HappyDays

I am over WRs like McConkey and Pearsall. We have dipped into that "smooth route runner" well many times. What we have been lacking is size and/or speed outside. This draft features an amazing opportunity to finally grab a WR with traits at our original 1st round pick. Blowing that opportunity on a guy that projects as maybe a faster Cole Beasley would be a big mistake IMO.

Sounds like Cleveland is taking his entire cap hit on, so this wouldn't have been feasible for us. Stay the course. Sign one of the 2nd or 3rd tier WRs and draft two more by the end of R4.

Why does this remind me of when mommy and daddy pulled me into a room to ask which house I wanted to live in

Now I would really like Beane to trade down in Round 1 if possible, even to the top of Round 2 if needed. The realistic WR targets there - Coleman, Franklin, Legette - are likely still going to be available a few picks later. Get a 3rd rounder if at all possible. Also with all of these day 3 picks in our bag I would actually use all of them, don't be tempted to trade them away to move up the board. We need the bottom of our roster to get a lot cheaper and start maximizing the value of day 3 rookie contracts. If we plan it right we will be able to make one splash signing in FA because we won't have all our money tied up in overpaid rotational/depth players.

I could be wrong but I don't think that's how it works. I don't think there is a limit to the number of comp picks in a given round. Pretty sure the super secret comp pick formula just screwed us somehow. Why the NFL doesn't make this information known I will never understand. Don't they want their GMs having all the facts when they make decisions? Think of all the work our front office and scouting departments have done on 3rd round targets, now all of that work is for nothing. So stupid.

One theory I've seen is that the NFL supposedly factors in playing time with the comp pick formula. Edmunds missed time in 2022 so that may be the thing that screwed us. Man this really really sucks. Beane traded for Rasul Douglas because he thought we had another 3rd round pick.

Wow what a huge bummer. I don't understand, everyone agreed we would net a 3rd. I thought I had even heard Beane allude to it. How does this happen?

I thought people were saying Von had a chance to earn a lot more than his paycut next year if he hit all his incentives. The way you laid it out here he would only earn more if he hit 15+ sacks, or 10.5+ sacks plus a Super Bowl appearance. So yeah this is just a straight up pay cut. Von didn't "bet on himself" as some have said. I am quite confident that Beane forced this on him with the threat of release.

I just want us to be more willing to let rookies take on roles. Save the cap space for difference makers. My issue with a contract like this is Rapp is basically guaranteed a spot on the roster - it costs slightly more to cut him than to keep him in 2024. Before the offseason really starts we are already deciding his role is too valuable to be handled by a rookie (or a late stage FA signing) and I just don't understand that thought process. So yes an extra $1M-$2M is not a huge deal on its own, but when you add all these slightly overpaid depth contracts together if does start to become an issue.

I was off a bit. So $2.8M cap hit this year which is a bit steep for me. We could cut him after the season for $1.3M in dead cap in 2025 or keep him for $3.7M. Now that we know the real numbers this is still an overpay IMO. Depth safeties should be day three rookie contracts.

I'm not great at analyzing these things, but I believe his cap hit will be ~$2.3M this year, and we could cut him after this season for like $700K dead cap in 2025 and 2026. Not too bad. I just hope he isn't a starter.

The Bills haven't even been in contact with Daquan Jones. They're going in a different direction this season, cheaper and younger. Looks like we are filling non-premium positions with players that don't hurt the comp pick formula. NT (when the Fatukasi signing becomes official), safety, backup QB, all players that don't count. Davis, Epenesa, and Jones will probably net us a comp pick as long as we sign no more than 2 qualifying UFAs .

That's an interesting thought. Maybe they see him as Siran Neal's replacement, similar cost but gives you more on defense.

I think it was more a really poor decision and throw than a great play by Rapp. My initial instinct is that I don't like this deal. At times I thought that Rapp was a liability on the field and he appears to be in the Jordan Phillips mold of committing incredibly stupid penalties at the worst times. I'll wait to see what the contract actually looks like though before fully judging it. The initial headline pumped out by the agent is probably laughably overstated. But I think there will be true starting caliber safeties on the market for a similar cost so I don't know why we rushed to get this extension done.

Even if we take a chance on a day 3 QB we still need to have a baseline in place. That's the goal for 90% of free agency. Make sure you have baseline talent in place at every position so that you're not reaching for needs in the draft. Ideally some of that baseline talent will be supplanted by rookies, but you can't count on it.

From a reliable source, Knox was asked to take a paycut. I heard this last week but never got an update.

Maybe. But part of me wonders if Beane threatened him - take the pay cut or we'll release you as a post-6/1 designation. A couple months back I thought that would be one way of handling his contract, I just didn't know if Beane would be willing to be that ruthless. If Von was cut he would get a paltry contract offer from another team, and we would be stuck with a bunch of dead money, so it is a good compromise for both sides to accept this pay cut.

Turns out being a GM is easy. All you need is a sharp axe.

Over the Cap and Spotrac are showing different outcomes, it will probably take a couple days before we know for sure. But I am pretty sure that once Hines's release is official we will already be below the cap, and that's before the inevitable restructures of Allen's and Oliver's contracts. Even with Rapp and Edwards re-signing I suspect we will have enough to work with to make one above average signing and then a few signings to fill holes. Most importantly we will be in excellent cap shape heading into 2025.

Quite the opposite. Putting younger less injury prone players on the field and freeing up cap space puts us MORE in contention this year. No doubt in my mind we will be a better team than last year.

When the offseason first started, my dream was cutting White, Morse, Poyer, and Harty, and convincing Von to take a paycut. Consider me satisfied! Once we restructure Allen's contract we can be real players in free agency.

Over the Cap thinks we are saving even more:

So for seemingly no reason at all, Von agreed to give us $8.6 million in cap relief this year. This is one time where I will say Beane is a wizard. I have no clue how he pulled it off. Just insane that before even restructuring Allen's contract we have already gotten under the salary cap.

I am glad we released him but I don't understand the post-6/1 designation. We could have taken a $10.3M dead cap hit this year and saved $6M right a away, with no ramifications in 2025. Instead we take a $6.2M dead cap hit this year AND a $4.1M dead cap hit in 2025. And we don't really get to use his savings this year until after FA is over. I wonder what the thought process was here?