ColoradoBills

1. First off all "franchise type QBs" signing an extension have their 5th year option picked up. Mahomes, Watson, Goff all did this. It's a way for the drafting team to get another year on the contract. Whether the cap goes up after the extension is signed is a negotiable aspect. I feel with the situation the Bills are in this year Josh will accept that the "cap hit" will remain low for 2021. This 5th year option is a teams decision and the player has no choice. He either signs it or not. 2. Restructures typically come in 2 types. 1. A pay cut. This is not done very often though it does happen. 2. Restructure to decrease the upcoming years cap hit. In Browns case he only has 1 year left on his contract so this can't be used. It could IF he signs for additional years, Typical restructure is done with players that have 2 or more years left on their contract with available non guaranteed salary. Simple way is a player has a non guaranteed $10M cap hit for 2021 with 10 million due in 2022 and 2023. A restructure of 6 million means that the 6M is "split" over the 3 years. What happens is this. 2021- 6M cap hit. (4M unguaranteed salary + 2M restructure bonus). Team saves 4M in 2021 and pays the rest over the next 2 years. 2022- 12M cap hit. (10M unguaranteed salary + 2M restructure bonus) 2023- 12M cap hit. (10M unguaranteed salary + 2M restructure bonus) 3. Lots of room for negotiations in the "Milano" situation. Lets just say he signs a 3 year 33M deal. That's an average of 11M a year. The 1st year hit could be as low as lets say 6M. But that means the other 2 years would be averaged of 13.5M.

Signing Bonus money must be paid out over a MAXIMUM of 5 years. One interesting and I'm sure "negotiable" aspect of the signing bonus is this. Teams can convert base salary into signing bonus after the new extension contract is signed. What that means is if there is still a year left on the rookie contract and/or a 5th year option some of the signing bonus does not necessarily increase the original cap hit.

Free Agency can't get here fast enough!

Jones had a total of 6 Combined Tackles all season. I'm sure other players could of gotten most of those.

It was because his game day slot was eaten up by needing Taiwan Jones as a ST'er. Replace Jones with another player that can also be depth for another position. Bills need 3 dressed RBs of different styles to match against the particular D scheme for each game. IMO.

Great post. Also they didn't have the full off season time last year. Bills need either a speed back OR a big bruiser and they should bring that in for competition this year. The big thing is game day. Having only Singletary and Moss as game day RBs because of Jones is a mistake IMO. The big thing to look for this off season is a "Jones replacement". I want 3 RBs that can contribute where needed on game day.

Well said. Perfect reasoning. I say the same thing about cap numbers concerning the Top 51 every year and people still don't get it. Singletary has zero chance of being cut throughout training camp and preseason. Just to add to your great points, once the Bills start signing some UFAs and the top 4 draft picks that $780k #52 roster guys will be another 100k or more higher. Once again, people just don't get it.

Diggs is getting an extra $1.3M this year by exceeding 2 separate (Receptions and Yards) incentives. He stands to make an extra $1.5M if he repeats this coming year. I agree with the others that nothing will be done with his contract this year. 2022 is a whole new story!

Personally I have no idea what the Bills think about Morse long term. For me I think his chances of being cut are close to 0%. He might, as I said earlier, be traded if Beane and McDermott want to go with Feliciano at Center like some guess.

Wow, before the SB? That would be interesting indeed.

Wouldn't some players on this list have some trade value? I would think so. Just to use Morse as an example. After the Bills take the dead cap hit his contract looks pretty good for any team needing a center. A draft pick OR finding a team with a glut of decent TEs (or another position of need) would be advantageous over just cutting some of these guys. I'll wait to see what exactly the Cap is for 2021 because as it potentially increases the above scenario gets better and better.

Bring McKenzie back and let Andre Roberts walk. Have McKenzie and a UDFA rookie who was good at punt returns battle during camp for punt returns. College punt returns are usually WR/CBs so maybe there is even one worth drafting in the 6th or 7th rounds. Having a right footed UDFA punter in camp with left footed Bojo should help both in camp too.

