Greg Rousseau Extended (4 years / 80M / 54M Guaranteed)

[Doc Brown]

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

I don't think it does. We could still afford Hendrickson for example if they really wanted to. My concern is that when you overpay too many good not great players, eventually it catches up with you and then on the rare occasion when elite players become available you're shut out of the market. Look at the DK Metcalf thread - a lot of fans balking over paying him $30M AAV. The reality is we should want a $30M AAV player on our roster. All the other contenders have players worth that kind of money. Only in Buffalo do we have fans praising $20M for a solid player while saying we can't afford a top 100 player.

That's what happens when you hit a lot of singles and doubles in the draft.  Also what often happens when you haven't cracked even the top 20 in draft position since 2019.  

[MikePJ76]

5 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

I don't think it does. We could still afford Hendrickson for example if they really wanted to. My concern is that when you overpay too many good not great players, eventually it catches up with you and then on the rare occasion when elite players become available you're shut out of the market. Look at the DK Metcalf thread - a lot of fans balking over paying him $30M AAV. The reality is we should want a $30M AAV player on our roster. All the other contenders have players worth that kind of money. Only in Buffalo do we have fans praising $20M for a solid player while saying we can't afford a top 100 player.

Isn’t dk Metcalf a good not great player?

 

and by the definition you just stated isn’t he the ultimate over pay?  

Edited Sunday at 07:02 PM by MikePJ76

[HappyDays]

1 minute ago, MikePJ76 said:

Isn’t dk Metcalf a good not great player?

 

No, he's a great player. He is not in the elite of the elite Jefferson/Chase/Brown tier. He is in the next tier down which features like 10 WRs that you can rank in whatever order you choose.

 

 

Yes these are highlights, but let's be honest you can count the number of active players capable of some of these plays on one hand. Allen has never had a talent like this on the team. Diggs was of course elite in his prime but very different style. To me this is the prototypical WR to mesh with Allen.

 

The WR analog to Rousseau would be someone like Jakobi Meyers. A nice player that you like to have on your team but you don't want him being your best player at that position and you don't want to pay him like a top 10 player.

 

FWIW I agree that $30M is an overpay for Metcalf. But so what? 90% of contract extension are overpays. That's just the price of doing business. Why are Bills fans so ready to turn their nose up at overpaying elite players while praising overpaying players like Rousseau and Bernard?

[Dukestreetking]

On 3/8/2025 at 1:54 PM, Logic said:

Haters gonna hate...

 

"Nothing will make sense to your American [Bills fan] ears, and you will doubt everything that we do, but in the end you will understand."

 

Sincerely, Alejandro (aka, B. B. Beane)

[Magox]

5 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

No, he's a great player. He is not in the elite of the elite Jefferson/Chase/Brown tier. He is in the next tier down which features like 10 WRs that you can rank in whatever order you choose.

 

 

Yes these are highlights, but let's be honest you can count the number of active players capable of some of these plays on one hand. Allen has never had a talent like this on the team. Diggs was of course elite in his prime but very different style. To me this is the prototypical WR to mesh with Allen.

 

The WR analog to Rousseau would be someone like Jakobi Meyers. A nice player that you like to have on your team but you don't want him being your best player at that position and you don't want to pay him like a top 10 player.

 

FWIW I agree that $30M is an overpay for Metcalf. But so what? 90% of contract extension are overpays. That's just the price of doing business. Why are Bills fans so ready to turn their nose up at overpaying elite players while praising overpaying players like Rousseau and Bernard?

He is not a great receiver, do I need to post his rankings?

He is a good quality receiver who is great at go and post routes.   
 

With that said, I’d be happy to have him because we actually could use someone who is fantastic at the skill sets he offers.

[FLFan]

1 hour ago, FireChans said:

I don’t think it’s a coincidence the Rousseau and Garrett extensions were within 24 hrs of each other.

 

I don’t think that Beane necessarily chose between Rousseau and Garrett. I do think that Beane may have extended Rousseau once Garrett wasn’t an option. And lo and behold, it becomes clear Garrett wasn’t an option.

Maybe not, but I keep coming back to Rousseau's salary cap number this year before the extension.  If they were not going to cut or trade him, they had to get that number down this year, and they did.  Perhaps their thinking was that Rousseau would have been part of a Garrett deal.  If so that would not have made me happy given we have nothing at all behind him.  

[Warcodered]

41 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

No, he's a great player. He is not in the elite of the elite Jefferson/Chase/Brown tier. He is in the next tier down which features like 10 WRs that you can rank in whatever order you choose.

 

 

Yes these are highlights, but let's be honest you can count the number of active players capable of some of these plays on one hand. Allen has never had a talent like this on the team. Diggs was of course elite in his prime but very different style. To me this is the prototypical WR to mesh with Allen.

 

The WR analog to Rousseau would be someone like Jakobi Meyers. A nice player that you like to have on your team but you don't want him being your best player at that position and you don't want to pay him like a top 10 player.

 

FWIW I agree that $30M is an overpay for Metcalf. But so what? 90% of contract extension are overpays. That's just the price of doing business. Why are Bills fans so ready to turn their nose up at overpaying elite players while praising overpaying players like Rousseau and Bernard?

Also important to remember who has DK really had throwing him the ball, pre collapse Russel Wilson?

[Doc Brown]

43 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

FWIW I agree that $30M is an overpay for Metcalf. But so what? 90% of contract extension are overpays. That's just the price of doing business. Why are Bills fans so ready to turn their nose up at overpaying elite players while praising overpaying players like Rousseau and Bernard?

