The Diggs - Cooper trade

[Chaos]

6 hours ago, MJS said:

Getting rid of Diggs also gave us 30+ million in dead money. That's the real kicker. But if he didn't want to be here, it is better to have him gone.

but we don't want to consider that. we just want to focus on the wizardry of 807k, as if we didn't eat the dead cap. 

 

[JakeFrommStateFarm]

This all so very complicated 

[QB Bills]

I get that he didn't want to be here, but it would have been nice to see them make this move with a content Diggs on the roster. Having Diggs and Cooper outside with Shakir in the slot. Chef's kiss..

 

I don't think McBeane values the position enough to have done that though.

[Cotton Fitzsimmons]

5 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Most of these ‘drops’ are hilarious lol. Watson throwing the ball at his feet when he’s wide open and nonsense like that 

 

 
This Cooper fellow looked like THE WHIP when Flacco was chucking rainbows down the field to him last season.

[finn]

9 hours ago, SydneyBillsFan said:

 

But that's not a factor anymore because you now have another WR of similar quality on the roster.

 

The only additional cap hit is the $807K salary. 

Yes, essentially we traded Diggs for Cooper, with the small additional salary (the $807k) offset by a getting a second-round pick for a third and a sixth for a seventh. 

 

In this light, it was a slam dunk on Beane's part. 

[SCBills]

On paper, Cooper + a better premium pick + getting out of the Diggs deal is easily the better choice. 
 

Remains to be seen how Allen & Cooper vibe, but another thing to point out is that Diggs has become more of a slot guy in Houston.. he was trending that way here, given his inability to make plays outside when it mattered, and we don’t need another slot guy. 

[Jay_Fixit]

I miss Diggs.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

3 hours ago, QB Bills said:

I get that he didn't want to be here, but it would have been nice to see them make this move with a content Diggs on the roster. Having Diggs and Cooper outside with Shakir in the slot. Chef's kiss..

 

I don't think McBeane values the position enough to have done that though.

I think that’s part of the issue with diggs…our front office was reportedly pretty worried about how diggs would react to losing receptions to another big time wr when we were looking into Deandre Hopkins.  If Diggs wasn’t so prickly im pretty sure we would’ve grabbed Hopkins in free agency

 

Diggs wanted to be the guy and it just wasn’t working…seemed like he hit a wall last year and couldn’t handle the wr1 role anymore but didn’t seem too keen on anyone else stealing his thunder either.  
 

Edited October 17 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[T.E.]

12 hours ago, SydneyBillsFan said:

Cooper - born June 17 1994

 

(age 30 years 4 months)

 

 

Hold up a sec...that is the date of the OJ chase. Amari Cooper was born on the day of the OJ chase.

 

Is this a sign?

[mikemac2001]

6 hours ago, Chaos said:

but we don't want to consider that. we just want to focus on the wizardry of 807k, as if we didn't eat the dead cap. 

 

And everyone who talks about the dead cap doesn’t want to talk about the cancer in the locker room he caused 

[Nephilim17]

I think Josh deferred to Steph but now that he's gone, Josh is now the unquestioned leader of the offense.

I think that's worth a lot.

[Mikie2times]

12 hours ago, DJB said:

Im afraid of being in any position around Diggs …. 

He’s got that diddy in him 

[GunnerBill]

Here is how I see it:

 

1. The Bills were in a bad spot in that they had a formerly elite receiver, on the decline, with a huge contract and a broken relationship with the organisation and most importantly the star Quarterback. 

 

2. They had to eat a ton of money for the gain of a 2nd round pick to get a fresh start and get him off the roster. 

 

3. They then bungled their approach to wide receiver (particularly boundary receiver) in the offseason. The mid-level FA acquisition (Samuel) looks like a total bust of a signing at this stage and the rookie they drafted has the limitations in the pros that he had in college - predictably.

