BillsFanForever19

I was referring to your leap of not only is he in based on the little people are excited about to somehow it definitively means he's not only in, but also amendable to his contract being played with. Based off the "smoke" that everyone is running away with as definitive proof. As for it being a colossal failure, I don't agree. We may not even be in on this because Beane has determined he just can't afford the contract. If you want to argue that it's a colossal failure that we're in the situation where we can't afford it, that's fine. Man, I wish I had stock in the word "smoke". Chandler Jones was given the same amount of credence as a possibility through interest by Aaron Wilson level reporters. The only difference between the two is a cryptic IG video that was deleted and may have just been a random song choice by Hopkins and players following each other on IG. Again, I get the interest and excitement. But people really need to put into context what real "smoke" is. Aaron Rodgers and the Jets - now that's smoke.

It has nothing to do with hating the Bills or their fans - it's just business. And it's not so different than Free Agency. He wants a deal done and to know his next team. And if he thinks a team is dragging their feet on a deal - it makes all the sense in the world that he might put out some smoke that he'd go elsewhere to get them to get motivated to pull the trigger.

You're basically saying him posting a cryptic video, following Josh, and some low level reporters posting they're in confirms not only that we're definitely in but he's definitely agreeable to whatever we want to do with his contract. Bit of a leap. I'm not saying don't get excited or don't be hopeful. But right now if you're someone who's telling yourself that everything is confirmed, this is definitely happening, and everything's going to happen according to plan right now without a hiccup - you've worked yourself up to an unreasonable level right now.

Well, until we get confirmed reports he flew into Buffalo, spent a weekend with the coaches, and he goes on a talk show saying he wants to be a Bill and is just waiting for the deal to be done - I don't think the situations are remotely comparable. If we're months into wondering when DHop is coming based off just the stuff in the past 24 hours - that would be embarrassing for everyone involved.

I don't think the level of reporters who have said we're in constitutes as "factual" evidence that we are. The most credible is a Houston Texans beat reporter with 95k followers. Other than that it's been Pac-Man Jones' "sources" saying "this is what I think", NFLDraftDiamonds, and likewise "reporters" with very little clout. I see the connections and why people are getting excited. I see things that are interesting. And I'm not trying to say there's no reason to be this way. But until we either see the trade materialize, a Bills reporter confirming we're in the hunt, or someone like Schefter or Rappaport - I'd still be on the lookout for a refutal from the team. Which, if you've noticed, I mentioned interestingly hasn't come yet.

I find it interesting that there hasn't been a refute report. Often times when something gains some traction in the media that gets fans hyped up, we'll see one of our beat reporters say that the team has confirmed to them nothing is happening. I've been kind of waiting for that report to drop. But it hasn't.

He's already said he isn't expecting 20. And if Mecole Hardman only got 6.5, he's eventually going to have to settle for a lot less than he wants or simply not play. He's not getting a high price.

Except Elijah Moore had two years left on his deal. Gabe only has one. And even Moore with his two years wasn't much of a return. They got a 2nd in exchange for Moore and a 3rd. The return for Gabe wouldn't be worth not having him as the first outside WR off the bench when Diggs and Hopkins each need a breather or either get banged up. One of the things that killed us last season was a lack of depth at WR, specifically on the outside. If we were to get the deal done - we'd have Diggs, Hopkins, Davis, Harty, Sherfield, and Shakir as our 6 guys. We'd finally have depth at the position and coverage if someone were to get nicked up. And let's face it, odds are someone will. Would be nice to not be turning to someone like Jake Kumerow as first outside guy off the bench, bringing people up from Practice Squads, or having to bring in the John Brown's and Cole Beasley's of the world - like we did last season. So let me get this straight - Arizona gets: Gabe Davis (on a one year deal) Dane Jackson (on a one year deal) Round 2 - Pick 59 Round 4 - Pick 130 Buffalo gets: DeAndre Hopkins (on a 2 year deal) Round 2 - Pick 34 Round 3 - Pick 66 ... why exactly would Arizona do that?

Diggs can be utilized in the slot, but he's not moving to the slot full time. The post I was referring to said he didn't see Davis' role changing much and Diggs would be moved inside. That would never happen. Occasional packages, sure. But we're not putting him in the middle of the field to get hit by Linebackers on the regular. Nor would Diggs be open to being just a slot guy.

