BarleyNY

We couldn’t have known he’d bust up his wrist in his first game with us.

It’s what the Bills did when they started to turn things around. Built up some extra cap space, then used it to overpay some players. Those players helped us turn things around pretty quickly. Even though it only took a couple seasons by that time most of the salaries were in line with the market (Morse). There are always some misses though, sometimes bad ones (coughSTARcough). Of course a lot of teams try it and don’t turn things around. Just have to wait and see how it works out for them.

Myles Garrett is 29

Yep. The extra money added to the cap flows to the scarce resources as teams look to buy wins.

nfl gms:

No. It would be based on what’s happening with other elite QBs in similar circumstance as well as staying within a given range of the top of market from a cash perspective. Too much is being made of the statistic you are referencing. It’s a nice feel good PR thing, but it’s fairly meaningless in Allen’s case. QBs like him and Mahomes are getting repeated adjustments to their deals. Ultimately it is all about cash for the player. For the team it’s about cash out and cap management - and keeping their golden goose happy.

Yep. They want both. No lie there. Buuuuuut, if they have to choose only one……..

Yeah. If there were no health concerns I think he’d have been priority #1 to extend. Top CBs make huge money and he’s in line for that. It makes sense that the Bills would want to wait and see how things go before extending him. It doesn’t have to wait until after the season either. After camp, after 6 games, whenever the Bills are comfortable with his health. The hold up with Cook has to be his contract demands. They’ll get to an agreeable number - or they won’t. If they don’t by the draft, Beane better cover his rear.

My bet is that there was an agreement to keep him at a certain % of cap or at a certain level amongst his peers when the last deal was signed.

Told ya all

It was written as a six year contract, but effectively it was a 3 year deal with a team optional 4th year. I wrote that on here the day the contract details became public.

$20M AAV puts Rousseau 13th among Edges. (That assumes early reports are correct.) If so, that’s ridiculous. He’s not a difference maker, so why give him difference maker money?

There’s no way to calculate cap space until the contract details of all these extensions come out. Were just gonna have to sit tight until then. Also it’s worth looking at cash spend at that point too.

Pegula will maximize his earnings. How much he has to sink into the stadium is irrelevant to that. This isn’t a cost plus model.

Maybe you don’t understand who Rousseau is and what his limitations are. He’s a useful player. But what he’s good at isn’t what’s most important and most valued for Edge players. He’s a good complimentary piece, but he’s never going to be a difference maker. That’s okay, but you have to be careful how much cash and cap space gets tied up in players like that. It’s not a loser mentality to be aware that teams have limited cash and cap space. Yes, this extension will open up cap space this season, but overall it will take up significant space Also there is a cash budget it will eat up a chunk of. Not acknowledging or understanding that is pretty juvenile.

Spotrac is really bad at projections. I wouldn’t use them for anyone. OTC’s valuations are better, but they’re usually still off. Plus they are for the previous season so you have to extrapolate them. I think they had him at $17M+ for 2024. The problem with these simple calculations is that there is no nuance. You have to see how players play against better competition and in high leverage situations. They aren’t set up to do that.

Said it in the Bernard extension thread. Pressure to not backslide this season. But moves like this also limit the team’s ability to improve.

I will wait for details, but it looks like an overpay for a good, not great player. Definitely a pattern now.

missed that. mods feel free to merge/delete

I said it when the details of the stadium deal were made public - the smartest facet of the deal on the part of Hochul/NY state was that Pegula would be responsible for cost overruns. It looks like $800M in overruns will be borne by them versus the taxpayers. Guessing the sale of 10% of the team will eventually cover most of that. https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/03/06/bills-seek-650-million-debt-waiver-as-stadium-costs-creep-upward-again/?issueId=7DNGCRPR7NEGRHNA2O7LOH5EM4 “The Bills are seeking an exception to NFL debt limits to borrow $650 million to fund construction of the new Highmark Stadium, where costs continue to climb far beyond the original budget, sources said. According to the Bills’ request, per sources, the stadium will now cost $2.2 billion -- that’s up $100 million from the last official reportsfrom Erie County Stadium Development Corp., and now $800 million higher than the original estimate of $1.4 billion.”

I agree and those are the scenarios I’d like to see play out. Don’t pay him like he’s going to take a big step forward that will never happen.

Depends on Rousseau’s contract. If I’m him I hit FA next offseason unless I get the bag from Buffalo. He’s not worth $20M-$25M, but some crappy team will do it (just like with Edmunds). The Bills shouldn’t do it, but with the Bernard extension it seems like they probably will. The Benford deal tells me that there is pressure on them to not backslide in 2025. They aren’t looking to take unnecessary risks that could cause a backslide (even if there is upside to doing so).

IMO Benford should have been first.

Agreed. I was hoping the Bills would upgrade MLB. Extending him after his 2024 season is a very, very tough sell for me. He in no way earned an extension. I will wait on contract details before I finalize my opinion, but I don’t see how this could make sense.

It would equal out for this season, but there’d be an additional hit next season.