billsfan89

Buddy wanted Cam and Von but we had the third pick. Julio and AJ Green probably would have never developed with the piss poor QB play the team had from 2011-2014. JJ Watt and Peterson hurt but Dareus ended up being one of the best players at his position for a short period of time, the just lost his edge when he got paid but even now is still a good capable player. The Bills run defense collapsed without him and the Jags went from one of the worst run defenses to a top 10 run defense with him. Not every one of those guys on your list is elite however, Mo Wilkerson was never more than a very good player and is like gone from the Jets. Aldon Smith is no longer in the league I think and faded after 2-3 great years to start his career. Robert Quinn also has fallen off steeply the past 2 years as well. 2011 was a really talented draft class but in all honesty the Bills didn't do bad with Dareus as much as they handled him poorly and there were better option on the board in hindsight.

I love stupid and ridiculous trade speculation, its amazing to hear what people come up with when they want something to happen.

Bill Goldberg retired from football because of injury and then went on to wrestle for many years. Not saying that pro-wrestlers don't take a lot of bad bumps and injuries but the controlled nature of the endeavor makes it a different animal than the NFL. I think if the WWE shelled out some big money to Gronk to actually do the training and be a semi-full time performer (similar to what Ronda Rousey is doing) that Gronk could actually be very good at it and parlay that into a bigger entertainment career overall.

In 2019 they are completely free of any cap penalties related to Dareus. It's a long-term play to eat the money and take a mid-round pick for him in 2018 (Which is a kick in the balls because they lost a good player and are still having a chunk of their cap dedicated to him and all they got for it was a 5th round selection) but in 2019 they will have a windfall of cap space thanks to his money coming off the books.

No they are eating a 14 million dollar penalty this season, apparently, the rules in the NFL are that you have to eat the bonus money when a player is traded. It makes no sense to me as I thought that once you trade a player he is completely on the team but that's just how the cap works. I think the logic is that the bonus has already been paid so you are taking the penalty for the remainder of that amount.

I would love to see that happen. If they can resign Gaines, sign Cousins, and maybe squeak in a run stuffer at DT like Star I would call that off-season a massive success as they can go into the draft and really do some damage. I know the Dolphins gave Suh a deal where he had a small cap number year one and then it spiked back up. I wouldn't mind seeing that happen with Cousins since 2019 has a massive windfall of cap space coming the Bills way. But if can't land Cousins I think Tyrod stays on the roster and they draft a rookie QB.

I don't really get the hate for Tyrod to the point where people think McCown and McCarron and Drew God awful Stanton are the QB's they want to replace Tyrod with. That's not to sing the praises of Tyrod, I think he is a slightly below average QB but the rest of the market isn't better than him. As far as Gaines it all depends on his cost but he was a stud when he played. If Gaines comes in around 7 Average annual value with a decent but not crippling guarantee I think they resign him. They traded for him so they must have liked his play and he fits their system perfectly. Injuries are a concern but when he plays he is a top 25 CB in my mind. So 7 million Average annual value puts him right around 25 as far as cost and that is very justifiable and the Bills shouldn't be kept from signing Cousins by committing 7 million to keeping their 2nd corner.

I would love to see Gronk in the WWE if he does want to hang it up. Gronk is huge, a legit athlete, and has an affable personality, I think he would be much better at pro-wrestling than he would be at acting.

The thing is I think QB is the one big play that even a conservative organization and regime might make. I agree that I don't think they have heavy activity in free agency at best Star or another DT on a modest Hyde type contract is the only big play they make other than resigning Gaines.

