HappyDays

Are we sure about that? Allen throwing deep to Amari Cooper looked pretty damn good on the few occasions where it happened, and that's an over the hill downfield WR. I've felt for a while that Metcalf is the platonic ideal of a WR that goes well with Allen's skill set and he's still well in his prime.

They aren't getting a 1st and a 3rd, this is just standard hardball negotiating through the media. But if I had to part with our 1st I would do it. As usual fans are way overvaluing 1st round draft picks, especially with where we are picking. Other than Allen there isn't one 1st round pick Beane has made that I wouldn't trade for Metcalf. Funny enough the second best use he's made of a 1st round pick was when he traded for Diggs. The time is right to make an identical move. Look at the last two drafts - Addison and BTJ were taken before we had a realistic chance to get them so we had to settle for lesser prospects. Metcalf being available gives us a rare opportunity to not settle. Take the top tier player in his prime and don't look back.

Only speaking for myself - I defended Brown when others wanted him benched or wanted us to draft a RT high. I thought his physical upside was worth being patient and I saw signs of a future good player even when he was struggling. Kincaid however I am leaning towards wanting to trade him if we could get a 3rd rounder (or as part of a package for Metcalf if it came to that) because I just don't see NFL traits there, unfortunately. Physically and mentally I don't see a player that will ever be more than decent. He'll be 26 in October so I think he's pretty close to maxed out on his abilities. So I would sell high. Of course I expect us to keep him so hopefully I'm wrong. The injury excuse doesnt really do it for me but I could buy that the game will slow down for him in his 3rd year.

He played so well they had a barely rosterable player ahead of him all through the playoffs.

I would honestly be interested if he gets paid what he should, which is a 1 year prove it deal for a low-mid tier cost. I just have no clue what his market will be like. Is someone like New England or Washington going to way overpay him just because they can?

At first glance a 3rd seems startlingly low. But this is a good point from one of the reporters that initially broke the rumor: If all we need to blow other offers out of the water is giving up one of our 2nds it's a no brainer. We'll have effectively traded over the hill Diggs for in his prime Metcalf. In that scenario the draft pick is practically a non-factor in my mind, it's really just about the money at that point.

Honestly why not both? Metcalf as the long term extension with an artificially low 2025 cap hit, Adams as the more expensive in 2025 one year stopgap for the #2 role while we wait to see how Coleman develops. Get the WR room set and then go all in on rebuilding the defense in the draft. In Metcalf we're talking about a perennial 1,000 yard WR who has also produced at a high level in the playoffs. If that's overrated what does that say about our current WR room?

It's impossible to overstate how perfect the fit is. We need an outside WR. We need to improve our vertical passing game. We need more top tier talent in general. Metcalf fills all of these needs in one shot. Adding him is like fitting a square peg into a square hole. I really hope we make it happen.

When I heard the news I didn't need to use my hand

True story - I was told this was coming 30 minutes ago and was frantically refreshing Adam Schefter's page.

Major update:

He is good friends with Allen so I could see this being a real possibility. The one thing that gives me pause is he was in the slot 76% of snaps last year. But he has played outside before so if we bring him as our Z receiver I think that could work.

I was just coming here to say I heard the details posted by Spotrac aren't exactly right. There's about $7M in incentives missing and the dead cap hits are wrong. But the posted cap hits are apparently correct and will only change depending on if the incentives are hit. So it's still team friendly. We can get out of it in 2028 with around an $8.2M dead cap hit if we need to.

Spotrac is saying there would only be a $4.2M dead cap hit if cut in 2027. That seems almost too good to be true. If this is accurate it's a tremendously team friendly deal.

