billsfan89

It actually sounds like they are underpaid a little factoring in how rare an elite TE is.

He allowed just one sack all year, I think he is easily one of the best if not the best pass protecting center in the league. I grant you that he was average to above average in the run game but he was far from a liability in that respect. I also think that he was a big reason in the huge uptick in the cohesion of the O-line. The O-line just seemed much better organized and ran better as a unit in 2019 and I think Mitch was a big part of that.

I doubt he cost himself anything significant in 2018 as I think his regression was overblown by fans (he regressed but it wasn't nearly as tragic as many were saying), his 2019 play was going to determine his value on the market in terms of an early extension and his contract is in line with that of an above average young LT (which is kind of what he was in 2019.) Which is how he played in 2020. McBeane has had some stinkers outside of Star and Murphy but they were usually lower level signings under 3 million (Lee Smith, Chris Ivory, and Bodine) but even the larger contracts of Star and Murphy have at least been productive players in their own right.

The leverage NFL teams have with early extensions is that players don't want to risk getting hurt if they play out the last season on a deal. That's typically why so many players end up taking less than they would if they fully hit the market. If you are Dawkins it is best to take the 34 million guaranteed than risk an injury in 2020 and get a fraction of that on a one year prove it deal. The deal seems fair for both sides. If Dawkins plays at the same level he justifies his contract and if he excels beyond it, the contract becomes a complete steal for the Bills. What I like about the deal is that all Dawkins has to do is play at his level and it will be a fine deal.

I wouldn't lump Mitch in with Star and Murphy. Mitch in 2019 was a very good center top 5 or close at his position. They just paid retail for a position that was of desperate need. They paid a lot but they got good production thus far. Whereas with Star the team got a mid-level player at a top tier price and Murphy is paid like a quality starter and has at best been a decent role player.

Tre luckily has one more year on his deal after 2020, I suspect they will reset the market with him next off-season. But Milano is going to be the interesting one here. Do they want to lock him in long term or do they just let him walk and use a draft pick to replace him?

I actually think McBeane with a few exceptions (Star, Murphy and that God awful 2018 free agency class in general) has been mostly getting good to decent value in free agency. In 2017 (granted this was under Whaley but McD was here) they got a complete steal in Poyer and a very good deal on Hyde. In 2019 they paid retail for Mitch but got solid to good value on John Brown, Cole Beasley, Spain, Ty, and Feliciano. This off-season they did a great deal to keep Spain and let Shaq and Phillips walk. They then got a good value on Jefferson and a decent deal on Addison. The only guy they overpaid in my opinion was Butler but its an easy out after one year. Now add a good Dawkins deal and I think I would give him a B or B+ for value in resigning and free agency at this point.

Love it, a solid deal at a premium position. What I love about McBeane's deals is that with few exceptions he signs players to deals where all they have to do to make the deal a solid deal for the team is to maintain their level of production. For Dawkins to justify that contract at LT all he has to do is more or less sustain his 2019 levels of production. But if he gets better than the deal becomes an excellent value.

Percentage of the offense can be misleading. IF Kittle gets triple and double teamed all game and only gets 3 catches for 30 yards on 5 targets but the offense opens up for the rest of the receivers because of the attention he gets then is that any less effective than if he get a monster amount of catches and yards? It's all about context and Kittle in any context is such a huge weapon for an offense. He can block, line up in the backfield and be both a blocker and a receiving threat and he can be a pass catching threat lining up everywhere. That dynamic weapon is easily worth 15 million a season and had he put in another good year and hit the open market he easily could have gotten 17+ million. But he took the security and the big guarantee so you have to compromise a bit on the money.

I fully agree but Cooper played out the five years on his deal and wasn't franchise tagged (because of Dak) so he was able to fully test the free agency market. Whereas Kittle had one more year left on his rookie deal so his leverage was a bit more limited. So the comparison apples to apples to Cooper is a bit flawed because Cooper's deal was done with the maximum leverage possible.

There hasn't been an elite TE to test the market since 2015 with Jimmy Graham. Kelce and Ertz locked in deals before they hit elite status. It was a warped and deflated market.

Kittle has supposedly signed a deal that pays him just under 16 million aav. About what I thought he would get (I said 16.25 or 7.25% of the cap, just a hair under that.) I think he took a bit of a hair cut due to the uncertainty of the cap and the fact that he wants the big deal now. Had he waited to test the market (which would have been a bad move) it would have probably pushed him to 17 million aav. But take the big money now, the TE market has finally been set after all these years.

Why wait a year? This isn't a situation where ownership is going to not be willing to eat a few years on the contract. The Pegula's aren't cheap, McD is going to around at worst 2 more seasons (If the bottom completely falls out and they go 4-12 back to back seasons) and likely at least 3 more seasons if things go bad. The Pegula's are likely willing to eat 3 years on his deal if they want to dump him. If you wait the year you risk having an unstable coaching and GM situation. Show faith in the coach and GM and send a message that they are here to stay.

