BarleyNY

Totally agree. They have made all of the easy moves available to create cap space. Now it gets dicier.

This is not even remotely correct. Miller is not his last year. Due to his contract guarantees and structure the Bills have to keep him through next year, 2024. Most of his salary that season is guaranteed anyway. They can release him before the 2025 season, but he will have a large dead cap hit of $15.4M. I expect that they will designate him a 6/1 cut to kick some of that into 2025. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/von-miller-7717/

That would actually lose us cap space due to guaranteed money (Ford, $1.5M), dead cap (Basham $362k) and the replacement salaries of players taking their roster spots. That won’t work. It is already maxed out in that way.

Yes. It’s a good topic for discussion. I’ve been kicking the can down the road on It because there are not a lot of great options. Tre makes the most sense to me since he is signed through 2025, but the Bills need more than the $5M or so they can get from his contract. All of the other players you mention are the logical places to look, but all are near the end of their deals. Johnson, Dawkins and Morse are signed through 2024 and Jones only for this season. Restructures with void years (Dawkins already has them) could be used or legitimate extensions would have to be done. I don’t know which contracts could be extended by the Bills without the player approval. No way to know without having access to it. If they have a say, then I’d think they’d want extensions rather than a restructure. Which of those players would you extend? Morse is at the end. No way. Extending Dawkins scares me so I’d pass on that too unless I could get away with guaranteeing next year in exchange for cap relief. I doubt that would fly tho. I guess Johnson is a decent possibility. He just turned 27 so he should have some years left. Jones is tough due to his age. We’d have to guarantee money next season. I wouldn’t go further than that. That’s all I got unless they think they can get away with Bates at C and cut Morse. I would not do that at this point however.

Thanks for starting this topic and taking most of the heat. I listened to Mariano’s podcast yesterday. I also listened to PFF’s brief review of the game and Sam Monson had a similar take on Allen. He said that it looked like he “was seeing ghosts” and bailing on the pocket even when there was no pressure. Both opinions support what I saw in that game and last season. I think this issue has more than one cause. The first is protection problems. The problems at tackle are the most prominent, but there have been issues inside too. The second is looking for the home run ball too often. That’s on multiple people. There are plays where Allen has held the ball - and often scrambled - while looking for a big play and ignoring receivers open short. But there have been plays where there are no short options - either because receivers didn’t adjust their routes or because Dorsey’s play didn’t include that option. What I’m seeing with Allen in the pocket now is him bailing early - often into pressure - even when there is a good pocket. When he doesn’t bail to the side I’m also seeing him drop back further rather than step up into the pocket. That creates issues with the OTs who will sometimes carry a rusher going outside deep. That works if the QB is supposed to be at 7 yards and they carry him 10, but not if the QB has slid back to 10. To Allen’s credit, he’s athletic and skilled enough to still make positive plays when some of that happens. But he needs to make life easier on himself and his body. That’s not all on him. Dorsey, Beane and the OL have to give him confidence that they’ll protect him. That includes OL performance, play design and execution by the other 10 players on the field. It might seem like I focused on Allen as the issue here because that’s where most of the problems manifest, but I don’t think that is the case. This is something that a lot of people need to fix.

You’re kidding, right? Not only was Tasker a Bill, he still works for the Bills. It’s how he has to do his job if he wants to keep his gig as a preseason color commentator for them - well as any other perks or jobs that come his way because of his relationship with the Bills (like local commercials for auto dealers, etc.)

I can’t tell you how excited I’d be about the right side of the line if the Bills had taken Dawand Jones in the third round. Imagine those two monsters next to each other.

You’re not the first person to mention Allen getting too deep in the pocket as one of the issues. IMO that’s more concerning than any individual lineman’s performance because it means that either Dorsey is making some pretty rudimentary mistakes or that Allen is. Either one is worrisome. I haven’t watched for that myself, but I will.

I mean, it’s the NY Jets at home for their opening game on Monday night on 9/11. The fans will be into it and I dare say, the refs might be slightly biased. That all notwithstanding, I would look hard at the under as both teams have a much better DL than OL. And what’s the over/under on broken QBs? I might want some of that action too.

It’s very rare and I don’t think either team did it Saturday. I have seen a coach with a poor team try to give his players confidence by doing things like that though. A little game planning, running a few plays normally reserved for the regular season, leaving starters in against 2nd stringers, etc.

I think there is good reason to be worried at this point. If Dawkins misses time, then we are screwed. Brown isn’t very good but he’s better than Quessenberry. I do not want to see him on the field.

