billsfan89

Cowherd is very very clickbait driven he says all sorts of things just to be controversial. He got fired for racial comments in 2015 and while you can chalk that incident up to over sensitivity it wasn’t the only time he stirred up controversy You can like Cowherd but to say he is not a sensational driven media type is just not accurate

The Bills were more willing to pony up the adjustable rate mortgage for Von who had finished the previous season healthy and was Dominant in a Super Bowl run. Whereas Dhop is coming off injuries back to back seasons. I think the Bills are also looking at not having too many bad contracts on the roster to have to avoid dead money. Von’s deal is possibly going to cost the Bills eight figures in dead money by 2025 or 2026. I think you can stomach one of those deals to try to “win now” but you can’t stomach two or more. I think in the end the Bills will try to get Dhop on a suped up Floyd type deal. Get the man a good chunk of money by adding some void years. But I doubt they want a huge multi year commitment like Von. To make such a deal happen probably would need 10 million in space

Glad they are going through this in June, Diggs probably was concerned about Dorsey and the offense and maybe some other smaller issues. Get this stuff sorted out now because this team needs to limit the controllable distractions as they saw last year there is already enough that can go wrong in a season that is out of your control.

From my understanding and fellow OBD cap scientists the Bills have four moves they could make to free up cap space. 1- Restructure Dawkins 2- Restructure Tre 3- Extend D Jones 4- Extend Hyde Given Hyde’s age and the injury he is coming off of I don’t think they want to do that. Tre is another one I don’t think they would do but they would consider it if they really needed the space. Restructuring Tre would push his dead cap hits up the next two seasons and considering the injury he is not too far removed from I think they would prefer to have some flexibility with him. Dawkins I think they will and can do and that would free up 6 million in cap space. A D Jones extension would free up 4 million in space and considering they only have one DT under contract next season It would make sense they would want to get a extension done for him. So the Bills have options for space but how much can they maneuver to make that play for Dhop?

It is also up to his agent to get him all the best contract offers he can and then let the client Dhop decide what he wants. Basically the agent wants to get Dhop the best deals and let him decide on how much of a discount if any he wants to take or if he just wants the last cash grab? All is fair and even if I were Dhop and I was very interested in joining the Bills I would still want to know how much I am leaving on the table.

I think It is a legitimate concern to think the Bills need more firepower at pass catcher. Now It isn’t like the Bills did not do anything to address this issue. Kincaid was the teams first round pick and the best TE in the draft according to most and the Bills spent a 5th rounder on shorter although he is more a developmental player. The Bills also replaced Mac and Kumerow with Hardy and Sheffield while not earth shattering Is a minor upgrade at the back end of WR. I also think having Hines the entire season will add some pass catching value. But if Kincaid is not having a major impact, Davis struggles to be a consistent WR2, Shakir doesn’t develop and they can’t find production elsewhere then a lot of the same issues from 2022 can rear their ugly heads. I think the team knows they might need another weapon out there which is why they are reportedly in on Hopkins and likely could also add a player at the trade deadline in season too.

That seems like a fair prediction, rookie TE’s rarely have huge stats

Fair points, my issue with your characterization is that the Bills didn't build their roster like there wasn't a role for Hines to be a component on the offense. Cook is a decent receiver but not great and Murray/Harris aren't good receivers. Hines should easily be a third-down gadget player with the roster as currently constructed. It isn't like they have another pass-catching back to take those snaps. Did the Bills fail to integrate Hines into the offense in 2022? Yes, but that doesn't mean the coaching staff doesn't like him. They have no one else to fill his role and could have cut him and moved on. There has to be some even begrudging interest in having him as a backfield pass catcher.

I just don't see Beane spending that much money/cap space on a pure returner. For what they are paying him they probably see Hines on offense as being a gadget player and a returner. I get what you are saying that Beane may love him and McD may be sour. But the role that could easily be crafted for Hines is not that demanding (gadget player and platooning as a third-down back) and is something that any OC would easily be able and want to do. Hines in Indy was never really anything more than a gadget third-down back type player anyway. I also think that given how the other two RB's they added behind Cook are pure power backs with little receiving upside/ability it makes Hines's role as a backfield receiver more important as he is the only receiving RB they have behind Cook.

Von has said a lot of things that have been more optimistic than reality. I know Von's tear was different than Tre's ACL injury (Tre's was non-contact while Von's was a fairly clean tear that didn't even get noticed until surgery) but I still think starting the season coming off a late November ACL is really not likely to happen esp for a 33-year-old. I think that the most likely scenario is going to be Von starts on the PUP list to start the season and comes back against the Pats in late October, that would have given him just under 11 months to come back from injury. Could it happen that Von comes back to start the season fine? Yeah, Von's tear wasn't as awful as it could have been, and Von has shown to be a freak of nature. But it is still a major injury that could require some time on the PUP list to start the season.

Last season and the two previous seasons fans were talking about how brutal the schedules were. Yet the Bills still managed to have good regular season finishes despite “brutal schedules”. I just don’t buy the hype about the difficult schedule.

If they don’t like Hines why did they rework his deal and not just cut him?

It’s all going to come down to the circumstances of the season but another playoff failure wouldn’t be enough for me to can the coaches but it would put them on the hot seat for 2024. You can be a great coach and not the right coach to take a team over the top

No one is a lock for anything in the NFL, but the Jags certainly are in a nice position given the relative projected weakness of their division.

