Josh Allen has gone from question mark to selling point for Bills in free agency [paywall]

[Logic]

** I had planned to make a post talking about the new phenomenon in Buffalo: Players taking less money or declining to hit the market altogether because they want to stay in Buffalo. I can't EVER remember a time like this in Bills history.

Off the top of my head, Matt Milano, Jon Feliciano, Isaiah McKenzie, and Levi Wallace all either refused to meaningfully test the market or took hometown discounts to stay in Buffalo or both. This speaks to what Beane and McDermott have built, and it speaks to the fact that culture is real. Oh, and playing for a 13-3 squad with a franchise QB doesn't hurt, either, and that brings us to this article from The Athletic:


https://theathletic.com/2472211/2021/03/24/josh-allen-has-gone-from-question-mark-to-selling-point-for-bills-in-free-agency/


"Buffalo has long been considered a free agency outpost. That reputation was earned. Those searching for a big market or warm-weather locale won’t have Buffalo high on their free-agent list. That led the Bills to have to overpay to land some of their notable free agents. They also have New York’s hefty state income tax working against them on the financial side.

But what has historically bogged down the Bills in free agency more than any of that is a lack of winning. When The Athletic’s Tim Graham wrote about the “Siberian Stigma” that used to surround the Bills, Beane identified a quality quarterback, a contending team, stable leadership and ownership that invests as criteria the Bills now sell to free agents. The first two have only strengthened after a 13-3 seasons in which Allen received MVP votes.

'I think when you have a guy like Josh Allen leading your franchise with a guy that players can trust like Beane and McDermott, honestly, that’s where it starts,' said Jon Feliciano, who re-signed with the Bills prior to hitting the open market. 'I think that’s why you see a lot of us coming back and taking less money or whatnot – just to able to go to work every day and know that we’re all truly going for the same goal. A lot of organizations will say it’s all about winning, but at nut-cutting time, they do some other things. So I think the biggest attraction beside Josh Allen is you know you’re going to be in an organization that’s in it for the right reasons and is doing it right'."

 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Logic

[BillsFan4]

Quote

“Micah Hyde still thinks it’s tough to change the perception of Buffalo for some players. Winning and strong quarterback play don’t sway players who are looking for a big city or warm weather.”

And that is perfectly fine by me.

I said back when McDermott and Beane were first hired that Buffalo was the absolute perfect spot for the type of team they wanted to build (hard working guys who are only in it to play football/for their love of the game), and IMO could actually be used as an advantage, because you’re not drawing players that want to come here for the night life, or the beaches/warm weather, or a hundred other reasons that are NOT football related.

 

great article btw!

[BuffaloBill]

3 hours ago, Limeaid said:

Getting rid of the articles in Buffalo New constantly bashing Bills, its players and its ownership certainly helped.

 

At the times the Bills were in the midst of a 20 year suck.... winning has helped to change the situation.

[4BillsintheBurgh]

I know I hate when it gets to nut-cutting time.

[Success]

Great post & observation.  It's almost hard to adjust to.

 

For years, it was all about overpaying, if we wanted to land any meaningful FA.  And sometimes we'd offer more money, and feel like a deal was close, and they would STILL take less money to stay w/ their team or go to another.  I remember an O-lineman from ATL (I think) who that was pretty blatant w/, and it was so discouraging.  It was like, what do we have to do?  

 

It always seemed like the rich just got richer, while the Bills played their own version of moneyball, and mainly hoped to improve through the draft.

 

Watching guys take pay cuts to stay here & seeing players like Milano talk about the culture the way they have is just a fantastic change.  And all last summer, other fanbases were talking about the Diggs trade like he'd be complaining within a month because of Allen's "inaccuracy" and be the worst thing for this team. I don't think Diggs would choose to be anywhere else now.  He clearly loves it here, and playing w/ Allen.

 

We're that team now.  Gotta appreciate these days.

 

[Magox]

Yeah, but some of the TBD "experts" of this board (2 dudes) believe that the Bills only did one thing right and that was get Josh Allen.  The rest has been terrible according to these experts.

[NobesBLO13]

5 hours ago, Logic said:

** I had planned to make a post talking about the new phenomenon in Buffalo: Players taking less money or declining to hit the market altogether because they want to stay in Buffalo. I can't EVER remember a time like this in Bills history.

Off the top of my head, Matt Milano, Jon Feliciano, Isaiah McKenzie, and Levi Wallace all either refused to meaningfully test the market or took hometown discounts to stay in Buffalo or both. This speaks to what Beane and McDermott have built, and it speaks to the fact that culture is real. Oh, and playing for a 13-3 squad with a franchise QB doesn't hurt, either, and that brings us to this article from The Athletic:


https://theathletic.com/2472211/2021/03/24/josh-allen-has-gone-from-question-mark-to-selling-point-for-bills-in-free-agency/


"Buffalo has long been considered a free agency outpost. That reputation was earned. Those searching for a big market or warm-weather locale won’t have Buffalo high on their free-agent list. That led the Bills to have to overpay to land some of their notable free agents. They also have New York’s hefty state income tax working against them on the financial side.

But what has historically bogged down the Bills in free agency more than any of that is a lack of winning. When The Athletic’s Tim Graham wrote about the “Siberian Stigma” that used to surround the Bills, Beane identified a quality quarterback, a contending team, stable leadership and ownership that invests as criteria the Bills now sell to free agents. The first two have only strengthened after a 13-3 seasons in which Allen received MVP votes.

