Joe Marino's mock offseason for the Bills

[HappyDays]

 

Here's a summary of the moves he made:

 

Pre-FA moves to create cap space:
--> Haack, Beasley, Daryl Williams, and Matakevich are all cut.
-->The only Bills FA that he re-signs is Bates - all other FAs such as Wallace, Hughes, Addison, and Phillips he lets walk.
-->Diggs, Morse, and Poyer are extended in a way that lowers their cap hit for 2022.
-->Dawkins' contract is restructured to open up additional cap space in 2022.

 

After those moves he has $38.5 million in available cap space entering FA.

 

Offensive FA signings:
WR Christian Kirk 3 years $35 million
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick 1 year $5 million
OL Austin Blythe 2 years $4.5 million
OL Joseph Noteboom 2 years $6 million
RB Jerick McKinnon 1 year $2 million
RB Brandon Bolden 1 year $2.5 million
TE Will Dissly 2 years $9 million

 

Defensive FA signings:
DE Chandler Jones 2 years $30 million
CB Sidney Jones 2 years $8 million
DE Shaq Lawson (no contract details given)
DT DaQuan Jones 2 years $9 million
DT Taven Bryan 2 years $5 million

 

Special teams FA signings:
P JK Scott 2 years $3 million

 

All of the above signings cost $34 million in cap space in 2022. That leaves him with $4.5 million in cap space heading into the draft.

 

Draft:
R1 #25 Tyler Smith, OL, Tulsa
R2 #57 Travis Jones, DT, UConn
R3 #71(trade up) Calvin Austin, WR, Memphis
R3 #97(trade up) Cam Taylor-Britt, CB, Nebraska
R7 #228 Ty Chandler, RB, UNC

 

We only end up with 5 draft picks because of the two trade-ups.

 

I think I'd take this offseason right now if I could. We have more cap space flexibility than people realize.

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by HappyDays

[JohnBonhamRocks]

If we got even just McKinnon, Kirk, and Chandler Jones, then I’d be happy with FA. 

[Clyde Smith]

NTM they can free up more money with the release of Star at June 1st cuts.

[MiltonWaddams]

I can’t argue with that off-season. Dissly would be a reasonable backup TE, though the last former Seahawks TE we had in the building didn’t even make the team(Hollister). Just a fun fact and not really an indictment of Dissly. Love to have Kirk and Chandler in the fold. I’m not sure Blythe or Noteboom are even as good as Williams at G, but I understand the cap space created by releasing them adds needed depth. Sidney Jones may become TBD’s next whipping boy. He’s not been extremely consistent. Maybe with a superior pass rush in front of him, he can get over that.

[thenorthremembers]

Wouldnt be a fan of this.   While Daryl Williams struggled at tackle last year, he played at a very high level at guard.  To me he is a restructure candidate only, not a cut.  You'd be cutting off your nose to spite your face.   I cannot tell you how much I hate cutting a starter to draft his replacement.  Makes so much more sense to keep the starter, draft his replacement, and then have them compete. 

 

Like the free agent signings.   Hate the draft. 

[DJB]

We are adding 3 RB's? 

 

Not sure about that especially since none of them are even an upgrade on who we have 

[Process]

Just now, thenorthremembers said:

Wouldnt be a fan of this.   While Daryl Williams struggled at tackle last year, he played at a very high level at guard.  To me he is a restructure candidate only, not a cut.  You'd be cutting off your nose to spite your face.   I cannot tell you how much I hate cutting a starter to draft his replacement.  Makes so much more sense to keep the starter, draft his replacement, and then have them compete. 

 

Like the free agent signings.   Hate the draft. 

He definitely did not play at a "very high level.." 

[Rico]

Will Dissly? If we’re playing in the Super Bowl, I’d rather have Gronk.

[thenorthremembers]

7 minutes ago, Process said:

He definitely did not play at a "very high level.." 

