Diggs traded to Texans for picks

[Special K]

Too bad the Texans had already traded pick 17 to the Vikings....would have been a better trade with a 1st round pick swap.

 

Diggs and 28 to the Texans for pick 17.

 

That would have also made it a lot easier to get Thomas Jr., or trade up into the top 10 for one of the big 3 WRs.

[Bruffalo]

8 minutes ago, T master said:

1 of the things i don't get with these trades is how do the Bills get left holding the bag for so much cash ? If you take the player you need to take his contract too !! 

 

Is the reason why the Bills get stuck with that much of a cap hit $31 million next year because they paid him bonuses in order to make more cap space and pushed it down the road ?  I don't get it .

That’s right. The deferred money all comes due immediately now that he’s been traded.

 

The upside is now after this season his cap hit is 0, freeing up a lot moving forward.

[4th&long]

8 minutes ago, T master said:

1 of the things i don't get with these trades is how do the Bills get left holding the bag for so much cash ? If you take the player you need to take his contract too !! 

 

Is the reason why the Bills get stuck with that much of a cap hit $31 million next year because they paid him bonuses in order to make more cap space and pushed it down the road ?  I don't get it .

That’s exactly it. Houston has to pay this years salary about 18-19 million. But all that signing bonus that was spread out over the life of the contract accelerated to this years cap. Signing bonus money spread out is not tradable.

[dave mcbride]

45 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

 

Don't tell me, I'm not the one arguing it by implication.  But that definitely appears to be the tack taken by so many implicitly.  

 

I'm a bigger fan than that.  

 

What needs to be given a rest is this sentiment that we haven't underachieved come playoff time or that KC is invincible.  If the latter is the case, who cares who's coaching.  

 

 

Arguing who is the “bigger fan” is a chump’s game. Everyone here is a fan in their own way. 

38 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

I won't mind a big move, bit draft wise I’m not sold that anyone other than Harrison is worth more of a move up than it takes for Thomas. I may need to watch some more Malki Nabers and Rome Odenzu highlights.  

I think Nabors is the best receiver in the draft.

[Beck Water]

32 minutes ago, T master said:

1 of the things i don't get with these trades is how do the Bills get left holding the bag for so much cash ? If you take the player you need to take his contract too !! 

 

Is the reason why the Bills get stuck with that much of a cap hit $31 million next year because they paid him bonuses in order to make more cap space and pushed it down the road ?  I don't get it .

 

Actually, you got it exactly.  I've explained before, I'll recap:

 

An NFL contract consists of two parts -

-bonuses (signing etc), which are paid to the player up front but broken into chunks corresponding to the years of the contract for cap purposes.

-yearly cash, which is the salary plus any workout and per-game roster bonuses.  Salary is pai

d per-game.
 

A "capology" tool, is that salary can be renegotiated into a vet minimum salary, plus a renegotiation bonus that is then split into chunks.

So when the player is traded, the new team becomes responsible for the yearly cash due the player for the remaining contract

 

But the trading team has already paid out the bonus money, so that doesn't go with the trade.  The trading team doesn't have any years of remaining contract after the trade, so the chunks all get summed and fall into the trade year's cap.

22 minutes ago, Special K said:

Too bad the Texans had already traded pick 17 to the Vikings....would have been a better trade with a 1st round pick swap.

 

Diggs and 28 to the Texans for pick 17.

 

That would have also made it a lot easier to get Thomas Jr., or trade up into the top 10 for one of the big 3 WRs.

 

The point Cosell made was that from his POV as a tape watcher who is not employed by the Bills, Diggs is not at this point a #1 WR who is worth that kind trade value.  See transcript up-thread.

See post by Virgil for pick values.
Edit: here
Rd #1 pick 17 is valued at 950; 28 is valued at 660.  Difference of 290 pts, which is a low 2nd round pick of this year.

The Bills got a 2nd round pick in 2025, which is usually equated to a 3rd round pick this year - so around 180 points - AND tossed in this year and next year 5th (6th this year), both valued at about 10 points.

 

So maybe we got about 160 points in trade value for Diggs?  We would have had to give them something more, if the value charts are correct and that's how they valued Diggs.

To get that 1st pick swap, we might have had to toss in both our 4th round picks or something 

 

 

Edited April 4 by Beck Water

[papazoid]

56 minutes ago, T master said:

1 of the things i don't get with these trades is how do the Bills get left holding the bag for so much cash ? If you take the player you need to take his contract too !! 

 

Is the reason why the Bills get stuck with that much of a cap hit $31 million next year because they paid him bonuses in order to make more cap space and pushed it down the road ?  I don't get it .

