2022 Offseason Summary

[No_Matter_What]

Didn't see this posted so I'd like to make a recap. Please let me know if I omitted something / someone. I am not listing players who we re-signed but who were mostly PS players so far.

 

FAs not re-signed:

QB Trubisky,  WR Sanders, RB Breida

DE Hughes, DE Addison, DE Obada, DT H. Phillips, DT Butler, DT Zimmer, CB Wallace

 

Cut:

OG Feliciano, OT Williams, WR Beasley

DT Lotulelei, LB Klein

 

Re-signed:

OG Bates - $17M/4y (matched RFA tender)

CB/S Neal - $9M/3y

WR McKenzie - $4,4M/2y

One year deals: OG Boettger, RB T.Jones, WR Kumerow, LB Dodson

 

FA acquisitions:

DE Von Miller - $120M/6y (potential out after 3 seasons with $7,4M dead cap)

DT D. Jones - $14/2y (+void year)

DT Settle - $9M/2y (+void year)

One year deals: QB Keenum, QB Barkley, OG Saffold, OT Quessenberry, OG Mancz, RB Johnson, TE Howard, WR Crowder

DE Lawson, DT J. Phillips, LB Lee

 

Draft:

CB Elam, RB Cook, LB Bernard, WR Shakir, P Araiza, CB Benford, OT Tenuta, LB Spector

 

UDFA:

TE Wydermyer, RB Blackshear, OT Anderson, OG Kerstetter, OG Owen, WR M.Williams, WR Pau'u, DE Jonathan, CB T.Fuller

 

Restructures:

WR Diggs - $96M/4y, under contract 6 seasons total

C Morse - $19,5M/2y, under contract 3 seasons total

LB Milano - conversion of $6,5M salary into signing bonus (3years under contract + added 2 void years)

S Hyde - conversion of $5,7M salary into signing bonus (2years under contract + added 3 void years)

P Haack - pay cut

 

Cap situation:

$5M cap space according to Sportrac. However, its only top51 right now and real season is 53 players, which means additional $1,8M. Practice squad players also count, so that's roughly $3M extra. All in all, we are about zero right now and need to make some space for in season moves.

Possible cut candidates: LB Matakevich ($2,5M), OG Ford ($1,5M) - actual cap savings will be less since we need to replace them on the roster (that is why cutting Haack does not save cap space).

Possible restructures: CB White, LT Dawkins

Possible extensions: S Poyer, LB Edmunds

 

My comments:

Great offseason on paper. With tight cap space Beane managed to upgrade the roster. On defense, we got better at DE, better at DT, better and faster at CB (Elam over Wallace), at least faster and hopefully better (?) with more upside (?) at LB (Bernard over Klein). On offense, we got better at RB (Cook over Breida), hopefully much better at TE (Howard) and if not better then younger at WR (Crowder and Shakir over Beasley and Sanders). We added competition to return game (Shakir) and potentially massively upgraded punting game. From core players we kept all but maybe 4 (Diggs, Morse, Hyde and Poyer) are young or relatively young and should be trending upwards.

 

My only gripe is OL. I don't feel competent to judge OL play, but from your comments guys it seems Saffold and Quesenberry are either a wash or maybe minor upgrade over Williams and Feliciano. I was hoping for more. Something like better FAs or drafting a guard in 2nd or 3rd round, or at least some project with huge upside in 5th. But you can't have everything I guess, and we upgraded other units much more than I hoped for. I am also sure that we wanted to draft OL, it just didn't go that way. There is also a solid chance that Brown gets better, Bates will be consistent upgrade and OL as whole will be better with new OL coach.

 

I am also not sure if Diggs contract isn't for one year too many, but it is also a minor thing. I love that we extended him.

 

Current roster:

 

 

Go Bills! 

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by No_Matter_What

[PonyBoy]

1 hour ago, No_Matter_What said:

Didn't see this posted so I'd like to make a recap. Please let me know if I omitted something / someone. I am not listing players who we re-signed but who were mostly PS players so far.

