BillsFanForever19

I must have misunderstood your post. I took that you were saying what the other poster was, in that if it we can't get one of those top level FA's (and we can't), that we're better off just Drafting. I didn't realize you were simply speaking to WR2 and were open to signing a vet or vets to fill out the core, unlike the other poster I was replying to. My apologies.

I don't understand how you can't grasp this. We WILL be doing that. We have to replace half of our WR core. We'll be Drafting 2 WR's, using our 1st Round Pick to fill our hole at WR2. But to say Draft all 3 of them would be to have 4/6 of our WR Core next year having a combined ZERO reps of Regular Season NFL action. That's entirely too risky. You might be fine with that, but there's no chance Brandon Beane (or any NFL GM) would be cool with having 4/6 of his WR core being complete unknowns at the next level. Having even half of the core with no experience represents the absolute top end of what a GM would do. And Cover 1, @BADOLBILZ, and myself are already calling for that. To your point of Draft and Develop, with the 2 Draft Picks along with Shakir and Shorter - that would represent 4 of our 6 WR's being players that we Drafted and will be developing or have developed already. But we need someone with experience and known production to provide insurance to the unknowns and also provide more productivity in the reserve role than Sherfield or Harty provided. As well as provide someone who can be trusted in the event of injury. Noah Brown or Josh Reynolds aren't "bargain bin". They're a step above that. Neither will come as cheap as Sherfield was and they're better players. Not so much that it's going to hamper us, but not so little that they can be considered "bargain bin". This idea that unless it's a super expensive WR1 or a Draft Pick, it's a waste of resources and is destined to provide nothing is incredibly simple minded. Just bc Sherfield or Harty didn't work out doesn't immediately equate to a Brown or Reynolds being the same. Especially since they're better players. Again, I don't think anyone's suggesting we don't Draft a WR in Round 1. Or that we sign a big ticket FA WR (we really can't). But we can't fill all 3 of our holes at WR with just Draft Picks and have everyone on our WR core not named Diggs or Shakir combining to a total of 0 regular season snaps. It's not a situation of us having to do one thing or the other. Draft 2, sign 1.

I mean, yeah, if we were to see a Safety get picked at 28 - in the moment it would be upsetting. But in this unrealistic scenario where we land the #1 Safety in the Draft and my #5 WR within 2 Rounds - I'd be pretty stoked about that. But I do agree that another WR should be taken with our 4th pick, a DT should be taken earlier than 100 and another at some point as well. I just can't say I totally hate a Draft where we fill holes at Starting WR with Xavier Legette and Starting S with Tyler Nubin.

Legette is becoming perhaps my favorite WR for us not named Brian Thomas Jr. (outside of the 3 that will be long gone). I predict he will be a mid to late 1st Rounder by the end of the Pre-Draft process (if he isn't already amongst league circles). There's zero chance he's there at 60. So landing him and the Best Safety in the Draft in Round 1 and Round 2, in whichever order, would be amazing. Though I'd like to see another WR with our 4th pick (either in Round 4 or as a trade up into Round 3) and a Defensive Lineman higher than Pick 100.

Just taking a look at Spotrac: 2024 - 72.4m under the cap 2025 - 177.7m under the cap 2026 - 376.6m under the cap Granted, there's a large number of bodies that need to be replaced by 2026. But the amount of money they have over the next few seasons is more than enough to keep Chase and Higgins and still build their roster. As I said when we talked about this before, teams don't let important pieces of their roster go unless they don't have a choice. Higgins and Chase together is as important to that team as anything and they don't have to sacrifice either. So why would they?

I gotta agree with @BADOLBILZ on this one. We can do both of what he's suggesting and what you are suggesting. And we should. Even though we kept only 5 WR's last season, the usual number is 6. There was even a year where we kept 7. I suspect we'll be taking the out in Harty's contract. Leaving us with just Diggs, Shakir, and Shorter. Draft the WR2 in Round 1. Most likely Thomas Jr., Franklin, Coleman, or Legette. Draft another in Round 4, maybe even use some of our extra picks to trade back up into Round 3 if there's someone sticking out. But also sign a veteran with experience to go along with the Rookies. As good as the Rookies look in this class, there's no guarantee that they'll hit and hit immediately. You pointed out some great guys in the past number of Drafts. But there's also been the Treylon Burks and Quentin Johnston's of the world in Round 1 in the past 2 Drafts. As good as I feel about some of the guys in the Draft, the entire makeup of our WR core cannot be Diggs, Shakir, and 3 guys who have a combined 0 reps at the Pro Level and a guy like Hamler, who is on his 3rd team in less than a year for a reason. He'll be this year's Andy Isabella. Regardless of what he does in Camp, we can easily get him back on the Practice Squad with the stink he has on him now, just as we did with Isabella. Yes, Harty and Sherfield were underwhelming. But that doesn't mean that any veteran WR that isn't a Superstar is destined to be the same in this Offense. A guy like Brown or Reynolds, who have done good things with lesser QB's, can flourish with Allen and at the very least provide insurance and more reliability at the reserve WR role than we've gotten with Harty and Sherfield. And with the higher than expected bump in Salary Cap, we can do everything you suggested doing with the money when you made this post and still sign a guy like Brown or Reynolds.

