Von Released, Frees Up $8.4M Cap Space

[Mikie2times]

1 hour ago, Mister Defense said:

 

Well, I will go back and check on here and online, but I do not think 'most were thrilled' when we signed him, though that some were, as he used to be a big name back in the day.  He looked like a shell of the player he was, to me at least.

 

When I watched recent tape of him after the Bills signed him, it reminded me watching tape of Cody Ford after the Bills drafted him. Now slow, lacking in athletic traits, and almost no chance of being a consistent high end player, or even a starter for the Bills.  I know he was VON MILLER, and we are supposed to have had reverence for him, but that is how I saw it.  Almost done, in the same way Bruce was late in his career, running on fumes, still getting some sacks.

 

I don't think it was 'bad luck', but a bad  decision signing a player at that position whose most important attribute was his speed and athleticism, letting him do many great things. But now he was older and coming off a major injury that caused him to miss most of the 2020 season. It wasn't bad luck that he was injured for the Bills, but  seemed likely it was going to happen again, in my view.  He was in his 30's, and coming off a major injury ankle injury in 2020 that caused him to miss 11 games.

 

A superb player in his day, a game changer, and almost assuredly a first ballot Hall of Famer, but a middle of the pack player by the time the Bills gave him a King's ransom.

He had 17 sacks in 24 games post injury before he got hurt with the Bills again. If tangible things existed to say he had a higher injury likelihood NFL teams would have baked this into his value when he hit FA's. If you had better intelligence than the NFL you should be working for them. 

[DJB]

Did anyone hear that Von Miller is a free agent !?!?!? 
 

 

GET R DONE BEANE!!!!

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

1 minute ago, DJB said:

Did anyone hear that Von Miller is a free agent !?!?!? 
 

 

GET R DONE BEANE!!!!

I've heard of him!

[JohnNord]

6 hours ago, Spiderweb said:

You all must have seen a different Von Miller than I  did. Not sure he even played up to the vet minimum salary. 

Recency bias.  If you go back to the first season Von was in Buffalo, he was really good.  8 sacks in less than 12 games.  Once he was injured the defensive pressure rate took a dump.  
 

In the end, he largely turned out to be bust but I’ll argue this was a swing worth taking.  

37 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

He had 17 sacks in 24 games post injury before he got hurt with the Bills again. If tangible things existed to say he had a higher injury likelihood NFL teams would have baked this into his value when he hit FA's. If you had better intelligence than the NFL you should be working for them. 

Exactly.  Everyone saying that Von was injury prone due to the age is revisionist.  Plenty of defenders have played at 30+ without tearing an ACL.   All free agent signings are one bad injury from going awry.  This was the case with Miller in Buffalo
 

 

[BRH]

3 hours ago, Mister Defense said:

Not looking at these things in hindsight, but how I saw things at the time of the trade.

[3rdand12]

9 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

Recency bias.  If you go back to the first season Von was in Buffalo, he was really good.  8 sacks in less than 12 games.  Once he was injured the defensive pressure rate took a dump.  
 

In the end, he largely turned out to be bust but I’ll argue this was a swing worth taking.  

Exactly.  Everyone saying that Von was injury prone due to the age is revisionist.  Plenty of defenders have played at 30+ without tearing an ACL.   All free agent signings are one bad injury from going awry.  This was the case with Miller in Buffalo
 

 

Hadn't he already had a severe knee injury with the Rams. Not going to check. But I do think there was an Age and re injury concern. Minds feeble though lol

I was a fan of Mario Williams coming on . Not the contract. I was a fan of Miller coming on , and same. But that's the risk you take aiming for the bleachers

[hondo in seattle]

3 hours ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

I’m so tired of this nonsense. Von was great and if not for his ACL, he finishes the year with 12+ sacks and probably makes a difference in the playoffs. 
 

 

 

We signed Von because he was a sack artist and ended up paying him $3.4 million per sack during his tenure with us.  

 

In comparison, Trey Hendrickson led the NFL in sacks last year and earned less than $1 million per sack.  

[without a drought]

Bring him back for $1mil per sack.

[JohnNord]

1 hour ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

We signed Von because he was a sack artist and ended up paying him $3.4 million per sack during his tenure with us.  

 

In comparison, Trey Hendrickson led the NFL in sacks last year and earned less than $1 million per sack.  

Gee… I wonder what the difference was?

1 hour ago, 3rdand12 said:

Hadn't he already had a severe knee injury with the Rams. Not going to check. But I do think there was an Age and re injury concern. Minds feeble though lol

I was a fan of Mario Williams coming on . Not the contract. I was a fan of Miller coming on , and same. But that's the risk you take aiming for the bleachers

He only played half a season with the Rams and never was injured.  It happened years ago in Denver.  Just because someone tears an ACL years ago doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to happen again. 

