billsfan89

Football is the exception to the rule since football really !@#$s up your body. If you made enough money to live a good life for the rest of your days playing football then towards the end of your career (where a lot of the real damage gets done) you shouldn't take substandard offers to put your body through hell. Sprewell was towards the end of his basketball career and he got a three year deal for 7 million a season and he turned it down and never got another offer. Sprewell played basketball and got a good offer for a veteran player and he turned it down because he was an idiot. A player not wanting to kill his body in a football season for 800k when he doesn't have to is actually a smart decision.

Clay is still talented when he plays, he just always gets a mid-level injury that not only causes him to miss games. He is way overpaid but the team wouldn't see any cap relief releasing him this season unless they did a June cut. Cutting him in 2019 saves you as much money on the 2019 cap as it would do a June cut in 2018. Basically, as a June cut the team saves 4.5 million in 2018 and 4.5 million in 2019 (The team takes a 4.5 million hit in 2018 and 2019.) So the cap question become is Clay worth half his salary in 2018? Would you pay 4.5 million for a one year deal on Clay? I think I would, it gives O'Leary and Thomas one more year to transition into their roles.

I was saying that in context of IF you don't get an offer (which he likely won't get) then he should retire instead of playing for a substandard offer.

Then if the offers don't get better just retire. I wouldn't expect the offers to get better either but you have a price to put your body through the hell of a football season, if no one is willing to pay you then don't play.

Barnidge made decent money from that one year with the Browns so why not sit out if you don't get a good offer. Football is a violent game and a season is hell on your body. If you aren't getting a good offer in a situation that you like sitting out and not destroying your body is not a bad option.

A city so nice they named it Jacksonville. Seriously though the NFL's system for compensatory draft picks is the most moronic system for compensation ever invented. If you lose 5 high quality starters on 100 million dollar contracts but you sign 5 backups you aren't given any picks because 5 for 5 durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr that's the same durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. !@#$ this system.

Basically, the Bills wouldn't pay out bonuses over the lifetime of a contract instead of opting to pay all or most in the first year of a contract. So the Bills could never manipulate the cap during Ralph's tenure. Although Donoughe was able to get good free agents (Fletcher, Spikes, Sam Adams, Troy Vincent, Milloy, etc) in a fairly short period of time but then in the Jauron era free agents were few and far between (Dockery being the only major free agent from 2005-2010 that I can think of.) Mario and a few others were brought in via free agency in the last few years cash to cap was implemented but it always seemed like the Bills had massive cap space year to year but hardly ever were players in free agency and let some of their own free agents go. At least now the Bills actions in free agency make sense to how their cap situation is and they can be on an even playing field with the rest of the league.

I think this is more a sign of the Bills 1- Not wanting to get rid of him unless they have a capable veteran option in place 2- They feel like he has decent trade value. I think Tyrod is gone although looking at the market for veteran QB's beyond Cousins I don't see a QB as good as Tyrod out there that can actually stay on the field. As far as his trade value, I think some team might give a 4th for a Tyrod rental. Alex Smith was acquired for a 3rd and a young corner, I think some team like the Cardinals or Broncos that miss out on the QB carousel could be willing to throw a mid-round pick for Taylor.

I am not assuming that because someone wants Tyrod gone that they are a Tyrod hater. I think that no matter what you need a viable rookie QB brought in if you can't land Cousins. I have seen some people seriously say that a player like Drew !@#$ing Stanton would be a better option for this team than Tyrod, now I know that isn't the norm but there are some people on this board who hate Tyrod so much that not being Tyrod qualifies you to be an upgrade at QB. I get what you are saying about other QB's being better pocket passers, but even in that context, I don't think you toss away a pretty good QB because he doesn't fit your system. I think you build your system around the talent you have, building your talent around a system is a recipe for disaster. Yes I think most of those QB's are better "Pocket Passers" (Although I would disagree about Keenum and Bridgewater I think they suck out of the pocket) but Bradford comes with serious durability issues and McCown comes with serious age and general performance issues. McCarron is a bit of an unknown overall and I am not sold on pouring a fairly big contract with a good chunk guaranteed into a player like him. So even if you are desperate for a pocket passer I am not really that inspired by those options compared to the skillset offered by Tyrod.

The Jauron years were the most frustrating years of the drought. It seemed like they were actively trying to be awful.

Here is my list of the players I would be willing to retain and at what price. Unrestricted Free Agents WR Deonte Thompson - 2 million per year, good depth but not willing to break the bank. WR Jordan Matthews - 5 million per year, solid player but not willing to break the bank. WR Brandon Tate - Minimum deal, fairly replaceable but you always go with the guy you know. OT Seantrel Henderson - Minimum deal, interesting project player would be worth a 1 year minimum deal for depth and camp battles. DL Kyle Williams- 4 million, I doubt he wants to come back but he is the heart and soul of the team and still a capable player. LB Preston Brown - 3.5 million, not sure what the market for him is, he is a league average starter so I wouldn't break the bank. CB EJ Gaines 6-8 million, probably the only free agent I would go above "Market value" for but beyond 8 million is my break point. CB Leonard Johnson 2.5 million, solid player but once again you have to name your price. S Colt Anderson - Not sure S Shamarko Thomas - Not sure Exclusive Rights Free Agents TE Nick O’Leary - Would keep both of these players at any reasonable price. TE Logan Thomas DE Eddie Yarbrough

The Bills don't have a premier free agent worth using the tag on. They don't want to spend 14.5 million on Gaines or Brown.

You aren't going to score a major haul for pick 21 or 22 unless you move down way past the early 2nd round. I think if you land Cousins you can then spend those draft picks differently. I think if some team falls in love with a player around pick 21 I think you can be comfortable trading down to the late 1st or early 2nd for either a 3rd and 6th round pick or a swap of a 2nd for a 4th or 5th.

