Bleeding Bills Blue

Philly accelerated his void dead money charge up one year by trading him. His combined cap hits the last 2 years - 10.8M. Despite being paid 32.25M in cash, which leaves them the dead money of 21.5 this year. If they kept him (and he played) - its a full 3yr 45M, and a lot of that 21.5 goes into 2025 when the void years trigger. Considering they signed huff to replace him, and sweats deal technically voids after this year (they reduced his cap hit to 8M and a 16M void year that likely requires an extension to avoid), it's just re-doing the unit and trying to balance the books for the future. The way they structure their deals you have to be proactive in it.

They traded for him because he was a cap dump - Philly backloaded his deal and his cap hit was very large this year so it was trade or cut. Essentially the same reason buffalo traded diggs. Houston re-did the deal to make him a UFA faster, but they acquired his remaining years and base salary/workout/roster bonuses.

I think they're looking at removing hits from the game that result in head injuries and blindside hits that can result in long-term pain and suffering. I have a lot more issues with... policing bad hits (do you eject more players?, the fine's for some of these are egregious for some, soft for others, etc.), and officiating things like roughing the passer and late hits on slides. Kickoffs on the other hand sucked in the 90s, they sucked in the 00s, they continued to suck, and honestly this new rule change might be just what they need to change it up - but i'm still mostly expecting it to suck.

QB competitions are never particularly good for a locker room. Purdy was playing really well, and to me had earned the starting job. You bring in darnold to compete to back-up because purdy is so cheap, and you can move either lance or darnold depending on what teams are looking for. Lance hasn't played a game since getting hurt week 2 2022. Week 1 his stats stunk but if i remember correctly there were bears players gliding through puddles after the win. Not likely a ton of positive film comes out from that type of game. Same time - if you can't beat out cooper rush, i'm not sure where that leaves you. He'll get a job next year but i can't imagine its for much money/term, and is likely a flier for a team with someone old/washed, moreso than a team looking for a steady hand should their guy get hurt.

It changed when kickers could boot it out of the end zone almost every play. So they moved it back from the 40 to the 35. Then the 35 to the 30. Then back up to the 35 to reduce returning again. They banned wedges, because that is where they probably identified that massive collisions were occurring on every returned kick. The purpose is safety, and to create a football play that is more entertaining than a touchback - but less likely to result in injuries.

Buffalo looked fine on the 2nd drive, then QB1 came out and they didn't score. KC lost their new #1 WR to an injury that will probably force him to miss actual game time, while also missing a ton of valuable practice time. I also think they didn't exactly game plan to stop the bears. No blitzing, no disguising, nothing but guys getting their feet wet. Offensively it looked like the timing was off on snaps and pulling blocks, and just generally the offensive line didn't have a good day. Nothing about any of this is that important as they know there are a lot of things to work on at this point in camp. You put reps on film, and you evaluate. Is this a bad play or formation? Should QB2 have made an alert call here? Who was late coming off the snap, why? Who missed a gap assignment? Why? etc.

Still had a better career than zay jones... In any case. He wasn't a burner out of college, and i cant imagine bum knees are helping. Kupp was the choice there though.

Mahomes 12-1 Den 10-2 LV 8-2 LAC Denver did hold him to 28 points across two games in 2023 and won one. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/202310290den.htm

I think because of his contract - cutting Mitch and adding milton would actually have a negative impact on the salary cap. As a post June cut he'd have a dead money number of 1.96M vs. 2M for keeping him. You'd then have the rookies number on top of that, assuming you win the waiver claim over other teams. If you trade him you'd get out of the 1.2M base salary number. In any case, i think they liked mitch enough to bring him back after his 2 year stint in pittsburgh. It's hard to project how he'd perform here, and his value was cratered after playing in one of the worst offenses in the league. He's not without blame, but that team in 2 years had a really bad offensive line, and really bad coaching. Say what you want about Mitch, but the bears were 29-21 in games that he started. His numbers there are pretty much league average across the board. 64% comp%, 4.1% td rate, and 2.3% int rate are pretty much all league average.

We do not have a spot on the 53 man roster for a 3rd QB.

They have to cut or extend him basically? https://overthecap.com/thoughts-on-jalen-hurts-255-million-contract-with-the-eagles Very weird contract.

