Buffalo Bills The offseason begins

[Selanne00008]

Using Spotrac for free agent years and potential cap savings:

Current Cap Situation: -$8,467,005
Cutting Trubisky, converting Allen's salary into a bonus = $3,655,495 (Cap Space)

My opinions:
Bold = Under contract & expected Buffalo Bill for 2025 Season
Normal = Under contract but questionable return
Italicized = Free Agent I expect to be re-signed
Not shown = Free agent, either expected to sign elsewhere or roster bubble player

QB: Josh Allen, Mike White
**They gave White a 2-year contract and save $3M on Mitch. Easy Trubisky cut (IMO).
RB: James Cook, Ray Davis, Ty Johnson
FB: Reggie Gilliam
WR: Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel, Keon Coleman, Mack Hollins
TE: Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox, (One of) Morris/Davidson/Rogers
OT: Dion Dawkins, Travis Clayton
OG: Davis Edwards, Alec Anderson
C: Connor McGovern, Sedrick van Pran Granger
OG: O'Cyrus Torrence, Ryan van Demark
OT: Spencer Brown, Tylan Grable
***OL positions are a little more flexible for this list.

DE: Greg Rousseau, AJ Epenesa, Von Miller, Javon Solomon, Dawuane Smoot
DT: Ed Oliver, DaQuan Jones, DeWayne Carter, Jordan Phillips
LB: Terrell Bernard, Matt Milano, Dorian Williams, Edefuan Ulofoshio, Baylon Spector, Joe Andreessen
CB: Christian Benford, Taron Johnson, Kaiir Elam, Ja'Marcus Ingram, Brandon Codrington (KR/PR)
S: Taylor Rapp, Cole Bishop, Cam Lewis (S/CB)

• I was surprised by how many spots were already filled.
• Hoping Ty Johnson, Gilliam, Hollins, Alec Anderson, Smoot, and Phillips are quick and relatively inexpensive signings.
• I expect Hamlin to sign with the Steelers, but would take him back on the cheap.
• Cooper is too expensive for "everybody eats".
  • Trade for a veteran with a low salary cap hit like Cooper next year if you think you need someone again.
• Von Miller and Dawson Knox take cuts again?
  • Would not be surprised by Miller being cut or some crazy restructure that saves them a ton.
  • Dawson Knox was praised by Beane, but might still give a couple million back.
• Please realize Elam is not a good fit here and trade him; or cut him if no deal can be found.
• Not a fan of giving a RB (even Cook) a lot of money. The OL was a good part of his success and there are always RBs to be found. Use up his rookie contract and walk away.
• Huge Benford fan, but those injuries scare me long term when thinking about an extension this offseason.
• Rouseau is a player I hope takes an Epenesa type contract. Nice raise to stay but not the big bucks yet.
• In this defense, the type of corner is more important than the skill level. I think, boundary corner is the teams biggest hole to fill looking at the roster currently, but I don't need them to spend big. Just "spend" smart.

I don't pretend to know everything about NFL salary restructures. But, I think, a Von restructure doesn't really work. I think the 'can has already been kicked down the road' on that one.

Pretty sure it's end of the runway for him. Could be wrong tho!

 

[Jim Bob]

I don't pretend to know everything about NFL salary restructures. But, I think, a Von restructure doesn't really work. I think the 'can has already been kicked down the road' on that one.

Pretty sure it's end of the runway for him. Could be wrong tho!

It all depends on what a reworked Von deal looks like.

Von is scheduled to have $17,145,000 in base salary for 2025. He could take a paycut. He could help the team out and bet on himself by converting a chunk of his base salary to not likely to be earned incentives which would not count against the 2025 cap and would count against the 2026 cap if he earns the incentives.

It all depends how badly Von wants to be a Bill in 2025.

 

[Digable5]

I don't pretend to know everything about NFL salary restructures. But, I think, a Von restructure doesn't really work. I think the 'can has already been kicked down the road' on that one.

Pretty sure it's end of the runway for him. Could be wrong tho!

Traditional restructures, yes. You are kicking things further down the road. Contracts that have been restructured can, sometimes, be restructured again.

Maybe “restructure” wasn’t the best terminology to use in this instance. He could re-do his contract to take less money. This is essentially what he did last year by changing guaranteed money and making it into bonuses he could earn. Since it would require him to earn that money during the season, it moves that cap hit to “next year”. But he could just take less money as well, which is what Knox did.

 

[brian_griffin]

Give me two random CBs from like Jacksonville State and Western Michigan in the fourth round or later and they'll probably be fine lol

Hey now - don't be disrespecting the Broncos! And Jacksonville State's "Cocky" the Gamecock is perhaps the best mascot nickname in CFB!!

I think you are missing the point of the argument. Proponents for full time refs is for them to be working in their trade full time, year round. This would be their primary job. Not just during the season. Rather than having big time lawyers do this as their second job during the season, you’d have full time refs that work on this year round.

I get it. And as I said, I'm in favor of additional organized training time if that would help the product and referee performance. Referees follow a similar schedule as players including a mini-camp, and being at NFL training camps for scrimmages, etc. The part-time employment designation is in reference to no mandated obligations from end of the season (which varies by official) until May.

It is not clear to me that NFL referees treat their NFL careers as side hustles.
They aspire to be NFL referees.
My lawyer is retired referee Ed Hochuli's younger brother / current referee Shawn Hochuli's uncle. We've talked about them. (My lawyer is not a referee.)

 

[NotABadPeriod]

It all depends on what a reworked Von deal looks like.

Von is scheduled to have $17,145,000 in base salary for 2025. He could take a paycut. He could help the team out and bet on himself by converting a chunk of his base salary to not likely to be earned incentives which would not count against the 2025 cap and would count against the 2026 cap if he earns the incentives.

It all depends how badly Von wants to be a Bill in 2025.

Even then, I'm not sure keeping Von on the roster makes sense. He's not going to get better, and while he had flashes where he looked good, and he did generate a decent number of pressures, he's simply not a difference maker at this point. How much can you pay for someone who's not a difference maker?

 

[Jim Bob]

Even then, I'm not sure keeping Von on the roster makes sense. He's not going to get better, and while he had flashes where he looked good, and he did generate a decent number of pressures, he's simply not a difference maker at this point. How much can you pay for someone who's not a difference maker?

The challenge is that they are not getting a difference maker with the money you save from moving on, either.

I can see them moving on from Von, like they did so many bets last offseason. I can also see them getting Von to take a pay cut and keeping him as a rotational DE and pass rush specialist.

His veteran experience means a lot. Just listen to how much Josh Allen talks about listening to Von about playing in big games.

 

[buffa dud]

The challenge is that they are not getting a difference maker with the money you save from moving on, either.

I can see them moving on from Von, like they did so many bets last offseason. I can also see them getting Von to take a pay cut and keeping him as a rotational DE and pass rush specialist.

His veteran experience means a lot. Just listen to how much Josh Allen talks about listening to Von about playing in big games.

You might not get a difference maker, but you can at least clear a roster space for one of the draftees who might be more flexible and contribute more to the roster. Von is a nonfactor against the run and he only plays one side (I believe). He also can't line up inside, which I think is what you'd like in an ideal scenario. AND, he doesn't play special teams. So basically if he isn't getting sacks, which he isn't, he isn't contributing and he's actually hindering our coaching staff with his complete lack of flexibility.