'I think when you have a guy like Josh Allen leading your franchise with a guy that players can trust like Beane and McDermott, honestly, that’s where it starts,' said Jon Feliciano, who re-signed with the Bills prior to hitting the open market. 'I think that’s why you see a lot of us coming back and taking less money or whatnot – just to able to go to work every day and know that we’re all truly going for the same goal. A lot of organizations will say it’s all about winning, but at nut-cutting time, they do some other things. So I think the biggest attraction beside Josh Allen is you know you’re going to be in an organization that’s in it for the right reasons and is doing it right'."

 

He didn’t mention the fans?? Cut his ass!!!

[Don Otreply]

1 hour ago, Magox said:

Yeah, but some of the TBD "experts" of this board (2 dudes) believe that the Bills only did one thing right and that was get Josh Allen.  The rest has been terrible according to these experts.

That’s because those (two) as you put it, appear to suffer from a certain affliction that gained notoriety in a sitcom about a  work place... that and they are always good for their on cue entertainment value... 😁👍

[Buffalo716]

1 hour ago, Limeaid said:

 

When all they wrote about was bad things it is more about content than subject.

To be fair the bills didn't give them many good things to write about 

 

Jerry Sullivan was the realest during the whole time. And he even did have some positives to say at times

 

But he was being real when he said they were a mess for 20 years and people thought he was a hater

 

 

[Virgil]

I don’t know why, but this just feels amazing to hear.  After so long of promises and hope, we have the real deal.  
 

Players want to be here.  The buy in is so quick.  Even seeing the Kroft family say their goodbyes just shows what McD has built.   
 

I love this 

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

The Culture is Real. 
 

👏 👏 👏 👏 

[loveorhatembillsfan4life]

Bills Seahawks on Nfl network right now. What a first drive! Josh is just a beast on the field. The  cap was a beauty Touchdown  throw and catch to McKenzie. 
 

I think Josh is going to be deadly this year. He is going to cut teams apart with the precision of a surgeon. 

[Shaw66]

More to your point.  Listen to the press conference Emanuel Sanders had.  He talks about his career.   He played with Ben in Pittsburgh, as a free agent he signed with Denver so he could play with Peyton, he played with Garoppolo in SF, then as a free agent signed to play with Brees.   In the press conference, they asked two telling questions. 

 

One question was whether he considered Buffalo when he went to Denver.  "No."  He made it clear that back, four or five years ago, there was no point in considering Buffalo if you wanted to him. 

 

Another question was whether last year, when he chose New Orleans, Josh Allen not having emerged and Brees being a Hall of Famer had any impact on his decision.  "Absolutely."   

 

This is a guy who wants to win.  Period.  He isn't going anyplace where he doesn't have a shot at a Super Bowl, and he isn't going anyplace where he has a project quarterback.  He made it completely clear that that's why this year was the first year coming to Buffalo made sense to him.  

[Mr. WEO]

9 hours ago, Logic said:

** I had planned to make a post talking about the new phenomenon in Buffalo: Players taking less money or declining to hit the market altogether because they want to stay in Buffalo. I can't EVER remember a time like this in Bills history.
 

 

 

 

Then you realized there were 2 others??!

 

But yeah it's nice to at least re-sign your guys.  Haven't really made a huge splash in FA though.

[Shaw66]

2 hours ago, Virgil said:

I don’t know why, but this just feels amazing to hear.  After so long of promises and hope, we have the real deal.  
 

Players want to be here.  The buy in is so quick.  Even seeing the Kroft family say their goodbyes just shows what McD has built.   
 

I love this 

Virg - Listen to Sanders.   He was practically salivating to play with this team. 

[loveorhatembillsfan4life]

18 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Virg - Listen to Sanders.   He was practically salivating to play with this team. 

I came away quite impressed with Sanders when he spoke to the media. I think this was a great signing to replace Brown. He is going to have a lot of opportunity to do some big things in our offense. He also understands what bringing a Championship to Buffalo would mean. 

[mikemac2001]

19 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

 

Then you realized there were 2 others??!

 

But yeah it's nice to at least re-sign your guys.  Haven't really made a huge splash in FA though.

Ya you usually don’t 

 

we were able to keep the team mostly in tact and players took less to be apart of it and that’s been reported.

 

Contracts were tweaked and revised with current players

 

The FA said they wanted to be here and ended up taking deals that were lower then expected 

 

Winners try to keep the team intact and find friendly deals and draft well I feel like thats the plan 

[billsfan89]

5 hours ago, Magox said:

Yeah, but some of the TBD "experts" of this board (2 dudes) believe that the Bills only did one thing right and that was get Josh Allen.  The rest has been terrible according to these experts.

They also seem to think Diggs wasn't the worst move but that we massively overpaid. 

[Bray Wyatt]

5 hours ago, Success said:

Great post & observation.  It's almost hard to adjust to.

 

For years, it was all about overpaying, if we wanted to land any meaningful FA.  And sometimes we'd offer more money, and feel like a deal was close, and they would STILL take less money to stay w/ their team or go to another.  I remember an O-lineman from ATL (I think) who that was pretty blatant w/, and it was so discouraging.  It was like, what do we have to do?  

 

It always seemed like the rich just got richer, while the Bills played their own version of moneyball, and mainly hoped to improve through the draft.

 

Watching guys take pay cuts to stay here & seeing players like Milano talk about the culture the way they have is just a fantastic change.  And all last summer, other fanbases were talking about the Diggs trade like he'd be complaining within a month because of Allen's "inaccuracy" and be the worst thing for this team. I don't think Diggs would choose to be anywhere else now.  He clearly loves it here, and playing w/ Allen.

 

We're that team now.  Gotta appreciate these days.

 

Tyson Clabo? I think that’s who it was and totally forgot about that

[Big Turk]

31 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

They also seem to think Diggs wasn't the worst move but that we massively overpaid. 

 

Who cares. We had the best WR in the NFL last year and have him for 3 more on a bargain basement contract. How does that constitute overpaying?