BarleyNY

Exactly. Cutting him is an almost 100% certainty, but there's no hurry. You might get lucky and get something for him in trade or, since you're paying him anyway, why not use him as a hedge against a rash of QB injuries in training camp. And why completely tip your hand? Teams and agents know we are in the market, but it's in the team's best interest to not look completely desperate.

The worst was getting up in the night to use the bathroom and taking that Chester walk you mentioned. By the time I got back to bed I was wide awake from the pain. Then I'd lay awake for hours. Good times.....

Agreed. Rob Ryan is a terrible DC. No DC puts more pressure on his CBs than him, it never seems to work for long and he never changes from it. It's just brutal to watch.

I'm not calling for his head already, but the most disappointing aspect of this entire season is been that Rex and rest of the coaching staff haven't gotten more out of the defense. A big part of the coaching staff's job is to maximize talent and they certainly haven't done that on the defensive side of the ball.

Mario is trying to keep his value up, but that's okay because it might help the Bills trade him rather than cut him.

It is. I had it in my right foot and my wife has had it in both feet. It was easily a year before it was right. Not that I have close to the same care as NFL players or anything. Man, Byrd taking a powder in NO is going to push them further into cap hell. They were already in terrible shape and this is another big hit. No. It is difficult to recoup signing bonuses, but a player choosing to retire can be required to repay a portion of it. He also would forfeit any unpaid, guaranteed money. In your example, the player would end up giving it all back.

A healthy Kyle Williams who is back to form is worth paying another $6.5M to this season. If he's not expected to be back to form and healthy, then the team doesn't have a choice and it's just time to move on. When discussing cutting/trading a player, you can't look at sunk costs like signing bonuses or past payments. Replacement cost and ability to replace are important. What's your plan there? Parting ways with him saves $5M in cap space in 2016 and quality DTs rarely make it to free agency. How are you going to improve the defense with that?

If he's healthy and back to form, $3M is definitely way under value, even with age/injury risk. The only renegotiation I could see happening is asking him to take lower base salary, but adding incentives that allows him to earn it all back. Still, there's always a risk when asking a player to take a pay cut (or potential pay cut). What if he says "no"? Are you willing to let him go? You pretty much have to be resigned to that. That's where I balk. I'd rather just pay him his $6.5M than have to replace him. If he's healthy. If he's not, then this is all moot.

That's harsh, man.

I agree. I cringe when I see comments about parting ways with Mario AND Kyle. That would be real trouble. Finding capable (much less quality) DE and DT players is difficult enough, but throwing two new (and probably young) ones into the mix at the same time is a lot to ask. Fair enough on the coach speak comment. Regardless of their plans, that's what you say now. But I don't know that Kyle takes a pay cut, or that he's asked to do that. He's making $6.5M in 2016 and $6.8M in 2017 (the prorated signing bonus is a sunk cost). What're they going to agree to do to that contract? He could make less than that anywhere. I think the team is speaking truthfully. They want him here - if he's healthy. There's the rub because there's a real chance he won't be. $500k of his compensation in '16 & '17 is a roster bonus due on the 5th day of the season, so we'll know by March. They've got to decide by then.

Is that the best you got? It's enough that teams don't want to piss it away on nothing, like with Manuel.

He'd be going in as a reclamation project and he'd have to earn the #2 spot anywhere he went. Teams might want to take a look at him - and I'm sure some will - but they'd also want to be able to cut ties easily in the likely scenario that he wouldn't work out. $1.616M guaranteed precludes that. And then there's the unlikely event that he turns it around. He'd be a free agent after the big turn around year. No team wants that scenario. He could walk as a FA and do well elsewhere or he could get overpaid by the team and regress. No, he will get a low salary, 2-3 year deal with little to no signing bonus somewhere. It'll have incentives in case he improves, but they'll be no real cap consequences if he's cut - even in training camp. And Manuel will want another chance and he will still get his entire $1.616M in 2016.

Happy for you, Fred. Too bad it couldn't have been happening here for you.

Yup. The real problem with trading Manuel for anything at all is his contract. 1 year, $1.616M fully guaranteed. No one wants that. There's no upside to it. If he sucks, the team would be stuck with the contract. If he turns it around, the team would have to deal with him being a FA. Once he's cut a team might sign him to a small 2 or 3 year contract, but that's about it for him. Last chance coming up. The only good news for the Bills is that his contract has offsets so whatever he gets paid by another team next season will be deducted from the $1.616M salary and cap hit.

The Bills need not only an outside WR who is a deep threat (and preferably tall enough to be a Red Zone threat), but also a quality slot WR. Watkins needs another threat opposite him to keep defenses from playing a safety over him. The Bills need to put defenses in a position where they have to pick their poison and they can't do that with their current stable of WRs. They took a big chance on Harvin because a second deep threat was so important. Thankfully he won't be back, but maybe they can find a more reliable player.

Injury risk would be a valid reason, but only if he's too injured to play or hurt in a way that playing carries a significant risk of further injury. You don't sit him if he's healthy though.

The big problem with Ryan's shtick is that although it plays really well with most people when his team does well, it plays terribly with everyone when they don't live up to expectations. And those expectations are often inflated due to his nature.

Because that's the same thing? Seriously, THAT is your argument?

That's odd. Spotrac lists his total guarantees as $26.5M in his header, but in the notes they list $18.25M total guaranteed. Perhaps he's got some injury only guarantees in there or something? Agents sometimes include salaries in years where it is difficult to cut a player to inflate the total guaranteed money and make themselves look good and attract more clients, but Spotrac and OTC usually ferret those out. Odd that OTC has one number and Spotrac has two. My bet is he's got some situational guaranteed money, probably injury. Even worst case the guarantees only mean he's definitely on the roster for two more seasons.

Experience? Plus the not undermining him thing. What's to be gained by sitting him? Unless he's injured, nothing.

"Best" doesn't mean that I think Taylor's the answer, but it's probable that he's going to be the starting QB to begin 2016. That's reality. Do you want him and the team supporting him or undermining him? Personally, I want him at his best. And let's say a new addition takes the job away from him. The feeling in the locker room can either be that the new guy earned it and took the job (hey, we're getting better!) or that the team was just looking to replace Taylor (same old, same old). Players will have the same thoughts when one of them gets benched - legit competition or some other agenda? It's bad business in general, and ridiculously stupid in the case of Manuel.

Doesn't have anything to do with Taylor, just how coaches should handle players. How about this? Benching a player merely "to showcase" another player who is a known low-value commodity is flat out stupid. When it's the QB position involved, it's incredibly stupid. Any time winning isn't the goal it sends the wrong message to the whole team. And that's stupid.

Because benching your best QB - and the only one on the roster who will likely be here next season - sends a clear message that the team doesn't believe in him. Regardless of what the team thinks of him they can't send that message to the team. They've got to support him, not undermine him. The team will bring in one or two players to compete with him in the offseason and it's healthier for the team if that is viewed as "competition" rather than "replacement". Besides, what team is stupid enough to give up anything of value for EJ manual on a one year $1.4M guaranteed contract?

39.3% of his contract is guaranteed, so he's locked in through next season with those guarantees. His guarantee percentage is a little less than the two players above him and the two below him. http://overthecap.com/position/running-back

Schwartz from Cleveland is a free agent and is looking to bolt from what I hear. He'd be decent and not break the bank. He also would be a better fit in a run heavy offense like the Bills. I'm even more worried about Glenn and Incognito hitting free agency and leaving.