SBUffalo Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000117300/article/tentative-nfl-salary-cap-set-near-121-million-for-2013 The 2013 salary cap is tentatively slated to be at or just below $121 million, according to NFL sources. The values for restricted free agent designations and franchise tenders have also been set. Below are the tentative franchise tag and transition tag numbers for each position, in millions. These figures were distributed in early December at the annual meeting of team owners in Dallas, reports NFL.com's Ian Rapoport. They will likely be finalized in March. CB: Franchise: $10.668 Transition: $8.939 DE: Franchise: $10.984 Transition: $8.994 DT: Franchise: $8.306 Transition: $6.919 K/P: Franchise: $2.926 Transition: $2.654 LB: Franchise: $9.455 Transition: $8.216 OL: Franchise: $9.660 Transition: $8.560 QB: Franchise: $14.642 Transition: $12.845 RB: Franchise: $8.079 Transition: $6.851 S: Franchise: $6.798 Transition: $5.899 TE: Franchise: $5.962 Transition: $5.105 WR: Franchise: $10.357 Transition: $8.716 Those franchise numbers are exactly why I think we should be pushing hard to get a deal with Levitre done. His franchise number is $3 mill more than Byrd's, and Byrd will likely make as much/more than the franchise number. So if we locked up Levitre, we could franchise Byrd for cheaper and negotiate his deal this offseason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 So it looks like the salary cap will remain essentially the same. And am I correct that someone recently pointed out that it won't be until next year that teams will be required to spend at least 89% of the cap? Finally I think that even after the Mario Williams signing that the Bills had about $7 million in cap space although I could be wrong. So in order to improve the team, they're gonna have to get rid of some veteran salaries which aren't good values: I would say Kelsay, Spencer Johnson, T. McGee, Thigpen, and others. I actually like Brad Smith as a football player but not as a wildcat QB. I honestly think he could be an outstanding WR. Of course if there's a regime change, there could be more sweeping changes than the ones I mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterpan Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Whats our cap number for next year? How much do we have to spend in FA? God we need help!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ny33 Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 The truth is that we have no idea if the Bills have made progress in talks with Byrd, or if they're really further along in talks than they are with Levitre. The Urbik deal came out of nowhere. Smoke and mirrors are always involved in contract negotiations. I would expect that Buffalo is aware of those numbers and is pressing hard to get the Levitre deal done. That being said, we are actually in a pretty good situation cap-wise, and what matters in the end is that both players get signed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddog69 Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Neither Byrd nor Levitre are worth those Franchise numbers in my opinion, $6-7m per yr for Andy $4.-5 per yr for Byrd Anything more than that and I think the money would be better spent elsewhere. I would love to get both back, but the budget only goes so far. I don't want the Bills to be like the Sabres and get stuck with more overpriced contracts to keep mediocre players (Pominville comes to mind). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ny33 Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Neither Byrd nor Levitre are worth those Franchise numbers in my opinion, $6-7m per yr for Andy $4.-5 per yr for Byrd Anything more than that and I think the money would be better spent elsewhere. I would love to get both back, but the budget only goes so far. I don't want the Bills to be like the Sabres and get stuck with more overpriced contracts to keep mediocre players (Pominville comes to mind). Byrd and Levitre have been, by most professional opinions, among the best at their positions. There is an argument to be made that Byrd is the best safety in football. There is no doubt around the league that he is a top 6-7 safety, not "mediocre." http://wp.advancednflstats.com/defenderstats.php?pos=S The team sucks, but both of these guys are the best free agents at their position and among the best, period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papazoid Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Neither Byrd nor Levitre are worth those Franchise numbers in my opinion, $6-7m per yr for Andy $4.-5 per yr for Byrd Anything more than that and I think the money would be better spent elsewhere. I would love to get both back, but the budget only goes so far. I don't want the Bills to be like the Sabres and get stuck with more overpriced contracts to keep mediocre players (Pominville comes to mind). levitre is absolutely worth the tag number.......hopefully they get em for less. byrd is not worth it, he is very over rated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Anyone know how much additional cap room the Bills can carry over to next season if they elect to? GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Anyone know how much additional cap room the Bills can carry over to next season if they elect to? GO BILLS!!! ie what is the most recent spending total that weve seen? id assume they will elect to, just not sure where we finished up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 You dont get better by letting your best players get away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 You dont get better by letting your best players get away That's right. There's this naive assumption that you can just let people walk and take their money and invest it into different players and get the same or better value. Byrd and Levitre are close enough to the best at their position that you are not likely to re-allocate that money and get the same value. More likely the team will get worse if they spend that money elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmotionallyUnstable Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Wait...people think Byrd is not worth a franchise tag of 6 mil?!? He's a top free safety in the NFL. Regardless of his numbers (which are great), Byrd is constantly around the ball, supplying good coverage and is a reliable defender. This dude is worth the money IMO, 6 million is a steal for this guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Trooth Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 You dont get better by letting your best players get away Players deemed to be good players on bad teams aren't necessarily good players. Basically they are their teams best option at the moment. I'll cede Levitre just on the fact he's started every game the past four seasons. He's logged more snaps than anyone on the team. Byrd is a "soft safety" on one of the NFLs worst defenses and probably the Bills worst defense ever. Safety is a position that is third from the bottom on the pay scale as noted above. If he were the best safety in the game you pay him. But in a league where the standard for safety is Reed and Polamalu, Byrd is a couple of notches below them. Safeties like Landry (Jets) and Wilson (Cards) are in the next tier... then Byrd in the third tier. If you're about getting the Bills to be better, you begin by getting better by getting players that are better than what they have now, and two thirds to 3/4 of the Bills roster needs to be turned over in the next two seasons to have a shot at the playoffs in 2016. