BarleyNY

LMAO

I've seen a lot of this crap, too. The defense was very average - 15th in yards/game and 16th in points per game. They weren't what they were two seasons ago and they weren't what Rex told us we'd get, but they weren't nearly the biggest issue on the team. It wasn't the 1st ranked run offense either. My guess at what held the Bills back most in 2016 was their 31st ranked passing offense. Specials didn't help either.

Wow. I'm trying to wrap my head around them in a booth. That would either be tremendous or totally unlistenable. I'm not sure which.

Money paid or guaranteed to a player must be accounted for on the cap. Some of Taylor's cap hit would be deferred, but those dollars still must be accounted for. Deferring a cap hit can help in the near term, but eventually the team has to take the hit. BS. The Bills beat one .500+ team this season - the Patriots who started an injured 3rd string QB. Taylor is a big part of the reason why, I'm not putting it all on him (or any QB) to carry the team to a SB, but he should be able to help them get there and not hold the team back.

Yup. My first thought upon reading the OP was, "Well okay, then whose fault was it in 2015?" I'm sure Rob was part of the problem, but the real issue was the Ryan scheme and the inflexibility of Rex (and Rob). They didn't change their scheme to keep in step with today's NFL and they sure didn't tailor it to their personnel. That major coaching failure is on them.

No chance. Whaley will have made his decision about Tyrod and he will go with a coach that agrees with him. No way does he tie himself to a coach that he doesn't see eye to eye with. And Tyrod's contract is substantial. The team will be tied to him for at least two seasons at a cost of $40.5M. You've got to genuinely believe in him to move forward with him because he's going to be your QB. If you're Whaley, then he's going to be the guy you tie your tenure in Buffalo to. If you're the new HC, then with Tyrod you have real, immediate expectations for improvement. He's got to be your guy. Or you can choose your own guy and get a little extra time. I don't see the Bills keeping Tyrod. He's the best QB that's been in Buffalo in a long, long time, but he's limited. He's not going to get you to a Super Bowl. That is really the clincher for me.

I suspect that's not going to happen. He will get a nice deal - and he should - but nothing close to $40.5M over 2 years.

I can't believe this. How can the front office NOT have made their decision? They've seen everything there is to see. Nothing new is going to come to light before the decision needs to be made. It's done. There could be no greater indictment of the front office than if they didn't know what they were going to do. Part ways with Tyrod. Keep Tyrod. Either is far better than not knowing what they're going to do.

Tyrod is one staph infection away from an enormous payday.

Feel better?

Horton's defense in Cleveland this past season wasn't just talent deficient, the players were making fundamental mistakes throughout the entire year. For a coach who has been around as long as him, it was shocking. I am not a fan of Horton, but I wouldn't have thought he'd field a defense like that.

Now would be a good time for a proper rebuild, but that would mean parting ways with Whaley and other front office people. Since that isn't happening it looks like it isn't in the cards.

OTC shows $168,000,000 right at the top of the chart for base salary cap. They seem to only be giving the Bills $2.8M carryover though. Thus the $170.8M in team salary cap. I wonder if they're including some end of season bonuses that spotrac isn't. http://overthecap.com/salary-cap-space/

I didn't want to include positions in obvious need of upgrades, but you gotta think at least Carp gets replaced. That probably will have minimal impact on the salary cap. Very true about WR1. Failure to address the position this past season has led to this. We're an injury (or failure of injury to heal) to Watkins away from nothing but scrubs at the position. I'm not sure how that's acceptable to Pegula and is one reason I'm surprised Whaley is still here.

Both are using $168M. OTC isn't adding the carryover in their 2017 numbers yet. Spotrac is. The Bills are carrying over $5M. That's the difference.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/2017/ The Bills should have approximately $44.6M in cap space if Taylor is not retained and $31.6M if he is. That might seem like a lot, but there's much work to be done. There's only 37 players under contract and there are a lot of major holes. Here's the FA list: http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/buffalo-bills/ Here are some important positions that need addressed: QB (assuming no Taylor), QB2, CB1, S1, S2, RT, WR2, WR3, RB2, ILB, OLB & FB. That's pretty stunning.

I can't believe this is even a suggestion.

I thought it was deft usage of folksy colloquialism.

Yeah, there's a lot of problems here: 1) It's not a sign and trade situation - and also those never happen in football anyway. Since TT is under contract if he would be traded prior to his roster bonus being paid, then the new team would have to pay it. If he would be traded after, then the Bills would eat the bonus. 2) No one wants Taylor at his upcoming contract. Zero chance any team takes that on. 3) No way does a team make this trade with the Bills. Hughes is a quality player, but he isn't worth the 10th overall pick with his contract. Adding Taylor with his contract doesn't provide value either. 4) The cap freed up next season would be less than $15M. About $13M from not picking up Taylor's contract and less than $2M from trading Hughes. There'd be bigger savings in future obviously. You're right that the Bills need to re-sign some players. They look to have about $45M in cap space next season if they do not pick up Taylor's option. That doesn't include tagging Gilmore or re-signing any of their other free agents. It's a good chunk of change, but they've got a lot to do,

It's totally deceptive since there'd be a lot of money paid to him that would be unaccounted for. Just because the cap hit for that $8M or so we are talking about would be kicked down the road doesn't mean it isn't important. Total money paid and guaranteed money are far more important than cap hits, especially first year cap hits that are often kept artificially low.

A first year cap hit is pretty meaningless. You are really resorting to some major deception. Tyrod is guaranteed $30.75M in March if he's retained under his current deal. Then another $9.75M the following March. That's $40.5M for two seasons. He's not worth close to that.

I'd be okay with keeping Tyrod at a reasonable contract as a bridge, but I don't think he would go for that. He will want to test the market.

Me, too. The Phish save $8.5M on the 2017 cap if they cut Mario before the 3rd day of the league year. He's gone.

The talent is there, but it's not on the field enough. Hopefully Watkins can stay healthy.

I assumed the OP meant after Watkins' contract was up after next season. He has his option year, but a long term deal is usually done prior to that. I can't see giving him a long term deal if he can't stay healthy. In fact, one season of health might not be enough - if we even get that. The dead cap is due to his salary being guaranteed next season. I don't think anyone is thinking we'd get rid of him before the end of his rookie deal.