BuffBillsForLife Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Drafting players, developing them, letting them walk, and then drafting to fill the holes they left was the worst thing about the last decade of Ralph's ownership. Nate Clements, Antoine Winfield, Jason Peters, Marshawn Lynch, the list goes on. The Bills had gotten away from this under Pegula by retaining a lot of good talent like Dareus, Glenn, and Wood but now we seem to going back to the way things were. We let Gilmore and Woods, two good players that we drafted walk in free agency leaving us with CB and WR as probably our biggest holes going into the draft. And in typical Bills fashion, we'll probably just be spinning our wheels this weekend by replacing a 1st and 2nd round CB/WR we drafted with another 1st and 2nd round CB/WR we draft while other teams pay the players we developed to improve their teams. None of the players drafted by the Bills in 2013 are on the team, and there is only 1 from each of 2011 and 2012, which is just incredible. A lot of this can be blamed on Whaley's awful cap management, but I feel like the organization still just doesn't want to hand out real contracts to good (i.e., not blockbuster and not depth) players, sticking with massively overpaying for a few marquee free agents (and Dareus, although he is supremely talented) and signing the rest of the roster off the scrap heap to 1-year prove-it deals. And yes, I realize letting Byrd leave and go on to be a massive free agency bust runs opposite to this, but the exception proves the rule. Good teams win by nurturing the talent they draft.
NewEra Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 (edited) Yes. We're the NFLs farm team. p.s. Whaley doesn't draw up the contracts Edited April 24, 2017 by NewEra
Kirby Jackson Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 There is a misconception that they have cap issues. They easily could have signed Woods and Gilmore. They have the Dareus and Glenn restructures to use at any point. Deciding Gilmore isn't worth $14M a year doesn't mean they couldn't afford him. They thought in both cases that the value wasn't there.
KD in CA Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Certainly disappointing they couldn't hold on to Gilmore, but Woods for $8M is crazy. The Rams will regret that one.
NewEra Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 There is a misconception that they have cap issues. They easily could have signed Woods and Gilmore. They have the Dareus and Glenn restructures to use at any point. Deciding Gilmore isn't worth $14M a year doesn't mean they couldn't afford him. They thought in both cases that the value wasn't there. Some people just don't get and likely never will until Whaley is fired.
C.Biscuit97 Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Every team loses players. It's also a sign that you are drafting well. You can't keep everyone. We've keep Glenn, RI, Wood, Hughes, Dareus, Kyle, etc and brought in guys like Clay. The best teams that are able to draft their replacements or find cheaper players in FA. And having a franchise qb helps.
NewEra Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Certainly disappointing they couldn't hold on to Gilmore, but Woods for $8M is crazy. The Rams will regret that one. I was one of Gilmores supporters, but 13-14 mill a year isn't worth it imo. In the greater scheme of things, if we had signed him, we'd could've been in a really bad spot cap wise.
BuffBillsForLife Posted April 24, 2017 Author Posted April 24, 2017 They have the Dareus and Glenn restructures to use at any point. You make this sound so easy, but it takes two to tango. Dareus and Glenn have no incentive to restructure. "For the good of the team" is not a strong argument when the team is circling the drain.
Kirby Jackson Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 (edited) You make this sound so easy, but it takes two to tango. Dareus and Glenn have no incentive to restructure. "For the good of the team" is not a strong argument when the team is circling the drain. Yes there is. You get the money now instead of having to wait for it. That's what a restructure does. It allows the player to get the money and let his money make more money. Edited April 24, 2017 by Kirby Jackson
NewEra Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 You make this sound so easy, but it takes two to tango. Dareus and Glenn have no incentive to restructure. "For the good of the team" is not a strong argument when the team is circling the drain. All players would accept a restructure. It's not for the good of the team. It's for their own good. Seems to me like you don't know what a restructure is
C.Biscuit97 Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Yes there is. You get the money now instead of having to wait for it. That's what a restructure does. It allows the player to get the money and let his money make more money. I swear most fans don't understand NFL contracts. A huge problem is the way the media reports them. A 5 year, $25 million deal is rarely $25 million. It's all about guaranteed and upfront money. Most NFL players will take money as soon as possible instead of hopefully to reach money at the back end of their contracts.
PromoTheRobot Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Two years ago we poached $91MM in free agents from other teams.
