billsfan89

I wouldn’t hate it on a cheap one year deal. I like adding more depth along the Oline, he can take over the Brian Winters spot.

Can’t hate on a solid and fairly cheap ST signing that might also add some LB depth.

Seems like the going rate for a very good safety. Safeties play well into their early 30's and this deal signs him for ages 31-33.

If Hyde hands in another good season or two you could make the argument he is the best Bills free agent acquisition of all time. He already has provided 4 years of Pro-Bowl or near Pro-Bowl levels of production. I like the extension, keeps him here a little longer at an age where he should still be able to produce.

I think McD does value the locker room. He has kept a lot of bad players or brought in a lot of washed vets for the value they have in the locker room. Given that dynamic I think they would pick Hughes over Addision.

I think pass rush wise Addison and Hughes are similar. But Hughes is a veteran leader and the heart of the defense. For that reason alone if the team is forced to choose one they are going with Hughes. I think they ask both guys to take a moderate pay cut.

Dak is not worth the second largest QB contract. He is worth a big QB contract, at least moderately more than Wentz got or close to what Wilson got. But he should not be approaching the 20% of the cap type deal Mahomes is getting that will put him close to 50 million aav. No way in hell is Dak that type of QB.

The Bills are just unfortunately going to have to lose some players this off-season. Even if they get all of their overpaid players to take paycuts and they cut Lee Smith and Vernon Butler and they rework Tre, Dawkins and Diggs contracts to free up more space they still likely won't have enough to both resign Milano, Mongo, D.Williams and all key role players and add key pieces like a pass rusher or tight end via free agency. Tough decisions will have to be made.

Even if the cap is set up higher than 180-185 (I can't see it being higher than 190 or 195) expect a lot of contract restructuring from the Bills. The Bills have 3 starters who are unrestricted free agents (Milano, Williams and Mongo) 2 of those starters will be higher end value type players (Williams and Milano) and Mongo is a mid level or slightly better value player. That's in addition to the 3 restricted free agent starters (Ike, Wallace and Bojo) and the unrestricted role players (Roberts, Ty, Barkley, T.Jones and Mac among others). The Bills also have a glut of productive but overpaid players and outright over paid players. The cap crunch around the league is going to result in a lot of players taking pay cuts to stay on their teams and the Bills have at least 8 players that they will ask to take restructures. Pay cut candidates John Brown Mitch Quinton Jefferson or Vernon Butler (one will likely be cut with Star coming back) Jerry Hughes Addision AJ Klein On top of those 7 they might do some cap magic with the Tre, Dawkins and Diggs contracts where they convert some of their base salary into a signing bonus. That could free up additional money. This off-season is going to be the first time since 2018 where McBeane faces a cap crunch. Let's see exactly how they handle it. McBeane has to manage this cap situation while also finding a way to add a few key pieces and not lose many or any key pieces. It is going to be difficult but it can be done.

I don't think the Jags view themselves as a stud QB away from contending. They are 2-3 years away and I see them building with Lawrence who fits their timeline. Watson as great as he is, isn't going to win with the Jags sad sack roster. Even with their cap space (which would be lessened after such a trade) and remaining draft assets they wouldn't be able to build enough of a roster to get Watson ready to contend in the next year and possibly the year after. Whereas with Lawrence you don't have to contend right away. You can sign and draft a lot of offensive talent around him and then build the defense and other aspects of the roster up the next two seasons. I think the Texans would love to get a young stud QB to start a three year rebuild but this type of trade just doesn't line up for the Jags. If the Texans want draft compensation I think their best bet is to either trade with Miami who could offer picks 3, 18, 35, 81 and their first, third and fifth in 2022. Or trade with the Jets who could offer picks 2, 23, 66 and a pair of first round picks in 2022 (their own plus Seattle's). Personally I hope that Watson doesn't go to the AFC East as I think the Fins would be contenders if they added Watson and the Jets while likely still a year away if they add Watson their long term prospects would be greatly improved. I don't know where in the NFC has the draft capital to pursue Watson. The Bears apparently are willing to give up multiple drafts worth of picks but the immediate return for the Texans would be pick 20 and a pick in the 50's. There aren't too many other teams with high end draft capital like the Fins or Jets. Maybe if the Raiders can get a 1st and some other capital for Carr they can push themselves into the mix?

I don't hate the idea of trying to make an onsides kick possible as I think the new kickoff rules have made a rare but possible chance to get the ball back under the new kick off rules has become very very rare to the point where it is nearly impossible. I am not sure if a 4th and 15 or 4th and X yards to go conversion is the solution either. I used to be in favor of a 4th and 20 conversion but I think a better compromise would be to change the kickoff rules for the last 5 minutes of a game. Allowing the old kickoff rules for 5 minutes would take the current .5% conversion rates no onside kicks and kick it back up to the 4-5% rate that it used to be. With that rate you at least have a chance to get the ball back.

