Key notes from players on locker room cleaning day (here is what you need to know)

[Beck Water]

14 minutes ago, appoo said:

You restructure him. Or a Post June 1 designation which spreads a 30M deadcap to the next two seasons, saving you about 12M in cap space this season, and carrying 15M in deadcap in 2025. 

 

I would much rather restructure him and see if he bounces back in a less needed role

 

Appoo, you really ought to read Mango's post on this.

 

In general, players it makes sense to restructure are the young-ish core of the roster who you plan to keep through the years when the restructure could bite you.

 

It would have been preferable if the Bills could have avoided restructuring him last March, but they did.  Let's not compound the errors.

 

 

[finn]

1 hour ago, RousseauRage said:

He's too scared to let Josh lose a game that it stops him from helping us win. 16 passes behind the LOS.

 

Need to let him him loose and hope we get 3 or 4 games where he doesn't implode in a row in the playoffs. 

 

I thought he did a good job overall. Should have adjusted when the Chiefs stacked the box (or appeared to) in the fourth quarter. My only other criticism is that he kept going to Diggs instead of Shakir. One dropped passes, didn't get open, fumbled, and dropped passes, and the other caught everything, ran well after the catch, and was clutch. Brady should have recognized the changing of the guard even before the game. All those targets to Diggs were wasted. The guy is washed. 

 

I wonder if they could have done better if they had ignored Diggs and focused on Shakir, Kincaid, and Cook. 

[appoo]

4 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Appoo, you really ought to read Mango's post on this.

 

In general, players it makes sense to restructure are the young-ish core of the roster who you plan to keep through the years when the restructure could bite you.

 

It would have been preferable if the Bills could have avoided restructuring him last March, but they did.  Let's not compound the errors.

 

 

 

But that's revisionist isn't it? Did anyone have an issue with Diggs restructure? At the time I think it was pretty much assumed Diggs was gonna be restructured and then extended after this season.  

 

He hadn't shown a single sign of coming close to slowing down until about half way this season.

 

But you don't usually restructure younger players because their Base pay and contract length simply makes it not too value added. Those restructures are most valuable on guys who who are into their 2nd and 3rd contracts when their base salaries hike up

Edited January 22 by appoo

[Aussie Joe]

15 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Probably so.  But not definitely so.

 

Floyd was cut by the Rams 2 years into a 4 year, $64M contract and wound up signing a 1 year, $7M "prove it" deal with the Bills (for which the Bills will take on a nice dead cap hit next season)

 

I'm sure he'd like someone to pony up and offer his 31 year old self a multi-year, multi-million contract.  Von Miller's Albatross of a contract at age 35 illustrates why teams may be reluctant to do so. 

Could still see him getting a 2 yr $10m a year deal though … a far cry from Von money 

[Toledo Bill]

43 minutes ago, appoo said:

I'm not quite worried about the cap to be honest. 

 

Restructure Diggs ~ 12M

Extend Allen (he deserves a much higher salary anyways) or Restructure him ~ 18.8M

Restructure Von ~13M

 

You're already up to 43M

 

Extend Dion Dawkins 4 years ~ 10M

Extend or Release White ~ 6M

Extend Douglas 2 years ~ 4M

 

Bills don't have expensive FAs to re-sign. Davis will walk, Hyde will retire, Poyer will retire (earn more cap savings there). Probably DQ will be retained ($4M). The only one I have a question about is AJE, who I love as a 3rd DE behind GR and Von (who looked decent yesterday).

 

Beane won't be much of a player in the FA market this year, but I do think there's space to add an impact player. For example Budda Baker if negotiations fall through with AZ though I'm not sure Beane would ever sink 14M into a FS

Definitely sign Jones.. Espenesa can go. He is invisible too often.

[NewEra]

👋🏻 gabe

[DapperCam]

Of course Knox loves Allen. He’s responsible for Knox securing that huge contract.

 

Knox should give 25% of his contract to Allen.

[BuffaloBill]

Hard to say what this offseason will bring.  The Bills will need to retool their roster as an outcome of cap and normal management. They have a very good core including JA so they will be competitive.  

[MWK]

It is hilarious to me how people use players endorsing Brady as a reason why we should keep him. Players endorsed Ken Dorsey too.

[Beck Water]

30 minutes ago, appoo said:

But that's revisionist isn't it? Did anyone have an issue with Diggs restructure? At the time I think it was pretty much assumed Diggs was gonna be restructured and then extended after this season. 

 

I think a number of us have receipts for that.  And no, I don't think it was assumed Diggs was going to be extended after this season.

 

He's already 30 and is signed through age 34.  There's a reason guys like OBJ and Hopkins only got 1 and 2 year contracts, respectively.  It's not as bad as RBs, but when WR who rely on quickness and agility fall off a cliff, they sometimes fall steeply.

 

 

26 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

Could still see him getting a 2 yr $10m a year deal though … a far cry from Von money 

 

Floyd?  He could.  I think he has visions of more, not sure he'll realize them. 

Edited January 22 by Beck Water

[Ethan in Cleveland]

38 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

If they can get a 5th for Cody Ford, then Bates can be traded for more than that … he is a starter on another team on two years of cheap money

 

I still think there is a good chance they keep Bates next year and save some money by cutting Morse …

 

They need to find a C in the draft who will be starting come 2025 when they will be paying Brown on his second contract 

Not unreasonable to trade Bates. Good thought 

[Beck Water]

23 minutes ago, NewEra said:

👋🏻 gabe

 

I'm not sure what this means?

