BarleyNY

Exactly. If you can't trust them, who can you trust?

Actually this deal would be skewed pretty heavily in favor of the Bills. Denver would be getting hosed badly and the Browns would likely do okayish in it, depending upon what player Denver sent to Cleveland. Using a standard draft value chart the Bills would be getting roughly the value of the 13th overall pick for Taylor. There's is zero chance he'd net anything remotely close to that in a straight up trade for a pick. That all said, it's as unrealistic a rumor as you'll find.

The Bills certainly may move up somewhere in the draft, but they won't be able to use comp picks. This is the last draft that comp picks are prohibited from being traded.

JPP did something stupid. He's paying an enormous price for it - both financially and physically - but not as big a price as it could have been. And now he might even be a bit of an inspiration for some people. Great. Neither piling on nor praise for getting back on the field is in order. He paid his price, but he's also incented with millions of dollars to get back to work. It is what it is. Also, Mark Twain was a freaking genius.

I couldn't disagree more. The agents are doing their jobs well here - and they're different situations. Glenn's prime window for doing a long term deal starts post-draft and improves right up until the negotiation deadline for tagged players. His best bet is to negotiate right up until the deadline. Oh and about those money hungry agents trying to maximize their commissions - those agents generally make a higher commission on endorsements than they do on contracts. And what endorsements is Glenn getting anyway? Gilmore has more flexibility. He can let this drag on into the season if he wants. It's a gamble (obviously), but some players bet on themselves looking for that extra huge deal. One of the parties involved will probably set an arbitrary deadline after which they won't negotiate until after the season ends. Just prior to the start of the season is usually the time someone cuts off negotiations if it happens. In any event, stringing along negotiations until that deadline - or the deadline the player is comfortable with - is the best negotiation strategy. No pro in negotiations gives their best offer until they have to. Again, endorsements are negligible here. A lot more money is at stake for Gilmore on this contract than any endorsement he'll ever get and the impact of waiting a few months to get a deal done is probably zero. And you're crazy on the switching agents thing. Not only is it not warranted here, are you seriously saying that guys signing deals that'll likely be in the $60M-$90M range should go with the lowest cost provider to negotiate those deals? Think about that for a minute because it's ludicrous.

Not to throw gas on this fire, but this took me about 10 seconds to find. Guns shipped directly to your door: https://www.gunsamerica.com FWIW I'm not anti-gun, but I do have a big problem with the accessibility and the gun culture in this country.

His full cap hit presently is $2.8M. $1.2M is prorated signing bonus so there's nothing to be done about that. The other $1.6M is guaranteed salary, but his contract has offsets. That means that if he was cut, any compensation he received from another team this season would be deducted from the $1.6M the Bills would otherwise owe him. Also if he was waived and picked up off of waivers the new team would be responsible for his entire salary. Ditto if he was traded. The minimum salary for a 4th year player is $675k, so if he was waived, cleared waivers and was signed to a deal near that the Bills would have dead money of about $2.1M. If they manage to trade him, then dead money is only $1.2M. Those are very manageable situations. They can't do anything until they acquire some additional help at QB, however. Right now it is TT and EJ. At least two more QBs have to be added for training camp - even if they're just arms. Then they can see where they stand and think about moving on. Unless a team comes knocking with a very good offer there is nothing they can do right now. But I think it's probably coming before the regular season.

EJ and Buffalo are a terrible match at present. That dude just looks broken and I don't see any positive if he takes another snap in a Bills uniform. When he gets on the field for Buffalo does anyone have any hope anymore? I sure don't. I sigh and cringe. Any relatively equivalent player without that baggage is an upgrade in my opinion. It's more that than anything else. Also I'd expect that Glennon would also sign beyond 2016 as part of a trade. EJ is gone at the end of 2016 if not before.

You expose your garbage cans to your neighbors? Sicko!

Glennon would definitely be an upgrade over EJ. He's in the last year of his deal so I wonder if Tampa will or can deal him. It probably comes down to compensation. He'll get them a decent comp pick if he plays out his deal and moves on. Besides that he's a good backup and has value to them this season. Another team would have to work out an extension with him to make it worth their while to trade any real asset. I'd give the kid a hard look if he was made available, but he'll probably play out his deal and see what opportunity and money he can find via FA in 2017.

They could certainly share their own work, but I'm told they haven't been privy to the composite work at the top (draft board, final decisions, etc.). Under Farmer and previous regimes there was a lot of information leaked so I'll be interested to see whether or not that is the case this draft.

That's because contracts for scouts typically run from May to May. The Browns just told the scouts that weren't being retained the news a few weeks early. Their jobs for the year were finished and all of their predraft work had been turned in. That situation isn't unusual at all. It's being portrayed as something crazy and stupid by some media because that's the default every time the Browns do anything. Heck, usually it's a good bet. In this case it's nothing. The Browns did the scouts a favor by giving them a jump on job seeking - while being paid through the end of their contracts.

The Browns had a bloated scouting department. With them not retaining those six scouts their scouting staff is now in line with what most teams have. The six scouts were just told they would not be signed to new contracts after the draft so they could get a jump looking for new jobs now.

