Ed_Formerly_of_Roch

Read an article today in the Athletic, basically says very doubtful Cleveland trades Garrett as the cap hit to them would be too high. Between what they owe Watson, plus they have other deals where they added void years, adding Garrett to this would be too much. Article says Cleveland is in one of the worst spots in league. Most teams can sacrifice that cap space, but not the Browns. Already $24.3 million over the projected cap, they have used these accounting tricks for so many other players that it'd be difficult for them to find the additional $16.5 million in cap room. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6151513/2025/02/21/myles-garrett-how-void-years-work-nfl-scoop-city/

Agree with that part Exactly I think the odds of it becoming a crap shoot are much higher with a rookie than with Bass. Likely too if you did draft a rookie, throughout the entire preseason, the rookie may do all the kicking and even if they split 50/50 it still may only be 6 or 7 attempts between the two of them. In your mind 3 or 4 kicks apiece in subdued game conditions plus practice would determine a "winner"? I wouldn't be opposed to using a late round pick on a rookie, but unless Bass totally falls apart before the season starts, there's no real competition, this rookie is just there in case of emergency or Bass struggles real bad mid season. Best case would be to draft the rookie and place him on the PS, but if he did look even half way decent in preseason a good chance another team grabs him when you cut him to try and move him to the PS or if not then, during the season if a teams kicker got hurt. Actually real best case would be you make the guy kick until his leg is ready to fall off and he strains a muscle, then can move him to IR and keep him there all year unless Bass really struggles. But that means using one of believe it's two OR designated to return slots and doubt the team would want to do that for a kicker.

To bring in legit will cost money, likely a decent signing bonus if he is a true legit kicker. Plus why would a true "legit" kicker sign with Buffalo when he knows unless Bass looks terrible, Bass will win the job as too much money invested in him and other than late in 2023 and early 2024, he's been a very good kicker.

The article makes a good point, there was another article also suggesting he could be gone. Edwards has one year left on contract, he'll be gone next year for certain due to the youth around him, so would make sense to make the move now so you have 3 years of playing time while on rookie deal. I don't agree with the article on who the replacement will be, I think the starter will end up being Van Pran-Granger. While the trade idea sounds good, question would be do they re-coup the same saving if he's traded compared to cut. And also don't think you'd get a 3rd, maybe a 4th, but that's even debatable. I believe Bates had more time left on contract so was worth giving up more for him, whereas Edwards only has one year left. Do think Miller either takes a huge pay cut o he's gone. I do think Martin may be gone as they signed at least one (thought there was a 2nd?) punter and it give a $2 mil savings. No idea how much money if any could be saved by cutting Morris but see they signed Davidson to a contract, could see him being the #3 TE assuming he is a half way decent blocker and can play ST. I wounder if they'd consider cutting Trubisky as also a $2mil saving. They signed M White and have that other player Bushle?? AJ also could be gone if they sign a high end vet DE plus a depth DE free agent and draft another mid round that leaves, Groot, new FA, rookie, vet, and Solomon .

I remember that quote, I've used it a number of times myself over the years when talking football.

Higgins may be a bit better than price, but yeah if a team signs him to be their #1 and doesn't have a top 10 QB, agree he likely will drop way off in numbers

I think what gets missed is great QB's create great WR's not the other way around, but don't let any WR's hear that. They will insist it's the other way. (Diggs... you sure about that?) This kind of becomes this never ending cycle. Say Higgins was a FA last off-season. A team like the Giants may have gone after him thinking that will solve all of Jones's problems. It may be helpful in the early years for a QB, did Diggs initially help Allen, yes, but once the QB ascends to top level, they can make any WR looks good. Recall 20+ years ago, think it was when Bledsoe was QB he had Moulds and P Price. Price had this great year, went to Atlanta and stunk up the place. The other thing too is having better weapons just means the existing ones will get less receptions/yards. If the Bills signed Higgins, doubtful nor would it be good overall if Allen threw for an extra 1000 yards. There's only one ball to go around. Do the Bills need better play at WR, yes, but not exponentially better. Teams don't need better WR's they need better QB play overall.

Could do a wait and see, if no teams sign him by early July, means nobody wants him. I'd then sign him then with understanding, he's likely going to get cut and placed on PS (with a higher than required salary, but not too high either). Keep him there as insurance in case someone got hurt. Also would be good opportunity to evaluate how he looks in camp. Wouldn't play him in pre-season at all either so other teams can't get a look at how he's doing. If he doesn't look good, then wouldn't even bother with PS option. I say this, but do think he's strong enough that some team will sign him well prior, but if they don't, then here's plan B

Reading how well the Bill's strength staff was rated by NFLPA, there's got to be something that happened behind the scenes that lead to him being fired, likely something HR related?? Unless it's so big it becomes a law suit probably never hear.

More than a coach, could see where a person in that position gets too close to the players and allows them to miss goals and maybe even covers for them?

Thought I'd read Ferguson is a FA and isn't there a 4th QB under contract? He was on IR all year, and seems his wife is the chief social organizer of the team? And isn't there also a 3rd punter? They signed on in Dec or so and didn't I read they just signed another within the past week?? So with as few potential roster openings it does bode well for the idea of trading some pics for high quality player or two. I often read posts, the Bills need to draft 3 WR or 3 DL, (whatever) well for that idea to work, you actually have to have an open roster spot for these new players.

Benford and Shakir would be the first two

The year I was talking about was the year we beat NE out by one game. So I suppose it's also McD 's fault that he coached them to 13-3 this year too then? If you want to talk regular season record, then it's all on McD that we have the 2nd best overall record over the past 5 years or so?

Really? The Bills have won the AFCE 5 years in a row. How many seasons did they clinch with 6 weeks left to go besides this year? Two years was one game and 2 years was 3 games so wouldn't count on that too much.

Because Bills fans look around and see all the failures every single season of new coaches brought in. Granted these other teams don't have Allen at QB so understand that does make a difference, but there's much more room to go down than up. Are they going to bring in a re-tread or some up and coming assistant? Both have risks, the re-tread probably has more risk, he be the next Andy Reid or the next Doug Pederson who has a SB win on his resume and had a good QB in Jax. Or they bring in a new guy, could be the next Greg Williams. Most coaches all have their own scheme that they want to play and often the players on the team don't fit that scheme so needs to be wholesale changes on at least one side of the ball. That's easier to do when in a rebuild mode as you probably aren't close to the cap and often have one or two star players that you can trade away for more draft picks. A team like the Bills doesn't have that so you better hope the next coach that comes in says I can win with this roster make up which would be rare to find. Tomlin and Harbaugh have coached longer with their teams but since McD came to town have done worse overall. Do they get a pass because they won one SB 17 and 12 years ago? Since 2012 the year they won the SB Harbaugh has only one one division round playoff game and that was when he was the #1 overall seed. His only other wins were in the wild card but he's still coaching. It's not easy to find a better coach