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Looks like John Brown was released

Reed83HOF

By Reed83HOF
in The Stadium Wall Archives

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NewEra
NewEra

Sad to see ya go Smoke.  Thanks for buying in and giving it your all.  Class act and I’ll miss your interviews.    Had to be done.  It’s a numbers game and his number didn’t match his productio

BigdaddyinOrlando
BigdaddyinOrlando

Dam, figured this was coming but still saddens me to think he won’t be back. He and Cole came hear and help start the turnaround. Injuries definitely have curtailed his career! Will root for him and h

GunnerBill
GunnerBill

Probably the right decision. Thanks for 2019 JB.

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BobbyC81 Veteran

BobbyC81

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7 hours ago, Charles Romes said:

Will have a lot of interest as a viable 2/3 WR threat if healthy. 


Not sure about that.  With the reduced cap number and another good upcoming WR draft, most teams will likely go for a rookie over a veteran. 

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MrEpsYtown Veteran

MrEpsYtown

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48 minutes ago, ColeB said:


Not sure about that.  With the reduced cap number and another good upcoming WR draft, most teams will likely go for a rookie over a veteran. 


Agreed. I could see him sitting around for awhile in free agency like Kenny Stills did last year. 

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MasterStrategist Veteran

MasterStrategist

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1 hour ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

That's pretty much what most think

However was Brown the X? Typically the X is the #1. Maybe the Bills do things differently. 

X receiver isn't typically the #1, rather refers to alignment.  Receiver lined up on the open side, ie: on the line.  Typically your X, is your speed guy.

 

Davis filling that role isn't surprising, he is more of a down field type, has deceiving long speed and obviously great tracking/size to go get the deep passes.

 

We do need more speed, so won't be surprised to see us go after 1-2 wrs again

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Ed_Formerly_of_Roch All Pro

Ed_Formerly_of_Roch

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I think once they traded for Diggs last year, Brown had to be worried.  Not at all saying the Bills shouldn't have traded for Diggs, but if instead they had drafted a rookie WR in the 1st round, Browns contract would have been fine. The issue with him was he signed a contract that paid a decent amount of money, not top $$, but at the time he was signing as the Bills #1 WR, the amount of the contract was fine.  Once Diggs showed up Browns contract was too high for the production gained by him.  On top of trading for Diggs they then drafted two rookies, one who's looked pretty good and showed most of the season he was capable of replacing Brown again on cheap rookie contract. 

 

Brown became an easy target to release.  Probably WR is the position with the most depth on the team and produced good results.

 

Basically the rule in the NFL is if you can production from a player on a rookie contract that is maybe even half the amount of what the high paid vet is making, get rid of the vet.

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RyanC883 All Pro

RyanC883

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9 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

I'm not optimistic about Williams at this point. Personally I think he should be a priority. But sounds like Beane is ready to move ahead with Ford at RT, and maybe sign a depth guy like Rick Wagner plus another draft pick. If they're letting Williams test the market 90% of the time that means the player is gone.

 

would also hate to see williams go.  but a quality Ot will be available at 30.  might make more sense for Ford, rookie to battle and play ford at guard perhaps, while using FA money on an edge.  

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Hapless Bills Fan Hall of Famer

Hapless Bills Fan

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3 hours ago, ColeB said:

Not sure about that.  With the reduced cap number and another good upcoming WR draft, most teams will likely go for a rookie over a veteran. 

 

I think some of the same reasons that led the Bills to sign John Brown and Cole Beasley then trade for a veteran like Stefon Diggs over a talented rookie who would be on a cheap deal, will apply to John Brown vs going for a rookie over a veteran.

 

Take a team like the Jags.  They're planning to draft a QB.  They've got a talented young WR room with Chark and Shenault.  They've got $73M in cap space to use up.  It could be a very smart move for them to sign a vet who runs polished routes and could lead the room and help their young QB transition to the NFL.  He brings something a rookie won't.

 

The Bengals have $43M in cap space.   AJ Green is a free agent and maybe they want to move on - adding a vet WR who had a 1000 yd season in 2019 instead of 2017 might look like a good move. 

 

Can actually construct an argument for why Brown would be a good move for the teams with the top-6 cap space, though if I were Brown I'd want to pick a team that has a QB...Jets and Patriots wouldn't intrigue me too much until they straighten the QB sitch out, and Colts would be a ??.  Still leaves Jags, Bengals, and WFT (who knows who they'll end up with but they seem to have 2 journeyman types who can play on the roster).

