Bocephuz Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 (edited) I stole this idea from Buffalo Rumblings.. however.. thought I'd move it over to this forum.Put on your mock GM hat and fill out the following areas to show your 2015 Offseason Plan for the Bills. Keep in mind salary cap ramifications and try to be reasonable in your draft picks ( Jameis Winston probably won't be available in Rd 2). LAST SEASON APPRAISALGENERAL STRATEGIC GOALFRONT OFFICE AND COACHING STAFFPERSONNELFREE AGENTSNFL DRAFTCONCLUSION Here are some links to help with contracts and salary cap..http://www.spotrac.com/nflhttp://overthecap.com/calculator/buffalo-bills_______ ___MY MOCK 2015 OFFSEASON MOVES LAST SEASON APPRAISAL – Poor Offensive line play coupled with mediocre QB play sabotaged one of the all-time great Buffalo defenses and prevented the team from making the playoffs GENERAL STRATEGIC GOAL – Make playoffs in 2015, build around strong defense focusing on the short term knowing window for D will close in a year or two. Focus on making team more physical. FRONT OFFICE AND COACHING STAFF - Hiring of Rex Ryan and Greg Roman fit goal of building around strong defense. It should be their discretion to hire their assistant coaches.. GM should let HC/ Coordinators choose their own staff. Russ appears to be doing a good job on the business side of things.. maintain him for a few years until Pegulas get their footing and then re-evaluate. Based on the fallout from the Polian fiasco and rumors of old guard bad mouthing Polian.. I would fire Jim Overdorf and either fire or manage out any of the back office holdovers from the Ralph years. PERSONNEL - Goals – shore up O Line / D Line.. draft for skill positions… find Vet QB for competition.. extend young talent• CUTSo Keith Rivers,o Kraig Urbik ( $1.4 mil cap hit)• RE-SIGN/EXTENDo Chris Hogan ( 3 yrs/ $1 mil/yr)o Marcus Easley( 3 yrs/ $1 mil/yr)o Marcell Dareus ( 5 yrs/ $12 mil/yr/ $18 mil guaranteed/ $5 mil signing bonus – similar to Gerald McCoy deal)o Cordy Glenn ( 5 yrs/ $9 mil/year/ $15 mil guaranteed/ $5 mil signing bonus – similar to Branden Albert deal)• FA DO NOT RETAINo Jerry Hughes , CJ Spiller, Erik Pears, Brandon Spikes FREE AGENTS• Mike Iupati – G – ( 5 yrs, $6mil/year/ $10 mil guaranteed. $10 mil signing bonus – similar to Marshal Yanda deal)• Virgil Green – TE – ( 4 years/ $2.5 mil/year/ $0 guaranteed/ $1 mil signing bonus – similar to Chandler deal)• Matt Moore - QB – ( 3 years/ $4 mil/year/ $1 mil guaranteed/ $1 mil signing bonus) NFL DRAFT• RD 2 – TE – Clive Warford• RD 3 - RB – TJ Yeldon• RD 5 - DE – Markus Golden• RD 6 - QB – Brandon Bridget• RD 7 – FB- Jalston Fowler CONCLUSION - As GM I addressed both short term and long term issues while leaving $3.6 mil in cap space. The main goal was to stabilize both lines and become more physical. We were not able to plug every hole.. RT and DE/OLB are still question marks.. hoping one of the young guys ( Kuandjio, Henderson) steps up at RT. Manny Lawson will be suitable stop gap at ¾ OLB role for now. o Managed to extend 2 of our best young players ( Cordy Glenn, Marcell Dareus) while also adding several solid free agents that will immediately make us a more physical team. o Addressed O-Line issues except for RT ( extend Cordy Glenn, sign Iupati, TE Virgil Green good run blocking) o Provided veteran QB competition for EJ at reasonable price (Matt Moore) o Drafted skill players Warford and Yeldon that should be cost effective immediate impact players Edited March 3, 2015 by Bocephuz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LB3 Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Wagon Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I think Yeldon is hot garbage, Walford is dropping to 3rd round territory after a poor showing at the combine and you did nothing to address the loss of Hughes. You'd still have a bunch of cap space left over for no apparent reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bocephuz Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 I think Yeldon is hot garbage, Walford is dropping to 3rd round territory after a poor showing at the combine and you did nothing to address the loss of Hughes. You'd still have a bunch of cap space left over for no apparent reason. Cap Space - That $3 mil or so is