BarleyNY

I'm sure that you're right about kick offs. Teams will still try to eliminate return opportunities by dangerous KRs though. Funny thing comparing these two "home run hitters". Goodwin has 3 career TDs, all long receptions in 2013. Archer has zero career TDs. I was surprised to see that, especially with a strong armed QB throwing the ball. Your point about players like them not being able to stay healthy is a big part of why they've both had such little production. The other is that they seem to be much more athletes than football players.

Thank you.

They're pretty much the same guy. Incredibly fast, often injured and non productive in the NFL. You are probably on to something comparing the two. They're probably each other's competition for a roster spot as a KR and end of bench WR/occasional RB. Whomever stays healthy gets the spot?

Wow. You really had to work hard there. Sorry, but pretending that our choices are: - Keep Gilbert and go back to EJ or - Lose Gilbert and keep Tyrod is pretty ridiculous. Reality is that Gilbert has earned his next, big contract over the last four years. Tyrod hasn't earned his yet, not with one good season. Gilbert will likely get paid very soon. Taylor will get paid next season if he earns it. The Bills can keep both if Tyrod earns his place.

Yeah. The guarantees they're giving do carry some not insignificant risk either. Maybe it's what they think they need to do because of the market here and they think it's a better option than overpaying. If so, then it's an interesting tactic.

Yup. Doesn't hurt to kick the tires.

Meh. His only value is as a good kickoff returner and I don't see him sticking if that is all he has to offer. He did not produce at all for the Steelers and I don't know why that would change in Buffalo. He's really been a complete flop in the NFL. I don't expect him to make the 53.

Here is a list of WRs set to become UFAs in 2017. Obviously some won't make it to FA (coughAlshoncoughJefferycough): http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/2017/wide-receiver/

This is an interesting situation to me. The Jest won't trade Wilkerson (except for a first and more). They're not even serious about that because they haven't given his agent permission to negotiate a LTD with other teams. They don't have the cap space to re-sign Fitz - even at their current offer - without dealing Wilkerson (or possibly signing him to a LTD), but say they want him to be their QB. They seem far apart with Wilkerson and I don't think they're even negotiating with him at is point. I believe the deadline for negotiations with franchise tagged players is June 15th (or thereabouts). If he doesn't sign a LTD before then he will be playing under the tag this season and that money is locked up. I don't know what they'd do for a QB at that point. Weird situation.

Thanks!

With respect to what's acceptable and expected behavior here, IMO there's a big difference between calling out a post and a poster. IOW, "You're stupid!" is unacceptable as its a personal attack. "This post is stupid!" is different (although I probably wouldn't use the word "stupid"). If you post here, sooner or later you are going to have a post ripped apart by someone else. I've had occasions where I've realized, after thinking about what was written, that those ripping my posts were right and I was wrong. I admitted I was wrong and moved on. I've had more occasions where I got ripped, thought about what was said to me, defended my posts and told those ripping my posts that they were wrong. And I told them why they were wrong. Around here some thick skin doesn't hurt either.

Well, his current contract guarantees him $22M. He's made $78M outside of that. So that's $100M total. What do you think he's going to play for after that? Some third tier $7M one year stopgap contract? No freaking way. If he's not getting big bucks he might play for a contender to taste the playoffs and chase a ring. That's it. And a team a QB away from a SB run would jump on him if he was a FA and willing to play for $7M-$10M. Teams like Denver or Dallas (post inevitable Romo injury) would be delighted to have him at a decent price. Browns fans everywhere sincerely hope not.

Yeah. He'd yield a comp pick, too.

Yeah, I agree. I wasn't totally dialed into one prospect, but I wanted the Bills to come away with a quality prospect. Miller would have been great in the 3rd. That's the latest I wanted to see one drafted.

Good find, Yolo. The contracts that second and third tier WRs were getting this past offseason were crazy. Woods is in line for a similar contract to Sanu (plus 5-8% due to cap increase) and the Bills should let him go if that's the case. Sanu isn't worth what he got and Woods isn't worth that much either. I'm not sure what he'd be willing to take as a contract extension now, but I can't imagine the discount would be deep enough to make it worthwhile for the Bills. Woods is looking at a five year deal at $6.5M-$7M a year and $14M-$15M guaranteed next offseason if the market holds. The 2016 free agency period didn't have much in the way of WRs and some serious premiums were paid. I have no idea what the 2017 class will look like.

His image won't matter. If he stays healthy and performs at a high level, then no one will care about his recent antics. If he doesn't stay healthy and perform at a very high level then he won't be very desirable anyway.

Same here. I wonder why he hasn't been brought in. Seems strange.

Is he injured yet?

I quit predicting what Ohio State CBs will achieve as pros after Robey. I didn't think highly of him as an NFL prospect, but he's done well. Miami now has four starting OLmen that were drafted in the top half of the first round. Wow. They got a steal with Tunsil. They're going to play him at LG this season and probably slide him to LT next. That'll allow them to part ways with Brandon Albert who will be 32 this time next year and is pretty expensive. Miami saw a chance to solidify the LT spot for the next decade and took it. It was a great move for the long term - and that's not something I say about the Dolphins very often.

Handing back that $11M check would have been tough.

I put RT #2 on the priority list. WR is #1. Not that a RG isn't 3rd. Slauson would have been a nice addition. I'll be interested to see what he's getting paid in Sandy-A-Go. There's no guarantee that a quality player at any position of need will become available so it'd have been nice to cross off one of my top 3.

With Kaep? That shouldn't be a surprise. When did he ever handcuff a franchise QB with a run first game? Even forget franchise QB. How about a quality QB that can get through progressions? When has Roman ever limited a QB that could do more? Maybe it's all coincidence or teams without strong QBs seek him out due to his scheme, but I can't believe that in today's NFL he wouldn't try to get everything he could out of his QB.

Gotta disagree with that. It isn't a coincidence that Roman's offense is run first and that's just what happens to fit the Bills' personnel. He tailored his scheme to what he had to work with.

Absolutely not. If he can't carry the load, then he's not a franchise QB and doesn't deserve franchise money. If the team is leaning hard on the run game it is due to TT's inability to carry enough of the load.

To answer your original question: Nothing except accounting, unless you wind up needing the extra cap space in the current year. It's all about flexibility. Deferral of cap hits does benefit the team because of the annual increase of cap space. Cap space has been going up by about 8% a year on average so every cap dollar deferred is discounted, on average, by 8% per season of deferral. That adds up. Right now the Bills are looking at $36M in cap room in 2017. That is assuming a team base cap of $166M. Any rollover would be added to the $36M and any new contracts (Gilmore, Taylor, 2016 & 2017 draft classes, etc.) deducted. The franchise tag for QBs in 2016 was $25M so things might still be tight if Taylor has to be tagged.