 

Brown doesn't need "most teams" to want him, he only needs 1

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machine gun kelly All Pro

machine gun kelly

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I never thought about the Bengals, but that makes a lot of sense.  A healthy Brown would be great for Burrow.  Burrow looks like the real deal before his injury.  I felt bad for the guy, and the Bengals need weapons for Burrow.    I’d hate see Smoke at the Pats or Jests.  Both need weapons, but if I’m Brown, why go to a team that doesn’t have a QB.  Now if the Jets take Wilson, and then another 1st, and then 5 more picks in the first 98 slots without anyone trading for Darnold.  I wouldn’t be surprised another team giving away a 3rd for Darnold.  I’m certainly not rooting for the Jests, but they can improve significantly and Brown could agree to it if they give him some assurances what support they will provide for him.

 

I would strongly prefer the Bengals, But it could happen.

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Ray Stonada RFA

Ray Stonada

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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N1PV0xjS0gY" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

(Tried to embed this above but couldn't get it to work.)

 

Here are all of John Brown's Bills' TDs: https://www.youtube.com/embed/N1PV0xjS0gY

 

It felt good to watch this.

 

Wish Smoke the best for his future.

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SoCal Deek Hall of Famer

SoCal Deek

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I really liked Brown but for whatever reason I just never saw him as a #1 WR. It was a shame he missed so much time in 2020 because I think his appropriate spot is as a #2 alongside Diggs...assuming he’d take the pay-cut. Now we’ll never know.

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Patrick Duffy All Pro

Patrick Duffy

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8 minutes ago, teef said:

this kinda stinks, but it happens every season.

Yeah, I wonder why he wasn't given a heads up or whatever. He says he was expecting it, but so did many of us so that don't mean much. Maybe they weren't sure what they were going to do exactly until the last minute. I don't know, but I wouldn't go as far to say it was a dick move by FO. It does happen that way a lot, and sometimes players do get advanced notice. But anyway...

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RichRiderBills Veteran

RichRiderBills

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14 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I think this last isn't painting quite a correct picture.  Brown played 16 games for the Ravens + a playoff in 2018 and 15 games + a playoff in 2019 for the Bills (healthy scratch for the final reg. season game).

 

However, it wasn't just the number of injuries Brown had this season (3 different injuries) but that he really struggled against physical coverage and was taken totally out of 2 playoff games and 2 regular season games where he played.  We can't pay top dollar to a WR who gets erased so easily.

 

 

I'm not sure he was ever " completely" healty...but dont have a real problem with what you say. Your right, his lack of physicality is another issue.

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Patrick Duffy All Pro

Patrick Duffy

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12 minutes ago, ndirish1978 said:

If true, crappy look for the team. This would be the first time I hear they've not handled things in a professional manner in regards to their players. 

I wouldn't jump to conclusion though. May be a reason it just so happened that it ended up being a spur of the moment type thing. Anyway with that said, there's been nothing but praise from many about Bills FO and the way everyone respects one another.

 

Something just doesn't quite add up.

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Hapless Bills Fan Hall of Famer

Hapless Bills Fan

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37 minutes ago, Doc said:

That sucks if they didn't talk to him beforehand.

 

If they didn't talk to Smoke beforehand, then how did he know?

 

The Bills didn't announce it before Smoke announced it on his Instagram.  Why would that be the sequence if the Bills didn't talk to Smoke?

 

What he might mean is that the Bills didn't reach out and say "would you consider re-negotiating your contract?" or anything like that, they just called his agent and said "I'm sorry, we're going to release John Brown, thanks for everything".

 

If that's what he means, it's worded poorly. 

 

And no, I don't think Josh Allen should have input.  I'm sure Josh would say "yeah, I want Smoke to stay, he's My Guy" but I think Allen would say "it's not my decision" just like he did when he was asked about Williams and Feliciano.  He said he loved playing with them but it's not up to him.

 

16 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

Really, he's going to complain to the media that he didn't get a "heads up"? Man just go sign with another team, it's not like your career is over.

 

I mean, Smoke announced it on his Instagram "thanks for the 2 years" before it was announced on the Buffalo Bills site or their social media.  When Rappaport announced it, he referenced Smoke's Instagram post.  So it's not that he didn't get a "heads up" before the Bills publicly announced the cut, that's not the issue.

 

I think the issue might be that they didn't reach out to him like Morse and Butler to renegotiate or something?  Or give him a heads-up "it looks like we're going to release you in a month if you want to put feelers out" (but Beane doesn't work that way).

 

9 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

LOL at him saying Ben Roethlisberger is good with the deep ball.  And about the Colts - last year that was with Rivers, remains to be seen if Wentz gets back on form.

 

 

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Patrick Duffy All Pro

Patrick Duffy

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3 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

If they didn't talk to Smoke beforehand, then how did he know?

 

The Bills didn't announce it before Smoke announced it on his Instagram.  Why would that be the sequence if the Bills didn't talk to Smoke?

 

What he might mean is that the Bills didn't reach out and say "would you consider re-negotiating your contract?" or anything like that, they just called his agent and said "I'm sorry, we're going to release John Brown, thanks for everything".

