BillsFanForever19

My God - this just gets more and more ridiculous. Douglas is our CB1. He was playing at a top PFF level amongst all CB's before his injury. Not only are you suggesting moving our CB1 to Safety to start Kaiir Elam at CB instead - you're suggesting he would then choose to sign a contract for Safety money instead of CB money? Why would he do that? He and his agent would laugh in our faces, play out his year with us, and go somewhere else and cash in as one of the top CB's on the market next season.

I think Poyer stays. He probably shouldn't, but when we're already losing Hyde and with the complexity of the position in McD's defense, I don't see us wanting to completely overhaul both Safety positions. They're going to want to keep Poyer to keep a little bit of continuity there and to help bring along the new Safety, especially if it's a Rookie.

Rapp is a Free Agent. So that would take re-signing him. Which I think is a real possibility. I don't see him breaking the bank and he falls in line with the type of player we can afford, given the amount of money we'll have when we dig ourselves out of 43.6m over the cap, and the amount of holes we have to fill. Plus, he has a year under McDermott's system already and at times it felt like we were in better shape with Poyer and Rapp then we were with Poyer and Hyde last year. Taron, like Douglas and Benford, isn't even a remote consideration to be moved. You don't take an All Pro at one position and move them to another. I'm honestly surprised it's even as close as 62-31 in favor of getting a True Safety over moving someone. No one is going to be moved. We'll draft someone to replace Hyde or sign a true Safety in FA. Cornerbacks don't get moved to Safety unless they're an aging absolute elite CB with the skills to translate like a Patrick Peterson or Troy Vincent, to extend their career. Or a CB who's played Safety before and was Drafted for versatility. You don't take young (especially young and performing well) CB's and just switch them to Safety. That's not how it works and that's 1000% not going to happen here.

Incorrect. Simply being McDermott's first Draft pick and being liked are not reasons to keep a guy in the situation we're in. This is a business. It will be emotional to do it, but you have to. Business comes before personal. If we were in a better position financially or roster wise, maybe we could do a bit of a paycut and risk losing some money. But not only do we not have the money, we need money AND we're in a bad spot roster wise at a lot of different positions. But we are set at CB. So much so that you're pontificating moving someone to Safety. That's not how it's going to work. The guy with the out in his contract is moved out and we use that money this year and next year to get starters, like Safety, where we have holes. As for the restructure, you can only restructure so much. Short of ripping up his contract completely, we can't afford to pay him even half of what he's owed. Logically, it doesn't even make sense. For the uncertainty he provides and when his role on the team, given that uncertainty, is simply a reserve. Others have restructured, but not to the extent that it would take for him staying to feasibly work. White is an unknown commodity at this point. A player who never truly returned to form after the ACL, is now coming off an Achilles tear, and will be almost 30 - having played only 10 games in 2 calendar years by the time he returns. Someone who would have to sign a prove it deal, if he were on the market. The difference between what his contract is now and what his contract should be is too big of a gap for a simple restructure. And the kind of pay cut that would make any sense would be a slap in the face. In the position we're in, we can't afford to be emotional. Part of being a GM is making the difficult decisions. Emotionally, it's tough. But when it comes to business, which this is, we don't have a choice. Everyone who's reviewed our cap situation and come up with what we need to do has Tre White being released. The only one's who say he should stay are fans like yourself who don't want to see him go because of warm fuzzies. That's not how the NFL works. Teammates, coaches, fans, and management loved Jerry Hughes too. Micah Hyde was McDermott's first big signing and has been here just as long as Tre. He won't be here either. Tough decisions just have to be made sometimes.

I let other people say we're the best fans. I'd say we're a little biased to comment on ourselves 😆

He was absolutely considered a bust before he signed with the Rams. The Bears flat out released him before he signed on with the Rams. I was saying that he was considered a bust before going to the Rams - not now. And after the Rams, I think there was some thought that his success there had more to do with Aaron Donald taking so much attention away from him. That led to teams not being as hot on him and him coming here on a 1 year deal to prove it wasn't just being next to Donald. He did fall off a bit down the stretch, but he was banged up. But for the majority of the season on a new team, he did look just as good here as he did in LA. On the other hand, much like last season, it's a pretty deep class for Pass Rushers in FA. So he may once again find himself with a smaller market than he hopes for.