 

You are correct though.  Every big signing is one ACL from going sideways.  That happened with Von.  It doesn’t mean it was a bad move.  

[billsfan89]

2 hours ago, ngbills said:

Couldn’t they have saved another $10m if it was post June 1 designation? Hearing it’s not. 

 

They could have taken his dead cap and spread it over 2 seasons thus adding an additional 7.5 million this season but they wouldn't have access to the money until June 1st. The reason it made sense to do it for Tre last season was that knowing Tre's 10ish million was going to hit was going to allow the Bills to operate right up to the cap during the off-season and then after June 1st they could sign their picks and have the money for the practice squad (which yes counts against the salary cap) and the in season reserve money open up. 

 

With Von the money freeing up after June 1st would basically would be too large a number to be effective and it would push a dead cap hit to 2026. Better to just eat the dead cap and get the relief you can get now. 

[RyanC883]

I wonder if he ends back here. Sounds like both sides interested. I can’t imagine he will have a huge market

[NoSaint]

7 hours ago, buffaloboyinATL said:

Absolutely. But someone will give him more.  

im not entirely confident of that. I think a coin flip he retires due to lack of serious interest. 
 

Pull out kickers and QBs and he’s among the oldest guys in the league

1 hour ago, RyanC883 said:

I wonder if he ends back here. Sounds like both sides interested. I can’t imagine he will have a huge market

to some degree, even on a cheap deal…. His history is tough to carry. Fans will be perpetually disappointed 

[BobbyC81]

13 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

It’s a shame it didn’t work out, but it didn’t. 

They should still try and work out a heavy incentive laden deal (ex: games played, sacks)

[klos63]

1 hour ago, RyanC883 said:

I wonder if he ends back here. Sounds like both sides interested. I can’t imagine he will have a huge market

If we sign him,  we have the dead cap and his new deal,  right?

If that's the case,  should have just kept him. 

[ColoradoBills]

Just now, klos63 said:

If we sign him,  we have the dead cap and his new deal,  right?

If that's the case,  should have just kept him. 

 

Right.

[ngbills]

4 hours ago, billsfan89 said:

 

They could have taken his dead cap and spread it over 2 seasons thus adding an additional 7.5 million this season but they wouldn't have access to the money until June 1st. The reason it made sense to do it for Tre last season was that knowing Tre's 10ish million was going to hit was going to allow the Bills to operate right up to the cap during the off-season and then after June 1st they could sign their picks and have the money for the practice squad (which yes counts against the salary cap) and the in season reserve money open up. 

 

With Von the money freeing up after June 1st would basically would be too large a number to be effective and it would push a dead cap hit to 2026. Better to just eat the dead cap and get the relief you can get now. 

Unless you want $10m more in 25-26 season.  They are doing the math and said let’s take less now to not impact 26-27. I am in the camp that we need more on this roster. One player in my opinion is the difference between falling short and super bowls. 

[billsfan89]

40 minutes ago, ngbills said:

Unless you want $10m more in 25-26 season.  They are doing the math and said let’s take less now to not impact 26-27. I am in the camp that we need more on this roster. One player in my opinion is the difference between falling short and super bowls. 

 

They wouldn't be able to use the 15.5 million they would get in 2025 from Post June 1st cutting Von until AFTER June 1st and considering the Bills only need about 10 million for draft pool, practice squad, and emergency funds in season the Bills would be locking about 5 million in cap space away at a time (after June 1st) when it's use would be a lot less useful. And that's also pushing off 7.5 million onto 2026's cap. 

Edited yesterday at 05:20 AM by billsfan89

[JerseyBills]

16 hours ago, JerseyBills said:

Man I wish we won 1 with him. He was dominant before the injury, has a bright future as a scout/gm 1 day

 

If that injury doesn't happen, we have a SB I believe 

@JakeFrommStateFarm why the laughter? He played 8- 8.5 games and had 8 sacks, playing in a rotation mind you, brought in swagger, confidence, tremendous leadership.

True playmaking, game changer and just a fluky injury derailed everything. At any age an Achilles is brutal, It goes to the long list of what ifs in the last 4 years. He was the closer and lived up to that and the contract til the injury.  

We win at least 1 if that injury doesn't happen,  he was that good imo 

Father time catches everyone though

Edited yesterday at 09:46 AM by JerseyBills

[MrEpsYtown]

It was a swing and it was working before the injury. Beane needs to make more moves like this to get impact players on both sides of the football. 

[notpolian]

This is the right move.  Draft and maybe FA, but I'm not holding my breath on FA.

 

Three years ago, signing an older elite edge rusher such as Von was seemed like a good idea, but time and his injury history just made the cost too high for the risk.  It didn't work.

 

Here is something to rile you up.  Was the Bills defense better with Von or with Jerry Hughes? 

 

Don't make this mistake again.