dubs

I know it was said before, but Bill Polian had him rated pretty high. One slot about Jairus Byrd in fact. Now, he may be wrong or me he be right, but the guy put together three separate teams that went to Super Bowls. He knows a thing or two about putting a team together.

This is one of the best times of year. Armchair GMs coming out of the woodwork claiming we suck because we don't overpay for guys or go out and sign the highest priced FAs.

People really need to get a grip with this. Byrd isn't worth that dough. He's got above average instincts and ball skills but below average speed, hitting ability, run stopping ability, and size. I think we forget how bad buffalo has been against TEs since Byrd has been here. It's not all his fault but he certainly hasn't helped. He can't match up physically. PS- Pats let Taliban go! For nothing!!! Terrible franchise. They just let Edleman test FA too. Spikes is gone. Good teams resign their own. Pats are a joke. Never win with that attitude.

Exactly.

Aaaaannnd......nail meet head. The only thing that really matters for buffalo and any other team is the QB position. Once you have that locked down, then players like Byrd matter. There are two classes in the NFL, teams with a good QB and teams without one. It's really that simple.

I disagree. Time will tell, but good franchises stick to their guns when it comes to paying for players. Byrd was good. I liked him. But we consistently got torched by good TEs and he wasn't much help in the run game. I'm surprised the saints didn't see this after they had a firsthand look at an injured Jimmy Graham burn the bills secondary for 2 TDs in limited action this past year b

No doubt, but they did it. May backfire but I just thought it was hilarious people were saying there was no way NO could sign Byrd given their cap situation as they were flying him in. As if NO hadn't thought that through.

But, but.....people we're saying the saints only had 42 dollars in cap left. Byrd must be playing for free.

We all know that signing as many high prices free agents is the way to be successful. I mean, look at the Redskins in the early 2000s and more recently the Eagles and last year the Dolphins. All won super bowls and built a dynasty for years after they splurged in FA

Maybe Byrd realizes he can't cover elite TEs so he want to take one out of the equation. Graham torched us for 2 TDs last year on about 10 snaps. Gronk averages 2 TDs against the Bills.

Hahaha. Exactly. Well said. Also, I'm sure the saints have an idea of what they would need to spend to sign Byrd. They are not going to waste valuable time and resources if not. These guys are professionals, jeez. It's not like they are going to offer Byrd a 4m per year contract and be shocked when he laughs in their face

I think you're right. I also don't necessarily disagree with folks that would have franchised him. I probably would have if I was Whaley. What I was responding to with that post was the idea some posters were putting forth that it was such a cut and dry decision. It wasn't very simple and Byrd had a lot of leverage in how many headaches he could cause. That's why I am not really upset about their decision to let him walk. That and the fact that I don't think he's going to be that hard to replace or safety one of the least important positions (hence the tag # being only slightly higher that TE).

No one is sympathetic to Byrd. And the only gigantic hole is the third possible scenario you missed. Let me add it. 3) Bills franchise Byrd but he refuses to sign the tender. Therefore we can't trade him. Then he signs the tender before training camp and holds out. At that point there will be many fewer if any trade partners because the draft happened, free agency happened, and teams are much closer to the cap. With his holdout he gets fined peanuts, doesn't learn the new defense, and comes back just before the season starts. He plays the PF game again and is a distraction in the locker room. We get one more half assed season from Byrd at 8.5m. Sound like a good outcome??

He wasn't signing here no matter what. Name a team that's going to trade a pick and also sign a safety to a 10+ a year contract. You probably can't. He's gone, it sucks, but hardly crippling.

I haven't done this, but I'm guessing over the course of the last year Whaley has gauged the market for Byrd. Finding a trading partner might not be as simple as it seems. They'd have to find a team that 1) needs a FS, 2) values the safety position as worth 10+m and 3) has the cap room to make that offer 4) is willing to give up a pick. Definitely could happen, but maybe the FO did the analysis and determined there weren't any teams that fit that category.

I know this is about Byrd, but the only thing that really matters to Buffalo's success is EJs development. If he takes a step forward, this team wins more. If not, Byrd, Watt, Sherman, Keuchley, and Sheldon Richardson wouldn't get this team to a Super Bowl.

I agree with you In the sense that if I was GM, I probably would have tagged him and tried to trade him. I just can't knock the bills for deciding to let a guy go that clearly didn't want to be here and might have been a risk holding onto.

Not to mention, comparing safeties and QBs is like comparing an average 2B and the ace of a pitching staff. Much easier to trade a QB who wasn't franchised and was leading the league in QBR.

I'm not claiming there's a correlation, just pointing out his presence didn't really do much either. The armchair GMs know more about what Buffalo would have received than actual GMs.

I would have like Byrd be a Bill for a long time. He's a very good, pro-bowl caliber safety that definitely improved our defense. That being said, let's not pretend we just let Joe Montana in his prime just walk our the door. Safeties are not critical to success in the NFL and not paying him 10m a year or more is fine. If we tagged him again there's no guarantee We can unload Byrd for much and risk paying a guy 9m who doesn't want to play here, doesn't want to get hurt, and could come down with a mysterious case of athletes foot again. The Bills are 25-48 in games Byrd has played. They were 4-7 last year when he came back, and he came back after the difficult part of the schedule. Not saying it's his fault, but his presence clearly wasn't a big factor in success.

I really want Buffalo to sign Hakeem Nicks. If they do that, perhaps they can wait until Rd 2 to address the WR, or at least make them feel more comfortable trading down if someone is there that other teams would like to trade up for.

It blows me away that a dumpster fire like Miami continually has a better team than Buffalo.

Can we redshirt Hopkins for another year. ha.

Yeah. I guess what it comes down to is: 1) We never max out on the cap, so the different between 1 or 2 million shouldn't affect anything else the Bills want to do in pre-season. 2) If the cap or money shouldn't be the issue, then it comes down to who do you trust more. Carp showed last year that he's capable of being a very good kicker. Hopkins is more of an uncertainty. The last thing the Bills need to be worried about is kicking issues. I'd say go with Carp. Another way to think about it is, would we draft Hopkins this year if faced with the choice of signing Carpenter or drafting a rookie kicker. I doubt it. So why go with him now, he's a sunk cost.