Kirby Jackson

I think @BarleyNY’s point is that if Mike Brown decided to operate as Gayle Benson has, it’s possible. It just means that they pay a lot up front and eat the cap hits years from now. Mike Brown hasn’t been that guy in the past. That’s why ownership is so important in the NFL. You can pretty much make whatever you want work with the cap. It’s just a matter of you’re willing to pay the cash.

I think most guesses that I’ve seen have them at around $40M in cap space.

With him asking for $15M, I’d expect like $13M being where it ends up. Where I’m at, is that if it’s $12M or $13M or $15M what difference does it make to anyone other than Terry scratching the check? If you can control the cap hit as the Spotrac post suggested, why do I care what he gets?

I’m assuming that Garrett or Crosby or Mack starts in that spot. You fill the gaps behind them with Solomon, Smoot and guys like that. You can’t pay $20M for a guy that’s pretty good. You only pay top dollar for stars. Between the draft and FA you fill out the role players, other starters and depth.

I like him as a project and wanted the Bills to take a late round flyer on him last year. To me, it depends on your situation. Milton doesn’t make a ton of sense for a “win now” team like Pittsburgh. He makes a ton of sense for a bad team without a QB like NOLA, LV, Cleveland, NY or NY. Those teams should throw a dart and hope to harness that talent.

That’s an interesting thought.

Interesting: I doubt this goes anywhere but interesting on a couple of fronts. Clearly the Steelers are looking for a “win now” QB. Rodgers feels like a decent option. Maybe Darnold? Maybe Cousins (despite his horrible year)? Maybe someone like Kyler or Geno? Who knows but it sounds like they are thinking outside the box. Secondly, the Jags must be horrible to deal with 🤣🤣. I’m pretty confident that Pittsburgh didn’t want this out there.

Welcome to the NFL in 2025. The Super Bowl Champs had their superstar WR publicly complaining about their Super Bowl MVP QB. Talent >>>> Vibes Why do we care about him complaining publicly? How does it impact us? Generally, the players support other players. This won’t be an issue in the locker room. It’ll be a much bigger issue in the locker room if players get a sense that he wasn’t treated fairly. Fans and players have opposite perspectives on this topic.

That’s the whole point!! That’s been part of the problem. You don’t pay a Rousseau $20M a year to be a quality starter. You pay Cook top 3 RB money to be a top 5 back. You understand the value of the player compared to the marketplace. You don’t get better by fighting with your top guys and “setting the tone of who is in charge.” That’s what you do when you’re building a roster. That’s not what you do when you’re competing for a championship (and please don’t use the Tyreek Hill example here because there are lots of examples where windows closed when top players left). Also, who cares what the Bills pay him? It’s not our money. Kick the can down the road!!! Do what the Saints did with Brees. Push all of the money into the post Josh Allen years and keep re-upping to do that. The thread on the cap has some interesting thoughts on cap management. The actual dollars are irrelevant. The cap hits are all that matter to us as fans. Can the Bills have a championship caliber roster? Yes, but they need to keep paying up front today and taking the cap hits years from now.

This is nothing new. This is what a lot of players do at this point. Cook is coming off a great year and he has some leverage. You utilize that leverage when you have it. If he was coming off a horrible year, he’d be worried about keeping the money in his contract. He’s coming off a great year and looking for a raise. We all seek our market value. I have zero issue with this. Now, the question becomes, “what should they do?” IMO, I’d probably just make it work. Cook is a gamer and proved his worth this year despite not being an every down back. I’m not really concerned about that as I’d bring Johnson back to fill those gaps and you have Davis. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The Bills window is WIDE open and will be for the next 5+ years. Borrow from the future to win now. I’m not going to draw a line in the sand at $12M or whatever if it’ll take $15M. The juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Find the money and make it happen. The Bills issue has been a lack of top end talent. It’s reasonable to think that Cook is a top 5 back in this system. He was really good this year and good in big games. I guess that you could make him a part of a Garrett or Crosby trade but I wouldn’t. I’d trade Rousseau instead. He’s more of a good starter than a potentially elite player. Get the Cook contract done and move on. It’s one less thing to worry about. Don’t step over dollars to pick up pennies.

Personally, I wouldn’t consider re-signing Groot at anything over about $14M. My guess is that he is in the $20M range. You just can’t pay role players, top of the market prices. That’s what they did with Knox and Oliver. Groot is a great trade chip this offseason. He is a pretty good player that is 12 months from being a pretty terrible contract for someone.

That’s good to know. It’s such an important position in the McDermott defense. I would love for him to develop because he has the athletic ability to be quite good. The Bills need some insurance though at S either way.

I hope that you’re right. He may be. I don’t think that they can count on that though. If he develops, awesome. It should be a bonus.

The Bills need to improve the DL and secondary. The Bills ALSO need to find a receiver(s) that can stretch the field vertically. I think that the stat is that only 2 teams saw less 2 high than the Bills. Allen and Cook were forced to operate against an extra defender in the box because they couldn’t get the safeties away from the LOS because of the lack of a vertical passing game. Imagine how many more points they could have scored? Everybody eats until they don’t. The offense worked fine until it didn’t. They don’t have lots of holes on offense but they have a giant one that they couldn’t overcome.

I agree that Hamlin is a role player and Bishop looked lost. He may develop but they certainly can’t bank on it. I wanted McKinney last year in FA. I wish that would have happened. I like Holland. Nick Emmanwori is one of my draft crushes but I’m hoping to have that pick sent to Garrett. If he somehow made it to pick 56 you should run to the podium.

It sounds like he thought he’d be on the Bills 🤷🏻‍♂️

If you believe McDermott is more responsible for the team success than Josh, we disagree. If you think that McDermott will be more responsible than Josh for a title (god willing) we disagree again. I’m basing any and every decision based on what Josh needs to get by KC not what McDermott wants or needs.

I’m more or less in agreement (assuming that guy can stretch the field vertically). I’d like a precise route runner too but if that guy is the right one, I’m good.

The Bills scored more points than anyone. The offense still isn’t good enough. Both of those are true. The offense has some clear holes and allows defenses to defend them too easily. They need to improve.

It’s a great topic and one that we need to discuss. I’d add Beane too. I thought about starting a poll “if the Bills fall short of the Super Bowl should Beane and McDermott be fired?” I’m on record that I thought McDermott should have been gone by now. I’ve defended Beane but after last year’s draft he belongs on the hot seat. This team should have been in the Super Bowl by now. If it isn’t happening, you need to try something else.

“I think I may have found a way for us to get Bonds and Griffey, and we wouldn’t have to give up that much.”

Think back to last offseason. The Bills were in a tight cap situation and desperately needed help at WR. Brown was available and at a price that the Bills could afford. Allen had a lot of success with a lesser version of Hollywood Brown in John Brown. It should come as no surprise that Josh would voice to Beane & co. that we would be interested in playing with that skill set. He is/was a very good fit and affordable.

So Josh Allen wants to play with a WR that has proven he can threaten the defense vertically? In other news, water is wet.

I don’t subscribe but for those of you that do it feels like this belongs here: