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Bills Cap Mismanagement


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The Bills cap has been mismanaged for a long time. While I think this organization has been great in some areas this area has been pretty awful.

Good teams identify key positions to invest their cap dollars. There are exceptions to this if you have a top 5 player at a lesser position, perhaps you pay him.

Certainly up for debate but I'll take a stab at identifying which positions should be paid for and which shouldn't (1 pay, possibly pay, 3 dont pay):

1. QB/LT/WR1
2. RT/C/G/WR2/TE
3. HB/FB/WR3

1. Pass rushers/CB/DL

2. none

3. S/LB

Some pretty questionable signings in the last few years under Whaley at positions where you need to find cheap alternatives:
Graham - $6 mil for below average.
AWill - $6 mil per for 1 good year. They lose Byrd (correct move letting him walk) and then overpay an unproven guy on a long term deal.
McCoy - why did they give him a new deal? because he whined he wouldn't play? Retire then dude, you don't have a lot of options. We traded for a 2 year deal with no dead cap component. The new deal creates the potential for a bunch of dead cap. He's 29, the cliff isn't far off.
The Pats paid the most to a RB in many years for Burkehead at a measily $3.15 mil. We've dumped countless 1st rounders and large contracts into the RB position. Mike G looked pretty good last year, maybe it's more about the line than the RB.
Clay - $9 mil, top 8 salary at TE for a guy who had some potential but hadn't done much. Rex was so driven to screw the Dolphins he screwed the Bills instead.
Felton - $3 mil for a fullback? The position is dying, lots of them out there. Grab one on the cheap.
Easley - you can't pay a 6th WR special team player who's not a returner anything but the minimum.

Glenn and Dareus deserve big contracts, but the cap numbers are crazy and growing by the year. 14 and 16 mil per. Dareus' off-field issues should have resulted in a significant discount.
Gilmore's gone as a result of some of these bad signings. It seems there's a disconnect between the personnel dept. and the cap/finance dept.
It's not fair to only point out the bad.

Getting Tyrod to renogotiate when there was little reason to was a big win. But why did they set the contract up that way in the first place?
Past deals to Hughes and Incognito both seem pretty reasonable

The LoRax, Hyde, Groy, Holmes deals all seem pretty solid.

But who's Poyer and what's he done to earn $2.5 mil?
I'm interested to hear what others think the prime positions are and what are the best and worst signings the Bills have made.
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is it too early in the thread that all NFL teams do this?

 

You have teams with boatloads of cap space but win like 4 games a year maybe

 

You have teams that swing and miss on players but nobody bothers to look at it because they have franchise qbs and win

 

there there are teams like us.......middle of the pack.....

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Rename the thread Fire Whaley

 

.......interesting when Overdorf is the lead dawg......but then again, the "Fire Whaley Gang" salivates at every opportunity......you know about the neglected broken urinal in 313, right??.........

 

  • Associated Press
  • Published: Jan. 31, 2008 at 11:34 a.m.
  • Updated: July 26, 2012 at 08:17 p.m

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Jim Overdorf was promoted to Buffalo Bills senior vice president of football administration, giving him control over contract negotiations and salary cap decisions.

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It's not that simple. You can't just identify "positions to pay" and "positions not to pay" without considering many other factors.

 

For instance, what kind of system is the team running?

Seeing as how the Bills employ a ground/pound system that runs more than anyone in the league, it's silly to imply that paying Lesean McCoy is a waste. Or suggesting that we should just settle for scraps at Fullback. Unlike a team that passes 75% of the time, these guys are key pieces to our offensive attack.

The same can be said for defense. While Rex Ryan forced his corners to play heavy man-coverage on the outside, Sean McDermott goes with a mostly zone scheme. That means the cover skills of our corners is less important than on other teams. Which I believe is a major factor in why we let Stephon Gilmore walk instead of at least franchising him. And why our entire secondary is being revamped.

 

Speaking of Gilmore, the actual skill level of players should also be heavily considered. Almost every player has a max value. And Gilmore was looking for Top 5-10 money, as a guy who has never consistently played at that kind of level.

 

You also have to realize that you can't pay a QB or WR top money when you don't have a franchise quarterback, or when your wide receiver is still on his rookie contract. So that money goes somewhere else.

 

In the case of Charles Clay, the contract was specifically structured and loaded in a way to keep the Dolphins from being able to match and keep him. I give the Bills front office credit for identifying a player they thought could help, and then ensuring they got him. The reason he is not living up to the contract is because Taylor just isn't looking his way enough. Not because the guy isn't good enough to make plays.

 

 

 

In my opinion, the Bills have actually done a pretty good job with the salary cap. They have known when to let people walk (Byrd, Levitre, Bradham). They have known when to re-sign guys (Hughes, Glenn, Incognito, Dareus). They have found bargains in free agency (Incognito, Alexander, Brown). They have done a good job at restructuring when necessary (Taylor).

 

The biggest problem with the roster continues to be poor drafting.

 

Because even though I believe letting Gilmore, Robert Woods and Zach Brown go was the right move... now we have giant holes on the roster and nobody ready to step up and fill that role. We also still have a hole at Right Tackle that needs to be filled, and questions at Safety.

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As said above, scheme is extremely important in respect of a number of positions. And will define who should be getting what. Part of the Bills problems with Cap Management, will stem from the continual changes in coaches, where schemes also change.

