It’s time to have an uncomfortable conversation about Taron

[Mat68]

Move him to Safety.  Play Hancock at Nickel.  With the run defense as it is use more 4-3 over looks with Hoecht at the SAM.  He has been in the defense forever and think he could handle the conversion.  More athleticism and box responsibilities not too much different than Nickel.   

Edited 7 hours ago by Mat68

[DrDawkinstein]

8 minutes ago, Einstein said:

Agreed. It helps us but also limits us.

I wouldn't mind McD hiring a vet D coordinator and completely handing over duties to him.

Schwartz may be fired if the Browns have another 6-10 record this year. I would hire him immediately.

 

I'd love to see that, but I think the only way we move away from this defense is moving away from McDermott.

 

We shouldve brought in Ulbricht. Maybe this year will open McD's eyes, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Warriorspikes51]

Put Hancock on the field at CB somewhere....can't be worse than what we've seen so far

[LabattBlue]

17 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Especially to nitpick, but we can cut TJ next year for a 2026 dead cap hit of 7.75 and no cap hit in 2027, with roughly $3M in savings.

 

It’s why he will be in the take a pay cut or get cut camp. We will tell him that we save $3M if we cut him so he can either give us that money back or he can take his chances in FA.

The problem for Taron is that last year was quite shaky as well.

Its a consistent thing for him over 1.3 seasons now.

You don't pay the dead-cap hit for both 26 & 27 if he is cut after this season?

[BuffaloBillyG]

49 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Taron Johnson may be washed folks.

 

He was honestly kinda shaky last year (he notably got eaten alive by the Rams) and this year he, well, hasn’t been good.

 

Some startling 2025 stats for one of our most steadfast Bills and perhaps the last very good player from our 2020-2021 team.

 

Missed tackle rate - 8.7%(highest since 2021)

QB rating when targeted - 102 (highest in his career)

 

Obviously NCB is a tough position and at his peak, TJ was up there for best in the business, but I’m afraid those days are coming to an end.

 

I think he is next up on the “pay cut or be cut” block in 2026 with a cap hit of $11M.

I don't disagree with you. He had a really rough streak last year and has been pretty average to below this year. He used to be one of the best run defenders we had as well, which is why keeping a nickel base made sense. But he's struggled. I think some of that is due to age and injury but some of it I believe is that the last few years teams have focused on moving better talent to the slot as well. 

[thenorthremembers]

I'd move on from him in the offseason.  

2 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

You don't pay the dead-cap hit for both 26 & 27 if he is cut after this season?

The Bills will owe him 7.75 million dollars from 2026-2029 if they designate him a post June 1st cut.    Doing so will save them close to 20 million on the cap during the same time period. 

 

I feel like its time to move on. 

[gobills404]

What’s even more sad is that he’s currently the best DB on the team.

[JP51]

56 minutes ago, Bermuda Triangle said:

Unfortunately, I agree.  Great player, but nobody beats Father Time.

Father time is undefeated... 

[LABILLBACKER]

25 minutes ago, Einstein said:

Agreed. It helps us but also limits us.

I wouldn't mind McD hiring a vet D coordinator and completely handing over duties to him.

Schwartz may be fired if the Browns have another 6-10 record this year. I would hire him immediately.

If there was any chance to hire Schwartz,  I'd do it in a heartbeat.  I just think it's a pipedream considering Sean's infatuation with his system. 

[JP51]

10 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

I'd move on from him in the offseason.  

The Bills will owe him 7.75 million dollars from 2026-2029 if they designate him a post June 1st cut.    Doing so will save them close to 20 million on the cap during the same time period. 

 

I feel like its time to move on. 

I think there are others as well in the offseason that will go... we need to get our cap right... Daquon, Rapp, Samuel,Bosa, Milano, White, Knox, Hamlin, Trubisky to name a couple possibilities.. I could see Ed Oliver being used in a trade for an upgrade... 

Edited 6 hours ago by JP51

[SectionC3]

22 minutes ago, Mat68 said:

Move him to Safety.  Play Hancock at Nickel.  With the run defense as it is use more 4-3 over looks with Hoecht at the SAM.  He has been in the defense forever and think he could handle the conversion.  More athleticism and box responsibilities not too much different than Nickel.   

