RoscoeParrish

I’ll make a list: Chase Jefferson AJ Brown BTJ London ARSB Jeudy Nabers Lamb Ladd JSN Wilson McLaurin Sutton Davante Flowers Ridley Nico Evans Jamo DK Mooney Nacua Moore Hill Tee Pickens Addison Smith Pittman Waddle Tank Godwin Shakir He’s right around Jakobi Meyers, Deebo, Pierce, Downs, Jennings, Reed territory. 34 ish? Honestly, WR talent in the NFL is supremely stacked. Edit: I realize I left out hurt dudes like Olave/Aiyuk/Rice. That probably pushes Shakir to like 38ish? Top 40?

Shakir saw 100 targets with an MVP QB as the clear first option. Adams just got 2 for $44M. Shakir signed 4 for $53M. I think their markets have spoken.

Benford should have gotten Taron’s vote. i love me some Taron Johnson but he was not very good last season.

Sheesh The answer is closer to 32. The gap between the worst teams and best teams is not that large. do we think Josh Allen inserted on the NY Giants, (who won 3 games last season), throwing to Malik Nabers and getting a lead, with that DL able to pin their ears back and get after QBs, wouldn’t be contending for a top 3 seed in the NFC?

Not even close to the most hated. like zero.

If Miami wanted to pay me $5M to play safety poorly for a season, I’d be on the first plane down. No idea how folks can harbor ill will for guys going to get paid when they can’t get a job in Buffalo.

This article has what you seek. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/agents-take-breaking-down-exactly-why-bengals-shemar-stewart-remains-only-unsigned-2025-first-round-pick/

It reminds me of the days of Brady, Peyton, Brees, Rodgers, Big Ben. Sometimes that order flipped, but it was pretty clear the top 2 were the top 2.

I’ll be completely honest. i think the “tear down” by the 2017 Bills is the most overrated aspect of the rebuild. The two biggest reasons the Bills are currently where there are today is: 1. McD winning over the entire franchise and locker room by coaching his butt off to break the playoff drought. 2. Drafting and developing Josh Allen That’s 99% of it. Things like trading Sammy or hiring Rick Dennison or signing Star or etc etc are all footnotes. as far as Sauce is disappointing, he’s been AP1 two of three seasons. Most folks feel he’s as disappointing as Sammy?? Do those folks work for the AP?

Abdul Carter, the third overall pick, has it. “For example, the third overall pick, Abdul Carter, signed his contract, which includes the now-controversial provision.” https://stripehype.com/this-hidden-detail-might-explain-shemar-stewart-bengals-standoff They don’t want to pay Stewart if he has a Henry Ruggs situation. Seems reasonable to me.

I’m curious how you think the Bills “start figuring out the trenches?” Lets look back at season 2 of McD and Beane. They fielded perhaps the worst OL in football in years two of the Beane regime. Their only good addition was Dawkins. The rest of the starters included Miller, Vlad Ducasse, Jordan Mills. they made two additions to the DL, Star and Trent Murphy, both who were very uninspiring in Bills uniforms. The rest of the DL were holdovers from the 2016 roster. The Bills eventually built a good OL in 2020 (and are still arguably searching for a good DL) but let’s compare apples to apples. The new Jets staff took over 6 months ago.

The 2021 team had the one thing a lot of SB teams had. they got REALLY hot at the right time. Even though the 2020 team got further and performed better overall, they were not playing their best ball in January.

Beane declined Sammy Watkins’ 5 year option. He was not a Wilson caliber of player. They traded Glenn a year later after already drafting his replacement.

This is not correct. other teams have this language in their contracts. the bengals never have. See above. other teams have this language. Just not the Bengals.

That 2019 WR class is a hilarious enigma. Deebo feels like he’s already done. Terry is gonna be 30. Meanwhile DK and AJ Brown feel like they have another 4 years at least. Drafting younger players has its perks.

Enough to be called a “game changer?” I think so. Sauce was really not great last year but that whole team was a total disaster. I think they all gave up to a degree. The two prior years, the defense was elite and Sauce was a big part of that. I don’t think he’s the second coming of Revis, but similar to the old LoB Seahawks, refs seem to let him be grabby because he has a rep of being a great corner. That by itself is valuable. I think that’s really hard to say because no one is in a vacuum. take Edmunds for example. The 2023 Bears had a boatload of cap space and no one to spend it on. They overspent, considerably for a player who was solid. Now was he worth “that” contract? Certainly to the Bills, no. Was he worth it to the Bears who desperately needed back 7 talent, even if they had to overspend to get there? I can see the argument. That’s where I think there’s the greatest argument to overspend on Cook. You can say “in a vacuum, I wouldn’t pay this player X amount or higher,” but we aren’t in a vacuum. We are the 2025 Bills. Cook is a playmaker on an offense that imo needs one more, not one less. So is he maybe worth less in a vacuum than what he wants? I lean yes. Is he worth more to us than he is in a vacuum? I also lean yes. I think that’s similar to Sauce. Now, his market in a vacuum is also probably a little bit less (but not much), but on a team trying to find their defensive identity again, walking away from a 2 time All Pro at 24 years old seems counterproductive.

