BillsFanForever19

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.

He'll also carry a $4m dollar cap hit and a $4m dead cap hit in 2025, even though he won't be on the team. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/brandin-cooks-14429/

Maybe if we had the cap space, he would have been. But giving up on a guy they spent a Day 2 pick on, after a promising rookie season, followed by a sophomore season with a heavy asterisk, when you can't afford to in the first place doesn't make sense. Lots of fans looked at the situation we were in and said "I don't care, figure it out". And he did. He found 43.5 to get out from under 18.5. But we still had 24 bodies to re-sign or replace with that money. Expensive splashes weren't in the cards.

I've been saying all along that we're going to sign a David Quessenberry level OT, or simply bring back Quessenberry himself, and Draft an OT in the mid rounds. Have a competition between the 3. One would start, one would be a Swing Tackle, and one would replace Tommy Doyle. If you listened to Beane at all, he was never going to outright replace Spencer Brown. He's consistently said he feels him having to have back surgery in the Offseason, not having a Training Camp, and being nicked up throughout the season was the cause of him underperforming. And there may be some merit in that. Beane's covering his bases in the event Brown does become a long term issue. But he was never giving up on him. People who were expecting that were fooling themselves. There was never going to be an Orlando Brown level signing to outright replace him.

I think doing a wishlist without regard to cap is kind of a silly venture. I mean, if there's no regard to cap why not trade for a Madden team? I'd much rather do this with regard to cap. WR: - Odell Beckham Jr. (Yes, his knees are a gamble. But his market is at an all time low. If it doesn't work, we won't have paid him near what he'd make otherwise, so it's worth the gamble on a 1 year deal) - Mecole Hardman (Probably not doable, but I'd love him on a 1 year under market deal if his options have dried up or he overplayed his hand) - Allen Robinson (Seems like a Beane signing. A guy who needs to rebuild his brand, can be had for a bargain, and could easily outperform what he's paid) MLB: - Bobby Wagner (Yes, he's getting long in the tooth. Yes, he showed to be a little bit of a liability in coverage. But Milano is an ace coverage LB and we have DB's all over the field. Sign him up, draft a guy in the mid rounds, and game plan accordingly while he mentors Bernard and a Rookie for next year) - Anthony Walker Jr. (Coming off a torn quad last season, he's 27 and has started the majority of the games he's played since coming in to the league in 2017) - Myles Jack (Signed a big deal with Pittsburgh last season, but was injured throughout the year and released. If he can stay healthy, he could be had at a bargain and could provide something for a year while Bernard and a mid round Rookie gain experience) DE: - Shaq Lawson (Appears as though he can only perform at a decent level with us. So he should come back at a decent price for us as teams have noticed he underperforms anywhere else. Von should be ready near the start of the year. But we don't want to have to rely solely on Epenesa and Basham opposite Groot if he can't)

"Start" when it comes to RB on most teams in the NFL, especially the Bills, is an old school thought. We are a committee. Now we have two guys who do different things. The majority of the carries on any given game between Cook and Harris will come down to game plan. And as far as last year and Singletary goes, it had way more to do with McDermott's way of playing Rookies and easing them in. Which, in my opinion, is a little too conservative.

Nope. It's still there if you want to laugh and/or praise the genius that is Brandon Beane. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/damien-harris-29123/market-value/ Again, I was clearly wrong. And I'm thrilled to have been wrong. I didn't see any way we'd get him for half of Alexander Mattison, less than half of Devin Singletary, and even cheaper than Travis Homer and Justice Hill. But here we are!

Well sh-t. I am absolutely thrilled to have been wrong. What an absolute steal!

Good info to have. But even at 19.5 this year and 15 next year, we can't afford that. At most, we were able to get 25 million under the cap with some heavy finessing. Probably have 7 million left right now (with Draft Picks still left to pay for) after the Harris, Sherfield, and Quessenberry signings. We can do some more finessing. Though it's hard to see where anymore. Maybe extensions for DaQuan Jones and/or Ed Oliver? Releasing Siran Neal. But 19.5 plus compensation on one player? No way. Gabe Davis had a down year that Beane attributes to injury. But they aren't about to guarantee that he's gone next season before the year starts by putting themselves in a situation where it would be it would be impossible to bring him back. Beane himself talked up bringing him back already in his last presser. It'll be a move for OBJ at a bargain bc of the risk, an outside chance at a trade for a manageable Jeudy (and even that feels unlikely to me), at most a 1 year deal for around 9 for Mecole Hardman (also unlikely to me), maybe a manageable prove it deal for a guy looking to rebuild his brand in Allen Robinson, or a high Draft pick. But this Hopkins (and Mike Evans) talk is absolute nonsense. This guy was advocating trading Matt Milano to get Mike Evans or DeAndre Hopkins, so yeah, he's pretty much muted to me at this point.

