Is it time to think massive long term extension for Christian Benford?

[Putin]

Da !!!!

yes !!!

oui !!!

 

Edited September 25 by Putin

[BullBuchanan]

I wouldn't. Of all the things that McDermott and Beane do, their best attribute is getting insane value from players in the secondary. We have guys like Benford, Hamlin, Rapp, Lewis, Ingram all playing amazing ball for this club and no one wanted them. I have total faith that they'll be able to get very high level play from late round, UDFA, and cheap FA players on the back end.

Let someone else break the bank for a CB and scoop a 3rd round comp pick.

3 hours ago, boyst said:

Gotta figure out Douglas, too

Douglas is gonna be 31 next year. If he wants to play for 4 or 5M, great. If not, you let him walk.

[VW82]

The reason why Benford is such an appealing extension candidate is because we probably don't need to give him a massive extension. He was a 6th round pick, not 6th overall for a reason. It turns out he's an extremely heady defender with enough physical tools to get the job done. That's not the profile of someone who you need to reset the market in order to re-sign even though his overall level of play has been excellent.

Edited September 25 by VW82

[RoscoeParrish]

4 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

Meaning the class of the league decided to let two consecutive quality corners in Ward and Sneed walk

That’s true, but they let Ward walk because they had Sneed and let Sneed walk because they had McDuffie.

 

Just like the Bills prepared to move on from Tre when they drafted Elam and Benford. 
 

If McDuffie was a bust, I think Sneed is still in KC personally.

[Orlando Buffalo]

I wonder what Elam would be doing if he had started over Benford. Elam might have grown into a good defender but I doubt he could be as good as Benford because Benford has been great. 

[Beast]

Draft and develop. Benford is great but so have the Bills been when it comes to developing CB’s. I think that kid is great but is it money well spent? Maybe it is when you consider Douglas is 30.

 

Tough call.

Edited September 26 by Beast

[Logic]

Rousseau and Benford both need to be extended. They look like two of our top five defenders for this new era of Buffalo Bills football.

I was thinking just today about how excited I am about the Bills' young offensive and defensive cores going forward:

Rousseau, Oliver, Carter, Epenesa, Solomon, Bernard, Williams, Benford, Bishop on defense.

Josh, Dion, McGovern, Torrence, Brown, Shakir, Kincaid, Coleman, Cook, Davis on offense.

And to think, the Bills took their cap medicine THIS year, and enter 2025 with not only these exciting groups of players on both sides, but also 10 draft picks and a healthy cap situation.

The present and future are both very, very bright. The window is WIDE OPEN.

[Buffalo716]

10 minutes ago, Orlando Buffalo said:

I wonder what Elam would be doing if he had started over Benford. Elam might have grown into a good defender but I doubt he could be as good as Benford because Benford has been great. 

The early rounds are typically consistent of great athletes who are usually good football players.. 

 

The late rounds typically consist of good football players who are not the highest NFL caliber athlete 

 

It just shows you that drafting is not an exact science and it's never been... Over 30% of the league is undrafted free agents 

 

You're always trying to weigh Big Time athlete versus the football player in them.. when you can get a football player of Josh's caliber with the athlete of his caliber you're changing franchises 

 

Kaiir was a really good athlete, with solid production at a high conference that made them think he will be coachable... His football skills were lower than they thought... Benford came in with good football skills but the talent level he played left questions About his NFL athleticism since he wasn't being tested by NFL wide receivers

 

People think a 4.55 is slow nowadays.. but that's actually almost 20 miles an hour sprinting... Some people reach that speed quicker than others... Somebody who reaches it in the first 20 yards runs a 4.4 or faster 

 

Somebody who it takes 30 yards runs a 4.5

 

But both are actually really fast on a condensed football field when there's 22 people and game plans involved.. Benford might not run a 4.3 like Elam... But he plays with the correct leverage and technique and football smarts with absolutely enough speed

 

 

 

Edited September 26 by Buffalo716

[The Jokeman]

You definitely lock Benford down so long he is looking for franchise money. I'd pay him in the top 15-20 CB range money with a 4-5 year extension.

Edited September 26 by The Jokeman

[BearNorth]

47 minutes ago, RoscoeParrish said:

That’s true, but they let Ward walk because they had Sneed and let Sneed walk because they had McDuffie.

 

Just like the Bills prepared to move on from Tre when they drafted Elam and Benford. 
 

If McDuffie was a bust, I think Sneed is still in KC personally.

They also let Mathieu walk when he was one of the top safeties in the league.

[BearNorth]

4 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

I don't see Douglas coming back.  He'll be 31 and I don't see how you can commit a bunch of money to him.  I do think that someone will pay him though

Theory was, given his size, you move Douglas to safety for a couple of years if he's still competitive.

