GunnerBill Posted August 4, 2020 Posted August 4, 2020 1 minute ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said: Well may have been they knew once they signed Winter, Long would be cut so did him a favor by letting him go now to try and hook up with another team. Not so sure how many trades will happen this year. It seems these new rules are geared towards less roster churn, thinking the less roster churn, lessens the chances of Covid coming in the door. Can't trade for a draft pick without first cutting another player prior to making the trade. Will be interesting to see if overall much less trades at the end. Even picking up players cut by teams when they get down to the final 53, will other teams sign someone for their PS or tend to keep their own. Without pre-season games will be hard to evaluate other teams players anyway. I do think there will be fewer trades. Usually teams go into pre-season thinking they have more depth than they come out of pre-season thinking they have. That is when a lot of those trades happen.
DCbillsfan Posted August 4, 2020 Posted August 4, 2020 A bit of a surprise move to me. I wonder if Beane is working on some deal (Winters or maybe an extension) where he's looking for some cash. More obvious OL cuts than Long imo.
Doc Posted August 4, 2020 Posted August 4, 2020 55 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said: Well said and that’s kind of the point that I was trying to make. I’d rather pull the plug on guy less likely to make the roster (or any NFL roster). Try to make a trade in the meantime (again don’t care which depth guys go on the OL) and then go back to 80. Release a guy like Webb or Easley or Woodward, etc... I don’t think that they did. I feel VERY confident that the Bills could have traded one of Boettger, Boehm, Long, Williams, Bates or Nsekhe. I would have started by trying to deal one of them. The point remains though why not cut a guy that won’t end up on the roster (ie Easley)? Given Beane’s track record, I have no doubt he tried to shop Long first. And if he.Bobby Johnson liked the other guys better, why trade them?
Kirby Jackson Posted August 4, 2020 Posted August 4, 2020 3 minutes ago, Doc said: Given Beane’s track record, I have no doubt he tried to shop Long first. And if he.Bobby Johnson liked the other guys better, why trade them? I’m having a hard time believing that they like Bates, Boettger, etc... more when they have had no offseason and played Long ahead of them last year. Now, maybe they decided that they needed to save the money. They could have waited though and did that. I do not, for one second, believe that Long was guy 80 on the roster. Again, it isn’t a huge deal but think that they could have done it better. 1
vincec Posted August 4, 2020 Posted August 4, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, ScottLaw said: So Bates or Bohem will be our starting C once Morse goes down? Yikes. Not a fan of this move. Not great, but how much worse could they be than Long? He wasn’t exactly a stud at center. Edited August 4, 2020 by vincec
Saxum Posted August 4, 2020 Posted August 4, 2020 4 hours ago, Mountain Man said: And that's one of the reason there wouldn't be a trade market. That's expensive in a year with a potential cap cut. Cap cut but also cap push. P*ts have need for linemen and they can push a lot of cap to next year.
Freak-O Posted August 4, 2020 Posted August 4, 2020 Every time Beane has traded or released a highly rated player it has turned out to be the right move and made the team stronger. I trust him. I think he's earned our trust. 3
John from Riverside Posted August 4, 2020 Posted August 4, 2020 3 hours ago, IgotBILLStopay said: FWIW, my comment was pure conjecture. My apologies if the post conveyed otherwise. I thought he played decently last year and given the Feliciano injury, had become even more important to the Bills plans. Basically I cant think of another reason to release him at this juncture - pre-release I had him pegged at #2 Center behind Morse - it might have been the 2.3 mill smackeroos - but while no chump change - it is still not ginormous. It might have been Bates or someone else climbing the depth chart - but the players have not really played football and are primarily doing conditioning work - so it seems reasonable that it may have been an "out of shape" issue like with Karlos Williams a few years ago. No its fine I was thinking I had missed something and maybe someone like a reporter had made a comment that he looked out of shape when they reported :)
MasterStrategist Posted August 4, 2020 Posted August 4, 2020 1 hour ago, Kirby Jackson said: I’m having a hard time believing that they like Bates, Boettger, etc... more when they have had no offseason and played Long ahead of them last year. Now, maybe they decided that they needed to save the money. They could have waited though and did that. I do not, for one second, believe that Long was guy 80 on the roster. Again, it isn’t a huge deal but think that they could have done it better. Agree, no huge deal and its likely a combination of cap savings and fringe status. Even if the Bills keep 10 lineman (with expanded roster) here is possible ranking as of now...placing Long on the outside looking in: 1-4. Dawkins, Spain, Morse, Feliciano 5-6 (RT): Ford, Nsehke Depth: 7. Winters (now presumed starting rg) 8. Daryl Williams (possible starting rg and rt competition, imo better than Long at guard) 9. Bates, depth at all positions and staff likes his versatility. Likely 2nd backup at all spots. Long likely a better guard/center than Bates, but his added versatility keeps him above a $3.5m backup 10-12. Boehm/Boettger/Long: I would put Long ahead of all these guys, but not at his current salary. Which means, Boehm Boettger or Bates is backup at center. With salary cap in flux, and many guys to extend next year, saving $3.5m could be the difference of retaining vs losing a Milano type. To me thats worth the tradeoff. 2
SoCal Deek Posted August 4, 2020 Posted August 4, 2020 If releasing Long was the first shoe to drop I could understand the head scratching I’ve read on here....but it wasn’t. They already knew about Feliciano and they already signed Winters so this looks like a really purposeful decision based on something that the front office knows and we as fans do not. I’ll trust the front office! 1
Doc Brown Posted August 5, 2020 Posted August 5, 2020 7 hours ago, machine gun kelly said: He was $3.1 mil., but $2.4 if you subtract the $700 k dead cap, so not sure why they take that risk when he could play G or C. We have $22 mil. In cap space right now until Winters contract hits Spotrac. I would have cut other o lineman before him, but we’ll see. I thought he was solid. Only logical conclusion is we're freeing up cap space to sign Clowney. 1
Ethan in Cleveland Posted August 5, 2020 Posted August 5, 2020 Before the Feliciano injury, Long was not on my final 53. But who is the back-up center now?
