BarleyNY

It’s worth noting that restructuring only takes away flexibility next season if the additional space created this season is spent this season. What isn’t spent rolls over and that washes. Usually at least some is spent like that, but sometimes space is just created for emergency spending in the event of injuries, etc. In the case of Diggs restructuring the Bills need some of that space to get through the season. That includes some emergency fund money which will roll over if unused. Also sometimes spending this year on things like retaining players long term can keep a team from having to sign free agents in the future. That can be a net cap gain, depending on the contracts and FA market.

I’ll rewatch the Cowboys game, but in general I just have to disagree on Star (until I see some consistent proof that outweighs what I saw in multiple games). As for guys getting paid to make these decisions, they make mistakes too. Star’s initial contract was based on him playing like he did for most of his time in Carolina and I sure have not seen play close to that caliber. Since then, the Bills have been stuck due to his initial contract, though they did see fit to reduce it. We almost certainly have him for one more season so the best I can do is hope the year off did him well and that he balls out this year. At minimum he should keep Oliver playing a lot more 3T which is a help in and of itself.

I get that such a situation can look bad, but it’s not bad from a cap perspective as the two year hit is the same. You might be pointing at a team using the extra space to overextend itself and that would definitely create problems. The potential other issue I saw on the Steelers years ago. They’ve been restructuring a lot of players like this for years. Usually it’s worked out fine, but they have had players underperform (due to getting paid and phoning it in, getting off the juice, getting old, etc.) whom they couldn’t cut right away. In general as long as a team is responsible it’s good to kick cap down to future years. One benefit is that future cap hits are discounted by the percentage of the increase in cap. Obviously 2020 threw a wrench in this, but for example if the cap rose a steady 5% per year then signing bonus hits would be discounted by 5% every year. A $4M SB on a 4 year deal would show $1M each season, but due to the 5% annual cap increase they would be equivalent to $1M, $950k, $902.5k and $857.4K. So you can see why teams love to utilize this to their advantage.

There’s really not a lot of those moves you’d WANT to make though. A Dawkins restructure is about it IMO. The Bills are now set up to make it through the season comfortably. The Bills could even make a move with a relatively modest hit this year. Even a bigger move - like with a Steven Nelson level contract - could be made if it were a longer contract or if voidable years were used on a short one.

Did you catch that Bills-Browns game replay? I watched Star in the first half. He saw one double team in that half - where he got blown into the secondary and the RB ran through his gap. Beyond that I saw one blocker handle him pretty easily. He didn’t occupy two blockers, anchor well, keep the LBs clean or make any impact that I saw. He was a lot better chasing plays laterally than I thought he’d be, but I didn’t see him make much of an impact with that either. I know that’s just one half of one game, but when I’ve watched him in others I’ve seen the same. If someone wants to point me to a game where he made a big, positive impact I’ll cue it up on GamePass.

Either way it’s still all income that falls within the same calendar year - except the last couple games and that’s still in a year where he’d be in the same tax bracket.

That is correct. But it means that Diggs won’t be getting a more lucrative contract this offseason. Some people thought he might be looking for a bump because of his production last season. Unless it’s part of the restructure that hasn’t leaked out yet, then that just got kicked until after this season at the earliest. Give the man credit for accepting his current pay - which is very good but not top WR money - and not demanding that he be paid commensurate with his production last season.

Ganesh’s point stands though. The way to remain competitive with a franchise QB on a fair market contract is to: - draft effectively - be fiscally responsible with veterans - find value with free agents Beane appears to be starting the cap responsibility process with the DE position. That makes sense because recently it has had the highest priced FAs (franchise QBs which rarely hit FA excepted). I’ll leave the debate on the prospects chosen for other times. There are certainly some bad contracts on the books, but realistically it’ll take until next offseason (at least) to clear them. Drafting well and finding some deals in the FA market would certainly go a long way toward keeping the Bills window open.

The OP is correct in his headline that one specific Vikings writer won’t let the Diggs thing go, but if you go to popular Vikings boards like this one you’ll see no one talking about him. So it’s not the fans, it’s that one dude. Also regarding Cousins, most know what they have in him though he has his fanbois that will defend him to the end. I think we’ve all seen that movie here so no surprise.

I never said it that the Bills traded away a guard that was already an All Pro. I said that there were varying opinions of how good Teller could be. One of the people with a very high opinion of him got him and helped him turn into that All Pro. It’s obvious in retrospect that Teller’s potential is that of an elite OG, one of the best in the game. It’s too bad that the Bills didn’t see it. It is not too different from the Bills seeing the potential in Jerry Hughes, getting him cheap and reaping the rewards of him blossoming here. Bills fans certainly never had a problem taking credit for that being such a great move. Edited to add: You wrote that he “later turned into an All Pro guard”. You make it sound like it took a long time to develop. One year. That’s what it took.