I don't see the Bills having the cap space to pull it off and make it look appealing to Cousins. If they cut Tyrod they have 43 million in cap space. Cousins is going to command 25-30 million of that space. That leaves very little money to upgrade other areas of the roster. Granted if they sign Cousins they have 4 picks in the first two rounds to actually make something happen but if I am not sure you can sell Cousins on upgrading the rest of the roster with a bunch of draft picks. Maybe the Bills can defer some of Cousins cap number to 2019 when Dareus, Wood, and other cap penalties fall off (Plus some contracts fall off the books.) Then they can still make a couple of modest signings (Resign Gaines and maybe find a decent DT like Star.) But then you have to question is Cousins going to put you in a situation like Joe Flacco did to Baltimore. Committing big money to an average to above average QB compromises the rest of the roster and locks you into mediocrity. But if you think Cousins can be a very good QB and you just acquire him for cap space you then actually can push into contention.

Groy is the starting center for this team. If they draft a center early is has to be a player they want to kick out to guard or they want to kick Groy out to guard. They aren't spending a premium pick on a center just to have Groy remain the backup center. This team will likely have a lot of needs going into the draft and they can't afford to waste premium picks to ensure that we have good depth at the center position.

I think Keenum will get paid on a big 2 year deal with the Vikings, he had a good year but not a great year. I think Keenum kind of knows that he has a good amount of weapons in Minnesota (Thielen, Diggs, Rudolph, and maybe Dalvin Cook if he recovers from injury) with a pretty solid offensive line and the Vikings defense being really good helps him play in his more conservative style more. I think Bridgewater also gets hurt by Bradford and Cousins being a free agent (Tyrod, Foles, and Bortles might also be out on the market) and there are a lot of other decent vet QB's out on the market and 3 QB's are going high in the draft. If there weren't that many QB's out there on the market I would actually think Teddy could get a good shot at a starting slot but with Alex Smith filling the Skins QB slot and Jimmy G filling the 49ers spot and several other higher end QB's out on the market I don't see where Teddy gets a better shot than competing with Keenum who is a shaky incumbent.

I know they are all free agents, I am just speculating where they could go based off of what the Vikings would want and what could be in their best interests. I am not sure Bridgewater gets a chance to start. He didn't light it up to begin with, his last full season he threw for 14 TD's and 9 INT's hardly anything great. What team is going to offer a starting job to him outright esp after his !@#$ing knee exploded to the point where he missed a full season and a part of another? I think if the Vikings offer Teddy the chance to compete with Keenum that's about as good as Bridgewater is going to get. Keenum is a very vulnerable as an incumbent and what other teams are going to be lining up for Teddy to be a starter?

They will likely have Bradford be the odd man out, he simply can't stay healthy, he might also command the most money of the trio. Keenum might have been a one hit wonder but it should be fairly affordable to get him back, Teddy's knee exploded but I think they will bring him back as plan B.

Quinn and Barron would be good adds. But pass on Austin, the Bills have limited cap space have to think smart about what they spend money on.

Asante Samuel had a pretty good career after leaving the Pats*. From 2008 to 2010 with the Eagles he made the Pro-Bowl and was 2nd team All-Pro in 2009. I am not sure what other DB's have left the Pats* in their prime. That's kind of my thoughts on the situation. Butler is the top corner in the market and is going to command serious money, Gaines is a higher end corner on the market but won't command crazy money unless there is an unreasonable overpay. But I think Gaines could easily be had for 7ish million AAV on a decent but not unreasonable guarantee. Butler is the better player but Gaines isn't that far behind and I would rather save the money by getting Gaines and pursuing Star from Carolina to plug a hole at DT.

They might have won had they played Butler, he is their best corner. Although I think that Gilmore and Chung were more than solid the rest of the secondary stunk, the front 7 didn't stop the run well or get much of a pass rush. But one more good playmaker in the secondary might have made the difference in such a close game. The Pats* defense got exposed so Butler couldn't have hurt.

I thought Wentz and Goff were considered top QB's in their draft and thus worth making a big play for. But these 3 QB's are not considered to be as good as the top 3 QB's in last years draft (Which was considered a average QB class) so making a bad move for a QB isn't the right idea either. Listen it's all guesswork, but in my opinion this isn't the draft to make a big play.

