Keenan Allen could be a cap casualty according to reports

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

On 2/6/2023 at 10:25 AM, BillsVet said:

 

 

WR is a perfect example.  When they signed Brown in Beasley to 3 and 4 year deals respectively, they should have simultaneously planned to replace them.  But they didn't, and we're back to needing WR help. 

 

Pretty sure the plan was Davis and McKenzie replacing both. Going into this season many fans thought those two would have big years based on both the training camp reports and the fact that they were primed to get a significant uptick in workload and had for the most part produced well in their limited opportunities in past years when called upon. 

 

The Bills were wrong about Davis and McKenzie but they were the plan and I see why they thought they would both have more success than they did this last year. 

[BADOLBILZ]

10 hours ago, GolfandBills said:

Nice player but has rotted out rubber bands for hamstrings.  Pass 

 

 

He's still a very solid possession receiver when healthy but I agree that he's about shot..........and I suspect he will go to KC on a value deal.

 

The rebound guy I expect the Bills to have a shot at on a prove-it deal is Michael Thomas.    Lower floor(availability) but higher ceiling.

 

I was never a big fan of Thomas back when he was dominating because so much of his game is about physicality at the catch point and a few years ago there wasn't much contact allowed in the secondary so you just wanted guys who could get open.

 

That's changed.

 

Thomas is a big slot that runs good routes and catches EVERYTHING he gets a hand on...........part of the issue with Josh Allen this year IMO was a lack of trust in the slot garbage they were marching out there.........Thomas is a guy you just throw it to and if he's healthy he's elite.     If he's not.........you got issues but ideally the risk aligns with the contract and they also get a WR early in the draft too.

 

For some reason I think he had a connection to the Bills as well..........like he grew up a big Bills fan or something.

 

Keenan Allen I just think stays out west.

Edited February 8, 2023 by BADOLBILZ

[Nephilim17]

15 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

He's still a very solid possession receiver when healthy but I agree that he's about shot..........and I suspect he will go to KC on a value deal.

 

The rebound guy I expect the Bills to have a shot at on a prove-it deal is Michael Thomas.    Lower floor(availability) but higher ceiling.

 

I was never a big fan of Thomas back when he was dominating because so much of his game is about physicality at the catch point and a few years ago there wasn't much contact allowed in the secondary so you just wanted guys who could get open.

 

That's changed.

 

Thomas is a big slot that runs good routes and catches EVERYTHING he gets a hand on...........part of the issue with Josh Allen this year IMO was a lack of trust in the slot garbage they were marching out there.........Thomas is a guy you just throw it to and if he's healthy he's elite.     If he's not.........you got issues but ideally the risk aligns with the contract and they also get a WR early in the draft too.

 

For some reason I think he had a connection to the Bills as well..........like he grew up a big Bills fan or something.

 

Keenan Allen I just think stays out west.

This sounded good to me, but I checked his contract and apparently the Saints would carry a $26 million dead cap hit if he's gone.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-orleans-saints/michael-thomas-18996/#:~:text=Current Contract&text=In 2023%2C Thomas will earn,dead cap value of %2426%2C174%2C352.

[newcam2012]

On 2/6/2023 at 9:24 AM, Lieutenant Aldo Raine said:

 

Prior to this year, he missed two games in five years.  Not advocating one way or the other, just putting it out there.

This is not true. 

[BillsVet]

10 hours ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

Pretty sure the plan was Davis and McKenzie replacing both. Going into this season many fans thought those two would have big years based on both the training camp reports and the fact that they were primed to get a significant uptick in workload and had for the most part produced well in their limited opportunities in past years when called upon. 

 

The Bills were wrong about Davis and McKenzie but they were the plan and I see why they thought they would both have more success than they did this last year. 

 

OBD largely does retroactive corrective actions and underperforms against their competition at being proactive and anticipating problems.  And that's their job, not looking back, fixing what didn't work the previous season and then seeing new problems unfold.  

 

WR is a perfect example...where they over-estimated their own talent, made no moves to improve the position beside a late round pick and 1 year UFA contract, and the offense limped into the off-season.  And that happened as @BADOLBILZ noted Brown and Beasley declined/aged.  

[Big Turk]

On 2/6/2023 at 12:41 PM, Big Blitz said:

Draft the Center from Minnesota 

 

Sign Keenan Allen.  
 

 

If they could pull off these 2 things and only these 2 things, the off season would be a massive success.   

 

Teams that want to actually use their cap wisely don't pay 2 WR's. It's not happening.  They draft a guy to be that player, then they move on from him if he isn't going to be a #1 when it comes time for a second contract.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Big Turk

[Sestak4ever]

I would pick up Keenan Allen in a heartbeat. He has at least two good, productive years left in him. He could make a huge difference. Herbert was much more effective when Allen got back on the field.

