Joe Marino's Locked on Bills Mock Free Agency

[Matt_In_NH]

Don’t love restructuring g Knox it just makes that contract even worse down the road.  I like the guy but his contract sucks.   hunter henry just signed 3 years and 27 million

[BillsFan130]

4 minutes ago, Matt_In_NH said:

Don’t love restructuring g Knox it just makes that contract even worse down the road.  I like the guy but his contract sucks.   hunter henry just signed 3 years and 27 million

Yep. And Schultz 3 years 36. (He's way more dynamic than Knox)

 

Re structuring average players who are already overpaid is how you get in trouble with the cap, so I hope the bills don't re structure as well

[Johnnyp566]

Nice work just want no part of Elliott. Too many times under this regime we are settling for backup RBs who are finished and take up valuable snaps…Tolbert, Ivory, Gore, Murray..

[SCBills]

I listened to it at the gym .. I think it’s well thought out and probably makes sense.

 

For all those worried about rotation/depth, his mock off-season absolutely addresses that .. and I think, it’s a higher potential roster on paper. 
 

That said.. do we have the elite A1 talent to match Mahomes/Kelce/Jones .. Burrow/Chase/Higgins etc..

 

This is a complete roster, but we still go to war with Allen, whatever anyone thinks Diggs still is, and who?  Does Kincaid become that?  Can McConkey be that?  
 

Not saying I know the answer.. just pointing out that we always seem to be a “dude” or two behind these teams .. and when we played KC, what was the difference when it mattered?  They had Kelce and Jones, we had…?

[TheyCallMeAndy]

32 minutes ago, BillsFan130 said:

I hope the bills don't re structure Knox.

 

i believe there's an out after next year, and I would rather cut ties with his contract opposed to committing to it longer 

 

Whether you're a Knox fan or not, Objectively it's a bad contract, so why would you marry yourself to it 

Basically you can lower his yearly cap hit to something within range and it guarantees he’s on the roster next year (which he likely will be anyways). 

[BillsFan130]

2 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

Basically you can lower his yearly cap hit to something within range and it guarantees he’s on the roster next year (which he likely will be anyways). 

Let's say they don't re structure, and they cut Knox after this year.

 

Do you know what the savings would be?

[julian]

1 hour ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

Locked On and Cover1 are by far the best Bills podcasts.

 

Until we start Two Bills Drive Live. I need a co-host, who’s with me? 

Hahaha… that would be train wreck gold right there, just rotate in different posters weekly. I think you’re onto something lol.

[Warriorspikes51]

1 hour ago, TheBeaneBandit said:

Pairing DJ Reader with Oliver would consistently collapse the pocket to where we wouldn't need 100 M dollar DEs. Food for thought.

I’m good with this idea. Might be cheaper and a better fit than Wilkins or Leonard Williams

[TheBeaneBandit]

1 minute ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

I’m good with this idea. Might be cheaper and a better fit than Wilkins or Leonard Williams

Most definitely. He'll still require a substantial contract but nowhere near those other two guys especially Wilkins who is the youngest of the bunch.

[Aussie Joe]

5 hours ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

Joe Marino from Locked on Bills does some really good work. I watch a lot of his stuff.

 

He did a video the other day where he played the role of Brandon Beane and took the wheel in Free Agency. Broke things down pretty well in a realistic fashion, why each player fits, and included forecasted numbers from Pro Football Focus.

 

Here's the video with Cliff notes below of the moves he suggested:

 

 

Re-Structure QB Josh Allen - Saves 24m

Re-Structure TE Dawson Knox - Saves 6m

Re-Structure DT Ed Oliver - Saves 3.94m

Extend OT Dion Dawkins - Saves 6.5m

Extend CB Taron Johnson - Saves 4.4m

 

36.6m Under (+10.2m on 6/1 from Tre)

 

Re-Sign DT Daquan Jones - 2 yr 12m

Re-Sign DE AJ Epenesa - 3 yr 20.25m
Re-Sign CB Dane Jackson - 1 yr 3m
Re-Sign CB Cam Lewis - 1 yr 2m
Re-Sign RB Ty Johnson - 1 yr 1.2m

 

Sign DT Shelby Harris - 1 yr 3m
Sign DT Greg Gaines - 1 yr 2m
Sign DE Carl Lawson - 1 yr 3.5m
Sign S Alohi Gilman - 2 yr 6m
Sign S Ashtyn Davis - 1 yr 2m
Sign C Brian Allen - (Forgets to say contract)
Sign OT Kendall Lamm - 1 yr 1.5m
Sign WR Noah Brown - 2 yr 7m
Sign WR/KR Devin Duvernay - 2 yr 6m
Sign RB Ezekiel Elliott - 1 yr 2.5m
Sign LB Del'Shawn Phillips - 1 yr 1.5m

In part 2 he does his Mock draft 
 

Went for Ladd McConkey Round 1 … you would be happy about that .. 