I disagree.   He played poorly when asked to move over to tackle.  But when he was in at guard he was one of the better olineman last year.    He has been available every game for Buffalo since he signed here, has played both guard and tackle, and when he's played guard he has played very well.   You don't cut a guy who is available and plays well,  to replace him with a rookie, it doesnt make sense and you're asking for trouble.  Does he need to restructure to a guard's salary yes, but he has been a good player for the team. 

Edited March 11, 2022 by thenorthremembers

[Not at the table Karlos]

18 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

Wouldnt be a fan of this.   While Daryl Williams struggled at tackle last year, he played at a very high level at guard.  To me he is a restructure candidate only, not a cut.  You'd be cutting off your nose to spite your face.   I cannot tell you how much I hate cutting a starter to draft his replacement.  Makes so much more sense to keep the starter, draft his replacement, and then have them compete. 

 

Like the free agent signings.   Hate the draft. 

I'm gonna have to disagree on "very high level". He was average at best but mostly below average 

9 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

 

Saw your edit so tried to delete post 

Edited March 11, 2022 by Not at the table Karlos

[DCbillsfan]

4 minutes ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

I'm gonna have to disagree on "very high level". He was average at best but mostly below average 

I agree.  Williams will likely need to take a pay cut and he'll probably need to beat out competition for the RG spot.

[YattaOkasan]

23 minutes ago, Clyde Smith said:

NTM they can free up more money with the release of Star at June 1st cuts.

I think he mentioned that cut after the draft to have some more money going into the season. 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

I'm too lazy to look up how many of those FA signings are true free agents or how many were cuts. 

But my guess is signing that many guys eliminates the two comp picks they will get for Wallace and Trubisky.

I'd rather see Williams on the team at RG even if that means his salary is unchanged. A pay cut or restructure would be a good outcome.

No need to sign a punter in FA. Just draft one. 

As for the draft picks. No thanks. They need to go CB#2 in the first round. They don't need a late round RB. Without Klein they need to add a young LB in the drafts middle rounds.

[BuffaloRebound]

i have no problem with the cuts or cap space part.  Same with Kirk and Chandler Jones.  But way too many JAG free agents for my liking.  Why not just bring back our own JAG’s? Phillips and Wallace won’t be much more than the JAG’s he’s replacing them with.  And Gronk wouldn’t be much more than Dissley.  And not sure why we’d let Feliciano walk and bring in 2 JAG’s at the same price to replace him.  

[HappyDays]

18 minutes ago, Rico said:

Will Dissly? If we’re playing in the Super Bowl, I’d rather have Gronk.

 

Joe is in the camp of not wanting Gronkowski because of his hit on Tre White a few years. I agree with you though.

[JohnBonhamRocks]

Just now, HappyDays said:

 

Joe is in the camp of not wanting Gronkowski because of his hit on Tre White a few years. I agree with you though.

I agree too. Would rather take the money from Dissly and 1 or 2 others, probably Sidney Jones and one of the OL or DTs given we draft them in rounds 1 and 2 anyways, and pair Gronk w/ Knox.

 

Hate him for the hit, but if we win a Super Bowl and Tre White gets a ring I can’t imagine it will matter. 

[HappyDays]

1 minute ago, BuffaloRebound said:

Why not just bring back our own JAG’s? Phillips and Wallace won’t be much more than the JAG’s he’s replacing them with.

 

Wallace is projected to get more than $4 million AAV. Sidney Jones is an intriguing name for me. I remember a lot of draftniks being very high on him as a 1st round talent, but then he had a season ending injury at his pro day. He flashed for Seattle in the back half of last season. He gives us a lot more upside than Wallace and likely will be cheaper. That's a solid move IMO.

[frogger]

I'd rather spend a little more on the OL in Free agency and take a CB in round one.  I do like Tyler Smith though.

 

 

[947]

I like Jerrick McKinnon, he looked really good for KC, but there's a 0% chance we're signing more than 1 FA RB.