what's left over after Free Agency/ Resigning Extending players... I should have been more clear there I'm assuming that will be enough to cover the rookie salaries from the draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beef Jerky Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 How did you get Dareus to sign for so cheap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDIGGZ Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Thanks for putting this together. Nice job for the most part. I have a few problems with this: 1. Dareus is going to want Suh type numbers. That's not even close unfortunately 2. You want to go into the regular season with EJ Manuel, Matt Moore, and Brandon Bridget (who the heck is that?) as our QB's? 3. I think you put too high of a value on the TE position. We aren't going to sign a FA and then also use our top pick on one 4. Do you expect TJ Yeldon to be the starter at RB? He wasn't even the starter in college I'd have to give this a C unfortunately. I don't think you solved the QB situation or gave us an adequate starter at RB. Changes I'd make: Sign Jake Locker and also a veteran like Matt Moore at QB. I would also draft a QB higher, in the 2nd or 3rd round. Also, pick up a RB in FA (lots of choices here for pretty cheap) and also draft one (Yeldon is fine I suppose, but this is the deepest RB draft in a long time so it could be a lot of guys) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bocephuz Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 (edited) Thanks for putting this together. Nice job for the most part. I have a few problems with this: 1. Dareus is going to want Suh type numbers. That's not even close unfortunately 2. You want to go into the regular season with EJ Manuel, Matt Moore, and Brandon Bridget (who the heck is that?) as our QB's? 3. I think you put too high of a value on the TE position. We aren't going to sign a FA and then also use our top pick on one 4. Do you expect TJ Yeldon to be the starter at RB? He wasn't even the starter in college I'd have to give this a C unfortunately. I don't think you solved the QB situation or gave us an adequate starter at RB. Changes I'd make: Sign Jake Locker and also a veteran like Matt Moore at QB. I would also draft a QB higher, in the 2nd or 3rd round. Also, pick up a RB in FA (lots of choices here for pretty cheap) and also draft one (Yeldon is fine I suppose, but this is the deepest RB draft in a long time so it could be a lot of guys) Dareus - I think with his off field issues and us approaching him early we may be able to get a discount...perhaps 12 Mil is a little optimistic.. but $15 mil is doable. I think we do whatever we need to do ( restructure Mario etc...) to get him locked up long term Signing FA vs. Extending Glenn/Dareus - Signing both Locker and Moore will be expensive..it will also be more expensive to sign a FA RB than to draft one. If you don't like Moore then perhaps we sign Locker ( who will probably be a little more expensive ) instead. However, having 2 high level FA QBs doesn't make good fiscal sense. If EJ doesn't beat out whoever the FA QB signing is for the starting job, I certainly think EJ is capable of stepping in to win a few games as a back up. If we sign 2 FA QBs and a RB I don't think we will have room to extend both Glenn and Dareus. Brandon Bridge - I misspelled his name ... development prospect at QB http://www.rotoworld.com/player/cfb/132330/brandon-bridge TE - Roman likes to use heavy formations and values strong blocking Tight Ends.. I'm quite certain they will stock up on TEs this year. Especially since the RT situation is in flux... RB- whoever best available RB is in Round 3 works for me.. I'm not totally sold on Yeldon.. however.. he may be best available when we pick. Bryce Brown showed quite a bit.. if he can fix his fumbling problems I think he will be a quality starting RB. Edited March 3, 2015 by Bocephuz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBuff423 Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 The only real issue I can take other than maybe a difference of opinion about the players Drafted is Dareus. Next year the BILLS are projected to be about $60 million under the cap, and since Dareus already has a good but not great contract for this