I don't question Murray's arm strength. He almost played pro baseball as an outfielder and he can sling it. I more question his dedication to the sport.

Too many option routes and leverage based assignments too. They see it on film and adjust how they play to it.

Oh i just mean in TE3's ability to get on the field. I think anytime you're using 2, it'll be kincaid and knox. If you take one or the other off its likely for Shakir and a shift to 11 personnel. So you're looking at it as - i can plug davidson in if kincaid is hurt. Or Morris who is the superior special teams player, has played in the league before and made some plays. Do i like davidson enough to actually play him in a game in lieu of kincaid/knox is the real question - and how much? Is there interest out there for other teams 53 man rosters? Would Morris make PS where they can bring him up a couple of times if certain linebackers or special teams guys can't go in a given week? 53 is very tight, but the practice squad expansion does give you a lot more flexibility than it did in the past. Every team has these long end of roster guys who they love and keep around for a while.

Knox is so physical after the catch, a beast in red zone, and a plus blocker. He's expensive but hes an ideal TE2.

I'm sure they've liked what they've seen in practice. Now show them in a game. Its the first depth chart so i don't really put much thought into it.

Smoot and Solomon were brought in after him and sound to be having more impactful training camps.

Or he's just.. playing well? The rookie was already going to have to earn his spot, and its hard to do that from the bike. Edwards imo was never really brought in to necessarily start unless he also earned it, just a depth piece you can move around. There is a starting safety spot open even with Rapp and the rookie. Mentioned it somewhere else but Lewis has been here since 2019, Hamlin since 2021 - Part of why they're ok with losing poyer was that they've seen enough from both of them in practice that they're comfortable going in a different direction.

His name always sounded to me like he'd be a villain who wears an ascot.

Want a used Chase Claypool?

Gross. Dome's are terrible.

Yeah - oof. If i took anyone it'd be their rookie 3rd. Pearsall i guess plugs into the spot aiyuk plays - and is probably already plugged in there since aiyuk hasn't practiced.

The thing I noticed escalating missed tackles as the season wore on. At the contract he signed with Miami, he's fine I suppose. 33 is no spring chicken though, and i think there's some intention to give players you've seen practice quite a bit a chance to start. Hamlin (2021), Lewis (2019), and Rapp(2023) have been here at least 1 year, and have all seen time. You also brought in a rookie, and a free agent (2x Champ) who's played a bit of a swiss army knife role with other teams. I also really think Poyer's arm might be fairly messed up and he just plays with it now, which could be part of the tackling issue.

Which will hopefully deter them from going at all.. so I hopefully won't have to encounter fights when I'm tailgating or walking to the stadium.

Its not even... if he's still good. It's can you continue to sustain your roster with that contract on the books. I'll have to see how its structured - but they got big cap hits for Tua, Hill, Waddle coming very quickly. Even with them on their smaller cap hits in 2023 they lost their best lineman on both sides of the ball (hunt and wilkins). Their last 22/23 drafts have essentialy netted a speed running back so there aren't cheap reinforcements on the horizon. Many of the picks they netted during their tank for tua roster deconstruction were used to get Chubb, Hill, and Ramsey. Armstead is 33 and his cap hits escalate (10M in 2023 to 22M in 2024) - you can kick the can, but he already has void years and he'll be 34. Chubb is 28 and his cap hit escalates from 15.8M to 29.3 next year. He's coming off a week 17 ACL injury and will start this year on the PUP or on IR or something. Phillips is at 4.4M and his option goes up to 13.25, he will want an extension. It's going to be a challenge to extend him and keep chubb. Drafted robinson to hopefully replace one of them. Holland is a UFA this year, and tagging him kills your cap space. He's a great player but he'll want to get paid. Ramsey is 30, his cap hit goes from 8M to 26.2M. He has void money that projects to a 18.5M cap hit in 2026 and can be moved into a new deal if you want to extend a 32 year old CB. Fuller is 29 and his hit goes from 2.5 to 8.5. 4M is 2026 void money that can be folded in if you want to extend a 31 year old corner. It's coming to a point where the team is getting old, they haven't won anything, and you have to decide which pieces to extend and which ones to walk away from. The issue is the 1st rounders used in trades for hill, Ramsey and Chubb are sunk cost, and trading any of these players in the future accelerates dead money and provides far less of a trade return.