Did McD inherit a lot of offensive talent? Look at the context of the situation to see why the offenses haven't been very good. The O-line in 2017 was an aging InCog, Wood and a busted up Cordy Glenn. The three best skill position players were Shady (a RB with one more decent season left), Sammy (A malcontent who was traded for good value) and Clay a banged up TE. The QB was Tyrod a decent placeholder but more of a game manager. 2018 they traded a lot of their assets to get Josh and took on a lot of dead money to build the team the right way long term. 2019 they rebuilt the O-line into a respectable unit, added 2 quality WR's and a young RB while getting Josh some more experience. Now they added a stud WR in Diggs, some complementary parts like Moss and kept the O-line cohesion going. They haven't neglected the offense they just started farther back on that side of the ball.

I'd planned on doing a lot of things this year too.

In the 17 years before McD how many playoff appearances has the team made? Since McD got here the team has made 2 both with winning records. He has proven to be an elite defensive coach and built a culture and roster that has set up this team for success in the next 3 seasons. I fail to see what there isn't to like about it. There is no salary cap for coaches if the Bills go 6-10 the next two years and McD gets fire the Pegulas just eat the money.

I think a majority of people on here were against the Jauron and Fitz extensions or were in the middle about it. At that time most people wanted to wait until the end of the season to lock either in. McD on the other hand has proven that he deserves the security and faith a contract extension affords him. This team hadn't made the playoffs for 17 straight seasons and McD has taken this team to the playoffs 2 out of 3 years here. Even if you want to say the 2017 playoff run was luck it was still a 9-7 winning season. McD has produced 2 winning seasons in 3 years, compare that to the previous 17 when the team only had 2 winning seasons. I just don't see what there is to hate about this extension. It isn't like in 2 or 3 years if McD flops that the Pegulas aren't going to want to eat the contract and get a new coach. This isn't a premature player extension where it impacts the cap. The Bills don't have cheap owners anymore, they are more than willing to eat a few years of a head coaches contract.

Sorry to clarify by play style I meant situational play. If the team finds its self nursing leads late in games and not playing from behind then they are going to play a ball control style of offense that grinds the clock down and doesn't score points late in games. The defense kept almost every single game close to the point where teams weren't giving up garbage time points that often inflate PPG stats for bad teams. The offense was slightly below average because the O-line had been completely overhauled with 4 new starters, Josh had his growing pains and there were only two quality NFL receivers to throw to. The play calling can always be better but that wasn't the thing holding back a top 10 offense.

PPG could be deflated by play style. But I agree the offense was not a top half of the league offense let alone an elite one. If I had to rank the offense last season it wouldn't be tragic but it would probably be 17-20ish and if you have a top 3-4 defense you probably are going to lean on that to get your team some wins. I hope with the additions of Diggs and Moss along with progression in Josh and Singletary (along with O-line chemistry) the team can knock on having a top 10 offense which should give them a good shot to win playoff games if the defense can be about as good as it was last season.

I never really care or give a ***** about coaches salaries because it isn't like there is a salary cap and it seems that the Pegulas can afford it. But whatever they are paying McD it seems to be worth it. He has this team in position to be a serious contender the next 3 seasons and I think they can guide this ship beyond that.

This coach took this team to the playoffs twice in three seasons after missing the playoffs for 17 straight seasons and he has the team positioned for sustained success the next 3 seasons with a QB on a rookie deal and a good drafting track record thus far. What more could you be waiting on?

I think McD will open things up if he feels he can trust Josh more. Since 2017 when he got here he hasn't had a QB or an offense that has been the team's strength. The defense has always been the strong suit of the team and McD has smartly played to the team's strength to get 2 winning seasons and 2 playoff appearances. He hasn't really had a QB or an offense that can play "aggressively." I hope that in 2020 with Josh getting another year under him, an O-line with better chemistry and Diggs adding more pop to the skill position set the offense comes together and makes more aggressive play a consistent part of the team's playing style. You should only go conservative when you are up 3 possessions when you have only 3-4 possessions left in the game. McD seemed to go conservative with a 2 score lead fairly early in the second half when the Texans had 6-7 possessions left.

He not only was a Pro-Bowl CB in 2015 but he was also an All-Pro that year. He was also a dam good player in 2014 when he first started and probably should have been a pro-bowl player that year but he didn't start until week 5. He was still a pretty good corner in Washington from 2016 to 2018 even if he wasn't living up to a massive contract. I know PFF isn't the be all end end all but he got grades above 69 (which is a pretty good grade definitely starting caliber) from 2016 to 2018. Fans and the eye test say from 2016 to 2018 Norman was still an average to good player just not living up to his massive deal. It wasn't until 2019 when he fell off and had his worst season to date. He basically had been a great corner for 2 seasons (2014 and 2015) and a solid one for three seasons (2016-2018) that's a pretty accomplished player. And considering McD was his coach when he had his two best seasons I think he is a worthy reclamation project. Especially since he doesn't have to be as good as he was in Carolina (although if he was this team has by far the best secondary in the league.) If Norman is as good as he was in his first 3 years in Washington he will help this team win. So the poster categorizing him as a two time failed CB is epically hilarious since he left Carolina an All-Pro who got a massive 75 million dollar deal.

Robert's had the 9th highest punt return average and didn't muff a single punt. He is still a very good steady returner. One muff punt can cost you a game. Why risk having a shaky return game?

Once again he is asked questions daily by the media is he supposed to just take fines and not talk to the media? You are acting like he isn't saying positive things. You are being hostile to a guy saying the Bills have a good organization