[BuffaloRebound]

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

 

Wallace is projected to get more than $4 million AAV. Sidney Jones is an intriguing name for me. I remember a lot of draftniks being very high on him as a 1st round talent, but then he had a season ending injury at his pro day. He flashed for Seattle in the back half of last season. He gives us a lot more upside than Wallace and likely will be cheaper. That's a solid move IMO.

I’ll believe Wallace gets an $8-9m AAV deal when I see it.  Teams could’ve signed him for $3m AAV last year and nobody did.  He’s  a system CB who’s more valuable to the Bills than anybody else.  2 years $10m.  

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

Like much of it, I'd rather sign Joe Haden and draft a CB high.

[SCBills]

Don’t love it.  Don’t hate it.  
 

If we cut Star, post 6/1, most of this makes sense.  
 

That DL would be stout, especially if any of the young guys make a jump.  
 

His RB situation is bizarre though.  Singletary, McKinnon, Bolden, Moss, Chandler…. 5 RB’s?

[The Tomcat]

Well thought out and detailed.  If we did 75% of that or a version of that, I'd be happy.  It shows us as long as you can pay cash now, the cap can be manipulated.  Just need an owner with deeep pockets.

 

Joe reminds me of when Sal Cappaccio was doing a Bills show on Justin.Tv when you could tell Sal was an up and comer in the Bills media industry.

 

I think Joe does a great job concerning the Bills and is worth the listen.

 

(not Joe's mom)

 

(PS.  The Rockpile Report is a great Bills Podcast as well....off stump)

 

 

Edited March 12, 2022 by The Tomcat

[MPT]

48 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

Wouldnt be a fan of this.   While Daryl Williams struggled at tackle last year, he played at a very high level at guard.  To me he is a restructure candidate only, not a cut.  You'd be cutting off your nose to spite your face.   I cannot tell you how much I hate cutting a starter to draft his replacement.  Makes so much more sense to keep the starter, draft his replacement, and then have them compete. 

 

Like the free agent signings.   Hate the draft. 

 

Williams is making starting tackle money but he's just a serviceable guard. If he takes a pay cut rather than a restructure I'd be happy with keeping him.

[Rigotz]

[Solomon Grundy]

54 minutes ago, DJB said:

We are adding 3 RB's? 

 

Not sure about that especially since none of them are even an upgrade on who we have 

To battle it out in TC

[HappyDays]

11 minutes ago, SCBills said:

His RB situation is bizarre though.  Singletary, McKinnon, Bolden, Moss, Chandler…. 5 RB’s?

 

Yes, he pointed out the Bills usually roster 4 RBs so he's only rostering one more than usual. McKinnon takes over for Breida, Bolden takes over for Taiwan Jones as the ST guy. Chandler is rostered because he's one of only 5 draft picks.

[Solomon Grundy]

28 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

Wallace is projected to get more than $4 million AAV. Sidney Jones is an intriguing name for me. I remember a lot of draftniks being very high on him as a 1st round talent, but then he had a season ending injury at his pro day. He flashed for Seattle in the back half of last season. He gives us a lot more upside than Wallace and likely will be cheaper. That's a solid move IMO.

Wasn't the Bills mentioned to Sidney Jones also during the draft? 

[MrEpsYtown]

Seems like a lot of those ideas came from this board. We have touched on pretty much all of these guys at some point here. I brought up Taven Bryan and Austin Blythe a little while ago. 

[Rico]

43 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

Joe is in the camp of not wanting Gronkowski because of his hit on Tre White a few years. I agree with you though.

When Tre White is on the verge of being a 1st-ballot HOF’er, I might give af about his feelings. 

Edited March 11, 2022 by Rico

[MJS]

34 minutes ago, MrEpsYtown said:

Seems like a lot of those ideas came from this board. We have touched on pretty much all of these guys at some point here. I brought up Taven Bryan and Austin Blythe a little while ago. 

