Is Edmunds decision the most difficult Beane has ever faced?

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Of course trading up and taking Allen was the most impactful. 

But I'd argue the decision on Edmunds will have repercussions for years. There are so many options. Sign him long term and spread out the cap hit to a player that at best has had an inconsistent impact since entering the NFL. Even spreading out the can hit, it will still commit massive resources to the two linebackers. Tag and force him to play under the tag. Tag and trade. Simply let him walk. 

This next decision may ultimately make or break Beane's career. 

The window to tag a player has already opened and a decision must be made by March 7th. 

Should be an interesting week ahead. 

[dorquemada]

Agreed.  I was firmly in the 'resign Edmunds no matter what' camp, but i've started to wonder what else we could do with the money.  Edmunds is obviously a great talent, but I just don't think he's an impact player.  Like with Star, I'm sick of hearing about all the things Edmunds does that don't show up on a stat sheet; that just doesn't pass the eye test when watching him play

[Billl]

Seems like letting him walk and get overpaid by someone else is a pretty easy decision.

[Riverboat Ritchie]

Likely have to let him walk but he is only 24.  When Nader if you could do something really long term with him. 

[Process]

A decent MLB: "I want top dollar"

 

Beane: "No"

[BADOLBILZ]

9 minutes ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Of course trading up and taking Allen was the most impactful. 

But I'd argue the decision on Edmunds will have repercussions for years. There are so many options. Sign him long term and spread out the cap hit to a player that at best has had an inconsistent impact since entering the NFL. Even spreading out the can hit, it will still commit massive resources to the two linebackers. Tag and force him to play under the tag. Tag and trade. Simply let him walk. 

This next decision may ultimately make or break Beane's career. 

The window to tag a player has already opened and a decision must be made by March 7th. 

Should be an interesting week ahead. 

 

It's a tough call for sure.

 

I think the options are:

 

Keep Edmunds and keep everything the same defensively..........continue to mostly dominate average to bad teams on that side of the ball......but accept that you will be carved up by Mahomes/Burrow/Trevor types and have to outscore them.

 

Or change your style of defense to some extent...............maybe funnel the run inside more and have a more instinctive and better run defender in the middle.   This possibly improves the pass rush by giving them wider splits.   

 

Personally,  I think it's time for a change.   But what really makes it tantalizing to keep Edmunds is that you could give him a LONG contract at his age and work with small cap hits for the next few seasons and not have to deal with dead money from the deal until the late 2020's possibly.

[H2o]

Maybe, maybe not. I think it's hard to justify him making much more than Milano when Milano is the better overall LB of the two. I understand the market and the "importance of the position", but if you watch the tape it does tell the story. Just like with other guys in previous years, I think Beane and company have already settled on a number. If the player wants to test the waters elsewhere? Fine. The offer will be on the table until they sign with another team or circle back. 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

2 minutes ago, H2o said:

Maybe, maybe not. I think it's hard to justify him making much more than Milano when Milano is the better overall LB of the two. I understand the market and the "importance of the position", but if you watch the tape it does tell the story. Just like with other guys in previous years, I think Beane and company have already settled on a number. If the player wants to test the waters elsewhere? Fine. The offer will be on the table until they sign with another team or circle back. 

I think this is accurate way to describe how Beane has worked in the past. Worked with Milano and Williams I think. 

[DrDawkinstein]

17 minutes ago, dorquemada said:

Agreed.  I was firmly in the 'resign Edmunds no matter what' camp, but i've started to wonder what else we could do with the money.  Edmunds is obviously a great talent, but I just don't think he's an impact player.  Like with Star, I'm sick of hearing about all the things Edmunds does that don't show up on a stat sheet; that just doesn't pass the eye test when watching him play

 

This must be the most difficult decision Beane has faced, because similar but opposite of you, I have been staunchly against re-signing him the last 4 years, but have changed my tune after this season.

 

Edmunds play, and the fog of his responsibilities, makes it almost impossible for us to properly decide whether it is worth re-signing him or not. Couple that with the "what ifs" that pop up when discussing using that money on Offense instead. But there are no guarantees Beane will spend on Offense even if Edmunds walks. So...

 

I have no clue.

[stevestojan]

A guy asking for all pro money who isn’t an all pro? 
 

I hope Beane doesn’t spend more time than his morning coffee thinking about this one. 
 

I like Edmunds. Kinda. And maybe I’ll finally realize his greatness when he’s gone. 
 

but this one is strictly numbers. And pretty easy math for me. 

