Hapless Bills Fan

If you’re assuming they bring back Harry for his 5th season, and Oliver is still under contract in his 4th, when do they count as vets?

That’s basically where I am. Would be a helluva stink if Fores was axed after one year. Although frankly, why not just stay with Culley in that case? Were tires involved?

Well, if you're interested, Cover1 has been putting up some film analysis on this (follow or use a browser to look at Cover1 and Erik Turner on Twitter) Basically as I understand it, one of their points is that it all starts up front. Because our DL can not routinely move bodies and prevent gaps from being opened, Edmunds is left with responsibility for 2 gaps in the run game a helluva lot more than any MLB can be expected to neutralize with his pass d responsibilities. (keep in mind this is my take, and better to check it out and draw your own summation) So it's possible that Edmunds is in a defensive scheme that can utilize his strengths in covering the pass game, but other parts of the defense aren't working "up to spec" and are hanging him out to dry a bit in the run game. I'm not arguing for or against this point. I certainly don't think anyone would argue that teams are particularly scared of the Bills DL and many have argued against its quality quite vehemently. On the other hand, if true, it's very disappointing given the investment Beane has made on it in draft picks and in FA expenditure. I'm just pointing out one argument that it can be true that this is the defensive scheme for Edmunds, AND he is not being fully utilized to his strengths.

Badol, give it up. You're pursuing sunk costs here. Tonga is a nation. Tongan is a nationality and a cultural identity - like "French" or "Swiss" or "Swedish". Most of the citizens of Tonga are Polynesian or have Polynesian ancestry. I didn't make that point in my previous post because I wanted to see if "Tonga = race therefore attributing characteristics to Tongan = racist" were a dead horse you were gonna to try to ride. You never disappoint. Let's recap. This exchange started out with you asserting that the Bills should "insist" that Star participate in off-season workouts and that they could renegotiate his contract with him to push more of his non-guaranteed salary into incentives. You use incentivizing contract workers as an example to instruct us in how this works. Myself and others point out that the Bills can not "insist" on OTA participation - that's specifically prohibited by the CBA. This point is inarguable. We also point out that the Bills have little to no leverage to force Star to renegotiate his contract: when a man has earned $47M dollars, he's likely reached a point where extended time with family may outweigh monetary incentives - a viewpoint supported by Star's non-participation in OTAs last year. Star also has $2.5M dollars guaranteed and a lot of his cap hit to the Bills is already in his bank account as signing bonus. Your counter argument is that we have no proof Star has been careful with his money and that no one else in the league will pay him $3.6-$4M so he'll get more from the Bills. These points are ones where there can legitimately be differences of opinions - young football players are notoriously bad at money management vs. Star having family expertise at hand and being a member of several cultural and religious groups with values that are well-established to trend towards honoring family and towards fiscal responsibility; you have a well-known and oft-reiterated negative opinion of Star's on-field performance, which may or may not be shared by GMs around the league at this time. In which case Star can take his $2.5M and go home. It's OK, people can disagree on these points. People can muster legitimate arguments for and against them. But because your arguments aren't being accepted as incontrovertible and You Can Never Be Wrong, you make it a point of attacking intelligence: "For as much time as you dedicate to this hobby..........you really should be smarter" Then you make it a point of attacking character: "racist stereotyping weirdness" about a cultural and religious identity well-established to highly value family and fiscal responsibility, borne out by the fact that Star actually lives near his parents. You never disappoint. I think I've said what I need to here. Over and out. You get a free shot - and I'm quite certain you'll take it. You can't help yourself, like a cat triggered into chasing a laser pointer.