He's been talking about all of these guys for months now. And this board talks about literally every single free agent, trade candidate, and draft pick possible, even the ones that don't make any sense.

[Einstein's Dog]

I like a lot of it.  Especially C Jones.  My changes:

 

Maybe A Corbett over Noteboom - let Kromer make the call.

Better TE -   Gronk, if not then Engram or Ertz.  He says "Dissly"?..... please, that does nothing for me.

To afford those you don't get C Kirk,  you get the low priced loser of Beas/McKenzie.  You also don't need 2 FA RBs, that's one too many.

 

Draft - 1st round WR for Josh - a T Burks or J Williams stud.  Brings financial progression to WR room - Diggs restructure soon, Davis in 2 yrs, Rookie for 4/5 yrs.  Staying away from the shiny >$10M WR allows for the rookie to grow quickly.  That's the mid-long term thinking we need.  

 

 

[julian]

2 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

Here's a summary of the moves he made:

 

Pre-FA moves to create cap space:
--> Haack, Beasley, Daryl Williams, and Matakevich are all cut.
-->The only Bills FA that he re-signs is Bates - all other FAs such as Wallace, Hughes, Addison, and Phillips he lets walk.
-->Diggs, Morse, and Poyer are extended in a way that lowers their cap hit for 2022.
-->Dawkins' contract is restructured to open up additional cap space in 2022.

 

After those moves he has $38.5 million in available cap space entering FA.

 

Offensive FA signings:
WR Christian Kirk 3 years $35 million
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick 1 year $5 million
OL Austin Blythe 2 years $4.5 million
OL Joseph Noteboom 2 years $6 million
RB Jerick McKinnon 1 year $2 million
RB Brandon Bolden 1 year $2.5 million
TE Will Dissly 2 years $9 million

 

Defensive FA signings:
DE Chandler Jones 2 years $30 million
CB Sidney Jones 2 years $8 million
DE Shaq Lawson (no contract details given)
DT DaQuan Jones 2 years $9 million
DT Taven Bryan 2 years $5 million

 

Special teams FA signings:
P JK Scott 2 years $3 million

 

All of the above signings cost $34 million in cap space in 2022. That leaves him with $4.5 million in cap space heading into the draft.

 

Draft:
R1 #25 Tyler Smith, OL, Tulsa
R2 #57 Travis Jones, DT, UConn
R3 #71(trade up) Calvin Austin, WR, Memphis
R3 #97(trade up) Cam Taylor-Britt, CB, Nebraska
R7 #228 Ty Chandler, RB, UNC

 

We only end up with 5 draft picks because of the two trade-ups.

 

I think I'd take this offseason right now if I could. We have more cap space flexibility than people realize.

 

There’s some players here I don’t know much about and a couple I’m not keen on, but when considering the additions of Kirk and C.Jones, I’d sign up for this.

 

seeing Hughes and Addison gone and allowing the young linemen to get more snaps is a must in my book.

[MrEpsYtown]

31 minutes ago, MJS said:

He's been talking about all of these guys for months now. And this board talks about literally every single free agent, trade candidate, and draft pick possible, even the ones that don't make any sense.

 

Ok thanks. I don't read his work so I thought it was kind of strange. I do think there are a lot of good ideas on here, and that's why I am here. 

[Alphadawg7]

2 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

Here's a summary of the moves he made:

 

Pre-FA moves to create cap space:
--> Haack, Beasley, Daryl Williams, and Matakevich are all cut.
-->The only Bills FA that he re-signs is Bates - all other FAs such as Wallace, Hughes, Addison, and Phillips he lets walk.
-->Diggs, Morse, and Poyer are extended in a way that lowers their cap hit for 2022.
-->Dawkins' contract is restructured to open up additional cap space in 2022.

 

After those moves he has $38.5 million in available cap space entering FA.

