Bleeding Bills Blue

It's my annual reminder that preseason is literally not at all comparable to actual NFL football. When the rookies look good I always remind myself that under the right circumstances, peterman looked good.

I don't think it works that way with void money (someone can feel free to correct me), but my understanding was that all of that bonus money gets front loaded in a void year.

I think this offseason needs to have a real milano plan. He's slated to have a 11M cap hit in 2026 currently in void money. If he's brought back, the void money reduces in 2026 to about 6M, and then there's a little under 5M in 2027. If you can make the cap hit roughly the same 11M or thereabouts without making significant changes to the 2027 numbers, i don't mind bringing him back since its essentially a wash to the salary cap. Having said that, he's going to be in his age 31 season and has played 14 games including playoffs over the last 3 seasons combined (including the 2 games this season). He's not currently under contract for 2026 so he'd have to want to come back at a potentially lesser role for less money. I'd suspect he'd be the ramon humber role of Milano's rookie season, where Humber was hurt and eventually replaced by Milano. Buffalo could also stand to make a WLB investment this offseason as dorian williams is a free agent after 2026, and imo has not done enough to justify an extension beyond a year to year agreement. Finding a rookie contract player who can start is going to be far more affordable against the cap moving forward. A lot of dudes just got paid, so they need some more rookie contract contributors at every level of the roster.

Tougher to do a lot of that stuff on the road at least, especially with snap counts. Bottle up the run game. Force them into 3rd and longs. Kill the Quarterback.

Only way knox sticks is a pretty substantial paycut - which he will be getting on the open market anyway. His cap hit for money already paid out is 7.5, and he has a 1.5M roster bonus due early on, so i'd expect it to be a pre-FA cut. Adding another year can allow you to spread bonus money further to lower his hit in 2026, but you only do that if he's lessening the cap hit in 2026 with a void year in 2027. He does block quite frequently, and is pretty good at it. He's also been a solid playoff performer.

I think the draft and free agency acquisitions showed me that they didn't feel like the 2024-2025 team had good enough players to be a top unit. Douglas and Elam were awful in the postseason, and douglas was largely pretty poor all season. Replaced by Tre, Hairston, and Strong. Hamlin to the bench for Bishop. I don't think you should take someones job just to take it, especially when bishop looked poor in limited time last year. Smoot gone - replaced by Hoecht. Miller gone - replaced by Bosa. Spector gone replaced by Thompson. Jefferson and Johnson gone - replaced by Sanders and Walker. Carter injured again - replaced by Ogunjobi. Got another rookie in Jackson who will contribute this year as well. 2 rotational linemen are suspended, another lost for the year - so a position we were worried about who to cut, is shockingly thin to start the year. Milano with another soft-tissue injury. Get him right for later in the season, the depth is there. Something to think about in the first 2 picks this year might be a WLB. Hairston coming back healthy will be good, i don't know that i see another season ending injury for tre, but these guys all get banged up and he needs snaps to adjust to NFL WRs. TJ is also banged up. Safeties are still working it out, but you get better playing on the field together.

Oh yea- forgot we got a new ST coach

I'm usually 3-6. I avoid the home opener, but i try to make the playoff games. I kinda prefer the cold. I will be going this thursday though - Squish the fish!

Just never seemed to develop much at the position. Slow to get his head around in man, has some ball skills but those tend to show when he's in zone and has eyes on QB. Minus tackler. Takes penalties. My assumption is his speed made recovering much easier at the college level to get in position, and NFL talent around speed and separation is too good.

They scored 20 on their first 4 drives though. and 30 across 7. They had the turnover but other than that field position wasn't amazing. Just long drives. It probably would've been more of a beat down if knox pulls in a couple of those.

They have clear visors now. Also they are far enough away that they aren't really reading your eye but probably the stripe on the top of your helmet.

I think winning the turnover battle and controlling TOP results in more wins vs. passing more. The 403 yards would have been a top 3 average yardage total in the NFL last year. 30 PPG would also be a top 3 average. The defense played lights out, negative plays, snagged a turnover. Love to see it. But the offense grinded this one to a halt and in the 2nd half the D really didn't have to do much.

He doesn't see the field well enough to be a starter imo. There's too many throws he can't make with touch and timing. They aren't good whether he starts or not, and its not a long-term deal so i would assume they just play out the season and move on. PROS - Arm strength, athleticism, read-option to expand your rushing playbook CONS - Accuracy over the middle is bad, Accuracy while running is a bit scattershot, Sack magnet, and ball security. For an athlete too i don't think he operates that well out of structure.

While fields is an athlete, and a threat to run in read-option plays, he doesn't have the same throwing ability as LJ. Fields has a good arm, but is a bit more scattershot in his throws, isn't as accurate on the move, and his release is slower. He (like a young josh) struggles to throw people open, and will sail some. His pocket presence has been a weakness as well. As for hall, he's not derrick henry. Which is a good thing. Same as us - when your teams banged up in camp you tend to have lighter practice loads for guys and lots of guys skip padded days. Week 1 happens and i feel like the game-to-game preparation and practices ramp up a bit.

I mean... You can't not touch the guy on the edge either so It wouldn't shock me if it wasn't walkers fault.