I just don't see how a paycut would happen that would make sense for us and White would be okay with. I mean he'd pretty much have to rip up his contract and be paid like a reserve for it to make any sense. If White were a FA, he'd be only offered incentive laden prove it deals. He never fully returned to form following the ACL. He had one game where he looked to be close to his old self. Then the Achilles happened. That's two back to back injuries that causes players to lose a step. And he'll be almost 30 when he returns. I'm not a capologist, but I don't think there's a restructure on his massive deal that can be done that would be worth the risk and the reward. You don't want to bench an ascending young talent like Benford, who is the present and future on one side. And we didn't make the move for Douglas to bench him either. He was traded as White's replacement, in my opinion. They're our Starters going forward. Douglas will most likely get an extension this offseason. Then you still have Taron Johnson as the Nickel and Kaiir Elam, who showed something against Pittsburgh after being injured all year. Even he'll be a reserve. Our starting CB's are set and we have a solid reserve that we invested a 1st in. White is a complete and total unknown at this point and is being paid like a Top Starting CB. If you remove emotion from the equation - it's really clear. There's a reason Spotrac and capologist has releasing Tre White as one of the first things we'll do. The out in his contract is now. And we have to get out from under it now. Maybe he comes back under an incentive laden deal after he sees the market he has is just that. But we have to move on with an injury settlement and take that money and get a TRUE Safety or one of the many other positions we need a starter at. You're not risking he can't return to form and being stuck paying good money for a position we're already set at, when money is tight and we have a number of positions that aren't set. It's a no brainer. Anyone who says otherwise is just thinking too emotionally.

Disagree completely. I think the knock on him last year was he was considered a bit of a bust when he was signed by the Rams. Then he took off. But a lot of people thought it might have just been playing alongside Aaron Donald. So he literally had to sign a "prove it" deal with us. He proved it. His market will be better this year.

I mean, I did kind of touch on that in the last paragraph of the OP.

Actually, you're right. My mistake. He was like the last cut and was presumed on the 53 until it was announced. So last year was the one exception. Every other year under McDermott we kept 4.

The 5 will surely come down somehow. Whether they can move some stuff around in the contract or an out right pay cut. And we always keep 4 RB's on the 53. 2022 we had Singletary, Cook, Moss (than Hines) and Jones. 2023 we went into the season with Cook, Harris, Murray, and Johnson. We only moved to 3 when Murray went down and we needed an extra spot elsewhere.

I'd say everything from No Brainers to Painful But Possible should be done save for Hines (Beane says he'll be here and it's pretty clear a deal was struck last season that includes him being on the roster in Training Camp) and Poyer (already losing Hyde, they're not going to want to start over from square one at the Safety position). With each Hines and Poyer, hopefully we can get that number down from some sort of restructure or pay cut (at least in Hines case). This should bring us close to $50 under. Though like last season, not every extension or restructure that makes sense will be done or able to be done. But we should be in a spot to fill a lot of spots with some decent guys. Probably no one super exciting though. Going to be a lot of 1 year deals with void years. Nothing over 5-6 mil guaranteed in Year 1.

Situationally, they still will. Cook is the starter and will take the majority of the hand offs. Johnson showed better tough yardage running than Murray or Cook and will be used there and when Cook needs a breather. Hines on occasional passing downs, maybe as part of 2 RB packages or in motion in conjunction with Kick and Punt Returns. We always carry 3 RB's on Game Day. We carried 4 when Taiwan Jones was being used on Special Teams. We can carry Cook, Johnson, and Hines and maybe even 1 more with Hines doing a lot of Special Teams work.

White will have to be moved on for Cap Space. He has an out in his contract this offseason that we have to exercise. We simply cannot pay him the contract we signed him to before his ACL and Achilles injuries back to back. He's a 16.4m cap hit this season and a 16.7m cap hit next season. We can get out from under it this offseason and with the condition he's in and our cap situation, we really don't have a choice. So that leaves Douglas and Benford as our Starters. Taron in the Nickel. Elam as a backup on the outside. Dane and Cam Lewis are FA's - White and Neal will be cap casualties. We'll have to get some depth underneath Douglas, Benford, Johnson, and Elam as is. Safety will be fine. Hyde will probably retire and even if he doesn't, he won't be playing here. Poyer will probably be here another year to help bring along a Rookie in Round 2 or 3. Or we sign a guy they like who doesn't break the bank, being a Safety. The position will not "languish". It'll be fine. But one things for sure, we won't be moving a CB. Makes no sense and there's no guarantee they can even play the position or even want to anyways. Like any other position, we have a hole and we'll fill it through the Draft or FA.