 

If that's what he means, it's worded poorly. 

 

And no, I don't think Josh Allen should have input.  I'm sure Josh would say "yeah, I want Smoke to stay, he's My Guy" but I think Allen would say "it's not my decision" just like he did when he was asked about Williams and Feliciano.  He said he loved playing with them but it's not up to him.

 

I mean, Smoke announced it on his Instagram "thanks for the 2 years" before it was announced on the Buffalo Bills site or their social media.  When Rappaport announced it, he referenced Smoke's Instagram post.  So it's not that he didn't get a "heads up" before the Bills publicly announced it, that's not the issue.

I mentioned that too, although if I'm not mistaken I thought it said he expected it, instead of actually knowing. But as I also mentioned, many fans also expected it so doesn't account for much.

 

 

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Hapless Bills Fan Hall of Famer

Hapless Bills Fan

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36 minutes ago, dreadlox said:

Why drag Josh Allen into it? I think that’s a bad look. 

 

He loves Josh and he thinks Josh would have fought to keep him.  

 

But I think Josh knows he needs to abstain from that front-office stuff, other than at a very low level of "hey, if you're bringing guys in, could you bring in this guy for a look?"

 

8 minutes ago, Patrick_Duffy said:

I mentioned that too, although if I'm not mistaken I thought it said he expected it, instead of actually knowing. But as I also mentioned, many fans also expected it so doesn't account for much.

 

The point is: the initial public announcement came from Smoke's Instagram account, not from the Bills

 

There wasn't any 'per source, Brown will be released', it came from Brown himself.

 

So I think his issue is that he wanted a "heads up" hey, we may have to release you as a salary cap move a couple weeks back, or to be approached about a restructure.  I don't think Beane works with "heads up"s and I don't think the Bills wanted to restructure him by extending his deal or even keeping him with a $2M pay cut or something.

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Stank_Nasty Veteran

Stank_Nasty

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13 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

 

 

LOL at him saying Ben Roethlisberger is good with the deep ball.  And about the Colts - last year that was with Rivers, remains to be seen if Wentz gets back on form.

 

 

HAHA. Him and his 30th ranked YPA.

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Doc Hall of Famer

Doc

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8 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

If they didn't talk to Smoke beforehand, then how did he know?

 

The Bills didn't announce it before Smoke announced it on his Instagram.  Why would that be the sequence if the Bills didn't talk to Smoke?

 

What he might mean is that the Bills didn't reach out and say "would you consider re-negotiating your contract?" or anything like that, they just called his agent and said "I'm sorry, we're going to release John Brown, thanks for everything".

 

If that's what he means, it's worded poorly. 

 

Yup, that's what I'm getting at.  Approach him about a pay cut and put the ball in his court to take one or face being cut.  I guess they didn't want him back, period, but it seems like such a cold way to end things.  

 

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Patrick Duffy All Pro

Patrick Duffy

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3 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

He loves Josh and he thinks Josh would have fought to keep him.  

 

But I think Josh knows he needs to abstain from that front-office stuff, other than at a very low level of "hey, if you're bringing guys in, could you bring in this guy for a look?"

 

 

The point is: the initial public announcement came from Smoke's Instagram account, not from the Bills

Oh yeah, forgot about that. He did post other day Thanking them for 2 years. Thought something didn't quite add up. So obviously he knew then. Kinda weird he would say he didn't get a heads up then. Oh well, whatever, enjoyed it while he was here.

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Hapless Bills Fan Hall of Famer

Hapless Bills Fan

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5 minutes ago, Patrick_Duffy said:

Oh yeah, forgot about that. He did post other day Thanking them for 2 years. Thought something didn't quite add up. So obviously he knew then. Kinda weird he would say he didn't get a heads up then. Oh well, whatever, enjoyed it while he was here.

 

Yes, and it was that post that an insider like Ian Rappoport cited, not "per source" or from the Bills themselves.

 

That's why I think Smoke doesn't mean that the Bills didn't give him a heads-up he was being cut before telling the media, because all signs point to they told him before it got out into the media.

 

What I think he means is that the Bills didn't have a convo with him where they said back at his exit interview or 2 weeks ago "you've been great here but you're not in our plans for next year, start shopping yourself", or a convo about renegotiating his contract or taking a lower salary.

 

9 minutes ago, Doc said:

Yup, that's what I'm getting at.  Approach him about a pay cut and put the ball in his court to take one or face being cut.  I guess they didn't want him back, period, but it seems like such a cold way to end things. 

 

It's a cold business sometimes.

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whatdrought All Pro

whatdrought

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1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:


 


sucks, but the reality is that the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. They probably think they can get younger and cheaper and not miss him that much.

 

hard business, but we’ve seen too many teams drop off cause they can’t make hard choices when the bill is due.

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