BarleyNY

It is expected that mid tier free agents will be the ones to take it in the shorts in times like these. There will be lots of one year deals for players who don’t get the offers they’re expecting and who want to bet on themselves. The expectation of the big dip this season along with a very sizable jump next is the key there. But that will also allow teams that want a higher level player on a long term deal to pay them well. They can minimize this year’s cap hit and then have plenty of space in 2022 and beyond to handle the much larger hits. People will be surprised by the size of the contracts the elite FAs sign.

Cleveland has to be BS. The Browns have two top 10 guards in Bitonio and Teller so they don’t need him. Also he’s a terrible fit in their zone scheme so they wouldn’t even want him for depth.

Agree on Princess Bride. And on the players. It’s really tough to make this call unless we know what they are asking for in their contracts. Spotrac has Milano’s MV at 3 years, $41.5M and Williams’ MV at 2 years, $15.7M. Using those numbers I don’t see how there’s much of a decision to be made. You obviously take Williams. I think Milano’s contract estimate is high and Williams’ is low, but not enough to change my mind. I love Milano and he is a damn fine coverage LB but he’s not great against the run. Williams it’s pretty darn good in both run and pass blocking. If we can only retain one, then he’s my guy.

I do not think it is silly. I think the NFL decided to let a lot more go in terms of offensive holding this season which really hurt pass rushers overall and a certain style of pass rusher more than others. Teams just didn’t know what was coming when they signed these rushers. That said, giving that much guaranteed money to Addison at his age was not a good move. That cap space might cost us a free agent this season.

Morse is due $7.6M in cash this season. That’s the cap hit a team that traded for him would take on. That would put him 10th for centers this season. (His cap hit to us would be $10.3M which puts him 4th.) Teams - including the Bills - have to be concerned about his concussions. I just don’t see a lot of teams rushing to trade anything for a guy that they have to pay well and who carries an elevated risk of not actually solving their problem at center. I don’t go down that road if I’m a GM unless I don’t have other good options.

Tough to prove if he says it’s physical. Players his age have wear and tear and if it’s pain or headache related there’s not much you can disprove. When Wood retired he started talking about retiring and set up a press conference. Then he cut the PC short and changed his tune. That was due to perception of why he had to spot playing and the related money. If the player plays the game right then he’s going to keep his signing bonus and get his future guaranteed money. Possibly but I’m sure his agent will want him to get every cent possible.

That’s actually a pretty stellar line of thinking. Heck, if Seattle is willing to pay Dak then the Cowboys could include him in the deal after they tag him.

So you want him to start negotiating low? He can ask for whatever he wants, but what he agrees to tells us a lot more about what he really believes - and what the Cowboys and/or league really believes.

That and the money.

I’m so sorry for your loss.

Correct. $750k last season, $7.6M this season. His salary is fully guaranteed this season and $2.5M of it is guaranteed in 2022. He’d have a $5.1M dead cap in 2022 if released after this season. If he chooses to retire for personal reasons we obviously would not have to pay the guaranteed salary, but I do not expect that. If anything it would be an Eric Wood situation where he claims his body can’t handle it anymore and, thus, he’d get to collect his remaining guaranteed money.

I want to clarify what the term “team option restructure” refers to. It is an option that is already in a contract that allows a team to convert salary into a signing bonus. The upshot is that there is no need to go through the motions of getting players with that clause in their contracts to agree to restructure. It’s just a matter of the team executing that clause. There is no downside to the players since they get cash sooner and it just saves paperwork.

Maybe someday. That’s what I keep telling myself. I haven’t had a vacation since before COVID so maybe I’ll be able to splurge on something like NZ when it’s all done. Good luck getting there someday

I had some of the early cards, including a Black Lotus. All were destroyed in a flood along with other stuff in my basement. It was right as we were moving into the house. My wife was there to start her new job while I was still in our old city. The husband of the couple we bought it from didn’t mention that the sump pump would get hung up sometimes. To make matters much worse he was an insurance agent and sold us a policy for the home, but neglected to suggest flood insurance. Good times.

My desire to spend time in New Zealand has never been greater

I think they focused on their largest and most profitable investment first. And, yeah, they kept trying until they got that one right. There’s always luck involved and they made some terrible decisions prior to McD, but they were smart enough to move on quickly from them. You can’t get lucky if you don’t do that. IMO their big mistake has been getting involved in so many sports franchises and other investments so quickly. Too many learning curves that are all big ones. They’ll do better if they cut back on their active investments and focus on the profitable ones that they are the most proficient and passionate about.

I can confirm that Rudolph would prefer to go to Cleveland and play for Stefanski. That would mean the Browns parting ways with Njoku. I’ve been down ion Njoku due to poor blocking effort and drops. Last season he improved in both regards though. He was actually pretty good blocker and though he played less than in the past - about a third of the offensive snaps - his drop rate fell to 8%. He’d be our “Y” TE and leave Knox in line, but I’d be good with the Bills making a reasonable trade for him. Something conditional in 2022 that’s contingent on him signing a LTD here makes sense. Browns would get a decent pick if he works out and stays or a late rounder if he doesn’t. Oh, and I’d be down with Rudolph on a reasonable deal too. Knox to Y.

Wait, we did what now?!

It’s actually a good negotiation tactic if you want to maximize your earnings. Drive up your price among the lesser teams by getting them to really make it worth it to you to play for them. “I’d really rather play for the Bills or Bucs so if the contracts are close, then I’m going with one of them. Oh, how much more did you say?” Then put our some half truth or total BS about not taking the most money/best contract offer. Nicely played.

One thing I really like about Clowney is that he’s a great DE to have on the field when playing against Lamar. He can hold and collapse the edge which forces players like Lamar to stay in the pocket and get rid of the ball or run straight upfield. No rolling out to buy time for coverage to break down or running up the sideline.

He would not help us get better against the run either.

Beane did a great job quickly working out a deal for a much needed young, elite WR when Diggs he made it known he was unhappy in Minny. But those opportunities don’t come around often. I can’t think of a single young, elite edge defender that could be pried away from his team right now. Free agency might have some options though.

I suspect the $23M guaranteed on a 2-year deal was what drove his decision. Lots of details to consider when it comes to contracts - guarantees, length, structure/backloading. I heard the Browns offered $13.5M/yr earlier in the process. No idea if they increased that or not. Even at $13.5M AAV if it was for a a 3 year deal, then that’s $40.5M and they technically offered more in a way. Lots gets said about contract offers, but without details none of it really means much. I think Watt was a phenomenal player and that he’s still good. I’m glad we didn’t pay him what ‘Zona did though. That’s just too much for a rotational 32 year old pass rusher. Heck, I thought $13.5M would've too much unless it was a longer deal that was backloaded.

Mike Preston has been hated by Baltimore fans for as long as I can remember. This article is a good example of why. It was really nothing but bitching and whining on behalf of himself and NFL teams. The NFL is happy to take advantage of social media, the internet and other modern tech when it suits them so they aren’t getting any sympathy from me if there’s a downside too. Ditto Preston. He ***** about players trying to use social media to get better contracts, but ignores the fact that owners can make billions of dollars over the course of owning a team. So they have to manage some social media stuff from players in the process? Boo hoo. It’s part of the package these days. If they don’t want to deal with that stuff they can do something else in a less public industry.

Also had a Border Collie mix. This is all spot on. Wish we’d have gotten him a dog, as we used to say. He needed it. He was a great dog though. I miss him.