This is worth having an honest discussion about. Last season PFF rated Dawkins at 73.5 overall. 80.0 pass pro and 62.3 run blocking. His overall grade places him at 24th among offensive tackles. His average salary places him 24th among offensive tackles. Dawkins PFF PFF OT rankings spotrac OT AAV To date it seems as though his play matches his performance. There are 64 starting OTs in the league and he’s 24th. That’s a little above average and he’s a better pass blocker than run blocker, which is preferable to the other way around. I don’t have any complaints about last year or the years prior, but it’s worth looking ahead. He is under contract this year and next. It was front loaded so he’s only due cash of $9.855M this season and $10.3M next. That’s a very good deal if you can get average or better play out of him. The concerns about how out of shape Dawkins has come into TC can’t be ignored though. He’s 29 now so he’s signed through his 30 year old season. Getting back into shape will become more and more difficult if he continues to do that. IMO the smart move is to have him play out his deal but try to find his replacement in the draft next offseason. He can coexist with a rookie for a year.

Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t.

Peters played on a 1 year, $2M contract last season. Some of that was in active roster bonuses and he wound up making $1.8M. I know he’s ancient at 41, but I’d sign him for that today.

That is incorrect. I'm not sure where you are getting that information. Jones started all three preseason games at RT. He started opposite Hudson against the Eagles, but he also started opposite the regular LT, Wills, against the Commanders. With Conklin out he even started against the Eagles with the first team OL in the practices. Also he's listed as the backup to Conklin at RT on the Browns depth chart.

What I heard was the the Browns really took it to the Iggles on day 1 of joint practices. In particular the Browns defense dominated the Iggles offense. This was a huge swing from last season when the Iggles dominated the Browns in all phases all week. So the Iggles players did not expect, like or appreciate what happened day 1. Consequently they showed up on Day 2 with a very large chip on their collective shoulder. Their intensity was much higher and they got dirty against more players than just Watson.

A played I’d look to move a late round pick (or flip late picks) for is Mohamoud Diabate of the Browns. If they cut him (which I do not think they will do), then he won’t make it to the Bills on the waiver wire. He has had a very good preseason in all phases. He seems to process the game well and has not only played the run and pass well, he has been an effective blitzer. He’d certainly have a place on this roster.

I think the Hudson trade idea started with this Bleacher Report article on trade ideas. I don’t see the Browns moving him unless they got an outstanding offer. He’s been their swing tackle and comes in as a TE in heavy formations. While Jones has taken over the backup RT spot, Hudson is the only player on the team - other than the starter Wills - that has experience at LT. The Browns won’t want to open that hole up on the roster.

I haven’t watched Queen play in the NFL enough to really form my own opinion, but I have heard him discussed. What was said about him was that he was pretty poor until Smith was acquired lined up next to him. Then his play dramatically improved. That makes me say no. If it was something negligible in trade, then it might be worth kicking the tires. But I doubt that would be the case.

Yup. It’s easy to just say we should extend him, but the reality of doing so includes the opportunity cost. For those saying we should extend him, let’s see the max contract you’d offer.

Has there been anything definitive on Torrence taking the starting RG job? I’m just wondering if him getting so many reps is just to get him some experience in case he’s needed this year. If he doesn’t start he would be needed if Bates or Morse got injured.

A insignificant impact on the cap. He was signed for near vet minimum. Only $152k in dead cap.

Like a professional or hobbyist?

No chance. At cutdowns that might happen, but not with two preseason games to go. Even if he wasn't going to be our 3rd OT - and I still think he was - an injury can change things in a hurry. He wasn't a great OT or anything, but he could've kept Ques off the field, or maybe even off the roster. 🤬

Doctors too. My friends who are doctors refer to people who ride motorcycles as "organ donors". That held true for my cousin who died in a motorcycle accident. Hit gravel at a turn on a country road and went through a fence. I worked with a guy whose previous job was delivering pizzas. One day he told me that he had just gone to court to testify from an incident when he had that job. He was behind a motorcycle at a light in the left turn lane. They got an arrow and they both started to make the turn. A car blew the red light and plowed into the motorcycle. (This was in Columbus where everyone seems to run red lights after they turn.) Among other injuries the rider's leg was badly broken and bent where it shouldn't have been. My coworker testified to what he saw, but for some reason the jury still held the rider liable for the accident. The moral of that story is that a rider can't even expect to be treated fairly by the legal system. There is no way that riding on the open road is worth the risk of death or serious injury, but that really puts a cherry on top.