SCBills

Ed Oliver is the one guy holding me back from wondering how creative we may get at LB. If we move him and roll with 4 big bodies (FA/Draft) I could definitely see us getting pretty creative in the back 7.... I just don't see how we do that with a guy who already gets washed in certain situations in Oliver.

Interesting.. Cover 1 Air-Raid hit up a Rams podcaster on Twitter and asked about Rapp. The podcaster said he's up and down at Safety and always saw Rapp as more of a pseudo-linebacker.

No big moves yet, but I have to admit.. Beane is upgrading everywhere on the roster: LG WR4 WR5 RB2 IOL depth S depth

Have to wonder if Rapp saw the Safety market is a disaster this year, sees what the Bills did with Poyer, and decided to see if he can earn a multi-year contract here for the future by joining the Bills for a year. At least, that's my thought process. Rapp seemed like an ok starter option in free agency.

This seems super random...

This Harbaugh press conference at the league meeting isn't awkward at all.... The second he sits down, first question to him "Lamar just tweeted....."

Do you move off Tre White after next year in that scenario? Bills have an out after this coming year and I think that could be on the table regardless of what they do this year.

Ask, and you shall receive.

I think a KC fan was on here and told us they really only have one more lever left to pull … that would be a Chris Jones extension. I have no idea why they wouldn’t do that. He’s dominant and only 28. Spotrac has him with a 28M cap hit and then a UFA in ‘24.

I think we need a couple things: -OL improvement. McGovern is a good start. Edwards, also helpful. Could be as simple as a Year 2 jump in Kromers scheme and Brown getting better. Would love a Tackle at 27 though. -Improved pass rush. Again, could be as simple as just getting Von back at some point. Would love an added vet pass rush specialist though. -WR2/3 upgrade. Could be Hopkins. Could be a high draft pick .. Problem with the draft is who knows what’s there at 27 or RD2 for that matter. I even think someone like Zay Flowers in the slot could be that missing piece, but will he be there?

Even their big splash Orlando Brown signing .. they front-loaded it because they have room to pay cash to cap before Burrow & Chase hit. Bills/Chiefs would be playing cap games with that contract to load up this year knowing the future cap games they can play with a massive QB contract.

Unless he’s a noticeable difference maker - Id be 100% ok cutting or trading Tre White after this season. White’s 2024 out alleviates any real or perceived cap issues and if we extend Hyde one year to match Poyer, we can draft a corner to go opposite Year 3 Elam, still with the benefit of a vet Safety duo behind them in their rookie year. Regarding Dawkins, he’s another down year away from being moved inside to Guard. If I’m Beane, I’m not touching those two contracts. They both need to win their future spots on the team this year. Id rather extend Hyde and Jones, then throw in a small draft comp bump for them to pick up the 1-2M we’d still need OR trade Oliver, sign Hopkins, restructure and then see if we can get a 1-2 guys like Calais Campbell, Poona Ford or Justin Houston/Melvin Ingram etc.

KC is in the best position right now because they moved Tyreek Hill and hit on draft picks. Have a ton of draft picks this year as well. There’s really no sense in arguing … Veach has killed it. What is true, is that Kelce is getting up there in age and let’s see if their draft picks keep progressing. If they do, we will continue to chase them unless Beane absolutely crushes this draft and guys like Bates, McGovern and Brown all make jumps to solidify the OL (all on affordable multi-year contracts). The Bills can also look better than KC cap wise if they move off a big contract like Tre White for some reason after this season. Who knows what will happen. The Bengals are a different story. They have so many big $$$ players coming due and the wild card is whether their owner can pay beyond their typical financial philosophy. He does not have the cash flow of the ownership for BUF and KC.

Not that I love the idea, but the Bills can conceivably kick the can down the road for the next 10 years until the Allen Era is over and we spend a year resetting our $$$ issues around a rookie QB who doesn’t take up 20% of the cap. The Jets are literally doing this on an expedited timeline around Rodgers. Hoping to get 2 years of being a Super Bowl contender and then they will have two years of 20M+ dead cap void years to deal with around a Zach Wilson contract built to absorb it or a rookie who doesn’t cost much. The Bills issue comes if they restructure Tre White and Dion Dawkins, and they don’t bounce back … and say Von doesn’t return to pre-ACL Von … welp, now you have 3 anchor contracts of guys who aren’t playing remotely to the level you’re paying them - and they’re dead cap is prohibitive to moving off them expeditiously.

