HappyDays

Hmm. Guess it was a bad year to need DL help. We are bringing back the same underperforming group and hoping for the best. I'm a little perplexed about Beane's strategy these past couple weeks. Cut underperforming overpaid players, then turn around and re-sign a bunch of guys in the same bucket. I'm sure the real numbers aren't so bad. Hopefully he's healthy and gives us the level of play we got before his injury. I'm not upset about this individual signing. Just confused about what the plan is.

The initial numbers reported, as usual, are hiding the truth of the contract. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/jacksonville-jaguars/gabriel-davis-47723/ $4.7M cap hit in 2024, $6.7M in 2025. 2026 is where it gets interesting. He is supposed to carry a $17.2M cap hit that year or they can cut him for $14.6M in dead cap, then a huge void year cap hit of $10.4M in 2027, and smaller void year cap hits in 2028 and 2029. No way he will see that $17.2M cap hit. If he underperforms they will likely offer him a pay cut in 2026. If he performs as well or better than hoped they would likely extend him to massage out that cap hit further into the future.

I hope we are part of the "among others." All I want out of this FA period is a decent WR with upside.

A lot of popular potential Bills signings are already off the board.

Interesting question. I don't see any reason why not.

We could have gotten $23M but we chose not to kick all of it to future years. I guess they figured $16M is enough to do what they want to do in free agency.

I'm 50/50 on this deal. Epenesa is a good rotational option and still has upside. His contract came in a bit cheaper than I thought it would so it isn't a crazy overpay. But once again we are spending a good chunk of money on a rotational defensive lineman. I just hope all of these depth re-signings aren't going to lock us out from signing a real difference maker at WR or EDGE.

I'm gonna take the fact that no numbers are reported yet as a good sign that it is team-friendly.

Wow that is an overpay. Great news for our comp pick formula though.

It's actually good news IMO. We weren't going to re-sign him anyways, but now he gets included in the comp pick formula.

Again these RB contracts are insane...

Some of these RB contracts are perplexing to say the least.

Initial Autry numbers were wrong:

No, post-6/1 designations allow the player to sign with another team right away. But Tre probably can't pass a physical right now so I doubt he will sign anywhere for at least a couple months.

I want our roster to become more top heavy, not bottom heavy. I know you generally agree with that. I would rather risk a less capable player at special teams/DB depth if it means we have more cap space available to pay a true starting caliber EDGE or WR. So personally I wouldn't have signed any depth players until next week at the earliest. I want us actually rostering as many of our draft picks as possible, not trading away decent players like Alex Austin and Jack Anderson because their spots are taken by $2M AAV players. That money adds up and eventually takes away from the top of the roster.

It's important because it means we didn't wait to see if cheaper options would be available in the draft and late stage FA. We have all of these day 3 picks not to mention UDFA, surely one of those players can fill Lewis's role. Or if not we could always sign a capable player in June. I just don't understand why we continue to prioritize this caliber of player versus letting the market develop and using all of that added up cap savings to pay a player that makes a meaningful difference to the team.

The Bills are talking to Emmanuel Ogbah. Not sure if it gets done.

So $39M is the real number. He gets $3M AAV more than MVS got when he signed with the Chiefs. Sounds about right after two years of salary inflation.

I know we have to pay for some depth, I just don't know why we are rushing to get these sorts of players re-signed. Give it until next week and then sign the best available depth DB for the vet minimum. Better yet wait until after the draft and see what's left. I keep seeing people say "no way the Bills can use 11 draft picks, there isn't room on the roster" but that's only true because of the likes of Lewis and Rapp. I would rather get as cheap as possible at those depth spots and spend our cap space on a real difference maker. JMO

Not really a fan of this. Lewis and Rapp are not guys you sign on day zero of FA. If they sign elsewhere so be it, we can find cheaper options on day 3 of the draft or in late stage FA. McDermott is a little too obsessed with continuity at depth positions IMO.

It's 3 years up to $50M. Not announced publicly yet.