No quarrel there

Of Course They Did, because the NFL also covered up and destroyed evidence that incriminated the Patriots during Spygate Deflategate was Payback All the Way

13 seconds Frazier has become the "scapegoat" The bottom line is, McDermott called timeouts after both plays. He was certainly in the loop and may have been involved in the play calling. He's not the man to scapegoat someone when he shares responsibility. I seem to remember when Schwartz was our DC and we had the #4 overall defense, people on this board complaining that we really weren't that good, who did we play, we got gouged on the ground a handful of times, we gave up close to or over 400 yds twice, etc etc. People have highly selective memories

The NFL is asking people to interview people based upon race. Since most of the hires made this off-season have been white guys, the answer is apparently "yes" I don't think Hell would stop McDermott from making an upgrade if he felt it were appropriate or needed I think the point about homefield (and indeed, a general point) is that if the Bills could have played better earlier in the game, perhaps it doesn't come down to 13 seconds. The Bills punted 4 times. The Chiefs punted twice, and had a missed FG and 2 FG. If they punt one more time and the Bills punt one less time, maybe it's not a game that can be tied with a field goal in 13 seconds. Could homefield advantage help swing that? Who knows, but having to work on a silent count and not hear yourself think is typically regarded as a handicap for an offense, and having the energy of the home crowd behind you is typically regarded as a benefit for the defense.

Of course it's not legal to do that! You pay them to privately settle a civil claim with a clause that neither side will discuss the matter publicly. If they then decide not to pursue a criminal complaint, I'm sure that is only a coincidence. And if they move and leave no forwarding address so they can't be contacted, I'm sure that's an oversight. Remember the Greg Hardy case? I dunno, not having seen the video, but without a victim to cross-examine I'm pretty sure a good defense lawyer would find all sorts of holes to create reasonable doubt.

I just sardonically proposed a contract swap in another post, but I think Badol is correct on this point. If Barkley believes he has it in him to return to his 2018 or his pre-injury 2019 form, then he has almost no impetus at all to re-work his contract for a lower cap hit. The smart financial move for him is to "bet on himself", play out his contract, and hope for a big year that will give him a big second contract. That said, the "almost" is that he'd likely prefer to be traded to a team with a good OL that can give him his best chance to showcase his skills. He might be willing to "give" a bit to make that happen (the Bills OL wouldn't be a team I'd pine for, if I were an elite RB, though). But this year is a little bit unusual in that there are a handful of contending teams with cap space a plenty. I took a quick look at the Giants roster to see if there are players they might see as bad scheme fits and trade or just cut to clear cap, and I think there might be a couple scheme mis-matches for Wink Martindale's D who could clear quite a bit of cap for them, maybe $20-25M, but unsure. If that's right, though, it's possible that Daboll would want to keep Barkley.

This is an interesting point. You're only looking at one side of the ball here, though. Wink Martindale may see poor scheme fits on the Giants defense, who might be better fits for the Bills defense. On offense, I don't see it as beyond possibility that BECAUSE Daboll may require similar skills on offense, Daboll might be interested in picking up a couple players from the Bills who might help him instill his culture and teach his system. Bobby Johnson might be interested in taking (say) Feliciano with him as new OL coaches usually seem to want to bring in a couple of "their guys" to help teach their techniques, and Feliciano brings a lot of "juice" to the field. Daboll might want Beasley as that crafty veteran who could school Daniel Jones about option routes as he schooled Allen But will Kafka be running the same type of routes and have that same need for the surgical slot guy who can run options and secondary route concepts? Does Dorsey (or Brady as pass coordinator) have the same value for Beasley that Daboll did, and would want to keep him? Was all the kerfluffle about booing fans and NFL fines wearing Beane and McDermott's "last nerve"? Just don't know. I don't see it as impossible that we could see a few trades. (Heh. Beasley and Feliciano for Saquon Barkley 😈)

Um, Addison is a free agent this season. The $2M that still shows next to his name is amortized signing bonus tacked onto a void year. Addison took a 2M pay cut last season in exchange for the Bills shortening his contract by 1 year and guaranteeing his 2021 salary. The other difference is that last season, even though we were jammed up against the cap due to the Covid cap reduction, we were still dealing with Allen and Edmunds on rookie deals. So that's two players adding $30M of cap right there, as well as other valued players coming into the more expensive last year(s) of their deals If we want to upgrade our biggest needs - which I see as OL and DL, with a shout-out to CB and the need to add another receiver - we have to be very judicious with cap space.

