Some hard choices for Beane on the D-Line

[BillsFanForever19]

22 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

Leonard Floyd is here on a team friendly one year contract and we would all love to see him extended. 

 

Epenesa has seemingly turned a corner and his rookie contract is up this year.  Can the Bills afford to resign him?

 

Rousseau has one more season under contract and will be a free agent in 2025.  He looks like the real deal and it would be great to lock him up long term as a staple of the D-line going forward.

 

DaQuan Jones is a free agent at the end of this season, just like Floyd and Epenesa are, and I suspect DaQuan will be a hot commodity on the free agent market.  Can we afford to bring him back?

 

The dark cloud hovering over all of these personnel decisions for Beane is the massive contract he gave Von to come to Buffalo.  I linked to Von's contract below.  That contract runs through the 2027 season and there are no cheap outs.   Beane has also locked up Ed Oliver long term.  His contract is below too.  The combined cap hit for just Von and Ed next season is a whopping $44.5 mm. 

 

How much more can Beane invest on the D-Line?  Who should he let walk?   I won't even bring up other pending free agents like Rasul Douglas who has to be a priority to resign.

 

Beane is going to have some tough choices to make and the salary cap isn't going to go up enough next year to save him.

 

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/von-miller-7717/contracts/

 

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/ed-oliver-29044/contracts/

 

I mean, he really doesn't have much of a choice but to invest in the Line. Von Miller and Greg Rousseau are the only DE's we have under contract for next year. And Ed Oliver is literally the only DT we have for 2024. 

 

I think we will retain one of Floyd or Epenesa. I think as to whom really boils down to if Miller shows some growth in the last games (if we make the playoffs) or not and/or if they have faith he'll be better next season. He'll be here regardless (unless he is charged and placed on the exempt list) as he's more expensive to lose than keep. And we can't afford to take on more cap hits.

 

If he shows something after being sit or they have faith for next season, they may opt for the more inexpensive route in Epenesa. A guy who can be the heavy in a rotational role or possibly start if they feel Miller would be better suited rotationally.

 

If they believe Miller is shot, then I think you need to bring back Floyd at all costs. As Epenesa is good in rotation, but who knows if he can be as good as he has been this year as an every down starter. And if they feel Miller's shot and won't provide much in rotation, we can't gamble that Epenesa can't handle the starting gig on top of it.

 

I also believe we'll be trying hard to retain Daquan Jones. A healthy Oliver/Jones combo has been solid for us and I think they'd like to keep it.

 

I believe Floyd or Epenesa and Jones are our primary focus going into the Offseason. Everything else will need to be filled with smart bargains and Draft picks.

 

I trust in Beane to find the space to make it work as he did this year. 41.5m over is daunting. But he's the type of GM who goes over only to the extent of which he knows ahead of time that he can free up with certain moves. And I'm sure he knows what he's going to do to get us the space to be able to re-sign two of those guys.

Edited January 3 by BillsFanForever19

[Inigo Montoya]

Beane signing Von was as close as Beane has ever come to "going all in", and unfortunately with the ACL injury, the gamble didn't pay off.   Unless Von returns to form next season the Bills organizations will suffer for "going all in" and busting. 

 

We all knew it was a gamble when the signing was announced, and sometimes you lose when you gamble.

[In Summary]

Gotta keep Jones.