We're not going to convert young Starting CB's or starting quality CB's to Safety. It's infinitely easier and cheaper to find a Safety than it is a CB.

It's not going to happen. Not at least until after the Pre-Season, if he proves to have lost a step. We could have voided his deal completely last year and been completely scot free of paying him a dime last year or this year. We didn't do it then, so why would they do it now that he's ready to come back and both Beane and he said he's coming back? I'm sure his number will drop via a paycut or some kind of restructure. But he'll be here.

We'll see. If he's the same player he was in Indianapolis and hasn't lost a step - this is absolutely incorrect.

Dime a dozen? The guy had two returns for a TD in the same game. How many times have you seen that? You can argue your opinion of his value all you want. That's not the point of the post. The point is he's not getting cut before the final cutdown. And unless he shows he's lost a step or is clearly beat out, probably won't be cut at all.

For real. No use in talking about other Head Coaches this year. Beane said he isn't changing course. McDermott said he talked to Pegula and Pegula still supports him being Coach. It ain't happening this season.

One, he hasn't been bad and is undeserving of being demoted. Two, even if that was a thing that made even a little sense to be done - you are aware that Rousseau, Von Miller, and Kingsley Jonathan are LITERALLY the only DE's we have under contract, right? We already have to re-sign or replace Leonard Floyd, AJ Epenesa, and Shaq Lawson. You want to add Rousseau to the list too?

Harty's most likely done. He's got an out in his contract, probably by design. A 1 year trial that didn't work out. Thankful for the Kick Return in the Miami game, but that alone doesn't save him. And with Hines staying, he'll be the Returner anyways (as he was supposed to be last year).

I'd doubt we'll lose Ty. He's not going to cost much of anything and he'll be motivated to stay. I don't see a huge market for an RB2/3. And I'd imagine we're still going to have a Bruiser. Last season we started the year with Cook, Harris, Murray, and Johnson on the 53. Hines will replace Murray and they'll have someone else to replace Harris's role. Probably a late round pick. As I and others have said, I'm sure that numbers going to come down somehow. But it just is what it is. He took his medicine last season, we were able to save some Cap for last year to get some help then. We take a little bit of medicine this year. He can't go back on his word and it's clear from yesterday's presser, he's not going to.

Another thing showing he's not going anywhere is Spotrac. He isn't listed as a player that has a simple Out in his contract like other players. Today they posted ways to save money. Hines was not listed among them. Which I take as them knowing it's not as simple as just cutting him and saving a full $5 million.

I think Ty Johnson will be back. He'll probably want to be back and it won't cost much for a journeyman vet RB. No one's going to make him their starter or break the bank for a 2nd or 3rd RB. Basically it will be Hines replacing Latavius Murray. If he struggles throughout Camp and the Pre-Season and shows he's lost a step, than he may not make the 53. But he'll be here at Camp regardless. Yeah, but without the deal they made with him last season - there's a player we would have missed out on then. Obviously part of that deal was he wouldn't be cut before this season and he'd be given a real chance to make the roster this year. They decided they'd rather save some money last year than this year. Just is what it is. Now he has to stick to his word or risk losing faith with players in their locker room and potential FA's down the road. And as others have said, I'd doubt he'll have that full hit. He'll probably take a pay cut or have his deal restructured in a way to save us some space.

That may or may not be true. But it doesn't change the fact that he will not be told "goodbye". And he absolutely would have made the squad last year. We wouldn't have signed Damien Harris or Latavius Murray if he were on the roster. We gave up a pick and a player for him and said before the injury he was being brought on slow in 2022 because he was just learning the playbook and that they had big plans for him. Perhaps he'll take a pay cut or there's a way they can restructure it to create space. But pre injury, he was one of the better pass catching RB's in the league and a top returner with rare speed for a RB. Those are valued traits you can't just find anywhere.