Bleeding Bills Blue

His cap hit next year already jumps from 11.5M to 29.5. Can probably convert some of it to a bonus and spread it across the deal, but the new money probably starts at probably 50M per year. You can take less when you're a bit older and you've comfortably made more money than you can probably even spend. But the first deal out of the rookie contract is when you chase a bag.

They were 9-8 (started 3-7) last year and their final 5 wins featured wins over houston, the jets, and titans x2. Titans added hopkins, jags added ridley - i think the titans got the better player in that comparison. They also lost games to Washington, Indianapolis, Denver, and Houston. Defensively they were 24th in yards and lost a pass rusher to FA. Ridley, Kirk, Engram, and Etienne is a nice group though, and lawrence definitely looked more confident as the year wore on shaking off the Urban Meyer season. They should win the division, and if Lawrence is better they should walk away with it pretty handily. But they also draw KC and Buffalo as their non-common opponents with the rest of their division, the AFC north is never a cupcake, and their defense is not very good at all.

I'd say I was relatively disappointed he didn't seize a starting position, but he played pretty well in the playoffs. Day 1 depth charts really don't mean much though as you gotta put pads on and get into it for coaches to get a feel for their role in a changing defense. All 3 of jackson benford and elam played a year ago with various results - who gets the first day with the 1's really doesn't mean anything when its a 3 man competition.

Well good thing its July? Its not babying or spoonfeeding - its earning your spot. Veterans who worked hard to get where they are respond to pressure from players like this. He's got his work cut out for him to start day 1 with a young player in Bates ahead of him, and guys like boettger and edwards fighting for a roster spot.

They better hope hes more hurts and less tyrod - or theyre both going to get fired.

Only way it happens is if they can keep the cap hit down. Asking price is likely a minimum 6 million... I did these with an attempt to get actual cap space created with the cut - replacement players salary figures into it and without cutting Morse, it's really tough. Can save about 2 million if you cut neal and keep austin. Save about 800k if you cut gilliam and keep morris or sternberger. But the big savings of about 5M would come from cutting morse and keeping mancz (while shifting bates to C). We'd then be a bates injury away from some serious issues in the middle of the line.

I just think you kind of know who someone is after 4 seasons - and he isn't worth 40M per year.

The insanely short average depth of target is a concern to me. His intended air yards per pass attempt of 6.4 was one of the lowest figures in the league - which likely contributed to a reduced interception rate, and reduced fumbles. The issue there is A - they don't have the horses to make that a truly dangerous offense (even with Barkley) and B - I'm not sure he's capable of stretching the field from the pocket. Between this limitation, their defense, their division, their success the previous season in 1 score games, I see them struggling to get much more than like 7 wins. He's tied for 10th with the AAV of his contract, and he just isn't a top 10 QB. Mahomes, Burrow, Allen, Hurts, Herbert, Rodgers, Tua, Lamar, Lawrence are clearly a class above him - then you have Cousins, Geno, Carr, Goff, Dak, Stafford and Kyler where if they aren't better, it's at least a debate. I expect rookies from this class to surpass him before the end of next season as well as guys like Purdy/Lance and potentially Pickett. It's not the worst contract out there (Wilson, Watson, probably Rodgers), but I just think this is who he is. A QB with short throw accuracy, who is a threat to run. For the price they paid he should be more than that, considering Heinicke cost 7M (plus athlete) and Minshew was 3.5M (short throw accuracy).

Oof - I'm shocked on that. What about player options? Like you guarantee yourself a salary if you pick up ur option - or you can opt out? Or you can play your way into a raise that way with some kind of contract escalator - you hit 1200 yards your salary for next season is higher than if you don't, etc. Trying to think about how to help the running backs out.

I'd probably blame rookie wage agreements made by the NFLPA. Basically a running back has no ability to negotiate a contract until they're either replaced or damaged goods (4-5 years). If you change anything, maybe you let them re-negotiate contracts earlier than the final year of their deal. Playing time requirements - snap% or something like that - would allow you to maybe negotiate/hold out after 1 or 2 years instead of 3 or 4, or void years off the contract. You can still replace the player, but the new player might then hit the same thresholds and thus become a free agent as well. Did his new 1yr deal negotiate in a no-tag agreement?

I mean jeeze - the guy rode a jetski? Whats next, a car? a bicycle?

They signed jakobi meyers, and drafted tre tucker. But they actually lose cap space by cutting him. I assume they spread it across two years and realize some savings. He did have some pretty bad fumble luck, coming off a concussion and injury affected season, and just generally wasn't as effective in McDaniels offense a year ago. Pretty sure he got his bell rung there when he spun into that hit. Not all fumbles are created equal, but thats a pretty big one.