BobbyC81 Posted August 5, 2020 Posted August 5, 2020 7 hours ago, MAJBobby said: I guess I am more surprised they couldnt have got a Pick out of him. It takes another team willing to give a pick for him.
That's No Moon Posted August 5, 2020 Posted August 5, 2020 6 minutes ago, Ethan in Portland said: Before the Feliciano injury, Long was not on my final 53. But who is the back-up center now? Bates, or Boettger I think
Kirby Jackson Posted August 5, 2020 Posted August 5, 2020 1 hour ago, MasterStrategist said: Agree, no huge deal and its likely a combination of cap savings and fringe status. Even if the Bills keep 10 lineman (with expanded roster) here is possible ranking as of now...placing Long on the outside looking in: 1-4. Dawkins, Spain, Morse, Feliciano 5-6 (RT): Ford, Nsehke Depth: 7. Winters (now presumed starting rg) 8. Daryl Williams (possible starting rg and rt competition, imo better than Long at guard) 9. Bates, depth at all positions and staff likes his versatility. Likely 2nd backup at all spots. Long likely a better guard/center than Bates, but his added versatility keeps him above a $3.5m backup 10-12. Boehm/Boettger/Long: I would put Long ahead of all these guys, but not at his current salary. Which means, Boehm Boettger or Bates is backup at center. With salary cap in flux, and many guys to extend next year, saving $3.5m could be the difference of retaining vs losing a Milano type. To me thats worth the tradeoff. Good post!! That’s well thought out and makes some sense. For me it was as much the timing as the guy but you could be right and Bates’ versatility wins out. 1
FireChans Posted August 5, 2020 Posted August 5, 2020 39 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said: Good post!! That’s well thought out and makes some sense. For me it was as much the timing as the guy but you could be right and Bates’ versatility wins out. What about concern that Long May have opted out after the Winters signing. He sees the writing on the wall that his time is coming to an end, opts out for possible greener grass next year. Beane doesn’t want his cap hit next year just like Star and cuts him first. 1
purple haze Posted August 5, 2020 Posted August 5, 2020 9 hours ago, JoshAllenHasBigHands said: Long is a valuable piece though. There are guys much further down the roster that could have been cut instead of Long. Follow the money. Beane just talked about next year’s cap being lower. the Bills have core players to extend and guys who are capable players with less money on the books. It’s business.
Paul Costa Posted August 5, 2020 Posted August 5, 2020 2 hours ago, SoCal Deek said: If releasing Long was the first shoe to drop I could understand the head scratching I’ve read on here....but it wasn’t. They already knew about Feliciano and they already signed Winters so this looks like a really purposeful decision based on something that the front office knows and we as fans do not. I’ll trust the front office! Well said. We are not in the know. It always seems so obvious weeks or months after with this group. Trust The Process ?
Doc Posted August 5, 2020 Posted August 5, 2020 4 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said: I’m having a hard time believing that they like Bates, Boettger, etc... more when they have had no offseason and played Long ahead of them last year. Now, maybe they decided that they needed to save the money. They could have waited though and did that. I do not, for one second, believe that Long was guy 80 on the roster. Again, it isn’t a huge deal but think that they could have done it better. Bates and Boettger have been with the team since at least the middle of training camp last year so it’s not like they’re complete unknowns to the coaching staff. Again I think they found that Long was the player that made sense cutting for various reasons and couldn’t find takers to trade, OR he demanded a trade after they signed Winters, and they accommodated him.
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