It isn't his talent, it's his contract. He's franchised which means the hed have to agree to a long term deal with the Titans after the trade. Their only other option would be to tag him again in 2017 at a 20% increase over this season's salary. By the following season the tag option becomes pretty unrealistic to do again. That would be a huge risk on TEN's part and really limits his trade value. Why would a team give up value for a player on a franchise tag unless they had a new contract worked out in advance?

Washington gave up #6 overall, #37 overall and two more first round picks for #2 overall where they picked RG3. The Bills gave up #9 overall and a future first round pick and fourth round pick to move to #4 to draft Watkins. Going from #20 to #1 would cost far more than the RG3 trade. In fact, it would cost so much it would be infeasible to actually accomplish. Even what you've listed wouldn't be nearly enough as it's still less than value than what the RG3 deal netted the Rams. The Titans are set to draft a stud where they are. They'd be moving from getting an elite player (probably a top LT which they desperately need) to catching the edge of the blue chip/red chip tiers of players. The second round pick this year would be #57 and next year's picks would have to be considered to be in the last third of their rounds since the Jets would be expected to make the playoffs with a top QB (at least for trade value purposes). #20, #57, a bottom third 1st in 2017, a bottom third 2nd, Mo Wilkerson on a franchise tag and a mid round pick does not scratch what would be required for #1 overall.

That would be tragic. Mills might even be worse than Henderson. They're guys you hope get beat out and don't even make your team. I can see one of the two sticking, but some upgrade on the right side has to happen or there will be problems this season. You can't cover up for both Miller and Mills/Henderson/Kujo. Then, God forbid, if Glenn, Cogs or Wood get dinged or injured - which is likelier than not - you've got a disaster. The right side doesn't have to have All Pros, but some competent players need to be found. Maybe Miller can grow and be one of those, but I don't see which RT candidate has a chance to do that.

Possibilities: - Taylor improves substantially: Exclusive rights franchise tag if extension can't be negotiated. Obviously this is the best case scenario. - Taylor declines substantially: Allow to leave or sign to back up level deal. Not a good scenario, but at least the Bills know where they stand. Options for the future would be limited to draftees, free agents or trade acquisitions in 2016 or 2017. - Taylor remains at basically the same level: This is probably the most difficult scenario to navigate (and most likely to occur). He would not be worth the franchise tag at that level of play, but the Bills other options are unknown at this point. They might not have a choice but to tag him with it. This is one big reason drafting a QB relatively early in 2016 would be a good move. That player could be the only QB from 2016 still on the roster in 2017. If not tagged I see Taylor hitting free agency and taking the best contract. Judging by this offseason some team will go overboard and he'll probably move on. The Bills would be better off tagging him and making him play under that for a year than committing to him long term in this case.

I stand corrected on that. I did mix them up on the off field issues. But Wilkerson is still on a one year franchise tag contract and total compensation to move from 20 to 1 would still be in the range I mentioned, not the one you proposed.

You're saying: #20, #83, next year's second and Mo Wilkerson for #1 overall? That's a complete joke. And Wilkerson, who has recently been in legal trouble, suspended by the league and is playing on a franchise tag, is big value in this trade? Also a joke. Fine player, but terrible baggage and contract situation If you added first round picks in 2017 and 2018 you'd be in the right ballpark. That's about what it would take and there's no way the Jets throw that at them.

Nice job overall, but there's no way the Jets can move from 20 to 1 overall. It's just not feasible. Mo Wilkerson doesn't make a dent in the compensation that would be required. Point values on the standard draft value chart are 3000 for #1 and 850 for #20. They'd be looking at 3 firsts, Wilkerson and much more. The RG3 trade would look reserved. http://www.drafttek.com/NFL-Trade-Value-Chart.asp?RequestTeam=CLE

I haven't seen any word about how things are progressing for a long term deal. Anyone hear anything?

I wouldn't read too much into Whaley's restraint and Steelers/Packers-like approach this offseason. He had no choice but to operate that way. Also, last season he went on a bit of a spending spree and overpaid/paid top dollar to acquire some players. Teams like the Steelers and Packers don't fluctuate how they operate like that. Maybe last year was an aberration, but I'll wait and see how he operates over the long term before making a determination about his nature. I find it funny how so many of the same people who praised him for being aggressive in acquiring and paying new acquisitions last season are also praising him for his frugality and restraint this offseason.

Per the Rule of 51 each draftee who's cap hit is in the top 51 players will push another player's cap hit out of the counted range. Explained here: http://overthecap.com/draft/

I don't see the Bills trading up for Lynch. I could see them taking him at 19, however. Some team is going to reach for him and don't think that it can't be the Bills. He's more of a fit in their style of offense than most realize. He doesn't run well, but he's going to be a vertical offense guy in the style of Flacco. He's not going to be ready for a year or two, though. And he's definitely a high risk/reward player. The Bills have no QB signed beyond 2016. They're going to take a QB at some point.

Their rookie pool is about $4.7M, but offsets will be about $3M. That's only about $1.7M of space needed for rookies. That takes them from $3.5M to $1.8M in room. They aren't over, but they've got a little work to do to get where they need to be to go into the regular season. Wilkerson is getting moved at some point which will free up $15.7M. That will give them enough for what they need, including either re-signing Fitzy or paying another journeyman QB.