Straight Hucklebuck

Yup I think we’re there. Before FA I wanted Slayton and Zaccheaus and a 1st Round rookie to turn over the Bottom 3 spots in that room. But with $8.5M left in cap space, and holes at #4 DT and #4 DE (assuming no Von Week 1), the FA loss of Edmunds, and the same approach by this FO to WR and OLine in FA (low end starters), I think we’re going that way in April.

That was baked into the contract we traded for and part of the reason the Colts traded him away. He was scheduled to make $4.5M this season. It’s also why Beane pointed out unprompted how he thought he had given this Coaching Staff a weapon, only to turn around and see he got the ball 11 times total on offense after the trade.

I preferred Olamide Zacchaeus, because he's younger and seemingly improved every season, but he lacks size. At least Sherfield is 6'1"

Happy he didn’t end up in Cincinnati. They were trying to get him early in FA.

1. WR 2. MLB 3. Offensive Line 4. Defensive Line 5. Safety 6. RB That would be the preferred draft order for me.

So 1-year $6M? 2-years, $10M?

If the Hopkins price has been reduced from a 2nd to a 3rd and pieces, for sure I’m doing it, but it’s not in a vacuum. Everything hinges on being able to move Oliver’s cap space off the roster. Then the Neal lever would have to be pulled, and DaQuan get extended and cap hit spread out just to have a shot at Hopkins. And then you’d have to rework the Hopkins deal to try and make everything fit, it would leave nothing remaining. I’ve read on Rotowire that his cap hit for teams trading for him is $19.4M in 2023 and $14.94M 2024, but he has a $30M cap hit on Spotrac for 2023 and $26M in 2024. So for this to be realistic, what is the real cap number?

That’s 30 years ago now.

I agree. With Von likely to start the year on PUP and Lawson a FA, that leaves Epenesa, Rousseau and Basham at DE. And DT is really thin, with DaQuan going into his final year, Oliver on his final year and a pay-cut Tim Settle, with Phillips a FA too. SC Bills made a good point about not simply re-signing Lawson and Phillips because the Bills know them, but cutting Neal doesn’t do much for the team if the cap space doesn’t get put to use. Also, there are only (4) NFL worthy WRs under contract - Diggs, Davis, Shakir and Harty, so you’d think the Bills would add one more there. And the Bills are done on the OLine?

It depends on what else the Bills are trying to do. I have no concerns with the Bills releasing Neal, but are the Bills working to get a Defensive Lineman in here, another WR, a Safety?

On this one I don’t think Beane did anything wrong. He’s kept this entire defense together for 5 years now. If you’re going to take a stand on contracts, maybe pick on the Von Miller contract and say why wasn’t Beane on a top WR when they were all being traded, or why take a gamble on a 33-34 year old with that kind of money? Or maybe point to the Knox contract and say was that necessary and did that cost the Bills Edmunds? Maybe Beane could have looked ahead to this draft and said we’ll let Knox just play it out. In the end the Bills philosophy has seemed to be keep the defense together at all costs. It’s an expensive unit, and in 2023 10/11 starters are back again.

I think you’re right. Despite the money challenges, the Bills need to try and improve the talent level rather than defaulting back to who’s been here.

So more like Campbell (inside/out) and Frank Clark. I’m just thinking about who will come cheaply. Beane sounded like he didn’t want to push much more into the future. But DT is going to need planning because nobody is under contract after 2024.

Campbell can still play. Frank Clark / Shaq Lawson And then I do think we have a DT need. Beane is talking about adding a larger back, but I don’t think we need an older veteran, low draft pick would be my preference. Spotrac has Bills at $10M in cap space.

I think it’s necessary. Whoever we sign will have to take near minimums I think, 1 year deals. Bills pulled one of their last cap relief levers with the $2M release of McKenzie. The Bills also need to add a 4th DT. $1.5M for Shaq Lawson $1.5M for Jordan Phillips

Spotrac had him getting $11M per year before FA. My guess is that pelvis injury is still lingering. It cost him the second half of his season.

Going into FA I thought Slayton and Zachheaus made sense based on traits and expected contracts.

How do the Bills fit Hopkins in to their cap? They have $9M now per Beane, but rookie contracts have to come out of that and whatever is set aside for IR he said. Oliver gets you $10M, but how does DHop fit? Cutting McKenzie saves $2.3M, extend DaQuan frees up a couple million? Now you’re restructuring Dawkins or cutting Morse or something like that?

Agree that’s the best path. Unless we can just trade Oliver for $10M in cap relief and sign Wagner to a $10M deal, filling MLB in FA is not happening. Beane said the opposite today and alluded to extending Oliver.

😐

Actually I wasn’t whining at all. SC, ScottLaw and John were having a good conversation on the roster construction and remaining holes. Cool for you, got your cheap shot in. But Beane and staff like Gabe and have said so a lot. And because of their cap and holes on D, it’s hard envisioning where another legit pass catcher is coming from despite some fans wanting it. Nobody was insulting anyone, until you showed up.

In college Jeudy was consistently dominant.

Good post. Yeah you’re right, Beane said it today in words and tone, they’re kind of stuck. They’ve done all they can to keep the band together that has won 3-Straight AFC East Titles. There seems to be a couple more restructure levers to pull, but Beane sounded like reluctant to that and I would be too. He said they’re tight next year as well.

They’re not going to take a creative avenue here and package players and picks to try and get impact. If you could ship Gabe and a 3rd for Hopkins, but they need money relief. I don’t like the Jeudy idea as much, but he’d take #27 straight up or some combination. As fans, it’s hard to know who is available? They believe in Draft - Develop and Retain so they can’t afford eating dead cap in trades.

Like Scott Law and I have said, the Bills don’t seem like they have any urgency at WR 2. They just picked up a 5’6” WR who has 64 career catches and Beane said they’re trying to finagle McKenzie’s contract despite his disastrous showing last year. If the FO brings back Phillips and Lawson on vet minimum deals, that’s $2.4M less in cap space and Beane said they were at $9M free today, with some provisioned for rookies and IR. So it’s looking like Dodson is your MLB going into the draft, or they’ll have to dip into the restructure pot again. You could trade Oliver, but then you would have to take some of that $10M and re-sign Phillips or someone else, unless you’re drafting two DTs.