It would be hard to miss more tackles than Rapp.  
 

Incidentally, I’ve seen TJ recently as a civilian.  He looks way, way older in person than he actually is.  Like a tired old man.  Possibly bc the stork recently visited his house from what I could tell (as it did for Rapp, and lack of sleep is a real thing). 
 

 

[JP51]

3 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

If there was any chance to hire Schwartz,  I'd do it in a heartbeat.  I just think it's a pipedream considering Sean's infatuation with his system. 

Schwartz for sure

32 minutes ago, Einstein said:

Agreed. It helps us but also limits us.

I wouldn't mind McD hiring a vet D coordinator and completely handing over duties to him.

Schwartz may be fired if the Browns have another 6-10 record this year. I would hire him immediately.

I would love to bring him back... I think if they fire Stefansk however, he may be next man up in Cleveland for head coach... 

[FireChans]

13 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

You don't pay the dead-cap hit for both 26 & 27 if he is cut after this season?

correct. His hit is accelerated. 

 

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/25222/taron-johnson

 

If you click the scissors, it tells you.

[thenorthremembers]

6 minutes ago, JP51 said:

I think there are others as well in the offseason that will go... we need to get our cap right... Daquon, Rapp, Samuel,Bosa, Milano, White, Knox, Hamlin, Trubisky to name a couple possibilities.. I could see Ed Oliver being used in a trade for an upgrade... 

 

Daquan, Bosa, and Milano will all be on void years, so they will be free agents, I dont expect them back.    Hamlin, White, and Trubisky are all free agents as well.   I also fully expect them to designate Knox and Samuel as post June 1st cuts.  However, I can see them bringing Knox back on a new contract with a much lower cap hit.

 

On Oliver, I dont see them moving on from him.   It will cost them 18.4 million dollars over 2 years to trade him.  I expect him to play out his contract and move on from him before the 2028 season. 

[transient]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBillies said:

Need to play more base 4-3 anyway, since teams are running all over us.

Maybe when the have a healthy-ish LB corp they can transition Bernard to a tweener role and use Thompson and whomever else is highest up the depth chart and healthy as the other LBs. Maybe it will keep Bernard from getting beat up and going off the field every other series. 

[TheBrownBear]

I see a lot of guys making errors out there.  Are they all just "washed?"  It seems that almost every guy on the defense has been trending down as Babich gets further into his tenure as coordinator.

[Kirby Jackson]

He’s no longer an elite nickel. That’s okay though, if we had elite corners they would take away snaps from everyone else. Taron fits perfectly into the everyone eats philosophy.

Edited 4 hours ago by Kirby Jackson

[transient]

7 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

He’s no longer an elite nickel. That’s okay though, if we had elite corners they would take away snaps from everyone else. Taron fits perfectly into the everyone eats philosophy.

I wish there was a laughing/crying/puking emoji response. 🤣😭🤮

[Jimmy Harris 69]

39 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

I'd move on from him in the offseason.  

The Bills will owe him 7.75 million dollars from 2026-2029 if they designate him a post June 1st cut.    Doing so will save them close to 20 million on the cap during the same time period. 

 

I feel like its time to move on. 

It is time. Will Beane and McDermott play it smart or stay on disconnect, which in my view explains the lack of action on the safety position, the return of White Ridiculous. Instead of bringing in better players for our ***** secondary, we see fossils and rigid adherence to mediocrity in the name of familiarity.  If no one can operate your defense Sean, then it’s no good. There isn’t a safety on the roster that is a starter. Give Taron a shot, how could it be worse? The two highlight reel tackle attempts on Henry and Robinson say it all. Beane has failed to bring in defensive talent despite all the draft capital expended. 

[Bob in STL]

1 hour ago, Process said:

Agree that all those guys will be gone.

 

Hopefully we have the answers at 1T, NCB and CB2 already on the roster. 

 

S and OLB will be the massive needs. 

I am not convince we have CB#1 on the roster. 

 

The secondary is not very good.