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Ep. 28 - Bills Offseason Preparations
48 Plays1 year ago
Join the pals for some mid season Sabres trade conversations along with a Bills offseason dice up. We look at the defensive side of the ball to determine strengths and needs.
3 buds. 2 teams. 1 city - The "Let's Go Buffalo" Podcast. Your new favorite podcast for all things Sabres and Bills. Our mission is to be your guide through the ups and the downs of being a Buffalo Sports fan. We are not members of the media nor are we experts - we’re just 3 friends who love our hometown teams and want to bring you along for the ride. This podcast will be for both veteran and newly ordained fans. We’ll have in depth conversation and debate with a few “newbie” questions sprinkled in to keep everyone afloat.
#bills #billsmafia #buffalo #buffalony #buffalove
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction & Social Media Prompts
00:00:10
Speaker
You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo podcast. Your new favorite podcast for everything bills and stables.
00:00:24
Speaker
What's going on everybody you are listening to the let's go Buffalo podcast your favorite podcast for all things bills and sabers with the pals Nigel and Tom today episode 28 is coming at you quick reminder to give our social media as a follow You can find us at let's go buff
Hosts' Personal Updates
00:00:47
Speaker
pod. That's buff with two F's on Instagram X tick tock and YouTube
00:00:54
Speaker
Let's say hello to my partner in crime today. Tommy, how we doing, buddy? Happy freaking Friday, Nigel. Yeah, how about it, pal? Good to see you, dude. Yeah, you as well.
00:01:05
Speaker
How's it going? How are you? Oh man. We're right in the middle of a run for musical in my school district. So tech week is always, so you've had lots of time this week. Lots of free time. Yeah. Lots of free time. Lots to do. And yeah, yeah. Totally just able to do everything myself and you know, don't have to worry about it at all. So that's good. I feel like we're like, you know, two little mice without the cat around. We got no Jake.
00:01:28
Speaker
I know, dude, we're jake list today, dude, which is crazy. Who's going to keep us in love? Who's going to, it's going to babysit us. We definitely can't do it. That's for sure. Yeah. We were originally going to do this tomorrow morning, Saturday morning, and then we both got home and I was like, well, actually we were about to play video games. I'll be totally honest. We were about to play video games and I was like, wait a minute, dude. Are we, if we're both free, should we just.
00:01:52
Speaker
Should we just pop? Let's do it now. Yeah, let's do it now. I think it's a great idea. So here we are, dude.
Celebratory Weekend & Sponsor Jokes
00:01:57
Speaker
And, you know, it's a Friday, so we should probably celebrate the weekend with a beer, right? Oh, please. Yeah, buddy. Let's crack one, pal. I'll count us down. Here we go. Ready? Three, two, one. Oh, I got myself to face a little bit.
00:02:15
Speaker
I got myself in the face. You had a nice silver can there, buddy. What are you drinking? Uh, dude, I'm drinking a, I got a crawler today cause it's Friday. Um, and it's a harpoon mountain ale. It's kind of a limited edition that they're doing. It's really tasty, very Carmel-y and it's delicious. I've had it a few times and I've been saving this crawler for like a week and a half specifically for the pod. Nice dude. I, maybe if they don't end up someday sponsoring the pod, dude, harpoon should probably just sponsor your entire life.
00:02:42
Speaker
I know, man. Life would be great. That would be phenomenal. You drink a lot of that beer. Hey, harpoon. Let us go. Just let us sit in the corner of your big old green grass yard and we can podcast and. Do you think, dude, there's no shot, no shot that they would let us do a buffalo based. So it would have to be it would have to be the Patriots and Bruins. That is the issue. That's the one issue. Yeah. Yeah, bro. Oh, we got Mikey Vadala here, dude. What's up, Mikey?
00:03:11
Speaker
He's a killer keyboard player that I love to gig with, one of my best pals. Great guy. Yeah. Mikey's a good boy.
Sabres' Recent Performance & Trade Rumors
00:03:19
Speaker
All right. Well, we're going to kick things off here a little bit today with a little bit of just quick sabers chat and there's nothing.
