BarleyNY

Agree on Houston rolling the dice large - and I wonder if they weren't driving up his price bidding against themselves. It's probably bad for the Bills, but if he flames out it lends credence to the "stupid contract, outlier" argument.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/stephon-gilmore/market-value/ I didn't see this posted. Apologies if it was. It's Spotrac's estimation of Gilmore's value, which they calculate to be about $13.5M per season with a total contract of 6 years, $81.4M. Their calculations were done prior to the recent signings and I don't know what, if any, effect they'd have. But, holy crap, that ballpark might be rough. They Bills really need to lock him up now (at a bit of a discount) if they want to keep him.

Holy crap! No wonder he wanted to hit free agency. Good God, that's a ridiculous contract for Osweiler.

Been beating that same drum myself. Due to the (over)spending on some players last offseason there is only so much that can be done. They got Incognito at a good rate so no complaints there. They pretty much had to tag Glenn so, again, no problem with that. But those two are just treading water and it'll be almost impossible to replace all of the talent lost this offseason (regardless of the misuse of that talent or that talent's lack of effort). The Bills are going to have to rely on drafting very, very well to improve.

Damn, Spotrac is quick.

It was an incomplete tweet. Wilson fixed it.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/ About $7.2M in space. After Incognito's contract becomes official he should count about $3.1M against the cap in 2016. That will leave about $4.6M in space. Calculated as: $7.2M-$3.1M+$500k(Rule of 51 rolloff contract)=$4.6M Expect draft picks to cost about $2M net after Rule of 51 roll offs. Edited to add: Spotrac has contract details. Bills have $4.5M in cap room after RI's contract.

I thought it'd cost the Bills more early too. I expected closer to $11M in payouts over the first two years. He's sure worth that. RI gave a nice discount to the Bills.

That's more like it. Basically a two year deal for $9.125M total (when $500k roster bonus is included) That's a great deal for the Bills. Whaley did well here. $3.125M cap hit this year.

$11.5M??? I thought it was $15.75M. Perhaps Wilson did not get the full breakdown as the signing bonus is missing. Guaranteed money can be a combo of signing bonus and salary.

The Bills were 8-8 last season, the Phins were 6-10 and the difference was that the Bills beat them twice. In the two games this season I like the Bills' chances, but they aren't locks by any stretch. Coming off that 8-8 season, I am concerned with every team the Bills play.

Good for the Bills! This was an important - critical - re-signing. I do think the Bills may have gotten a modest discount, but we won't know until we see the structure. The big factor is guaranteed money, of course. That's the other aspect of a "discount" versus other teams' offers. We're the Bills more comfortable guaranteeing more money than other teams due to the current relationship? I don't know, but I'm happy it worked out as it did. The Bills really need him. Here was my estimate for a RI deal from 3/3/16. I overshot total value by $1.25M, but I'd expect the structure to be similar: "I was thinking something close to that. Bills in the $5M per and RI in the $6M per areas. What would you say to something like a 3 year deal with a $5M signing bonus, and salaries of $1M, $5M and $6M with only the first year salary guaranteed? The Bills could be out from under that in two years for $11M and the cap hit from the signing bonus would be spread over three years. First year cap hit would be $2.67M."

That's actually why I used the current rookie pool estimate in my original example. That's the most cap space they can use on rookies so they're bound by that.

http://overthecap.com/draft/ Using your methodology the four pertinent players from 2015 add up to $3.66M. As you noted, the bottom two wouldn't displace anyone. (1.71+.85+.55+.55) Adding 8.3% we get $3.96M. At this time those four would displace players making $525k each. $3.96M-(525k*4)=$3.96M-$2.1M=$1.86M. The Bills draft picks would actually only require $1.86M in effective cap space. That is precisely what I calculated.

He's 29, but will be 30 before the regular season starts. That dude made some money in Miami and Minny so I'm not sure what he'd actually play for at this point. I'm always shocked when a player who has made huge money takes a low paying contract unless it's to play for a contender. I doubt he's a match for the Bills, but it's fun to kick things like this around sometimes. A similar style player might be a nice fit, though. The Bills have to look at cheaper options to fill needs and a one trick deep threat at WR is going to be easier to find (and cheaper) than a complete one.

I think a case can be made for Osemele getting paid large, but $8M for Boone? I think we're seeing agents trying to drive up prices during the legal tampering period. Things always get a little crazy around now. Let's see where things land. Of course, it only takes one team.....

Yeah. Signing Gilmore and Glenn to long term deals would help a great deal in both immediate cap relief and long term talent retention. Yes. The Bills' rookie pool is right at $5M, but under the Rule of 51 we will see 6 players fall out of the top 51 when those draftees are signed. Those removed salaries will be about $500k each, so the effective cap space the Bills will need to sign their picks only will be about $2M. $5M-(6*$500k)=$2M. That's good news.

Wallace is a quality deep threat, but that's pretty much all you get with him. He was a terrible, terrible fit in Miami's WCO that relies almost solely on short and intermediate timing passes. Oh, and Tanny doesn't even have the arm to have gotten him the ball deep with any consistency. It's just another example of Miami's incompetent owner meddling. He's gotta have every new, shiny toy of the year.

Who are you finding for that $5M that'll be better than Kyle? I think he's gotta stay for at least this season. Signing Gilmore and Glenn to long term deals should free up about that much this season. That's where I'd be focused.

That scenario would make a ton of sense.

That's his game. Go deep. Go deep. Go deep. But if the Bills were going to pick up a WR that is a one trick pony, that'd be the trick they'd want the guy to have.

WTF are the Colts thinking?

I can't believe that the possibility of re-signing Harvin is on the Bills' radar. Signing him last year was stupid, but re-signing him would be unforgivable. I know some people will throw around stipulations like "incentive based", "cheap" and "at the right price" - and a case can be made for that kind of deal, but no way do I want him on the team. He has done nothing but make teams regret having him on their roster. Mario has gotten a lot of grief for "quitting" on the team for dogging it on the field. How can anyone upset about that want to put the guy who quit and went home back on the team?

Rolled over cap does have anything directly to do with RI or other pending free agents. It does have an impact on reworking some deals and certain player releases. (Johnny Manziel of Cleveland is one example.) I should not have mentioned it in this context. Teams cannot ink deals with their own free agents until the 9th, however. This is a question that has come up repeatedly in another forum and it's been repeatedly answered by a guy who would know.

Yes, they do. They've rolled their remaining cap space from 2015 forward to the 2016 league year and we are in a designated dead period. Bandit is correct about what can be done: Teams and players can agree to terms, but a team cannot re-sign a pending free agent until 4 pm on March 9th.