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Star Lotulelei takes a pay cut


JoeF

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6 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

I don't think Harry rushes the passer well enough for the 3 tech...........they want heat from that spot.

 

He's also pretty good at DT1T and I'd expect him to get around 55% of the snaps or maybe even more...........he actually tackles RB's..........as a rookie he had twice as many tackles as Star in far fewer snaps............ which is nice when your MLB is a lot more of a matchup advantage against the pass than the run.

 

That' what's killer with Star at DT..........when teams want to run the LB's and safeties gotta' make all the tackles because Star can't get off blocks.

Oh I am def higher on Harry than Star. And I am super excited for next year when Harry and Oliver are on the field together especially in a nickel package. 

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13 minutes ago, YattaOkasan said:

I think you said it up thread. They knew they had to roll with him this year. So lessen the hit this year and he’s probably gone next year. If that’s the plan I’m ok and I also share your concerns about not working hard enough. 

 

 

I'm guessing the impetus for the deal was the March roster bonus.

 

Those things are great for players and agents...........they force decisions.........teams don't want to pay $1M bonus and then later cut the guy but to me guaranteeing him that money to save $1.75M is stepping over a dollar to pick up 25 cents.

 

To me I'd rather pay him the roster bonus...........keep him incentivized to work for that unguaranteed money for 7 months............. and then talk pay cut in summer if it came down to that.

 

Nobody is lining up to pay Star $4M in August.    Not even close.  

 

They bid against themselves to save some money now..........which is odd because the "now" value of $1.75M when you have $90M to spend shouldn't be that high.

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1 hour ago, BADOLBILZ said:

So what the Rams did was great.......perennial losing franchise that took a shot and actually got to a SB

 

Yeah they "took a shot." And now they're coming off a year where they didn't make the playoffs at all. They have just $23 million in available cap space and no 1st round pick for the next 2 drafts. Their starting DE and LT are both free agents. And Ramsey's contract comes up next year. That's the team you want us to emulate?

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1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

 

Do you think maybe this has something to do with the fact that free agency doesn't actually start for another month?

 

 

No I think it's because they want Gregg Olsen..........because he can still play and as a mentor with a skillset similar to Dawson Knox.

 

Veterans in every room.

 

I suspect..........and frankly HOPE.......they keep shopping in the veteran aisle in UFA.

 

Give me Gerald McCoy in the room with Ed Oliver and Calais Campbell in the room with Bam Johnson..........give me a veteran LB who can bounce between SOLB and MLB so they can use Edmunds more in pass rush.    

 

The fits are good and the likelihood of being able to lure them to Buffalo is greater than high leverage young UFA's like Shaq Barrett and Amari Cooper who might not even take a visit.

 

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Just now, HappyDays said:

 

Yeah they "took a shot." And now they're coming off a year where they didn't make the playoffs at all. They have just $23 million in available cap space and no 1st round pick for the next 2 drafts. Their starting DE and LT are both free agents. And Ramsey's contract comes up next year. That's the team you want us to emulate?

 

 

Yeah I will take a SB trip followed by a 9-7.   They went 9-7 in 2019 in a lot tougher division than the AFC East(after winning 2 division titles, something the Bills haven't done in a very long time) and they will be back in good cap shape in 2021 and will be playing in the greatest new NFL facility ever in the most popular market to live in.

 

 Wouldn't even surprise me if they spent some future money this offseason and pissed everyone off like the Saints have been doing for a decade when Bills fans have been buying the hype about how bad the Saints cap situation was.:rolleyes:

 

  They are anything but screwed.   Worst thing they have going for them is that great division they are in.   

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Interesting that this thread has caused some spirited debate...

 

Although it’s probably the first real player related confirmed news of the off season though so that probably explains why..

 

Lots of FA decisions remaining in respect of players to keep or let leave, and new players to sign...

 

Going to be a good month ahead.. 

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8 hours ago, Max Fischer said:

 there is no reason to believe any player would agree to a pay cut. 

Yes there is, the alternative is to risk not being on the roster. He traded more guaranteed money but less in total for more money but less guaranteed 

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   There wouldn't have been much to gain letting him go cap wise and at least he is now being paid more like the average rotational dt that he is. The Bills can move on after next season if they want or need to. Seeing as how they were pretty much stuck with his contract this year anyway I see it as a win.

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3 hours ago, Stank_Nasty said:

Lol. I sat in the wind and rain for the finale as backups played in December.  And you still show no capacity to understand what I was eluding to during that discussion. But nice try. 
 

and you saying anyone has a lame Schtick is truly rich. You and scott coming in here with the crap you two spewed trying to downplay anything solid this franchise does.... that train is never late....

 

Been a pleasure..... as always. 
 

