BarleyNY

3 years, $48M, $24M guaranteed

I'd add that the situation will have to play out like one of these scenarios: TT excels: He'd probably get his big deal sometime late this season or in the offseason. If the deal didn't get worked out he'd get tagged and make $20M. Difficult to be too mad about that I'd wager. TT takes a big step back: Then the Bills would have saved a lot of cap space by not jumping the gun and any hard feeling he would have toward the Bills would be pretty moot. TT stays level with last season: This is the toughest scenario by far and the most likely to result in a big difference between what the Bills will want to pay and what TT thinks he worth. Thus, there's a real chance for some hard feelings in this case. But it'd probably be the same situation as if they fried to do a deal now. TT's agent can make a case for him to get PAID big time and the Bills FO can make a case for him to get paid a lot less. The Bills have got him wrapped up for this season on the cheap. He seems okay with betting on himself so let's just see if things clarify on their own before we make a move. It really is the prudent course of action.

It's probably more about perception than anything else. It looks fishy to have a major sports franchise in Vegas due to the perception that it would be easy to fix games. In reality games can be fixed anywhere (obviously), but anything odd would be questioned much more if it happened in Vegas or involving a Vegas team. In short, the NFL doesn't much care about the game being dirty, but they certainly want to avoid the APPEARANCE of game being dirty. Avoiding putting a team in Vegas is certainly an easy way to avoid the latter.

http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/demario-davis?id=2533008 I know nothing about him, but sometimes starting at the beginning and seeing what kind of prospect he was helps bring his picture into focus. Thanks to those with real insight who responded - BB, Yolo, etc. I linked his pre-draft write up from NFL.com. His speed, explosiveness and change of direction abilities are all outstanding. He was the top LB performer in 4 categories. He also has good size. Yet he was projected to be a 5th round pick (according to the linked write up). He was drafted in the 3rd. It seems he was a raw, small school prospect who possessed great athletic ability. He was actually the kind of prospect I love in the late rounds because sometimes the lack of quality coaching is what's holding them back. But I do not select such players in the third and I certainly expect their ceiling will be apparent within 4 years. Judging from what I've read I'd say he'd be a cheap, backup level player who knows the system. Probably not a ton of upside to him as a defensive player, but he might hold some value on Specials.

Owners with deep pockets are certainly a plus. The FO just has to be smart with it. Hopefully they do get it figured out.

As it stands, the Bills are second worst in terms of cap space. After the Clay restructure they'll be tied for 5th worst. They aren't in cap hell, but they aren't in good shape either.

While the "all-in" tag might be a bit exaggerated, so is the "standard business" tag. The Bills have made some frivilous moves and overpaid for some players. It certainly was a bit of a push personnel-wise and they certainly came up very mediocre. I didn't like to see it due to the apparent lack of a franchise QB on the roster. Now there are some decisions to be made. People might say that since Mario is not living up to his contract, he is a logical cut. That's true in a sense, but he also isn't being utilized as well this season as he was last season when he looked like a reasonable value. That's on the coaches, not Mario. The real question is whether or not the spending of the recent past will hinder talent acquisition and retention or not? Will that spending lead to the overall talent pool of the Bills rising or falling? Losing Mario is a big subtraction of talent regardless of how underutilized that talent was. The Bills also have a total of three quality offensive linemen on the team - and two of them are free agents. Dumping Mario might make enough room to retain them, but that's not additional talent. It's just staying even on the offensive line while losing talent on the defensive line. I'm really struggling to see how the Bills will be more talented in 2016 than they were in 2015 even with another draft class.

I thought that was odd, too.

For those debating EJ or Manziel, sometimes the right answer is "neither".

I genuinely laughed out loud.

This. If Taylor improves his play from the pocket and progressions he will earn a tag - and a lucrative long term deal. If he doesn't, then we're left with what we saw last season. That's not bad, but it isn't enough.

"Mom says you disappoint her more than me."