I don’t see It happening nor is it a big deal that It doesn’t happen. James Cook is a stud poised for a breakout behind a much better and deeper offensive line. They also have a pair of quality power runners behind James Cook and a really good third down gadget back in Hines. Dalvin is a good player and would be a nice add for the Bills but I would rather go elsewhere for the Bills to add firepower along the offense such as going after a WR

I agree, some players just have it against some teams and Ingram is a killer against us.

I can easily see Ingram or Houston chasing a ring there both are 34 but both coming off productive seasons. I could also see Clowney there as well, he is younger at 30 and coming off a down year. Ngakoue is interesting as I have to believe a 28-year-old pass rusher coming off a 9.5 sack season likely wants at least decent money but if he gets desperate could he chase a ring with KC?

Nice for Denver, there are actually a lot of good pass rushers on the market late in free agency. Odd as usually pass rusher, O-line, WR, and Corners are usually snapped up fairly early in free agency. I can't think of a time when in late May and June there have been several quality pass rushers out on the market. Clark and Floyd are good players signed in June and there are still some other pass rushers out there like Yannick Ngakoue, Clowney, Melvin Ingram and Justin Houston. Floyd had 9 sacks last year, Clark 5 sacks (but had a nice playoff run with 2.5 sacks in 3 games), Ngakoue had 9.5 sacks, Ingram had 6 sacks and Houston had 9.5 sacks. Even Clowney coming off a down year at 2 sacks still rated highly as a run defender. Also while some of these players are older most are 30 and under. Ngakoue is 28, Floyd 30, Clark 29 (will be 30 in season) and Clowney is 30. Ingram and Houston are a bit older at 34 years old but at DE that's not ancient reasonably a DE can still be productive at 34.

Boogie did look like he was making some improvement in 2022, it felt like he was setting the edge decently. I know Boogie's 5 sacks in two years aren't very impressive but to the eye test he looked a bit better. As long as Boogie isn't a complete disaster in camp/pre-season I think he stays on the roster. Especially since Von will likely start the season on the PUP list the five DE's will likely be AJ, Boogie, Groot, Shaq and Floyd if all are healthy.

The Bucs would be smart to trade Evans. Without Brady they are giving off a tank vibe and they might as well get something decent for Evans. Ideally I would want a 2nd plus a future late round pick. Tampa had a two year window to win a title and they got one with Brady. Now they are better off selling the value that remains from that team and eating the dead cap now and handing the team over to a new coach with a boat load of cap space and some extra draft picks to work with

I give the Bills a 20% chance to get him. It is going to come down to how big the gap is between what the Bills offer and what other lesser contenders offer. If Dhop just wants the most money he is not coming here. I feel like a second level team with some cap space will offer him a decent sized deal. But if Dhop wants to contend and play with a top QB and is willing to take a discount to do so then the Bills are in play. It mainly is going to come down to Dhop’s preference of cash or contention and can the Bills sensibly make an offer that at least closes that gap enough

If the Bills can get Evans for a third and a conditional late round pick in 2025 I am all for it. Evans is coming off a productive season and still has a good deal left in the tank. The Bucs are rebuilding so getting a third now and an additional late round pick is better than waiting on a possible conditional pick that may never come. The only issue is fitting Evans under the cap and would Tampa want more than just a 3rd and a conditional 6th?

KC, Philly, and Cincy are the teams I would say that are more complete rosters than the Bills. The 49ers you can argue but I think the massive hole at QB and some smaller holes along the O-line and secondary put them behind the Bills. The Bills only real major hole is MLB and possibly WR2. With the addition of Flyod the rest of the roster is mostly solid maybe needed a bit of depth in one or two other spots but no other glaring needs. If the Bills somehow sign Hopkins I think you can put them right there with the other three top teams.

The Bills signed one of the better pass-blocking guards in the league who is also a decent run blocker, they drafted the best guard and tight end in the draft. They also signed a power running back and kept Hines as a good gadget/third-down back. In addition to that they signed Hardy as a burner and Sheffield who was the Fins third leading receiver to supplement the WR corps depth. The Bills also further addressed depth along the interior O-line by signing Edwards a former solid starting guard for a Super Bowl winner to go off the bench and they brought back Queese as a decent backup and signed Snell an experienced RT to challenge Brown in camp. The Bills are also still in on trying to sign Hopkins so clearly they are still trying to find some players on offense still. The Bills had limited resources this off-season and they spent those resources more so on the offensive side of the ball. The criticism of over-investment in defense was extremely valid in 2021 and 2022. But in 2023 they have focused more so on offense both in terms of higher draft picks and cap dollars.

Even in this segment he completely ignored the past off-season where the team spent draft resources and free agency dollars more on the offensive side of the ball. He cites Poona Ford as a big-time addition whose contract was a low-level deal. I never find any of Cowherd's takes to be all that well-researched or all that good either. His takes are either obvious sports stuff or just ***** he goes off the cuff about. I think several times he had done NFL season predictions and he had the entire NFL 60 games over .500 or majorly over .500. I don't listen to much local sports talk radio (I get more sports punditry from Youtube and podcasts) but even in that context, Cowherd's analysis is mid-level at best in my opinion. Also, someone becoming popular does not necessarily mean they are that great. Mcdonald's is the world's most popular restaurant doesn't mean they are the best restaurant in the world.