He makes the entire defense go. There is not a single player on that roster who can make up his impact. Best pass rusher, man mover, run stopper, gap filler. I'm not sure where you can even go from here with it other than just finding a middle ground somehow. If he doesn't blink and holds out into the season, it puts a ton of pressure on unprepared players on that defense within the front 7.

I think you have to be able to get some big stops in the playoffs to win a super bowl. I don't think your regular season DVOA or rankings should factor into that. Sometimes its reading a trend at the right time, a pass rusher having a good game, or just some flukey turnover stuff. The Chiefs have a really solid if unspectacular defense, but that defense played pretty terrible in the super bowl. They did have a fumble recovery for a TD though, and they had 2 big stops in the 2nd half. A FG stop kept it a 1 score game, and a big 3 and out that lead to a big punt return. Other than that they got walked all over the entire game - but with the chiefs offense humming in the 2nd half, that was really enough (that and the trash call to let KC run the clock out). Buffalo needs to have better game plans for specific opponents, and not just try to always dictate. Sometimes you're a bad matchup to dictate, so you have to adapt, blitz more, play different coverages, take chances.

Only game checks from what i recall.

Basically anyone in the 70s is just... dart at a wall. What was he last year, do we think hes better? add 1. do we think hes worse? subtract 1. Cook being a 75 while Breece hall is an 82 is so strange to me. Their numbers are basically the same and the one rated 7 points higher is the one who blew out his knee (He also has a higher injury rating... despite being injured last year).

Agreed - Are they watching the games? Jones always seems to pop when I've watched the packers.

1 draft pick - so team control for 2023-2025. 2 cheap free agents. 1 trade that cost a 5th rounder, and he took a paycut. Moss was a throw in body for Indy to make the cap hit more manageable in 2022. Throw in Gilliam as a core special teamer/fullback if you want - he's probably in a roster competition with Morris at this point, but I think he sticks with the team putting in additional effort to run the ball especially in the red zone. Based on RB spending we're comfortably middle of the road. I think we have overspent some decently prime picks on running backs, so hopefully cook can stick. Hines is probably overpaid for what his contributions project to be, but he can be cut (about 1.5M savings, so a league minimum free agent would result in about 750k savings) if he can't carve out a role specific to the offense. I expect that he does, and Murray makes 53 as a fill-in. I see it looking like the below roster wise, but you could always flip murray for a corner and see if he can make it to the PS. Tight end i only kept two since i think Gilliam can fill in a pinch.

What does this have to do with AJ Dillon? Also - why not let the guy play a little first before we knock him. It's a massively incentive laden contract with an out after 1 year. Clearly Mckenzie was the same player in 2022 that he was years and years before that, so you walk away because there isn't a place for him at this organization. Doesn't mean we don't want an elusive return man/WR/Gadget player in the offense. Hopkins was on the cardinals when we signed harty, we probably inquired and balked at price and signed a free agent.

I think the fact that there are 0 super bowls among these elite running backs shows that they really aren't necessary to team success. The teams are better with them in there, there is more home run potential among this group, but how much? Would it be better suited to spend on offensive linemen, who can have a greater impact on both passing and running game?

I think the best you could do would be to let rookie contracts be the length the player wants to sign. The slotting thing doesn't allow a player to get more money than their slot, and there are guard rails about raises and extensions. They should be able to ask for a raise at any time. Why can Pacheco rush for 800 yards and another 200 in the playoffs, but be forced to play this year at 880K and can't even ask for an extension until after NEXT season? Would GM's be willing to tack on a year or two at a reduced rate to get them a bonus?

He had a 10 year contract and likely got paid most of it - the NFL has unlimited money but for them its better to settle and save face.

I mean - coaches get fired all the time. But for the league to expose private emails, force your boss to fire you wanting to stand up in the face of your issues, and tarnish your name, and legacy - thats a bit much. He has plenty of money, but now he can't work... College, Pros, TV - all of those places won't touch him. So if it's determined that Snyder and the NFL released the emails on purpose, then he does have some standing that they intended to harm him.

The following players did not play for the Vikings game - Edmunds, White, Hyde, Poyer, Rousseau, and Elam. They also... got the stop at the end of the game that should have won it if not for Allen screwing up the sneak. They also got the stop in the end zone in OT. Teams play zone against allen in the red zone, eyes on QB so its difficult to use the time you buy with your legs to do anything. It's also more difficult to scramble into the end zone in zone. Running and PA would be one way to fix it

Chase comes after Jefferson too - gonna be some big checks to write there. Hopefully it hamstrings the rest of the roster a bit.