[BADOLBILZ]

12 hours ago, Nephilim17 said:

This sounded good to me, but I checked his contract and apparently the Saints would carry a $26 million dead cap hit if he's gone.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-orleans-saints/michael-thomas-18996/#:~:text=Current Contract&text=In 2023%2C Thomas will earn,dead cap value of %2426%2C174%2C352.

 

 

They just re-structured his contract in early January to make a release easier.

 

If he's cut and designated a June 1st casualty the Saints can actually save just over $1M in cap space in 2023.

 

If they keep him he gets a massive $30M+ roster bonus..........coming off 3 injury plagued seasons.

 

The odds are that he's cut prior to that roster bonus coming due.

 

 

[dave mcbride]

12 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

He's still a very solid possession receiver when healthy but I agree that he's about shot..........and I suspect he will go to KC on a value deal.

 

The rebound guy I expect the Bills to have a shot at on a prove-it deal is Michael Thomas.    Lower floor(availability) but higher ceiling.

 

I was never a big fan of Thomas back when he was dominating because so much of his game is about physicality at the catch point and a few years ago there wasn't much contact allowed in the secondary so you just wanted guys who could get open.

 

That's changed.

 

Thomas is a big slot that runs good routes and catches EVERYTHING he gets a hand on...........part of the issue with Josh Allen this year IMO was a lack of trust in the slot garbage they were marching out there.........Thomas is a guy you just throw it to and if he's healthy he's elite.     If he's not.........you got issues but ideally the risk aligns with the contract and they also get a WR early in the draft too.

 

For some reason I think he had a connection to the Bills as well..........like he grew up a big Bills fan or something.

 

Keenan Allen I just think stays out west.

https://saintswire.usatoday.com/2022/11/13/bills-josh-allen-injury-michael-thomas-reacts-saints-twitter/

 

Michael Thomas on Josh Allen's elbow injury.

[SCBills]

2 hours ago, BillsVet said:

 

OBD largely does retroactive corrective actions and underperforms against their competition at being proactive and anticipating problems.  And that's their job, not looking back, fixing what didn't work the previous season and then seeing new problems unfold.  

 

WR is a perfect example...where they over-estimated their own talent, made no moves to improve the position beside a late round pick and 1 year UFA contract, and the offense limped into the off-season.  And that happened as @BADOLBILZ noted Brown and Beasley declined/aged.  

 

I'm looking at this off-season to see if our FO starts acting proactively.  You make a great point here.  

 

The proactive move would be trading Oliver, maybe even trading Epenesa for a late round pick.

 

Neither should be in their plans moving forward.  Neither is integral to our Defense.  We could desperately use a couple extra Day 3 picks.  We could desperately use the 12M in cap space.

 

Looking past '23, the only DL under contract are Von, Rousseau and Basham.   

 

If I were GM.. Extend Daquan Jones, trade Oliver and AJ, give Kingsley Jonathan a shot at DE5, bring back Shaq and Phillips and draft a DT. 

 

Von, Rousseau, Shaq, Basham, Kingsley

 

Daquan, Settle, Phillips, DT Draft Pick

 

Under contract for '24:  Von, Rousseau, Basham, Daquan, DT Draft Pick.

[BillsShredder83]

On 2/6/2023 at 10:04 PM, Mango said:

If you think Keenan Allen isn’t good enough to play opposite of Diggs then we don’t have a WR problem, we have a QB problem. 
 

I don’t think we have a QB problem. Allen is more than good enough.

 

But I’ll say it for the millionth time; no team with a top 5 QB contract can afford a 1a/1b receiver duo unless you get production on a rookie deal.

Keenan Allen isn’t a viable option.

 

Early on the board raved about how Allen made guys like Robert Foster, Duke Williams, etc. but now the board is up in arms about how having Diggs, Davis, McKenzie, Beasley, Brown, Hodgins, Shakir isn’t good enough and we need to spend big money on a second WR. It gives me pause. I’m not sure what shifted but something did. 

I think its just in 5 years were seeing a lot more teams have success with the 1a & 1b. MIA, PHI, CIN, MN to an extent, TB SB years. League is shifting towards it, but its also more in the front of fans minds. 

[Mango]

4 hours ago, BillsShredder83 said:

I think its just in 5 years were seeing a lot more teams have success with the 1a & 1b. MIA, PHI, CIN, MN to an extent, TB SB years. League is shifting towards it, but its also more in the front of fans minds. 

MN is the only one with a QB not on a rookie deal or taking a massive discount. When Brady won his cap hit was high (the next year was $10M), but Evans and and Godwin were the 27th and 59th paid WR at the time. The rest of those teams have QB’s not getting paid. 
 

In the same year Diggs was 8th and John Brown was 22nd.