[HappyDays]

I think it was already decided last year. Beane extends his guys a year early. LB is not a premium position and Edmunds even at his best does not make game changing plays. When you pay your QB, letting players like that go is a pretty easy decision.

[DrDawkinstein]

6 minutes ago, H2o said:

Maybe, maybe not. I think it's hard to justify him making much more than Milano when Milano is the better overall LB of the two. I understand the market and the "importance of the position", but if you watch the tape it does tell the story. Just like with other guys in previous years, I think Beane and company have already settled on a number. If the player wants to test the waters elsewhere? Fine. The offer will be on the table until they sign with another team or circle back. 

 

I understand fans wanting to have this line of thinking, but there is absolutely no solid, valid logic behind it.

 

It doesnt matter what we are paying Milano when it comes to Edmunds contract. Just like when Milano was re-signing people werent saying "but we only pay Lorenzo Alexander $X amount".

 

Milano's deal was in a much different time, for a different position, and had a player who was willing to take well below market in order to not complicate his life. It's an anomaly situation. Not a precedent.

[BarleyNY]

19 minutes ago, Billl said:

Seems like letting him walk and get overpaid by someone else is a pretty easy decision.

Agreed. I expect this to be the way it plays out. The decision gets a lot more difficult if he doesn’t get top of the market money. 

[DrDawkinstein]

2 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

I think it was already decided last year. Beane extends his guys a year early. LB is not a premium position and Edmunds even at his best does not make game changing plays. When you pay your QB, letting players like that go is a pretty easy decision.

 

I'm not so sure it is that simple. I agree Beane prefers to extend early. And I believe Beane made him a lower offer based on his level of play up to last season. But I think in this specific case, they gave him that year on the Option to prove his development. And doggone it, he did. So now it gets even tougher. We'll see.

[dorquemada]

4 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Edmunds play, and the fog of his responsibilities, makes it almost impossible for us to properly decide whether it is worth re-signing him or not. Couple that with the "what ifs" that pop up when discussing using that money on Offense instead. But there are no guarantees Beane will spend on Offense even if Edmunds walks. So...

 

I have no clue.

 

That's the issue.  Does he go find an undersized/high motor IDL with that money instead?  of course he does

[DrDawkinstein]

Just now, dorquemada said:

 

That's the issue.  Does he go find an undersized/high motor IDL with that money instead?  of course he does

 

Ha! Well, if you can guarantee me the choice is between Edmunds or Ben Powers, that makes it easier.

[H2o]

2 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

I understand fans wanting to have this line of thinking, but there is absolutely no solid, valid logic behind it.

 

It doesnt matter what we are paying Milano when it comes to Edmunds contract. Just like when Milano was re-signing people werent saying "but we only pay Lorenzo Alexander $X amount".

 

Milano's deal was in a much different time, for a different position, and had a player who was willing to take well below market in order to not complicate his life. It's an anomaly situation. Not a precedent.

I understand this as well, which is why I mentioned the market and the position difference in all of it. I still think Milano is the better LB of the two though. I think Beane and Co. has a number already on the table, and that is why Edmunds is saying he's going to test the market. I'd rather spend that $$$ elsewhere along the OL, draft a replacement, and tender Dodson. Let a rookie, Dodson, and Spector battle it out in TC/Preseason. 

[BADOLBILZ]

30 minutes ago, Billl said:

Seems like letting him walk and get overpaid by someone else is a pretty easy decision.

 

For KC.......with a SB win in hand(and now 2)........yeah it would be pretty easy.

 

It's a little more complicated for the Bills........when you haven't won one there is a tendency to try to force your way to the top with top end talent.

 

On paper.......the Bills probably should have won or at least been in the last 2 SB's..........top offenses and defenses.........biggest and second biggest point differentials in the league........so there is maybe a bit of reluctance to take a step back talent-wise.

 

But I think you gotta' see thru that as an organization and be willing to change things even if you tend to think they only didn't work because of unfortunate circumstances or the like.

[Nephilim17]

I keep hearing about how Edmunds takes away the middle of the field in the opponent's passing game. But we keep getting killed in the playoffs and against good QBs in the passing game.

So...  is it really true? Or are the teams doing this do us relying just on perimeter throws for such great success?

[947]

I think it seems extremely stressful to us fans because we all know Beane should let him walk, but we also know darn well that McDermott might be able to convince Beane to pay him, and we'll be screwed on Offense. It really shouldn't be a difficult decision, but given our team's history, they're likely to make it one.