BrooklynBills

Prescott was also a much better prospect and fell to the 4th round because of a DUI before the draft.

He will be traded after this year. The only reason it didn't happen this season is because the cap ramifications were too high. This team is re-building and that includes resetting and fixing the cap issues.

The 2017 defense SURELY is missing and going to miss Marcell Dareus, especially in the run game. However, the trade was absolutely necessary and it has little to do with any off the field/locker room BS and more to do with simple salary cap management. Dareus' cap hits for the remainder of the contract if he remained on the Bills 2017: 16.4(gauranteed) 2018: 16.58(gauranteed) 2019: 17.99 2020: 16 2021: 14.65 For a 2 down run stuffer(which is what he has become) who is one miscue away from a year-long suspension that is simply a terrible contract, even if he is the BEST run stuffer in all of football. This is top 10 DL money. This is roughly 50% of an overpayment for what he brings. But saying he is overpaid is not really a shocker to most Bills fans. The problem most fans have is "why now?" Well, because the plan A all along has been to trade Dareus this season as it offers the Bills the best dead cap option moving forward. Cutting Dareus before this year would have cost the Bills roughly $23 mil in 2017 and $14 mil in 2018 and nothing in 2019. They simply could not take on a $23 mil dead cap number this year based on their other contracts. Cutting Dareus after this season would have cost the Bills roughly $22 mil in 2018 and $0 in 2019 OR they could have split the charge over two years which would have cost them $14 mil in 2018 and roughly $8 mil in 2019. Finally, trading Dareus after this season costs the Bills $6.4 mil in 2018 and $7.8 mil in 2019. Trading Dareus this season cost the Bills a cap penalty of $14.2 mil in 2018 and nothing in 2019. However, they are SAVING roughly $9 mil on this year's cap, which can then be rolled over into next season effectively increasing the Bills salary cap number by $9 mil and effectively reducing the dead cap charge to roughly $5-6 million. Meaning the Bills have gotten out of the Dareus contract and has only cost them $5 million against the 2018 cap and NOTHING ELSE. It is the absolute best possible scenario of getting rid of him. The return is simply a bonus to the positive cap ramifications of getting a team to take his contract. I believe the plan A all along was to try as hard as possible to move this contract off the team in this way and I don't think ANYTHING could have prevented Beane and McDermott from doing this. It is %100 about the money. In an aside, the fact that the Jaguars are able to absorb this contract should further the point that what the Bills FO is doing in purging the bad contracts and potential big money guys they had coming up is the wise move. Keep your salary cap low while you are not a good team, roll over your unspent cap into the future, and SPEND when you have a solid talented team. Trading Dareus is ABSOLUTELY the right move.

We needed all those things before McDermott arrived.

Most of the chatter is saying Taylor is back at starter.

This is lazy and speculative. Doug Pederson was an "empty suit" OC for Andy Reid and he's now running one of the top offenses in the NFL. I'm not going to judge Dennison on 9 games with a very limited QB. What were we supposed to do? Design an offense around Taylor like he''s Cam Newton or Vick? Sorry, he's not that dynamic and talented. And no matter what offensive design, you can only hide your QB for so long until he is going to have to make plays FROM THE POCKET. Play action is not as effective down 2 scores in the 3rd quarter. You can't move him around every pass play. The only thing that is questionable here is the timing- IN THAT THIS DIDN'T HAPPEN SOONER. Should have started Peterman game 1. Or at least made it an open competition in camp. If you want to talk Run-Pass-Option for Taylor - here's a tough reality: You need to be able to read the defense to effectively utilize RPO. Taylor can't do it. If you want to talk how the Chiefs tailored their offense to Alex Smith- teams are catching up. I guarantee you that Mahomes is starting there by the end of the season.

We are going to have to throw to beat the Chargers and McDermott knows this from watching how LAC played D against JAX. They stacked the box with 8 and sometimes 9 guys and there was no room for Fournette, so much so that in a close game Bortles threw 51 times and Fournette was ineffective and taken out of the game in the 2nd half. The way to beat the Chiefs, Pats, and Colts is to throw also.

Someone actually told me on Tuesday. It was 3rd hand info. Literally a "friend of a friend of my brother who knows Peterman" scenario. I just didn't believe it but the guy was super confident.

Peterman is either pretty good and we still win the 4 games we need or he's terrible and we get in to the top 10 of draft. Either way is a win IMO. Not going anywhere with Taylor. Cutting him could allow us to sign Matthews as well.

Because his 2019 salary had guarantees it, I believe. They did not want any of his money on the books any longer than necessary. He was getting cut during the season if we could not find a trade partner. They are absolutely missing the talent but I still like the trade.

I think this is probably right, but I also think McDermott knows they need to win this next game at all costs for a shot at the playoffs. If Taylor is hot garbage again, I could see Peterman starting the 2nd half. Both Chiefs and Pats are probably Ls anyway in McDermott's eyes so if they can use those games to get Peterman ready for the last quarter of the season, I could also see him starting the Chiefs game. Again, it depends on how Taylor plays against Chargers. But he has alot going against him IMO. He's got no ties to the coach or FO. It will not be hard for them to move on.

I don't think this means he expects he and Glennto be traded soon. I think it's more that he doesn't expect to either of them to be here beyond this season.