 

Offensive FA signings:
WR Christian Kirk 3 years $35 million
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick 1 year $5 million
OL Austin Blythe 2 years $4.5 million
OL Joseph Noteboom 2 years $6 million
RB Jerick McKinnon 1 year $2 million
RB Brandon Bolden 1 year $2.5 million
TE Will Dissly 2 years $9 million

 

Defensive FA signings:
DE Chandler Jones 2 years $30 million
CB Sidney Jones 2 years $8 million
DE Shaq Lawson (no contract details given)
DT DaQuan Jones 2 years $9 million
DT Taven Bryan 2 years $5 million

 

Special teams FA signings:
P JK Scott 2 years $3 million

 

All of the above signings cost $34 million in cap space in 2022. That leaves him with $4.5 million in cap space heading into the draft.

 

Draft:
R1 #25 Tyler Smith, OL, Tulsa
R2 #57 Travis Jones, DT, UConn
R3 #71(trade up) Calvin Austin, WR, Memphis
R3 #97(trade up) Cam Taylor-Britt, CB, Nebraska
R7 #228 Ty Chandler, RB, UNC

 

We only end up with 5 draft picks because of the two trade-ups.

 

I think I'd take this offseason right now if I could. We have more cap space flexibility than people realize.

 

This is a pretty ridiculous take if you ask me.

 

So much wrong with it that’s it’s hard to know where to begin.  
 

Couple glaring issues…Kirk is going to get offers over $40M for sure and offers in their $12m-$14m range.  3 RBs, none of which bring anything if real value to the team or any upgrades to what we had last year?  Lmao.  And not keeping any of our own other than Bates?  I find it hard it to believe.  
 

I don’t like his draft much either.  
 

I would bet good money our off season looks nothing like this outside maybe Chandler Jones coming here to chase a ring.  

Edited March 11, 2022 by Alphadawg7

[Rigotz]

2 hours ago, DJB said:

We are adding 3 RB's? 

 

Not sure about that especially since none of them are even an upgrade on who we have 

 

We paid Taiwan Jones $1.66M last year as a "Running Back" but he was just a Special Teamer. He never played on Offense.

 

Or think about guys like Matt Breida and Zach Moss, who bring zero value on Special Teams, so they were sometimes healthy scratches.

 

If a Running Back can't play Special Teams, his value is way more limited. Replacing Breida and Jones with RB's who can also play Special Teams well is a huge upgrade. It opens up the roster to not needing guys JUST for Special Teams like Kumerow, Matakevich, Neal, etc.

[SoCal Deek]

I always find contract values really interesting. In this example we pay a WR over $10m a year, and a DE for over $15m…but a RB is worth $2m. 

[YoloinOhio]

2 hours ago, thenorthremembers said:

Wouldnt be a fan of this.   While Daryl Williams struggled at tackle last year, he played at a very high level at guard.  To me he is a restructure candidate only, not a cut.  You'd be cutting off your nose to spite your face.   I cannot tell you how much I hate cutting a starter to draft his replacement.  Makes so much more sense to keep the starter, draft his replacement, and then have them compete. 

 

Like the free agent signings.   Hate the draft. 

He added two guards who played for Kromer in FA. The draft pick would not need to replace DW at least not this year. DW played ok, not great, at RG. His best trait is his versatility to step in at RT when needed. But there is no guarantee that he will take a pay cut 

[JohnBonhamRocks]

I think McKinnon could play a huge role in our passing offense.

 

Plus it would be a double win by taking a productive player from KC. 

[Slippery Rubber Mats]

I'm a big fan of Joe Marino. Dude puts in work.

 

There are a lot of directions this offseason could take. I really appreciate that he puts this out there for people to criticize, it obviously takes a lot of time to do and as the Internet goes, people mostly respond with snark in general.

 

Thanks for the outline also.

 

As far as Wallace goes, letting him go scares me a little truthfully. He's a known quantity. We can win with him, I believe. I need someone to replace him that I know we can win with. I'm not sure who is out there that fits that I can say that about.