BarleyNY

Nice. You totally had me.

I think they’ve avoided using a lottery because of optics. Even if it’s run completely fairly there will be cases when it looks like it was fixed. Still, your point that it would be another event is a good one. I can see the NFL wanting that revenue - and after the Flores suit (with evidence of tanking) they might not have much of a choice anyway. It will have to be non-playoff teams only though. Can you imagine if a SB winner got the #1 pick and auctioned it off to a QB needy team? Think KC with Mahomes winning the SB, then getting the #1 overall pick that draft. That would have been Joe Burrow. They could’ve gotten 3 first round picks plus more. Miami offered that and Cincy didn’t even bother to counter. No way does the NFL want that. So if it’s just non-playoff teams it would open up some late season decisions by teams on the cusp of a playoff spot. If you can’t win it all, do you take a small chance in the lottery with a potentially huge payoff or a likely first round playoff exit? Most wouldn’t but some might. That’s what the league would have to live with. As for taking, teams would probably still do it. That’s the biggest strike against a lottery. By having a lottery you’re just telling teams that are tanking that they might not get paid off like they expect though. Putting one in place is probably the better move from an optics standpoint for the NFL though. Their other option is to hammer the Dolphins by taking away premium draft picks and fining/suspending the owner and others involved.

No. If Edmunds is traded, his contract goes with him. There would be zero cap hit (dead money) to the Bills. As his salary is all fully guaranteed, if we were to cut him, then we still would have to pay him his whole salary, which would count against the cap. Realistically he’s here for the 2022 season.

I was not assigning blame. The needlessly watching someone die part was rough. Lots of people - especially young people - do stupid stuff, though I didn’t realize he was fleeing authorities. The speed indicator made me think it was a traffic helicopter, but it makes more sense. And I’m also sad for the person in the car. It wasn’t their fault, but they still were in an accident where someone died horrifically right in front of their eyes.

This I sort of thing severely damaged traditional cable companies. ESPN had the largest cost of all the cable stations. Along with its sister stations and other sports networks their part of customers’ bills was very large. That was especially true after ESPN signed a bunch of exclusive contracts to broadcast games. But it turns out that many people who didn’t care enough about sports to pay for them started to cut the cable. Then those games lost casual viewers and couldn’t charge what they expected for advertising, so prices went up. A Death Spiral ensued.

That’s rough

I’m not a fan of his play, but I think there’s a fair chance Star will stay another year too. One is what you pointed out - only a $1.5M cap savings, though that includes $2.6M dead cap accelerated from 2023. They could designate him a July 1st cut and keep that $2.6M dead cap in 2023, which would create $4.1M in room in 2022. But the bigger issue to me is that Oliver is the only other DT currently under contract for 2022 (unless you want to count Basham, which I wouldn’t). Star is due a $500k roster bonus on 3/22. The league year starts on 3/16. So it might all come down to whether or not Beane can find a suitable replacement for him and at what price. Or maybe he does take a pay cut to stay. Heres hoping they can sign Phillips to a reasonable extension before 3/16 too. That might help them make the decision on Star.

I agree with that general strategy. Making the space we need is certainly doable without drastic measures. They’ll cut ties with a few players and restructure others. I’ve detailed what iI would do in other threads. No time to look that up now. I have to go snow blow the driveway.

It’s a team game - and I seem to remember Rodgers playing very well in most of them. I wouldn’t put those losses all on his shoulders any more than I’d do that to Allen. I’m not blaming Allen for this year’s playoff loss to KC. Are you?

Not quite the situation we are in. We need to clear space to make room to: - get back under the salary cap while we are under the Rule of 51 - sign our draft class - re-sign or replace some starters/key backups (Wallace, Phillips, Trubisky) - eventually fit all 53 active roster players plus a full practice squad plus replacement players for IRed players under the cap. There’s work to be done just to tread water.

Some cap hit increases: - Edmunds went up almost $9M - Allen up about $6M - Diggs up about $11.5M - note that the Bills paid him a large portion of his 2011 salary as a signing bonus to create space last year. - Sanders and Addison have dead cap of about $3.4M total due to voidable years. I just got started and there’s about $30M right there.

Literally one of the most difficult things to do around here.

He also had that year when he won the Super Bowl and was SB MVP. That was a pretty good year.

That’s really the issue. No owner seems to be interested in accountability becoming a thing for them. That’s strictly for the worker bees.

Not necessarily so. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Tua is probably a Jimmy G level QB. But running a wide zone like the 49ers do doesn’t mean that you think you’ve got a limited QB. The Rams run it too, though a different version than the 49ers run. McVay acquired Stafford because he needed a better QB than Goff to run his version. Still, Kyle Shannahan is the current master of it. If his DB could field a gift INT then he’d be probably 7-0 against McVay despite having a lot less talent to work with.

This is the pertinent situation. Josh gets injured and misses time but is back at some point. I think it’s pretty likely that Fitz would love to come back here and he could help the team remain competitive for a month or two if needed. What you can’t have is a backup who will 💩 the bed for 6 weeks and pile up a 1-5 record while Josh is healing a broken bone. If that happens then even going 8–3 in the other games only gets you to 9-8 and no playoffs. If that backup QB can get the same team to 3-3, then even 7-4 with Allen playing gets you into the playoffs. 8-3 probably gets you the East. Huge difference.

Regular. The strawberry taste like they’re flavored with Strawberry Quick to me. I liked that as a kid, but not so much these days. Maybe I’m just a purist. I think someone mentioned Special K with strawberries. I remember that was pretty good. At least I liked the strawberries. I think FMWs have more flavors now. What’s your preference?

Glad someone brought up Frosted Mini Wheats (FMWs in my house). Excellent call. I also like Great Grains Blueberry and cranberry. Usually Cinnamon Toast Crunch for those naughty times, though I agree that Golden Grahams are right tip there with them.

I’ve seen Squid Game and Train to Busan (zombie apocalypse movie). I liked both. Parasite is on my list to watch.

Josh Allen will the the comp every agent pushes for their raw, smaller school QB prospect. It usually won’t be accurate.

He’s never been afraid to milk every good moment he’s ever had for every last dollar it could get him.

I think once a guy gets a HC job, that’s what you use to judge him by.

That was as bad as imaginable. But McDermott is the HC and it’s his defense. It’s not like he wasn’t in on those calls, especially with the time outs. I don’t think there was anything underhanded going on, but it was so bad it sure looked like there was.

The joke - again a joke - was simply that the Phins fired a HC who seemed to have been pretty well regarded and who had a winning record in each of the last two seasons for a guy who appeared to be doing little more than following Shannahan’s orders. It was not meant to be any kind of social commentary.

That’s fair. I don’t mean to imply that Trubisky shouldn’t get a real shot this season. Some teams will be desperate and the draft is not good for QBs. If I needed to find a QB I’d probably sign him (or a player like him) and also try to draft one if I saw some upside or value. I could see him in Pittsburgh too. There’s no question that he’s one of the top 32 QBs on the planet right now. I just think he’s far enough down that list that he will get upgraded sooner than later.