Great player. I understand he beat cancer, but we'll see if he comes back as the same player, i.e. one of the more dynamic defensive backs in the game. Much harder for DBs, RBs, and WRs to return to form after this injury. He also had a torn ACL in the same leg a few years back also.

The Bills are absolutely trying to suck

Seattle has star players that take the game and being a professional very seriously, especially on defense. Chancellor, Thomas, Sherman, Wagner, and Bennett are the reason that Seattle has a "winning culture." The problem isn't that Dareus is unfocused and the Bills don't have a winning culture. The problem is that Dareus is supposed to be a part of that leadership group here based on his talent level and contract. So in that sense, yes - Dareus isn't at fault. He is what he is. It's the fault of the management team that made him one of the highest paid defensive players in the NFL. But when he signed that contract, the expectation level went up and he has failed miserably.

Yes. It came out later in the year. And I personally think it was less "we'll be good next year" and more "I need this player and if we don't have a 1st round pick next year, it will buy me another year with whoever buys the team." Whaley/Brandon knew the team was going to be sold and that they were on thin ice. However, I don't think they anticipated that Marrone would quit and that a guy with absolutely no plan for how to run the team would buy them.

For the most part I agree but I think you are giving them way too many passes. It also is not just about looking at who was selected and assessing them in a vacuum. 2011 - The problem with the Dareus pick is not his talent it is in the idea that we should be building our defense around DT rather than the stud CB that went 2 picks later. As far as Aaron Williams goes - he was drafted as CB and was a failure there and was moved to safety even though we already had a starting FS drafted 2 years earlier and spent a 4th rounder on another S in this draft in Searcy(who BTW ended up being the best long term player-i guess that's bad luck but also a poor plan). 2012 - The was a very successful draft in getting Gilmore and Glenn, sure, but taking Graham(a projected 5-7th round pick) and passing up Wilson when it was well known that we wanted him was a huge gaffe. 2013 - Love the trade back. Hate the Manuel pick and was an obvious reaction to the bad press for not getting Wilson, and to a lesser extent Cousins(who they also liked alot) in 2012 and Kapearnick/Dalton in 2011. This is the first "Whaley draft" and you can see how everything is about to go off the rails here in hindsight. I like Woods-not resigned. 2014 - Watkins- just a terrible assessment of what was needed at the time and was an obvious move made to justify the Manuel selection. When you add in the fact that the Browns originally wanted our 2nd round pick instead of next year's 1st, but Whaley turned it down because he wanted to keep the selection in the current draft, this move looks downright foolish. But this trade is more about Whaley/Brandon trying to save their jobs in the wake of Ralph Wilson's death and the inevitable sale of the team and making the job look much less enticing for any potential GM replacements. 2015 - no 1st, Darby is good 2016 - I like Lawson but we'll see. 2 4ths for ragland - desparation Basically, 2013 - 2016 was some of the most reactionary, desperate approaches to the draft that I've seen from any team because they overvalued the roster and were literally "hoping" these high risk moves would all pan out for them.

Secondary has been a revolving door of high draft picks that are not re-signed. 2006-2009 we spent high draft capital on CBs and Ss and none were committed to (either through FO stubbornness or because the players were not good enough) which led to us again spending high draft capital on the secondary again from 2011-2015(BTW none are left again). That is very bad asset management. They have not identified and drafted any cornerstone/franchise players whatsoever(players that are scheme diverse and good enough league wide to commit big money and large amounts of money to). Draft has been used as a band aid to end the drought since the Nix/Gailey era rather than a means toward building a team. CJ Spiller(5 yrs - 1 great season) Marcell Dareus(great talent but it would be nice to have the best OT in NFL(Tyron Smith) or one of the best CBs(Peterson) or DL(Watt) Stephon Gilmore(good player) EJ Manuel(LOL but Bills HAD to have a QB) Sammy Watkins(Great talent - not what was needed at the time. Sammy Watkins again(for a team that should be building and relying heavily on the draft not having a 1st round pick hurt alot) Shaq Lawson(TBD but Bills had to replace Mario)

So 2 players...1 of them not a starter. Darby did not play for Schwartz.

Chip wanted to keep Maclin. Maclin chose to leave.

Dumping Holmes may well equal gaining that 3rd rounder comp pick for Gilmore. I could easily see him being dumped if he's moved to 4th on the depth chart and isn't really available to play in the slot.

Holmes was insurance if we didn't draft a WR. Same with Ducasse at T. Ryan Davis I think could stick, but if the difference is him vs. a 3rd - I think that's a no brainer. I think the Bills thought Justin Hunter would get a deal that counted in the formula and he didn't. I thought he would also. Also, they have been trying Rehkow at K and he has a huge leg and could see him winning the job. Cutting these guys doesn't cost us much in dead money either.

Exactly

Don't see a problem with this philosophy as a base for your roster makeup and foundation. A strong base allows you to bring in high risk(off-field/injury prone/etc) players. But this team has doubled down on question marks the past few years and it has not worked out.

If they cut Holmes, Ducasse, and Ryan Davis, they will be able to recoup a 3rd round pick for Gilmore. I think those guys were insurance in case the draft shook out in a way in which we did not pick up other players at those positions. I think this might have more to do with Holmes than zay Jones injury