BillsFanForever19

It goes to show how respected league wide Brandon Beane is. Assistants of his are consistently looked at for GM jobs.

We fired Ken Dorsey when we were 6-6. Since then, with Joe Brady as our OC, we've gone 5-0 and just took the Division and secured the 2 seed. Really odd time to be talking about replacing him.

NSFW:

I think it's too late now. If we wanted to do that, the time to try was a couple weeks ago. Offensive Line is a different situation where you're playing as one unit off of each other. You don't experiment with switching guys around there in the Playoffs.

He's DK1 now.

This would require the entire team not looking at their phones, every players family and friends knowing of the gag order, literally encountering no one at the stadium or hotel (as I'm sure someone is going to say "congratulations on making the playoffs"), not interacting with any fans pre-game, avoiding being within earshot of fans, and not interacting with the Dolphins at all (as there is often friendly interactions during the game, as evidenced by mic'd up replays). Long story short, no, it isn't possible.

If we're playing the "in a different world" card, I'd prefer to imagine the one where we have the 1 seed locked up and tonight means nothing.

In Miami, someone asking you if you "want to party" means something a little different.

OP updated with Free Agent list

No, I think there's no way Johnson is inactive with the way he's been performing compared to how Murray has been the past couple weeks. Murray hasn't been getting the tough yards that he was getting earlier in the season. His pass blocking hasn't been as good and his hands have become suspect. While he's the lead pusher for Josh, that's about all he's been bringing the past couple weeks. Articles have been written that Murray should sit and it's pretty clear that's what's happening here.

People keep pointing to the overall savings on Tre White this year and neglect to take into account - he also has a 16.7m cap hit in 2025 that would come off the books. And this is the Offseason to get out from under that as well. We can't be on the hook for that number next season in the condition he's in. Even minimal savings this year while getting out of next year's massive number is something that pretty much has to be done.

Interesting. I went off Spotrac and while they list outs for all of the players I listed, they did not list an out for Hines. I think that's a no brainer if there is one in his deal. As is most of the options to get out from under, save for McGovern and Bates. But then again.... as @Beck Water so eloquently put it: So probably not. That makes a LOT of sense.

And that's where it gets tricky. How do you quantify in dollars the estimation of the type of player he will be when he returns? It's a complete unknown. As I said earlier, when he returns, he'll have played a total of 10 games the last 3 years. He'll be coming off not 1, but 2 injuries that cause a player to lose a step and will be closer to 30 than 29 on top of that. Even if he didn't take those step losing injuries, he may have just naturally lost a step bc of age. Honestly, if he were on the market, all he'd be offered is incentive laden prove it deals because at this point, you just don't know what you have. I love Tre and appreciate his past contributions. But when you take everything I said, combine it with our cap situation, the fact that we replaced him already, and that we have an out to free ourselves of his cap hit this year and next year built into his contract for this offseason - fans really need to remove emotions from the equation. It's a really obvious, albeit rough, business decision.

He WAS the best CB on this roster. But it will be almost 3 years and two serious injuries between then and Week 1 of the 2024 season. After his injury in November of 2021 and before his Achilles tear earlier this season, he didn't return to that same form. He looked better this year than he did last and made some progress, but he wasn't the same shutdown Top 5 CB. And now after the Achilles and the way Douglas is playing - that declaration or projection is, at the very least, highly suspect.

Over Benford? Yes. Over Douglas though, it depends. Healthy how? Like before the Achilles or before the ACL? Before the ACL, absolutely. He was a top 5-10 CB in the league. After the ACL though - he never returned fully to form. He looked better this season than he did when he came back last year. But he had yet to return to the same player he was before the Achilles happened. Douglas right now is performing better than he has since the ACL happened. And post Achilles, he's not going to be starting over either. I'm not going to say it's impossible, it's just HIGHLY unlikely what you're saying is true. He never returned to 100% form after the ACL tear before he tore his Achilles. It occured in November of 2021 and when September 2024 comes around, he'll have played a grand total of 10 games in that almost 3 years. He's missed a LOT of NFL football, will be 29 years old, and is coming off not one, but two injuries that cause players to lose a step. All the while, he's on a contract that pays him as one of the top CB's in the NFL, that has an out after this season, and we're in cap hell. We've also replaced him on the roster with someone who is playing incredibly well and will be here next season. And a young, in their prime long term starter with a clean bill of health on the other side of him. It's a massive question mark as to whether or not he can even be a semblance of the same player. And we're paying him as if he is the same guy. If we were in a better spot financially, I'd say *maybe* we could try and be patient with him for his past contributions to the team. But we're not and that tough business decision is more of a no brainer because of it. Especially when we already have two very good CB's starting and holes in starting positions all over the roster.

