Blank Stare

Gross

Firm no.

Sounds like it worked out then. Drive the price up a bit for a division rival for a player that isn’t great at anything.

Does that even qualify as a toe dipped in the water?

Beside the money, still don’t get the appeal of signing with the Cheats or any other team without a QB. You really have no shot. Plus, that team is the definition of “No Fun League.”

I get the money, but they have no QB and they are known as not being a very fun environment under that curmudgeon Belichick. Outside of cap space and the money here, I’m shocked this would be viewed as a FA destination for anyone.

Still remember Al Michael’s comments during the opener that year where he was yucking it up about how Gillislee got away from the Bills. Don’t get me wrong, I was bummed to lose Touchdown Mike, but the dig at the Bills was a little extra. As long as Milano stays healthy, that trade will be considered pretty damn good for the Bills.

Awesome, awesome news! Draft well, develop, and reward your own. Milano is an excellent scheme fit and I would’ve hated seeing him shake his injury bug and become a stud elsewhere. He changes this defense when he’s healthy and running sideline to sideline. I expect them to grab at least two young pass rushers in the draft this year (if they don’t sign a pass rusher in FA).

Wowza!!! Rams really hate first round draft picks! At least it’s not the cheats. I was worried about them getting him.

Good Q. I’m not one that focuses too much on criticizing Beane’s drafts. I think he’s done a nice job overall, but there’s no question we need to find a few more impact guys from the collegiate ranks. All of this is a lot easier once you have a franchise QB in place. We do, so you can take a few more gambles on players (healthy, questionable character but elite physical ability, etc.). With respect to your Q on the Dline, I do think they can replace all those guys in one offseason. Maybe that’s ambitious, but that’s just me. Reason being - I don’t think we’d be replacing 4 starters. If we needed the space for Milano, I’d cut Addison, Butler, and Jefferson (although I wouldn’t hate keeping Jefferson if they could). All 3 combined are less valuable to me than Milano. Addison is the only starter from that group. I’d replace him through the draft with either a first or second round pick and look for some growth out of Epenesa. Butler and Jefferson I’d replace with either lesser deals if they want to restructure, the draft, or reasonable to low cost FA. I’d also circle back around in the middle part of the draft to grab another developmental pass rusher or DT. In that scenario, starting Dline would include: Hughes, Oliver, Star, Epenesa/1st or 2nd rd Rookie Pass Rusher Backups: Johnson, Horrible Harry, FA, Rookie Mid-Round Pick, Zimmer, Mike Love. If we need to cut one of Star or Hughes this year to make it work, it becomes a bit more tricky, but doable. I think there’s probably a way to do it where you structure Milano’s deal to ramp up after 2021 season when we can keep Hughes and Star another year until we move on in 2022. In that scenario, I haven’t even gotten to John Brown or Mitch Morse yet where we may need to do something with them to free up money for FAs, Feliciano, Daryl Williams, or Josh’s deal.

This reeks of a desperate Chan Gailey like HC hire. For Culley’s sake, I hope it works out for him. Supposedly he struck up a pretty decent relationship with Watson a while ago. He’ll need to rekindle that flame and get him onboard to be successful out of the gate. I hope he does and keeps him out of the AFC East.

I agree, we can’t keep everyone, but we can keep a core group of homegrown guys. Guys that make up our core should be retained. Like Tre and Dawkins, I believe our core should include Milano. Even if that means letting Tremaine go when he’s up. But it matters not what I think. Beane is going to do what Beane is going to do. I just hope if he lets Milano go, we aren’t sitting around saying how nice it would’ve been to only have had to cut guys like Jefferson, Addison, or Butler to keep him just for the sake of having bodies on the Dline. Good chat though. I haven’t fully made peace with there not being any games this Sunday, so this has been fun to discuss. Even if we disagree.