 

Left in FA:

QB Trubisky,  WR Sanders, RB Breida

DE Hughes, DE Addison, DE Obada, DT H. Phillips, DT Butler, DT Zimmer, CB Wallace

 

Cut:

OG Feliciano, OT Williams, WR Beasley

DT Lotulelei, LB Klein

 

Re-signed:

OG Bates - $17M/4y (matched RFA tender)

CB/S Neal - $9M/3y

WR McKenzie - $4,4M/2y

One year deals: OG Boettger, RB T.Jones, WR Kumerow, LB Dodson

 

FA acquisitions:

DE Von Miller - $120M/6y (potential out after 3 seasons with $7,4M dead cap)

DT D. Jones - $14/2y (+void year)

DT Settle - $9M/2y (+void year)

One year deals: QB Keenum, QB Barkley, OG Saffold, OT Quessenberry, OG Mancz, RB Johnson, TE Howard, WR Crowder

DE Lawson, DT J. Phillips, LB Lee

 

Draft:

CB Elam, RB Cook, LB Bernard, WR Shakir, P Araiza, CB Benford, OT Tenuta, LB Spector

 

UDFA:

TE Wydermyer, RB Blackshear, OT Anderson, OG Kerstetter, OG Owen, WR M.Williams, WR Pau'u, DE Jonathan, CB T.Fuller

 

Restructures:

WR Diggs - $96M/4y, under contract 6 seasons total

C Morse - $19,5M/2y, under contract 3 seasons total

LB Milano - conversion of $6,5M salary into signing bonus (3years under contract + added 2 void years)

S Hyde - conversion of $5,7M salary into signing bonus (2years under contract + added 3 void years)

P Haack - pay cut

 

Cap situation:

$5M cap space according to Sportrac. However, its only top51 right now and real season is 53 players, which means additional $1,8M. Practice squad players also count, so that's roughly $3M extra. All in all, we are about zero right now and need to make some space for in season moves.

Possible cut candidates: LB Matakevich ($2,5M), OG Ford ($1,5M) - actual cap savings will be less since we need to replace them on the roster (that is why cutting Haack does not save cap space).

Possible restructures: CB White, LT Dawkins

Possible extensions: S Poyer, LB Edmunds

 

My comments:

Great offseason on paper. With tight cap space Beane managed to upgrade the roster. On defense, we got better at DE, better at DT, better and faster at CB (Elam over Wallace), at least faster and hopefully better (?) with more upside (?) at LB (Bernard over Klein). On offense, we got better at RB (Cook over Breida), hopefully much better at TE (Howard) and if not better then younger at WR (Crowder and Shakir over Beasley and Sanders). We added competition to return game (Shakir) and potentially massively upgraded punting game. From core players we kept all but maybe 4 (Diggs, Morse, Hyde and Poyer) are young or relatively young and should be trending upwards.

 

My only gripe is OL. I don't feel competent to judge OL play, but from your comments guys it seems Saffold and Quesenberry are either a wash or maybe minor upgrade over Williams and Feliciano. I was hoping for more. Something like better FAs or drafting a guard in 2nd or 3rd round, or at least some project with huge upside in 5th. But you can't have everything I guess, and we upgraded other units much more than I hoped for. I am also sure that we wanted to draft OL, it just didn't go that way. There is also a solid chance that Brown gets better, Bates will be consistent upgrade and OL as whole will be better with new OL coach.

 

I am also not sure if Diggs contract isn't for one year too many, but it is also a minor thing. I love that we extended him.

 

Current roster:

 

 

Go Bills! 

 

 

Wow! Great detail and work! Thank you! 👍 I'm a Bills fan, but some of you on here are SuperBills fans. Ooooo!!  SuperBills, SuperBowls?  Close, I like the connectivity on that!! 😃

[billybrew1]

I’m seeing a helluva lot assumptions….here. I guess the hope is our upgrades are all upgrades….

We’re all going to havta see that’s all…

I hope you’re right and I’ll be rootin’ for the Bills as always….

