Bye Week - The 2025 Cap & Roster

[GASabresIUFan]

If the cap is 270, that gives the Bills about 15 million to sign 13 players and some operating capital.  The only key FAs are Cooper, Hollins and Douglas.

 

There are 3 obvious guys with higher cap figure than dead cap in Miller, D Jones and Epenesa and 2 guys who should restructure to help the cap in Milano and Knox.  
 

I think the Bills need to get to 30 mill at least to have a decent summer.   
 

The biggest holes would be replacing Douglas and or Cooper.  I do wonder if the Bills believe Elam, Lewis or Ingram can be an adequate replacement for Douglas to save the money instead of re-signing Douglas. 
 

Cooper is going to be an interesting follow for the rest of the season.  Does he play well and force the Bills to find a away to keep him? It’s not like the Bills have someone waiting in the wings to replace him.  They certainly can draft another WR early in the 2025 draft.  As we have seen it can be a bit of a crap shoot, but with Coleman, Samuel and Shakir returning Beane could go back to the draft to save money in order to re-sign Shakir long-term.  I’d like a draftee with higher end speed for a change even if we keep both Hollins and Cooper.

 

I’m also interested to see how Beane re-tools the D-Line.  Rousseau and Oliver will return as starters with Solomon and Carter as least key backups.  Miller, D Jones and Epenesa are ripe for being cut or being restructured.  Smooth, Johnson and Toohill are FAs.  Williams from UGA and IU’s Kamara would be great fits early in the draft.  

Edited November 26 by GASabresIUFan

[Aussie Joe]

I would obviously wait and see what develops over the rest of the season … but I would certainly consider offering Cooper a two year deal at $13- 15 per year… this won’t be top of the market for him though ..

 

26 minutes ago, GASabresIUFan said:

 

 

I’m also interested to see how Beane re-tools the D-Line.  Rousseau and Oliver will return as starters with Solomon and Carter as least backups.  Miller, D Jones and Epenesa are ripe for being cut or being restructured. 

Epenesa money in 2025 is fine …I still think he hasn’t actually peaked as yet …but even based on his current play this season I think they retain him one more year …they won’t move on from both him and Miller at the same time … could definitely see D Jones getting cut though 

[ganesh]

56 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

I would obviously wait and see what develops over the rest of the season … but I would certainly consider offering Cooper a two year deal at $13- 15 per year… this won’t be top of the market for him though ..

 

Epenesa money in 2025 is fine …I still think he hasn’t actually peaked as yet …but even based on his current play this season I think they retain him one more year …they won’t move on from both him and Miller at the same time … could definitely see D Jones getting cut though 

They are definitely getting another DT either in the draft or FA.  Jone is gone.  

[Eastport bills]

On 11/22/2024 at 3:04 PM, Ya Digg? said:

Maybe this is wishful thinking, but I’m not sure an upgrade at safety is needed. Bishop will have a year under his belt, Rapp had played really well so I don’t think there NEEDS to be an upgrade. Certainly bring someone in for competition, perhaps even re-sign Hamlin, but there are other places they should spend money 

Bishop looks like a project. Not only is he lacking the physicality necessary for the safety position, he seems out of position when he’s on the field.I don’t know what the scouting department saw in him. I see a middle round pick at that position.

[GunnerBill]

21 minutes ago, Eastport bills said:

Bishop looks like a project. Not only is he lacking the physicality necessary for the safety position, he seems out of position when he’s on the field.I don’t know what the scouting department saw in him. I see a middle round pick at that position.

 

From his college film, he is plenty physical enough. We haven't seen that yet when he has been on the field for the Bills but I think that is because of the second issue - his head is spinning and he is out of position and not able to just run and hit as a result. The bigger worry for me is how long the mental adjustment has taken. He missed camp, so I'll give him a bit of a pass, but some players struggle to get it mentally and that is keeping him on the bench more than anything else. 

[Eastport bills]

7 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

From his college film, he is plenty physical enough. We haven't seen that yet when he has been on the field for the Bills but I think that is because of the second issue - his head is spinning and he is out of position and not able to just run and hit as a result. The bigger worry for me is how long the mental adjustment has taken. He missed camp, so I'll give him a bit of a pass, but some players struggle to get it mentally and that is keeping him on the bench more than anything else. 

I agree, he’s like a deer in the headlights, looking overwhelmed by the speed of the game. A team like ours can’t wait around for him to develop because we’re thin at the position and Rapp leads with his helmet and plays with reckless abandon.

[SoCal Deek]

As much as I hate to say it I’ll be shocked if the Bills don’t go CB in the first round. The Elam experiment has run its course. 

[ganesh]

40 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

From his college film, he is plenty physical enough. We haven't seen that yet when he has been on the field for the Bills but I think that is because of the second issue - his head is spinning and he is out of position and not able to just run and hit as a result. The bigger worry for me is how long the mental adjustment has taken. He missed camp, so I'll give him a bit of a pass, but some players struggle to get it mentally and that is keeping him on the bench more than anything else. 

The game will slow down for him next year. We should be seeing a different player next season

25 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

As much as I hate to say it I’ll be shocked if the Bills don’t go CB in the first round. The Elam experiment has run its course. 

Elam is under contract for next year.  When Douglas departs in FA, I see Elam competing for that starting spot

[GunnerBill]

Just now, ganesh said:

The game will slow down for him next year. We should be seeing a different player next season

 

And hopefully he'll have a full offseason where he is healthy. Missing the whole of camp as a rookie DB in this system in particular is tough to overcome. 

[Cash]

17 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

And hopefully he'll have a full offseason where he is healthy. Missing the whole of camp as a rookie DB in this system in particular is tough to overcome. 

McDermott said in preseason that safety and MLB are the two hardest positions to learn in his scheme. Between that, the missed training camp, and the current starters holding down the fort, I don’t have any worries about Bishop - at least not yet. If he’s not able to win a starting job next year, that’s probably when I start worrying. I also wouldn’t be shocked to see Bishop look significantly better if he has to start again at this point in the year.

[appoo]

2 hours ago, Eastport bills said:

I agree, he’s like a deer in the headlights, looking overwhelmed by the speed of the game. A team like ours can’t wait around for him to develop because we’re thin at the position and Rapp leads with his helmet and plays with reckless abandon.

You should have seen what Bernard looked like as a rookie

 

The defensive scheme is very complex and until we start hearing stuff about Cole from folks I think I’ll just assume he’s like other bills players and need a red shirt year in this defense 

[Eastport bills]

1 minute ago, appoo said:

You should have seen what Bernard looked like as a rookie

 

The defensive scheme is very complex and until we start hearing stuff about Cole from folks I think I’ll just assume he’s like other bills players and need a red shirt year in this defense 

I’m not saying he can’t eventually be a contributor but you can’t have multiple high defensive draft choices be multi year backups (Elam, Bishop) It forces addressing these positions in FA or the draft again.