OBJ can be done. Jerry Jeudy depending on the trade could theoretically be done with him still being under his rookie deal. DeAndre Hopkins is not happening. He only has this year and next year left on his deal. He has a 31 million dollar cap hit this season and a 27 million dollar cap hit next season. There's no restructure that can be done that will make him work with our cap this year or next (where we're also 18+ million over). He's not ripping up that deal to sign a new one that isn't a monster. Even if we could afford it, which we can't, there's no way Beane is going to pay Diggs what we're paying him and then turn around and pay Nuke's asking price.

Are you seriously calling Damien Harris a dumpster dive acquisition? C'mon.

He already signed with the Giants.

This is where I stopped reading.

5 posts above this one I posted the list of RB's who have been signed since FA opened from 2 million and up. No way we paid 7.1. But it's definitely going to be closer to 4-5 in my opinion. I don't see it being lower than 3. Keep in mind Devin Singletary signed for 3.75 just today. I don't see him getting less than that and definitely not more than a million less.

It's really not that late in Free Agency. We're less than a week since it officially opened. We're not near the late stages yet. Here's the list of RB's that have signed for 2 million or more over the past week (per year): Miles Sanders - $6.25m David Montgomery - $6m Jamaal Williams - $4m James Robinson - $4m Samaje Perine - $3.75m Devin Singletary - $3.75m (today) Alexander Mattison - $3.5m Jeff Wilson - $3m D'Onta Foreman - $3m Raheem Mostert - $2.8m Justice Hill - $2.25m Travis Homer - $2m Boston Scott - $2m As much as I'd love it if we got Harris for peanuts, there is zero chance he's getting less than Justice Hill, Travis Homer, and Boston Scott. We should be praising Beane if he could get it done somewhere between 3-4m.

They were never going to be in on a top end high priced RT to outright replace Spencer Brown. Beane has made it clear time and again that he feels back surgery, a lack of an offseason, and being nicked up during the season were the reason for him not looking well last season. I'm sure we'll either draft a guy in Rounds 2-4 and/or sign a mid level guy like George Fant or even re-sign David Quessenberry to compete with him and be the Swing Tackle if Brown beats him out. But he was never going to outright replace him. As far as Guard goes, they identified their man to replace Rodger Saffold quickly in Connor McGovern. Dawkins and Morse weren't being replaced. As mentioned, Brown is going to get competition. That just leaves Ryan Bates. Much like Spencer Brown, I don't think Beane is interested in outright replacing him. I think Bates and McGovern sharing a line and playing off each other at Penn State was part of the reason McGovern was brought in. So once again, when it comes to Guard, I'd expect another low to mid level signing and/or a mid round draft pick for competition/depth.

I agree that 7.1 is too high and he's not getting that. But Spotrac's been pretty close with most RB numbers this year. About a million too high on the other top end RB's. I'm willing to bet they're a couple million too high on Harris. But even if you think 5 is too high, you're absolutely just wanting to trash this move if you're going to be unhappy if it comes in over $1.75m. You're nuts if you think we're getting him for less than half of what Devin Singletary got on the same day.

It's not just this board. He was consistently ranked among the top FA RB's available after the Franchise tags to Barkley, Jacobs, and Pollard: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2023-nfl-free-agent-running-backs-ranking-top-10-rbs-available-including-saquon-barkley-miles-sanders/ Spotrac listed his estimated market value at 7.1 annually, just behind Miles Sanders (estimated at 7.2, received 6.25) and David Montgomery (estimated 7.2, received 6): https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/damien-harris-29123/market-value/

Hopkins isn't a thing. It's a pipedream. He has only this year and next year on his deal. A 36 million dollar cap hit this season and a 23 million dollar cap hit next year. There is no way to restructure him to where we could afford it. Even if we could do a new deal for him, there's no way Beane would carry both Diggs and Hopkins contract at the same time. We're 18+ million over the cap next season also. A gamble on an less than market value deal with OBJ, sure. Hopkins cannot be done. Nope. He's not coming in under Motor. Especially if his agent agreed to the deal after seeing what Motor got.

Hines took a restructure to lower his cap hit and stay with the team. He's not going anywhere.

Again, not going to happen. His estimated market value was on par with Miles Sanders and David Montgomery as the highest in FA. If Singletary got 3.75 - I'd be shocked if Harris came under 5.

I wouldn't be quick to say he got Harris on a "low salary" until the numbers come in. He was up there with Miles Sanders and David Montgomery as the RB's with the highest market value going into FA. I'd be surprised if he comes in under 5.5 annually.

Thank you! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills listening to people say he's "jag", saying it's a bad move if he came for more than 2 million, or paying him more than Singletary is a "bad tradeoff".

It will be and it should be. Harris is a different RB than Singletary and better at what he does than Singletary is at what he does. With Cook and Hines, we needed a bruiser. And one that has proved he can do it. This is an upgrade, not a bad tradeoff.

People seem to not remember how hard he crushed us on the ground in that game. He's a beast. Extremely powerful runner. There's a reason he was considered one of the top RB's available in FA. Definitely more than "just a guy". And the perfect compliment to James Cook and Nyheim Hines.