BarleyNY

I wondered that myself. My guess is that the Cowboys were working inside out on pass pro and it just happened to work out that way. Doubling a DT with the extra OL would keep the front of the pocket clean which is helpful for any QB, but particularly important for those on the shorter side like Dak. Still, I have no idea why they’d bother doubling Star. Not even his most fervent supporters pretend he’s here to rush the passer.

Go back and read my comments on him getting doubled by extra pass blockers - and him not pushing the pocket whether double or single teamed as a pass rusher. So now we’re talking TWO running plays he got doubled on? I did miss the first one you linked because he was turned so his number didn’t face the camera. My bad.

I guess I will believe it when I see it. I can’t imagine how he’d look so different game to game, but we have a bunch of new ones to watch this year. In the meantime feel free to point out games he did well in and I’ll give them a look.

Probably converting to DE

I rewatched the condensed Cowboys game on Game Pass. 30 minutes to see a nice win wasn’t exactly a chore. Star had two really nice plays that game, including his best as a Bill - the INT of Dak on a screen. He also knocked down a pass at the line. I can see why those plays would lead you to chose that game. But the problem is that the rest of it looked like everything else I’ve seen. He played 35 defensive snaps (46%) and 3 on specials. He was double teamed on run plays only once where he was moved out of his gap and the RB went through it easily. He drew no other doubles on runs, was easily handled by one blocker and made no impact outside of the two plays mentioned. There were several pass plays where a second blocker engaged him, but he never pushed the pocket. It just looked like the extra OL was just picking him up because he had no one else to block. Star had a great and a really good play in that game, but it’s really a reach to say those are indicative of his contribution to the Bills. In two seasons that was his lone INT and he has one other pass defended to go along with two sacks. But again, those are not what he’s supposed to be here for. His job is supposed to be drawing double teams and clogging up the middle. He has failed at that main aspect so far. It looks like he’s got one season left to show he can change that.

It’s worth noting that restructuring only takes away flexibility next season if the additional space created this season is spent this season. What isn’t spent rolls over and that washes. Usually at least some is spent like that, but sometimes space is just created for emergency spending in the event of injuries, etc. In the case of Diggs restructuring the Bills need some of that space to get through the season. That includes some emergency fund money which will roll over if unused. Also sometimes spending this year on things like retaining players long term can keep a team from having to sign free agents in the future. That can be a net cap gain, depending on the contracts and FA market.

I’ll rewatch the Cowboys game, but in general I just have to disagree on Star (until I see some consistent proof that outweighs what I saw in multiple games). As for guys getting paid to make these decisions, they make mistakes too. Star’s initial contract was based on him playing like he did for most of his time in Carolina and I sure have not seen play close to that caliber. Since then, the Bills have been stuck due to his initial contract, though they did see fit to reduce it. We almost certainly have him for one more season so the best I can do is hope the year off did him well and that he balls out this year. At minimum he should keep Oliver playing a lot more 3T which is a help in and of itself.

I get that such a situation can look bad, but it’s not bad from a cap perspective as the two year hit is the same. You might be pointing at a team using the extra space to overextend itself and that would definitely create problems. The potential other issue I saw on the Steelers years ago. They’ve been restructuring a lot of players like this for years. Usually it’s worked out fine, but they have had players underperform (due to getting paid and phoning it in, getting off the juice, getting old, etc.) whom they couldn’t cut right away. In general as long as a team is responsible it’s good to kick cap down to future years. One benefit is that future cap hits are discounted by the percentage of the increase in cap. Obviously 2020 threw a wrench in this, but for example if the cap rose a steady 5% per year then signing bonus hits would be discounted by 5% every year. A $4M SB on a 4 year deal would show $1M each season, but due to the 5% annual cap increase they would be equivalent to $1M, $950k, $902.5k and $857.4K. So you can see why teams love to utilize this to their advantage.

There’s really not a lot of those moves you’d WANT to make though. A Dawkins restructure is about it IMO. The Bills are now set up to make it through the season comfortably. The Bills could even make a move with a relatively modest hit this year. Even a bigger move - like with a Steven Nelson level contract - could be made if it were a longer contract or if voidable years were used on a short one.

Did you catch that Bills-Browns game replay? I watched Star in the first half. He saw one double team in that half - where he got blown into the secondary and the RB ran through his gap. Beyond that I saw one blocker handle him pretty easily. He didn’t occupy two blockers, anchor well, keep the LBs clean or make any impact that I saw. He was a lot better chasing plays laterally than I thought he’d be, but I didn’t see him make much of an impact with that either. I know that’s just one half of one game, but when I’ve watched him in others I’ve seen the same. If someone wants to point me to a game where he made a big, positive impact I’ll cue it up on GamePass.