Cook is a great example of where it gets tricky. the easiest contracts for GMs to give out are the ones to great players. No one batted at eye at paying Josh. Whether he’s the best or the second best, everyone knows he’s elite and worth it. the hardest are the “borderline” elite guys, especially if they hold their ground. Cook is clearly very good and can likely command near elite money. If the Bills wanted to give him that, he’d be signed. But like @Augie said, you can’t pay everyone. And every extra dollar you give Cook, there’s less to go around. The extra challenge is that we are in an ever shortening SB window. That gives Cook some more leverage to squeeze out money, but also means you don’t get too many more mistakes before you run out of time. Ultimately, I think you have to stick to your guns as a GM. The Jets think Sauce is worth top of the market money. Sauce thinks if he hits FA, he’s gonna get top of the market money. Theres no reason to waste time so the deal is done The Bills don’t think Cook is worth top of the market money. Cook thinks if he hits FA, he’s gonna get top of the market money. And there’s your impasse. After that, it’s a matter of timing. The Bills have attached a number to their pending FAs. Maybe before Rousseau and the rest were signed, there was a chance that Cook gets a bigger contract and Bernard isn’t locked up yet. But that has passed. By the same token, if Cook had a Saquon Barkley type season last year, maybe he gets paid first.

I guess we’ll never know. I still think McD loves the defensive flexibility that an elite island CB gives him. He loved it with Tre and used it to great effect. Is it better from a team building strategy to have a good CB1 making half of what a great CB1 makes? Maybe. But I still think if Benford commanded an elite salary, McD and co would’ve given it to him. NFL teams generally are in favor of paying elite players and figuring out the other money later. Because elite players are harder to find than good ones.

I would prefer the next rookie QB on the Jets to be joining a terrible roster. Not one with very good players. I think the best thing a team can do is have a very talented team around a young QB. I think a bad thing to do is have them running around for their life. I get that. I guess what I’m saying is if Kaiir Elam was a 3x All Pro, 3x Pro Bowler and 2nd in defensive player of the year voting, I think the Bills probably give him a similar deal to Sauce and save money elsewhere.

I think they signed Benford cheaper because they could. Benford clearly was not holding out to be the highest paid CB in the league. As evidence by his current contract. In 2020, they ran the same scheme. And they made Tre White the highest paid CB in the league that season. Because Tre White was one of the most valuable CBs in the NFL based on his age and production. That alone should be the only evidence you need that this team is ABSOLUTELY willing to pay elite CBs who command top of the market money. Benford wasn’t commanding a similar salary, so they didn’t pay him a similar salary. The Bills would have also paid Myles Garrett top of the market money if he was on the roster, despite Greg Rousseau getting a lesser contract. Because Myles Garrett commands that type of salary, and Greg Rousseau does not.

These guys are already on the team and they don’t want them demanding trades when they draft a rookie QB high and start a rebuild. Theres nothing stopping the Jets from drafting a QB and then loading up on the lines next year now. They have an offensive and defensive cornerstone locked up for the foreseeable future. I think Sauce is supremely overrated and I thought he quit on the team last year. He’s still very good. Letting Wilson and or Sauce walk and then drafting their replacements high in the next year or two feels very drought Billsy. This is not ideal for the Bills imo.

Eh, not sure this is really accurate. The Bills drafted an elite CB in the first round and paid him elite CB money. They have spent 2 first round picks on CBs in the last 4 drafts to replace him. McD is very good at scheming up/hiding CB2’s. I think they really like uber expensive CBs if they are elite.

A Bills team made this list. Can you guess which one? https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45730439/ranking-25-best-nfl-teams-25-years-2000-patriots-eagles-seahawks

I agree it’s not just stats. But he was ranked 1, again, by independent evaluators. And that’s because of who he is in his career. and despite his down year (in which he has an increasingly struggling supporting cast), he was excellent on third downs, and excellent in the playoffs until the Super Bowl. 3 TDs and almost 300 yards against his biggest rival in the conference championship

Thats all very true. I didn’t mean to suggest it was without nuance. I only used Gabe as a comparison as where the TOs were coming from. ultimately, “forcing” the ball to Diggs didn’t lead to many TOs.