 

One year you are paying a guy in line with market value, the next, you could be either over-paying him, or under-paying him due to a system change.

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Remember when ralph was owner and people complained how we never spent our cap, now we spend our cap and its probably those same people who are complaining

You're damned If you do, and you're damned if you don't. The only thing that matters is finding good players TBH.

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...at the same time, if Overdorf is so lousy at his job, why did Terry retain him?.....pretty sure he could afford whoever he wants........

 

Terry can obviously afford whoever he wants, however it doesn't mean he is going to hire/retain the right people just because he's rich. This is a man that wanted and overpayed for Ville Leino and Rex Ryan.

 

Anyway, it's time for both Whaley and Overdorf to be let go.

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Remember when ralph was owner and people complained how we never spent our cap, now we spend our cap and its probably those same people who are complaining

Exactly! And, before we didn't spend money and fill an NFL caliber roster and now we don't have comp picks that we never had before.

 

I get that we are all frustrated and bitter with this century of football. But, it is amazing what it has done to so many of us fans and we are more excited to be angry than excited it is getting better.

 

I stay positive (most of the time) and in reality our long term plan is so much better and we are executing it with growing pains. There are no perfect people, just perfect intentions and we are trying to build this the right way with some growing pains. We will get there. It is going to be okay.

 

But, i do come on this site less because of the angry folks that are just bitter and full of hate. The ones that like to blame, blame, blame, without even logically thinking things thru. Misery loves company and I try to stay away from that.

 

You all should too because we are closer to than farther away than any point in this century. We are getting closer to what we all want. Embrace and enjoy it.

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The Bills cap has been mismanaged for a long time. While I think this organization has been great in some areas this area has been pretty awful.

 

Good teams identify key positions to invest their cap dollars. There are exceptions to this if you have a top 5 player at a lesser position, perhaps you pay him.

 

Certainly up for debate but I'll take a stab at identifying which positions should be paid for and which shouldn't (1 pay, possibly pay, 3 dont pay):

 

1. QB/LT/WR1

2. RT/C/G/WR2/TE

3. HB/FB/WR3

 

1. Pass rushers/CB/DL

2. none

3. S/LB

 

Some pretty questionable signings in the last few years under Whaley at positions where you need to find cheap alternatives:

Graham - $6 mil for below average.

AWill - $6 mil per for 1 good year. They lose Byrd (correct move letting him walk) and then overpay an unproven guy on a long term deal.

McCoy - why did they give him a new deal? because he whined he wouldn't play? Retire then dude, you don't have a lot of options. We traded for a 2 year deal with no dead cap component. The new deal creates the potential for a bunch of dead cap. He's 29, the cliff isn't far off.
The Pats paid the most to a RB in many years for Burkehead at a measily $3.15 mil. We've dumped countless 1st rounders and large contracts into the RB position. Mike G looked pretty good last year, maybe it's more about the line than the RB.
Clay - $9 mil, top 8 salary at TE for a guy who had some potential but hadn't done much. Rex was so driven to screw the Dolphins he screwed the Bills instead.

Felton - $3 mil for a fullback? The position is dying, lots of them out there. Grab one on the cheap.

Easley - you can't pay a 6th WR special team player who's not a returner anything but the minimum.

 

Glenn and Dareus deserve big contracts, but the cap numbers are crazy and growing by the year. 14 and 16 mil per. Dareus' off-field issues should have resulted in a significant discount.

Gilmore's gone as a result of some of these bad signings. It seems there's a disconnect between the personnel dept. and the cap/finance dept.

It's not fair to only point out the bad.

 

Getting Tyrod to renogotiate when there was little reason to was a big win. But why did they set the contract up that way in the first place?

Past deals to Hughes and Incognito both seem pretty reasonable

 

The LoRax, Hyde, Groy, Holmes deals all seem pretty solid.

 

But who's Poyer and what's he done to earn $2.5 mil?

I'm interested to hear what others think the prime positions are and what are the best and worst signings the Bills have made.

 

Corey Graham was signed as a CB.

 

Certain positions should be emphasized as more important, but the bottom line is that you have to pay somebody to play LB or RT. You shouldn't overpay or break the bank for a decent to good starter, but you can't have the other 12 or so positions manned by UDFA or vet minimum guys. It's just not that simple.

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Looking back, how many seasons have the Bills been in legitimate "cap jail?" I don't recall any, at least in the Nix/Whaley era. They've had the money to, for example, sign Mario Williams to a record breaking deal, and he produced admirably during his time here, at least until he became a malcontent.

 

I agree with mjt - the biggest problem with the current regime (and, frankly, pretty much all the previous regimes since the drought began) is poor college scouting and drafting. The misses on QB alone in the very recent past (Carr, Prescott) makes me doubt Whaley and his people more than any questionable free agent signings or resignings.

 

Oh, and stop making Overdorf the scapegoat. It's a popular hobby around here. He doesn't do anything unilaterally. Sure he has input into contract structures and such - he's the one negotiating them. But to think he can override the roster decisions of GM or ownership and pick who to pay is a little nuts.

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i think its hilarious that some guy sitting on a website actually believes he is better at cap manipulation than professionals

 

I'm not saying me by any means but I'm sure there are and know of many good number crunchers, it can't be rocket science although math to me sometimes feels like that but to the guy who works with numbers all the time I think it would be natural for them regardless if behind a computer ( where I think Overdorf is most of the time anyways) but that's just my opinion.

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