[Virgil]

32 minutes ago, BearNorth said:

Theory was, given his size, you move Douglas to safety for a couple of years if he's still competitive.

With Bishop, Rapp, and Hamlin, I think we are set at safety for a while to come.  All still very young and probably cheap 

[Thurman#1]

3 hours ago, Logic said:

Rousseau and Benford both need to be extended. They look like two of our top five defenders for this new era of Buffalo Bills football.

I was thinking just today about how excited I am about the Bills' young offensive and defensive cores going forward:

Rousseau, Oliver, Carter, Epenesa, Solomon, Bernard, Williams, Benford, Bishop on defense.

Josh, Dion, McGovern, Torrence, Brown, Shakir, Kincaid, Coleman, Cook, Davis on offense.

And to think, the Bills took their cap medicine THIS year, and enter 2025 with not only these exciting groups of players on both sides, but also 10 draft picks and a healthy cap situation.

The present and future are both very, very bright. The window is WIDE OPEN.

 

 

Tish, you spoke French.

[Thurman#1]

3 hours ago, The Jokeman said:

You definitely lock Benford down so long he is looking for franchise money. I'd pay him in the top 15-20 CB range money with a 4-5 year extension.

 

 

Top 15 - 20 CB salaries are between $10.25 and $13M /yr, according to Spotrac.

 

That's not happening, not even close. They will need to spend quite a bit more. And they should, though not anything he asks.

[HerdMentality]

Hi Bedford’s agent.🖐️ 

[GoBills808]

4 hours ago, RoscoeParrish said:

That’s true, but they let Ward walk because they had Sneed and let Sneed walk because they had McDuffie.

 

Just like the Bills prepared to move on from Tre when they drafted Elam and Benford. 
 

If McDuffie was a bust, I think Sneed is still in KC personally.

The bills paid white

 

They may pay benford too. The Chiefs tend not to. That was my observation

[Buffalo716]

He certainly does deserve a new deal since he massively outplayed his draft stock and salary

 

Hopefully he's smart enough to take A team friendly deal knowing his long-term future is best in Buffalo's defensive scheme

[Magox]

11 hours ago, MJS said:

He is going to make $20 million a year. And he deserves it.

 

Over the cap estimates right now his value to be $17.7 million per year. That number is only going to go up if he keeps playing like this:

 

https://overthecap.com/player/christian-benford/10230

Im guessing he will be signed to a deal somewhere around $22M a year and he’s totally worth it

11 hours ago, Rubes said:

Would be really nice.

 

I've read that CB and Douglas have become close friends. It would be great if we could somehow keep both, but I doubt we have the cap space.

 

As much as I would like to keep Rasul, he’s most likely a cap casualty.

 

We still have Rousseau, Benford, Bernard and Cook to consider to re-sign.

[Magox]

7 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

I wouldn't. Of all the things that McDermott and Beane do, their best attribute is getting insane value from players in the secondary. We have guys like Benford, Hamlin, Rapp, Lewis, Ingram all playing amazing ball for this club and no one wanted them. I have total faith that they'll be able to get very high level play from late round, UDFA, and cheap FA players on the back end.

Let someone else break the bank for a CB and scoop a 3rd round comp pick.

Douglas is gonna be 31 next year. If he wants to play for 4 or 5M, great. If not, you let him walk.

You also thought paying Spencer Brown was a bad idea.

6 hours ago, The Jokeman said:

You definitely lock Benford down so long he is looking for franchise money. I'd pay him in the top 15-20 CB range money with a 4-5 year extension.

He’s going to get waaaay more than that.  More like the range of 3/4 ish type money.  

[GunnerBill]

12 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

I think the way he's playing, we're looking at towards the higher ends of CB's contracts.  He is in year 3 so I think we could see something before next season if he continues.

Spencer Brown signed his extension right before his 4th year.

 

Benford has been good since his rookie year and is just getting better.

 

@GunnerBill....what are your thoughts?

 

I absolutely think he is in line to get paid after the season. He is playing at a really high level and I don't think you want to go into his final year without getting something done. I could see it as a summer extension (similar to Spencer Brown) rather than a spring on. Those smaller rookie deals don't offer much scope for cap savings when you extend them so it is easier to get through FA and the draft and then look at where you sit before putting a contract structure together. 

 

At the moment there are basically threee tiers of AAV for CB contracts. A small group of $21m plus guys - Surtain, Ramsey, Alexander and at some point next spring Sauce will reset that market. Then a tier of guys in the $19m territory and then a big gap to the $13-14m guys. If Inwas Benford's agent I'd be pitching him in that $19m group with Sneed and Jaylon Johnson. The Bills might hope the fact he doesn't quite have the name value yet might save them a $1m or so AAV. But if he can snag a few more INTs this year... get 4 or 5 for example then that ball production will demand compensating.