[Freddie's Dead]

Cool plan, but Epenesa at 7m/yr? Hard pass. 

[NastyNateSoldiers]

7 hours ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

Joe Marino from Locked on Bills does some really good work. I watch a lot of his stuff.

 

He did a video the other day where he played the role of Brandon Beane and took the wheel in Free Agency. Broke things down pretty well in a realistic fashion, why each player fits, and included forecasted numbers from Pro Football Focus.

 

Here's the video with Cliff notes below of the moves he suggested:

 

 

Re-Structure QB Josh Allen - Saves 24m

Re-Structure TE Dawson Knox - Saves 6m

Re-Structure DT Ed Oliver - Saves 3.94m

Extend OT Dion Dawkins - Saves 6.5m

Extend CB Taron Johnson - Saves 4.4m

 

36.6m Under (+10.2m on 6/1 from Tre)

 

Re-Sign DT Daquan Jones - 2 yr 12m

Re-Sign DE AJ Epenesa - 3 yr 20.25m
Re-Sign CB Dane Jackson - 1 yr 3m
Re-Sign CB Cam Lewis - 1 yr 2m
Re-Sign RB Ty Johnson - 1 yr 1.2m

 

Sign DT Shelby Harris - 1 yr 3m
Sign DT Greg Gaines - 1 yr 2m
Sign DE Carl Lawson - 1 yr 3.5m
Sign S Alohi Gilman - 2 yr 6m
Sign S Ashtyn Davis - 1 yr 2m
Sign C Brian Allen - (Forgets to say contract)
Sign OT Kendall Lamm - 1 yr 1.5m
Sign WR Noah Brown - 2 yr 7m
Sign WR/KR Devin Duvernay - 2 yr 6m
Sign RB Ezekiel Elliott - 1 yr 2.5m
Sign LB Del'Shawn Phillips - 1 yr 1.5m

This off-season makes sure we remain Wildcard Champs!  😂

5 hours ago, mannc said:

Marino is far and away the best Bills podcaster. Really puts in the work and his show just keeps getting better. Indispensable.

I like the Cover 1 guys especially Pro Ant and Erik Turner. 

[mannc]

4 hours ago, Chaos said:

Restructure Knox prolongs living with a bad contract.  I don’t agree with that. 

Knox is still young and TEs often take a long time to develop.  It's entirely possible that his best days are ahead of him.  Although it's not a great contract, I don't see much downside in extending him.   

[Chaos]

1 minute ago, mannc said:

Knox is still young and TEs often take a long time to develop.  It's entirely possible that his best days are ahead of him.  Although it's not a great contract, I don't see much downside in extending him.   

He's had 5 years in the league, most of that with getting the coaching attention starters get. it would be remarkable for him to be much different in the future than in the past.  It falls only into the the "anything is possible" category. 

[GoBills808]

Just now, Chaos said:

He's had 5 years in the league, most of that with getting the coaching attention starters get. it would be remarkable for him to be much different in the future than in the past.  It falls only into the the "anything is possible" category. 

Lol right I mean he'll be 28 before this seasons over

 

He's just not very good and never has been

[BarleyNY]

7 hours ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

Joe Marino from Locked on Bills does some really good work. I watch a lot of his stuff.

 

He did a video the other day where he played the role of Brandon Beane and took the wheel in Free Agency. Broke things down pretty well in a realistic fashion, why each player fits, and included forecasted numbers from Pro Football Focus.

