Beck Water

Hines signed a new, 2 year contract with Buffalo this off season. He is under contract to the Bills thru 2024. Now, if it's that significant of a knee injury it may be a distinction without a difference, as he'll have little dead cap ($500k) next season, and he may not be the same player; he struggled last season to establish himself on our offense. The Bills may very well move on. No NFL team can cut an injured player. Not allowed, unless there's an "injury settlement" to pay him the number of weeks his injury requires to heal. Nor will the Bills place Hines on IR. He'll go on "Reserve/Non-football injury". The difference is that IR (injury while working out/practicing in team facility or in game) for a vet usually obligates the team to pay the player his full per game salary and per-game roster bonuses (but not active roster bonuses). Under NFI, the team is only obligated to pay the player that portion of his salary that is fully guaranteed.

This, pretty much. Diggs has posted social media stuff of him bungie jumping and skydiving. Poyer has gone skiing. Von Miller jet skiing. The Bills must know Ed Oliver loves his horses and rides regularly - has posted photos of him standing on the saddle! I think teams have that clause so if a player with a cap-bending contract does get injured doing something stupid, they can get some relief. But riding a jetski, especially if he wasn't the one doing something reckless, is pretty much an "every day life" sort of activity for people who live or vacation on a coast or on a lake. That said, it is a "non football injury" and I'm wondering where Sal C gets his info that the Bills eat the entire cap. Some teams have even put players who were injured working out off-site on NFI and not paid their salary; it's not something the teams have to "go after", they simply pay them the contractually obligated amount.

It was a trade for a KR/PR. Fans got all excited like we'd signed our own budget Christian McCaffery, but KR/PR was an obvious gap at the time of the Hines trade.

I agree, yeah, I see 1 or 2 jet skis riding for fun, but a lot of time there is a pack of them, everyone is drinking, and there's a lot of horsing around (and also accidents due to inexperience + alcohol) Doesn't mean he wasn't sitting on his own stationary Jetski, as reported. The "minding his own business" may or may not be true, but was that said?

So the TB% was 59.7% in the NFL last season per pro-football reference 1013 returns, out of 2698 kickoffs, 37.5% kickoffs returned so (?) 2.8% fair catch? Is the new rule that a fair catch anywhere comes out to the 25 yd line? If so I would think the NFL would be trying to increase the number of fair catches

I thought Barkley already signed his tender?

OK, but (for example) Andre Roberts is not referred to as a "fumbling machine" or a fumble risk. In the same period of time as Harty, he had 8 fumbles (all on ST I believe). Similar with Ray-ray McCloud, who has developed into a top PR/KR the last several years. He does play more WR especially in 2021, so some may be offensive, but he had 11 fumbles in the same time period. Is he referred to as a "fumbling machine"?

Likewise, feel very bad for him. Very little - a couple of KR I think

I wonder where Sal is getting his information, because that's not what Spotrac shows (unless the Bills choose to pay it). Spotrac says that $2M of Hines salary is guaranteed ($1M signing bonus plus $1M 2023 salary)

People in this thread are saying this, but it's not quite what the stats record. Can you explain?

He will be getting game checks for the $1M of his 2023 salary that is fully guaranteed. He won't be getting game checks for his per-game roster bonus or the $1.56M of his salary that is not fully guaranteed.

I don't think he was selected as a first-team all-pro because "he's been a fumble machine" in the return game. Looking at stats, he had 3, 3, and 2 fumbles (1 lost each season). What are you seeing or what have you heard beyond the stats?

The easy answer for an injury occurring outside the facility during the off-season is "yes, it does free up his $$$ on the salary cap". Those are called "non-football injuries" and the team isn't obligated to pay non-guaranteed salary or per-game roster bonuses. "NFL teams are not required to pay base salaries to players placed on the reserve/non-football injury or reserve/non-football illness lists."** Hines has a cap hit of $3.5M of which $1.5M is signing bonus or fully guaranteed, so it frees up (nominally) $2M Now, for a vet who is injured in the facility, he will usually have injury guarantees in his contract, so the easy answer would be "no". **it is left to the discretion of the team, so the team can choose to pay the player part or all of his salary and per game bonuses. they just aren't obligated to. if they choose to, it still counts against the cap.

You do know Harty actually led the league in PR and was a 1st team all pro as a ST'er his rookie season? He was 10th and 14th in PR yardage the next 2 years. 5th, 14th, and 7th in KR yards. I don't want to minimize Hines loss. He was a good KR/PR for us last season. I think Hardy has had trouble staying on the field, so using him as a PR where "it helps if you have a screw loose" (Andre Roberts) or "I don't care about my life" (Nyheim Hines pre-return mantra) isn't gonna help him contribute as a receiver. But going from "Oh,no - Hines is a big loss" to "we don't have a returner" is a big step.