[Mango]

29 minutes ago, appoo said:

 

But that's revisionist isn't it? Did anyone have an issue with Diggs restructure? At the time I think it was pretty much assumed Diggs was gonna be restructured and then extended after this season.  

 

He hadn't shown a single sign of coming close to slowing down until about half way this season.

 

But you don't usually restructure younger players because their Base pay and contract length simply makes it not too value added. Those restructures are most valuable on guys who who are into their 2nd and 3rd contracts when their base salaries hike up

I’ve been wanting to take a step back from the cap ledge for a few seasons just to give us more flexibility. 
 

I disliked Diggs restructure after his schtick to end last season and OTA’s. I thought Von was a huge risk when we signed him and his restructure was bonkers. 
 

Of course it made some room to sign other players. But every time we do this we need to make bigger decisions a year or two down the line. It’s certainly a cost v reward that is catching up to us. 

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

59 minutes ago, BananaB said:

Most people would consider going to your most reliable WR while he’s open in the endzone would be a smart play. Not Bills fans though, the best play is to cut it short and hope we have an another opportunity at the endzone in upcoming plays. Why? Because our defensive minded coach has let us down so many times late in games. 😂

hey, dumb question, what is easier to make, a 30 yard pass thrown later in your protections or a 6-8 yard pass thrown earlier?

 

Your inability to understand situational football is noted. Maybe hang out with Ken Dorsey a bit.

[msw2112]

1 hour ago, Patrick Fitzryan said:

They threw 16 (16!) passes behind the LOS and only attempted a half dozen past 10 yards. It was cowardly.

 

I'm not typically a fan of passes behind the LOS, but I thought they worked pretty well yesterday.  In particular, the pass to Shakir on 4th down was a huge play.

 

I thought the play calling was pretty good.  The Bills move the ball and scored a lot of points against a strong KC defense.

 

The only playcalls I disliked were a few runs later in the game when KC stacked the box and an easy pass play over the top was available and the long shot into the end zone to Shakir when Diggs was open underneath (for clock management purposes and the higher-percentage play).

 

Overall, Brady has done a great job and the Bills offense has come to life, despite a middling WR corps.

[Not at the table Karlos]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Depending on how his medicals look, I'd offer him something like a 3yr/$18M with $10M guaranteed. Might be worth bringing him back as a $6M guy who can be easily cut. Definitely not at his current $16M price tho.

Idk if I do that. I love him as a person and the player he was but at his age with his injuries I move on.
 

Also who wants to listen to half the board lose their mind when he comes back and takes time to get back to normal if he can even get back there. Von is pretty much on a normal timeline and people are losing their minds. 

28 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

I'm not sure what this means?

Bye Gabe. The hand is waving. 

[DrDawkinstein]

1 minute ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

Idk if I do that. I love him as a person and the player he was but at his age with his injuries I move on.
 

Also who wants to listen to half the board lose their mind when he comes back and takes time to get back to normal if he can even get back there. Von is pretty much on a normal timeline and people are losing their minds. 

Frankly I dont know that I'd do it either. I just always throw that option out in discussion since folks have a tough enough time accepting that we need to move on from a beloved player.

 

I just dont know what all our options are or what an injury settlement looks like.

[flmike]

2 hours ago, Patrick Fitzryan said:

They threw 16 (16!) passes behind the LOS and only attempted a half dozen past 10 yards. It was cowardly.

You mean against one of the best DB sets in the league? Yeah crazy.... Brady did a great job. Josh has to be smarter on reads and receivers need to catch

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

1 hour ago, Beck Water said:

 

Appoo, you really ought to read Mango's post on this.

 

In general, players it makes sense to restructure are the young-ish core of the roster who you plan to keep through the years when the restructure could bite you.

 

It would have been preferable if the Bills could have avoided restructuring him last March, but they did.  Let's not compound the errors.

 

 

I respectfully disagree with both of you. I think we all can agree that Diggs had a down year. That he looks slower, his hands aren't as good, he's not as gamebreaking as he was before.

 

He was still 13th in the league in yards, 7th in receptions. And that was with Gabe Davis showing up once a month at the other boundary. He is still absolutely a #1 receiver in this league. 

 

Now, with 2024 looking like a "take your medicine" year, can I justify keeping his contract as is with an expectation that we could feasibly flip him for assets or cut him if he really drops off? Yes. But Larry Fitzgerald still had a heck of a career once he stopped being a boundary WR. Restructuring him through 2025 isn't necessarily crazy, but should be a judement call from the brass based on their plans. Because #1 WRs aren't easy to pick up. 

[BananaB]

1 minute ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

hey, dumb question, what is easier to make, a 30 yard pass thrown later in your protections or a 6-8 yard pass thrown earlier?

 

Your inability to understand situational football is noted. Maybe hang out with Ken Dorsey a bit.

  
🤣 
The play was there. We needed a TD and it was one of very few times our WR got open down field.  They were shutting down our run and the 3 times we were in the redzone before that it  took an amazing throw to the pylon on the run to get into the ball in the endzone. Just because we continue the drive does not mean we will get a better opportunity. The play was there, WR was open, protection did not hold up. Which sucks because it was great all game