BarleyNY

I think Allen and Bills made a fair deal. He still had a fourth rookie year and a $23M fifth year option when it got signed. They got rolled up with his extension. It’s complicated, but the additional 5 seasons pay works out to $47M per year. The deal keeps him here through 2028. $47M AAV is a bit high for today, but it is a good approximation of fair market value in 2023 when the new seasons kick in. Also the new broadcasting deals start in 2023 so considering those it actually might be below market. But Allen got a chunk of money early and some real security through guarantees. It was a win-win IMO.

It’s a percentage of revenue. The value of an NFL franchise has skyrocketed too. They’re talking $5B for the Broncos.

You misunderstand me. I am not saying that at all. I guess I wasn’t clear. Football used to be a game played by big, tough men. Then it grew into a game played by physical freaks. Advances in fitness and nutrition (and pharmaceuticals) coupled with the economics involved led to what we have today. The physical damage done by NFL players to each other has necessitated changes in the game. The combination of those very prudent rule changes along with the still very brutal game are both reasons I like it a lot less than I used to. Also maybe because I’m older I know what that punishment leads to down the road.

Yup. I absolutely love football, but the mess the NFL has become only slightly resembles it. With the money now involved and knowing what we know about CTE I doubt we will ever see the game I loved again. Those who love the current iteration are welcome to it.

The Rams are definitely mortgaging their future. The way they spent picks and cap space to upgrade their roster is going to hurt them. It was worth it because they won it all. But there was no guarantee at the time that it would work. They just tried to improve their odds a little bit while they were still in their window. They can probably hold it together a little longer too if they want to. I am good with the Bills being aggressive though. Just not screwing up future seasons aggressive.

Yes, the Rams had done well leading up to their last push. As I mentioned, pushing hard at the end of a team’s window is typical. The Rams are near the end of their window, the Bills are not. Ask me again in 7 or 8 years and I’ll say “yes, we should mortgage the future and try to win it all (again) before Allen retires.” And let’s be clear about two things: 1) I have no issue with the bills being aggressive in a targeted manner. There is a difference between the kind of aggressive that cripples a team in the future and the kind that is part of sustainable team building. 2) The Rams won it all for a lot of reasons. One was their aggression in building their team. Another was that they drafted Aaron Donald. Another was luck. SF dropped an easy INT or they aren’t even in the SB, Cincy was one play away from beating them and then there’s the luck of playing the Bengals rather than the Bills or Chiefs. Heck, just being in the NFC is much better than being in the AFC these days. So there’s no guarantee that trying to get over the top by making moves like trading a 2nd and 3rd for one season of a player like Von Miller is going to make the difference. My main point is that the Bills have too many competitive seasons ahead to hinder themselves in future seasons to make expensive, marginal improvements for one or two seasons.

Looks like a huge nothingburger here. The way I’m reading this is that Tua asked Flores if the rumors that the team was trying to trade for Watson were true and he told him that they were. Okay. Not exactly a damning interaction. I think we all know that was the was truth. The upshot to Tua was that he needed to step it up or he was going to get replaced. Again. Duh.

Sometimes when a person feels that they’ve outgrown their role and they don’t have the authority to run things they way they see fit, it can become frustrating. They see people with that authority make what they consider mistakes and they become unhappy. It’s time for them to move on and give it a shot. Sometimes it works out for them and sometimes it doesn’t. Seems like that might be what happened here. Someone alluded to this being discussed in an Athletic article. If anyone with a subscription can shed some light, I’d appreciate it.

It’s not time for the Bills to do something like this. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t make a move if they think they need to. But they have a window that’ll be open a long time. No need to screw things up for a few seasons for one shot.

It’s what a lot of teams do when their window is closing. The Rams needed some pieces, including a QB. They pushed in. New Orleans pushed in at then end of Brees’ career and Philadelphia did it when their roster was aging and they were coming off a SB win. It didn’t work out well for either. Those two teams are dealing with the aftermath now and the Rams will be soon. It’s easier to handle the rebuilding years if your team wins it all, but there’s no guarantee. The ugly rebuilding years are the price of trying.