I don't really like any QB's in this draft to be honest. I don't think any of them are worth giving up 3 1st round picks and a 2nd rounder for. I think the team is much better off sticking with Tyrod and seeing what QB's fall to them at pick 21 or so. Honestly, if Tyrod was on the roster for another season I wouldn't draft a rookie very high and I would just build the roster up and see what QB's you could make a big play for in 2019.

If the Bills do resign Preston Brown then the need to sign a LB is diminished but I was not impressed by Brown, I would rather take that money and try and get a better player. But you could do worse than Brown. I just don't see Spotrac's projection holding up. I am basing that on the fact that last years DT market was ice cold, top DT's took a lot less money than they were projected to get and DT is becoming as much a pass rush oriented position than a run stuffing one. Star isn't a pass rusher, he is a very good run defender who can hold the line against double teams, exactly the type of player the Bills need but not one other teams are going to want to commit 8-10 per year for. 5-7 is where I think he lands, having a lot of DT's out on the market doesn't help his value either. McCown's career has followed a trajectory since 2013 when he had his best year with the Bears, 2013 he had his best year, he signed with Tampa Bay and had a terrible year, in 2015 he signed with the Browns and had a good year when he was healthy, in 2016 he had a terrible year with the Browns, 2017 he goes to the Jets and has the second-best year of his career. He is a very up and down QB and even at this best he doesn't really offer anything better than Tyrod who is more consistent. Betting on McCown is horrendously stupid in my opinion given his age and his up and down nature and the fact that at his best he might not even be an upgrade. As far as drafting a rookie, if you trade up to the top 3-4 picks to grab a rookie you are basically going to have to give up picks 21-22, a 2nd round pick, and next years 1st to do so. If you do that you pretty much bankrupt the ability to upgrade your roster elsewhere. If you stand pat at pick 21 or do a smaller trade up you get a rookie who likely will need a year to sit. So your plan has to involve either making a massive trade up or starting a vet for 1 more year most likely.

I don't think Star will get 8-10 AVV, I think 5-7 is much more likely. The DT market is flooded and guys who are only run stuffers at that position aren't valued compared to guys who can penetrate the pocket and rush QB's which Star can't do that well. I don't see Josh McCown as an upgrade at all. Considering the circumstances McCown had a good year with the Jets but the dude will 39 and his year was solid on a really bad team but he honestly is due for a regression esp factoring in his age. I think you aren't going to get McCown's production from 2017 in 2018, I think you see him regress to his mean. Give me Tyrod even for more cap space than McCown. As far as linebackers the Bills need to bring in 1 veteran, Milano is the only player at that position that you can count of starting going into 2018, you can't count on drafting 2 players at that position. You need to plug one of those holes before going into the draft.

QB- Keep Tyrod (Sorry Tyrod haters but with Smith off the table I don't see where the Bills can get a veteran upgrade better than Tyrod) and draft a rookie LB- Anthony Hitchens or Shaq Barrett DT- Star Lotulelei Resign Gaines and your best backups and I think you go into the draft set up for success. You got your run stuffing anchor, plugged a hole at LB, and kept your second best corner.

If the Colts want to trade Luck for a decent but not spectacular return (Let's say pick 21 and our 4th round pick this year plus a pick next year) I would stay the !@#$ away from that trade. The Colts wouldn't trade Luck away for such a low return unless he was damaged goods.

I don't know why some fans seem to forget that Groy is the center now and he probably is just as good as Wood would have been in 2018. The solution to the center position is already on the roster and the play out of Groy in 2018 probably will be as good if not better than Wood's in 2018.

Beane netted a high return for Sammy (Gaines is a good corner and a 2nd round pick) but they gave away Dareus for a 5th round pick and a lot of cap space in 2019, the low return on Dareus infuriated me since although Dareus was not playing up to his contract he still was a good cog in the middle of the defense. I would like to think that Beane and McD had just had it with Dareus in the locker room and they felt like it was addition by subtraction, and that the crop of free agents for DT's this off-season is very good so you could plug a guy for 4-6 million in to accomplish what Dareus does. I hope they sign Star away from the Panthers at a reasonable rate, he could be that big space eater that the defense desperately needs.