Opinions vary on that. Bill Callahan is the Browns OL coach and he’s likely the best in the game at that job. He was the main reason the Browns pursued Teller as he considered him to have been an exceptional OG prospect. In fact he said he thought he was the best OG prospect in the entire 2018 draft. As for the trade, it was a fifth and a sixth in 2020 to the Bills for Teller and a 2021 seventh. For that price the Browns got an All Pro OG. Meanwhile the Bills have had average to below average OG play. While I don’t see the need to keep bringing up the trade, there’s really no way to spin it positively for the Bills. It is what it is. Just move on already.

I have a line on some sweet Ohio State tickets. I’ll probably get to go back to the Shoe again for a game this year.

Originally it was a 5 year, $50M contract. The restructure of the last 3 years of it only lowered the total dollars by $5.4M but upped the guaranteed money. It was and continues to be an egregiously bad contract.

The first thing you have to understand is that the salary cap is very real and important, but most contracts aren’t. The cap for a team is just the league determined base cap for that year plus whatever was rolled over from the previous season. The important thing about contracts is simply what money is paid out and what future money is guaranteed. Sooner or later that all has to be accounted for with respect to the cap. Some teams with a lot of space can spend very freely, but the Bills are no longer one of those. They are spending at a level where decisions have to be made. In order to sign a player with a significant contract they have to offset that cap hit with a reduction somewhere else. It could be by cutting a higher priced player or restructuring players with large salaries to push some of their cap hit into future seasons. But restructuring like that too much or with the wrong player can cause issues for teams. This season the Bills will have to make a little room to get through, but restructuring Dawkins and/or Diggs should be plenty. Additional moves would require more work though.

Let me see that paper cut

Spotrac Bills Contracts This is a good way to look at yearly cap hits and shows when contracts end. It’s broken down by position and player so it’s easy to see what team needs will likely be next season.

Prolly a little early for this - except the part about having his replacement in place.

He was overstating people questioning whether or not Edmunds was deserving of having his $12.7M fifth year option picked up. Sorry to hear that you were ill. Hope all is well now.

That’s pretty much it. This year’s salary of $4.5M and a portion of his salary in 2022 ($2.5M of $6.15M) are guaranteed. The only way he gets cut this offseason is if he brings nothing at all to the table and they don’t want him around. In that case he would be a post June 1st cut (or designated as such). Much more likely is what you stated - he gets cut next offseason.

Star threw it in neutral and has coasted since he signed that big contract with the Bills in 2018. $27M for poor play and effort so far. He has another $4.5M in salary this season and $2.5M next - all fully guaranteed. He also could get up to $250k this season in active roster bonuses and would be getting an additional $250k if he’d bothered to show up to the voluntary workouts going on now. Similar bonuses are available next season but I doubt he’s here then. SMDH

That rugby player has an exemption so he is not taking up a roster spot like Tebow is. Also nothing feelings related in my post. Strictly a stupid decision as explained. Feel free to discuss that.

This is spot on. Tebow will be 34 in August. The guy has not played football for nine years and is changing positions. Incidentally that’s changing positions to TE, which he has never played. Then there’s the distraction factor, which Urban is inviting. For what? If he’s very lucky it’ll be for a guy who is an old player/buddy of his sitting at the end of the bench for a season or two. At worst, it’s a joke that’ll be a distraction to his team and hurt him in the locker room. I mean, how would a Jags player not look at this and think Meyer was in way over his head? It’s a joke. I am a lifelong Buckeyes fan and Urban was a great hire for tOSU. He was a great college coach for a long time, but he did not seem to be evolving with the game. Specifically I saw two big issues: 1) Haskins. When he was QB at tOSU Meyer did not change the offense to suit him even though he was as poor a fit as you could find for it. A great coach has to be better than that. 2) As the RO/RPO scheme ran into defenses built to combat it he did not evolve. The difference between his offense and Day’s are substantial. The Buckeyes got very lucky (were very smart?) with how things worked out. If Day had become another tOSU assistant coach who became HC of their rival to the North (like Bo Schembechler did) things could have been disastrous for them. Instead they have a great coach with a modern take on a highly effective offensive scheme.

That could not be further from the truth. He was very much a team first leader on the Browns. Most fans thought he’d be retained due to that more so than his play - which was good, just not in line with the $12.3M he was set to make.

I think he’s waiting for an injury on a competitive team. He can sign a multi year deal (even a true 1 year deal with voidable years) structured to pay him well this season and spread the hit. I don’t see him playing for $3M. Maybe around $5M for the correct team, but he’d have gotten more than that from the Browns. That might be a pride thing though and that ship looks to have sailed.