I dunno what you mean by "quite often". Are there stats on this somewhere? Would love to see. Let's look at Nyheim Hines. He had 2 kickoff return TDs against the Pats for 96 yds and 101 yds. Obviously he made a decision to run instead of fair catch, but neither were from "5 yards deep". A nit, perhaps. But look at the big picture. Hines returned kicks for us in 7 games. In 4 of those games (including the Pats game) his average return yards were >25 y/rt. In 3 of those games, it was less. But in 2 of those games, it was 20 or 19 yds. So obviously, the way he was coached is "run it out if you think you can get at least back to the 20." Now it's gonna be "catch it and take it out only if you think you can get at least to the 25". There were ~40 players with >10 KR in the NFL last season. Only 12 averaged >25 yds, and of those 12, 2 averaged 25.5 So it changes the way players will be coached.

Because saving $3.4M by cutting Hines and Neal really helps afford $12M in yearly salary. Look, I "get" the frustration that the Bills didn't choose to go all-in on a WR splash. That's a puzzling organizational decision. But picking out two players who had definite roles and were doing them well last year and saying "cut them" is far from the retrenchment that would be needed to make that particular OBJ or Nuk splash.

Huh? Deonte Harty, when healthy, has been one of the best returners in the league.

Unfortunately Tom Pelissero is well-plugged-in and a typically reliable source. Here is where the seamy side of NFL contracts can be at play. An injury off-site - even if it's sustained while training for the upcoming season on the player's own time and dime - can be termed a "non football injury" and his salary and signing bonus would not be due. I shared the hope several expressed that we wanted Deonte Harty to concentrate on being a WR and not a return man. We'll see where that goes.

Be a big surprise to me if DK Metcalf actually did - unless there were a couple of ladies in that bed. I have the impression NFL WR tend to be "players" in both senses of the word.

It sounds as though he might be doing some sort of intermittent fasting eating plan (depending on what's in the Starbucks coffee - black vs sugary mess). Something like 16:8 (16 hrs of no eating, 8 hrs of eating). Doesn't sound like a diet designed to produce muscle growth

I actually thought Beasley looked painfully slow during games at the end of 2021 and the limited action in 2022. But, possibly he was suffering from lingering effects of playing on a broken leg (2020) and with broken ribs (2021) and will have healed up and returned to form. The Giants could probably have used him last year, but I think 1) he wanted more $$ and 2) he said "I don't want to go to NY." So maybe this off-season he has a more realistic assessment of the interest teams have in him (low) and his value (probably vet min). The competition for Beasley is likely to be Parris Campbell, Wan'Dale Robinson, and FA signing Jamison Crowder. Campbell was primarily a slot receiver with the Ponies. He signed a 1 year, $4.7M contract with $2.9M guaranteed, so that kind of gives him an edge in that race - although, some Giants media are saying he'll see reps at RB in camp? (?!!!!). Crowder is on a vet salary benefit contract with $52k in workout and signing bonuses. I would expect Beasley to be on a similar VSB contract with little guaranteed, and that both of them won't make it. The fact that Wan'Dale Robinson is this Giants regimes 2nd round pick, and that Campbell has $2.9 guaranteed if you cut him or don't, would probably give them the leg(s) up. I could be wrong but I see Hyatt, Sheppard, and Hodgins as their outside WR. I'm not sure Beasley wants to be on a practice squad through the season.

So, question. Eagles lost OC Shane Steichen and moved QB coach Brian Johnson to OC. Johnson does have experience as an OC at 3 different college programs (unclear whether he was OC in name at some), but no OC experience in the NFL. Will this be a seamless transition of OCs, or will there be growing pains? Thoughts?

So one of the little interesting things to me is the KR/PR thing. Hines was decent. 12/13th in the league (PR/KR) In 2021, Hardy was 14th/7th (PR/KR). 10th and 13th in 2020 (despite only 9 games). 2019, 1st and 5th. So do they see Hines as their PR/KR gadget guy? Or is that a place where they'll want to try to use Harty? Hmmm. Peak FredEx, he was good for 30-40 receptions, >dozen receiving 1D. Harris hasn't had that many receptions. Seems to catch it when it's thrown to him. Is that because he's not much of a receiver, or the Pats just didn't use him that way?

All respect, I don't think WR3 or WR4 is "his preferred role" to Gabe Davis.