Offseason: Players we can cut that would provide the most cap savings...

[ALF]

It all depends on the salary cap and restructures who the Bills can afford for next season.

[DaggersEOD]

On 1/30/2021 at 12:49 PM, balln said:

what was SUPER noticeable this year (and of past couple) is jerry gets held a lot (credit to him - he beats his guy) but the NFL arent calling holding anymore. 

 

ALSO - jerry MISSES tackles. A lot. He doesnt do a great job of bringing QBs or RBs down when has the chance. 

Concerning the holding that’s been allowed more often by the O-Line, is there a type of pass rusher who is LEAST affected by holding?

 

ie, a Power Bullrush would seem to be less susceptible to holding vs a speed edge guy. 
 

If this is the case, I’d want more power vs. more speed. Is there a drawback to having strong DEs vs Fast ones?
 

If not, I want us going power up front. 

[colin]

presuming we can find replacement level players at replacement level prices, i'd ditch them all except houghs and hyde.

 

morse to me, is no better at center for us than two other players we had last year.  our issue is a guard.  if we sign mongo and flip him to C, ford comes back healthy, and we keep our RT, i think we draft a solid OG in the first 2 rounds and our OL is better in every position in the gut, or at least no worse, and we are paying less or equal for better talent.

 

On DL, some young hungry guys a la phillips can be brought in, they won't produce any less than the 3 stiffs we drug in last year, and at a cheaper number.

 

I'd restructure houghs and possibly hyde as well.

 

we need an impact up front.  a top flight pass rusher would go MILES towards that.  star coming back, phillips and oliver getting better w experience,health, and better guys around them (star and whatever star rusher we can bring in) will help our DL.

 

if im really picking, id' add two studs to the DL, letting star and houghs walk after a year or so, and replacing all else w draft or street guys

[RichRiderBills]

Keep Hughes, Hyde, Morse.

[quincy]

From the list I think Brown, Butler and Jefferson stand out as the best candidates to cut – 4.1M Dead Cap with Savings of 21.2M for these 3 players.

 

I would give the opportunity to Davis to become WR2 and see what Hodgins has got – can he become WR4? Potentially draft another WR as well, additionally bring back McKenzie.

 

Brown is going to be 31 soon and coming off injuries and I just do not think he can handle a WR2 workload now. In 2019 he was really good.

 

Butler seems to be a 3T like J. Phillips previously was. Ed Oliver is the starter and back him up with Zimmer.

 

I am not sure what Jefferson’s natural or best position is and he is not a starter. I understand that you get flexibility with him but where should he align?

 

At DE there is already Hughes, Addison, Epenesa and D. Johnson.

 

At DT there is already Star, Oliver, H. Phillips and Zimmer.

 

Cutting Jefferson saves Buffalo 5M by himself after factoring in the Dead Cap.

 

I think Buffalo has to find long term answers at 1T given Star’s age and there is doubt as to whether H. Phillips can become a starter and a solid dependable 1T will help Oliver.

 

Thinking of 2022 our DL could very well be Epenesa – H. Phillips – Oliver – D. Johnson given the ages of the veterans we currently have.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Sal Maiorana's take on who to cut.

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/football/nfl/bills/2021/02/02/four-players-buffalo-bills-should-cut-to-help-tight-salary-cap/4341452001/

Fundamentally he's at Brown, Butler and Jefferson, Smith

He looks at Morse, Addison, Beasley and Hyde as potential restructure candidates

 

My issue is him looking at DL and especially 1TDT in terms of stats.  That's not how to look at it in McDermott's system.

 

Then there's the point that I think players have until August to decide whether or not to opt out again.  But FA decisions need to be made in March.

If we cut all our DL and then Lotulelei opts out again, we are short handed on DL.

[BuffaloBill]

On 1/30/2021 at 12:25 PM, NewEra said:

We will be worse off if we cut Jerry Hughes.   Mark it down

 

 

Amen. I do not understand the Hughes slights that occur so frequently 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

23 hours ago, Doc said:

 

Opting-out won't be an option now.  If a player doesn't feel like a vaccine will protect him, the only option is retirement.

 

I am having trouble finding where this was explained, but one of the "insider" types (Schefter, Rapoport, etc) tweeted an explanation.  The NFL and NFLPA expect there to be an opt-out option again.  It wasn't part of the original negotiation which did include extending the special PS rules through 2021, but they are adding it.  It will apparently involve more negotiation between player and team though.  Stay tuned.

 

[transplantbillsfan]

Hughes is someone we just absolutely should not cut.  He's still playing at a very high level, even if the numbers don't show it.  He was arguably our best and most consistent defensive player this year.

 

I feel essentially the same way about Hyde, but I view him as slightly more likely to be gone simply because I really think Jaquon Johnson might be given his shot in the near future.  Hughes really doesn't have any credible pass rushers behind him.

 

Everyone else could be gone, but I don't think all of them will be.

