dave mcbride

"Eh" is right. Like Johnson, another guy who missed most of last season due to injury (foot, in his case).

Stafford is a good player and is perceived by players as such. I think that explains a lot.

I'm having a flashback to Pasadena on January 31, 1993, and I keep seeing Charles Haley spin-blasting through and around the left side of the o-line.

Only for Sproles. We need a veteran presence in the RB corps.

He's a SB winner, had a great season in 2013, and was mostly terrific last year late in the season. I strongly believe that he's a genuinely good player. He's certainly in the top half of the league and about 50 times better than Bortles.

I don't think it's that big of a contract at all. That's max, though, and I'm sure that includes all-pro designations/super bowl victories. If he achieves those incentives, then he'll clearly have been worth it. The base is between $84-88 million. I don't know how much is guaranteed.

Really? 4 yrs at $21-22 million per year seems very middle tier to me.

I like Medicare Express. Another one: the Depends Duo.

Come on! This is Early Bird Special day, after all.

... despite the fact that Bills play like 1-2 games max in actual cold weather given that home playoff games aren't in the cards.

They went to Gore because Anthony Thomas retired half way through the negotiations.

Good signing by the Raiders. He's a good player.

This too, however> https://texanswire.usatoday.com/2017/12/22/kevin-johnson-grades-as-worst-cover-cb-in-nfl-per-pro-football-focus/

Find me non-Buffalo media and non-Bills players who speak highly of Allen. You might find a couple, but almost everything I've read is a verbal version of this: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/qb Let me be clear: I like Allen and think the ceiling is very high provided the accuracy gets moderately better.

This is ridiculous. Why would you ever think I "wished" for this? Please be specific, and cite posts in which I've been down on Allen. I agree. The downside, though, is that perception can drive decision-making among players looking for their next team. Yeah, I agree completely. But life ain't fair ...

I *strongly* disagree with you on this one.

His contract with the Jets was modest, and the Jets have over 100 million in cap space. Him being cut really had nothing to do with his contract. Gase didn't want him.

Yep. I am in no way saying the outsiders are right, but it does seem to be the case that the vast majority of NFL people who are outsiders to Buffalo regard Allen as a probable bust.

Long was cut for a reason, you know. He's not that good. I think he's a solid backup, however, and you need those guys. There will be injuries; there always are.

I assume he's their swing guy, right? Teams do need that player.

I like the trade idea, but Pittsburgh has a lot of holes to fill now and I don't seem them doing this. I'm not a Connor believer, for what it's worth. I think his production last season derived from great o-line play, and I think he's not nearly as talented as Bell. He is serviceable, however. My thinking too, but as per my post above, I have a hard time seeing them making a trade. Given their cap situation, they need cheap talent. That comes through the draft.

He is a LOT better than either Edwards or Losman and is much better suited for a long-term backup role than those two, who did precisely nothing after leaving the Bills. I do agree that he's a great option for Baltimore.

If you're going to pass judgment on Amendola, include his postseason performances. In 13 games for NE, he had 57 receptions, 709 yds, and 6 TDs (which prorates to 70 catches, 873 yards, and 7.5 TDs over 16 games). Many of those catches were huge ones in clutch situations. He was money in the postseason.

I think what happened is a harbinger of the future. I expect that we'll see more guaranteed contracts in the future for difference makers like Brown (and everyone needs to recognize that he is probably the best receiver in the league, with apologies to Julio Jones). From Albert Breer today: https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/03/11/antonio-brown-trade-raiders-eric-weddle-rams-nfl-free-agency 'As the calendar turned from 2018 to ’19, the guaranteed money on the four-year, $68 million extension Brown signed two years ago was running out; all that was left, in essence, was three team options, at $15.125 million for 2019, $11.3 million for ’20 and $12.5 million for ’21. Those set a ceiling for how much Brown could make, without guaranteeing him much of anything. So maybe Brown’s frustration with the Steelers organization legitimately boiled over this fall. I heard that Brown became increasingly detached as the season wore on, and not necessarily bad, but different around those in the building, and maybe it’s only coincidence that it lines up with his financial situation changing. Either way, lots of players are paying attention to what Brown just pulled off. The star wide receiver’s big score could have a ripple effect that reverberates in other cities in the not too distant future, mainly because what he just did—regardless of the motives or level of premeditation—worked. With the trade to the Raiders, Brown went from $0 fully guaranteed to $30.125 million fully guaranteed. He went from $38.925 million over the next three years to $50.128 million. The APY (average per year) on that four-year extension jumped from $17 million to $19.8 million. And you better believe other players (and their agents) are taking notice of how he did it. “What’s going to happen,” one prominent agent said Sunday afternoon, “is that superstar players are going to see their only leverage is to force a trade and get a new deal from their new team.” Michael Thomas is going into a contract year in New Orleans. Ditto for Amari Cooper in Dallas. Julio Jones has no more guaranteed money left on the two remaining years of his deal in Atlanta, and was promised by management last summer that he’d get new contract this year. Odell Beckham, believe it or not, is only a year away from being out of guarantees in New York. ... Oakland basically bought themselves value. The key thing to remember here is that plenty of teams will yield big money for a great player. And they’ll also fork over high-end draft capital for one. But they’re mostly loath to do both at once. So once it became Brown for draft picks and a ton of draft capital, an already tepid market collapsed. After the Bills talks came undone, only three teams reached out to the Steelers—the Raiders, Eagles, and Redskins. Considering this is the first player in NFL history to post six consecutive 100-catch seasons, that dearth of demand is stunning, and a clear illustration of where this had gone. In the end, the reason the Raiders could get Brown for the No. 66 and No. 142 picks in the draft is because of their willingness and ability to reach a revision of the contract with Rosenhaus that satisfied Brown. And even they had their problems getting there. At one point on Saturday, it looked like contract talks were on life support, only to be revived later in the day. So the Raiders got their man and their bargain. Where does this leave the teams? ... For the Raiders, it’s fair to say that Mayock and Gruden effectively used the cap space they had (over $60 million) as a weapon to acquire a great player. Also, Gruden’s track record with older receivers, going back to the Jerry Rice/Tim Brown tandem he rode into contention nearly 20 years ago, has been solid. And the Raiders maintained their controlling position on the first two nights of the draft.'

I strongly suspect that this is the case too. I think everyone here needs to factor in that a player of this caliber and with this sort of contract has a huge say in these deals. He has more power than the teams, arguably, and I don’t believe for a nansecond that Antonio Brown -- probably the best receiver in the NFL at the moment — wanted to come to Buffalo.