Dibs

I would think he is feeling pretty positive about the future as most of those gripes dissappeared the moment Marrone left.

He didn't have a job in 2014......and his old team regressed without him, particularly the offense and running game. I personally don't care about his defensive abilities if he comes here and allows Schwartz to run the D. And regarding the OL......he has always seemed to accomplish better production from the OL than the actual talent might warrant. (And I have a sneaking suspicion that we have been getting less production from our OL than their actual talents warrant anyway.)

There was a mistake made initially in the interpretation of the optional year. For all intents and purposes, the optional year does not exist(there is no option for a 6th year). This means that Spiller is a FA......and he also counts as a $2.2M cap hit. Here is a link explaining it in detail: http://overthecap.com/cj-spiller-mysterious-player-option/

Are you seriously suggesting that NFL players will only respond to a person who is somewhat similar to themselves? That just seems so strange coming from a Bills fan, considering we had the cerebral Marv Levy as our most esteemed coach. And what has Shanahan done lately? 2013: Top 10 offense, top 5 rushing offense. 2012: 1st in division, top 5 offense, #1 rushing offense, probowl rookie QB And btw.....his last season in Denver was only 8 years ago(2008)....#2 offense, #3 passing offense, #12 rushing offense.....and a probowl for Cutler. Yes, I think those ADD twitter loving youngsters know that they have a great D and a very good ST.....and they would be likely extremely happy to have someone who can actually get production from the offense as well.

Could you work with Jim Schwartz being in sole control of the Defense?

The way I see it, we have a world class Defense and very good ST(both are likely to remain for the next 2-4 years depending on defections/injuries etc). We are without a top 10 QB and are extremely unlikely to obtain one within the foreseeable future. What the Bills need is a HC who can produce offensively(and also be willing to leave the D & ST as is). Shanahan has proven that he can regularly get production from his offenses above their actual abilities. I think it fair to discount his early days as an NFL OC &/or HC as he had Elway for 11 seasons in Denver and coached a putrid Raiders team as his first HC gig. For interest sake.... 11 years OC/HC with Elway at Denver: 8 top 10 offenses(6 top 5) 8 top 10 passing offenses(2 top 5) 5 top 10 rushing offenses(4 top 5) Lowest ranked year was his first season(1984) with a 22nd ranked offense. After Elway however, Shanahan coached 10 more seasons at Denver, using predominantly 3 mediocre QBs(Griese, Plummer & Cutler). All 3 QBs had the best production of their careers under Shanahan.....with all 3 making the probowl. 10 years HC without Elway at Denver: 6 top 10 offenses(with another 11th ranked)(5 top 5) 4 top 10 passing offenses(2 top 5) 8 top 10 rushing offenses(5 top 5) Lowest ranked year was 2001 with a 22nd ranked offense. For his 4 seasons as HC in Washington he went through 3 QBs(4 if one includes Cousins)......again producing a probowl performance from(arguably) non-probowl level talent......and again building top a 10 offense. 4 years HC at Skins: 2 top 4 offenses(1 top 5) 1 top 4 passing offenses(0 top 5) 2 top 4 rushing offenses(2 top 5) Lowest ranked year was 2010 with an 18th ranked offense. When one looks at what he does offensively it is really quite astounding. In his 14 post-Elway seasons he has gotten 4 questionably talented QBs to the probowl......has had a top 5 offense 6 times.....has had a top 5 rushing offense 7 times.......in 27 years of being an OC/HC his worst offensive season was 22nd ranked in the league, with only 4 seasons ranked outside the top 20!!!!! Has the game passed him by? Well.....it was only 3 seasons ago(2012) that he produced a top 5 offense with the #1 rushing offense.....and also put his rookie QB into the probowl..........and it was only 2 seasons ago(2013) that he produced a top 10 offense with a top 5 rushing offense. Perhaps his overall HCing abilities are not fantastic.....but considering that we already have a great Defense and ST unit, I believe the offensive acumen that Shanahan brings to the table would easily see us as a solid playoff team.....and with luck, a SB contender.

I've had a closer look and Spiller will provide another $2.2M of cap space over that which is listed on spotrac. Technically Spiller will be a $2.17M dead cap hit for us this year.

No. What good could it do? Their plan is obvious.....get a HC & get an advisor. Everybody knows this already. They obviously won't make public comment on things that happened behind closed doors (apart from standard platitudes).....so why waste the time?

Hogan, Bryant, Gay, Thigpen and Sukay(who?) are our restricted FAs.

That's a fair point......but I was responding to you bemoaning the fact that the Pegulas haven't done a press conference to spell out their plan.

