BarleyNY

That’s fair. I do think they should re-sign Shaq if he’ll take vet min with a VSB kicker. (Veteran Signing Benefit, which does not count against the salary cap.) The Bills typically roster 5 DEs for the season. Right now they have Miller, Rousseau, Basham, Epenesa and some guys who probably won’t make the 53. With Miller unlikely (or at least uncertain) to play at the start of the season we need depth that can get on the field week 1. I am happy to see a draft pick and/or another vet added. Even with both there’d be room for Lawson early in the season. Upon Miller’s return - and if there hasn’t been an injury to the unit - we can cut the weakest depth player.

This boggles my mind. NFL teams have shoes on hand for every possible circumstance. I do not know how it’s possible that a team would not have been properly outfitted. And even if a mistake was made or conditions changed, shoes or spikes can be changed easily - even if tape has to be redone. I can’t believe that such a rudimentary mistake could’ve been made and then not rectified. If by some chance that is what happened, then the Pegulas should’ve cleaned house. Somehow that would be worse than the 13 seconds debacle (which was also a fireable offense).

This is an excellent observation. The Bills were 23rd in the league in blitz percentage last year. 19.4%. It doesn’t help your defense to show blitz so much if you are going to so rarely send them.

Thanks for the link. I disagree that the defense will be a lot different than what we’ve seen though. Those Carolina defenses were what he ran 7+ years ago. Offenses have changed since then and defenses have changed accordingly. I think what we’ve seen is a natural evolution of what’s in that article. One example of that is McDermott talking about how important getting to the QB with 4 is. That doesn’t mean he won’t ever blitz, but he’s not looking to use that as much as before. Time will tell. I’m hoping for improvement much more than I’m expecting it.

Thats certainly possible. I think it has to get resolved before OTAs in May though. They can’t let him come in for those. If he got injured at those they could be on the hook for his whole salary.

AZ is just posturing. They aren’t keeping Hopkins this season. It makes no sense to do so with Murray out, new coaches and a rebuild started. Also it’s the same cap charge whether he’s cut or traded so they’ll get something for him unless they screw it up by holding out too long. My prediction is a deal gets done the week before the draft.

Those people should go root for Minnesota and Kirk Cousins. They’re just doing enough to be semi-competitive and give their fans a little hope.

True, but the issue is that there aren’t many teams with the cap space to fit his current salary. And paying Hopkins that big salary for two years doesn’t really make much sense for those teams because they are rebuilding. For example, Chicago has the cap space, but what’s he going to do for them this year and next? AZ is rebuilding and that’s why they’re dumping him and his contract.

Maybe, but I think it’s more about AZ maximizing his trade value. Hopkins voided his no trade clause with the PED infraction so he doesn’t have final say in where he goes. He does have some leverage with respect to teams that need to rework his deal however. So AZ either has to send him to a team that will take on his current contract or one he comes to an agreement with on a new one. That’s another possibility here - that his contract demands are too high and are causing teams to back off. Edited to add: So which teams that have a big need for a high end WR for the next two seasons AND have sufficient cap space to add his $19.45M cap hit this season? I see none. Spotrac

Agree that this is just gamesmanship. AZ is just trying to get the most possible in trade for DHop. No shame in that. Cap consequences are exactly the same whether they trade or cut him. So they’ll eventually trade him for something. AZ jacked up the price and the interested teams all said they weren’t interested any longer. My prediction is he gets traded to some team a week or so before the draft.

No. Cap space and the Bills don’t want to overpay for a player who turns 37 this September. Campbell was an outstanding player and still has enough in the tank to be a good rotational player this season, but there’s a reason the Ravens didn’t try harder to hold onto him. Let the man go get the last dollar from another team. There is no other reason for him to sign in Atlanta. Bring in players looking for a title.

The elbow was against the Jets on a hit in the pocket. The RT gave up the hit. IIRC Quessenberry was in for Brown.

Completely agree. Allen was in the pocket when he got hurt. And the OTs are exactly the same as last season.

The question at hand was whether having a HC call plays is generally a problem. It’s obviously not. Whether it matters whether Frazier, McDermott or someone else calls plays for McDermott’s defense is another issue entirely.

Low risk signing with some real upside. Nice.

Sure. It’s easy to rip on the Browns, but offensive play calling hasn’t been their issue since Stefanski was hired. He’s actually done well all things considered. And then there’s the fact that both SB teams had HCs that call plays on one side of the ball. So….

Stefanski in Cleveland

That’s fair. I should’ve added that we don’t know much of what’s happening behind the scenes and that there certainly could be extension talks in earnest. Time will tell on this and acquiring DHop. It’s worth mentioning that I don’t see how both can happen with Diggs on the roster. It’d just be way too much cap space tied up in the receiving corps.

Do the Bills appreciate Gabe Davis? He’s eligible for a contract extension right now. I haven’t heard anything about that getting done, but I have heard a lot about them acquiring DHop.

No. If we plow more resources (mostly cap space) into assets that only offer returns for the next two years rather than long term ones of course it’ll be worse three to five years from now. I’m not sure how you’re even debating that. That doesn’t mean that the team shouldn’t go for it. It’s just an acknowledgment of the downside of doing so. The upside is (obviously) a better shot at a title in 2023 & 2024. As I’ve said before, it’s the right move for this regime to push their chips in. If the Bills don’t perform better in the next two playoffs than they have in the last few, then they won’t be here in 2025 anyway. Beyond that I think this team needs a move like DHop - an offensive playmaker who can be effective immediately. The team knows they need a player like that too. So I actually agree with you about acquiring DHop. I’m not going to pretend there’s not a price for it though.

I think everyone understands why the Bills would make a push for a player like DHop so that they’d have a better chance of winning a SB in the next two seasons. But someone would have to be pretty clueless to think that there was any certainty to that or that it wouldn’t set them back after that two year window.

It’s not about the money coming out of an owner’s pocket, it’s about maximizing the finite resource of cap space. And it’s ridiculous to say that the cap doesn’t matter. If that were true, then DHop wouldn’t be on the trading block and Tre Edmunds would still be a Bill.

Hopkins trade value is very low as he otherwise would be cut due to salary and AZ rebuild. Multiple teams (incl KC) interested in the highly talented, but aging vet so that’s what is establishing his market. Cards could assume some of his salary, but compensation would increase. Bills would have to make more than one salary cap move to fit Hopkins’ salary, which is $19.45M in 2023 and $14.915M in 2024. One of those salary cap moves would likely have to be trading Oliver. Another logical move would be to rework Hopkins’ contract. Owners meeting starts Monday and would be the logical time to work this all out since there are many moving parts to making this happen.

Mine is that Allen gets a SB win or two in his career and while in a Bills uniform, but none with the current coaching staff and FO.

They go by so fast….