QB - Taylor deserves his opportunity as he's certainly earned it, but the Bills need to hedge now. A rookie with upside and an inexpensive vet are needed to fill out the roster. HB - Shady. Looking good. Maybe some tinkering at bottom of depth chart. FB - What's wrong with Felton (I'm asking seriously)? Very low priority even if upgrade is needed. WR1 - Watkins. Looking good. WR2 - Huge need for a big, deep threat opposite Watkins. Please no Harvin. Slot WR - An upgrade would be preferable, but Woods can handle the job for this season if needed. TE1 - Set with Clay. TE2 - An upgrade would be welcome, but (again) not a top priority. RT - Upgrade needed. RG - Upgrade needed. C - Looking good with Wood LG - Incognito needs re-signed in a big way. LT - Glenn needs re-signed or replaced with a competent player not on roster. (I'm just going to copy and tweak the rest:) LE - Mario - A quality replacement needs found if he is released (as is expected) DT - KW (no upgrade needed) DT/RE - Dareus (no upgrade needed) OLB/RE - Hughes (no upgrade needed) ILB - Bradham - I expect him to move on so an replacement will be needed. OLB - Lawson (retain, no upgrade needed) CB - Gilmore (no upgrade needed) SS - Rambo/Graham (no upgrade needed) FS - AW (no upgrade needed) CB - Darby (no upgrade needed) K - Carpenter - Odd that Carp had such an off year. If not injury related an upgrade is needed. P - Schmidt - (no upgrade needed) LS - Sanborn - (no upgrade needed) PR/KR - UPGRADE ST Gunner - Easley (no upgrade needed) A change to more of a 3-4 would change things a bit so I'll kick that can down the road. Some major work needs to be done and I just don't see how the Bills pull it off. Too many needs, too little cap space and too few players on the rise to fill holes. If I'm Whaley, offense rules the day. I fix the OL as best I can - including retaining our left side - and add that big, fast WR2. I do what I can to provide short term help on the defense and make them the priority next season.

Wow. That's depressing. Here is a slightly less depressing list of WRs available in the draft: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/prospectrankings/2016/WR

It translates to: We don't have the cap space for any splashy free agent signings like last year, so we're pretty much going to go with the same players as last year if we can re-sign our free agents. We hope that the experience from being in the same system as last year and some player growth will translate to more wins. What's not mentioned are the players that won't be back and how exactly additions through the draft and lower tier free agent signings will improve the overall level of talent from last season. I will be tremendously impressed by Whaley if the 2016 Bills have more talent than the 2015 Bills. Maybe, just maybe, the talent they do have will be better utilized by the coaches in 2016 than in 2015, but I can't see them having more talent to work with. Also I'd like to know why there was a lack of urgency last season.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him reunite with Schwartz in Philly.

I'd just like to chime in and say that I still don't care if it was fixed or not. The Pats lost and that's all I cared about.

Who was complaining about Osweiler? Every Denver fan knew they needed a QB to backup Manning and groom for the future. Hell, Broncos Fans would have been a lot more upset had they NOT drafted a QB because Manning was coming off the season he didn't play due to having multiple neck surgeries. No one knew how he'd play or how long he'd last. Nothing was controversial at all about Denver drafting a QB.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/11/11/pro-pffs-midseason-all-worst-team/ Just looking for some unbiased opinion on him. This one isn't good. PFF put him on their All Worst Team.

Weren't slow feet a pre-draft concern for Miller? I rarely watched him specifically so everything for me is second hand knowledge. Everyone notices when an offensive lineman gets blown up - and I did notice that a few times with Miller - but that's not a fair way to judge a player, especially a rookie who may have hit that rookie wall. If anyone really focused on him and is informed please fill the rest of us in. Why a high floor? Judging only by scouting reports I saw Miller as a bit of a reach in the 3rd round. An OG whose ceiling was solid starter, but who also had a floor of back up OG (or worse). He didn't even look to be flexible in scheme. Again, someone with real knowledge would come in handy here. I do hope the guy progresses and becomes a good player. Barring injury we should know what we have in him sometime in 2016.

I didn't waste my time on that article, but I'm guessing the writer didn't address the NFL cross-ownership rules: The League codified this approach in an amendment to its Constitution and Bylaws that allows cross-ownership in another major league sports team in two narrow circumstances: (1) if the two franchises are in the same city, or (2) if the other league’s franchise is in a neutral market, defined as one that doesn’t currently host an NFL team and is not deemed a potential NFL city. http://www.theofficialreview.com/nfl-cross-ownership-rules/ To move the Bills the Pegulas would have to sell the Sabres (or the Bills) or the NFL would have to claim that they no longer consider Buffalo a potential NFL city. It'd be really tough to sell that last one and I don't see the Pegulas selling a team.

There's also the itty bitty problem of not having the cap room for two (or really even one) top tier FA.

Right now it's going to be tough for any coach to be successful in SF. That cupboard is almost bare. The copious cap room they have (plus more coming if they cut Kap) isn't going to dig them out. I'm interested to see how much influence Chip has on the roster and contracts. He did some bad deals in Philly.

A long term deal would give him more guaranteed money, including a huge chunk of cash in the form of a signing bonus. He can get that from the Bills prior to playing another down. His other choice is to play 2016 under his option and hope to get that huge free agency deal next offseason. But he could also have a severe injury or a poor year and not get those big bucks so it's a risk for him. Of course if he does have a great 2016 he could get tagged. It makes sense for him to accept a deal that's a little less now AND get paid now rather than risk losing that huge payday.

No worries. No doubt Gordon has been an idiot and reckless. I just don't think he's got issues beyond that. But you're certainly correct that there is a reasonable chance that he might screw up again. I didn't mean to totally gloss over that very real possibility.