extension. A 1st round pick is a possible ticket to high end production for multiple season below the players market value. Trading a 1st and handing out big cap space is a heavy investment into one single player. You are giving up significant draft and cap capital for a single non-QB player. Given the volatility of football injury wise it is perhaps better to try to build through the draft and retain talent you develop. Long story short I think these types of trades are super risky. DK is a great talent but that’s a lot to give up when you already have very good WR’s and possibly other pressing needs.

Probably better to be an OC under a defensive head coach in McD than an OC under an offensive coach like Daboll not to mention the advantage of Josh making you look good.

I am not sure what got lost in translation but I am agreeing with you that unlike 2020 and 2019 the Bills will not be spending big money on free agents and it will look more like 2021 where the big moves are talent retention. KC traded a 1st and 3rd for Orlando Brown and a 2nd while they also signed Thuney to a big money contract. KC made very aggressive moves to help their Oline. But I do agree that the Rams are the more “extreme” example.

If this team resigns Mac they can then either go with a veteran approach by signing someone like Sanders as a WR4 or they will have to draft a player in the first three rounds. Either way I like Beasley but I can see him as a cap casualty or they have to not resign Mac possibly. Lots of little decision to make on the roster.

The Bills are in a far different position with Josh leaving his rookie deal. 2021 you saw a much more conservative approach. Retaining the teams own talent was their big moves (sizable deals given out to Milano, D.Williams and Mongo) and they supplemented through the draft mostly. I think this off-season will look similar to 2021. They will likely resign their own players (Phillips, Wallace, T Jones, Mac and Hughes or Addision) and then maybe make one or two mid-level additions like the Bills did with Sanders and Trubisky. Which would be great, keep the talent you have, add a bit of depth and a role player and then fill out your remaining needs via the draft.