Either way it’s still all income that falls within the same calendar year - except the last couple games and that’s still in a year where he’d be in the same tax bracket.

That is correct. But it means that Diggs won’t be getting a more lucrative contract this offseason. Some people thought he might be looking for a bump because of his production last season. Unless it’s part of the restructure that hasn’t leaked out yet, then that just got kicked until after this season at the earliest. Give the man credit for accepting his current pay - which is very good but not top WR money - and not demanding that he be paid commensurate with his production last season.

Ganesh’s point stands though. The way to remain competitive with a franchise QB on a fair market contract is to: - draft effectively - be fiscally responsible with veterans - find value with free agents Beane appears to be starting the cap responsibility process with the DE position. That makes sense because recently it has had the highest priced FAs (franchise QBs which rarely hit FA excepted). I’ll leave the debate on the prospects chosen for other times. There are certainly some bad contracts on the books, but realistically it’ll take until next offseason (at least) to clear them. Drafting well and finding some deals in the FA market would certainly go a long way toward keeping the Bills window open.

The OP is correct in his headline that one specific Vikings writer won’t let the Diggs thing go, but if you go to popular Vikings boards like this one you’ll see no one talking about him. So it’s not the fans, it’s that one dude. Also regarding Cousins, most know what they have in him though he has his fanbois that will defend him to the end. I think we’ve all seen that movie here so no surprise.

I never said it that the Bills traded away a guard that was already an All Pro. I said that there were varying opinions of how good Teller could be. One of the people with a very high opinion of him got him and helped him turn into that All Pro. It’s obvious in retrospect that Teller’s potential is that of an elite OG, one of the best in the game. It’s too bad that the Bills didn’t see it. It is not too different from the Bills seeing the potential in Jerry Hughes, getting him cheap and reaping the rewards of him blossoming here. Bills fans certainly never had a problem taking credit for that being such a great move. Edited to add: You wrote that he “later turned into an All Pro guard”. You make it sound like it took a long time to develop. One year. That’s what it took.

Opinions vary on that. Bill Callahan is the Browns OL coach and he’s likely the best in the game at that job. He was the main reason the Browns pursued Teller as he considered him to have been an exceptional OG prospect. In fact he said he thought he was the best OG prospect in the entire 2018 draft. As for the trade, it was a fifth and a sixth in 2020 to the Bills for Teller and a 2021 seventh. For that price the Browns got an All Pro OG. Meanwhile the Bills have had average to below average OG play. While I don’t see the need to keep bringing up the trade, there’s really no way to spin it positively for the Bills. It is what it is. Just move on already.

I have a line on some sweet Ohio State tickets. I’ll probably get to go back to the Shoe again for a game this year.

Originally it was a 5 year, $50M contract. The restructure of the last 3 years of it only lowered the total dollars by $5.4M but upped the guaranteed money. It was and continues to be an egregiously bad contract.

The first thing you have to understand is that the salary cap is very real and important, but most contracts aren’t. The cap for a team is just the league determined base cap for that year plus whatever was rolled over from the previous season. The important thing about contracts is simply what money is paid out and what future money is guaranteed. Sooner or later that all has to be accounted for with respect to the cap. Some teams with a lot of space can spend very freely, but the Bills are no longer one of those. They are spending at a level where decisions have to be made. In order to sign a player with a significant contract they have to offset that cap hit with a reduction somewhere else. It could be by cutting a higher priced player or restructuring players with large salaries to push some of their cap hit into future seasons. But restructuring like that too much or with the wrong player can cause issues for teams. This season the Bills will have to make a little room to get through, but restructuring Dawkins and/or Diggs should be plenty. Additional moves would require more work though.

Let me see that paper cut

Spotrac Bills Contracts This is a good way to look at yearly cap hits and shows when contracts end. It’s broken down by position and player so it’s easy to see what team needs will likely be next season.

Prolly a little early for this - except the part about having his replacement in place.

He was overstating people questioning whether or not Edmunds was deserving of having his $12.7M fifth year option picked up. Sorry to hear that you were ill. Hope all is well now.

That’s pretty much it. This year’s salary of $4.5M and a portion of his salary in 2022 ($2.5M of $6.15M) are guaranteed. The only way he gets cut this offseason is if he brings nothing at all to the table and they don’t want him around. In that case he would be a post June 1st cut (or designated as such). Much more likely is what you stated - he gets cut next offseason.