BillsFanForever19

So angry..... Yes, he did start last offseason saying he wouldn't be making any big splashes and then made it happen with Von in the first few days of FA. That is a thing that happened. And because that happened, people who want their shiny toys whenever like to say that he's always "full of sh!t" and cite it and it alone incessantly. The fact remains the same, however. He clearly does not want to break the bank for Hopkins. He's trying to get him at his price, if he's really trying to get him at all. If he was as important to him as you and other fans say he should be to Beane, if the cap doesn't exist and money is no issue, and Hopkins wants to play for us as bad as everyone thinks - this would be done by now and there'd be no need for hardball.

Yes, but when do you ever hear about Mike Evans being shopped by the team? When do you hear about teams being in the mix for trading for him? It's always the same sort of throwing at the wall speculation by fans and media of him being in the last year of his deal and the state of the team. Any time it's ever brought up around them they're befuddled as to why it's even being talked about.

The only thing I see on this list as something I'd expect is a Tre White restructure. He has looked really impressive in OTA's so the team has been looking into the condition of his knee heavily. Only reason I see them doing that following rave reviews is that they feel comfortable enough to play with his contract, which would make it more difficult to get out of. On the flip side of that coin is Dawkins. Dawkin's isn't a terrible LT. But he hasn't played up to his contract and last year was his worst year. He only has this year and next year left on his deal. They may want to try and get out of that contract as simply as they can after 2024 or possibly even after this year if he regresses more. I don't think it's a coincidence that amongst the many restructures they've done already, Dion hasn't been one of them. I also wouldn't expect a Daquan Jones extension until late in this season or after it. They decided that Ed Oliver was the priority to get done. I'd expect they wait until they see how Poona Ford plays for us, how Jordan Phillips returns after being oft-injired last season, and who stays healthy before committing to a 2nd DT long term.

How about Todd Bowles? "I don’t know where that [talk] came from, either. Mike’s been one of our best players for a long time. He’s still productive at a high level, one of my favorite guys on the team,” Bowles said. The head coach added “same thing” for Chris Godwin. “I don’t see those two guys going anywhere,” Bowles said with an incredulous look on his face. https://www.joebucsfan.com/2023/03/todd-bowles-addresses-chris-godwin-mike-evans-trade-rumors/

Mike Evans isn't available for Trade. It's always just speculation by media members for WR needy teams. Which we are not. If we were, we'd be offering Hopkins whatever it took. Between the additions of Kincaid (as much a TE as Von is a LB), Harty, Sherfield, and Shorter and what we already had in Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, and Khalil Shakir - WR is only a "need" for fans who feel Gabe Davis shouldn't be on the team and require a depth chart filled with "I've heard of 'em!" players to be satisfied. Whether or not anyone feels comfortable with how the position has been addressed - Beane does and none of those guys are going anywhere.

Yes, he didn't close the door on it so technically, we are still in it. But if you read between the lines of what he said today (I transcribed that above) and what he said to Pat McAfee yesterday: “We are all about people who want to come to Buffalo. We love it, especially if they fit. Obviously DeAndre’s a heck of a talent . . . Nothing but respect for him. It would definitely have to fit with how we would structure the salary and all that. Never rule it out, but know he’s a good player and he’ll probably command a decent contract.” ... it's pretty clear what he's saying. We've talked to him. We probably have an offer out. But that offer is what works for Beane and the Bills. It's a team friendly deal, most likely a prove it deal to improve his stock for next offseason. Nothing "significant". It's there for Hopkins if he wants it. But Beane expects someone's going to pay him significantly. And that won't be us. He can't pay a lot and won't pay a lot for what he clearly feels is a luxury add on piece at this point after what he's already done to his Pass Catching core. It's pretty clear he determined that another Edge Rusher with Von coming off of the ACL was more important. Fingers crossed Hopkins comes back to our deal and determines a chance to win is worth more than money on a lesser team. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