 

4. Given that situation getting a very good (never been elite mind you) receiver back for the cost of a 3rd round pick with a tiny salary and no long term obligation if it turns out he is declining as a rental until the offseason when you can address it properly and fix last spring's mistakes is about as well as they could have done.

 

 

I'm not calling it a win overall though. It is a part mitigation of a loss. Don't get me wrong I love the Cooper pick up. I was advocating for it weeks ago. But you have to put it in its proper context before getting too excited. 

[balln]

30 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Here is how I see it:

 

1. The Bills were in a bad spot in that they had a formerly elite receiver, on the decline, with a huge contract and a broken relationship with the organisation and most importantly the star Quarterback. 

 

2. They had to eat a ton of money for the gain of a 2nd round pick to get a fresh start and get him off the roster. 

 

3. They then bungled their approach to wide receiver (particularly boundary receiver) in the offseason. The mid-level FA acquisition (Samuel) looks like a total bust of a signing at this stage and the rookie they drafted has the limitations in the pros that he had in college - predictably.

 

4. Given that situation getting a very good (never been elite mind you) receiver back for the cost of a 3rd round pick with a tiny salary and no long term obligation if it turns out he is declining as a rental until the offseason when you can address it properly and fix last spring's mistakes is about as well as they could have done.

 

 

I'm not calling it a win overall though. It is a part mitigation of a loss. Don't get me wrong I love the Cooper pick up. I was advocating for it weeks ago. But you have to put it in its proper context before getting too excited. 

But that’s the salary cap NFL. And also what happens as you build a team and hand out contracts to your good players and they age AND you don’t win it all.

 

to me this is more normal/unfortunate then abnormal and incompetent 

[ProcessTruster]

18 hours ago, SydneyBillsFan said:

Yeah, I know...it wasn't a straight up trade.

 

But consider this:

 

 

Diggs - born November 28 1993

 

(age 30 years 11 months)

 

 

Cooper - born June 17 1994

 

(age 30 years 4 months)

 

 

Picks gained - 2025 2nd + 2025 6th

 

Picks lost - 2025 3rd + 2026 7th

 

 

So....we've replaced one WR with another who is 7 months younger and we have upgraded two draft picks - for a cost of $807K

 

It therefore begs the question - are we now in a better position overall?

 

yes, as both would have been rentals through the end of this season and let go at season end in any scenario, given the astronomical deal each will get at end of this year from one of many teams.   So prob better to have good attitude team guy Cooper than head case distraction Diggs.  Easy

[balln]

They had to get cooper 

 

Hawkins on nfl live (who is sneakily the best guy up there ) said raven game really exposed the bills WR. He said the raven ran cover zero WITHOUT a blitz. Which he said was UNHEARD of in the nfl. “Huge disrespect “

[GunnerBill]

4 minutes ago, balln said:

But that’s the salary cap NFL. And also what happens as you build a team and hand out contracts to your good players and they age AND you don’t win it all.

 

to me this is more normal/unfortunate then abnormal and incompetent 

 

I think there was some misfortune, sure, but whether they needed to give Diggs a new 4 year deal when they did is I think a legit question and it was asked at the time. On the original deal we took on at the trade he was a free agent after 2023. Could they have found a way to bump his money without adding four years? Could they also have done more in the years 2021-2023 in the draft to stock the receiver room? Could they have managed what they did this past spring with the receiver room? 

 

I think they had some misfortune. They didn't know that the Diggs / Allen relationship was going to rupture quite so spectacularly. They also probably didn't bank on Diggs hitting the decline at 30 and thought he might stay close to elite for an extra year or two. But they have also mishandled the receiver room over the past few years. There is no question about that. The Amari Cooper trade is the first step towards climbing out of a hole of their own making. 

