billsfan89

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.

The issue with the Bills offense was more so being more effective in the red zone and moving the ball "easier" against better teams and in certain situations. The Bills put up a lot of points and moved the ball well but in the red zone where teams could double Diggs easier and force others to beat you the Bills at times struggled. The Bills also lacked a conventional running game at times and supplemental weapons when Diggs was doubled or even tripled at times. Hoping the improved interior O-line and the addition of Kincaid the Bills can be more consistent in the redzone and make things easier for Josh against better defenses.

I doubt Beane cares about proving doubters wrong. The staff probably felt like Spencer Brown healthy with a full off-season to work on his game would make a good RT but still brought back Queese a decent vet backup and Shell an experience RT as competition. Would I have liked better competition for Brown? Yeah but it isn't like there isn't options on the roster if Brown struggles. In regards to Davis the team did spend a 1st round pick on a pass catcher that will likely allow them to be less reliant on Davis and signed Hardy to help alleviate pressure on Davis. The team also seems to be in on D-Hop so clearly not shying away from trying to find more WR help. The Bills being up against the cap and missing out on top WR talent in round 1 simply had to make a choice on how to invest resources and went with a more prudent approach. Had they had a better chance to upgrade from Davis I think they would have. Who knows maybe D-Hop is still in the mix?

Cowherd is a blowhard who is immensely unlikable. His point was true the past two off-seasons in 2021 and 2022. Von and the DT's on the interior along with Elam being the first-round pick were where heavy resources went to the defense when in reality the Bills likely could have invested more in the offense. 2021 had a similar focus with both of the first two draft picks being defensive linemen and most of the cap dollars being spread toward the defense easily could have balanced things out more to help Josh and the offense. But in 2023 the priority resource-wise has been shifted more towards the offense. The Bills biggest external free agent contract was McGovern and the first two draft picks were spent on the offensive side of the ball. Also, a lot of the smaller signings like Hardy, Harris, Sheffield, and Edwards were on the offensive side of the ball. Outside of resigning Ed Oliver, there wasn't really much action or resources spent on the defense. A third-round pick and some late-round picks were tossed into the defense, so draft wise there wasn't really much. AJ Klein, Jordan Phillips, and Shaq were resigned to minimum or close to minimum deals. Poyer was resigned to a mid-level contract and Poona Ford signed to a deal that was lower mid-level at best. The only significant defensive signing was Floyd whose deal is not exactly a massive one and was done late in free agency and was a huge discount for a player of his value. The Bills are also still in on D-Hop by all accounts and have some cap flexibility (they can restructure Dawkins and extend D.Jones to free up some space and if they are more inclined to take on risk Tre White can also be restructured) so I wouldn't rule out one or two more offensive late stage free agency acquisitions.

The Bills are bottom 5 on dead cap this season and from 2020 to 2022 despite being up against the cap and trying to win now desperately have been bottom 5 in dead cap two of those seasons and bottom 10 in the other. The low dead cap number and the team having a highly successful roster is a sign that the Beane is doing a dam good job

No team that Dhop would want to play for has a ton of cap space. The Bills and KC are near the bottom of the league in terms of cap space. Baltimore has about 12 million in space not that much to work with. Even second tier teams like Miami and The Browns aren’t flushed with cap space. Only eight teams have more than 20 million in cap space and one of them is Arizona. Most of those other 7 teams are not appealing situations other than maybe Dallas. So It will come down to how big is the difference between the offers and what Dhop will want more cash or a better shot at contention? The Bills still in the mix in my opinion

I think the Bills will need to consider future dead cap charges for restructuring. Hyde is older and coming off an injury, and given the safety market this past offseason I think they just let Hyde’s deal play out rather than go for short term cap help. Tre is another one I think they don’t restructure as they likely want to keep the flexibility of being able to cut him if he can’t come back from his injury. Right now the dead cap on Tre for 2024 is already large at 10 million but it still provides some savings opening up 6 million in space and the dead cap in 2025 the last year of Tre’s deal is fairly minimal. But Dawkins would be a solid option to free up some space as he is fairly young doesn’t have a major injury history and doesn’t have too many years left on his deal. A D Jones extension is a toss up. Jones is 31 at a position where 31 is not ancient but is not young either. He doesn’t have an injury history and the Bills only have one other DT on the roster signed for next season. But the Bills might want to keep their options open as Poona Ford who will be 29 in 2024 with less years in the league may be a better use of cap dollars? Based on my own opinion they won’t touch the Tre and Hyde deals but they will do Dawkins and could go either way on Jones. Good to know if the need a little more space for another move they can find It

The Bills only bad contracts (and in this sense bad means a deal that the Bills will have to eat a lot of dead money on) are Von Miller, Knox and Tre. I don’t think they are headed for a rebuild. They will have multiple free agency and draft classes to replace a lot of the older players that you mentioned will be gone. The Bills also aren’t in a position where they will have to eat a lot of dead cap in a single season either so they don’t have to rebuild if they can draft fairly well and hit on some free agents. Looking at the more dangerous Bills contracts outside of Von It is not too bad. The earliest the Bills can get out on the Von deal is after 2024 and that would require them to take a 15 million dollar dead cap change. Tre’s deal in 2024 comes with a 10 million dollar dead cap hit, his 2025 dead cap hit is low. If Tre looks completely shot in 2023 then the Bills may eat the big charge but if Tre looks solid they will just keep him and It won’t be an albatross. Knox’s deal has two outs, one is in 2025 when It comes with a 7.79 million dead cap the other is in 2026 when the dead cap is only 3.9 million. Knox probably will still be productive but overpaid in his contract. None of those deals are really going to tank the Bills ability to compete in the coming years