BillsFanForever19

My favorite response I got when arguing against the angry mob (and I think you were there for it and may have replied) was "Ty Johnson is our Best All Around RB".

I keep seeing people saying this and it drives me insane: Like do people think that you make an offer to a team and it's just the first team that makes the offer just gets the player? Like the Saints would be like "Hold on Seattle - I know historically your picks are better, you're out of the Playoffs before Buffalo, and your QB isn't named Josh Allen. But Buffalo got here first and we have to give him to them bc of that"? It wouldn't have cost us a 4th and 5th. We'd have to pay more than Seattle bc their picks are presumed better.

He doesn't suck. But he also doesn't perform at a level where we should be keeping him instead of saving 10 million in Cap Space. Like I said, on the open market at 29 years old with the kind of production he gives us - he'd be lucky to make much more than a 3rd of that. If we were in better shape cap wise or Draft Pick wise and didn't have the kind of Free Agents we have - I could understand a pay cut that would have us paying a little more than he's worth and saving a little less than what we'd get cutting him. But we're not in that shape and 10 mil is just too much to pass up. People said the same thing about Tre. He's too loved by everyone in the locker room. That only goes so far in business.

Weren't you saying he wasn't a 3 Down Back? 😱

Maybe? I just remember hearing his fall was in part due to that he was considered a Zone Specific CB Prospect. Which made him great for us, but not for everyone.

The IR point was a fair and good one. But even with the IR guys figured in, the number will probably still be around or close to 20 bodies needing to be re-signed or replaced. We're looking at: QB: Josh Allen RB: James Cook Ty Johnson Ray Davis WR: Khalil Shakir Joshua Palmer Keon Coleman Curtis Samuel Tyrell Shavers TE: Dalton Kincaid Dawson Knox Jackson Hawes OL: Dion Dawkins O'Cyrus Torrence Spencer Brown Sedrick Van Pran-Granger Chase Lundt Tylan Grable DE: Greg Rousseau Michael Hoecht Landon Jackson Javon Solomon DT: Ed Oliver Deone Walker T.J. Sanders Dewayne Carter LB: Terrel Bernard Dorian Williams Joe Andreessen CB: Christian Benford Maxwell Hairston Taron Johnson Dorian Strong Brandon Codrington S: Cole Bishop Taylor Rapp Jordan Hancock Wande Owens ST: Tyler Bass Reid Ferguson As you said, that number includes guys like Ty Johnson, Curtis Samuel, Dawson Knox, Taylor Rapp, and Tyler Bass of which a number of them will be released to create cap space. Also Brandon Codrington (who could be cut at any point but definitely by next season), Dorian Strong (who is likely to not be on the roster bc of long term IR or outright Retirement), and Wande Owens (an UDFA who is only on the IR roster bc he was waived while injured and went unclaimed and is unlikely to be in their long term plans). I still think it's not going to be a small task to replace all of these players, re-sign important pieces, and/or upgrade positions with the amount of Draft Picks we have and the amount of space we have (even with the money we'll come up with from releases and restructures). As while we may be in decent shape as far as players under contract - we aren't in great shape in both cap and amount of Draft Picks. As for potential trades it really comes down to what we wanted to do. For example - the one player that made the most sense that we were linked to that was traded was WR Rashid Shaheed. The cost for Seattle was a 2026 4th & a 2026 5th. Many have said "why couldn't you pay that?". The issue there is that even though Seattle has the same record as us, New Orleans would view our pick as more likely than not coming in below Seattle's pick (given our history and, well, Josh Allen). So we'd have to beat it. Which since we don't have more than one 4th - would require a 3rd and a 5th. So now we'd be costing ourselves 2 replacement bodies in the first 5 Rounds, as well as as an added cap allotment - if we wanted to have him beyond this year. A steep price to pay in the grand scheme of things for a player like him.

Don't know how legitimate this is. I tend not to trust any Twitter accounts that aren't official NFL Media members. But lots of Bills accounts are running with it and Schefter did say he was following a trade that fell through at the last minute:

Again though, that doesn't change the situation. You can't just let them walk and then roll with a 32 man roster. You still need to spend the money and Draft picks on other players to replace 20+ players you don't bring back. And we're not in a great position cap wise, even after we make more room, and Draft Picks, only 7 - no extras from traded players or comp picks to do that. So trading away Draft Picks would have made it an even trickier proposition.

Now that the trade deadline is over - which DE Free Agent would you prefer for the Practice Squad? We need bodies there. And considering Jaelen Phillips was the only Edge Rusher traded and it was actually reported today (besides just common sense) that the Dolphins and Eagles weren't trading inside the division - we weren't getting a DE in the trade market anyways.

We're getting lost in the sauce of what he can and can't do and what he may or may not do. My point was that there is close to half of the roster that will need to be re-signed or replaced. And we'll be needing to do that with around 50m and 7 Draft Picks. That's going to be a delicate dance in and of itself. If we traded away a pick or multiple picks today, it would become even harder. And that surely played heavily into him not making a deal.

Agreed. Something like that only goes so far. It feels like Tre White in 2023 all over again. Wherein people can't imagine someone so loved being let go. But business is business. Cutting Dawson Knox would save us just about 10 million on the cap. At a time when we're going to need every dollar and cent we can get (much like 2023). A 29 year old Knox would be lucky to get much more than a third of that on the open market. I don't really see a restructure that would make sense for us. Again, much like White in 2023.

Yes, i've heard it said we can get up to around 50 under. But again, that's only going to go so far with 21-23 bodies off our current 53 to replace with only 7 picks. Especially when you have to pay for starters like Bosa, McGovern, and Edwards. Like I said and you mentioned, you can let players walk. But you still have to replace them with cap and Picks. It's not like you can say "let em go, we'll roll with a 32 man roster". We'll replace 7 of them with Draft Picks. But if we made trades, we'd have less picks to replace that large amount of bodies we have going out. That's not nothing in the equation of what happened (or rather didn't happen) today.

That's just it. We're at around 10 right now. We can probably get up to around 50 with cuts, restructures, etc. But when you're looking at upwards of 23 bodies including 9 starters and multiple important role players on the team, 50 and 7 Picks is only going to go so far. If he cut into that by trading away some of those picks - it would get even more difficult than it is already. That's in large part why I think you didn't see any moves made.