Bleeding Bills Blue

We have cap room to match a contract for groy or gillislee. No ones even signed Peterson yet... and gillislee is getting a deal we can't afford??

Some people struggle with standardized testing. For many the pressure is much more intense than what they see on a sports field, or within film study. A learning disability wouldn't affect your ability to read and react on the field, but it will affect your ability to read and write.

If he can catch a pass... he's probably better than greg little. I've never seen an NFL wide receiver with such poor hands.

Doom and gloom!!! He's basically their Dez Lewis. Maybe between him and dez lewis there's actually a decent WR present.

No it doesn't... he was an ERFA who was non-tendered.

Boldin's 36, and Thielen is a RFA with a 2nd round tender.... GREAT ideas...

I don't think we were looking to pay WR1 money for some of the available talent. Pryor/Jeffery didn't see the long term offers they liked, so they took lower offers to re-establish value. Garcon/woods/jackson/britt got big contracts as #2 receivers. I don't think we were looking for 8mil AAV at the WR2 position. There are still several decent WR2 options that can be had at a much lower value - stevie, aiken, quick, cruz, patterson. Especially at round 2 of free agency, when the offers get lower.

There were quite a few games where we struggled in pass protection. Baltimore comes to mind. NYJ1, MIA1, and Seattle also seemed to have a lot of protection breakdowns.

They also plan for these types of departures. They signed long (cap casualty), and already had sheard/ninkovich so they could absorb the loss of Jones. They drafted roberts, signed mcclellin who they liked enough to trade collins. This year they lost sheard, and acquired ealy. Ryan walked, so they signed gilmore. Bennett walked, so they traded nothing for allen's bad contract. Butler will probably cave and sign his tender because its a ton more money than he's recevied yet. Look for them to draft a corner early and either let him walk next season, or trade him post signing to get more value than the comp pick offers. We had no pressing need to draft gilmore's replacement, but waited until he was already gone to begin the process of replacing him. We could have signed someone last year, or drafted someone higher - instead of rb/wr/dt depth - and traded gilmore for 2017 picks. We're essentially relying on the comp pick formula to balance us out, instead of searching for alternative ways to back-fill his position.

The patriots are willing to trade bad contacts, or players who will seek better contracts before that comp pick arises. With Gilmore for example, we knew we were probably going to lose him. We also stood to lose several other players. We should have begun searching for a trade at that time like they did with collins and jones. That way we arent bound to a comp pick formula.... They also trade FOR expiring contracts, to add to their comp pick number at the end of the year. They just added Ealy (on an expiring deal) for the cost of moving from a 2nd to a 3rd, and added another 4th to get the 4th they lost back in the cooks deal. Last year they acquired bennett for a late round pick, just to lose him this year and possibly get the pick back as a comp pick (bennett/ryan/sheard for gilmore). They did similar moves for mingo and cooper (they cut cooper, but i assume the idea was to let him walk for the comp pick anyway had he stayed on the roster). The fact is we aren't active enough in the trade market and overvalue our own guys... that's the difference.

well... New england traded several players coming up on extensions for picks. Rather than count them in the comp pick formula they acquired picks earlier. This is essentially trading glenn and dareus before extending them. They can sign a gilmore because they decided to trade jones and collins and get picks instead of waiting for comp picks - and won the super bowl without them. Also - they have no problem recruiting players to come to an annual super bowl contender. Cap casualties are typically guys going on their 3rd contract in their late 20s. They want to win when they get there. 3rd - they structure all their contracts as "option" years, so the team doesn't pick up the team option rather than cutting them. They can do this because they're the patriots and they can underpay everyone to play there. Jacksonville does this too, but they just overpay in general so thats their incentive to sign on the dotted line. We're in a tough spot because we had a few big cap hits they could get rid of to acquire players... and a ton of holes. It's not easy to play the comp pick game when you need 2 WRs, 2 starting safeties, a corner, and WLB, and a RT.

Could that issue possibly be the coach that thinks trotting out EJ manuel for hard counts and QB sneaks is a smart move?

Several of our most "talented" players - Dareus, Watkins, Ragland, Lawson, Hughes - were either injured or played very poorly last year. So it is very much a up in the air type of feeling for me. Not having any WRs seems to alarm everyone... but we didn't have anyone really last year either and everyone wanted us to draft treadwell and doctson... I'd like to see us grab at least SOMEONE though.

They got a higher pick than they wouldve as a comp pick for jones. Hightower probably is cancelled out by the gilmore signing. And they've backed butler in a corner. He can sign and play for them, sign and get traded, or refuse to sign and hold out for an extension. I think Bill probably knew he was going to hold out - so by signing gilmore they've made him expendable.

I think we're waiting on some cap casualties honestly... As more and more guys get signed to these big time deals, guys get cut to make cap space.

Well... 200 yard rushing games certainly don't help. The corners played poorly to start, they rounded into a bit better form but then we were trotting out terrible safeties. In the 2nd half of the year we couldn't generate any pressure. Dareus contract is bad if he's good... and top 5 worst in the league if he continues to be as bad as he was last year. Guy needs to be a major contributor to justify that pay day - as he's hamstringing our ability to sign people.

Is he still a rfa after this year then? I don't think the guys ever going to get paid

If we only carry 5 receivers, one of these guys needs to be able to play special teams...

The guy was forced on multiple occaisions to play corner, nickel, and both safety spots because of injuries

The talent gap is enormous between them and other teams. Their QB play is worst in the league. They are vying for #1 pick next year, and are adding as many young pieces as they can. More picks means more chances to hit big.

If they like JImmy G - its just one more piece of ammo they can use to get him (the pick... not Brock)

Yeah - my thoughts exactly. Gotta hit the floor, and you don't really have anyone at the position anyway. Add some solid playmakers in the draft this year - keep the team really green and really cheap. Do it sabres style - guy plays well and sprains his ankle... put him on IR. Draft your QB in 2018 and attack 2018 free agency.

They have the cap space to legit cut him today if they wanted to as well. But it seems theyre striving towards top pick in 2018 - so why not just start him and see what happens?

Can't keep them all - i don't blame them. Woods got above market value with 8 AAV and 15 guaranteed. Clearly Aaron had no interest in retiring so.... we had to make that choice. And gilmore's deal wouldve handcuffed our ability to replace both of the other guys. Sucks... but its probably necessary tbh.

3 200 yard rushers. Torched by pretty much every decent qb we faced all year. I saw Carolina struggle badly out of the gate, but they seemed to improve. We were consistently bad all year