My way too early offseason plan:
Our Priority UFAs
-Davis: Let walk unless he completely strikes out in FA and comes back on a very cheap deal
-Epenesa: The only one I actually consider re-signing if it's an affordable deal, because he's young and semaingly ascending. I imagine he prices himself out, though.
-Floyd: Let walk, we can't be giving anoher over 30 DE a big money deal
-Hyde: I think he retires, but I'm not re-signing him even if it's for vet minimum. He had a great year, but we need to turn the page on this defenses age
-Dane Jackson: I'm fine with him coming back if it's for clear backup money, but hopfully someone pays him to be. starter
-Daquan Jones: I'd lik him back, but for no more than one season. He's old. Our defense needs to be less old. Hopefully someone pays him handsomely.
*If all or most of these guys sign real FA contacts with other teams, and we can't afford to do much, we're going to get several comp picks in 2025.
Non-Priority UFAs
-RBs Johnson, Lat, and Harris: I'd be fine with any of them back for vet minimum. Johnson was a nice addition down the stretch. Lat looked really toast by the end of the year and hopefully they can find pass blocking in someone that can do other things. Harris should be dirt cheap and I'm sure they still want a power back, so no harm in letting him compete.
-DL Phillips, Shaq, Ford, Joseph, Settle: I want them mostly all gone. Need to turn the page. If someone like Shaq or Phillips loves it here and wants to compete for a roster spot on a nonguaranteed deal, fine. But we can't count on the old men anymore. Joseph I thought was very good, but he's not signing anywhere until December.
-Rapp: I thought it was mostly a failed experiment with him
-Sherfield: Despite the bad drops, I actually liked what I saw out of him down the stretch, especially as a blocker. Not the worst option as a poor man's Gabe replacement
-Matakevich: New rule for ST specialists, if they can't even get on the field when there are 5 injuries at their actual position, they shouldn't be on the roster.
-Dodson: I'm fine with him coming back as a backup/3rd LB for running downs. But I wonder if a team that cares more about the defending the run actually pays him starting money.
External UFAs
-Basically, unless there's a chance to land a truly elite player, at the right age, to be a true difference maker (that list for me would be Brian Burns, Winfield Jr., and maybe Christian Wilkins, all of whom I expect are far out of our price range) I wouldn't sign any FAs over the comp formula threshold. Stocking those comp picks should be priority #1 here. Some cheaper guys I have my eye on:
-Noah Brown: Assuming Gabe is gone, something the team will prioritize is a WR with plus blocking ability. I'm fine with that, but that guy doesn't need to be our #2 WR. Brown is a sort of do it all gritty WR that blocks well and also brings good WR depth and some gadget ability. I think he'd be a perfect fit as a #4 (Shakir and a rookie as 2/3).
-Some mediocre CBs they think can play S: I don't know the names. But this is how we found Hyde and Poyer. Can we do it again?
-LB depth that actually fits our scheme and isn't AJ Klein
-Lots of DL dart throws. Sign like 10 of them. The room is going to be wide open, take some dart throws.
Cut candidates
-Von (only if suspended and we can get out of his guarantees)
-Tre White ($6 million saved): Hard to justify paying your injured #3 CB top of market money. If he'd take a pay cut down to close to just his guaranteed money, converting him to FS could be an interesting long term solution. But why would he do that?
-Mitch Morse ($8 million saved): I don't think they cut him. But the alternative is probably restructuring and pushing that 8 million down the road. And part of me wonders if they should just cut bait while hey can. He says he's not retiring though.
-Poyer ($5 million saved): A no brainer to be. He was baaaaad when he played actual safety. If he loves Buffalo so much that he wants to stick around for $2 million as a dime LB fine. But his safety days are behind him.
-Harty: ($4 million saved): No brainer.
-Hines: ($5 million saved): No brainer.
-Neal ($3 million saved) and Gilliam ($2 million saved): Should be no brainers, but this is the Bills we're talking about. See above what I wrote about Matakevich
Restructure/Extension
-Allen: Can open up like $20 million in savings by pushing his base salary. I know the whole idea here is not to push too much money, but they need to get cap compliant
-Douglas and Taron: I expect them both to get extensions which will free up cap space the next two years. Fine with it, they're both in their primes and important pieces to the defense.
-Knox: This will be controversial for those that want him gone, but he's not going anywhere. More likely, they restructure his base salary, bring his cap hit down, and commit further to him.
-Dawkins: This is the hardest decision. He had a great year, but he's getting older. He's always had to cheat a little because his first step is kind of slow. If he loses just a little will he become a liability to get beat with speed? Can free up a lot of money by extending him though.
-Von, Milano, and Diggs all have a lot of money to be freed up by extending/restructuring them. I don't even consider it. Too old and/or injured.
Draft
Way too early for me to know names, but positions I'm targeting are WR, S, and DL. We're actually in pretty good shape everywhere else. OL if there's value on the board.