I could see “best and final” in certain scenarios … but open lines of communication more for a complicated deal where you know the team you’re dealing with isn’t keeping the player AND is putting the team that they deal him to in a tough position with cap maneuvering is probably the move here. This isn’t a straightforward deal, Arizona needs a team to be able to create 19M in cap and wants good picks back. Also, their player doesn’t have a no-trade but due to his contract can somewhat dictate where he goes. We could also have multiple offers out there, depending on what they’re willing to do, or not do, with his cap hit.

As long as Beane and the AZ GM are on good terms, I’m sure Beane has his offer out there with the contingency of “hey, if someone offers more, give me a call before you close the deal”… that would be a common courtesy for a team that has been deep in negotiations (as reported) but the sticking point is the level of compensation going back to Arizona. Beane seems to be one of the more respected GM’s in the league.. I highly doubt a brand new GM wants to start off by screwing him over.

So, for our defensive coach, in our defensive scheme, we need the following: Heavy investment on the DL 8-9 man rotation A top tier investment at MLB Investment at both Safety spots Investment at Nickel CB Were told all those positions are super important in McD’s scheme. Nevermind the investment we’ve made at the other LB spot and both outside corners. Insanity. LB at 27 becomes more and more revolting to me every day closer to the draft.

I hate the Rams example. They picked the perfect year to go for it, in a weak NFC, and avoided the two best teams in the league (Bills/Chiefs). They also have a broken down, aging quickly QB and not only went crazy spending, also traded away all their premium picks for years. We’re not at all like them, nor should we be like them. We haven’t spent like they have, haven’t traded picks like they have and we can just sacrifice 2-3 years to go for it because that would be an absolute travesty of a disservice to Josh Allen in his prime.

It’s also important to note that some of us truly do believe in Brown’s potential. However, that potential could come by developing as a swing tackle and challenging Dawkins for LT down the line. Perhaps Brown makes the jump and then our rookie has to play swing tackle this year before we sort out OL … fine by me. Can never have too many good OL … look at what solid OL are getting paid compared to solid LB’s. There’s a reason for that.

What’s market value for, at most, the 4th best QB in the conference / 2nd best in his division? What’s market value for a running QB that’s injury prone? Part of being a franchise QB is being the face of the organization and not bringing bad publicity to your team. Do you think Allen, Burrow, Mahomes, Herbert, Lawrence etc would be messing around with some rando named Ken Francis and pushing a ridiculous home workout system?

Everything I’ve heard says Campbell would be a DT for us. Im not sure what he’s done recently, except that he can still play at a decent level. I hear what you’re saying about quick interior pressure, but Oliver doesn’t even give us that … certainly not consistently or in big moments.

End. Id prefer the DT room get shaken up by trading Oliver, signing a stop gap and drafting a DT on Day 2, but I have no idea what the FO may do there. There are plenty of DE2 types still available, and I think we need one so we don’t have to rush Von back … and when he does come back, we have a legit group with Von - Rousseau - FA - Epenesa - Basham demoted to DE5 and has to earn being active Gameday once Von is back.

Why do we need “same” production? Id be perfectly fine if we sign Calais Campbell and then draft a guy on Day 2. Jones - Campbell - Settle - Benton (?) Especially if they truly are contemplating going with Bernard at MLB. Put big bodies in front of him.

We don’t know if Beane is haggling. He could have offered a fair deal based on the market. From Arizona’s side, with what is being reported .. Multiple Day 2 picks and taking on the full salary is not remotely fair market rate for this trade.

Absolutely no way. Even if AZ ate a ton of that contract, it’s way too much. Bills need to hit on 27. It’s imperative. Whether it’s a Tackle (my hope), LB or best skill player (Bijan or WR) … that piece needs to be contributing low cost part of this team for the next 4 years.