year, I would make him a priority after next year and essentially get him the same deal while saving money this year to get a RT that is so very much needed. Dareus isn't going anywhere and depending on a possible suspension, will only have less leverage no matter his performance...but regardless, the money will be there next year, and you get his performance for this year. "Locking him up" a year early to me is just a fan's way of acting out of fear he will walk. But during this time next year, they will be able to back up the Brinks truck and know that he is happy and they have their player....plus, if I'm not mistaken - and I certainly could be - Mario Williams' contract starts to take a bit of a Team-Friendly turn also making the BILLS' brass decisions a bit more malleable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4BillsintheBurgh Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I think you get to make another 5th round draft pick unless you're using that to move up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bocephuz Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 The only real issue I can take other than maybe a difference of opinion about the players Drafted is Dareus. Next year the BILLS are projected to be about $60 million under the cap, and since Dareus already has a good but not great contract for this year, I would make him a priority after next year and essentially get him the same deal while saving money this year to get a RT that is so very much needed. Dareus isn't going anywhere and depending on a possible suspension, will only have less leverage no matter his performance...but regardless, the money will be there next year, and you get his performance for this year. "Locking him up" a year early to me is just a fan's way of acting out of fear he will walk. But during this time next year, they will be able to back up the Brinks truck and know that he is happy and they have their player....plus, if I'm not mistaken - and I certainly could be - Mario Williams' contract starts to take a bit of a Team-Friendly turn also making the BILLS' brass decisions a bit more malleable Good point.. I hope they at least work on extending one of either Cordy Glenn or Dareus this year to try and avoid the open market competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Interesting idea, Bocephuz. I agree with your appraisal: LAST SEASON APPRAISAL – Poor Offensive line play coupled with mediocre QB play sabotaged one of the all-time great Buffalo defenses and prevented the team from making the playoffs o Kraig Urbik ( $1.4 mil cap hit)• FA DO NOT RETAINo Erik Pears FREE AGENTS• Mike Iupati – G – ( 5 yrs, $6mil/year/ $10 mil guaranteed. $10 mil signing bonus – similar to Marshal Yanda deal)• Matt Moore - QB – ( 3 years/ $4 mil/year/ $1 mil guaranteed/ $1 mil signing bonus) NFL DRAFT• RD 2 – TE – Clive Warford• RD 3 - RB – TJ Yeldon• RD 5 - DE – Markus Golden• RD 6 - QB – Brandon Bridget• RD 7 – FB- Jalston Fowler o Addressed O-Line issues except for RT ( extend Cordy Glenn, sign Iupati, TE Virgil Green good run blocking) o Provided veteran QB competition for EJ at reasonable price (Matt Moore) Kudos for putting this together. It's always easier to pick apart someone else's work than to generate one's own opus so I kind of hate to comment. I'll be straight: I don't follow enough college football to have meaningful opinions on the draft. I think you correctly identified the team's weaknesses but then didn't do enough to address or cut without doing enough to replace. I think they should keep Urbik and Pears at least through camp. Neither is exactly hot sh** on the FA griddle and they're both proven depth. Rather than going for Lupati (cannonball off the dock, big name) I would like to see us pursue Clint Boling who is strong at both run and pass blocking (Lupati not so good on pass protection) and go after Doug Free from the Cowboys at RT. I think we could probably sign them both for a bit more than we'd pay Iupati. We can see how our young guys develop behind them and if no one develops we have Pears and Urbik as backups - Pears to return to his RT spot. With all of that, we can afford to see if there's an OLman we think is BPA at a spot in the draft or a Henderson-type we want to take a flyer on. We get