I hear you, but I guess it’s just preference. I’d rather cut all those guys, keep Milano, and invest in young dline in the draft. I don’t know that you’re going to find a premier pass rusher in FA. Certainly not one that won’t command a ton of $. I agree they are critical to have. A really good pass rusher that can change a game is something we’ve lacked for a while now, but I’d invest some draft picks in the dline. At least 2 picks on the dline and maybe grab 1-2 decent (but not high priced) guys in FA. Keep Jerry on another year if you can to teach the young cats.

Completely agree with this point. This is the biggest unknown and you can’t force anyone into a deal. Admittedly, I’m making a lot of assumptions on my end. If it’s something where we are at $11MM per year and he’s at $20MM per year, then we were never likely to keep him. But if it’s where we think he’s $11-13MM and he’s at $14-16MM and both sides want to make a deal, and the only reason we say we can’t do it is because of the salary cap being less, I think that’s BS. We can make it work. As I’ve said in other posts, there’s only maybe 3 guys I value equal or more on this defense than Milano as far as impact on the field. I don’t want to watch a homegrown talent walk off, suddenly be healthy every year, and turn into a star for someone else. I could be wrong, but I can see that with Milano.

I agree that it’ll be challenging with the guys you mentioned. It’s tough to maintain when you have success. Of that list, I think Milano is more important than everyone but Diggs. I prioritize keeping Milano over all those other guys.

Who else on defense would you value more than Milano that should stay? I’d put Tre White, Poyer, and maybe Hyde as more important than Milano. Maybe Edmunds? Taron Johnson? Jerry is getting older and hardly ever gets home. None of the other guys on the dline are more important than Milano. Imagine this defense without Milano’s blitzing or coverage ability. Pay the guys that matter and fill in around them through the draft and cheap FAs.

I hear you. I’m not trying to be a PITA on this, but we need to make it work with Milano. Why draft his replacement when we already drafted and developed a guy? We struck gold in the 5th round on him. Seattle kept Bobby Wagner and KJ Wright all these years along with paying Russ a ton of $. No reason we can’t make it work. There is plenty of fat that can be cut on this roster to accommodate.

How do we know he wants $14MM? Why can’t we cut the scrubs on the dline to make it work or structure a deal around this year’s salary cap constraints. I’m happy to eat crow on this if I’m wrong, but I’m telling you if we let him walk, he’ll go be a big time player for someone else. We’ve been fed the line “draft well and retain our own” by this management team. Time to put their money where their mouth is. Pay him.

I don’t think he needs to be highest paid at his position to come to an agreement. I also have some concern with injuries, but sometimes they just happen. Eric Wood was one of those guys. We stuck with him and he turned into a pretty damn good player. Milano may never have another injury that forces him to miss time. We should reward our own that we drafted and developed. Not Mario Addison or Vernon Butler. Cut them and give that money to Milano.

This would be a HUGE mistake to not bring Milano back. He’s a difference maker on defense. Yes, he’s been banged up some, but he’s proven a difference maker when he’s on the field. If they don’t get rid of all these non-impact JAGs at over-inflated salaries on the Dline to keep Milano, they are making a mistake and he’ll go star elsewhere. Unpopular opinion: I’d prefer to keep Milano over Tremaine. I don’t dislike Tremaine like some others on here, but Milano is far more instinctive, is a difference maker, and is typically around the ball.

For me, the goal this off season should be getting pass rushers and increasing overall team speed. Anything else is gravy. I don’t want to go nuts on defense because you have to outscore KC. You aren’t going to hold them down all game, but you can force their hand situationally by disrupting Mahomes. Our pass rush completely disappeared in some big games this year, and when we did get home, sometimes we struggled finishing and bringing down the QB. I’d scrap most of the dline if they aren’t on a rookie deal. Maybe keep Jerry for leadership. We all saw what our lack of team speed meant the other night, so no need to rehash. The plus side is that with the culture this team has created, I think we can absorb some guys with checkered pasts as long as their talent and work ethic is worth it.

What a friggen warrior.