 

Im not saying the Bills shouldn’t be upgrading their WR corp. They should. And they should do it through the draft, even high, that’s fine. We need depth players too., grab more late.
 

But if fans(not necessarily you) really believe that either we need to spend Keenan Allen money and/or a healthy Keenan Allen isn’t actually good enough to be on this roster behind Diggs, we don’t actually have a WR problem. We have a QB/QB contract value problem. 

[The Jokeman]

1 minute ago, Mango said:

MN is the only one with a QB not on a rookie deal or taking a massive discount. When Brady won his cap hit was high (the next year was $10M), but Evans and and Godwin were the 27th and 59th paid WR at the time. The rest of those teams have QB’s not getting paid. 
 

In the same year Diggs was 8th and John Brown was 22nd.

 

Im not saying the Bills shouldn’t be upgrading their WR corp. They should. And they should do it through the draft, even high, that’s fine. We need depth players too., grab more late.
 

But if fans(not necessarily you) really believe that either we need to spend Keenan Allen money and/or a healthy Keenan Allen isn’t actually good enough to be on this roster behind Diggs, we don’t actually have a WR problem. We have a QB/QB contract value problem. 

and that's when you need to maximize the value of the players around the QB. It's why Beasley and Brown get cut as making too much so we added Crowder, kept McKenzie and Davis and drafted Shakir to be replacements and unfortunately none of them stepped up unlike when the Chiefs who traded Hill and added JJ and MVS and SKyy Moore who did perform. We then brought Beasley and Brown back at reduced rates but sadly they didn't perform as might not be good enough. So that's why we need to improve talent. Allen is definitely more talented than McKenzie or the present version of Shakir IMHO and be worth an add as long as at a budget price. I've also mentioned looking at FA options like Greg Dortch or Richie James to possibly man the slot at a lower cost but better than McKenzie or an aging Beasley. 

[Aesop]

[ColoradoBills]

On 2/6/2023 at 6:29 PM, PrimeTime101 said:

Spend the money on the offensive line and get better at WR through the draft.

 

No person could argue that if your offensive line was top 10 or better, we would be in the SB. 

 

I'm entrenched in this thought.  If Josh has more time and can actually stand in the pocket for longer than a second, he would

make mediocre WR good, good WR great, and great WR elite.

 

A better OL helps Josh target his receivers, it also creates a TE who can run more routes and benefits the running game.

This approach has to be tried IMO.

I will be disappointed in Beane if he doesn't see that this year!

[colin]

17 minutes ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

I'm entrenched in this thought.  If Josh has more time and can actually stand in the pocket for longer than a second, he would

make mediocre WR good, good WR great, and great WR elite.

 

A better OL helps Josh target his receivers, it also creates a TE who can run more routes and benefits the running game.

This approach has to be tried IMO.

I will be disappointed in Beane if he doesn't see that this year!

 

i agree, but i think there needs to be a bit of wiggle room for who is available.  we can't have another offseason like the last two where we added basically jack to our OL, but if there is a legit top flight wr out there for us, im good putting a few more chips there and adding to OL w more "value".

 

net net, we just don't have talent at OL, gotta fix it.

[ColoradoBills]

5 minutes ago, colin said:

 

i agree, but i think there needs to be a bit of wiggle room for who is available.  we can't have another offseason like the last two where we added basically jack to our OL, but if there is a legit top flight wr out there for us, im good putting a few more chips there and adding to OL w more "value".

 

net net, we just don't have talent at OL, gotta fix it.

 

My hope is that there is a WR out there in a similar position as Juju Smith-Schuster was for KC.

SB contender teams get first crack at guys like that.  KC stole him this year for $3.76M.

 

I do want an improved WR room, but the OL has to be priority one.

[PrimeTime101]

22 hours ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

I'm entrenched in this thought.  If Josh has more time and can actually stand in the pocket for longer than a second, he would

make mediocre WR good, good WR great, and great WR elite.

 

A better OL helps Josh target his receivers, it also creates a TE who can run more routes and benefits the running game.

This approach has to be tried IMO.

I will be disappointed in Beane if he doesn't see that this year!

I agree and I am sick and tired of people saying JA has to stop playing hero ball... I am sorry but many times he is forced into it. a good Oline solves that.

[H2o]

Keenan Allen and Mike Williams both got restructured. The Chargers are getting the band back together for at least one more season. 

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/03/09/chargers-restructure-keenan-allen-mike-williams-contract/
 

Quote

 

Field Yates of ESPN reports that the team has restructured Allen’s contract in order to create cap space.

 

The report also indicates that the Chargers have restructured wide receiver Mike Williams‘ deal. The two moves have opened up $14.3775 million in cap space for Los Angeles.

 

 

[machine gun kelly]

I expected this to happen which is why I didn’t comment previously.