This it true. I actually like some of that stuff. Some bluegrass too. Country music today isn’t just bad on its surface and in its soul, it also came at the expense of destroying the music you are talking about, which was superior in a lot of ways. Too bad it is all but gone.

I vehemently hate country music. This show was quintessentially California and it was good. My only real complaint is that the sound work could’ve been better.

Wow. He was the 32nd person to come forward and file accusations. You would’ve thought there’d be more out there about this.

Certainly seems like time. He had a nice career.

Some context for those wondering: For seven games over the last two seasons he wasn’t injured. Herniated disk equaled zero games played in 2020. Torn pec lost him 10 games this past season. He’s also got one of the oddest contracts I’ve ever seen: LINK Of the $25.5M due over the next two seasons, $18M of it is a roster bonus due 3/20. I’m betting that is convertible to a signing bonus (he has two void years). He would easily be worth trading for if it weren’t for his recent injuries. As of now it would be a huge gamble. I would pass on it if it meant sending a first. Minny may decide to part ways with him due to the roster bonus and recent injuries. If they do, then he will be on the trade market cheap. That might get me interested.

So you’re saying that Beane doesn’t know what he’s doing because he took Oliver 7th overall?

Thank you. I appreciate that. As for the Diggs thing I did not see a big red flag either. And I agree that it was due to Cousins. There were rumors that he wanted out of Minny shortly before the Bills traded for him, but there was no big blow up. It’s not like he threw a public fit like some have. There’s nothing wrong with a player going to his team and telling them that he’s like to be traded or that he didn’t see himself there long term. It happens all the time. It was news because it was an elite player making the request. It also gave his team a chance to trade him while he had value. Could the same thing have happened here if Allen had busted? Sure. But so what? Getting Diggs helped Allen succeed and if it hadn’t worked out that way then we’d have had a lot worse problems than the Diggs trade.

One critical component of the Diggs trade was that he wanted out of Minnesota. That’s the reason the Bills got a player of his caliber on a reasonable contract for what they did. I don’t have an issue trading for a CB in theory, but I’m looking for a fit unless a rare Diggs-like situation pops up. We can’t take on a bad contract so thats out. A second or third tier CB on an expiring contract would be an option, but we could just sign one of those for the contract we’d give one we’d trade for. Don’t see that happening. I think we’re seeing what FA brings and then looking to the draft. Expect at least one in each.

This was not the mea culpa I was expecting in this thread

I’m with you on this. If we drafted him at 25, we’d have spent three first round picks and two second round picks on our current DL. Then there’s the issue of him being a very one dimensional player. Don’t get me wrong - he is phenomenal in that one dimension, but it’s still just the one. And it’s the one that has a lot less value than the other in today’s NFL. That all said, I can totally see him being the Bills choice if he makes it to 25.

Apparently the Steelers are in love with Malik Willis. They’ve been really bad at hiding their draft intentions of late, so it’s believable. For example, it was widely known that they were planning to draft Najee Harris with their 1st round pick well before last year’s draft. Looks like Willis is their guy this year.

They went from 7-9 to 10-7. An improvement, sure, but people act like they were 3-13 in 2020. And, yes, the FAs helped them with some of that modest improvement. They improved at some positions even if it was just from a total liability to a serviceable player. Ditto with Jones at QB. A total liability at QB the prior season improved to serviceable with him playing. Low expectations should not factor into the situation.

I get that the team improved, but I can’t believe that voters attributed that to him and not the bajillion dollars the Pats* spent in FA. In addition to that he was a serviceable QB. That doesn’t equal OROY votes to me.

How TF did Mac Jones get 5 votes?

I don’t remember what Kelly said after SBXXV. That was 31 years ago. Allen said pretty much what I’d have expected someone in his position to say. And let’s not forget that this was a divisional round loss, not a SB loss. He said the right thing, but it was pretty boilerplate. As for the circumstances, this was bad and it was on the coaching staff. It didn't happen in a SB, but it wasn’t a kicker missing a FG or a fluke (probably illegal) play. It was our coaches sh*****g the bed.