We require a lot out of our Safeties in McDermott's Defense. And I don't see them going from thinking "he's not one of our Top 4 Outside CB's" to "we can covert him into a Starting Safety". That ship sailed when he beat out Elam and Jackson to become unquestioned starter at CB and White being injured and most likely moved on from. Benford is now entrenched as a long term starter opposite Rasul Douglas. We're not going to move a very good young starting CB to Safety. Easier and cheaper to replace a hole at Safety than it is to replace a competent starting CB.

How in the blue hell is Ed Oliver a THIRD alternate? That's insane.

Agreed. It's sad White will go out this way. But there's no way we can pay him in 2024 and 2025 what we're scheduled to pay him in the condition he's in. Being injured, it will have to come in the form of a settlement. But in the situation we're in, we need space anywhere we can get it and with the injuries he sustained, we can't continue to pay him what we signed him to before those injuries happened. And we've already replaced him in the Starting Lineup and are in relatively good shape at CB as a whole. Poyer is a little trickier. Releasing him would leave us absolutely nowhere at Safety. But he has a 7.5m cap hit next season and I don't think he's playing to that and we can likely find a better option cheaper and save some cap on top of it. I think Harty and Bates are probably gone as well. Though with Bates, maybe we can restructure his deal or he'd take a pay cut. He is very important depth. Martin has performed well at times, but his release could save a little in 2024 and another 2.28 in 2025 and it is only the Punter position.

Below is the complete list of players that we have under contract next season, by position. Players in italics have an out in their contract after this season: QB: Josh Allen RB: James Cook Nyheim Hines FB: Reggie Gilliam WR: Stefon Diggs Khalil Shakir Deonte Harty Justin Shorter Andy Isabella K.J. Hamler Tyrell Shavers Bryan Thompson TE: Dalton Kincaid Dawson Knox Zach Davidson Tre Mc'Kitty OL: Dion Dawkins Connor McGovern Mitch Morse O'Cyrus Torrence Spencer Brown - Ryan Bates Ryan Van Demark Tommy Doyle Alec Anderson Richard Gouraige Kevin Jarvis DE: Von Miller Greg Rousseau Kingsley Jonathan Kameron Cline DT: Ed Oliver LB: Matt Milano Terrel Bernard Dorian Williams Baylon Spector CB: Rasul Douglas Christian Benford Tre'Davious White Taron Johnson Kaiir Elam Siran Neal Ja'Marcus Ingram Kyron Brown S: Jordan Poyer Damar Hamlin Kendall Williamson ST: Tyler Bass Sam Martin Reid Ferguson We currently sit $41.4 million over the cap. I'm sure Beane has different restructure and cut plans in place already to get us under. But there is a lot of work to be done. Though it is good to see so much of our core in place. EDIT: Here's the list of guys who will be Free Agents, by position (Practice Squad players not included) - QB: Kyle Allen RB: Damien Harris Latavius Murray Ty Johnson WR: Gabe Davis Trent Sherfield TE: Quintin Morris (ERFA) OL: David Edwards DE: Leonard Floyd A.J. Epenesa Shaq Lawson DT: Daquan Jones Jordan Phillips Linval Joseph Tim Settle Poona Ford LB: Tyrel Dodson Tyler Matakevitch CB: Dane Jackson Cam Lewis S: Micah Hyde Taylor Rapp

If you say that you knew Justin Jefferson was going to become the type of player he became, be as good as he was that quickly Pre-Draft, and be a better option than Stefon Diggs immediately - you're lying. All draft prospects, I don't care who they are, are a projection. Some of the most talented bust. Some of the lower ranked prospects become HOF'ers. They're all a crap chute until they produce. Stefon Diggs was a sure thing. Only through hindsight can anyone question going with Stefon Diggs over the 5th WR left on the board in the Draft. Even if you or Beane liked JJ Pre-Draft, there was no way to tell if he'd be the WR left on the board at that point.

