BarleyNY

Feel better?

Horton's defense in Cleveland this past season wasn't just talent deficient, the players were making fundamental mistakes throughout the entire year. For a coach who has been around as long as him, it was shocking. I am not a fan of Horton, but I wouldn't have thought he'd field a defense like that.

Now would be a good time for a proper rebuild, but that would mean parting ways with Whaley and other front office people. Since that isn't happening it looks like it isn't in the cards.

OTC shows $168,000,000 right at the top of the chart for base salary cap. They seem to only be giving the Bills $2.8M carryover though. Thus the $170.8M in team salary cap. I wonder if they're including some end of season bonuses that spotrac isn't. http://overthecap.com/salary-cap-space/

I didn't want to include positions in obvious need of upgrades, but you gotta think at least Carp gets replaced. That probably will have minimal impact on the salary cap. Very true about WR1. Failure to address the position this past season has led to this. We're an injury (or failure of injury to heal) to Watkins away from nothing but scrubs at the position. I'm not sure how that's acceptable to Pegula and is one reason I'm surprised Whaley is still here.

Both are using $168M. OTC isn't adding the carryover in their 2017 numbers yet. Spotrac is. The Bills are carrying over $5M. That's the difference.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/2017/ The Bills should have approximately $44.6M in cap space if Taylor is not retained and $31.6M if he is. That might seem like a lot, but there's much work to be done. There's only 37 players under contract and there are a lot of major holes. Here's the FA list: http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/buffalo-bills/ Here are some important positions that need addressed: QB (assuming no Taylor), QB2, CB1, S1, S2, RT, WR2, WR3, RB2, ILB, OLB & FB. That's pretty stunning.

I can't believe this is even a suggestion.

I thought it was deft usage of folksy colloquialism.

Yeah, there's a lot of problems here: 1) It's not a sign and trade situation - and also those never happen in football anyway. Since TT is under contract if he would be traded prior to his roster bonus being paid, then the new team would have to pay it. If he would be traded after, then the Bills would eat the bonus. 2) No one wants Taylor at his upcoming contract. Zero chance any team takes that on. 3) No way does a team make this trade with the Bills. Hughes is a quality player, but he isn't worth the 10th overall pick with his contract. Adding Taylor with his contract doesn't provide value either. 4) The cap freed up next season would be less than $15M. About $13M from not picking up Taylor's contract and less than $2M from trading Hughes. There'd be bigger savings in future obviously. You're right that the Bills need to re-sign some players. They look to have about $45M in cap space next season if they do not pick up Taylor's option. That doesn't include tagging Gilmore or re-signing any of their other free agents. It's a good chunk of change, but they've got a lot to do,

It's totally deceptive since there'd be a lot of money paid to him that would be unaccounted for. Just because the cap hit for that $8M or so we are talking about would be kicked down the road doesn't mean it isn't important. Total money paid and guaranteed money are far more important than cap hits, especially first year cap hits that are often kept artificially low.

A first year cap hit is pretty meaningless. You are really resorting to some major deception. Tyrod is guaranteed $30.75M in March if he's retained under his current deal. Then another $9.75M the following March. That's $40.5M for two seasons. He's not worth close to that.

I'd be okay with keeping Tyrod at a reasonable contract as a bridge, but I don't think he would go for that. He will want to test the market.

Me, too. The Phish save $8.5M on the 2017 cap if they cut Mario before the 3rd day of the league year. He's gone.

The talent is there, but it's not on the field enough. Hopefully Watkins can stay healthy.

I assumed the OP meant after Watkins' contract was up after next season. He has his option year, but a long term deal is usually done prior to that. I can't see giving him a long term deal if he can't stay healthy. In fact, one season of health might not be enough - if we even get that. The dead cap is due to his salary being guaranteed next season. I don't think anyone is thinking we'd get rid of him before the end of his rookie deal.

1. Tyrod is the best on the roster, but he's not good enough or worth his upcoming contract. He's a high end backup or bridge starter, no more. Time to part ways since he won't be signing with the Bills when his options is not picked up. 2. Can't speak to this. I didn't bother watching the game. 3. Correct. I am still amazed any Bills fan could've thought EJ wasn't the answer over the last couple seasons. 4. Yup. Cardale is raw. Keep working with him and don't freaking rush him. 5. Yes again. Rex's failure to adapt his scheme to his talent was his greatest failure here. 6. I hope not - and I disagree that he's regressed. Gilmore is a quality corner. Him leaving would be a big hole to fill. 7. Dareus is a big disappointment. The team's inability to hold him accountable is on Whaley and the contract he was given. 8. Probably true. I don't think Watkins wants to be here and I don't think he'll be worth keeping I'd he can't prove he can stay healthy. Big disappointment. 9. Whaley: Producing an average roster at playoff prices. 10. Couldn't agree more. I'd love a complete housecleaning.

So close....

Sold my EJ stock years ago.

I'm looking for a QB who can be serviceable for a short time at a reasonable contract while the team looks for its future at the position. I'll stop worrying about players' contracts when there's no longer a salary cap. If the Bills retain Taylor, then it's $40.5M over two seasons taken away from the rest of the roster. This team has 23 free agents. I have no desire to watch a few of the better ones walk so as to keep Taylor. Retaining him also means that there won't be a focus on finding his replacement. Can you imagine paying him his extension and then taking a QB in the 1st or 2nd round of the draft this season? That'd be totally incompetent. No way do I want to make the leader of the 31st passing offense my QB for the next 2+ seasons. That'd be incompetent too. He had his chance. He didn't succeed at the level he needed to. It's over. The team has made its decision and he won't be here next season. Time for you to catch up to the reality of recent events.

So if I'm reading this right, King is suggesting that the Bills improve their success with first round picks by trading one for Sam Bradford. Sometimes your head just explodes.

That decision won't be impacted by this game. EJ wouldn't stay in Buffalo even if we were dumb enough to want him to.

Then I'd think that the Jest did a better job of tanking today than we did.

Find the best of a very questionable bunch to hold down the fort while you draft (or trade for) a QB every year until you find your guy. Foles is likely to be the best available FA (if his option isn't picked up by KC). Moving on from Tyrod is because he isn't good enough and he's not worth close to his upcoming contract. Moving on from EJ is because he's a total reclaimation project right now and even if he was any good he wouldn't come back to Buffalo after all that's happened here.

I tried to vote "All power to hypnotoad!" but couldn't find it.