BillsVet

May I ignore reason in this thread too? As in how the Bills are getting better by letting a 3x All-Pro go and somehow the team is improving with signings like Chris Williams? I'll try to look on the bright side: The Bills will most likely be among the league leaders in available cap room. There's gotta be an award for that.

The reason is John Elway is really lucky. What kind of talent evaluator is he? All he had to do what dial up Manning 2 years ago and get him to sign. And now they're the top NFL team and players will sign there in free agency.

Doubting the Patriots and Belichick has been as appropriate as trusting the Bills over the years.

What happens when Glenn wants to be paid 9-10M per? Is there another Peters situation that unfolds? I think every rational fan understands a front office has to see beyond this season, but I've seen no indication Buffalo, aside from 1 UFA in the last 5 years, will spend that kind of money. What is the long term plan when drafted players become outstanding and want a significant contract extension? Do the Bills cut and run like they did with Peters, Levitre, and Byrd?

This is the guy Buffalo prioritized in UFA? It was a weak year for UFA guards, but I very much doubt anyone was after Williams this much to try signing him within the first 24 hours of UFA.

Not being the worst is acceptable consolation? If that's the bar, it's set pretty low.

You want a 3-4 OLB who completely fell off the table after a contract extension for Buffalo's 4-3 scheme?

How do guys who've played for 2 teams in 6 seasons have upside? It figures that if they had it, surely that talent would've been demonstrated by now.

For all we know they spent what they felt when Aaron Williams amazingly signed a deal right after Byrd was permitted to test UFA. The inbound UFA's appear to be Legursky-esque type signings where the player could be had far down the road. The new narrative seems to be that we can excuse Byrd leaving because it's the QB that matters most and we're waiting to see if Buffalo has one. It's a nice conflation. Then again, Peyton Manning isn't winning titles himself even in an offensive dominated league, which by the way, is predicated on passing the ball. It's why New Orleans has prioritized getting guys who can combat the aerial nature of the game.

When will the oncoming storm be blamed for Buffalo's inability to attract UFA's to visit? I'm guessing it'll be within the next 4-6 hours as the weather worsens and little news comes out regarding UFA visits.

Elite like Byrd, Lynch, and Peters? Those three players have departed in the last 5 years and brought the Bills only Eric Wood as a starting player. And I'm not even talking Levitre and Posluszny. See the trend? If a team is average at drafting, which the Bills haven't been, then how do you get better when you're losing a solid or better contributor every year and signing lower to mid tier UFA's? You're only maintaining what you've got, which is a 9 or more loss team for going on a decade.

Since 2006, they've averaged 10 wins a year, been to the playoffs 5 times and won a SB. Hard to see how that's a joke.

Buffalo just needs to be luckier, that's all. The Patriots have been lucky pretty much every year winning the AFCE because they lucked into a 6th round HOF QB and a HOF HC.

You do realize they had 20M+ in cap space this season, right? And that's after keeping Aaron Williams.

Mario got 50M guaranteed. http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/3636/mario-williams

They're both really lucky franchises.

Buffalo spent big in UFA in 2007 and again in 2012. Seems like every 5 years they do something like a big splash in UFA when things are going downhill. It doesn't seem to be part of a bigger plan and isn't usually supported with outstanding drafts, but it keeps people interested. Besides, they don't seem concerned with Mario's 18.8M cap hit for 2014, which occupies 1/7th of their current cap hit. There's more time left in UFA, but with 12M in dead cap, you wonder what the plan is: spend less and wait until the inevitable or try and compete. Right now it looks like the former.

I'm not sure what Bills fans want. They've got a visit set up with Nolan Carroll tomorrow and already talked to Jasper Brinkley and Jameel McClain.

Extortion? Because the guy representing Buffalo's top UFA this team had didn't sign here? Every single person, if they were in Byrd's shoes, would want from Parker exactly what he's provided to Byrd. A shot at signing another contract in a league where most guys don't even get the second one after their rookie deal. Objectivity just took a nose dive again.

Brandonomoics? And then there's the Fitz charge split between '13 and '14 which gets them to 12M in dead money.

More like RW saying, "Get me Sammy Baugh, Don Hutson, and Bronko Nagurski!" Brandon come here!

No. Teams must spend 89% of the cap on average from 2013-16 and 2017-20. League-wide the requirement is 95%, but that's more complicated. http://www.ninersnation.com/2014/3/1/5459982/49ers-salary-cap-minimum-cash-spending-requirement-cba

When you wait to the point a player has maximum leverage, i.e. in their walk year, it makes it awfully hard to keep them and stay within budget. It's forced them to use the draft to replace departed UFA's. Trade Willis McGahee? Draft Lynch in the first. Let Fletcher hit UFA? Use a second on Posluszny. Trade Peters? Use a second on Glenn a few years later. Let Levitre hit UFA? Probably means they'll use a high draft pick or further UFA dollars to find a replacement. If anything, the Bills have been behind the curve. Signing Aaron Williams doesn't all of a sudden reverse that trend. It'll take another 2-3 years of recognizing talent and signing it to team friendly contracts before those players are close to UFA. It's been said ad nauseam around here. The Bills use the draft far too much to replace than build. It's why they've remained stuck winning 4-7 games a year for 9 seasons running.

Either Buffalo didn't make an offer consistent with what Parker believed Byrd was worth or the player was not re-signing with Buffalo. I'm interested to know how much guaranteed money was in that release the Bills put out about 3 years and 30M via back door channels. Something doesn't wash about it.

Let's include Johnson as well. That means from 2007-09 the Bills found 7 above average or better starters via the draft. Not great, but certainly not horrible either. Of those 7, they retained the services of 3 (Johnson, Wood, and McKelvin). The main reason Buffalo doesn't retain their draftees from those classes is they weren't doing what they did with Aaron Williams: anticipate a player's value to the team and re-sign them before they hit peak value. (Cue the "it takes two to tango" cliche) I don't expect Buffalo to keep a guy like Posluszny on a contract like what he received from Jacksonville or what Levitre got from Tennessee. If the Bills really wanted to keep Byrd, they should have initiated talks late in 2011 at the end of his third season. I know someone will say hindsight is 20/20, but I expect NFL personnel men to know when to keep a player. That is, if they aren't restricted by the powers that be which exist in Buffalo.