Kirby Jackson Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 I swear most fans don't understand NFL contracts. A huge problem is the way the media reports them. A 5 year, $25 million deal is rarely $25 million. It's all about guaranteed and upfront money. Most NFL players will take money as soon as possible instead of hopefully to reach money at the back end of their contracts.Yeah, it was a little odd to start such an aggressive thread without a basic understanding of what you are complaining about.
Meathead Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 dont forget, the cheaters are in a unique position bc they have the goat at the most lopsided position in modern history. they can twist everybodys arm to take less money than they could get elsewhere for a chance to drink from marcias magic fountain of rings. sucks for the rest of us but they have that gift right now and arent afraid to turn the screws and then just trade guys who wont play along the rest of the team mostly have to pay market value or above to get their stars to stay. its a big disadvantage for the rest of the division teams especially bc they have to face them twice every year. it is what it is. and it sucks
C.Biscuit97 Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Honestly, there has this misconception that the Bills have been a cheap team and it's completely misguided. The Bills always hand out big contracts since the SB years when there was no salary cap. They are big spenders compared to teams like GB or Pittsburgh who let guys walk all the time and don't sign high price free agents. We just give the wrong people money. And a qb helps.
baskingridgebillsfan Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 exactly the Kanas City a's.. oh wait does that mean Green Bay is the Bill Farm system or Baltimore or Carolina .......
Mr. WEO Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 There is a misconception that they have cap issues. They easily could have signed Woods and Gilmore. They have the Dareus and Glenn restructures to use at any point. Deciding Gilmore isn't worth $14M a year doesn't mean they couldn't afford him. They thought in both cases that the value wasn't there. True. The money those two got represents horrible value. Those non re-signings were slam dunks.
Boatdrinks Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Drafting players, developing them, letting them walk, and then drafting to fill the holes they left was the worst thing about the last decade of Ralph's ownership. Nate Clements, Antoine Winfield, Jason Peters, Marshawn Lynch, the list goes on. The Bills had gotten away from this under Pegula by retaining a lot of good talent like Dareus, Glenn, and Wood but now we seem to going back to the way things were. We let Gilmore and Woods, two good players that we drafted walk in free agency leaving us with CB and WR as probably our biggest holes going into the draft. And in typical Bills fashion, we'll probably just be spinning our wheels this weekend by replacing a 1st and 2nd round CB/WR we drafted with another 1st and 2nd round CB/WR we draft while other teams pay the players we developed to improve their teams. None of the players drafted by the Bills in 2013 are on the team, and there is only 1 from each of 2011 and 2012, which is just incredible. A lot of this can be blamed on Whaley's awful cap management, but I feel like the organization still just doesn't want to hand out real contracts to good (i.e., not blockbuster and not depth) players, sticking with massively overpaying for a few marquee free agents (and Dareus, although he is supremely talented) and signing the rest of the roster off the scrap heap to 1-year prove-it deals. And yes, I realize letting Byrd leave and go on to be a massive free agency bust runs opposite to this, but the exception proves the rule. Good teams win by nurturing the talent they draft. The Bills are hardly the farm team for the NFL . That would imply they draft good players consistently , then consistently don't pay them. This hasn't been occurring. While the stats you point out about those recent drafts are bad, a closer look shows most of those players are no longer in the NFL. Some of the players were traded for other assets or after scheme changes such as Kelvin Sheppard and Kiki Alonso .Marshawn Lynch was traded due to external factors, he didn't walk. This is probably due to the constant churn of coaches and schemes. The Bills overall drafting has been poor under Whaley. The other factor is simply the value that the team places on positions. They consistently pass on paying out big contracts in the secondary. They have retained talent on the DL and OL. You simply can't keep all your players in today's NFL and no team does. You must use the draft to replace who isn't retained. The Bills just haven't drafted well enough to be any kind of feeder source of talent to the rest of the league. They now have an owner that can pay whatever bonus money is needed to get contracts done. The Bills would be a better team if they drafted good players consistently and retained them rather than needing to fill holes created by their draft day failures with FAs.
yungmack Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Two years ago we poached $91MM in free agents from other teams.Aw, don't do that, you're messing with the OPs cherished narrative that the Bills suck and other teams don't. And don't even think about mentioning Micah Hyde. His head will explode.
baskingridgebillsfan Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 True. The money those two got represents horrible value. Those non re-signings were slam dunks. wonder how the board would have reacted if they didn't resign Glenn and Darius . This is just my opinion but I got the feeling Gilmore really didn't want to resign
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