NoSaint

yup. also We don’t see a lot of his off field but if you set aside the basic he’s a player stuff- I think the “don’t want him to date my sister” was always more than just that he was prolific with women and also that not a lot of teammates would want him at their thanksgiving table, proverbially he’s talented, he’s hard working, he can contribute to winning but I think he likely struggles immensely with who he is vs who he wants to be seen as. Charisma and success buy him a lot of plausible deniability but there are a lot of reasons to think he’s not consistently pleasant. I do think he wants to be liked/admired.

diggs is a good player but you only want to get the questions about his tweets, comments, missed workouts etc… so many times. fun while it lasted but completely predictable finish too. No hard feelings but diggs will be a hired hand and not a truly beloved bill when memories of this era crystallize.

kupp had 92 and 94 catches the two years prior tied for 11th and outright 9th in the league with Goff at qb. Stafford is very wr friendly but lets not pretend about kupp being a west coast nfc team he wasn’t a household name especially here but I think he was a wr1 unless you mean wasn’t wr1 for the entire nfl as for Moore- top 3 seasons would be: 65-1041-6 79-928-10 66-763-8 Solid yac guy who did some punt/kick returns. Not a ton but I call it out as a testament to him being able to move with the ball.

I’ll say again- lance moore, not kupp. who is still a great contributor but not an elite player

1 year of diggs 50m in cap impact 0 years, 31m in cap impact and a second round pick theres definitely value

he got traded because he has declining skill and increasing drama If he were Justin Jefferson on the field he’d be here even if he talked about beanes mom

why might beane do a big move? pick 6- 4 years 28m projected contracts for chase and Jefferson- 4 years 120m those cost control picks are great but if beane saves 92m by hitting on this pick you can fill a lot of holes with decent vets instead of draft picks 92m saved and you sign a mid tier safety, instead of drafting a project at 60, similar commentary towards a center perhaps. Steal a mercenary pass rusher like Floyd for a year as a bridge if needed. You just can do a lot with proven players with 92m instead of hoping for picks in the late 20s-60s but you have to nail the pick

At 32 that will be a dicey path. he may come out ahead but staying put and being pleasant in Buffalo probably would’ve given him a higher probability of staying near his ceiling for earnings. if he has a monster year he keeps loosely on track for his voided paychecks- maybe a modest increase but not huge. if he stumbles even a little he becomes a 1 year 10m a year type of guy next year quickly

I do think a slight reframing is helpful: instead of calling it dead money, the bills are accounting for $31m in previously paid dollars that they would need to account for whether they kept him or not. they do however save $22m in future guarantees

interesting twist. so you have to think they are hoping a monster year means both a Super Bowl birth and getting a 3rd round comp back for the 2 they traded

the only really frustrating part is we weren’t as aggressive early in joshs rookie contract. you can get 3 or so extra stars when you are saving 50-60m at qb

The demarcation about cut vs expiring contract is his prior team choosing to dispel their rights to him vs the player leaving without restriction (an untendered rfa doesn’t count either for instance because the prior team explicitly chose not to keep him). essentially an expiring contract is another team pulling a player and you can’t stop them even if you want to. With that You could gain a pick, the other team could lose a pick. a guy that was on the practice squad and not on a 53 man roster I do not believe counts in that any more than a guy in the cfl or rugby player or Lebron James or a player that was out of the league would that said it would be very rare for a guy to go from PS to meaningful contract that would qualify so I can’t even think of a test case to look at

I don’t believe practice squad guys count, do they? that said it would be an anomaly for a PS guy to turn around and get a big deal

I think the classic “you need nearly twice as many bodies for camp and you never know if vandemark has a jet ski” signing. If he somehow returns to form: awesome. if he gets part way there a jumps RVD: awesome If he’s behind RVD you at least have a vet that knows the building and the calls if you get caught with a run of injuries and if he’s total trash- no loss.

in my defense, I have not been on his bandwagon in a bit

were they more worried about him than gabe? Sure. were they up at night trying to figure out how to contain tyreek or Jefferson when they came to Buffalo? No way.

that of course risking that the market dries up and if we were making another free agent splash with this years dollars we could’ve converted more of joshs salary to offset this

they wouldn’t have restructured him if they thought this was in the pipeline but ultimately, it’s just shifting money between 2023 and 2024 for c’est La vie

One read, "If I can't make it with you, I'll make it without." Another: "You know what they say ... what goes around comes around." The low point came in the days after a September 2019 loss to the Bears, when Diggs skipped work without an excuse, drawing a $200,000 fine from the team. Looking back now, Diggs offers a halfhearted explanation for the social posts “Some of those were song lyrics" and says, "I don't necessarily regret" blowing off a practice and some team meetings, although "maybe part of me wishes I had that money back." In the end, Diggs says he just felt trapped. "That was my only way of saying something at that time," he says. "I just didn't feel like I had that belief from them anymore, you know?" get ready. He won’t trash Buffalo but it’ll be the honeymoon period in houston and he will be a very well behaved leader with a few odd but not overtly insulting remarks about his challenges here sprinkled in… how he loved it but was just time. Stroud will be his new guy he’s so thankful for. Texans fans will say we are crazy for thinking he’s a handful.

go read his Minnesota one- basically the same exact template.

to be fair, we are not in the upper tier of that class at 28. I wouldn’t stress much if the debate was getting the second vs the third - whoever lands in your lap is a win. But potentially the 6th guy comes with much more risk

spend the last year actively forcing your way out then play the good guy out the door is very on brand and some will eat it up

we joke that it’s just being a player but I think it underscores who he’s been with teams, likely teammates, etc…. he is charming til he’s done using you

The true bright side is he was like a rebound fling. As long as you keep expectations reasonable, doesn’t matter if they are crazy as long as it’s fun and has a known expiration date.