BillsFanForever19

Not neccessarily. The cost was just a 7th Round Pick. And they need to replace not only Stefon Diggs, but Tank Dell as well. This move replaces Tank Dell in the Slot. But they're still in the market to replace Stef Diggs on the Outside.

Josina Anderson's reply to Jeremy White yesterday raised my eyebrow a bit: Replying to Jeremy with "Remember folks, DK also has to have interest in whatever teams want him too" unprompted made me wonder if it was a message warning he may not want to come to Buffalo. Now with the news that he doesn't want to play in a cold weather climate, i'm pretty sure that's what she was getting at. He also said this when asked recently about going to New England: I wanted to take that as more of an all ecompassing answer about the state of that team or maybe disliking the Boston area in general. But i'm thinking it has just as much to do with it being a cold Northern area. Here's hoping the pull of playing with MVP Josh and a perennial contender makes him re-think this. Or that the price tag drops to a point where even acquiring him without knowing if you'll have him for more than 1 season is still worth it. But yeah, this is a real sobering realization that takes me from thinking it's a real possibility to unlikely

Yeah, I know how you like to read things... I'm just saying, it makes no sense to say it means something for the Bills that Josina Anderson is replying to a Bills reporter - but at the same time, Josina Anderson's actual message to said Bills reporter doesn't mean anything to the Bills. I prefer to think her replying to Jeremy didn't mean anything more than she saw a post she made Quote Tweeted by a media member with a lot of responses and just decided to reply to it - with no other meaning than that. If the former, then she's warning Jeremy that he may not want to come to Buffalo, NY. If the latter, then it's just a generalized statement that has no negative barring on us possibly acquiring him.

I'd rather not read into anything that. Bc if I were, I'd be taking her saying "Remember folks, DK has to have interest in whatever team wants him too. 2 way street.", unprompted to the conversation to a Bills reporter as not a good thing.

That 49% in 2021 came from Arizona. Even in his last year there, he was a 50/50 tweener. It wasn't just Jacksonville moving him there. He's at best, a tweener. And at this point in his career, it's a gamble to try and move him back. A guy who's only years as a primarily Outside guy were in the range of 640 yards a season, 5-8 years ago before injuries doesn't exactly instill "proven" and "good" to me as a perimeter guy. Maybe 43% of his snaps over the length of his entire career. That's not what you typed. And that is heavily swayed by the snaps he took 5-7 years ago, when he wasn't wowing anyone. The last 4 seasons are not that and the last two are REALLY not that. I go by the stats guys and not some random reporter from Penn Live - https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/christian-kirk/ Like I said - this is the Curtis Samuel situation to a T. Don't take Slot guys for Perimeter positions or Perimeter guys for Slot positions. I don't care what they did a half decade ago to a half decade plus. There's a reason those guys are there. And in Kirk's case, he wasn't a stud from the Perimeter at any point. Our Slot is more than covered with Shakir, Kincaid, and Samuel. If we're moving on from one of them, okay, look into a tweener. But right now we need primarily Outside guys to replace Cooper and/or Hollins. Kirk is not that.

The exact same thing was said to a T about Curtis Samuel last season. He was even listed as starting on the perimeter on the Depth Chart. And guess what? He still played nearly half (42%) from the Slot for us last season. Nope - https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/christian-kirk/ 2024 - 76.8% from the Slot 2023 - 67.4% from the Slot 2022 - 52.0 % from the Slot 2021 - 49.0% from the Slot That's 38.7% on the Perimeter for the last 4 years, including his last year in Arizona. You don't take a guy who's been on the Outside 28% over the past two seasons and 38.7 % over the past 4 and make them a full time Outside guy. As we learned with Samuel, most players who move to the Slot - do so for a reason. Unless you're moving on from Kincaid, I don't see the need for another Samuel tweener. And saying "well, he did it 5-8 seasons ago" is a gamble. Especially when he didn't blow up until he moved to the Slot. His average over those 3 years on the perimiter was 640 yards a season. With his highest yardage total being 709 yards. He was moved to the Slot bc, like Samuel, that's where he's most effective. And it's not like Jacksonville moved him to the Slot. Arizona moved him there before he left too. He hasn't exactly "proven" the perimeter is where he belongs.

He has a 12m Dead Cap Hit this season. We're stuck with him.

