BarleyNY

Hunt would be the best RB the Bills have had on their roster in a very long time. Great runner and weapon in the passing game. I doubt Cleveland moves on from him this off-season though.

The good news for the Jest is that they have a lot of great draft picks. The bad news is that they really need them and also they’re the Jest.

Sure, there’s a material difference there. But a bust to me is any player who does not come close (performance-wise) to living up to his draft status. You can split that hair a lot of different ways. If you want to call Shaq Lawson a moderate bust and Darron Lee a major bust, then I’m fine with that. Also a player’s individual performance is what matters, not the performance or success of the team or the impact of those around them.

I get your point, but you just described a bust for a player drafted 16th overall. He can play in this league and it’s not his fault that he was drafted too early, but that’s how draft picks are judged.

Probably showing my age here but when I see Velus Jones all that I can think about is Velvet Jones (Eddie Murphy, SNL).

Cap ramifications! Oh no! All the Rams have to show for that is a Super Bowl trophy! Well, one Super Bowl trophy so far.

That’s really nice work.

Free agents - Bills Spotrac’s FA tracker. Can sort by team, position, etc.

I used to make time to watch a lot of film on prospects too. Too busy these days tho. Fun hobby.

True. It’s still not a huge savings though and would just be part of the cap space the Bills would save for moves during the season. If the Bills release Star it’ll be because they no longer want him here, not because they’re trying to save some cap space.

I can see keeping him here for his ST contributions. I am not a fan of him being on the field when the defense is out there though. The dollars aren’t big - and contract details aren’t even out yet - so I don’t see anything worth complaining about.

Only one way to find out. Um, you know what ghee is, right? It’s similar to clarified butter. The only difference is that with ghee the milk solids are browned before straining whereas clarified butter doesn’t have the browning process. Straight up? NFW.

1) I would love it 2) I’d much prefer a RB who is a better receiver 3) Not a good separator. Hard pass 4) Not a good fit unless we expect to run a ton of wide zone 5) I’m not sure what he’d bring to the table that we don’t already have. I would not spend our limited cap space on him. Go big or go home at DE 6) Would be an excellent signing. If we are going to spend money on someone in FA he’d be an excellent choice. CBs that can play man are expensive though and his price tag might really get up there.

Yeah. I see the Bills signing a vet CB to a 1 year deal at value time and then drafting one, probably day one or two.

I think we know that from the massage parlor price tag

Dodson is an ERFA. The Bills offered him so he will be here in 2022 (unless he quits the NFL). Phillips has not signed an extension (yet) and is on track to be a FA.

Teams have to be under the cap when the league year starts on 3/16 at 4 pm. Roster bonuses have dates set in contracts, usually between 3 and 10 days after the season starts.

Classic

His name is Harrison Phillips. But seriously, teams are putting through paperwork on ERFAs, RFAs and the like right now. Early March is when you’ll see teams extend some upcoming FAs, release players, etc. Lots of talks between agents and teams (over shrimp cocktails and steaks at St. Elmo’s) during the Combine. That’s the first week of March. First day of the new league year is March 16th.

I’d say no, but I’d want his replacement in house before cutting him. The Bills have some time there. I corrected my earlier comment about the roster bonus being due in March. He has had March roster bonuses in prior years and has one in 2023. In 2022 he just has per game roster bonuses for being on the active roster.

With Star what’s his downside for saying “no” to a pay cut? He’s already guaranteed $2.5M. If we cut him, then he could pocket that and sign elsewhere or just retire. His total (new money) compensation in 2022 is $6.15M salary + $350k in per game active roster bonuses + $250k work out bonus. $6.75M total with $2.5M of that guaranteed. The Bills might be able to whittle down the non guaranteed $4.25M, but I don’t think it would be by much. (Edit: To be fair, you were not suggesting that they’d get much of a reduction.) Correction to my earlier post: Spotrac shows his roster bonus as per game, with nothing due in March. Not sure if that’s an update or I just remembered it wrong. The Bills still would want to cut him early and designate him a 6/1 cut to avoid paying him his $250k work out bonus and, in the event he was injured in team activities, his whole salary. But they don’t have the time constraint I though they did.

I’ve discussed this at length. @First Round Bust I skimmed your post and it looks correct. I don’t see any kind of reworking of Star’s contract though. He has little reason to do so. The two realistic options are: 1) Keep him this year, cut him next. 2) Designate him a 6/1 release prior to his roster bonus that is due on 3/26. The first option is if the team really wants to move on now. The second is if they don’t think they can swing replacing him this off-season. The difference in spend and cap hit is $4.1M savings this season. That’s all this really boils down to. They probably keep him one more season on his current contract.

Von Miller. It might be a stretch to get him and it is unlikely because I know he prefers to be in LA and will probably remain there. But he is an Edge that can get to the QB in big games when the refs swallow their whistles - and we need that. I like Hughes, but Miller would be a big upgrade.

1) There’s nothing wrong with a player wanting to be fairly compensated for his value. The numbers might be large, but his MV is well above what he’s making now. Paying a player close to his value is not “bending over backwards” for them. In this instance it would just be smart business. 2) Again, the age to which players can maintain their level of performance continues to increase. 3) LOL! That isn’t even worth responding to. But please enlighten us. Where should the Bills ise their cap space when they go with lesser, cheap WRs?

I think that you have a lot wrong here. 1) Diggs isn’t going to play out the last two years on his deal without an extension or real problems. It would not be a good look for the team to not reward their best offensive player not named Allen. He’s performed while on a below market value contract and publicly kept his mouth shut about it. But that could change. He might play this year under it, but now way does he play out his last season. We’d be in for him holding out, causing issues in the media and locker room, etc. He’d get a lot of support from players because they would understand that he’d deserve the extension. 2) Players - especially WRs that don’t rely on track speed - can maintain their performance into their 30s. Rule changes that keep WRs healthier and advancements in nutrition and recovery are extending players’ careers. If Diggs got a 3 year extension his contract would be ending when he would be 32. That is about the age I would expect to see his performance decline. If he didn’t quite make it that far, the Bills would have options since there would be no guarantees left on his contract. 3) Teams that are paying their QB a lot of money still pay some other players. Their cap structure can support fewer upper and/or mid tier contracts, but every team that’s paying their QB still has some other large contracts on their books. 4) No argument that a huge QB contract necessitates drafting well. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves with Davis. I hope he earns a huge deal. He might, but he hasn’t yet. A Diggs extension would not preclude a huge deal for him though. It might be difficult but it is manageable if he’s a top player on our team. Decisions will have to be made though.