Took the time to transcribe the actual quotes from today's presser with Beane re: The Cap: Q: What's your cap situation? Beane: My cap situation? You would ask me that, Adam. I've been doing a lot of things. I think we're around just over 4. But that's Top 51. Without going through a 20 minute lecture here, Top 51 versus doing some projections with Kevin and Jim. I'm going to guess with adding Leonard we're going to be minus 3-5. Somewhere in there. I haven't done that in the last day, but somewhere in that. So projecting how we would cut, that's no injuries, we're still going to have to do some moves at some point to create more room. So even though today on the Top 51 we have, I believe a little over 4 - we really don't. Just knowing who we think has the best chance to make our roster and how guarantees are shaped and all that, i'd say it's going to be somewhere between 3 and 5 (over the cap). Q: How much flexibility to do something significant beyond this? *Beane shakes head 'no'* Q: You said you're still going to look, but nothing significant? A: I'm going to look and if someone wants to come for cheap, come on down. The talk of "something significant" was clearly to me the reporter asking about Hopkins without directly doing so and Beane's response to me was clearly a message to Hopkins. So if Hopkins wants to come cheap, "come on down". As I've said from the get go, he's going to have to come around to our offer. And likely, that isn't going to happen unless his market is dry and he decides to take a 1 year prove it deal with a winning team to improve his stock for next season. That's ultimately where I feel Beane is at. If Hopkins wants to play with Josh, he'll have to take a team friendly deal knowing where we're at financially. If he doesn't, he doesn't need to have him with what he's already done this offseason.

Damn dude, are you ever happy? 😆 This is absolutely not something that's happening. As it is, we're going to have to make a decision on a guy like Boogie Basham after the Floyd signing. We're only keeping 5 DE's on the 53. Ingram isn't going to sign to be our 4th rusher. We're not going to pay another DE after paying Floyd and Shaq and paying Von last year. We aren't going to cut AJ Epenesa or Shaq Lawson to fit another on. Floyd represents the absolute most Beane was going to do and I had questions as to whether or not he'd have even done that. I was pleasantly surprised to see him pull the trigger. I didn't think we'd be able to land one of the top Tier guys. I thought at most we'd get a Houston, Clowney, or Quinn. You should be thrilled with what we have. This idea is Madden level laughable from a roster building standpoint and 4 DE's on the field at the same time is laughable from a personnel standpoint.

Okay, here's the explanation. We have a little over 4 that we can use right now with the Top 51 rules, but if the season were to start today, we'd be over.

Spotrac has us at 7.1 under before Leonard Floyd is calculated in at 7. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/ So we're definitely not 3-5 under. I don't know how we're 3-5 over. Unless he's already figuring in the money we'll need for the Practice Squad and/or emergency money during the season.

Yeah, it seems to me that they decided to move on from him and asked if he planned on coaching this season. He probably told them he planned to take a year off and spend time with his family and they concocted a plan to make it seem as though he wasn't fired out of respect. And then after this season they could say they preferred the setup they had gone with this year and/or that Frazier chose to go somewhere else. Somewhere between now and then, Frazier must have changed his mind and decided "F this, I want to coach this year and I don't care about the optics".

3 with heavy incentives would be the absolute floor to me and i'd be surprised if it were that low. Poona Ford got 2.25 himself. And you have to keep in mind, even 6m looks low for a high end FA pass rusher. So the agent may not be rushing to leak numbers even at that amount. Jeremy Fowler reported that Floyd was the most sought after Pass Rusher and many teams were involved with one team beside us "heavily involved". So he had a market. I think in compared to most high end FA Pass Rushers, it will be a bargain. But barely above league minimum would be shocking to me. EDIT: It just came out that it's a 7m dollar deal worth up to 9. That's about what I expected. And probably uses up anything we saved on an Oliver extension.