This is missing the point and absolutely incorrect. Will James Cook get Saquon Barkley's 21m annual contract? Absolutely not. But what it does do is take the 15m he was asking for from 'out to lunch' to 'justified'. Saquon Barkley is clearly the better player. But James Cook is not 9-11m less of a player. Saquon Barkley's contract set fire to any hopes that a middle ground could be reached between Cook's asking price and the Bills brass. That 10-12 number that represented a lot of Bills fans tippy top price they'd be willing to pay has gone from a tough pill to swallow to an underpay he definitely wouldn't agree to now. That's where the "reset" comes into play.

And now we just have to find a starting CB, a starting 1T DT (to replace Daquan Jones), and a starting Safety (if they aren't comfortbale with Bishop), amongst other important rotational and depth pieces - while having little to no cap space and no pick before basically Round 3. Not to mention the hits both those players will be in Year 2 of their deals when the bigger money starts, greatly compounding our cap space while Christian Benford, Greg Rousseau, Terrel Bernard, James Cook, Connor McGovern, and David Edwards all become Free Agents. And again, we would have no pick before Round 3 to replace anyone with. I could see DK Metcalf happening. I could see Myles Garrett happening. But I cannot see DK Metcalf and Myles Garrett happening.

No one that anyone should pay attention to or post about. His source, like most Twitter nobodies that aren't a legitimate NFL media person: "Trust me bro". Twitter is filled with nobidies who predict moves they think will happen ahead of time and post that it's happening, in hopes that it actually happens, so that people think they're actual sources. If it isn't from an actual reporter, it's bullsh-t.

No one is offering a 2nd for a Running Back on a 1 year deal who they'll have to pay $15m a year for. Running Backs don't get much in terms of trade value. Players on the last year of their contract don't get much in terms of trade value. And players who will cost a substantial amount for their position to retain take a hit in trade value, as well. With Cook checking the box for all of those things, I don't see us getting much more than a 4th for him. A 3rd if we're really lucky.

That's a fair theory. But it goes beyond just not extending players like Singletary and Moss. We've also never signed a Running Back in Free Agency to anything substantial. And he's constantly Drafting guys in mid Rounds to be a potential successor. My take on Cook has gone like this: after seeing him the past couple years, I changed my viewpoint from never pay a Running Back to give Cook a 2nd contract in an 8-10m range. Then he came out and said he wanted 15m. I said to myself "no way - but maybe if they can get him to come down to 10-12m, i'd be okay with it but conflicted". Then Barkley signed his deal at 21m annually, effectively destroying any hope that he'd come down from 15m. And with everything we have to do this year, which will include "kicking the can" into other years, we simply cannot take 15m out of that cookie jar in the following years for a Running Back.

This was obviously coming ever since Pete Carroll took over as Head Coach and Crosby started praising the Raiders organization. People kept talking about him as a Trade option and I kept saying that ship has sailed.

"Only" That word got me thinking. And after Higgins being tagged - he might be right. Adams (who I don't think is a fit from either side) would be the only other game changing perimeter WR I can think of, but I don't think he's in his "prime" right now. To me, Metcalf would be the top priority. You can still go out and sign a Josh Sweat or short term upgrades like Khalil Mack or Joey Bosa at DE and keep your 1st, as well as save cap on the contract Garrett would cost vs. Metcalf (especially after the deal Crosby just got).

He's a Slot. We just re-uppsd Shakir. Not seeing the fit - unless you're moving on from Kincaid and giving Kirk his slot reps. Which I don't see Beane doing.

You don't think Saquon Barkley resetting the Running Back market at 21m annually has any effect on James Cook coming down from 15? You're fooling yourself. He's a lesser player for sure, but not 9-10m less.

Yeah, what a POS 🙄

I'd call him and I'd definitely be happy to add him. But I don't see him as a fit. It seems his wants are to play on the West Coast and/or play with Aaron Rodgers again. He also doesn't seem like the kind of guy Beane would want, given his sideline antics in Las Vegas when he wanted out. He's also trashed the Buffalo fan base in the past. Given all of that, I'd be shocked if he ended up a Bill. But i'd be here for it. Considering he is coming off a 28m annual contract and before that a 20m annual contract - absolutely not. He's not getting either of those, but he's not going all the way down to 8m.

Cook is happy and excited bc he knows what it means for him. Any hope that we could meet halfway between what we want to pay and his asking price of 15m per just went flying out the window. Honestly, I think it's way more likely that he asks for more than 15 now than it is he comes down from it.