[balln]

8 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I think there was some misfortune, sure, but whether they needed to give Diggs a new 4 year deal when they did is I think a legit question and it was asked at the time. On the original deal we took on at the trade he was a free agent after 2023. Could they have found a way to bump his money without adding four years? Could they also have done more in the years 2021-2023 in the draft to stock the receiver room? Could they have managed what they did this past spring with the receiver room? 

 

I think they had some misfortune. They didn't know that the Diggs / Allen relationship was going to rupture quite so spectacularly. They also probably didn't bank on Diggs hitting the decline at 30 and thought he might stay close to elite for an extra year or two. But they have also mishandled the receiver room over the past few years. There is no question about that. The Amari Cooper trade is the first step towards climbing out of a hole of their own making. 

They thought they had a 1B wr gabe Davis. Especially after :13. Then he gets an ankle injury and sort of skews the picture thereafter. Beane relies too much on faith / guys he picks. I agree. Should be loading up constantly. Drafting non premium guards  ford and Torrence in the second round , Basham second and ( it ended up working out a little bc Milano hurt) back to back small LBs who needed time to see the field in 3rds. Just leave me sour 

Edited October 17 by balln

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, balln said:

They thought they had a 1B wr gabe Davis. Especially after :13. Then he gets an ankle. Beane relies too much on faith / guys he picks. I agree. Should be loading up constantly. Drafting non premium guards  ford and Torrence in the second round , Basham second and ( it ended up working out a little bc Milano hurt) back to back small LBs who needed time to see the field in 3rds. Just leave me sour 

 

They mismanaged Gabe's career here too, I spoke about that earlier in the week in another thread. Took too long to see if he was a 1B and by the time they did so their cap position basically meant they had nowhere to go once it was clear he wasn't. Their handling of the receiver room has been a fail. And that goes directly to Beane and his staff. 

[NewEra]

50 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Here is how I see it:

 

1. The Bills were in a bad spot in that they had a formerly elite receiver, on the decline, with a huge contract and a broken relationship with the organisation and most importantly the star Quarterback. 

 

2. They had to eat a ton of money for the gain of a 2nd round pick to get a fresh start and get him off the roster. 

 

3. They then bungled their approach to wide receiver (particularly boundary receiver) in the offseason. The mid-level FA acquisition (Samuel) looks like a total bust of a signing at this stage and the rookie they drafted has the limitations in the pros that he had in college - predictably.

 

4. Given that situation getting a very good (never been elite mind you) receiver back for the cost of a 3rd round pick with a tiny salary and no long term obligation if it turns out he is declining as a rental until the offseason when you can address it properly and fix last spring's mistakes is about as well as they could have done.

 

 

I'm not calling it a win overall though. It is a part mitigation of a loss. Don't get me wrong I love the Cooper pick up. I was advocating for it weeks ago. But you have to put it in its proper context before getting too excited. 

The way I see it, proper context IS that Diggs didn’t want to be here anymore and the HAD to trade him.  This happened after free agency.  The only real upgrade left at the time of the trade was to trade up for BTj.  That’s the only way we could’ve “won”.  I don’t think any of the WRs available when we picked are so much better than Keon, if at all, that we would’ve “won”.  It’s was a BTj or bust kind of offseason.  
 

Considering the Diggs dilemma, I think Beane did a good job.  Samuel, being the caveat.  He’s been a terrible signing to date, but that could change.  Turf toe for a WR with his skill set and size is a beast to deal with.  Let’s hope that’s been a major problem with his play. 

6 minutes ago, balln said:

They thought they had a 1B wr gabe Davis. Especially after :13. Then he gets an ankle injury and sort of skews the picture thereafter. Beane relies too much on faith / guys he picks. I agree. Should be loading up constantly. Drafting non premium guards  ford and Torrence in the second round , Basham second and ( it ended up working out a little bc Milano hurt) back to back small LBs who needed time to see the field in 3rds. Just leave me sour 

Do the back to back LB picks currently leave you sour?  I think those picks hit everyone the same at the time of the selections.  But now, they are looking like steals.