out the scissors after camp. Moore is my choice as a FA QB to sign. Good mentor, has played well when he's gotten the chance. So I like that move. I don't like drafting a QB in the 6th. I would like to see us either draft someone higher up (2nd or 3rd round) if we have any love for Hundley or Grayson and we can get them in the 3rd that would be great; otherwise, we should sign a 2nd tier FA, one of the young, less proven QB who has shown enough to be carried on an NFL roster and who might have some upside. If we do this bit more I would feel a lot better about our chances to at least eke competent play out of our OL and QB -which, as your GM analysis correctly indicates, are our largest weaknesses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwalter Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 as someone else mentioned, 5 years for 65 million isnt even close to what we'll have to pay dareus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmotionallyUnstable Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Well done, I said B only because I'm not a fan of Yeldon. Rather see David Johnson or the Boise St. Kid if available Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uffalo Ills Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 (edited) NOTE: much of this is just copy and paste of what the OP said. I mostly agreed with him, just changing a few small details (salary numbers, guaranteed money, duration of contract, draft picks and FA pick ups) and I changed those. Other than that, the OP mostly had it right LAST SEASON APPRAISAL – Poor Offensive line play coupled with poor QB play sabotaged one of the all-time great Buffalo defenses and prevented the team from making the playoffs. This was exacerbated by an oft injured rushing attack and poor game management. GENERAL STRATEGIC GOAL – Make playoffs in 2015, build around strong defense focusing on the short term knowing window for D will close in a year or two. Focus on making team more physical. FRONT OFFICE AND COACHING STAFF - Hiring of Rex Ryan and Greg Roman fit goal of building around strong defense. It should be their discretion to hire their assistant coaches.. GM should let HC/ Coordinators choose their own staff. Russ appears to be doing a good job on the business side of things.. maintain him for a few years until Pegulas get their footing and then re-evaluate. Based on the fallout from the Polian fiasco and rumors of old guard bad mouthing Polian.. I would fire Jim Overdorf and either fire or manage out any of the back office holdovers from the Ralph years. PERSONNEL - Goals – shore up O Line / D Line.. draft for skill positions… find Vet QB for competition.. extend young talent• CUTSo Keith Rivers,o Kraig Urbik ( $1.4 mil cap hit) oChris Gragg• RE-SIGN/EXTENDo Chris Hogan ( 3 yrs/ $1 mil/yr) o Da'norris Searcy ( 3 yrs/ $5.5 mil/yr, 7mil guaranteed) Not sure if this is at all a reasonable pricetag on searcyo Marcus Easley( 3 yrs/ $1 mil/yr) o Marcus Thigpen( 3 yrs/ $1 mil/yr)o Marcell Dareus ( 5 yrs/ $13 mil/yr/ $19 mil guaranteed/ $5.5 mil signing bonus – similar to Gerald McCoy deal)o Cordy Glenn ( 3 yrs/ $6 mil/year/ $9 mil guaranteed/ $5 mil signing bonus – similar to Branden Albert deal)• FA DO NOT RETAINo Jerry Hughes , CJ Spiller, Erik Pears, Brandon Spikes FREE AGENTS• Mike Iupati – G – ( 5 yrs, $6mil/year/ $15 mil guaranteed. $10 mil signing bonus – similar to Marshal Yanda deal)• Jordan Cameron – TE – ( 4 years/ $5 mil/year/ $7mil guaranteed/ $1 mil signing bonus)• Mark Sanchez - QB – ( 2 years/ $5.5 mil/year/ $3 mil guaranteed/ $1 mil signing bonus) NFL DRAFT• RD 2 – RB – Jay Ajayi• RD 3 - OG – Tre Jackson• RD 5 - SS – James Sample• RD 6 - QB – Brandon Bridget• RD 7 – FB- Jalston Fowler CONCLUSION - As GM I addressed both short term and long term issues while leaving plenty cap space (too lazy to calculate, but, some back of the envelope calculations leave me with half a million). The main goal was to upgrade offense while filling some roster gaps (RB, Safety). Offensive line issues persist at tackle and OG. Hoping one of the young guys ( Kuandjio, Henderson) steps up at RT. Manny Lawson will be suitable stop gap at ¾ OLB role for now, to be joined by Mario Williams? and Kiko Alonso. Added new project at QB position while bringing in a