This idea is getting a bit overstated. Running the ball has become easier since defenses have adjusted to stop the bombs away air shows that teams like the Bills and Chiefs were showing in 2020. But you still need a balanced offense led by a strong passing game, not a "run first" offense. Barkley himself is evidence of this - he went from playing with Daniel Jones and a cast of JAGs to playing with a good QB and an elite OL and an elite WR duo. Only then did he start producing at his current level. The passing offense still has to lead the way and the market is reflecting this. Barkley's historic market-resetting AAV would rank just 18th among WRs. He falls just below the likes of Terry McLaurin and Calvin Ridley whose contracts are already obsolete. The league hasn't flipped on its head.

Wow okay I did not realize that. That's just what one of his scouting reports said. I'd be comfortable with him as the pick.

His scouting report reminds me of Tre White's coming out. Positives: Long arms, good footwork, good route anticipation. Negatives: average speed, can get beat vertically, not a particularly willing tackler. So we know that player profile can work very well in this defense.

We need a separator outside as well as a vertical threat. Adams fills the first need.

Hopefully we can pay him enough to change his thinking.

In the regular season, yes. I have said the biggest positive of trading for Garrett is it improves our chances of getting the #1 seed. In the AFCCG though that wasn't the problem. The problem was Mahomes and Reid doing what they always do against McDermott's defense which is to effortlessly pick us apart. Ball out in 2 seconds or less. Our contain rush sucked, our coverage sucked, our coaching sucked. For me I want any big move the Bills make this offseason to be about maximizing their chances to finally overcome KC. That is where I become less enthused about giving up a bunch of draft capital and cap space for Garrett. I recognize his talent and his value, it's just not what I think is going to get us past the boogeyman.

Yeah we were up there when White, Hyde, Poyer, Taron, and Milano were all on the team and in their primes... Elite coverage has always been the best avenue to success in McDermott's defense. His defense wants QBs to get the ball out quickly to a player that will be tackled right away. He wants the opposing offense to run the ball. Our defensive philosophy and play calling the past two years, especially this past season, have been different out of necessity not out of desire. The secondary needs to be the foundation of the rebuild on that side of the ball, not the DL. So this is why I keep saying we are not one player away from having an elite defense. Benford is a great CB1 albeit less great than White in his prime. We have no CB2 on the roster. Both safety spots are up in the air. Milano isn't reliable. Taron took a step back last year, although he's still a good player of course. So all the positions that made us a top 3 defense a few years ago are now less than. Adding Garrett absolutely makes us a better defense but it doesn't erase all of the problems that made us a below average defense last year. I think Bills fans have built up this fantasy that one elite pass rusher will make the difference the next time we face KC in the playoffs. This was exacerbated by the Philly Super Bowl win. The ironic thing about that is that Philly did not dominate because of one elite pass rusher. They had waves of good to great pass rushers that were acquired over a period of several seasons, supported by an elite secondary. My take is that everyone is taking the wrong lesson from that defensive performance, while simultaneously ignoring the fact that Philly's elite WR duo also helped them build an insurmountable lead.

That would be a big leap. We ranked 12th and 30th respectively in opponent PPG and 3rd down percentage last year. Personally I'm not convinced we're one player away - even the best defender in the NFL - from being a top 5 defense. Adding Metcalf puts us in real contention to be the very best offense in the NFL especially if we could bring him in while adding one more good WR and convincing Cook to come back one more year. That could be the caliber of offense that makes defense practically irrelevant. Just make some baseline improvements on that side of the ball with the goal of making it average. Historic offense with an average defense is a legit championship contender.

Come on man you know that's not how AAVs work. Or do you think Shakir will actually count $15M against the cap next year? The common refrain is that the salary cap is a myth. Maybe that should be rephrased to say contracts are a myth. The money is real, the accounting is made up. Metcalf is EASILY affordable for this franchise. We'll have no top tier contracts on the books other than our QB and our RT (and even that isn't the top of the top tier). All the moves they made last offseason were about setting themselves up for a splash move this year. It's time. They need to add another top tier player capable of pushing this roster over the edge.

I agree which is why I'm hoping he gets drafted sooner. A 1T in the 1st round would be extremely underwhelming.