After signing Leonard Floyd, I see this as even more unlikely than I did before signing him. While I'm sure the deal is heavily incentive laden, Jeremy Fowler reported that Floyd "had a lot of interest" and another team that missed out on him was "heavily involved". So while I think the deal will be cheaper than most top end DE contracts - I imagine it will cost all or close to whatever space was saved signing Oliver to an extension. Ultimately, the only way I see this happening is if Hopkins has absolutely no market and takes whatever we're offering to play with Josh this season to try and improve his market next season. I'd be shocked if it comes to that for him. Some team will pay him.

With PUP only being 4 games now and the addition of Floyd, I now fully expect Von to start there. Meaning there will probably be a 5th DE on the roster at the start of the season that will most likely be released and attempted to be sent to the PS when Von is activated (barring an injury to one of the 5 before Von is activated). I expect us to keep 5 DE's at all times. And I'd assume Rousseau, Floyd, Lawson, and Epenesa will be the top 4 DE's when Von is out and the players that will remain on the 53 when Von returns. The question then remains, who will be the 5th guy when the season starts? Do they keep Basham or try and trade him and go with a guy like Ray or Kingsley at the temporary 5th spot? Keeping him would mean either having SIX DE's when Von returns, which seems unlikely to me as 5 DE's usually represents the most you keep. Or releasing him when Von returns and odds are you won't get him back on the Practice Squad. I think you try and get a pick for Basham if you can before the season and go with Ray or Kingsley at the 5th spot, stashing them on the PS when Von returns. The only thing that gives me pause is giving up on a 2nd Round pick after just 2 seasons and the fact that after this season - Floyd, Lawson, Epenesa, Ray, and Kingsley are all FA's and Basham is under contract past this year.

Nick Ercolano is a guy who has a decent Fantasy Football business. That's why he has 22k followers. He's just your standard BS Twitter poster with money.

Poona Ford signed for 2.25m. I would highly doubt Leonard Floyd at the Pass Rusher position signed for veteran minimum. His deal is probably heavily incentive laden though.

We got a 3.0 on Interior DL? Either Ed Oliver isn't as terrible as this board would like to lead everyone to believe he is or there's some really big Daquan Jones, Poona Ford, Jordan Phillips, and Tim Settle fans amongst prognosticators.

I mean, if I need work done - I don't care what their sports allegiances are. Maybe if it came up in conversation, i'd tell him i'm a Bills fan and what I think of the Dolphins. But i'd never not hire someone because they're a fan of any sports team.

I don't see Beane signing him to a long term contract. I always saw it as a 1 year deal, 2 year tops. So if that's what he's looking for, I'd add it to the list of reasons it's unlikely we get this done.

What if they don't add an Edge or Hopkins? He said he tried to get an Edge and couldn't, so he ended up claiming Cline and kicking the tires on Ray, who he later signed. At 9 DE's on the roster already and 2 added recently, he may not look to add a 10th. And Hopkins is looking for money first and with what he's done already, especially after the Draft - he isn't going to get into a bidding war and it hasn't been confirmed yet that Oliver's extension has saved anything. Not saying either is completely out of the question. I just think it's very likely neither happens. If that's the case, do you still feel the same way?

First, it was 9m the year he went for 6/7 https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/ndamukong-suh-6511/ Secondly, he was 34 years old. Like it or not, age and wear and tear play a massive role in contracts.

His agent knowing what Roquan Smith got paid and wanting to test the market.

I wouldn't just assume that to be the case though until it's reported. Like I said, I remember making an extension (might have been Tre) when we were in a similar situation, expecting cap relief, and it was just an extension in every sense of the word.

When was it reported that we didn't offer him anything and he was cool with signing here at whatever price we'd pay and didn't want to test FA? Just because we didn't sign him to an extension the year before doesn't mean one was never offered and he was never in the plans. Beane talked all offseason about how much he would have loved to have him back but just couldn't afford to compete with that offer.

Ed is our #1 DT. Jones may be more consistent, but Oliver is more dominant when he's playing at his best and has a higher ceiling. The plan was always to retain him first and foremost. I think when it comes to Jones, they'll wait to see if he or Ford performs better and bring one of them back after this season or maybe during.