00:03:27
Speaker
positive to talk about with that team. The first game back from the All-Star break, Shocker, they lost. They honestly played pretty decent. But they lost two to one against the Dallas Stars. And we outplayed that team most of the game. But unfortunately, we just couldn't put the puck in the back of the net, which super sucks. So that's the only update. They've only played one game since the last time we chatted. That being said, though, there was a hot rumor
00:03:54
Speaker
that came across the wire today. So everything I'm about to say is courtesy of Andrew Peters of the Let's Go Buffalo podcast. That's our podcast. Andrew Peters does the After the Whistle podcast with Craig Rivet. And according to him and from him or through him, we get access to
00:04:16
Speaker
what he claims to be a very reliable source. Apparently, Casey Middlestadt is rumored to be on the trade bloc. Sounds like Kevin Adams is shopping him pretty aggressively, which is surprising in the sense that, in my opinion, Casey Middlestadt has been the best player for the Sabres this season. I don't love the idea of dealing him. However,
00:04:41
Speaker
I would imagine, and according to Andrew Peters, it's because Kevin Adams doesn't want to pay him. Got a lot of long-term contracts on this team right now. You got Tage Thompson, Dylan Cousins, Rasmus Tallin, Owen Power, Mattias Samuelson, likely deals coming for JJ Paterka, and Jack Quinn. So I guess I kind of get it. Casey Middlestadt's one of those guys that's still hanging around from the Jack Leichel
00:05:08
Speaker
Sam Reinhardt era of the Sabres. So I can see how maybe you wouldn't consider him like a core part going forward. Based on the last two seasons, he is going to command a decent contract. It's probably going to fall
00:05:21
Speaker
somewhere between, my guess would be like six and a half to seven and a half million. That might be a little high, probably between six and seven, is my guess where he's going to be. And then the other part of that rumor was the fact that somehow in all of this, Kevin Adams is also looking for a goaltender still, doesn't.
00:05:44
Speaker
And the name that came out of that rumor was actually John Gibson out of Anaheim, who is a very good goalie. I'd be thrilled to have him. His contract is pretty team friendly right now. He's making right around six million. I don't have the exact number in front of me. Making right around six though, which with all the gap space this team has right now is totally doable.
00:06:05
Speaker
I would imagine that means that UPL is the odd man out, somehow, despite this being the best season he's had as a saver. And maybe that's exactly why he's out. You're going to try and sell while the value is the highest. So if that all were to go down, you're probably looking at a John Gibson, Devin Levi situation in Buffalo as of next year. But I don't know for sure. So it would be a bummer to see Casey Middlestadt go.
00:06:34
Speaker
You'd like to think that based on trade trade deadline stuff in the NHL gets so crazy You'd like to think that dealing a guy like Casey middle stat would bring back a first over not a first overall but a first round pick I don't know if we'll get that lucky Shouldn't go for less than a second round pick So yeah, we'll see what happens with all that Tom. Do you have any any newbie questions or? Stuff you want to you want to add in there buddy?
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah, I did. And I want to start with middle stat and then I got a UPL question, too. So for for middle stat, like he he's been a leader for several years, right? He's been a big part of this team. Yeah. Would you not classify as a leader? Yeah, probably. Probably not. Probably not the leader category just yet. Also, like he's he's been like towards the middle of last season. He kind of grew into like, oh, this is a guy that's going to be an established piece, but he's been on the team for a while. It took a while to come into form.
00:07:29
Speaker
You and Jake have kind of been saying that the Sabres team is talented, but it doesn't seem like they're putting it together all. Like the whole equation isn't like making sense. Does, does middle stat not fit the equation in a way that you think makes sense for the future? Cause clearly, I mean, I mean, we can hope that maybe this season will turn around and some kind of miracle happens, but it's not looking that way.
00:07:51
Speaker
So they're probably already setting up plans for next year, which means they're trying to set the identity for next year. In your mind, does middle stat fit an identity that you would like the Sabres to have for next year? Or is this them kind of moving on, like you said, from a player who's going to command a big contract, but also maybe doesn't quite fit what they're trying to do? What are your thoughts there?
00:08:12
Speaker
you know, dude, for me, he honestly does fit the mold. And the reason I say that, um, and, and I told him does he does fit the mold? That's okay. And, and the reason I say that, um, and I've said before, this team is almost in a way too stocked with like high end skill players and not enough of those, like,
00:08:33
Speaker
gritty guys. But Mitzi, dude, like while he's a highly skilled player, he's he's impossible to take the puck from. Right. Like you watch him play this season, his play along the boards and his play in the corners has been so, so, so, so good. He's still not the guy that's going to be like a royal prick to play against. And that's the guy that I'm kind of still craving to be on this team. But his his play along the boards and along in the corners.
00:09:00
Speaker
has been so good this season, which is a massive, it's a massive aspect of growth in his game, compared to early in his career.
00:09:10
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So, okay. Well then, then that makes me kind of curious of why other than maybe, maybe that puts it at the, it's a large contract that's going to be coming. He's, he's a player who could command some kind of trade capital in return. Yeah. And maybe that's what they're looking for is this, I think it's more sense. Yeah. I think it's, I think that's a big piece of it. I think I, and I, yeah, the contract is a big piece of it. You're, you're looking to sell high, right? Which is a part of it to me, dude.
00:09:36
Speaker
I think, honestly, the biggest piece is Kevin Adams knows that in terms of like the upper echelon skill on this team, Casey middle stats, one of them, one of the last guys left that was like, very much a part of the team when it was the Jack Eichel Sam Reinhardt squad. And it wouldn't be surprised to find out that he just wants to get that kind of player gone off the team and just like, yeah,
00:10:00
Speaker
continue to turn the page away from the Jack Eichel era. That's my thought. I think it's a mix of those three things, the deal or the contract he's going to command, the opportunity to sell high, and just keep turning the page on that Jack Eichel era.