IF by some crazy twist of fate he wanted to come to Buffalo for very reasonable money and play for a "great" organization in front of "great" fans and try for a ring, I would embrace him for a year contract!

JJ will get cut and sign with a 1 year contract with a contender for cheap money. The big middle finger to the Texans for everything they have done!

The Texans organization has proven itself to be the worse in the league. I personally don't like that Watson is doing this BUT you have to admit they are ruining this guys career. They are having to rebuild with no money and no picks. I'm sure this decision did not come lightly. He may ruin his career by doing this but staying is evidently too much for him to do nothing. None of us are privy to what Watson was told when he signed his contract this past fall.

Beane will pick up the 5th year option as soon as it can be done and Josh will sign it. Josh will sign a long term contract before the start of next season (probably before camp). The "mean" terms will be $42M (+/- $2M) per on a 6 year (+/- 1 Year) contract extension starting in the 2023 season. I will LAMP this after it all happens!

I totally agree with all your point Estro but I will correct the Morse numbers. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/mitch-morse-16773/ Spotrac has his Cap Savings this year of $4.8M. Also IF the Bills trade/cut someone like Morse they can designate one player for a post June 1st cut moving some of that cap into next year. If they did that with Morse the cap savings would be $7.6M this year. Beane is only going to do this if he has to IMO.

As far as the Chiefs go let's all remember they are much farther down their road time wise than the Bills in finding their core players. Reid has had 8 seasons to get where he is at.

Damn, I hope you don't lose your house House!

I've been considering the trade thing. While in a lot of cases I agree with you but I can see where teams might want to swap players that help both teams versus cutting a guy and trying to go to FA to find a position player to fill a need. There are a lot of players currently under reasonable contracts that teams are willing to part ways with because of the cap situation. As an example lets say the Bills are willing to trade John Brown to a WR needy team that has an abundance of TEs. This might be advantageous over just cutting Brown hoping to get a TE in draft/FA and taking a risk that Brown ends up on one of the teams with some money like Jets/Pats/Dolphins. GMs might need to get a little more creative than in the past. FWIW.

Those are the obvious big 3. Don't think for a minute that those players and agents don't know that too. One major thing that is a lower chance of happening but could get into the works is a trade of one of those players to a needy team that has another positional player to fill a hole in the Bills needs. Most fans are concerned with Milano/Williams/Feliciano signings (as they should) but there is also some other free agents who need to be considered with signing or replacing. Roberts/McKenzie/Wallace/Boettger/Bojorquez/Marlowe all come to mind and will cost more than an UDFA which are currently counting against the top 51.

For me "little dead cap" is related to the Dead Cap hit v full Cap Hit by percentage. Anyone under say 25% would be that for me. Of course that % changes for players with a low Cap Hit. If you sort at the current 2021 Dead Cap from highest to lowest the Bills most expensive players are not going anywhere. Beane has held on to guys that may have been over paid in the past BUT I think he will have to be much more "NFL business like" this year. Bills at -$6M for the top 51 today but all this talk as to what is going to happen will have to wait until the final NFL Cap # comes in and the adjustments are done. (Adjustment note: Diggs incentives alone for catches/yards will net him an additional $1.3M). I'm sure Beane has his guys crunching numbers in a myriad of options. One thing I will watch is the fact that Beane and McDermott are pretty good with player relations. IF they want to cut some guys they probably will do it early enough so those guys get the full benefit of FA to find another team. I'll be watching for that first.

Cole Beasley is the poster child of what this whole team is about. How fans can disrespect their efforts this season including the AFCCG is beyond me. Get well Cole and all you other Buffalo Bills players. You guys are almost there and take heart that the majority of fans appreciate your efforts! Go Bills.

Next year will be more fun! I'll see you there.

TJ should of dressed in more games and got a better look. I know they wanted to have Taiwan Jones in for STs but it might have been better if they didn't. All things McDermott and Beane need to discuss in the next month.