Just gotta watch out for assumptions….

[LeGOATski]

8 hours ago, ScottLaw said:

The plan with the offensive line was essentially bring in a top notch line coach and hope he can turn chicken ***** into chicken stew…. Good thing is he’s actually shown he can do that. 

Yep. Kromer might have been the biggest offseason acquisition of them all.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

So, “we” Won?

 

[Simon Says]

Why do you include $3 million in salary for practice squad players? Doubtful if any one  them makes enough to bump a player off the the top 53 cap list. Yes, theoretically you can pay a PS guy as much as you want,and a veteran would likely not take the PS gig at the PS minumum. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

9 hours ago, billybrew1 said:

I’m seeing a helluva lot assumptions….here. I guess the hope is our upgrades are all upgrades….

We’re all going to havta see that’s all…

I hope you’re right and I’ll be rootin’ for the Bills as always….

Just gotta watch out for assumptions….

 

In terms of a couple of the skill positions I think we have to project young guys getting better.

 

Davis outplayed Sanders the majority of the season last year on a per snap basis while Sanders was getting about double the snaps Davis was. Now Davis is set to be an every down receiver it looks like. So I would project a massive jump there. Don't be shocked if it is Davis and not Diggs who leads the team in receiving yards. 

 

Dawson Knox had a break out year last year but I would look for him to break out even more this year. Not more TD's but look for more yards and receptions. 

 

McKenzie may also double his production from last year.

 

Crowder I have no idea what to expect. He's this years Sanders. Sanders wasn't terrible last year but I did end up viewing him as underwhelming. I thought Sanders would have a pretty big year playing with the best QB he had been paired with since the Peyton Manning days in Denver. Crowder is similar. He's played with a lot of bad QB's and offenses. I just don't want him to steal snaps from guys like Davis and McKenzie if he is being routinely out performed by the two like Sanders was. 

 

On defense I'm intrigued with Lawson and Phillips. Those two brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm in the Bills breakout 2019 season. It was also contract years for both just as it is again now with each brought back on one year deals. But unless they exceed expectations or there are injuries the duo likely does not come close to the number of snaps they totaled in 2019. 

 

Haven't even gotten to Von Miller yet. Obviously would love to see him produce at the highest level for another 2 seasons at least. DPOY candidate level. 

 

Would love to see Groot take a huge leap this year. I remember his limited pre season snaps last year. Guy looked like he was going to be a problem for offenses on every passing play. Then he had the huge tip INT against Mahomes early in the season and really not much after that. 

 

[Thurman#1]

I'd argue that the FAs who have not signed with other teams, like Sanders and Zimmer shouldn't be listed as "left." You never know what will happen. They just haven't been re-signed yet.

 

Good summary. I'd argue you're a bit overoptimistic on the receivers and LBs (IMO Klein will be missed and while I'm really hopeful on Bernard, he won't be as good this year as Klein was), but are basically very reasonable.

[ColoradoBills]

Beane has 6 open spots and some cap to play with.  There is a number of players (rookies, etc) who are under the top 51

who will make the team which will lessen the current cap.  I would of bet earlier in the year that an Edmunds contract would of 

been signed by now.  It will be interesting if that happens before camp.

 

Now that the Bills are a true SB contender, I will wait to see what players may want to sign a cheap one-year contract and come to camp.

I don't think Beane and his team are done yet.

 

[Thurman#1]

2 minutes ago, ColoradoBills said:

Beane has 6 open spots and some cap to play with.  There is a number of players (rookies, etc) who are under the top 51

who will make the team which will lessen the current cap.  I would of bet earlier in the year that an Edmunds contract would of 

been signed by now.  It will be interesting if that happens before camp.

 

Now that the Bills are a true SB contender, I will wait to see what players may want to sign a cheap one-year contract and come to camp.

I don't think Beane and his team are done yet.

 

 

 

I'd bet they're all but done.

 

Very little cap is left to play with, this year or next, and that's a major concern.

