billsfan89

Your window is open as long as you draft well and have a top tier QB. Right now the Bills have both.

Depending on what happens with Diggs contract and how they approach the smaller moves they make cap wise (Knox, Johnson and Dawkins extensions or restructures) the Bills after restructuring Josh’s deal will be somewhere in the range of 25-45 million below the cap. If they can push that number above 30 million they should have some money to play with to go after a “mid-level” safety while signing at least some of the Bills remaining internal free agents . If they can go close to or above 40 million in space they should be able to afford 2 or more “mid-level” additions while signing some internal free agents. A lot of how the Bills approach free agency is going to be determined by these next few cap moves assuming (safely) that they restructure Josh. Will they actually have some money to spend or is it going to be just a small amount they have to play with which will mostly be for some remaining internal free agents?

I don’t doubt Von came for money but I also think he is going to play hard to get as much of his incentives as he can. About half if not more of his salary in this upcoming seasons are incentives that are attainable. So I think your assessment of Von in 2024 is not accurate he’s going to give it all he has.

The Bills were saddled with a bad contract and Von had little other options they met in the middle. A good compromise for both honestly.

Von was great in 2022 until the somewhat freak injury. And even though he was worthless in 2023 on field he was a big reason why Floyd who was the teams best edge rusher signed on a team friendly deal. The fact that Von reworked his deal is a big positive in my opinion. Hopefully a year further removed from injury he it is at least possible that he can be a contributor this upcoming season. It was definitely a “win now” move but at least Von is willing to be flexible on his deal.

WR’s usually hit the wall around 32/33 there are exceptions but many WR’s last prime years are around those ages. So I think Diggs at age 31 is looking at 2-3 “prime” years left. The Bills right now currently do not have an out realistically with Diggs into 2026 where even then they would take a dead cap hit of 13 million. The last year of Diggs deal in 2027 carries a small dead cap hit of just a few million. If the Bills restructure they pretty much eliminate any chance of Diggs having an out in 2026 and probably make the dead cap in 2027 higher. I really hope they can do something with that deal that frees up some space short term but preserves the ability to get out of the contract in 2026 somehow.

Probably could get a good or at least capable returner in round 6 honestly

Bills upgraded at backup QB it all adds up!

Gotta have about 10 million in room for rookies and a few million in season funds for injury. If the Bills want to be able to be players in free agency even at a lower level they have to probably have to go into free agency with 35-40 million in space or at least 30 million in space. There is no doubt they are restructuring Josh but then I am not sure where they can find additional funds. Extending Dawkins seems likely he’s 29 and coming off a great season and at a position that ages well that should free up anywhere from 5-8 million in additional cap space. They can also restructure Knox for 3 million in space and I think Taron Johnson’s deal can be extended to free up a few million. If they do all 3 moves (Restructure Knox and extend Dawkins and Johnson) after restructuring Josh they should have anywhere between 30-35 million in space which should give them about 15-20 million to play with. The only other move is the restructure or rework Diggs deal. A restructure would free up 13 million in space which would catapult the Bills cap space deep into the 40’s but also make Diggs contract harder to get out of in the future and given that he will be 31 this upcoming season and is coming off a slow end to his season the Bills may want to have an out sooner than later. But if they can get Diggs to do what Von did somehow and get him to free up some 8-10 million in space it would make a huge difference to how they can approach free agency

My hope is that the Bills can have a similar free agency to last off-season where they resign a good chunk of their own free agents and can add a mid-level Connor McGovern type addition and make some smaller depth additions at or close to the minimum. I think given Von’s deal now is less burdensome and they cut a lot of fat on the roster and still have some additional room to work with I like the chances for the Bills to go into the draft with few glaring holes like they did last year.

I would strongly stay away from Adams as his injury history is lengthy. Quandre Diggs is 31 so I don't like the age factor but he has been remarkably durable so if the Bills are taking either give me Diggs. But I think if the Bills are dipping into the safety market they probably want to go with a younger player.

Josh's 24 million restructure is an easy one. They can cut Harty and have a few other restructures and extensions they can do. The key is can they get to 30-40ish million in space to where they can resign some of their own free agents and maybe add a mid-level Connor McGovern style piece? McBeane manages the roster well. The Bills are usually pretty low in dead cap and they don't carry many "Bad" contracts (the only outright bad contracts they have are Von and Knox and even Knox is not that terrible as while he is overpaid he does play a role well).

Very possible but given the lack of talent at offensive line in the league it is always a struggle for me to want to give up offensive line depth esp a versatile player like Bates for a mid round pick. I think it’s likely the Bills assured Bates that after the season they would trade him and Chicago came coming. But it is possible that it happened the other way around.