We had the ability and the money to get one of the top 5 WR's in the NFL in Diggs and we took the sure thing over the Draft Pick that year. It just so happened, Jefferson became one of those himself. But at the time, he was the 5th WR taken that year. So take a sure fire thing or take the 5th WR off the board? It's a no brainer. Only through hindsight can it be questioned. As for Funchess and Benjamin, he was just an Assistant. He didn't make those picks. And with Funchess, he wasn't even so much as the Assistant GM at that point. We cannot afford a serious difference maker at WR via FA or Trade. So you might want to get over this stretch of an idea that he can't Draft a WR and/or hope for the best. Davante Adams is an absolute pipe dream. Again, he has never picked a WR before Round 4 - so the data isn't there to say he can't do it. And ultimately, the Draft is a crap chute anyways.

He said he wasn't confident they'd be able to land the kind of difference maker they wanted there and were confident that Diggs was the better option. No one knew Justin Jefferson was going to become Justin Jefferson. If they did, he wouldn't have lasted as long as they did. Seriously putting words in his mouth there.

He's on record saying he's horrible at drafting WR's? Really? When did he say this? I call BS. Considering he's never taken one before Round 4 - how can you even judge that? And honestly, the performances of guys like Gabe Davis (Round 4), Khalil Shakir (Round 5), Ray-Ray McCloud (Round 6 - albeit elsewhere) and Isaiah Hodgins (Round 6 - albeit elsewhere), have exceeded their Draft positions. Success past Round 3 at WR is very few and far between. We wait to see what will come of Justin Shorter (Round 5), another late round pick. The only ones you can say were a real miss was Marquez Stevenson (6th Round Pick) and Austin Proehl (7th Round Pick). Again, it's not expected a 6th or 7th Round Pick will amount to much.

True, that it's a lot to expect a Round 1 skill player to be the guy in Year 1. But we do have to keep in mind that Kincaid won't be a Rookie next season. He has had a solid Rookie season and I think the expectation from the team is that he'll take another step next season - as Cook, Bernard, and Shakir did. I agree, as you said, we will not be able to swing a Tee Higgins given our situation. But with the hopeful steps forward with Kincaid in Year 2 and Shakir in Year 3, along with Diggs, another solid roleplayer in Round 1 (and a mid round flyer), and a good deal on a solid WR left at the end of musical chairs or a more reliable projection player than we've gotten this season with similar players - and we should be in a better position. We also have 9 picks this year. So with a package of mid round picks and/or a pick next year, although we may be low in Round 1, we may be able to move up.

I mean, he really doesn't have much of a choice but to invest in the Line. Von Miller and Greg Rousseau are the only DE's we have under contract for next year. And Ed Oliver is literally the only DT we have for 2024. I think we will retain one of Floyd or Epenesa. I think as to whom really boils down to if Miller shows some growth in the last games (if we make the playoffs) or not and/or if they have faith he'll be better next season. He'll be here regardless (unless he is charged and placed on the exempt list) as he's more expensive to lose than keep. And we can't afford to take on more cap hits. If he shows something after being sit or they have faith for next season, they may opt for the more inexpensive route in Epenesa. A guy who can be the heavy in a rotational role or possibly start if they feel Miller would be better suited rotationally. If they believe Miller is shot, then I think you need to bring back Floyd at all costs. As Epenesa is good in rotation, but who knows if he can be as good as he has been this year as an every down starter. And if they feel Miller's shot and won't provide much in rotation, we can't gamble that Epenesa can't handle the starting gig on top of it. I also believe we'll be trying hard to retain Daquan Jones. A healthy Oliver/Jones combo has been solid for us and I think they'd like to keep it. I believe Floyd or Epenesa and Jones are our primary focus going into the Offseason. Everything else will need to be filled with smart bargains and Draft picks. I trust in Beane to find the space to make it work as he did this year. 41.5m over is daunting. But he's the type of GM who goes over only to the extent of which he knows ahead of time that he can free up with certain moves. And I'm sure he knows what he's going to do to get us the space to be able to re-sign two of those guys.