BillsFanForever19

I don't think it's a coincidence that this didn't come to fruition until Armstead was off the table. I don't think we could have made Armstead AND Samuel happen. It goes back to what I was saying from the get go on this thread. If it comes down to heavily investing into DL and putting less into WR or investing more in WR and putting less into DL - the choice was obvious IMO. I'm glad it worked out the way it did. You can still get decent guys behind Oliver and Jones without paying the bounty it would have cost for Armstead. Getting Josh help was more important.

With all due respect to both you and Ty, he is the "cheap vet" to round out the room. I like Ty and I'm glad he's back. Wanted him back. But I think he's in the same role as he was last year. Inexpensive RB3 and a solid guy to call on when there's injuries or one of the top 2 guys are underperforming. I'd expect another vet that's a little more expensive or a mid round picks (instead of late) to be RB2.

Shakir and Kincaid will still get a lot of usage. We'll just need to be creative in our alignments. Putting Samuel on the Outside is doing the same thing you're saying about Kincaid and Shakir. Playing him mainly in the Slot and occasionally put Wide is where he's best. It's what he does.

Curtis Samuel is more of a Slot guy. He's going to get a lot of usage all over the field. But for as much as you were joking, you weren't wrong that he isn't a full time Starter on the outside. There's a lot of different looks we're going to give to have him on the field a lot. I think we're going to see a lot more of Kincaid with his hand on the ground. Diggs, Rookie, Samuel in the Slot with Kincaid at TE. 4 WR sets with Diggs, Rookie, Samuel, and Shakir. Etc. And some scenarios you'll have Samuel split out Wide. But the idea that Samuel creates a scenario where Round 1 WR is out and the Outside Spot is now completely covered isn't accurate.

Just saw it. That's awesome!

Definitely not a disappointment. We need all the help we can get. Very good signing. We'll get that Big Body X in the Draft now.

Odunze trade up isn't happening. Far too much capital to get where he'll be. Beane's not someone who trades away next year picks on Draft Day. He's the kind of guy who collects them. I see no scenario where he sees Odunze worthy of 2 1st's versus the kind of guy we can get for less than half of the price. We didn't even bother to talk to MHJ, Nabers, or Odunze at the Combine. If it was even so much of a thought that we might, we would have. 2 in the first 2 Rounds? I see that as pretty unlikely too. Unless we really start getting to work in FA to get another legit Starting Safety, two solid Rotational DT's (one 3T, one 1T), and another solid DE (essentially we're just running to back minus Floyd and Shaq). Just too many holes right now to not address any other position until the end of Round 4, when you're in the true developmental prospect portion of the Draft. The best case scenario I see for us? Brian Thomas slides a little bit and we make a trade up into the early 20's and land him. Or we just move a couple slots to secure an AD Mitchell type. Then we double down in Round 4 with the best still available. And to ensure we're not putting all our eggs into the Rookie WR basket, we play the vet WR market patiently and land a guy at a decent price that we're comfortable starting in the event neither Rookie is a splash right out of the gate (as most Rookie WR's aren't) and can at least provide more as an Outside WR3.

The feeling I get is that Armstead was a special circumstance. A guy who made it known he was interested in coming here based on his Wife. We hoped with his interest we could get him on a good price, albeit one a little higher than we'd normally pay. When it became clear he was going to get paid (which I always expected) - we were out. I wouldn't expect us to be in the market for someone similar and especially not if it would cost us a Draft Pick, though I could be wrong. I will say though, as I said from the beginning, if Armstead was a serious consideration - than we should be in on a starting quality Wide Receiver or a Safety like Simmons. We'll see if we pivot elsewhere or not. It would be annoying if it was Armstead or bust. But it wouldn't surprise me.

At DT, someone that I think makes a lot of sense as a rotational piece for us, albeit not a sexy name, is Las Vegas Raiders DT Adam Butler. He's coming off of a 5 sack season with 8 tackles for a loss, in which he never started a game. Raiders fans do NOT want to see him go. Could be an under the radar name at a low cost that yields a good dividend: https://www.si.com/nfl/raiders/news/las-vegas-raiders-adam-butler-free-agency-pro-football-focus-patrick-graham

Both have re-done their deals to stay in LA: https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/joey-bosa-to-stay-with-chargers-after-revising-contract https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/khalil-mack-to-remain-with-chargers-on-revised-contract

That is absolutely not a plan.

The Jags are a funny argument point too. They literally just specifically targeted and paid big for a True Outside WR.

67m, but that doesn't include a number of signings they've done. Including Ridley and Cushenberry's monster deals and 6 other deals thus far unaccounted for. They're reportedly in on some other big things like Justin Simmons as well and still have some holes to fill.

We might have a chance to remedy that mistake. Hopkins was always kind of looked like at as a 1 year deal. They have an out this year or he has an 18.1m cap hit. They can save 16+m in cap space taking the out this offseason, though it would cost a 7+m dead cap hit, spread out over the next two seasons but only 1.5 this season. When they signed Ridley for the insane amount they did, them moving on from Hopkins was one of my first thoughts. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/titans-land-calvin-ridley-could-star-receivers-arrival-spell-the-end-to-deandre-hopkins-era-in-tennessee/

Last year was the only year we kept 5. It was an anomaly due to having 12 DL under contract and wanting to keep them all. A problem we won't have this season. Every other season under McDermott we've carried 6 going into Week 1, two years we kept 7. We'll be keeping at least 6. We signed Hollins as a bottom of the roster type guy who will be a core Special Teams player. Signed to an "up to 3m" deal that is almost surely a vet minimum deal with incentives. He's depth. But we still need a vet to be a floor Outside WR3 (who will get a fair amount of reps even in that role) and someone you can feel comfortable starting, in the event the Round 1 Rookie doesn't immediately have his sea legs under him.

I disagree with that. Something like Hollywood Brown or Tyler Boyd may be more than we can afford. But if we can afford Armstead, we could afford a Josh Reynolds, DJ Chark, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Mecole Hardman, K.J. Osborn type. I'm all in on WR at 28. But we've got Diggs and Shakir. Outside of that we've got Hollins, who shouldn't be more than a WR5/ST Gunner type, Shorter who is a complete question mark to make the roster, and Practice Squad level guys. We're not going to Draft 3 WR's. And we need some kind of insurance in the event that it takes the guy at 28 some time.

Warriorspikes51 - have you been Dan Fetes this whole time?

Essentially that's my concern. Armstead would be great. But with the money guys like Mooney and especially Ridley got, I question the ability to get a guy like Armstead and a decent vet WR.

Ah! Thanks, I knew I recognized it from something. Been a loooonnnngggg time since I've seen that one.

What movie is that from?

I think Wallace makes a lot of sense given we'd just be looking for an off the bench Boundary CB. He'd probably come at the price we'd be willing to pay for that and has experience in the system. I don't know if the IG post was a clue though. It was 1 of 10 photo's he posted that looked more to be saying 'hello' to his IG followers. Elam is going to be here. He really has no trade value and even with Wallace, we'd still need another CB to fill the roster. We'd have to give him away and I don't think that's something we want to do after our investment.

I mean, that was just me replying with someone else's quote in regards to what I was talking about. If questioning whether handing over another big DL contract is wise makes me a "party pooper", after Von and Oliver and already putting most of our money this offseason into Epenesa and Jones, so be it.

The crux of the discussion was based around @Warriorspikes51 citing @HappyDays' report on the situation which was such: "Alright here's what I just heard on Arik Armstead - we asked him to give us last dibs to match his best offer. But there are ~10 teams in on him."