Robust pool of available safeties = Excellent year to be replacing Hyde and Poyer

[3rdand12]

6 hours ago, Lafromboise said:

Jarius Byrd would of been good in this defense 

with or without the plantar fasciitis ?

But yea. You have a point. of sorts  

5 hours ago, 947 said:

Yeah, this baffles me, why sign Rapp so early? There are tons of other Safety options in FA, and Rapp was really bad in coverage here. If he's on a cheap deal & plays the same role as last year, I'm OK with it. If he's to outright replace Poyer, we're not in a great place.

I cant find fault in that , the signing at that price

if they can make him the third safety on the field via draft or FA thats excellent

[billsfan_34]

6 hours ago, 947 said:

Yeah, this baffles me, why sign Rapp so early? There are tons of other Safety options in FA, and Rapp was really bad in coverage here. If he's on a cheap deal & plays the same role as last year, I'm OK with it. If he's to outright replace Poyer, we're not in a great place.

I thought Rapp really started to play well towards the end of ‘23 much like Williams. Both seem to have picked up the defense which is very complicated. Just my opinion

[Niagara Dude]

7 hours ago, ngbills said:

Still waiting on Rapp details. Hopefully its not actually $4-5M per with the guys available. 

Right,  that would be a waste,  2-3 million tops

[John from Riverside]

4 hours ago, Niagara Dude said:

Right,  that would be a waste,  2-3 million tops

It’s not a waste for starting safety

[BillsFanForever19]

Like it or not, we've already replaced one with Taylor Rapp. Even if a fair amount of that 3 year "up to 14.5m" contract is incentives - that's still way more than we pay for a Backup. Especially this year.

 

For example, for that backup/insurance role we signed Rapp for last season - we spent only 1.7m. Ultimately, it appears to me that Rapp was signed to a low cost Starters deal.

 

There's a chance we Draft a Safety or two who ends up being better and replaces him. But I don't see a scenario where we sign two more Safeties at the same cost or more.

[Aussie Joe]

41 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

Like it or not, we've already replaced one with Taylor Rapp. Even if a fair amount of that 3 year "up to 14.5m" contract is incentives - that's still way more than we pay for a Backup. Especially this year.

 

For example, for that backup/insurance role we signed Rapp for last season - we spent only 1.7m. Ultimately, it appears to me that Rapp was signed to a low cost Starters deal.

 

There's a chance we Draft a Safety or two who ends up being better and replaces him. But I don't see a scenario where we sign two more Safeties at the same cost or more.

I agree … they won’t sign two FA for more money  … but likely they will sign 1 at similar or more …( than Rapp) 

 

They will also draft one in the mid rounds 3-5 …

 

Whilst it is likely Rapp will be the starter in the Poyer role … it’s not yet confirmed …

 

This time last year no one had either McGovern or Torrence as starters on the OL and Bates was the likely starter in 2023 …

 

Edited March 8 by Aussie Joe

[BillsFanForever19]

1 hour ago, Aussie Joe said:

I agree … they won’t sign two FA for more money  … but likely they will sign 1 at similar or more …( than Rapp) 

 

They will also draft one in the mid rounds 3-5 …

 

Whilst it is likely Rapp will be the starter in the Poyer role … it’s not yet confirmed …

 

This time last year no one had either McGovern or Torrence as starters on the OL and Bates was the likely starter in 2023 …

 

 

I agree that they'll probably sign one more at the price of Rapp or cheaper and then Draft 1, if not 2.

 

As for comparing it to the Guard role last season though, it's not really the same. We knew we were replacing Rodger Saffold with someone and that Ryan Bates was on shaky ground as Starter following the 2022 season. We then signed McGovern, signed Edwards, and then Drafted Torrence in the 2nd. 

 

McGovern's contract was clearly starter money. Edwards was obviously signed as insurance for whomever we Drafted and his contract reflected it, at a 1.7m league minimum deal.

 

It is possible a Draft Pick is undeniable and beats out Rapp. But the money on his contract is not backup money for a Safety. 

[NastyNateSoldiers]

I agree great yr to add a couple safeties in free agency for good price but the head scratcher is Taylor Rapp deal. Why do early why so much money he stayed unsigned for a while last off-season before he signed for min deal and really didn't do much to raise his stock. Plus there's his injury history which is basically a Rapp Sheet pun intended 😂. Sometimes I believe the Bills don't look at injury history when signing players and it usually comes back to haunt us. 

 

Like the poster said I would've loved a Stone and Chinn combo in the secondary but I guess the Bills have plans for Rapp and someone else.

[davefan66]

Poyer and Hyde certainly held down out safety positions very well for many years.  Injuries and age have slowed them down a bit lately though.

 

I don’t see a big name FA safety signing.  Rapp will start.  Maybe a low end costing tier 2 guy along with drafting one, maybe two more.  Can get a high priced guy, most likely would be on the cheap this year but would eventually cost.

 

Will miss these guys and what they brought to the team.  Wish them both well.  

[Aussie Joe]

1 hour ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

I agree that they'll probably sign one more at the price of Rapp or cheaper and then Draft 1, if not 2.

 

As for comparing it to the Guard role last season though, it's not really the same. We knew we were replacing Rodger Saffold with someone and that Ryan Bates was on shaky ground as Starter following the 2022 season. We then signed McGovern, signed Edwards, and then Drafted Torrence in the 2nd. 

 

McGovern's contract was clearly starter money. Edwards was obviously signed as insurance for whomever we Drafted and his contract reflected it, at a 1.7m league minimum deal.

 

It is possible a Draft Pick is undeniable and beats out Rapp. But the money on his contract is not backup money for a Safety. 

Was Bates money starter money? $4m plus a year right ?
 

Honestly .. don’t remember people saying Bates was “ shaky” … OCyrus fell to 59 which was fortunate.. if unexpected 

Edited March 8 by Aussie Joe

[billsfan89]

47 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

Was Bates money starter money? $4m plus a year right ?
 

Honestly .. don’t remember people saying Bates was “ shaky” … OCyrus fell to 59 which was fortunate.. if unexpected 

Bates was Ok that was my feeling and the feeling of the majority on here from what I remember. I think most fans going into last years draft really wanted a RT as opposed to a guard in the first two rounds as Brown was coming off a super shaky season. But when they drafted Torrence it made Bates a pure depth player which was a fantastic luxury to have.

[Kirby Jackson]

Give me Xavier McKinney on a 3 or 4 year deal. I like the fit next to Rapp. You can take another guy in the draft late & resign Cam Lewis for cheap. He can be depth at S & nickel. This would complete your defensive backfield.

 

Douglas, Benford, Taron, Elam, Rapp, McKinney, Cam Lewis, Hamlin, versatile late round DB

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

18 hours ago, Lafromboise said:

Jarius Byrd would of been good in this defense 

I thought this dude was gonna be a HOFer and Bill 4 life. Boy, was I wrong. 

[GunnerBill]

I say it again: Kamren Curl. He would be awesome in this defense. 

[HOUSE]

Remind me to never go drinking with you guys. You all want top shelf bourbon but you left the house with two bucks.

[ChanticleerBillsFan]

Agree that 4-5 million seems steep. I believe it will be around 3 million. A thing to remember is he was playing out of his natural position which was Poyers spot last year so we may see a significant improvement. 
 

They have proven that they can find guys in the secondary.  I have felt for years that we shouldn’t have been paying our secondary guys so much because I don’t see any drop off really from one guy to the next. 
 

I hope they bring in a rangy proven vet/youngish next to him and it’ll be all good. 
 

Either way this regime has earned my trust in the secondary.