If we traded for Metcalf - we absolutely wouldn't be re-signing Cooper. Metcalf would be taking his spot on the roster. As for the other Free Agents, honestly the only other ones I'd want to see brought back are Mack Hollins and Ty Johnson. Pretty much everyone else on the list can be replaced with Day 3 Draft Picks, vet minimum players, or even UDFA's: WR Amari Cooper CB Rasul Douglas FS Damar Hamlin WR Mack Hollins RB Ty Johnson FB Reggie Gilliam DE Dawuane Smoot TE Quintin Morris DT Austin Johnson LS Reid Ferguson DT Quinton Jefferson DT Jordan Phillips To your point though, yes, we'd have to still find a Starting CB. And even though he's not a FA, we need to replace Daquan Jones as our 1T DT. And if we're doing two massive moves that would require not only a large amount of cap but also Top Draft Picks to require them - I don't know how you address those spots adequately.

You think bc Stefon Diggs went nuclear that means he'll never again make a move for a quality WR? He traded for Diggs knowing he was a bit of a head case. The risk was worth the potential reward and we got multiple VERY good years out of him. Metcalf (to the point) hasn't shown to be a headache. I don't see the correlation. I'll say to your point - I don't see a DK Metcalf and a Myles Garrett in the same offseason. There's far too many other holes we need to fill (namely starting CB and 1T) and players we'll need to retain in the coming years to dedicate two massive contracts that also require premier Draft Picks in compensation. But a Garrett OR a Metcalf? I don't think getting 1 of them is unrealistic. But it would require a lot to win the sweepstakes and get them on the books.

Did you read my post? I never said we shouldn't improve the Defense. That's obvious. My point was - an improved Defense alone wouldn't have overcome the Eagles in the Super Bowl, even if we had gotten past the Chiefs. There's this idea that the Defense for Philly alone won that Super Bowl. That's not the game I watched. The Defense playing as they did, combined with the Offense scoring at will and putting the game out of reach early was what won that game. Them being able to pile it on made KC one dimensional and allowed the Defense to tee off and continue to impose their will. Our Offense sputtered when it mattered in the Playoffs. If not for James Cook against Baltimore (and them making a bunch of mistakes) and the Chiefs - we'd have been nowhere. And against the Eagles Defense in that Super Bowl game? It would have went much, much worse. We cannot roll back Shakir, Coleman, Hollins, Samuel, Kincaid, and Knox and just hope guys are better this year when we have to get points. An improved Defense alone may or may not have gotten us past the Chiefs, as they seem to have the answer for McDermott's Defensive Scheme and he refuses (or doesn't have the personnel) to run the kind of physical man coverage D that Philly ran. But against Philly's D that you saw? With the firepower we had (or lack thereof) we'd have been dead in the water. We couldn't even get the points when we needed it against KC's D - which Philly's superpowered Offense manhandled. You want a title? Of course, we need to improve our Defense. But we also need guys we can rely on to get open on a regular basis and not drop the ball. Josh won the MVP bc he did what he did with the cast he had. That will get you an MVP, but it's not getting you a Lombardi. If he had more (and yes, an improved Defense), he'd have more hardware than that.

So Metcalf replaces Cooper and Garrett replaces Epenesa in the starting lineup (effectively making Epenesa the replacement for Miller). Say they make that work and this regime is cool with Cole Bishop replacing Damar Hamlin as Starting Safety. We still need to find a starting CB opposite Christian Benford and a starting 1T to replace Daquan Jones, who is absolutely, positively toast. Not to mention smaller integral re-signings like Mack Hollins and Ty Johnson (who might not be as small as we'd like). We'd need to do all of that with little to no cap after those two moves and no pick greater than basically a 3rd Round Pick.

Cap hell? Even after tagging Higgins, they're 43.9m under the cap. Tagging him again doesn't necessarily mean they're signing him long term. They may just keep him for another year or even Trade him. But they're so far under the cap this season, it's not something they have to worry about right now.

Which got us to a point. But when we needed those nobodies to step up against Kansas City when it counted, they let us down. Without James Cook going off in the 2nd half - we wouldn't have even had the chance to have Dalton Kincaid drop the ball with the game on the line. And if we had the Defense to get past them, we'd still have needed to go toe to toe with Philadelphia - who were steamrolling on BOTH sides of the ball. This idea that if we improve the Defense alone we're winning a Lombardi - I don't agree with it. We need to upgrade the weaponry just as much. That and getting both teams who don't appear eager to trade either to trade both. And win the sweepstakes of trading for both, against all other suitors. Which I don't agree would leave us with a 2nd. Unless the Browns decided they're not trading Garrett until after June 1st. Which would open up a whole 'nother ball of complications. All in all, seems like a pipe dream to me. A nice dream though.