On the page you linked earlier......change it to 2014 and right down the bottom you will see the remainding cap dollars for 2014(which carries over to 2015). Re: Spiller....somebody linked an article here about a month ago which pointed out that spotrac had the 6th voidable year incorrect.....and all other media picked it up and reported it the same. From memory the 6th year is valid only if the player doesn't meet some very easy to reach playing benchmarks(something like play 40% of games). When the benchmark has been reached, the player option becomes invalid. The money for the 6th "optional" season has already been guaranteed (or pre-paid?). Essentially it was a cap moving maneuver moving some cap hit to the year after the contract finishes.

How many days has it been since Polian turned down an advisor position at the Biils? 2 days? Is it 3? Do you really need them to make a public statement saying "We are looking for a HC, and we are now looking for a consultant for an advisory position." What sort of elaborate plan do you expect here?

This is not quite right. Projected cap is $138.6M Active contracts are $107.4M Dead money...$3.3M Available cap....$27.9M Spiller contracts looks to count regardless(new info recently reported about "optional" year). No guarantee who we cut so one cannot count Lawson or Rivers. Carryover is only $2.7M Total cap space at this point is $30.6M.....with no Hughes, Spiller, Spikes, Searcy, Hairston, Easley, Hogan, Gay etc.

Actually, one of the first media reports on the situation was that Marrone was asking for extensions for his staff. Your entire premise is based upon the wild speculation that it was the Bills who were asshats(not negotiating) when it could easily have been Marrone who was the asshat(insisting Hackett gets an extension).

And what if things were as reported and Marrone was pushing for an extension for his staff(Hackett) as well? Regardless of Marrone getting us to a winning season, there were still serious questions about his abilities. The D got us those 9 wins.....and could have likely done it with most HCs. Had management buckled to his demands we could have seen Marrone/Hackett owed money for the next 4-6 years.....and found we wanted to replace them next year. That is an awful lot more wasted money than Marrone's bonus $4M.

I don't know where you heard that from but Foles is signed through 2015. He isn't a FA.

Like others in this thread, I have no problem with trading Sammy(or Kiko, or Dareus, or whomever) for a legitimate top 10 QB. Hell, throw in 2 of our 1st round picks as well to get one of those. To trade away young established star players for a hit/miss proposition at QB however would most likely end up being a terrible mistake. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.....and a hand in the bush is worth two birds.

When Brees signed with the Saints he became one of the highest paid QBs in the NFL at the time. 6 years $60Mil.

A lot faster for me. Threads open in an instant now, compared to a slow progression. Thanks!

....and a top 10 Defense as well.

At this point for 2015: Offence $46M, Defence $65M "Over the Cap" has a good page for this: http://overthecap.co...ional-spending/

You would be wise to realize that not all that disagree with you do so due to being "PC police". It not only is insulting to those conversing with you, but also portrays you to be biased by emotion on the subject. As it happens I am very much against people ignoring rational thought and making argument based upon the modern day(or past days) emotionally driven social conventions(in this case, "PC police"). I think if you read my earlier post in this thread you will perhaps glimps how un-PC I am on this issue. Those people who "wonder" are obviously ignorant of many things. Just because people might used to have wondered if the world was flat doesn't mean their wondering had any credence........particularly since there were those with the actual knowledge that the world was indeed not flat. The facts are that there have been gay football players who have excelled at a colliage level(one drafted in the first round).....have had successful NFL careers......that there are no scientific differences between a gay, bi or straight people(chemically speaking....same testosterone & estrogen levels....helps determine agression).....women excel at aggressive physical sport(not just gay women).....and there are clear negatives for gay men(both socially and financially) to mask their homosexuality in certain industries. To consider that gay men are incapable of excelling at the top level of a violent sport yet are not only able to excel well enough to get there but also excel at other sports(requiring all of the same drive and determination needed), is, as I first somewhat bluntly put....lacking in any real form of clear logical thinking.

Wow, not big on logic are you? One could perhaps suggest that a smaller percent of gay men would be interested in physical team sports as opposed to the percentages of straight men.....in a similar fassion to suggesting that a higher percentage of gay men might be more interested in the arts or theatre than the percentages of straight men.........but suggesting that a gay man cannot excel at football is as ridiculous as suggesting that a straight man cannot excel at acting.

Yeah, I tend to agree with this. They are certainly tight in regards to the cap but I would think they will give Bradford this one last season to see if he can be consistently decent.....and restructure one or more of their high priced players. They would also save $8M in cap dollars if they cut Jake Long.

I wonder if he puts it in his books as operating expenses.