Bye Week - The 2025 Cap & Roster

[NewEra]

On 11/22/2024 at 6:06 PM, WotAGuy said:

Really?  You are one of the few I’ve seen that feels Von was worth it.  As for Cooper, he has to want to be here as well, and I suspect he will prefer a warm weather team for his next and maybe last big contract. 

He hasn’t been worth it due to injury.  If he hadn’t gotten injured, he would’ve been worth it 💯 imo.  
 

if we win the Super Bowl and he plays a part, then he’ll be worth it again.  

[NewEra]

19 hours ago, 3rdand12 said:

Depends on the deal with Rasul , as mentioned above he likely will pursue the money at this point.

 I see Bills looking hard at CB from outside.

 If they can keep Douglas and it makes financial sense? I support that as well

If he could successfully move to Safety that would be a boon for McD. loving that flexibility for disguise.

But then you need to draft one who will start by year two and possibly pay Douglas a bit more than we might like.

Nice thought though

Douglas isn’t going to resign here and move to safety.  corners make more money and he’s still a good starting corner.  Zero chance of him moving to S imo. 
 

Rapp is entrenched for the next 2 seasons. We drafted Bishop in rd 2.  Douglas will play CB somewhere in 25

[ganesh]

3 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Douglas isn’t going to resign here and move to safety.  corners make more money and he’s still a good starting corner.  Zero chance of him moving to S imo. 
 

Rapp is entrenched for the next 2 seasons. We drafted Bishop in rd 2.  Douglas will play CB somewhere in 25

Agree.  Douglas is gone from this team in 2025. 

[TFBillsfan]

Cooper will be interesting to see how he wants to finish his career. He’s been with three dysfunctional teams (Raiders, Dallas and Cleveland) before now experiencing BillsMafia and the Buffalo experience. I thought his comments last week were intriguing when he mentioned how much he was enjoying the environment and winning. Does he want to chase money potentially with another dysfunctional team or take less, likely increasing his stats and being part of a team that is a legit SB contender?

 

 

[GunnerBill]

 

 

7 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

This is my best guess as well.

 

I think they'd love to get Douglas back, but there'll be a ceiling they're not willing to go beyond. And Douglas might be able (and willing) to get more elsewhere.

 

Douglas is 30 and generally even fairly big contracts for CBs over 30 (he'll be 31 when the season starts) don't turn out too good too often. He's really been an excellent pickup, so I think they'll hope but will have a ceiling and will tell him if he can get more elsewhere they'll thank him for his Bills service. Guy's been great.

 

They tried to get something done last spring and I understand they were a distance apart on money which is why they just did a bit of a restructure to free up cap room. Douglas has only had one, moderate, pay day by the standards of an NFL player. He will want to maximise the dollars on this deal

[3rdand12]

4 hours ago, NewEra said:

Douglas isn’t going to resign here and move to safety.  corners make more money and he’s still a good starting corner.  Zero chance of him moving to S imo. 
 

Rapp is entrenched for the next 2 seasons. We drafted Bishop in rd 2.  Douglas will play CB somewhere in 25

Thanks 
I tried to phrase it as an "if " he would grow into FS/SS.

 I think we often bring this theory up , without much in the way of factually occurring. A  bit of fanatasy on my part  🙃

[GASabresIUFan]

First things 1st.  We only have 40 players under contract for next year.

 

Douglas, Smoot and Austin Johnson are void year contract liabilities, but are UFAs.  They'll add nearly 6.4 to our dead cap next season.  

 

Knox and Milano who you'd think might be cap casualties actually have higher dead cap hits than actual cap costs in 2025.   I can see a restructuring off both their deals to keep both players, but reduce their 2025 cap cost.  

 

We have a similar discussion going from Monday.

Here are the 40 players

 

Offense (17)

QB (2) - Allen, Trubisky

RB (2) - Cook & Davis

TE (2) - Kincaid & Knox

WR (3) - Coleman, Shakir and Samuel

OL (8) - Brown, Clayton, Dawkins, Grable, Edwards, Torrence, McGovern, SVPG 

 

Defense (21)

DT (3) - Oliver, Jones, Carter

Edge/DE (4) - Groot, Miller, Epenesa, Solomon

LB (6) - Bernard, Spector, Milano, Andreessen, Ulofoshio & Williams

CB (5) - Johnson, Benford, Elam, Ingram & Codrington

DB (1) - Lewis

S (2) - Bishop & Rapp

 

Specialists (2) - Martin and Bass

 

Dead cap (with 3 deals on void years - Smoot, Douglas & A Johnson) - 11.1 million approx

 

So what do we need?

 

On offense - 2 WRs, 1 depth TE, 1 depth RB, at least 2 OL (Anderson & Van Denmark?).  Gore vs Johnson for 3rd RB?  Re-sign Amari?