 

I'd expect small moves still but not a lot beyond that.

[ColoradoBills]

11 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

I'd bet they're all but done.

 

Very little cap is left to play with, this year or next, and that's a major concern.

 

I'd expect small moves still but not a lot beyond that.

 

I'm not talking top name talent signing long term contracts.  I'm talking about players wanting to come to Buffalo on a cheap one-year who

could improve depth (not starters) at one or 2 positions.

 

We have seen that in the past with other top teams and always commented about the "rich getting richer".

 

We will see.

[Utah John]

19 hours ago, No_Matter_What said:

Didn't see this posted so I'd like to make a recap. Please let me know if I omitted something / someone. I am not listing players who we re-signed but who were mostly PS players so far.

 

Left in FA:

QB Trubisky,  WR Sanders, RB Breida

DE Hughes, DE Addison, DE Obada, DT H. Phillips, DT Butler, DT Zimmer, CB Wallace

 

Cut:

OG Feliciano, OT Williams, WR Beasley

DT Lotulelei, LB Klein

 

Re-signed:

OG Bates - $17M/4y (matched RFA tender)

CB/S Neal - $9M/3y

WR McKenzie - $4,4M/2y

One year deals: OG Boettger, RB T.Jones, WR Kumerow, LB Dodson

 

FA acquisitions:

DE Von Miller - $120M/6y (potential out after 3 seasons with $7,4M dead cap)

DT D. Jones - $14/2y (+void year)

DT Settle - $9M/2y (+void year)

One year deals: QB Keenum, QB Barkley, OG Saffold, OT Quessenberry, OG Mancz, RB Johnson, TE Howard, WR Crowder

DE Lawson, DT J. Phillips, LB Lee

 

Draft:

CB Elam, RB Cook, LB Bernard, WR Shakir, P Araiza, CB Benford, OT Tenuta, LB Spector

 

UDFA:

TE Wydermyer, RB Blackshear, OT Anderson, OG Kerstetter, OG Owen, WR M.Williams, WR Pau'u, DE Jonathan, CB T.Fuller

 

Restructures:

WR Diggs - $96M/4y, under contract 6 seasons total

C Morse - $19,5M/2y, under contract 3 seasons total

LB Milano - conversion of $6,5M salary into signing bonus (3years under contract + added 2 void years)

S Hyde - conversion of $5,7M salary into signing bonus (2years under contract + added 3 void years)

P Haack - pay cut

 

Cap situation:

$5M cap space according to Sportrac. However, its only top51 right now and real season is 53 players, which means additional $1,8M. Practice squad players also count, so that's roughly $3M extra. All in all, we are about zero right now and need to make some space for in season moves.

Possible cut candidates: LB Matakevich ($2,5M), OG Ford ($1,5M) - actual cap savings will be less since we need to replace them on the roster (that is why cutting Haack does not save cap space).

Possible restructures: CB White, LT Dawkins

Possible extensions: S Poyer, LB Edmunds

 

My comments:

Great offseason on paper. With tight cap space Beane managed to upgrade the roster. On defense, we got better at DE, better at DT, better and faster at CB (Elam over Wallace), at least faster and hopefully better (?) with more upside (?) at LB (Bernard over Klein). On offense, we got better at RB (Cook over Breida), hopefully much better at TE (Howard) and if not better then younger at WR (Crowder and Shakir over Beasley and Sanders). We added competition to return game (Shakir) and potentially massively upgraded punting game. From core players we kept all but maybe 4 (Diggs, Morse, Hyde and Poyer) are young or relatively young and should be trending upwards.

 

My only gripe is OL. I don't feel competent to judge OL play, but from your comments guys it seems Saffold and Quesenberry are either a wash or maybe minor upgrade over Williams and Feliciano. I was hoping for more. Something like better FAs or drafting a guard in 2nd or 3rd round, or at least some project with huge upside in 5th. But you can't have everything I guess, and we upgraded other units much more than I hoped for. I am also sure that we wanted to draft OL, it just didn't go that way. There is also a solid chance that Brown gets better, Bates will be consistent upgrade and OL as whole will be better with new OL coach.