The NFL comp pick formula is very dumb in my opinion but the Bills at the very least got the third for Edmonds

I am always about building the offensive line and I would have all things being equal kept Bates for depth. Bates versatility is what makes him so valuable to me. I would rather have Bates as the 6th oline player than a 5th round pick. BUT I have to think that this is a move that was likely put into place last season. I think the Bills front office and coaches probably told Bates when he got displaced by Torrence that after this season if he accepted the benching and acted professionally the Bills would trade him to a place where he could get a chance to start. So from that standpoint I get the move if that’s the case. The return is fair and I can see a team jumping on exchanging an expensive back up for a mid round pick

I don’t hate the move IF they know they can bring Edwards back on the cheap to keep the guard depth good. I think they love Alec Anderson from all reports so I think they see Anderson as the backup center. Or they may draft a center in the mid round and let him cook and develop for a year behind Mitch? But if they can at least bring Edwards back that alleviates the depth lost with the trade.

Extend he put in his best season since 2019 and he’s shown a better commitment to conditioning. I am all about not ***** around with the offensive line. Keep the starting 5 intact get a good heir apparent for Mitch in place, bring back Edwards and keep developing depth.

Probably about the same maybe slightly worse. I think Floyd and Gabe are gone AJE is also 50/50. If the Bills can resign AJE to a reasonable deal and sign D Jones and some (but not all) of the vets and depth players along with maybe adding a “Connor McGovern” style mid level addition I think the Bills will go into the draft being able to improve the talent level of the team. Just have to hope they can manage the cap well and make smart decisions.

Kris Jenkins Father was an absolute beast one of the best DT’s I have ever watched in his best years in 2002-2003 he was completely dominant as he was both a pocket collapsing monster but also held the point of attack against the run. He had some injuries from 2004-2005 before turning in 3 more very good years from 2006-2008 and then injury cut his career short in 2009-2010 unfortunately. His son seems to be a different type of player more like a three tech quick hitter as opposed to a fast gigantic monster that his dad was. If the Bills draft him at 60 I would like the pick. Having two three techs that can really rush the passer is a good thing for the defense.

I think this class is so deep at WR the Bills most likely are best off waiting until pick 28 and seeing which WR's are there or IF Brian Thomas falls to 25-27 maybe make a small trade-up similar to Kincaid last year. The Bills have several picks in rounds 5-6 so giving up a pair of 5ths or a 4th to get a quality top 6 WR is a fairly small cost to pay. But other than a small 1-3 slot trade up for a really good player that slips a bit off the board I think the Bills are better off just as cliche as it sounds "letting the draft come to them". I also think the WR class is so insanely deep that if the Bills can get a good value trade down to the lower to mid-30's and maybe get a swap of picks or future 2025 selections then the Bills can get better value as well.

The problem I see is that the DT class seems stronger than the DE class especially if the Bills are drafting D-line at pick 60. I don't think at pick 60 there's likely to be a very strong DE prospect out on the market. Whereas DT seems like a deeper class and teams are less likely to take DT's high up. I am not sure if Sweat will fall to pick 60 but if he does he would be an easy pick for me. Solidifying the 1-tech spot for the next 4 years is a good use of a pick.

Shorter is a kick-the-tires type of talent in my opinion. He was a mid-round pick who has a really impressive physical profile. He's 6 foot 4 and runs a 4.55 40 time at 229 pounds. His RAS was a solid 7.92. I think asking him to compete for the WR 5-6 spot is reasonable. He also is projected to be able to play special teams which if he shows to be good at special teams may help him develop a niche as the Bills tend to like to have that WR5/6 spot have a special teams player (Sherfield this year, Kummerow the few years before that). With effectively a red-shirt year to learn the playbook, learn the system and work on somethings before he got on IR it will only prove to likely help him develop. Could the Bills draft a WR in rounds 3-5 as well as bring in a more established ST vet talent and have Shorter pushed off the roster? Very possible but I think they drafted Shorter for a reason and he will be given a legit shot to be in the WR room.

Mooney on the cheap (4-5 million) is a great target I think he would fill in for Harty well and a top 4 WR group of Diggs, Shakir, Mooney and a 1st round rookie with Shorter and another low end vet rounding out the top 6 is a good place to be. Justin Blackmon at safety also would be a nice lower mid level add. Had a great rookie year in 2020 and a great 2023. I think pairing him up with Poyer at safety and drafting a mid round safety to develop could help short and long term as Blackmon is only 26.

For once they don’t need to draft Oline early esp if Mitch is back for one more year I think they may need some mid round depth along the offensive line but no glaring holes for once. I suspect the Bills will go WR round 1 and defensive line round 2. Then pretty much BPA the rest of the way.

The Travel rating is low likely due to rookies having to share rooms at least that’s what others have said on here. If I were the Bills nutrition would be a big area where I would look to make changes