 

this is all approximate: not sure how this new bills contract money combined with his old minnesota contract

Stefon Diggs signed a 4 year, $2,507,713 contract with the Minnesota Vikings. YEARS 2015-2018 entry level

Stefon Diggs signed a 5 year, $72,000,000 contract with the Minnesota Vikings, and an average annual salary of $14,400,000. YEARS 2019- 2023 

Stefon Diggs signed a 4 year, $96,000,000 contract with the Buffalo Bills,  an average annual salary of $24,000,000. with $70 mil guaranteed. YEARS 2024-2027

NFL is a semi-hard cap. you can spread out the cap hit over many years at different increments, but eventually you must pay in full.

from year to year they can play cap games like taking all the current year base salary and converting to signing bonus and push that into future years.

Diggs may or may not ever see the full $96 mil. he will get the full $70 guaranteed.

2020 the bills took a cap hit of $14.8

2021 the bills took a cap hit of $6.4 mil

2022 the bills gave diggs $24.5 mil in CASH. but only took a $11.7 mil CAP HIT charge. pushing theoretically $12.8 cap hit into the future.

2023 the bills gave diggs another $24.5 mil in CASH (now $49.0 mil in cash). but only took a $14.9 mil CAP HIT. pushing theoretically $9.6 cap hit into the future

2024 bills trade diggs to Texans. time for bills to pay up the past years team friendly cap hit bill. he was scheduled to count $27.8 on bills cap.

2024 texans will pay diggs $19 mil in CASH (now $67.9 total cash). Essentially there is no more guaranteed money remaining. 

2024 bills are being charged $31 mil in DEAD CAP.

 

 

Edited April 4 by papazoid

[LABILLBACKER]

45 minutes ago, Bruffalo said:

That’s right. The deferred money all comes due immediately now that he’s been traded.

 

The upside is now after this season his cap hit is 0, freeing up a lot moving forward.

Yup, he won't be a cap problem next season also allowing us to June 1st 2025 both Von & Dawson.  We will have money available to spend on more wrs if necessary. 

[Special K]

29 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

See post by Virgil for pick values.
Edit: here
Rd #1 pick 17 is valued at 950; 28 is valued at 660.  Difference of 290 pts, which is a low 2nd round pick of this year.

The Bills got a 2nd round pick in 2025, which is usually equated to a 3rd round pick this year - so around 180 points - AND tossed in this year and next year 5th (6th this year), both valued at about 10 points.

 

So maybe we got about 160 points in trade value for Diggs?  We would have had to give them something more, if the value charts are correct and that's how they valued Diggs.

To get that 1st pick swap, we might have had to toss in both our 4th round picks or something 

 

 

Didn't the Bills move from 23 to 12 for Cordy Glenn??

 

You would think they could have moved from 28 to 17 for Diggs!

 

Oh well, doesn't matter at this point anyway.

[ngbills]

It was fun while it lasted. Bills are cash strapped and go/coach have limitations. I will gladly be wrong but let’s see how this plays out. 

3 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Yup, he won't be a cap problem next season also allowing us to June 1st 2025 both Von & Dawson.  We will have money available to spend on more wrs if necessary. 

Huge cap available on 2029 season.  Woohoo. 

[uticaclub]

1 hour ago, major said:

Brandon Beane has turned into Billy Beane of the Oakland A’s. This must be our version of moneyball ⚾️

Wheres Zito, Mulder & Hudson

[buffaloboyinATL]

1 hour ago, major said:

Brandon Beane has turned into Billy Beane of the Oakland A’s. This must be our version of moneyball ⚾️

The A’s always had a really low team salary, we do not.  The A’s always traded away their home grown talent, once there was a market for them, we do not. 
 
so, maybe, kinda, sorta?…

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, T master said:

1 of the things i don't get with these trades is how do the Bills get left holding the bag for so much cash ? If you take the player you need to take his contract too !! 

 

Is the reason why the Bills get stuck with that much of a cap hit $31 million next year because they paid him bonuses in order to make more cap space and pushed it down the road ?  I don't get it .

Stop kicking the can down the road. Do your homework better on guys like Knox, Von etc.  Start drafting more offensive players on 4-5 year cheap contracts. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Can’t wait to hear the players reactions in a week or so when they arrive for OTA’s. I want Josh Allen to pour gasoline on the fire. Set the tone for the season. You’re either with us or against us.

 

[Nihilarian]

What does it tell you that they could only get a 2025 second-round pick for the guy? Hey, the man was great when he was productive.