When you have a unsettled QB situation you need to address that before going up for a !@#$ing running back. Even if the team landed Kirk Cousins and had their picks freed up to spend on other positions I would rather draft a pass rusher and DT in round 1 and then go after offensive players in rounds 2 and 3.

If the cost for a trade up is both 1sts, a 2nd, and next years 1st I would strongly consider doing it for one of the top QB's. I have gone back and forth on wither or not the QB's in this draft are worth it or not and I think that at some point this team has to make a big move to address the QB situation. Keep Tyrod as a vet option this season and trade up for a big name QB IF you can't get Kirk Cousins. I think if you can land Kirk Cousins that opens up the Bills to become a contender sooner rather than later. Cousins is a very good QB the past 3 seasons and he never really had a phenomenal offense around him. He has had some good offensive players around him but never elite talent and Cousins always has performed well. If the Bills can land Cousins on a backloaded deal (Keep his 2018 cap number around 20 million then have it hike in 2019 and 2020 before going down in 2021 and beyond) they can then release Tyrod and restructure some other deals to free up some space to keep Gaines and maybe go after 1-2 other starters (A big run stuffing DT and linebacker.) Then you have all those draft picks to spend to build a complete team while not only landing your QB but keeping your number 2 corner and addressing a need or two before the draft.

Bill Goldberg and The Rock retired from football due to some pretty serious injuries (granted neither one of their football careers went as long as Gronk's) and both had pretty long careers in pro-wrestling. That's not to say that WWE wrestlers don't take some bad bumps and get hurt but it is a much more controlled environment so they can work around the injuries much easier than playing in a violent non-scripted sport can.

Zay taking over the slot role would serve him well. I think his issues were more mental than anything else. If he learns from year 1 I think he can be a very good player in year 2.

The Bills could still use a slot corner even if they resign Gaines. I don't mind Davis on a modest deal. It gives you a plan B in case Gaines prices himself out of what is reasonable. That's why I hope this is a depth move and a break glass in case of emergency move.

After Cousins the list of QB's becomes pretty ****ty. Foles isn't on the table and I am not sure I would want him at such a high cost. I think Philly has developed a good QB system that Foles functions well in and I don't think our system would have the same results with him. I think fans have to face the reality that if you don't get Cousins, Tyrod seems like the best "veteran" option out there. Honestly tell me which QB from the list below really is better than Tyrod. 1- Sam Bradford, dude might be a slightly better player when healthy but I am not taking a guy who has missed 3 out of the past 5 seasons due to injury over Tyrod. 2- Casey Keenum, could easily be a one hit wonder and even this past season was more of a conservative QB like Tyrod because Minny's defense was sooo good. 3- Teddy Bridgewater, 14TD and 9INTs was his best season before his knee !@#$ing exploded. Pass 4- Josh McCown, 39 years old coming off a career year but has been very up and down and you don't take an up and down guy coming off an up. Pass. 5- AJ McCaron Backup QB not really proven much, I don't see the upgrade here and he would cost a lot. The rest of the QB list after Cousins/Foles is pretty ****ty. So think long and hard Tyrod haters about who you specifically would replace Tyrod with. Because while Tyrod has his faults these are QB's aren't that much more inspiring. That's not to say that if the Bills wiff on Cousins they shouldn't draft a QB fairly high no matter what. They need to draft a QB if Tyrod or another one of these lesser QB's is on their roster as the veteran option. But Tyrod haters seriously overrate these other QB's on the merits of not being Tyrod and not based off their production compared to Tyrods.

I don't think you will get much for Tyrod. But I if the Bills do sign Cousins or go with a lateral move to a different veteran QB then I think that some team like Arizona could take on Tyrod for a late round pick as a stop gap.

He is more of a 3-4 thumper at this point. I think he could do better suited for a team running a 3-4 if he wants to play another season.

It's all handled through wire transfers and electronic deposit. Players agents and management handle getting the money into their accounts and give their clients statements. When you get to that high a level your agents and management starts to take care of the little things, they really do try and earn their 2-5%. My source is having worked in sports and knowing people who currently work for agents.

People were expecting the Bills to land a pick in the 7-15 range and the Chiefs pick to be 20-28. So while the Chiefs pick turned out to be a bit better than anticipated the Bills own pick was a lot lower than expected. The Rams second rounder was also expected to be a higher pick as was the Bills second rounder. After the Sammy and Darby trades people were thinking the Bills could have 4 picks in the top 45 of the draft including a pick in or close to the top 10. But their capital is a bit lower than expected in a good way (Playoff drought ended) but looking at what was expected vs. what the team got is certainly a lower than expected outcome.

Shady had a very good year but he had some awful games and some quiet games as well. Not saying that was all his fault, injuries and lack of talent in certain areas killed the offense at times. Shady had 4 100 yard rushing games and he had 8 games where he failed to combine for 100 yards rushing and receiving. Once again extenuating circumstances but those quiet games combined with a lower than usual TD output probably explain the lower ranking.

I would rather have Tyrod than Bradford, Bradford has missed all or significant portions of 3 out of the last 5 seasons. Tyrod for all his faults doesn't have that kind of injury history. Also for some reason, Bradford probably won't come cheap. I think to land Bradford you are looking at 10 million if not more, so it's not like with Bradford and cutting Taylor you see much of the 14 million that Tyrod being cut saves you getting freed up. As far as veteran QB's unless this team can land Kirk Cousins our best option is Tyrod. That's not singing the praises of Tyrod but rather shitting on the rest of the QB market as there is a big drop in talent once Kirk Cousins comes off the board. Now if Tyrod is your veteran option you better have a high-end rookie waiting in the wings.