 

Here's the video with Cliff notes below of the moves he suggested:

 

 

Re-Structure QB Josh Allen - Saves 24m

Re-Structure TE Dawson Knox - Saves 6m

Re-Structure DT Ed Oliver - Saves 3.94m

Extend OT Dion Dawkins - Saves 6.5m

Extend CB Taron Johnson - Saves 4.4m

 

36.6m Under (+10.2m on 6/1 from Tre)

 

Re-Sign DT Daquan Jones - 2 yr 12m

Re-Sign DE AJ Epenesa - 3 yr 20.25m
Re-Sign CB Dane Jackson - 1 yr 3m
Re-Sign CB Cam Lewis - 1 yr 2m
Re-Sign RB Ty Johnson - 1 yr 1.2m

 

Sign DT Shelby Harris - 1 yr 3m
Sign DT Greg Gaines - 1 yr 2m
Sign DE Carl Lawson - 1 yr 3.5m
Sign S Alohi Gilman - 2 yr 6m
Sign S Ashtyn Davis - 1 yr 2m
Sign C Brian Allen - (Forgets to say contract)
Sign OT Kendall Lamm - 1 yr 1.5m
Sign WR Noah Brown - 2 yr 7m
Sign WR/KR Devin Duvernay - 2 yr 6m
Sign RB Ezekiel Elliott - 1 yr 2.5m
Sign LB Del'Shawn Phillips - 1 yr 1.5m

 

I think that this is reasonable and that it will be the general direction that the Bills take. But it highlights my concerns with the team. The roster looks solid, but other than Allen it lacks difference makers. Some quality players will be on the roster for sure. Oliver and Milano on defense. Cook, Dawkins, Kincaid and Diggs on offense. But none of them are keeping HCs and coordinators up at night. Allen is going to need a lot more help. 

[DCofNC]

2 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

 

I think that this is reasonable and that it will be the general direction that the Bills take. But it highlights my concerns with the team. The roster looks solid, but other than Allen it lacks difference makers. Some quality players will be on the roster for sure. Oliver and Milano on defense. Cook, Dawkins, Kincaid and Diggs on offense. But none of them are keeping HCs and coordinators up at night. Allen is going to need a lot more help. 

ALL THIS!  You can fill the roster out with replacement level guys when you have TRUE studs.  KC won because they have the best player in the league at 3 different positions and one could argue Sneed makes it 4.   The only place the Bills have anything near the best is Allen.   Kincaid might get there, but not yet, Diggs was among the top WRs, but wasn’t this year (or the back half of last year either), if anyone says Oliver, you need your head checked.   It can’t be Allen and a bunch of pretty good guys to unseat Mahomes , MaAuto and Mr. Jones, you ain’t keeping up. 

[mannc]

18 minutes ago, Chaos said:

He's had 5 years in the league, most of that with getting the coaching attention starters get. it would be remarkable for him to be much different in the future than in the past.  It falls only into the the "anything is possible" category. 

It's a hard position to learn in the NFL.  Plenty of TEs have had their best seasons in their late 20s and early 30s.  Knox is 27 and he's a starting caliber TE.  If we cut him, we'd need to develop or sign another TE.  Dalton Schultz is a comparable player and Houston just signed him for 3 years and $36 million, about what Knox is getting... 

Edited March 10 by mannc

[NeverOutNick]

3 hours ago, Matt_In_NH said:

Don’t love restructuring g Knox it just makes that contract even worse down the road.  I like the guy but his contract sucks.   hunter henry just signed 3 years and 27 million

The extensions for Dawkins and Knox are not necessary. I think he can get basically same outcome without extending either player.

 

I also don’t love Zeke but I get his reasoning since he’s very good at the things Cook is not (pass blocking, short yardage up the middle). I believe we can find a guy in the draft like Corum instead.
 

His mock free agency and draft weren’t perfect but overall it was very well done and I would be stoked if it went basically the way he drew out. Duvernay is a guy I know would thrive in this offense and is an immediate upgrade at returner. 

[Matt_In_NH]

2 minutes ago, NeverOutNick said:

The extensions for Dawkins and Knox are not necessary. I think he can get basically same outcome without extending either player.

 

I also don’t love Zeke but I get his reasoning since he’s very good at the things Cook is not (pass blocking, short yardage up the middle). I believe we can find a guy in the draft like Corum instead.
 

His mock free agency and draft weren’t perfect but overall it was very well done and I would be stoked if it went basically the way he drew out. Duvernay is a guy I know would thrive in this offense and is an immediate upgrade at returner. 

 

First, I listen to Marino's podcast and I enjoy it because he is pragmatic and brings reasonable arguments, he is not always right but his thought process is good.  What Marino said is what would need to happen.  Knox is a restructure, not an extension.  Not sure what you mean by same outcome without extending, guessing you mean restructure but that is what he is proposing for Knox already.  Dawkins is an extension and that is needed to lower his cap number, he is in the last year of his deal..  He already has void money next year so they could add to that but they could extend  him to keep him on the team after this year.  

 

I hate the Zeke signing, he is done, I would rather keep the 6th or 7th round pick.