I really don't think so. The Bengals whole claim to fame is having a QB like Burrow with not 1, but 2 true #1 WR's. It's what got them to the Super Bowl over Kansas City 3 years ago. If you've got the money to keep that together, and they do, you do that. Take care of the Left Tackle in the Draft, where they'll be picking higher than usual thanks to their lost season without Burrow. At 74 Million under the cap this year, there's absolutely no reason they can't keep them both. Even if it's expensive.

I don't think Cincinnati would have been using a 1st on WR - unless they lost BOTH Higgins and Boyd. They have a suspect OL to begin with and will more likely than not (especially after Franchise Tagging Higgins) be losing their Left Tackle. With Chase in house and retaining either Higgins or Boyd, maybe they'd take one in the Second to replace the other. But I'd suspect the 1st is going to Left Tackle.

Again though, Chase is under a Rookie deal for the next two years. So maybe they front load it for a couple years and then lessen it in Year 3 and put an out in the contract after Year 3.

This is my shocked face. I said it immediately in that ridiculous thread about Buffalo going after him. Don't have to worry about that for two more years. Even if they extend Chase now, surely the next two years will remain the same.

Age, room for growth, and injury history factor into the price of a FA just as much as production - if not more. There's nothing more valuable in FA than a productive player 25 or under coming off their first contract. Burns and Hunter are Edge Rushers. Edge is always going to be more valuable than a DT. And Justin Madabuike is coming off a 13 sack season at the age of 25.

I had a feeling when I saw the news, i'd see you here going wild haha This scenario basically changes us from being 52m over to about 41m over. All the cap prognostications for us were factoring in a bump already. It being a little more than expected didn't take us from where we were to being able to go out and get Tier 1 Day 1 FA's. And the bump happened for everyone. Meaning the teams that are in better shape can now spend more money than they expected on those big FA's. We're still in no position to even attempt to get into bidding wars. Things like Evans, Jones, and Pittman are still a pipe dream. The good news is that it will take less to get us under and we'll be able to afford to fill another hole or two more through FA in the tier of guys we can afford.

I don't think either of them are suggesting we ignore the WR position. On the contrary, I think this list speaks to that. We'll only have a small amount of money to spend. And rather than spend that small amount of money on the type of WR we'd be able to afford in the market to be our #2 - pick up bargain bin guys to fill as many of the 4 starting holes and many depth roles on Defense as they can. Then spend our #1 Draft Pick and maybe other draft picks on guys to help Josh out. There's a way better chance to find impact at that position in Round 1 than it would be to spend what little money we have on what that could get us in the veteran FA market.

The comparison is apples and oranges on SO many different levels. How you can't see it is completely insane to me. On that note, I agree, I don't want to go back and forth on this because it's madness that you think it's remotely comparable on any level. They don't. They, like so many others today, are so in their feels over Kansas City landing him that they're seeing red, ignoring common sense on multiple different levels, and lashing out with hairbrained ideas as to how this injustice could have been avoided (spoiler alert - it couldn't) - in a completely black and white manner, ignoring the MANY shades of grey.

I really like the idea of Noah Brown replacing Trent Sherfield, if the price is right.

You can't be convinced by the rules that are in place and the fact that it was outwardly stated that they would do nothing? There were two options - keep him on the roster or cut him. It was attested to in the presser. The league wasn't going to make a special exemption for him. Simple as that. I was hoping they would but it was made clear that they wouldn't. I don't know how you aren't "convinced" by fact. As for the Practice Squad idea, that keeps him from being on the field. But that doesn't stop the media from hounding them and the league putting pressure on them for keeping him on the team. You might think "F-ck the media, F-ck the league! F-ck PR!". That's great for you, you rebellious soul. But that's not the reality of how it works with multi billion dollar companies that have to answer to networks, advertisers, and the public.

I mean, today the focus is on the board cannibalizing itself over Araiza going to the Chiefs. More and more I'm seeing why yolo went dark for so long.