suitable backup/starter in Sanchez and retaining EJ Manuel, the QB with the highest ceiling. Edited March 3, 2015 by Uffalo Ills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bocephuz Posted March 4, 2015 Author Share Posted March 4, 2015 NOTE: much of this is just copy and paste of what the OP said. I mostly agreed with him, just changing a few small details (salary numbers, guaranteed money, duration of contract, draft picks and FA pick ups) and I changed those. Other than that, the OP mostly had it right LAST SEASON APPRAISAL Poor Offensive line play coupled with poor QB play sabotaged one of the all-time great Buffalo defenses and prevented the team from making the playoffs. This was exacerbated by an oft injured rushing attack and poor game management. GENERAL STRATEGIC GOAL Make playoffs in 2015, build around strong defense focusing on the short term knowing window for D will close in a year or two. Focus on making team more physical. FRONT OFFICE AND COACHING STAFF - Hiring of Rex Ryan and Greg Roman fit goal of building around strong defense. It should be their discretion to hire their assistant coaches.. GM should let HC/ Coordinators choose their own staff. Russ appears to be doing a good job on the business side of things.. maintain him for a few years until Pegulas get their footing and then re-evaluate. Based on the fallout from the Polian fiasco and rumors of old guard bad mouthing Polian.. I would fire Jim Overdorf and either fire or manage out any of the back office holdovers from the Ralph years. PERSONNEL - Goals shore up O Line / D Line.. draft for skill positions find Vet QB for competition.. extend young talent CUTS o Keith Rivers, o Kraig Urbik ( $1.4 mil cap hit) oChris Gragg RE-SIGN/EXTEND o Chris Hogan ( 3 yrs/ $1 mil/yr) o Da'norris Searcy ( 3 yrs/ $5.5 mil/yr, 7mil guaranteed) Not sure if this is at all a reasonable pricetag on searcy o Marcus Easley( 3 yrs/ $1 mil/yr) o Marcus Thigpen( 3 yrs/ $1 mil/yr) o Marcell Dareus ( 5 yrs/ $13 mil/yr/ $19 mil guaranteed/ $5.5 mil signing bonus similar to Gerald McCoy deal) o Cordy Glenn ( 3 yrs/ $6 mil/year/ $9 mil guaranteed/ $5 mil signing bonus similar to Branden Albert deal) FA DO NOT RETAIN o Jerry Hughes , CJ Spiller, Erik Pears, Brandon Spikes FREE AGENTS Mike Iupati G ( 5 yrs, $6mil/year/ $15 mil guaranteed. $10 mil signing bonus similar to Marshal Yanda deal) Jordan Cameron TE ( 4 years/ $5 mil/year/ $7mil guaranteed/ $1 mil signing bonus) Mark Sanchez - QB ( 2 years/ $5.5 mil/year/ $3 mil guaranteed/ $1 mil signing bonus) NFL DRAFT RD 2 RB Jay Ajayi RD 3 - OG Tre Jackson RD 5 - SS James Sample RD 6 - QB Brandon Bridget RD 7 FB- Jalston Fowler CONCLUSION - As GM I addressed both short term and long term issues while leaving plenty cap space (too lazy to calculate, but, some back of the envelope calculations leave me with half a million). The main goal was to upgrade offense while filling some roster gaps (RB, Safety). Offensive line issues persist at tackle and OG. Hoping one of the young guys ( Kuandjio, Henderson) steps up at RT. Manny Lawson will be suitable stop gap at ¾ OLB role for now, to be joined by Mario Williams? and Kiko Alonso. Added new project at QB position while bringing in a suitable backup/starter in Sanchez and retaining EJ Manuel, the QB with the highest ceiling. sanchez, iupati and cameron work as alternates for me. Good call on Thigpen.. Forgot about him Interesting idea, Bocephuz. I agree with your appraisal: Kudos for putting this together. It's always easier to pick apart someone else's work than to generate one's own opus so I kind of hate to comment. I'll be straight: I don't follow enough college football to have meaningful opinions on the draft. I think you correctly identified the team's weaknesses but then didn't do enough to address or cut without doing enough to replace. I think they should keep Urbik and Pears at least through camp. Neither is exactly hot sh** on the FA griddle and they're both proven depth. Rather than going for Lupati (cannonball off the dock, big name) I would like to see us pursue Clint Boling who is strong at both run and pass blocking (Lupati not so good on pass protection) and go after Doug Free from the Cowboys at RT. I think we could probably sign them both for a bit more than we'd pay