Metcalf was the only player that interested me as usually giving up multiple firsts plus and then paying a top of the market contract to said player has a horrible track record.  If we can get Metcalf for a 2nd and a 4th or something like that I have no problem with the Bills paying him $30m plus a year.  We need elite players at premium positions on either side of the ball.

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, HappyDays said:

 

I don't think it does. We could still afford Hendrickson for example if they really wanted to. My concern is that when you overpay too many good not great players, eventually it catches up with you and then on the rare occasion when elite players become available you're shut out of the market. Look at the DK Metcalf thread - a lot of fans balking over paying him $30M AAV. The reality is we should want a $30M AAV player on our roster. All the other contenders have players worth that kind of money. Only in Buffalo do we have fans praising $20M for a solid player while saying we can't afford a top 100 player.

 

I'd go to $30m AAV if he is willing to be flexible over the guaranteed %. I think St Brown (who is right at that $30m AAV marker) got 65% guaranteed. If DK wants that I'm out. If he is willing to be closer to 50% guaranteed I'd go to $30m. If he wants a higher guarantee it has to be in exchange for a lower AAV that allows them to manage the cap beyond the next two years.

[NoSaint]

2 hours ago, Magox said:

He is not a great receiver, do I need to post his rankings?

He is a good quality receiver who is great at go and post routes.   
 

With that said, I’d be happy to have him because we actually could use someone who is fantastic at the skill sets he offers.

yea, I guess he’s a great receiver like parsons is a great end? Maybe not the 100% polished and complete player but does the premium part of the job with top tier skill? And a guy that can press down field and keep safeties deep is our weakest piece of the offense too.

[GunnerBill]

2 hours ago, NoSaint said:

yea, I guess he’s a great receiver like parsons is a great end? Maybe not the 100% polished and complete player but does the premium part of the job with top tier skill? And a guy that can press down field and keep safeties deep is our weakest piece of the offense too.

 

I think Parsons is a better end than DK is a receiver, but I get the point you are making. While they are both (DK to a greater amount) one trick ponies it is the trick that has the most value for their position. 

 

And yea, even though DK is definitely not an elite receiver he is absolutely the type of guy the Bills have a desperate need for. 

[Magox]

3 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I think Parsons is a better end than DK is a receiver, but I get the point you are making. While they are both (DK to a greater amount) one trick ponies it is the trick that has the most value for their position. 

 

And yea, even though DK is definitely not an elite receiver he is absolutely the type of guy the Bills have a desperate need for. 

This is the point that I’ve been making.  He’s not a top 10 WR, not even the best on his team but he is elite at go and post routes which is exactly what the Bills need most out of a WR.

 

The price is high for that limited skill set.  Teams can just go two high and essentially he becomes very limited but when teams go man to man with 0 or 1 blitzes then he could be the ultimate pressure valve and make teams pay.

 

 

[Buffalo716]

4 hours ago, Warcodered said:

Also important to remember who has DK really had throwing him the ball, pre collapse Russel Wilson?

That's not a good argument.. guys like Josh Gordon went for 1700 yards with skeletons at quarterbacks in Cleveland 

 

These are still NFL quarterbacks.. and the best wide receivers get forced fed.. he gets 120 targets a year ... He is what he is a good receiver with great athleticism and limited route tree

[HappyDays]

So there you go, Rousseau's contract officially hurt us from getting Metcalf. Rousseau + Bernard = $32.5M AAV. Metcalf got $30M AAV. These extensions don't happen in a vacuum. They have a measurable impact on our ability to add game changers.

[FireChans]

Just now, HappyDays said:

So there you go, Rousseau's contract officially hurt us from getting Metcalf. Rousseau + Bernard = $32.5M AAV. Metcalf got $30M AAV. These extensions don't happen in a vacuum. They have a measurable impact on our ability to add game changers.

Josh Allen took a paycut so Beane could extend Greg Rousseau lol.

[Warriorspikes51]

Just now, HappyDays said:

So there you go, Rousseau's contract officially hurt us from getting Metcalf. Rousseau + Bernard = $32.5M AAV. Metcalf got $30M AAV. These extensions don't happen in a vacuum. They have a measurable impact on our ability to add game changers.

or maybe Beane just wasn’t willing to commit 5 years at 30 mil per to DK, regardless of our extensions?

[Magox]

7 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

So there you go, Rousseau's contract officially hurt us from getting Metcalf. Rousseau + Bernard = $32.5M AAV. Metcalf got $30M AAV. These extensions don't happen in a vacuum. They have a measurable impact on our ability to add game changers.

Such a hysterical take lol

[HappyDays]

3 minutes ago, Magox said:

Such a hysterical take lol

 

It's just math. Beane has to be right about these decisions. Historically he has not been right about the contracts he's given out. I hope my opinion on this is wrong of course. I would love nothing more than for Rousseau to take a big step and for Beane to get the WR room right.

[FireChans]

6 minutes ago, Magox said:

Such a hysterical take lol

You better be right, because if you are wrong, I’m going to be mercilessly petty about this thread lol.

[Magox]

Just now, HappyDays said:

 

It's just math. Beane has to be right about these decisions. Historically he has not been right about the contracts he's given out. I hope my opinion on this is wrong of course. I would love nothing more than for Rousseau to take a big step and for Beane to get the WR room right.

You’re blaming that Pittsburgh made the trade for DK instead of Buffalo is because the Rousseau signing.  Do you not see how absurd that sounds?   
 

The Rousseau signing is not going to take up much of the cap for at least the next three years.   The Bills are at least $20M under the cap and there are quite a few more non crazy things they can do to free up another $25M.

 

They aren’t getting all these deals done right before FA for nothing, this isn’t coincidental.   They are freeing up money to spend.