Personally my perfect off-season scenario would be a cap a bit higher than 180-185 million and closer to the 190-195 million range. That extra 10-15 million would help make it easier to retain talent. Generally speaking I hope they do the following moves under a 195 million dollar cap. Existing cap space under a 195 million cap 16.2 million Cut Lee Smith and Vernon Butler (Savings 9 million) Restructure Quinton Jefferson to 4.5 million (Savings 3.5 million) or cut Jefferson if he isn't willing to take a pay cut (Savings 6.5 million) Restructure the following players John Brown, Mitch, Addision, and Hughes to save about 3 million on each (Total savings 12 million) Convert some of Diggs, White and Dawkins base salary into a signing bonus (Savings 15 million) Those types of moves (assuming you keep Jefferson at a reduced rate) would give the Bills about 55 million in space to work with. Taking out the rookie pool and emergency money that leaves you with about 40 million to work with and you only lose Lee Smith and Vernon Butler (who is replaced by Star). Using that 35 million I hope they are able to make the following moves. Resign D.Williams 9.5 million aav Resign Milano one year 8.5 million deal (hoping he doesn't get the big offer he wants and takes a one year deal) Resign Mongo 5.8 million aav Resign Wallace, Ike and Bojo to their restricted tenders (not sure what their tenders are I will allocate 8 million to getting them done to deals) Resign Roberts one year 3 million (got to keep your return game stable) Resign Ty Nesh one year 2.75 million (keep depth on the oline) Resign T.Jones one year 1.75 million (special teams ace) Those resignings would eat up just about all of the useable cap space at 40 million but most key free agents would be retained only losses would be Mac, Kroft, Trent Murphy, TJ Yeldon, Norman, Brian Winters, Matt Barkley, and Dean Marlowe which in my mind is nothing to lose. Then you just have to hope that you can get those last few pieces you need via the draft. It isn't sexy but run back a good team and add to it via the draft.

Brown is a very good WR. A quality WR2. His issue is just staying healthy. Even being banged up this season if you added up his 8 starts and prorated them he would have produced about 900 yards and 6 TD's on 66 catches. Really solid numbers. 3 out of the past 5 seasons he has either missed significant time or had his play really impacted by injury. 2016- He played or was available to play in all 16 games but he battled hamstring issues all year and his production dipped. 2017- He missed 6 games outright and was not very effective in his 5 starts and 10 games played 2018- Pretty much stayed healthy with the Ravens 2019- First year with the Bills and he put together his best season as a pro. 2020- Missed 7 games outright and was banged up most of the seasons. Somewhat effective when he played but certainly less impactful. That's not a tragic injury history but Brown will be 31 in April and I am not sure if this team can justify a 9 million dollar cap hit on a guy that has a history of being banged up. I would love to see the Bills and Brown work out a restructure. Maybe give Brown 6-6.5 million guaranteed with 500k in incentives. That would free up 2-3 million in space and keep Brown in the fold for one more year.

I feel like they could have used a better picture of Josh. Him wearing a suit really makes his female doppelgänger look worse. Not saying Josh is Jimmy G or anything but they really picked the worst picture.

He made a lot of big plays. I can think of two games in 2019 where he made critical big time plays that may have been the difference in games. He also was the teams most consistent pass rusher. He was a flawed player because I do think his play contributed to the bad run defense in the middle of 2019. But once McD adjusted around his freelancing it worked really well.

I look forward to the Bills enjoying the Patriots cycle of players looking good for the Bills getting signed to inflated deals with other teams and then 2 years later being cut from those deals and signing back with the Bills on the cheap and producing at a high level again.

Would want a more dynamic player but if this staff like Knox to have a breakout then Rudolph could fill that Kroft role of established flex backup well. Would be a solid add on a one year deal to replace Kroft.

In a supposedly deep O-line class I would rather do my best to resign D.Williams and Mongo and draft a O-line player in round 3 to take over longer term for Mongo or D.Williams and provide short term depth/competition. Given that O-line play is rarely "plug and play" high up in the draft I wouldn't want to count on a rookie even a first rounder protecting Josh at a critical position esp if you have an established fairly young option at both positions.

Wouldn't mind brining him in on a cheap deal. Could be a Lorax type player. I just would still want to bring in another DE to help the pass rush in addition to him.

A lot of teams will want him as a mentor or get backup. But his days as a unquestionable starter are done as you said. Hope for his sake and all the work he put in that he hangs around as a high and back to another year or two, he deserves to be around the game.

The article is basically an old man yelling at a cloud type stuff. Yes social media is yet another pitfall for players to fall into. But social media also gives players a platform and a voice that can be used positively to interact with fans or get around bad media spin. It also allows the players to showcase their personality directly. It also allows players to shape their own narrative and not be bullied by the organization. The NFL has incorporated social media literacy and how to use social media responsibly as a public figure into the rookie transition program. So these players are made aware of how to use it. I think teams even offer their marketing agencies to run their accounts if they want to. If teams have to hire a few entry level staff to monitor their players social media so be it. But overall things aren't that bad as this article makes it seem.

That's my exact take on it. He has 9 sacks the last two seasons. He hasn't been a highly impactful player since 2018 when he had 16 sacks. He is 32 this upcoming season and while for a DE that's not tragic (DE's can reasonably play at a peak or close to peak level from ages 32-33) but given his injury history and his decline since his 2018 level I wouldn't want to commit anything more than 8-9 million on a one year deal. Unless he has been a better more disruptive player than his sack totals would indicate the past two seasons I just am not committing 15.5 million aav to this type of player.

The Rams have a top heavy roster and that’s ripe to be taken out by a moderate amount of injuries. I think they are a good team but their lack of depth is going to be a big vulnerability. The Niners can be good but that QB situation can sink them. Seattle is tough but not a juggernaut either.

Not sold on the 49ers, their QB situation isn’t that great. The Rams have a lot of issues and lack depth, also not really sure if they have the right QB. Seattle if Wilson stays is tough but not a juggernaut. Overall that division isn’t this beast many here are making it out to be in my opinion. It is a good division but not insurmountable.

He will have to comfort himself with his big pile of money.