BarleyNY

I think that it’s been more callers on 550, but I’ve seen a few here as well. He still has value, but more as a higher end #2 or even lower end #1 for another season or two. His salaries the next couple seasons are reasonable for that. It’s the cap hit from signing and restructuring bonuses that’s killing the Bills. That all said, he’s not getting us back a 1 or probably even a 2. It’s easy to look at the Chase Claypool trade and salivate, but that’s an outlier and his salary was negligible. A couple seasons ago Amari Cooper netted a 5th and swap of 6ths - and he was playing a lot better than Diggs is now. That was a steal though. Diggs would net something in between. A third or 4th plus is my best guess.

Agreed. It’s to a point that it’s obvious he’s undermining the team. The plan was always to move on from him next off-season, but things have changed. It’s gonna hurt if it happens, but it’s time. Additional unpopular opinion: if the Bills trade Diggs this off-season, they won’t get nearly what most fans think they will.

https://overthecap.com/calculator/buffalo-bills OTC’s calculator is a good tool to look at options for getting under the cap. While it’s not going to be fun, the Bills are going to be able to get under. They also will be able to get out from under some big contracts if they feel they need to.

No, it does not work like that. When a player is cut or traded all paid signing bonus money that has not been accounted for accelerates to the current year if pre 6/1. Post 6/1 it goes to the following year except for what is already being accounted for in the current year.

Diggs has a CAP HIT that is about twice that of Aiyuk, but their salaries are much closer. Aiyuk is set to play on his 5th year option of $14.1M. Diggs has a salary (plus roster and w/o bonuses) of $19.0M. Those are the cap hits that would travel to a new team. Also if SF trades Aiyuk his new team will have already negotiated an extension.

The injuries excuse would carry a lot more weight with me if the results weren’t the same as when the Bills were the relatively healthy team in the playoffs. Also we all knew giving Von a huge contract with large guarantees was a big risk. Let’s not pretend that wasn’t the case. Glossing over it as simply unlucky without that context is ridiculous.

Well said. I’ve been studying the NFL cap for about 20 years now. I do not expect everyone to know the finer details, but the basics are pretty easy to understand, especially with Spotrac and OTC. If the Bills trade Diggs they can manage his cap hit with some other moves. I’ve worked through it on OTC and it’s doable. Beyond restructures, releases and pay cuts (White) they they can kick some cap hits from expiring contracts into next season with void years. Here’s a link if you want to mess around with OTC’s interactive cap calculator. Just click on the Cut (pre 6/1) buttons for options: https://overthecap.com/calculator/buffalo-bills

Agreed. Also the entire OL was aided by the scheme changes since Daboll left that have gotten the ball out of Allen’s hand more quickly.

That’s people in general. I tip my hat on the rare occasion I see someone admit they’re wrong on here. True. But if you don’t think the guy you’ve got is gonna get you there then it’s foolish to not take a shot on someone who might. I think a lot of ills fans are so afraid of backsliding that they won’t risk that.

A few reasons: - a decent backup QB can get a team into the playoffs (or a better seed) if their QB is out for a bit but comes back - can sometimes be traded if they develop and perform well if/when they play - in this draft the Bills have 10 picks, mostly in latter rounds so why not take a shot There is reasonable debate to be had about whether or not to spend real cap space on a backup QB. I get why we wouldn’t. But why not take a chance on one with one of our six day three picks?

I think this is what Kyle Shanahan intended when he took the ball in OT. If you get it then the best your opponent can do is tie you. If that happens then you just need a FG on your 2nd possession.

There is nothing definitive happening at this time, but my expectations of Diggs being on the team in 2024 went from almost 100% to under 25%. I’ll be working on some numbers to see how it could feasibly work out.

Another: Moving on from key pieces of the team this off-season and/or next builds in an excuse for subpar seasons and/or postseason failures.

Terry Pegula has made and will continue to make decisions aimed more at acquiring a new stadium and selling PSLs than on winning a championship. This would be a very good reason for my opinion.

The buzz in Vegas last week says there’s a very good chance that you get your wish.

I’d be shocked if Tre plays under his current contract this season. It’ll be a renegotiation or release. No need to get worked up about this today. The new league year doesn’t start for about a month.

Exactly. It’s not like he’d be worse. I think the main criteria the team is looking for in a Bills backup QB is that he’s very cheap. Maybe we can draft someone with a late pick.

I don’t think of any single fan base as the “best”. There are countless measures and each group is likely to value their own traits. I’m a transplant Bills fan and I hate the Bills Mafia moniker. I think people diving through tables is stupid and that cheering for someone getting doused with ketchup and mustard is absurd. But with that all said, Bills fans show up like no other (of which I am aware) to support worthy charities. That’s something that those fans should be very proud of and it speaks incredibly well of Buffalonians in general. It certainly far outweighs the little things I mentioned above.

No argument from me that there were two strong defenses. I’m just saying that the two QBs were working with very different qualities of supporting casts and the one with the far weaker one performed much better.

I think it was simply a matter of McDermott bringing in his own guy. He had been working with Beane, who was Assistant GM in Carolina. I’m not sure why he waited until after the draft to hire him though.

That’s quite the star studded video! I think what was said carries a lot of weight. If we get audio I may change my opinion, but it didn’t look like Kelce was trying to do anything physical to his coach. He just grabbed his arm and bumped him a little. I compare it to the Diggs - Allen incident. The biggest factors - other than what was said - are: - KC won that game while the Bills lost theirs. The W smooths over a lot. - Diggs had prior issues so it added fuel to an existing fire. Doesn’t seem to be the case with Kelce and Reid.

“Getting”? If a geared up Kelce had really run into Reid he wouldn’t have just been knocked off balance a little, he’d have flown 5 yards through the air. Kelce was very emotional and he needed to calm down, but there was no ill intent apparent.

Sure the defenses were very good, but my points about the QBs and supporting casts stand. Mahomes got the job done with a far inferior supporting cast. If KC had a Purdy level QB, then I doubt they score double digits. If the 49ers had a Mahomes level QB along with Kittle, Debo, Aiyuk and CMC, then they win easily.

Whaley had been neutered by McDermott for the draft. He was so angry at being totally ignored that he left the draft room. Then he was fired immediately after the draft. The only reason he was kept through it was so that he wouldn’t leak info.

I always chuckle when I see the “didn’t have time to study the QB class” excuse. SMDH. Is there a more important factor in determining the success of a team - and by extension that team’s HC - than the quality of QB on the field?