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Star Lotulelei opting out for 2020


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I wonder if anyone else will opt out.  I had doubts about two who live in my neighborhood; one had a car in the driveway on my run today, but the other hasn't been around all offseason, including today.  And the "other" is a pretty prominent player.  

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1 minute ago, 17islongenough said:

The problem is that the cap may be lowered to 175  million next year and the Bills are over that right now.

 

????? Or lower..

 

You're right. Good news is everyone is in the same boat. Going to need to get creative. 

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8 hours ago, ColeB said:


 


Well, McD had stated that Epenesa will only play DE this season to avoid throwing too much at him.

Actually I thought Beane said they picked Epenesa because of his versatility and ability to play inside.

 

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2020/6/22/21245074/versatility-a-highlight-of-buffalo-bills-defensive-linemen

 

Quote

“The thing about Epenesa that I really liked is his versatility,” said Brandon Beane. “He’s got production from the inside as a three-tech and then from the outside, so I see him lining up as a left defensive base end. And then reducing down as a sub-rusher at times, so the versatility is what I like.”

 

I dont when McD said he wouldnt play Epenesa inside - do you have a link? If so, it still was likely before the Lotuleilei opt out - which changes things no?

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7 hours ago, kota said:

I haven't read any of the responses but i seriously hope people aren't be negative about this decision.  It doesn't matter how well you think he played, or if he would have been cut or not.

You don't know this guys medical history or his families medical history.  Maybe he has someone who is close that has pre-existing conditions that he is concerned about as he should.

 

Football fields and sidelines is just a pool of bacteria.   

Show a little respect during these difficult times.  

So...WITHOUT having any idea what's being said by anyone, you felt it necessary to cut in and chastise us for what we MIGHT be saying? 

 

How's the weather up there?

 

P.s. not a lot of judgment for players opting out right now. Which you'd know if you took two minutes to scan the discussion before wagging your finger at everyone.  

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16 hours ago, Process said:

 

Honestly with all the signings this off-season it's not a huge loss. Hopefully this is the biggest hit we take as far as guys opting out. 

 

 

I suppose it's fair enough to say it's not "huge." Yeah, agreed.

 

But it will hurt very significantly on the field, and a bit in terms of cap implications down the road.

 

The Bills will get the salary cap space this year that his salary would have cost us. And yet that's only this year. What happens with the cap is that we essentially "kicked the can down the road" as it's usually referred to, without our particularly having wanted to. Beane is really smart about the cap, and he is careful as he can be about future spending. Since Lotulelei's next two years have some fully guaranteed money, it will bear on when they might let him go if they do, and will extend his cap impact further than they'd planned.

 

I wonder if they will grab or trade for someone who can do some 1-tech work, though probably not as well as Star. Whatever else happened, their 1-tech depth for this year is going to be hurt unless they make some kind of move. Their platoon was all set, and Phillips had looked good and could continue to improve, as much as his recovery from the injury allows him to do so, but our #3 there involved a major dropoff.

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My biggest concern is that this will put too much pressure on Harrison Phillips, who shouldn't be expected to do a lot in this recovery year after knee surgery.  If often takes more than a full year for a guy to come all the way back, and too much pressure too early could get him injured again with long-term limitations as a result.

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18 hours ago, MJS said:

There are multiple comments like this on every thread on this message board. And it's insufferable.

 

The US has had more than 4.3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus since January.

149,258 Americans have died from the coronavirus since January.

 

That's what is "insufferble".

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14 hours ago, jwhit34 said:

If Phillips is healthy, they still have Oliver, Butler, Phillips and Jefferson to rotate on inside. That should be very good. If all perform as expected it may be Star Who(?). Or if Oliver has a breakout year, A Star is Born.

 

 

The problem is that only Phillips has a 1-tech skill set. Butler can play DE or DT, but hasn't showed the type of play that would lead you to expect him to do very well as a 1-tech. It would be great if he turns out to be able to do that, but right now it wouldn't be something anyone should expect. Same with Oliver and Jefferson.

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12 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

It wasn't fireable but it was a bad contract for an average player. 

 

 

And yet the Bills are willing to cut only about 10% and then guarantee a bunch of the rest of it. It really was not that bad at all. It was what you have to pay in terms of second contracts. And while he's certainly well below-average as a pass rusher, he is also far above average as a 1-tech space-eater, which is what McDermott has shown throughout his career is what he wants and is willing to pay for at 1-tech.

 

Far indeed from fireable.

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8 hours ago, SectionC3 said:

I wonder if anyone else will opt out.  I had doubts about two who live in my neighborhood; one had a car in the driveway on my run today, but the other hasn't been around all offseason, including today.  And the "other" is a pretty prominent player.  

Haushka? I was wondering about him 

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2 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

And yet the Bills are willing to cut only about 10% and then guarantee a bunch of the rest of it. It really was not that bad at all. It was what you have to pay in terms of second contracts. And while he's certainly well below-average as a pass rusher, he is also far above average as a 1-tech space-eater, which is what McDermott has shown throughout his career is what he wants and is willing to pay for at 1-tech.

 

Far indeed from fireable.

 

I don't agreed that he has been "far above average as a 1-tech space eater." And this is the thing with Star, whenever you criticise him you get a bunch of people saying "whoa, you don't understand his job." No. I do. I understand his job. I just think he has been bang solid, league average at it. Not a disaster, but never dominant. There have been games where he has played well and games where he has been moved off his spot far too easily for a guy paid like a top 5 1-tech. If the argument is "well the Bills had a need and overpaid for a guy who they knew fitted the scheme" then fine. I still think it is a bad contract but I at least get the argument. If the argument is that his play has somehow lived up to the contract to the extent that it is not a bad contract then I am sorry, it really hasn't.

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11 hours ago, DrDare said:

thank god, just retire

 

After taking a whole season off from professional football, it will be extremely tough to make a roster next year.  Personally, Star has gotten paid, he very well knows this and will just let his contract play out and ride off into the sunset.

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8 hours ago, TheBeane said:

Freed up $8.1m. Time to extend Milano, Dawkins...

 

 

While I haven't come close to figuring out how they will handle the salary cap results of guys opting out, the reports are that only either $5 mill (as reported by Gaughan of the News) or $4.5 mill (the guaranteed base salary he was supposed to receive this year which will now be delayed till next year) will be saved from this year's cap.

 

I can't figure out which it will be, $4.5 or $5 mill, to me, there's $500K missing somewhere. So you'd probably do better just going with Gaughan and assuming it'll be $5 mill. Apparently the roster bonus, the work out bonus and the appropriated portion of the signing bonus will count against this year's cap.

 

And it's certainly far from impossible that some portion of that $5 mill will go towards bringing in someone to take over Lotulelei's role this year. We'll see if they find that necessary.

 

6 minutes ago, 123719bwiqrb said:

 

After taking a whole season off from professional football, it will be extremely tough to make a roster next year.  Personally, Star has gotten paid, he very well knows this and will just let his contract play out and ride off into the sunset.

 

 

His next year's salary is guaranteed. And $2 mill from the year beyond that. While it's certainly not impossible that he can't make the roster next year, he'll likely be given every chance by the Bills to earn his money.

Edited by Thurman#1
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