 

Lastly, let's not forget what Beane stepped into when he took the Buffalo GM job way back when and he needed to clean house. 

 

Trust the Beane! 

[Bills Fan in MD]

Ok, so I've been trying to process this all day and I'm starting to like this trade more and more.  At the end of the day Beane is taking a huge gamble, which either results in him revitalizing the team or costing us next season.  It's a virtual lock that he goes WR in round 1, no lower than 28 and hopefully higher.  If he hits on that pick, we're suddenly younger and cheaper at a key position, and without all of the drama that Diggs brings.  With Diggs gone an athletic receiver also should help Shakir and Kincaid take it to the next level, and both of them can replace 14 as great route runners on third down plays.  And on top of that we get a boatload of cap space next year.  If that happens the window is as wide open as ever.  Obviously the flip side is that Beane's pick is a bust, in which case it could be a long year, but the reward is worth that risk.  

Edited April 4 by Bills Fan in MD

[Freddie's Dead]

1 hour ago, dave mcbride said:

Arguing who is the “bigger fan” is a chump’s game. Everyone here is a fan in their own way. 

I think Nabors is the best receiver in the draft.

 

Well gollllllay!

 

 

[That's No Moon]

45 minutes ago, buffaloboyinATL said:

The A’s always had a really low team salary, we do not.  The A’s always traded away their home grown talent, once there was a market for them, we do not. 
 
so, maybe, kinda, sorta?…

A's always lost in the playoffs, so there's that.

[Beck Water]

1 hour ago, Special K said:

Didn't the Bills move from 23 to 12 for Cordy Glenn??

 

You would think they could have moved from 28 to 17 for Diggs!

 

Oh well, doesn't matter at this point anyway.

 

21 to 12 for trading Glenn, who had been a starting LT before injury in 2017

 

Look, I'm pretty stupified that all the Bills got for Diggs was essentially a 3rd round pick (2nd round, next year).  My first reaction was "Holy Crap, the Texans stole him!"   But from what OBL and some others here have been saying, the Bills were trying hard to move Diggs for some time, and next year's second (like a 3rd this year) was their best offer.

What I'm saying is according to the best offer the Bills actually got, that wouldn't have been sufficient to go from 28 to 17.

 

2 hours ago, BuffaloRebound said:

Pretty sure if we traded Diggs after June 1st we could’ve split that $31m dead cap between 2024 and 2025.  

 

Yes, we could have.  How common are post June 1 trades?  They're after the draft and FA; they're after OTAs start.

I honestly don't know, I'm asking.

My guess is strategically, that wasn't something Beane wanted to do.

Edited April 4 by Beck Water

[Buffalo_Stampede]

59 minutes ago, buffaloboyinATL said:

The A’s always had a really low team salary, we do not.  The A’s always traded away their home grown talent, once there was a market for them, we do not. 
 
so, maybe, kinda, sorta?…

Unless something changes this years Bills team will be significantly lower in cash spent than previous years. They could’ve kept it going a year or two but decided to budget a little this year.

[Beck Water]

2 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

People have been saying for several years now how we lack at wr talent

 

and when I said it I included diggs, he's very good but does not have the elite tier tools cosell is talking about

 

It's interesting.  Cosell was very clear and concise; he thinks Diggs is on the decline, he thinks Diggs isn't a "true #1", he's good but not elite.

I don't think the Bills paid Cosell off for that opinion because 1) I think Cosell cares about his cred more than $ 2) he's said similar things before.

 

On the other hand, we have this:

where they clearly slot Diggs in ahead of Nico Collins as a #1 WR

 

and then this:

where the guys are all talking about Diggs as a "freakazoid" talent, and referring to Collins as not a true #1.  (they said every team has about 3 freakazoids, and if you don't have enough freakazoids, you're gonna lose.  they said SF has 6 or 7)

 

"I am only an egg" relative to these guys, but what I saw of Nico Collins last year I really liked, and his Y/Tgt last season, 12, argues more boundary guy.

 

McCoy and all know ball, but Cosell knows his tape, so I don't know.  Maybe the former ballers have a bit of "halo effect" based on the Diggs of 2 years ago whereas Cosell is meticulously focused on what he sees?

 

By the way McCoy and others (Emmanuel Acho I think? not sure who is the 3rd guy) were very clear with the woman host (Joy Taylor?) that Josh Allen's relationship with Stefon Diggs is "bad".  She didn't want to theorize what it's like other than what we see, but they were very definite.

 

Edited April 4 by Beck Water