Mango

There isn't a "Keep some cap like the Bills did" in the NFL. This isn't the NHL. There is no "negotiating' cap space in roster movement. For the most part teams can either restructure existing contracts which is a predetermined formula, cut, or extend (to move some things around). There are no Jeff Skinner situations in the NFL where you try and move a player and negotiate what you keep and what you don't. That said DK's dead cap number is much higher than his cap hit on the roster. It wouldn't make any sense for Seattle to move on before June 1 if at all.

If he gets in it will be because classes keep getting bigger and the favoritism towards skill positions. But his career will likely finish at the AJ Green/Chad Johnson level.

This gets talked about so often, but as of right now Stefon Diggs is not on pace to be a HoF WR. What is this greatness that Stef has? The board should have an autocorrect that changes this to "very-goodness".

That would have been a better post. CLEAR A much better post.

Struggling to find it now, but I swear I read something the other day that Terry hasn’t actually spoken to the media/taken questions since something crazy like 2019 for the Sabres and 2020 for the Bills. dates might be a little off, but I think that’s close. I would absolutely kill for Terry Pegula to address the new stadium, PSL’s, anything regarding the Sabres, why the fork he backed out of his Rochester Americans lease 11 years early, or why he has refused to keep up with general maintenance with the KBC.

I like that the premise here is that in the first 30 days of the new league year Brandon Beane called his buddy, a guy who spent 65 days on the practice squad back in 2021, to tell him about an interaction he had with Diggs. I don’t know if this is true, but its 1000 foot view is. Diggs was becoming too big a pain in the ash. They no longer believed he was a $30M pain in the ash so they moved on.

I can be super critical of Beane. I don't know WTF OP is talking about. That said, we have seen what Terry Pegula is capable of if you look just a few miles down route 5 at the Buffalo Sabres. It ain't good. The Bills should never ever let go of Brandon Beane. Him and Josh Allen are the only two people protecting this team from Terry Pegula and historical suck-itude.

It has been pretty well noted that Terry Pegula keeps a pretty tight leash on local reporters and won't hesitate to go as far as pulling credentials for being critical of management for either major team. In some ways Buffalo is a tough market. But in others Terry has a lot more control of the market compared to a lot of other football, hockey, or basketball markets across the country. I don't think Pegula could hack it as the owner of a team in Philly, NY/NJ, Boston, Dallas, or even other mid-markets like Pittsburgh and San Fran.

That assumes that only 4 people catch footballs. in 2023 13 different players caught footballs for the Bills. 9 of them had double digit receptions. 9 players could make up 700 yards. The top 4 WR for the Bills last year had 3200 yards combined. 400 yards less than your "not good enough" prognostication for 2024. The bottom 9 of 13 players who caught footballs in 2023 contributed nearly 1100 yards. So if the Bills get similar production from the bottom of the roster, @khlax3 scenario actually mean it would be an improvement from 2023. You are also way overplaying the difference between a 4300 and 4500 yard season. There is certainly a discussion to be had about why one season is better or worse than another for Josh, but the 200 yard difference in passing is way down the list of things worth mentioning. There is room to color outside the lines on what OP is saying without taking it so literally. The Bills passing game will likely have more equitable distribution in 2024 and that may very well be a good thing.

They were always voidable. All Houston did was move the very small amount of bonus money he had left on his contract to 2024. Otherwise he was cutable almost any time with next to zero cap ramification. The Houston restructure is a giant nothing burger.

Playing catch up on the day. Diggs has always been tradable post restructure with Buffalo because it relieved all cap responsibility from the receiving team bar one $3M bonus. Which is honestly fairly minimal The $18M-ish per year cap number hovers around mid-teens (among WR cap hits) year over year. He isn't expensive in comparison to his peers. If he didn't perform to a mid level no 1 WR he was always cut-able on short notice for next to zero cap implications. Stef has always been a decent trade for the receiving team. Some posters just got hung up on "$31M in dead cap" so they quickly labeled him "untradable". The disciples over at Cover 1 helped carve this fake news into stone. But ultimately the facts have not changed, and the facts are why we got a 2nd for Stefon Diggs and LAC got a 4th for Keenan Allen.

Right. I don’t disagree that he is a huge pain in the ass. I just think that C1 is way over playing it. I don’t think they are parroting stuff they know is wrong to defend themselves. I think they lack a real fundamental understanding of Diggs salary cap situation and have for the last year or so. And because they are wrong about the cap stuff it causes them to put too many eggs in the”Diggs is the most toxic player ever” basket. I think Diggs was a really difficult teammate and that has caused him to be on the chopping block for quite sometime. But to continue parroting he was some sort of gangrene that risked rotting the whole team is false. His trouble vs cap hit vs production no longer made sense and was worth $3M and a 2nd. It is that simple.

