BarleyNY

I kinda wonder if this is it. Nothing new here on that tweet except the word "expected" and that's nothing concrete. Just a hopeful sounding version of what we already knew coming directly on the heels of the Ragland news. Whether it's what the team honestly believes to be true or just hopeful thinking, the tweet seems like it's aim is good PR. Remind fans that we might get Shaq back to pick up their spirits and get some pressure off the front office. I really don't like seeing this out in the media. Putting expectations for a speedy recovery and immediate impact doesn't do Shaq any good. PUP rules allow him back to practice as early as after the 6th week of the season. Even if he makes it back that quickly there's no real chance to get much out of him in a hurry as he will have had zero career NFL practice time and be nowhere near game shape. It'd be better to keep expectations for him low this season and err on the side of caution with his injury. Get him healthy, get him acclimated to the NFL and get him a little experience this season - without unnecessary risk of reinjuring his shoulder. Long term that'd be better both for him and for the Bills.

Players get hurt. Draft picks get hurt. Sometimes you get unlucky. But it's not luck when you use your first round pick on a player who is already injured. Ragland was bad luck. Lawson was a bad decision.

It could be a deal that offers him some extra cash up front this season (either signing bonus or salary) and then has a large, but not guaranteed outlay next season. Essentially making it something like a one year deal with a 3 year team option. Tyrod gets some safe cash this season and the Bills get him at a decent price for three additional years if they want to keep him. But they can get out after this season if they don't.

Lotta ways $35M can be structured over two years, but we're starting to get to a bigger deal overall which means we might be looking at some creative structuring.

Way to jinx him.

Coming out of college there was disagreement about whether Ragland would be a 2 or 3 down LB in the NFL. I am still taking a wait-and-see approach to that, but I dug further into it recently. A lot could have to do with the defense he'd be playing in. He doesn't seem cut out to play much man and you certainly don't want to see him dragging a TE down the seam. He is a better fit in defenses where he'd be playing short zones. That essentially how you want to adjust for a player who's not strong in coverage. So now the defense is going to platoon the position with a run guy and a pass guy. Lots of teams do that. It's not optimal, but it could be worse. I feel for Ragland, but I wasn't sold on him as a 3 down LB yet anyway. Without him we will likely be worse off in obvious running downs, but even with him healthy we might be in the same or a better spot in pass defense.

Basically that's it. It breaks down specifically like this: Players on Preseason PUP can return anytime during training camp or preseason. Players on PUP when regular season starts must stay on PUP for at least 6 weeks. After week 6 the team has 5 weeks to allow the player to start practicing (player still does not count on active roster). If player doesn't start practicing by week 11 he stays on PUP for season. After player starts practicing the team has 3 weeks to decide whether to activate player, place him on IR or release him. Note: This applies to Lawson. Ragland is not eligible for PUP since he took part in a training camp practice.

The sports media guys out there should know this. When they talk about a "short term IR" they are confusing people. It's not like baseball with a separate 15-day and 60-day disabled lists along with full season IR.

There is no a short term IR in the NFL, they're referring to the DTR rule (designated to return). One player (and only one player per season) who was placed in IR with a major injury can be designated to return after week six of the season. That player isn't allowed to play in a game for two additional weeks. This season the rule was changed (thanks to the Bills) so that the player may be determined at the time of return rather than at the time he was put on IR (which makes a ton of sense). The gist of the situation is that if the Bills think Ragland will miss more than a few weeks, the can put him on IR and then worry about if/when he can come back later.

Crap. Should have read through the rest of the thread. I'm now more concerned with Ragland and Lawson getting healthy and On the field. Missing TC and preseason is a much bigger deal for rookies than vets so I'm no longer counting on help from them this season. 2016 should now be about getting them right physically and getting them some NFL experience, if possible. Then they can come into next season healthy and ready to hit the ground running. Lawson is on PUP, which is important. He must miss at least 6 weeks, but he can return without using our one IR designated-to-return allowance. That can be used for Ragland. Or he can be carried on the active roster if the team thinks he will only miss a few weeks of the regular season. Good luck to the kid this week.

Thanks. That makes sense.

Yeah, I agree. It'd be a tough trade to make, too. Teams wouldn't want to give up anything for him so the Iggles would be better off holding onto him rather than taking a late round pick. Even if you could acquire him, could you really depend on him? You could spend a lot of time and effort teaching him your system and getting him to gel with your OL only to have him get suspended for 2 more seasons. Then all you did was swap a late round pick for a problem.

Yes. Removal of offsets and payment of the full signing bonus in the first season of the contract are the issues. In the five seasons since slotting, every 3rd round pick got one or the other. From what I understand Bosa not looking for both, he is only looking for one or the other. Incidentally Goff and Wentz got both. Their contracts do not have offsets and pay the full signing bonus this season.

Eli's father knew the trainwreck that the Chargers have been and didn't want him to have to deal with that. I thought it was a crummy move at the time, but after watching the Chargers since I don't blame them. I wouldn't want my kid playing there if I could help it.As for Bosa, it's the opposite of what you state. He's only asking for the same thing as other players slotted where he is (and lower) got. The Chargers are trying to remove contractual items that are considered standard for a 3rd overall pick.

I didn't realize Bosa was on the trade block.

That's huge. Here's the breakdown of his contract: http://overthecap.com/player/lane-johnson/2185/

There's really not much of substance going on to discuss, aside from contract stuff with Taylor and Gilmore. What we know for sure is that Ragland has a grade 2 ACL sprain, which is a partially torn ACL. That's pretty much it here. There's been a lot of misinformation and speculation too. I couldn't find anything reliable on whether or not his knee was "loose". That's a big deal because instability in the knee with a grade 2 injury points toward surgery. A stable knee would be unlikely to need it. There's nothing more that has been made public regarding the first opinion so we don't even know if it was conclusive in any way,mother than to confirm the partial tear. We will just have to wait and see. Or we can sit and speculate. It doesn't much matter. We should know the course soon. One question for those who might know. If his knee has some slight instability, could the course of action be to rehab it and see if it responds before having surgery (if needed)? Having surgery now or in 6 weeks really would affect his availability this season and it'd give him a chance to possibly play.

Dray was terrible for Cleveland last season. Don't get your hopes up. There's a lot of room between being a better TE than Mulligan and being good enough to want on the field.

One good thing is that in week one he will be facing Suggs, who is coming off a blown Achilles' tendon. Dummerville is currently on PUP as well. Might catch a break there.

It's the Chargers, not the players.

Lived in both Cleveland and Buffalo. Really similar people and places IMO.

They could be very fun to watch if RG3 does well and stays healthy. If so, the offense has potential to put up a lot of points - and they'll probably need to as the defense looks like it could be very, very bad. There's a real possibility of some very high scoring shootouts.

Newton and Palmer are the only two with a real shot this season. Romo has an outside chance, but the Dallas defense will likely prevent that from happening.

Completely expected. They need to see if they can fix RG3 and reclaim his career. They might as well try. Their other options are McCown, who's an old vet, and a late 3rd round rookie in Kessler. It's a very similar situation to what the Bills faced last year when I said they might as well give Taylor a shot.

I see a competitive team, but we're a middleweight. If we're punching our weight we should be competitive, if we're punching down we should win, but we'll be in trouble when we punch up. That puts us .500-ish. Plus or minus how things break. The good news is that we're better than the Jest, at least as good as the Phish and will get the Cheatriots without Brady at least once. 4-5 division wins aren't unrealistic. That would be a huge help.