 

 

Ya I can’t recall him ever saying anything even slightly positive about the bills 

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9 hours ago, billsfan89 said:

 

He was overpaid from the get go. Run stuffers aren't a premium position in the NFL and Star was paid a borderline top 10 salary at his position with a hefty guarantee. Star was good at his role of clogging up lanes and shifting along the line but he wasn't an elite player nor the type of player (interior disruptor) that defenses pay a lot for at his position. 

 

BUT that doesn't me had has no value, other than the few games in the middle of the season Star's play ranged from solid in the beginning to really good to close the season. Him taking a modest pay cut of close to 2 million simply makes him less overpaid which is a win win for both sides. The Bills get some cap space and Star gets security for 2020 and some guarantees for his 2021 salary. 

 

I think a lot of people got on him excessively failing to see that just because a player was overpaid for his position doesn't mean he doesn't bring value to the defense. 

 

 

I disagree with your first paragraph, though I think you're right on with the rest, but he really isn't overpaid. He was paid what he was worth to McDermott. He isn't just a run-stopper, it's more complex than that, as I'm sure you know. He's a space eater, and there aren't that many of those guys to go around, so the good ones get paid well, as there are two or three significantly above Star in the top ten. It's a really difficult job that few are able to physically handle. Not every defense needs one, but the ones that do need them badly.

 

Space eater may not be a "premium position," but neither is $10 mill a year a premium salary. Star is tied for 148th highest paid in the league, in terms of average salary, and 129th highest in terms of guarantee. Calling that a premium salary would be ridiculous. The bottom line is simply that this is a position that McDermott needs filled in his defense and needs filled at a pretty high level. He knew Star could fill it at that level, having coached him in Carolina. And if McDermott has showed one thing, it's that he knows how to put together a really good defense with consistency. He needed Star to do that. 

 

As you point out, this is a good deal for both sides, a small pay cut for some guarantees the Bills are willing to live with because they want him here.

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4 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said:

It's only relevant if they dont learn from their mistakes. McD let Gilmore go, passed on Mahomes,  and Beane traded away more talent than he brought in. Beane admitted the 2018 team was not competitive.  So they wasted a season and multiple draft picks to get Allen and Edmund's. Their fates are all intertwined.  So far Beane has shown that he seems to overpay in free agency, drafts reasonably well but the jury is still out on most of their picks, and gets higher compensation back in trades than would be expected. 

 

 

"Wasted a season"? Man, you just do ... not ... get it.

 

A rebuild isn't a waste. It's utterly clueless to think so. It's accepting a couple of bad seasons with the promise of having great improvement in exchange after the end of the trough in years 3, 4, 5 and on. Which is exactly what is happening so far.

 

Wait, why am I even answering? Not a single thing you said here makes the slightest bit of sense. I'm sure everyone else sees that as well as I.

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3 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

So you think concern about possibly being out of the league in 2021 is going to motivate a player with on-field effort issues who is going into his age 31 season.....coming off two years of declined production......and has now pocketed nearly $50M in his career to both prepare and perform at high level in 2020?    

 

Well you have more faith than I.

 

 

 

 

Not so much more faith as much better perception of reality.

 

Your "effort issues" are perceptible only to yourself and a few other Star haters on these boards. What the Bills say about it is exactly the opposite. What you hear about Star from them isn't the boiler-plate Crash Davis platitudes about giving 100%. Instead you get over-the-top, unbounded compliments about how he works like a dog doing the dirty work to let others get the glory.

 

Yeah, pretty much the whole world, Bills included, expect him to continue to both prepare and perform at a high level in 2020, to do what he's always done. The fact that the Bills guaranteed 2020 and parts of 2021 does indeed mean that the people with access to his workouts and offseason preparation that you simply don't have are indeed very satisfied with his past effort and production and do expect the same going forward.

 

 

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4 hours ago, BillsVet said:

 

NFL teams are defined in the playoffs by how well they score points.  Not their defensive prowess against a lightweight schedule during the regular season.

 

 

That's utter nonsense.

 

You can kid yourself that it's somehow not important that the Chiefs and 9ers were both in the top eight in scoring defense. But that is what you'd be doing, kidding yourself. Both offense and defense are important. Yeah, the Bills offense still needs a lot of work. But it's not somehow unimportant that the Bills defense was genuinely excellent. It is a huge step towards being a good team.

 

 

4 hours ago, BillsVet said:

 

I wonder how that went over the the "culture" of their locker room.  Highest paid defender suddenly getting good after media criticism.  Makes you wonder why it took that for him to elevate his play.  

 

 

It didn't go over, because it didn't happen.

 

First, it really wasn't media criticism. It was criticism by clueless fans. The media mostly had muted positives. When they voiced those and went to the Bills and the guys who watched tape they got much less muted positives. At that point, fans started noticing what they should have been noticing all along, that he was doing a good job at a thankless task.

 

Lotulelei didn't suddenly elevate his play. People just suddenly started noticing that he'd actually been playing pretty well.

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