 

On defense - At least 3 DE/DT, maybe a starting CB and depth at safety.  Hamlin re-sign?  

 

I'm sure Ferguson will be back as the long snapper.

[Rochesterfan]

On 11/22/2024 at 2:49 PM, appoo said:

To start, the Bills will carry just $5.4M in Dead cap ($68M this season) with 5 players with Tre White having 4.1M of that.  

 

Total Cap Liability - 266M

Top 51 - 260M

Total Projected Cap space - 8M

Total Roster - 45

 

Probable Cuts

• Von Miller,  8.4M Net cap savings, 15.4M Dead cap
• Jalen Virgil - 1M
• Austin Johnson - 0 (Void year)

 

After Cuts

Top 51 - 250.5M

Cap Space - 9.5M

Roster Size - 43

To get to 54 - 11

 

Extension: 

• Josh Allen - 8 year, 400M, 15M Signing Bonus (Drop his 2025 Base Salary to ~2M, ~ savings of 10M in 2025)
• Gregg Rousseau - 5 year 100M, 20M Signing Bonus (Drop his 2025 Base to ~ 3M, ~ savings of 7M in 2025)
• Rasul Douglas - 2+2 year 8M, 3M Signing Bonus (Drop his 2025 Base to ~1M ~ Savings of 2.5M  in 2025)
• Amari Cooper - 4 year, 60M, 10M Bonus ~ 10M 2025 Cap Hit

 

After Extensions:

Top 51 - 240M

Cap Space - 10M

Roster Size  - 43

 

Restructures

• Ed Oliver ~ 6.5M Savings
• Dawson Knox ~ $7M Savings

 

After Restructures

Top 51 - 225M

Cap Space - 35M

 

Roster Make up

 

Starters Needed

 0

 

Upgrades Desired (obviously up for discussion)

1 - Safety over either Rapp or Cole Bishop

1 - Corner over Rasul Douglas

 

Depth Needed

1 RB

2 WR

1 TE

1 OT

1 DT

1 EDGE

1 Safety

 

Draft Picks - 8 Total

1st Round Pick (Buffalo)

2nd Round Pick (Buffalo)

2nd Round Pick (Minnesota, via Houston)

4th Round Pick (Buffalo)

4th Round Pick (Chicago*)

6th Round Pick (Buffalo)

6th Round Pick (New York Giants)

6th Round Pick (Cleveland)

 

 

Lots of work - interesting stuff, but I really think they let Douglas and Cooper walk.  
 

I think in both cases they are players that will sign for more as FA than what the Bills will sign replacements and get them comp picks in 2026.

 

That allows them to extend Benford - which is much more important to the build of the team.

 

I see Beane continuing with small FA pick ups that fill gaps - so there are limited needs come the draft - and then continuing to hit on picks that develop and provide replacements to the higher price veterans.  I do not see them overspending to retain guys like Douglas and Cooper when they can replace them and get free picks back.  
 

This is what they have been building to.

 

[SoonerBillsFan]

5 hours ago, NewEra said:

Douglas isn’t going to resign here and move to safety.  corners make more money and he’s still a good starting corner.  Zero chance of him moving to S imo. 
 

Rapp is entrenched for the next 2 seasons. We drafted Bishop in rd 2.  Douglas will play CB somewhere in 25

Douglass needs to be re-signed this offseason.

11 minutes ago, Rochesterfan said:

 

Lots of work - interesting stuff, but I really think they let Douglas and Cooper walk.  
 

I think in both cases they are players that will sign for more as FA than what the Bills will sign replacements and get them comp picks in 2026.

 

That allows them to extend Benford - which is much more important to the build of the team.

 

I see Beane continuing with small FA pick ups that fill gaps - so there are limited needs come the draft - and then continuing to hit on picks that develop and provide replacements to the higher price veterans.  I do not see them overspending to retain guys like Douglas and Cooper when they can replace them and get free picks back.  
 

This is what they have been building to.

 

Screw comp picks. Sign FA'S you know can play.

[Big Turk]

7 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

 

 

They tried to get something done last spring and I understand they were a distance apart on money which is why they just did a bit of a restructure to free up cap room. Douglas has only had one, moderate, pay day by the standards of an NFL player. He will want to maximise the dollars on this deal

 

Can't blame him, it's likely his last good contract. Hopefully they can reach some sort of middle ground where it makes sense for both parties.

[NewEra]

4 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Douglass needs to be re-signed this offseason.

Screw comp picks. Sign FA'S you know can play.

Need is a strong word.  I’m one of his biggest fans and hope that we do…. But I don’t think it’s gonna happen.  I think we extend Benford.