For context they’ve been saying they thought Diggs was a slam dunk restructure this offseason. They don’t understand the Diggs contract situation at the most fundamental level so they are overplaying the “Diggs is the most toxic player ever” card.

Imagine the Bills trade Diggs and sign Justin Jefferson. My god.

We may be getting caught up up in grammar. I mean next year as in 2025 because the current league year already started. $31M is the dead cap for 2024. Which is only a ~$3M increase from having him on the roster.

Imagine your boss going out of his way to tell the world that you are a moron. haha.

I think people get confused with the dead cap number. It isn't in addition to, it is instead of. Sure the dead cap number is important, but the more important number is the delta. Generally when you hear that "teams have an out" it is that the delta moves from a cap negative to a cap positive. Because Diggs was restructured it lowered his base salary and increased his bonus money. His bonus money stays with the Bills (dead cap) and the receiving team is only on the hook for his salary. BUT!!!! His salary only counts towards the cap if he is on the roster. So if Houston doesn't want Diggs they can move on and clear his cap number fully at any time. The numbers work out as: - 2024 Diggs on the Bills: ~$28M - 2024 Diggs off the Bills: ~$31M - 2024 delta Bills Salary Cap: -$3M - 2025 delta Bills Salary Cap: +$25-30M-ish - 2024 Diggs on Houston Texans: ~$19M - 2025 Houston cuts Diggs : +$18.5M (no dead money) Diggs Spotrac Breakdown https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/houston-texans/stefon-diggs-16872/ Bills Spotrac Breakdown 2024 https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/ Bills Spotrac Breakdown 2025 https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/2025/

That is what I thought, but was waiting for spotrac to finalize it. It isn't all that massive. It is $3M more than his cap hit on the roster. Basically the Bills spent $3M in 2024 cap dollars today in order to free up $25M in 2025 cap dollars.

I do not believe this is true. Right now Spotrac is showing that we take Diggs $27M cap number off the books for 2025. That could change as this whole thing gets finalized, but it won't be $30M regardless.

He has the 13th cap hit this year now that he is traded. That isn't "immense". In theory Houston has zero reason to keep Diggs if he does not perform and could move on from him for very very minimal cap implications. Buffalo eats his bonus and Houston is only on the hook for his salary. We will have to wait for the correct cap adjustments, but under normal circumstances base salary is not guaranteed. We will have to wait for everything to be properly adjusted to confirm but more often than not this is standard practice.

Hilarious. Because it is true.

LOL Ended his tenure? Neither were fired. Both were promoted to HC and GM roles in Buffalo. What are you talking about? I have been critical of a bunch of stuff from McBeane, but this isn't built on the foundation of any truth. (Also, look at the Sabres. Never ever move on from Brandon Beane. Brandon Beane for president of everything for eternity please)

I think C1 is just trying to cover their own takes with this. They said that restructuring Diggs was a must do move this season. The Bills needed to get younger and were never going to take the nearly $30M per year cap hit for Diggs for the length of his contract. Most assumed he would not finish his career in Buffalo. I thought he could move on this year but by next season (2025) Diggs would not be a Bill. The cap ramifications for keeping Diggs long term were always much much greater than moving on from him. Right now Spotrac is showing that we cleared $27M 2025 dollars with this move and it only cost us an additional $3M this year to do so.

Diggs was a better teammate this year than I thought he would be. He had some outbursts in the past. But I also think part of that was him being a good soldier to get out. I think the hope is for the offense to be more in line with the the old NE and current KC offenses that feature the TE, pass catching RB's, and slot receivers. That said, I think they want Shakir on the outside, but I won't be shocked if he takes over for Samuel inside. I am pretty high on KS.

I reserve the right to get this one wrong, but I am going through the wayback machine, and I think the Bills free up $27M in 2025 cap space by making this a pre June-1 cut. Spotrac is still a little wonky for the Bills 2025 and Diggs Houston numbers, but that seems to be what the numbers are telling me? I will update @SDS when it is finalized. But ultimately Houston should only be on the hook for Diggs salary for the duration he is on their roster. If they cut him next offseason they should get quite a bit of cap relief. But they don't really need to, his cap number for them is hovering around the 17th among WRs. Whereas in Buffalo he would be pushing the highest WR cap number.