 

I am also not sure if Diggs contract isn't for one year too many, but it is also a minor thing. I love that we extended him.

 

Current roster:

 

 

Go Bills! 

 

We'll find out in the first game, against Aaron Donald, about whether the O line is good enough.  

 

I'm thinking the Bills learned a huge lesson in Game 1 last year, not really being at their best against Pittsburgh and figuring they just needed to show up and win.  The Steelers game might be the most important of last season, for this season.  Not sure if the Rams got that memo, that they have to work even harder this year than last if they want to repeat.  I doubt Donald needs any motivation -- that guy never stops.  It's the rest of the team that I'm not sure about.  They lost a lot more talent than the Bills did in the offseason, and their lack of picks in the first two rounds will catch up to them quickly.

[No_Matter_What]

16 hours ago, billybrew1 said:

I’m seeing a helluva lot assumptions….here. I guess the hope is our upgrades are all upgrades….

We’re all going to havta see that’s all…

I hope you’re right and I’ll be rootin’ for the Bills as always….

Just gotta watch out for assumptions….

Yeah there were some assumptions in my comments, but not helluva lot imo

 

We upgraded DE, DT, RB and TE based on the performances of respective players last year. That it a fact imo.

 

WR and LB remains to be seen, those are certainly question marks.

 

7 hours ago, SlimShady'sSpaceForce said:

So, “we” Won?

 

 

Nah, cmon  Majority of OP content are facts. I wanted to summarize what happened, mostly for my own future reference, and also for anybody here who was interested. Didn't want to imply that we won an offseason  

 

7 hours ago, Georgie said:

Why do you include $3 million in salary for practice squad players? Doubtful if any one  them makes enough to bump a player off the the top 53 cap list. Yes, theoretically you can pay a PS guy as much as you want,and a veteran would likely not take the PS gig at the PS minumum. 

 

I might be wrong, but as far as I know PS players count towards the cap. So they don't need to bump anybody of 53 to count. You need to count 53 roster players + all PS players (+ all dead cap and other things, but that's beyond the point). And all PS players with two or fewer accrued NFL seasons earn at least $166k, which means at least $2,65M total (16 players). If a player has more than 2 seasons, then he has to ear at least $252k, i.e. $86k more. So it will be something between $2,65M and $3M for whole PS.

[No_Matter_What]

5 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

I'd argue that the FAs who have not signed with other teams, like Sanders and Zimmer shouldn't be listed as "left." You never know what will happen. They just haven't been re-signed yet.

 

Good summary. I'd argue you're a bit overoptimistic on the receivers and LBs (IMO Klein will be missed and while I'm really hopeful on Bernard, he won't be as good this year as Klein was), but are basically very reasonable.

 

Ok, when I wrote "left" I meant to include all players who were on Bills 2021 roster and were FAs after the season. I'll edit OP.

 

Also agreed on your other comment. WRs and LBs are question marks. DE, DT, RB and TE are clear upgrades.

 

5 hours ago, ColoradoBills said:

Beane has 6 open spots and some cap to play with.  There is a number of players (rookies, etc) who are under the top 51

who will make the team which will lessen the current cap.  I would of bet earlier in the year that an Edmunds contract would of 

been signed by now.  It will be interesting if that happens before camp.

 

Now that the Bills are a true SB contender, I will wait to see what players may want to sign a cheap one-year contract and come to camp.

I don't think Beane and his team are done yet.

 

 

As for the bolded, who except of the ones I mentioned (Matakevich and Ford) you have in mind? I mean sure that maybe 6-8 players who are currently under top 53 will replace players who are on accounted for right now, but savings will be minimal, unless some UDFA or someone similar gets in. Maybe if Spector makes it in instead of Andre Smith, that could be about $400k (which is quite a lot). Or if Quessenbery is cut, that could amount to $600k, but that's fairly unlikely. Then Kumerow is the last one I can see who can be cut with more than $250k savings.