There's zero chance Diggs is moving to the slot full time. Maybe a play here or there he'd move inside with Hopkins and Davis on the outside. But it would be Diggs on one side, Hopkins on the other, and Harty in the slot. Davis would sub in and out for Hopkins and Diggs on the outside, keeping all 3 fresh.

Read into whatever you'd like. I'm not saying that it's not going to happen. But when people are referencing "all this smoke", it's important to put into context what it is. It's not exactly a Schefter or Rappaport report saying we've been talking to the Cardinals or anything. Just fans reading into things and getting excited over things that may or may not even mean anything.

Look, I'd love it. But let's look at the "smoke": - DHop and Josh Allen followed each other: Players follow each other all the time. More often than not, it's nothing but that. - DHop posted a video of himself set to Buffalo Soldier: Could just be a big Bob Marley fan and it means nothing more than that. Just a coincidence he and Josh followed each other at the same time he decided to caption a video with a Marley song. His deleting it could have been him saying "oh, people are reading more into it than that". It's fun to read into things. But that's all that's happening right now. There's been no real smoke beyond us working ourselves up.

That's a whole lot easier said than done. I know it drops from 31 to 19.45 for the trading team. I imagine that already means they're eating some. Don't know how willing they'd be to take on more dead cap space. Asking them to give him to us and pay for him would cost us more in compensation.

Apparently by adding 3 void years, we can drop it to just under 5 this season. But I don't know what our situation is in 25, 26, and 27 and what it would add to those years.

Tre isn't going anywhere. We can't save cap by releasing him. Actually costs us 6 million more to cut him than it does for him to be here.

Not exactly breaking news.

Ground up and in the freezer

I've been adamant that I don't see a way this move is possible. I still think this is probably a matter of Hopkins trying to put out smoke to get things moving with another team. But if it is real and there is a way to do it, I'd be thrilled to be wrong. As I was with Damien Harris' contract.

Not sure where you're seeing we're under the cap next year. First off - here's the breakdown. On the bottom of the page you'll see, we're 18 million over. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/2024/ Brandon Beane even mentioned that we're in the same situation next year in one of his press conferences when talking about how up against the cap we are this year.

With him, yes. Unless they're trading for Mike Evans, they're failing the Offseason.

I'd love it too. But Mecole Hardman represents the most we could do. And I don't think even Hardman is likely. It would take him asking for too much and finding himself without a suitor deep into FA and willing to take less to play with a contender to try to improve his stock next season. Hopkins is even less likely than him. We're 18+ million over the cap next season with Ed Oliver, Gabe Davis, Micah Hyde, Daquan Jones, Tyler Bass, and Tim Settle (amongst many other depth players and 1 year signings from this year) as Free Agents. As Beane said in his presser, he went all in getting Von last year and now can't afford to put himself in the hole further. On top of getting deeper into the hole, we'd also have to give up picks that we need to keep to replace people, given our cap situation.

We have maybe 7 million dollars of the 43.5 we were able to pull together, when we were already 18.5 over. We have more holes to fill and draft picks to sign. This concept of "I don't care, just get it done" is childish. The cap can be finessed, but it DOES exist. And he's already finessed it quite a bit just to stay afloat. We went all in last year. We can't do that this year. We're 18+ million over the cap next year already for pushing things down the road all the time. His cap hit moves from 31 to 19.45. Simply can't afford that. Even if we did move things around further from there (which i'm not sure we can), we still can't afford it. And they're going to pay for it? How much compensation would that cost for them to give us Hopkins and pay for him? More than anyone would pay for a 30 year old WR. WR will be addressed somehow. Whether it's a gamble on someone coming off an injury like OBJ, someone looking to rebuild their value like Allen Robinson, getting lucky that someone overplayed their hand in FA like Mecole Hardman, and/or more likely than all of that a 1st or 2nd Round Draft pick. But DeAndre Hopkins is a pipedream. Simple as that. If you're expecting or even hoping for that, you're misguided and setting yourself up for surefire anger and/or disappointment.

The point is - that bill comes due. It appears there's more in 2026, 2 years after he's gone that they'll still be paying for. And if we're talking about Hopkins v. Cooks, we're talking about a 12 million cap hit that can be restructured to 4 v. a 31 million cap hit that becomes 19.45.