ColoradoBills

I just said what I think. I'm getting a lot of flack for it and I'm only replying to you but also for anyone else. Here it goes. This board is all over the place from cutting him to having him play out the rest of his contract. For years I defended Star (and got the business from a lot of posters), then after he took off in 2020, I was neutral on his future. After last year I thought he should be done with and end his career in Buffalo. Situations changed and my thoughts changed with them. If OBD is of the opinion that they are done with him then I see no reason to keep him on the roster. Use the $1.5M to help sign the rookies and get the rest in June. Also, I said if OBD wants to keep him through the summer I can live with that. My final replies were to the effect that if he does go to camp, he shouldn't get special treatment. He would have to put in the effort just like anyone else of get moved down to the 3rd string. I do believe keeping him as a rotational DT for what will in essence be $12M is my least favorite choice. That's about all I got to say. I probably should've kept my thoughts to myself.

Bills have 9 locked D-Lineman NOT counting Star. I think Beane is done with the DL other than fringe depth.

All your counterpoints have merit. Looks like Phillips has signed so that does change Star's position. I can (and did last year) feel the same as you do about Star. I'm just to the point where I feel it needs to end. If OBD feels the way you do I will accept it and understand their reasoning. But that being said, if there is a good chance they will cut him after camp I surely wouldn't let him skate through the summer. If he wants to keep playing he has to show that. His effort needs to be what any other DL player is showing. If he can't keep up he takes snaps with the 3rd team. My only other point is this. It is well proven that single year cap numbers can be moved around. His $1.5 and next years $2.6 can be worked out to a replacement worth $4.1. I think that is what Phillips is here for. It may not be a total wash but it's close enough. I want to spread it over 2 years and for him to be gone. Cut him now and move the 2.6 in June.

I seriously doubt a trade could happen. My thinking is why keep him around eating reps in camp that another player could get the experience from. For all those who say he is worth the money this year I look at is this way. He has a $9.23M hit this year. If he plays out the year the Bills owe him $2.6M next year in signing bonus. That's in essence about $12M in cost for his part time play this year. Sometimes you buy stock in a company that turned bad. Just cut your losses.

Team and players come to retirement agreements. My point is Star doesn't have to give money back. An agreement would be he keeps his $5.2M he already got in signing bonus. He would just retire and not show up to camp and give up his 2022 Base Salary guarantee of $2.5M. As far as the $2.5M he could ask the Bills to split it with him. Well paid team players have done things like this in the past. Of course he can say no. My real point is if they are going to cut him after camp just cut him now.

I still hold out hope for a "retirement" agreement with Star. That being said if he is a no go with that idea I feel they should NOT let him hang around camp only to be cut in September. Release him now and give whose reps to some other players that may be on the team in the fall. I've been a fan of Star but it's over for me. Move on now and stop the $2.6M dead money hit for next year.

@Success. I love the term "existential crisis"!

Ethan, I stumbled upon this site a couple of weeks ago and find it helpful. They haven't update the Cole Beasley news yet and I'm not sure who is putting player where but I find it helpful. As you can see they already got yesterday's signings penciled in. https://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchart/BUF Note: If anyone uses excel you can copy the info and put it into an excel sheet to play with.

One thing I didn't mention above is the Top 51 Cap. As of now each of the higher paid signings has a reaction. As each gets signed it knocks off a lesser paid player on the Top 51. That means that players making $700k get pushed off. So the new higher paid players first year cap hit is essentially $700k less. Just wanted to be totally accurate with my comments. Loyal, thanks for the info. If true Star has to retire or be cut.

It's all right here. You tell me if everything is up to date. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/transactions/buffalo-bills/ It looks right to me from everything that has been reported. Let me add this cap space at this moment. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/

As of this moment the Bills have (per Spotrac) $18.9M in cap space. What is missing is this years cap hits for the following players. Von Miller DaQuan Jones Rodger Saffold OJ Howard Everyone is free to determine what they guess the remaining cap will be after the contracts drop. I say it will be pretty close to even.

I mentioned this yesterday and I will repeat myself today. A team like New Orleans pays for these cap space moves all the time. In the last 2 years they have accrued a debt of $80M in Dead Cap. A huge chunk of it is from Void Years. As of now (this stuff is constantly changing) the Bills are on the hook for $350k of "Void years" debt next year due to the Haack restructure. In comparison it's just the start of the year and the Saints are on the hook already for over $16M in void debt next year. Each team in the league knows the cost and it's up to each GM to weigh how much they want to use this tool. Nothing is "free".

I would think so. Once the dust settles on the current signing the Bills will be inside the cap by a few bucks. Any moves from now on will need a corresponding cut/restructure.

Thanks for your service Cole. It is time to move on though. I see McKenzie starting in his place but another slot WR should be drafted. Get that speed guy.

That's a good point. I forgot about his dual role.

TE 1 and 2 are taken care of. Get a 6th, 7th or priority UDFA big blocking TE and things are looking great.

Von on the right and Rouse on the left. Can't wait baby! Greg is going to get some great technique tips to bring up his game from Von!

Did you watch the playoffs?

Not even close.

One Championship at a time.

Just seen that.

NFL Network just said it's backloaded. $17M AAV for the 1st 4 years.

He would of been a good fit in Buffalo. Back to the drawing board Mr. Beane! Let's get something even better.

The little bit of restructuring that Beane is doing will not hurt anything future wise. I expect some more. One thing I have noticed is just about ALL TEAMS are using "restructure" this year. I expect that in the NFL GM world they all got a much better idea than us what the cap is going up to in the next 2 years. Just a comment about teams like the Saints. Adding too many void years over and over doesn't kick the can down to one future date. What I mean is they pay for their actions every year. Last year the Saints had $50M in Dead Cap. That's $50M they couldn't spend on players. This year after the dust settles it will be over $30M. Dead money is the "interest" paid for these moves. The "bottom line" cap number (plus or minus) can easily be managed but you do end up with a lot less of total money for contracts. This is not a negotiable opinion, it's a fact. Saints are the King of Dead Money and IMO Beane will not get into that mode.

No "dead money" is on its own.