 

But I guess you are right, this could possibly make around $1M in savings total. I surely hope that some guys like Wydermyer or Benford make the roster. That would be great news cap wise.

[ganesh]

10 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

I'd bet they're all but done.

 

Very little cap is left to play with, this year or next, and that's a major concern.

 

I'd expect small moves still but not a lot beyond that.

THis is the year our draft picks from the past two drafts MUST make some noise.

[The Wiz]

On 5/13/2022 at 5:29 PM, ScottLaw said:

The plan with the offensive line was essentially bring in a top notch line coach and hope he can turn chicken ***** into chicken stew…. Good thing is he’s actually shown he can do that. 

Where do I send my beach chair to so the oline gets the message? 😄

[Thurman#1]

3 hours ago, ganesh said:

THis is the year our draft picks from the past two drafts MUST make some noise.

 

 

It takes time. If only they were ready when we needed them rather than when they reach their own individual tipping points.

 

The rule is generally you can't call someone a bust for three years. There's good reason it's three years. Some get there earlier, but some don't.

 

You can't cook an omelette and say, well, I can't wait as long as the recipe says, so I'll just cook it at three times the temperature for a third of the time. It won't work out well. Myself, I have faith we'll see real improvement from some of these guys and that this is a roster that looks legit ready for Super Bowl competitiveness.

 

[Thurman#1]

8 hours ago, No_Matter_What said:

 

I might be wrong, but as far as I know PS players count towards the cap. So they don't need to bump anybody of 53 to count. You need to count 53 roster players + all PS players (+ all dead cap and other things, but that's beyond the point). And all PS players with two or fewer accrued NFL seasons earn at least $166k, which means at least $2,65M total (16 players). If a player has more than 2 seasons, then he has to ear at least $252k, i.e. $86k more. So it will be something between $2,65M and $3M for whole PS.

 

 

Yes, the practice squad counts to the cap. 

 

Last year, according to Spotrac, our practice squad totalled $1,289,600 against the cap, 0.68% of the cap.

 

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/2021/

 

It's about 2/3rds of the way down the page.

 

Weekly PS salary minimum last year was $9.2K and it goes up this year to $11.5K, so we will be spending about 22% more, roughly. More if they decide on a guy or two with more experience.

 

And as of right now, for the 2023 season we are already about $12.5M OVER the cap. Things will change, and we certainly will get under the cap, but this is a big concern going forwards.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2022 by Thurman#1

[Sierra Foothills]

Thank you for the great offseason summary!

 

👏👏👏

[No_Matter_What]

3 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Yes, the practice squad counts to the cap. 

 

Last year, according to Spotrac, our practice squad totalled $1,289,600 against the cap, 0.68% of the cap.

 

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/2021/

 

It's about 2/3rds of the way down the page.

 

Weekly PS salary minimum last year was $9.2K and it goes up this year to $11.5K, so we will be spending about 22% more, roughly. More if they decide on a guy or two with more experience.

 

And as of right now, for the 2023 season we are already about $12.5M OVER the cap. Things will change, and we certainly will get under the cap, but this is a big concern going forwards.

 

 

 

As for the last year, number you state is from the end of the season. At that time, most of PS players original cap hit is "converted" to dead money due to movement in PS/active roster.

 

Let's take Quintin Morris as an example. As a PS member, he has listed cap hit of $82,800, which is PS cap hit for 9 games after Jags game where he was on an active roster. All PS money he earned from the start of the season until he was promoted to active roster (for one or two games, I am not sure), as well as money earned as an active player, are accounted for as dead money ($139,266).

 

So, when the season starts, we will have 16 PS players with full cap hits.

 

I didn't know that minimum PS salary goes up this year, thanks for noting that. If that is the case, minimum PS total cap hit will be 3,3M ($207,000 * 16 players).

 

As for the next year, I agree that the cap situation will be worse than this year. I'll make a thread about next offseason later this week