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 (edited) Players deemed to be good players on bad teams aren't necessarily good players. Basically they are their teams best option at the moment. I'll cede Levitre just on the fact he's started every game the past four seasons. He's logged more snaps than anyone on the team. Byrd is a "soft safety" on one of the NFLs worst defenses and probably the Bills worst defense ever. Safety is a position that is third from the bottom on the pay scale as noted above. If he were the best safety in the game you pay him. But in a league where the standard for safety is Reed and Polamalu, Byrd is a couple of notches below them. Safeties like Landry (Jets) and Wilson (Cards) are in the next tier... then Byrd in the third tier. If you're about getting the Bills to be better, you begin by getting better by getting players that are better than what they have now, and two thirds to 3/4 of the Bills roster needs to be turned over in the next two seasons to have a shot at the playoffs in 2016. Landry is widely considered a liability in coverage. He's a better run player than Byrd (who is not bad in run support and has been among the league leaders in forced fumbles for safeties). Byrd is a much better pass defender than Landry. Adrian Wilson lost his starting job this year. Not sure about your football knowledge at safety. Edited December 26, 2012 by San Jose Bills Fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 (edited) Players deemed to be good players on bad teams aren't necessarily good players. Basically they are their teams best option at the moment. I'll cede Levitre just on the fact he's started every game the past four seasons. He's logged more snaps than anyone on the team. Byrd is a "soft safety" on one of the NFLs worst defenses and probably the Bills worst defense ever. Safety is a position that is third from the bottom on the pay scale as noted above. If he were the best safety in the game you pay him. But in a league where the standard for safety is Reed and Polamalu, Byrd is a couple of notches below them. Safeties like Landry (Jets) and Wilson (Cards) are in the next tier... then Byrd in the third tier. If you're about getting the Bills to be better, you begin by getting better by getting players that are better than what they have now, and two thirds to 3/4 of the Bills roster needs to be turned over in the next two seasons to have a shot at the playoffs in 2016. landry is absolutely ATROCIOUS in coverage. embarrassingly bad at times. he is second tier only in name recognition from big (dirty) hits in major media markets, nowhere close in ability. Edited December 26, 2012 by NoSaint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aristocrat Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 I heard the bills are offering Byrd top safety money so it sounds like it would be tough for him to walk. What do top guards make? Chris Snee makes 6.75 per so I can't really see the Bills walking from that. I think they both get done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramius Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 If you have to overpay for players, you're much better off overpaying for top talent than mediocre talent. We can't easily replace the production from Byrd and Levitre to warrant letting them walk. Both of them are among the tops at their positions. And the comment about bad teams not having good players is simply asinine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddog69 Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Nothing about the Bills pass defense indicates to me that Byrd is good in pass coverage. Yes, he makes the occasional INT but I don;t rememeber noticing him out there most of the time, except when I'm trying to figure out if it was the CB of the S that was supposed to be covering the wide open receiver who just caught the ball. Byrd is the most overrated player on the team, I think. I would like to keep him at a reasonable salary so as not to be forced into drafting a safety early in the draft since we have other needs. But I would not want to get into a bidding war to keep him. He is not Ed Reed. Levitre is one of the best OG in the game, so if need be, the Bills should overpay for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBUffalo Posted December 26, 2012 Author Share Posted December 26, 2012 To me, it almost doesn't matter how lucky or good of an offseason we have... if we lose either Byrd, Levitre (or both to those Sabres fans that remember how that feels), it's an absolutely failed offseason. There's no excuse. We need to make a major push to at least lock up one before free agency so we can at least franchise the other to make sure they don't leave. Byrd is the most overrated player on the team, I think. I would like to keep him at a reasonable salary so as not to be forced into drafting a safety early in the draft since we have other needs. But I would not want to get into a bidding war to keep him. He is not Ed Reed. Levitre is one of the best OG in the game, so if need be, the Bills should overpay for him. I disagree strongly with your first point. He is extremely valuable. He is the lone playmaker on the defense outside of Mario Williams. He is a ballhawk. And sure, he ISN'T Ed Reed... but he only has 2 less INTs and 1 less TD in his first 4 years compared to Ed Reed. He's definitely a guy we can't afford to lose. The only bad game I remember him having was week 1. Most of his mistakes were blamed on Gilmore that week, but I think it was the other way around in reality. And yes, if we need to overpay to keep Levitre, we HAVE to keep him. He's one of the only guys that stays healthy consistently, and he's one of the best offensive lineman in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Wait...people think Byrd is not worth a franchise tag of 6 mil?!? He's a top free safety in the NFL. Regardless of his numbers (which are great), Byrd is constantly around the ball, supplying good coverage and is a reliable defender. This dude is worth the money IMO, 6 million is a steal for this guy. How can you be so right about Byrd and so wrong about Sheppard? I keed, I keed. GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts