BarleyNY

Yes, he was VP of player personnel for the Browns. He was there when Kitchens was hired but was a proponent of hiring Stefanski so there’s some level of comfort there. He’s definitely DePodesta’s guy and was his target from the start of the search. Berry is an extremely intelligent guy who played. He was a three year All Ivy CB at Harvard where he got a Bachelors in Economics and a Masters in CIS. He’s a great fit for the analytics driven group there. You never know how that’ll work out, but it seems like there’s a good chance the Browns org will be on the same page. Whether they’ll be successful I couldn’t say. Even if there’s a lot of good people working together there, there is still the Haslams and team history to deal with. Still, Berry is smart guy.

Dorsey was the one that advocated for Hunt and he’s gone. I am hearing that there’s a good chance the Browns move on from him. If it were me I’d tender him at the second round level and see if anyone tried to sign him away. Then I’d base my decision on that contract.

It’s definitely a risk, but I’d be for this as long as the guarantee was only around $9M so it could effectively be a 1 year deal if needed. Also I’d be happy to back up the Brinks truck for Yannick.

I had a coworker who came from Pharma sales. We were working for a god awful company in the aerospace industry at the time. It gouged the hell out of the government and airlines and they treated everyone outside of top management as poorly as their customers. Worst job of my life by far. He said his Pharma job was worse. There was zero effort by that company to help people and that their strategy was to keep people on maintenance medication for as long as possible. Specific strategy for diabetics was to keep them on medication their whole lives despite it meaning gradually declining health and eventual death. Any efforts to find something to actually cure the patients was avoided. I’m not one to downplay the positive effects of capitalism. It has tremendous value to society. My issues come from the lack of true free markets brought about by having companies and industries that are large (wealthy) enough to impact laws that limit competition and innovation - as well as the legal system that allows that to happen. The result is not true capitalism. I also see healthcare as having such importance to society that at least basic care should be available to every citizen and that special safety measures should be in place to eliminate issues like what I mentioned above. Thats my 2¢ on the matter. I’ll leave it there unless there’s a specific question.

In reality most medical breakthroughs and advancements are made by researchers at universities, not private companies. And most of the funding for research is from government grants. Companies are great at monetizing the advancements, but it’s rare that the people who did the actual work get much out of it financially.

Airport to OP is not great for displaying the best B-lo has to offer. I’m not sure where they stay, but you gotta know where to go in Buffalo and it’s probably not by their hotel.

Compensation between $40&$50M a year now. Plus incredible perks. Where do I sign up for that?

NM

People here argued with me when I said the same thing. He’s not a consistently accurate passer. He puts pressure on the defense with his rushing and extends plays so long that easier throws develop. And he also hits tough passes sometimes, just inconsistently.

I think he was a lot less important to them once they got OBJ, but they still wanted him on the team. It’s not great to have someone on the roster who doesn’t want to be there though. Between that and preserving the relationship with his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, it was the smart thing to do.

FWIW he was not cut by the Browns. He signed a 1 year deal with the Browns, then he hit free agency and ended up re-signing with them. Then Cleveland traded for OBJ within a couple of days and he asked to be released from his new contract. They obliged him. But it was them doing him a solid, it wasn’t like they didn’t want him on the team. It depends on his price, but Perriman would be a good addition to the team. He’s really coming into his own and he wouldn’t preclude drafting another WR. I like what he brings to the team as well as the flexibility we’d have in the draft.

Dude kept the Brady and the Cheatriots from getting two more SBs. Why are some here arguing against him? I’ll always think well of him for those two games. Seriously though, the dude balled out in the most critical times of the most important games in his career. Ice water in his veins. That is why he has those two rings and it deserves respect. He should be in.

One early, one late. Value at WR should be found throughout the draft.

The NFL wants parity. It’s more about the NFL than the NFLPA who likely would be for trading cap space. Let the teams that want to spend, spend. It’d drive up prices for the top players. That’s what the league doesn’t want. Plus allowing teams to trade cap space would really damage pairity. The Mike Browns of the league would use that mechanism to get richer at the expense of even attempting to be competitive. The Dareus trade was a similar situation in that the Bills traded away a highly talented player for peanuts because they wanted to be rid of him and his future guaranteed money. The big difference with the Osweiler trade was that Houston gave up the player and more in picks than they got back. Osweiler plus a 6th and a future 2nd for only a 4th from Cleveland IIRC. That’s where it gets sketchy with the league office. They tried to run the trade through all in the same year and it was rejected. No bueno from the league.

Trading cap space for picks straight up is verboten in the NFL. This example was the work around to technically be within the rules. I wouldn’t be against the Bills doing something like this, but it’s rare that a team is in the position the Texans were in. You have to find a team with big guaranteed salary to a player they have given up on and is in such bad cap space that they are willing to part with a high pick to rid themselves of the contract. And then the Bills would have to be willing to wait a year for the high pick since the NFL won’t authorize a player and a higher pick for a lower pick in the same year. That’s just not going to happen very often.

The Niners OL is interesting. Two 1st round OTs bookending a former bust and two guys who were UFAs. But they all fit their system really well.

That is not true. He threw a fit until we gave him that sweet contract. Once he got paid he was happy, but not before. And to be clear, be wanted paid in Philly too so it was about the money, not the city. He’d have been happy anywhere with that contract though.

Learned my lesson after getting hosed the first time. I required NTE (not to exceed) clauses in the quotes after that. No NTE clause? Then don’t bother quoting. Only one company sent me a quote without it and would not require with it. They were the cheapest, but no way would I go with them. They’d have hosed me. Tossed that in the trash.

Yeah. That would actually be more defensible than anything else he’s done. And haven’t those kids already been through enough?

I hope that the Bills make a run at a top tier DE. I’m not sure if they will - or if they’ll be successful - but it’d be the smart move if one is available (not are-signed or tagged).

I agree. Plus a bunch of players are due roster bonuses in March. That includes Star ($1M), Murphy ($500k), Kroft ($750k+$2M of salary guarantees). Lee Smith ($500k), Hauschka ($250k), Yeldon ($150k) and Roberts ($100k). Of that group, Kroft is the guy I see released before that bonus is due. His contract is ridiculous for his meager contribution. I’d expect the rest to be here next season. Long has a contract with team options for this year and next. It’s doubtful that this one will be picked up unless Morse has a horrible offseason injury before mid-March. I still don’t understand why he got that contract with the Morse signing. It seemed excessive as insurance.

A lot of people overlooked Watkins’ less than ideal height and modest vertical jump as well as the fact that he caught most (over 50%) of his passes behind the LOS at Clemson.

People should remember that free agency is first. WR is probably the only position I wouldn’t need set before the draft. It is so deep this year we should be able to find what we need without addressing it in FA.

I like the idea of Jimmy G winning it all while Belichick stews about how Kraft forced him trade him away. Seems like that could fan the flames of discontent. Plus I’m not rooting for that POS Tyreek Hill.

Poyer and Hyde have both outperformed their contracts. Hyde has 2 seasons left, Poyer has 1. I can see them both getting extensions. Hyde has been much better than Poyer (who has been very good) so they really can’t give Poyer a raise to more than what Hyde is making without causing problems. This could be tricky.