FLFan

Paying Gillislee starter money would be a really bad deal. He has proven very valuable as a change of pace back in the Bills running game the last two years. He has not shown well when asked to start. Two completely different things. They obviously value him enough to try and negotiate a long term deal, but with so many other needs at a variety of positions, overpaying for your backup running back would be foolish. If some team wants to knock his socks off with a starter value contract, so be it. That would hardly be the end of the world. I would much rather take that extra money toward a starting linebacker or safety or right tackle.

Cousins has consistently said he is content in playing for the franchise tag and has no real interest in a long term deal. This is just about money, not really about wanting to be with the Skins or not. With two years of franchise tag he will have made $44m guaranteed, and still will have the option of signing long term next year, assuming he does not blow up his career or suffer a major injury. He is taking some chance here, but also getting paid a ton, well above his real value IMO. He would give the Skins a shot at signing him next year when he will be after the long term deal, but he will ultimately be a free agent. From the Skins perspective, they have their doubts if he is the long term answer and probably do not really want to pay him $24m this year with so many holes to fill, and no guarantee beyond this year. For what it is worth, many Washington fans, and some in the organization, are not sold on Cousins. He has his moments, but he is certainly not elite.

Interpretation: I am really hoping one of these guys fall to me at 27.

Actually, I think they can do much better. Robey simply does not have the size to be effective in coverage. Time to move on. The legend was much greater than the production.

Gotta love the offseason.

Yeah. Wake me up when there is a new point made.

It's $27.5 cash for 2017, but the cap hit is just under $16 m. Very cheap for a starting QB. Cap hit next year of just under $17 m. Again, cheap. No reason at all why the Bills cannot draft as many rookie QBs as they want with so little committed to the starting QB. If they exercise the deal, it is a minimum of two years, as the dead money to cut him after this year is something like $27m. If they cut him after 2018, still 10m but manageable when they spread it out. I am not sure why anyone cares about the cash. Only cap hit matters, and Tyrod is cheap for his level of performance, at the very least in line. Personally, I think they should keep him and go all in on a rookie next year. Remain competitive this year and next, fix the defense. This team does not need a ground up rebuild, and Taylor's contract will still allow them to fix the holes they have.

There is absolutely no new information in that article.

Once I saw this report was from LaConjecture, I felt pretty safe in ignoring it

Well if Rodak said it must be true.

The 1 1/2 game sample size makes this comparison, or any evaluation of Jimmy G based on game experience, completely illegitimate. Maybe the Browns will be sucked into this, but it would be foolhardy in my opinion. Chances are if you get this guy out of the Cheats controlled offense for any length of time he gets average pretty quickly. Chances are if he had to start even for them for an extended period he sucks. If he really was thought of as a potential replacement for Brady, they would hang onto him. Fools gold.

Your homerism is showing. This is the best team they have had to play all year. Close at worst, but I think the Falcons win. They have a very good defense, Matt Ryan is on fire, and he has really good weapons.

Agree. He will be great at it I think. Very entertaining.

I really hate to be too much of a homer, but this is about the silliest, least rationale take you could have, across the board. Not just the Bills "evaluation'.

I am the worlds biggest Falcons fan right now. Beat the cheats. Go Falcons.

Goodwin can't be out of here fast enough IMO. Listenbee replaces his speed role and has more upside.

Agree. It is hard to tell what Thurman can really do as he was clearly under Ryan's thumb. That is what you figure out in the interview. What did he learn and what would he do differently. At least with Thurman, there is opportunity. Rob RYAN, not so much.

I am pretty sure my head is not in the sand because I heard this just fine. What's more, I am not senile yet so I actually did comprehend it. For me the key takeaway here is regarding QB. Clearest indication yet, beyond rumors, that they intend to move on from Tyrod. While I have been in favor of keeping him for two years while developing a young QB as the best chance of remaining at least competitive in the short term, the other side of this argument is why waste two years running a QB specific offense when you know it is not good enough in the long term. (a sentiment I am sure many here agree with) Once you come to that conclusion, you are rebuilding by definition. Next, the Bills have 24 free agents. They have only 1 NFL WR under contract. They have 1, maybe 2 NFL caliber CBs under contact, 1 safety at least near he end of his career, and 1 who may or may not play, and is in danger of minimally a career ending injury every time he steps on the field. They have 2 NFL quality LBs under contract, and both essentially play the same position in 4/3. Kyle Williams may well retire. This has all been true, so was there no expectation that some rebuilding needed to be done? They do, however have some core pieces. Very good weapons on offense in McCoy, Watkins, and Clay. 4/5's of a very good OL. Strong DL, a couple of good corners, Ragland and Brown even if one of them ends up playing out of ideal position. The comment of "we are close" and this "interview" were made on the same day. How do you reconcile the two? First, I and most fans probably, took the close comment as a bit of hyperbole. Close in the sense we are not starting from scratch, but not close if your goal is to win a championship. Perhaps its all semantics, but this not say tear down/major rebuild to me. There is clearly work to be done, and that was certainly true before Whaley's comments. The stuff about building a foundation, work ethic, character and all that is just GM/Coach speak. As the build the roster, this speaks to their philosophy. Not a big deal. A "major rebuild" to me would imply salary dumps, trades of players for draft picks, that type of thing. If we start to see that - say a trade of McCoy for a third round draft pick, or cutting Jerry Hughes, etc - you are now in tank/major rebuild mode. I do not see that in anything he said.

So it looks like Dougie won his first power skirmish.

Not new, and only has become news because Dope and Bullfrog are flogging it today. Not saying it is not worth discussion - it has some interesting nuggets, but open to widely varying interpretation.

Exactly. They are having some fun reading all sorts of intent into what he said. Those inclined to, are lapping it up.

I heard them yapping and then I watched the video. I think they are overstating the case. That said, the messaging about long term vision is interesting. It does seem that this is not the year of "all in", but I would not go so far as to say they are indicating a complete tear down either. If they move on from Tyrod, this will no doubt be a step back year, by definition really. Will they pull a Cleveland? I do not think so.

Exactly. They should fire whoever made the decision to go give BO that contract.

Who says anyone asked Marrone?

He also is not really in charge of the offense. Reid is, and maintains play calling responsibilities. The Bills could offer him an Asst. HC/OC title and more money I bet. Depends on if he still has any aspirations, or is content with staying where he is. Also, I think it is smart that McD is looking bringing in experienced people, with HC experience on their resumes. Invaluable it seems to me for a first time HC to have that experience to lean on.