Yeah.... there's a huge difference between the media asking about the health of a woman who has no barring on the field or in public and was barely visible in the first place and trotting an accused r-pist on the field every Sunday. We could have said "we don't want to field questions about this". It wouldn't matter. They would never let it go and we'd be destroyed for avoiding the subject on a daily basis. Let alone the heat from the League Office for making the League look bad. If you don't think Goodell and the league office weren't putting pressure on them to make this go away - i've got a bridge to sell you.

Okay, so you would have used 2 roster spots on 2 Punters for 2 straight seasons? This wasn't just Bills PR either. It was NFL PR.

There's 'no way' of seeing replacing a guy who's an NFL All Pro selection at his position with a guy who has been out of the NFL for two seasons, has a half of a training camp, 1 Pre-Season game, and 1 Pre-Season Punt as his combined total NFL experience, as anything but an upgrade? I know we're all emotional right now, but I can see a number of ways it isn't.

I'm sorry, how does the bolded make me the problem? My man, you are out for blood and blinded by rage. For the record, in that "pitchfork" post you are referring to, I never said he was guilty or innocent. At most, I said the allegation doesn't look good. And it didn't. But I never condemn someone until all the facts are in and a case plays out. I wanted him to be here more than anyone. I still have my 'Punt God' Nike spoof shirt I bought after the Draft around here somewhere. I was sad when we had to let him go. How exactly is me pointing out that the situation went beyond just the "pitchforks" make "people like me" the reason it was a media distraction? I got news for you - if no one took out their "pitchforks", if no one said a single word - the media would have still went as wild as they did. What people said on this board had no barring on EVERY national news outlet, sports or otherwise, running with the story as soon as it dropped. The "pitchforks" coming out or not coming out wouldn't have changed a single thing. Beane still would have had to answer to the media and probably Roger Goodell. We still would have had to use 2 active roster spots for 2 straight year on Punters. Go ahead and take a bow for being in his corner the whole time. My point is your argument - is moot. Pitchforks or no pitchforks on this board, the situation would have played out the exact same way. Here or on another team.

We can talk about the potential of Henry in this offense and whether it would be wise or not to sign him with our cap situation. The point is moot to me. He's going to Baltimore. Baltimore is a contender. They were going to give up a Draft Pick or more to have him in the Playoffs last season. The Titans owner just put the caboshes to it at the last second. They have a barren wasteland of a backfield and now Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins are both Free Agent's. They can now get him like they planned, without having to give up anything in compensation. He can start there. They want him badly. Since "Vegas Odds" are all the rage right now to argue points, here's what Vegas says: Baltimore +175 Dallas +550 Philadelphia +650 Houston +750 We aren't even on the list. Like so many things being discussed of late, we're ignoring what's likely and focusing on the unlikely.

I mean... good for both of you, I guess? Whether you were someone who did or didn't though - it doesn't change the fact that we couldn't use two roster spots on Punters for two years and deal with the media distraction all the while. Everyone on this board and fanbase could have said nothing at all, it wouldn't have mattered. The result would have been the same, any way you slice it, with any team that drafted him.

Again, you and others act as if it was just us who had the "pitchforks" out. Everyone, from sports media and non sports media alike to all the other fanbases in the league, were all saying and doing the same thing when it came to this story. You can sit on your high horse in hindsight and judge everyone around here. But it doesn't change how it played out here and would have played out elsewhere. As I said earlier, there isn't a team in the NFL that would have saved a 53 man roster spot for two straight seasons on a Punter who wasn't here and another spot for the Punter who would be here and dealt with questions about him the entire time. Sucks that we were the ones who Drafted him and had to cut him. Sucks KC ended up with him. But if it were any of the 31 other teams in the NFL that drafted him instead, including the Chiefs who signed him now, the exact same scenario would have played out for them.

I'll take it a step further - there isn't a team in the NFL that wouldn't have done the same. You can be mad about it and say "nuh uh - it would have been just us because we're dumb", but I supremely doubt it. It was terrible timing and a terrible situation. Since it happened before he entered the league, the option to put him on an exempt list didn't exist. We would have had to use a 53 man roster spot on a guy who wasn't here and another spot for another Punter for two straight seasons, if we wanted to wait everything out. All the while it being a media distraction hanging over our heads for all that time. NO team in the league would have done that. And it was far from just us who had pitchforks out. It was a national story picked up by even non-Sports outlets. Every NFL fanbase and every media outlet had the same "pitchforks" out. Is it unfortunate it played out as it did and KC reaps the possible rewards? Yes. But this idea that we should have waited it out and never let him go - isn't really a reality. Whoever drafted him if it wasn't us, would have had the same thing happen in their house and would have done the same thing.