Edited February 2, 2021 by transplantbillsfan

[BillsCuse]

Some people are asking who the replacements will be....I think its way too early to tell.  Other teams are in much worse cap situations than us and will be forced to make cuts - will have to wait and see who's available.  Its also a bad year to be a free agent.  A lot of the very top tier guys will get their deals, but maybe not all.  Also, I have a feeling a lot of mid-tier to above average guys will be forced to settle on one year "ok" deals and get their big one the following year.  The Bills are also now a contender, we will be extremely attractive for those types of players.  I think free agency will be a lot more interesting than people expect - even into April and May.  Not too many restricting roster bonuses for most of those guys listed so can cut them later if a replacement is found.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BuffaloRebound]

My guess is some/all of these guys will be more than willing to take pay-cuts.  I wouldn’t wanna be looking for a new team in a year where the cap is going down by at least $20m

[ngbills]

If the cap number is really going to be lower. This year would be a good year to release over priced players and replace them with better or equal options at a lower price. Guys like Vernon Butler and Q Jefferson are likely gone - $8M cap hits. Your not spending $16M of $175M on them. Next on the list would have to be Brown, Hughes, Matakevich, Addison. Poyer and Hyde are big savings but maybe those are restructures along with Morse. 

[Aussie Joe]

8 hours ago, BuffaloRebound said:

My guess is some/all of these guys will be more than willing to take pay-cuts.  I wouldn’t wanna be looking for a new team in a year where the cap is going down by at least $20m

 

Things could get a bit ruthless if you want to play some hard ball...

 

Do you say to someone like Addison who is due $8M (including workout and Roster bonuses) that we are paying you $4Mil total  take it or leave it or good luck playing out your last year with the Jaguars who might pay you $5M?

 

[BaaadThingsMan]

https://sports.yahoo.com/bills-te-lee-smith-contemplating-180915163.html

This could help

[Nextmanup]

On 1/30/2021 at 12:29 PM, Watkins101 said:

You don’t get pass rushers of Jerry Hughes level with 7.5 million, unless you get one in the draft, likely early on, and they likely won’t be nearly as good for next year.

And how highly would you value Jerry Hughes current pass rushing skills?

For the vast bulk of the season, they were "not good enough."

 

 

[SoCal Deek]

I've said it before.  Beane can pretty much just wait it out. It's not going to be a big pay day year if the entire league is struggling with a reduced salary cap.  Where are these players going to go?  I'm guessing quite a few would choose a re-structured contract and a pretty much guaranteed playoff run. Now, that doesn't mean Beane wants them to stay, but I'm guessing he's in a really good negotiating position, and he knows it.

[oldmanfan]

4 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

I've said it before.  Beane can pretty much just wait it out. It's not going to be a big pay day year if the entire league is struggling with a reduced salary cap.  Where are these players going to go?  I'm guessing quite a few would choose a re-structured contract and a pretty much guaranteed playoff run. Now, that doesn't mean Beane wants them to stay, but I'm guessing he's in a really good negotiating position, and he knows it.

Agree.  Milano will not get the huge numbers he may want because of the lower cap this coming season.  So maybe we can keep him.  And based on Beane's presser, I seriously doubt any of the one year D linemen from last season return.

[Doc]

19 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

Things could get a bit ruthless if you want to play some hard ball...

 

Do you say to someone like Addison who is due $8M (including workout and Roster bonuses) that we are paying you $4Mil total  take it or leave it or good luck playing out your last year with the Jaguars who might pay you $5M?

 

I would think that any player under consideration to be cut would be approached about it and given the option to take a pay cut instead.  Nothing wrong with that.

[Magox]

On 1/30/2021 at 12:11 PM, bills6969 said:

It's looking like the Salary cap for next year will be somewhere around the $175mm mark.  If this is the case,  we won't have much room to do anything in free agency.   In order to create some room, we're going to need to let some guys go.  Here is a list players we can cut a reasonable price that would provide highest Cap savings:

 

1. John Brown - Dead cap 1.6m;  Cap savings 7.9m

2. Jerry Hughes - Dead cap 2.1m; Cap savings 7.5m

3. Vernon Butler - Dead cap 1m; Cap savings 6.8m

4. Quinton Jefferson - Dead cap 1.5m; Cap savings 6.5m

5. Mario Addison - Dead cap 4m; Cap savings 6.1m

6. Micah Hyde - Dead cap 1.6m; Cap savings 5.2m  

7. Mitch Morse - Dead cap 5.5m; Cap savings 4.8m

8. Lee Smith - Dead cap 0;  Cap savings 2.25m

 

Imo, you absolutely cut ties with 1 thru 4. These are guys whose value to the team does not exceed the cap savings we would attain by letting them go.  This would equate to about $29m in cap savings.  Add in 5 thru 8 (excluding Hyde; too valuable to team to cut) and we're at a cool 42m of cap savings.  These players can all be replaced in the draft or cheaper route in FA.

 

 

 

John Brown most likely will be cut and replaced by Stills.

 

Jerry Hughes stays on the team

 

Vernon Butler is a good cut candidate

 

Mario Addison is a goner

 

Micah Hyde stays put

 

Mitch Morse could be a surprise cut but I suspect he stays

 

Lee Smith hopefully retires, if not he should be cut.

[JakeFrommStateFarm]

I'm shocked Fromm didn't make the bills fans cut list