BarleyNY

Miami isn't matching this deal. Clay will be the 4th highest paid TE in the league with this deal ($7.6M/year). I don't see them paying both Clay and Jordan Cameron, who is close to the same number ($7.5M/year).

Team probably told him they were not going to pay his roster bonus. His choices were down to taking the pay cut or looking for another job. If he didn't think he was going to make more elsewhere his decision was easy.

Assuming Hingle McCringleberry is off the board.

Pretty much this. Very good player that falls short.

Not a huge Tanny fan, but yeah. Without hesitation.

I don't think he has that left in the tank. Even if he does, this isn't something that could be done in a vacuum. It would not only cost in terms of draft pick(s) and/or players, his huge salary is an issue. Either players have to be traded/cut or restructured which would move some hellish dollars into future years. Oh and I failed to mention another important issue. Brees has to have excellent interior line play to be effective. Just look at who plays there in NO and what they are paid. That would have to be dealt with too.

Rule of 51 currently applies so:Ellerbe's trade frees up $5.65M and the acquisition of Stills only adds back $75k. The net is a 2015 cap savings of $5.575M for Miami. The reason Stills only adds $75 is that his salary is $585k and that will replace a player making $510k on the top 51 players.

Word from Cleveland is that they backed off on Clay due to getting the (familiar) feeling that his agent was playing them. Guess it is either the Phish and Bills or just the Bills in it now. Not sure if the interest from the Phish is legit or just his agent trying to drive up his price. It would be difficult to do that if only the Bills were interested at this point.

Couple things about Brees: - He isn't the same player he was even a couple years ago. - He has a huge salary.* When I think of acquiring him I think of Joe Montana in a Chiefs uniform. The Saints might rape some team for him, but I hope it's not the Bills. *edited to add: $18.75M GUARANTEED in 2015 and $19.75M (non-guaranteed) in 2016. Eligible for a $250k work out bonus in each year. To sum up: the Bills can't afford him and shouldn't want him even if they could.

http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/miami-dolphins The other thing I notice here is that in 2016 Miami has $131M tied up in 34 players under contract. That includes ALL of the players they have under contract through that time. It does not include Tanny. They aren't going to be carrying much over either, which is why their heads are above water now. Booting Ellerbe will help, but I'm not sure how they sign Clay to a sizeable longterm deal. They have to fit Tanny and the hits from two draft classes under their 2016 cap. Those players are relatively cheap, but they'd better hope the cap continues to rise.

http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/miami-dolphinsCutting Ellerbe would save the Phins $5.65M in cap space this year, unless they designated him as a June 1st cut which would give them more immediate relief and push some of the cap hit back to 2016. The $131M+ would only cover 36 players then. Quite frankly, 2016 looks ugly for them already so I don't think it much matters how they handle Ellerbe. They really are pushing to win in the short term. Check out the link, lots of info there.

You are correct. Clay has not signed his tender contract with the Dolphins so he's not under contract. A team can't trade a player it doesn't have under contract. Hypothetically a deal could be worked out between the player and the two teams where the team holding the tender signs the player and then trades him, but that is frowned upon by the league. It could still happen though. It doesn't make any sense in this case since there is no compensation for signing Clay and Miami already signed Jordan Cameron.

Clay is visiting Cleveland, and the Browns want him bad. This will be interesting. Also I'm not sure if Clay will officially sign an offer sheet until Suh's deal hits the books in Miami. Of course he could still make a choice and come to terms before then.

He just meant that if there was no hurry in cutting him, why not keep him until a replacement/upgrade was officially on board. That's what most teams do. Looks like there might have been a hurry due to the roster bonus though.

Saves $2.25M of cap space.

That was my first thought, but I see he has a $250k roster bonus due. Perhaps it was going to hit before the Clay situation played out anyway.

Some rumblings that HGH tests might have had something to do with the retirements of Worlids and Willis. It comes from a good source, but it was not passed on as a definite. Sure would make sense though.

A retort worth of a 5th grader. You're really growing up! Feel free to chime in with an actual arguement - if you are capable.

I'd say that the OP is fair in his assessment that the team is status quo talent-wise from last season, but: - Talent acquisitions aren't over yet and - Ryan is a huge upgrade over Marrone

Thanks to those who responded. Some good info there, particularly from those who've seen him a lot. So I'm getting this: - Versatile TE/H-back - Very good all around, but not great - Creates mismatches - Will probably require some overpayment I'd wager that the Bills don't have much choice but to go after him and overpay a bit. I absolutely love players that bring this kind of versatility. I am rarely a fan of overpaying a player, but the Bills are clearly trying to set themselves up to win in the short term and an above average TE would help greatly. Overpaying somewhat for players like this is one consequence of missing so many draft picks this year. It is what it is.

Thank you for asking. I was wondering the same.

Bigger than you'd think. Obviously you've never had someone try to slip something bad for you into a contract before. Both sides need time to negotiate and comb through these deals - especially such large ones. Agents and GMs can destroy their careers with a stupid mistake like that. The Bills are not in as bad of an immediate spot cap-wise as most think anyway. The Rule of 51 applies until final cut downs so they have more space now than it appears than when looking at the total for all of the contracts.

$13M. The salary only. The Rams would take the hit for the prorated signing bonus portion.

It's a little late in the game to renegotiate a contract. Literally hours. With time needed for not only all parties to read the deal through the league would need to approve it. On an incredibly busy day for that office in terms of contracts coming through. So that won't be happening unless it was in the works already. A team would have to do a handshake deal on a new contract and have room for his current salary cap hit until it got hammered out. I don't see any team giving up much for him without a new contract in place. Huge salary for one year for an oft injured QB doesn't make sense. If the Rams have room (which they do currently) why not wait until the dust settles and there are no QBs options left in the market and then rake a desperate team? Besides, they still need to find a QB if it isn't going to be Bradford.

I'm not sure why people complain about a player maximizing their earnings. It's always a nice feel good moment for the fans when someone like Hughes stays instead of chasing the last nickle. There's a lot to be said for being in a place you like and working with and/or for good people, people you care about. There's also something to be said for playing for a team that could win it all. But I don't blame any player for going for the money. They've got a long time on this planet after football.