Iupati. We can see how our young guys develop behind them and if no one develops we have Pears and Urbik as backups - Pears to return to his RT spot. With all of that, we can afford to see if there's an OLman we think is BPA at a spot in the draft or a Henderson-type we want to take a flyer on. We get out the scissors after camp. Moore is my choice as a FA QB to sign. Good mentor, has played well when he's gotten the chance. So I like that move. I don't like drafting a QB in the 6th. I would like to see us either draft someone higher up (2nd or 3rd round) if we have any love for Hundley or Grayson and we can get them in the 3rd that would be great; otherwise, we should sign a 2nd tier FA, one of the young, less proven QB who has shown enough to be carried on an NFL roster and who might have some upside. If we do this bit more I would feel a lot better about our chances to at least eke competent play out of our OL and QB -which, as your GM analysis correctly indicates, are our largest weaknesses. I can roll with an alternate of getting Boling and Free instead of Iupati. However I have a feeling they are going to not spend $ on RT this year as its too early to pull the plug on guys with potential like Kouandjio and Henderson. I do favor Urbik over Chris Williams.. However one of em has to go due to salary and Williams is younger. Pears is too old.. He may have one average year left at RT but not worth way we'd pay him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uffalo Ills Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 sanchez, iupati and cameron work as alternates for me. Good call on Thigpen.. Forgot about him I can roll with an alternate of getting Boling and Free instead of Iupati. However I have a feeling they are going to not spend $ on RT this year as its too early to pull the plug on guys with potential like Kouandjio and Henderson. I do favor Urbik over Chris Williams.. However one of em has to go due to salary and Williams is younger. Pears is too old.. He may have one average year left at RT but not worth way we'd pay him Yeah, I definitely agree with you. I forgot to add Boling instead of Iupati... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddenboy Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 (edited) Too many words. And I'm a lawyer. Sheesh. Edited March 4, 2015 by maddenboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prickly Pete Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 I'm still waiting for some serious improvements to the O-line. Incognito isn't enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 sanchez, iupati and cameron work as alternates for me. Good call on Thigpen.. Forgot about him I can roll with an alternate of getting Boling and Free instead of Iupati. However I have a feeling they are going to not spend $ on RT this year as its too early to pull the plug on guys with potential like Kouandjio and Henderson. I do favor Urbik over Chris Williams.. However one of em has to go due to salary and Williams is younger. Pears is too old.. He may have one average year left at RT but not worth way we'd pay him I agree, you can't keep everyone. But that's what training camp/preseason is about. I could be wrong, but I don't think either of those guys is going to command a lot of FA interest, not after the crappy year our line just had and how bad Pears looked playing guard. This is a "what have you done for me recently?" league. You offer then a low-time low-bonus "prove it" deal. You let the young guns duel it out with Pears and Urbik. If they win the job fair and square, then get out the scissors before the season starts when you have to do your roster cutdowns. Williams played RG better than Richardson but Urbik did better than either and that is NOT saying anything good about Urbik's play. Don't keep a guy around 'cuz he's younger if he's getting his butt outplayed by a mediocre older guy. Look for a different younger guy who can hand the older guy his ass. We're also paying Williams more than Urbik, aren't we? I'm still waiting for some serious improvements to the O-line. Incognito isn't enough. Completely agree, and neither would be Lupati and nothing at RT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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