I think McKenzie recognized the benching as something he needed to improve from. What I think McKenzie is salty about is not getting more opportunity to play. I think he feels he can start in the slot, or at least share more snaps. If the Bills keep Beasley and Dorsey/Brady (if he's passing game coordinator) see McKenzie the same way and the Bills keep Beasley, McKenzie owes it to his NFL career to find a team that will give him more opportunity.

Agreed. Top talen in the draft, who has not been able to stay healthy and play up to the talent he showed in college.

I agree with the first part, although with $13.4M cap hit they'd have to probably renegotiate prior to the trade. OTOH, the man is 29, and in order to lower his cap hit he'd need a 3 or 4 year contract. His cap hit is not "only $1.3M in 2023". He's a FA in 2023. That's a void year added onto the contract to amortize the signing bonus and reduce the cap hit in previous years. https://overthecap.com/player/james-bradberry/4775/

The Bills have to improve the OL, or signing an RB makes no sense (and with a better OL, they may have less need for a top RB talent; we're not gonna be a run-centric team). They need to re-do the DL, even if they keep Star and re-sign Harry, it's just Not Good Enough. They need a CB, even if they re-sign Wallace, because the smart money doesn't count on Tre to be "full go" by the start of next season - 9-12 month injury. You may look at the 1 year more than the cap number, but the Bills have a lot to do. They need to look at the cap number. I agree, I think it's just Some Dude speculating. Give your talented 1st round picks more than 1 year, especially with a coaching and scheme change. Errrr....didn't almost everyone consider Mario Addison's $8.2M cap hit to be outrageous "overpayment for production" last season, given his 2020 contributions? Same thing

This is basically where I am. If we "feel the need for speed", keep all you can. OTOH, I'm not persuaded by McDermott's words that they truly believe McKenzie can run all the plays that Beasley can. I think if they did, McKenzie might actually have seen the field for a couple games when Beasley is nursing sore or cracked ribs, or a broken fibula. So what's McKenzie's role? You really need your #5 and #6 WR to play Teams, and it's optimal if actually #3 or #4 do it.

Yeah, and "My job is to coach you...to get all that greatness out of you" I know Daboll and Allen ended as a mutual admiration society But they started with Daboll red-faced and angry, screaming through the helmet radio at Allen for making the wrong throw, and Allen standing there taking it: "What did you say to him?" "Wasn't much to say, throw to the flat next time. But there isn't much to scream about now." "No coach I'd rather play for in the entire world" just sounds terribly forced and scripted.

Yeah, I would think the first time I spoke to the QB I would not want to be on camera.

Yeah does look as though he Outkicked his Coverage Interesting that Miami chose to show McDaniel arriving by private jet Giants chose to show Daboll driving up to the facility in a truck Does that mean Mara is Cheap?

Liar Liar Pants on Fire You'll do it again first chance ya get!

The other viewpoint is, the offense has only 1 first round pick invested in it (2 if you count Diggs) vs 7 or something like that on the D Maybe it's time to put a bit more investment into the offense.

So I just looked it up. OTC has Wallace valued at $8.6M vs $6.8M for Bradberry. Spotrac has it the other way around, with Wallace at $9.6M and Bradberry $12.4. Any idea why the discrepency?

I approve of this plan. I think Beasley may be a cap casualty, however. Did you hear Beane's presser? He "can still play in the NFL" He'll "continue to play in the league" "He's still under contract to us, we expect him back" He sounded...unenthused. I think we better address receiver even if McKenzie is brought back. Beasley is 33 and either his play is really falling off, or he got injured and played through it.

Yes, if we trade for him (unless we re-negotiate as part of the trade) $13.4M salary But if he's cut and we make him an offer, what would he get on the open market? OTC has him valued at $6.8M Spotrac says $12.4M He had 4 INT and 17 passes defensed last season Wallace had 2 INT and 10 passes defensed (of course these two stats don't show anything like the whole picture) Oh, heheheh for those who don't know...tieing threads together....he was drafted in 2016 by Carolina