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And then my second question was about this new goalie, at least possible interest in John Gibson. First of all, I really all I could think of is Mel Gibson.
Goalie Roster Considerations for Sabres
00:10:28
Speaker
So I really hope that he's like a really badass, like colonial kind of warrior, like the Patriot. And I think that would be great. It'd be pretty cool. Yeah. Right next to a Jedi. Yeah. Let's go. And so if you I.
00:10:45
Speaker
I'm trying to figure out where and start to understand roster construction wise on a hockey team. Having multiple goalies is a good idea. Devin Levi seems to be this young stud who has a lot of potential. He's still getting polished. He's been sent down to the Amherst to play in Rochester at least once or twice already this season. He's down there now. My understanding based on everything I've heard is that he's probably going to stay there for a while, if not the entire year.
00:11:13
Speaker
So, OK, so he's this kid who's got some potential, needs some time, needs just experience. And we're excited about him. Yep. And then we have UPL, who's been this. He's a veteran. Do you know how can you guesstimate how many years he's playing? He's probably been in a full time member of the Sabres, like not going back and forth between Buffalo and Rochester. Only two years. OK, so but that feels like another guy that they put time in and they've worked with him in the system.
00:11:42
Speaker
To me, that sounds like a guy you'd want to keep around and maybe bring in this John Gibson as well. But stacked with Devin Levi, UPL and then adding in, you know, John, at least for this season. But I guess maybe we're looking forward. Maybe this is a much more forward facing and a kind of future thought process
Anticipation for Trade Deadline & Super Bowl
00:11:59
Speaker
here.
00:11:59
Speaker
Yeah, this to me, dude. So if you bring in John Gibson, right, this to me is another attempt to sell high on somebody who's playing well, because this is the best UBL has played since he's been like a full time professional this season. He's been solid. He's not like, you know, upper echelon, but he's been good. And certainly by far the best and most consistent he's ever been.
00:12:23
Speaker
as a part of this organization. But this team is not moving on from Devin Levi. It's not going to happen unless there's something crazy that's about to happen that I don't know. Maybe they saw something in the games he had in Buffalo and they're like, we might have missed this one.
00:12:40
Speaker
Um, but you're not, there's no way you're going to be in a situation where you have, um, UPL Gibson, Levi and Comrie. That's way too much money tied up into, um, way too much money tied up into the goalies. And where the hell are all those guys going to play? Right? This, this to me, if John Gibson comes in, it says to me, UPL is gone and that the tandem next year in Buffalo will be John Gibson, Devin Levi, most likely.
00:13:08
Speaker
Would you see UPL as another trade asset in that trade for John Gibson? Or would UPL be cut and then we'd be bringing in? I don't think at this point it would be horrendous if right now if you just cut UPL and got nothing for him because at this point he's got value right now. Right, okay, cool. That's what I was thinking, so I just wanted to clarify. Yeah, what you just said could totally be a thing, dude. It could be a situation where John Gibson comes here, UPL goes to Anaheim.
00:13:35
Speaker
Yeah. And we're selling. So that's that's our that's the Sabers way of getting the assets to go get a player like John Gibson. Exactly. Yeah. All right. Yep. Totally. Well, oh, so what's the trade deadline for the NHL? When is all this coming down? That's a great question. You want to you want to because this is it for the Sabers talk. You want to start to lead us into our next segment, Tom, and I will do a little producing real quick shortly. I would love to.
00:14:00
Speaker
So we are sitting here on Friday, a Super Bowl weekend outside looking in yet again, the bills. And we thought on this pod, we'd we'd need to start our offseason conversation. So, um, oh, hey, Michael, we appreciate you. Reminder to the fellow people in the chat to smash that like button. Yeah, baby, it helps a a beer for Mike next time we see him. Oh, yeah, buddy. We appreciate that. Trade deadline, March 8th for the NHL.
00:14:28
Speaker
Okay, so a month. Yeah, exactly.
Bills' Roster Analysis & Free Agency Plans
00:14:32
Speaker
All right. So we're kind of thinking offseason stuff with the bills. So what we wanted to do as a podcast was to go through and look at the players that are currently signed to the team.
00:14:45
Speaker
currently free agents with the team. And then there's also another category called Futures Deals, which we'll talk about in a second. But go through where, where are the bills at? Where, what are we looking for? What are the strengths? What are the weaknesses? And our goal, essentially, is to create a running list of needs for this team that we think that we'd love to send to Brandon Bean. And that we, as a podcast, need to be addressed so that we can think, we, as a pod, can focus our thoughts and efforts throughout this offseason.
00:15:12
Speaker
And hopefully kind of as a community come up with what do we think that should be done, where the, what are the moves to be made. So we're going to take a look at our state of the roster little document here this is very similar to our 53 man roster we did at the preseason.
00:15:30
Speaker
And for those of you listening just audio only, we definitely recommend coming to check this out on YouTube so you can see the visual here. We'll do our best to kind of narrate and keep things palatable for you audio people only, but we'd love it if you come check this out on YouTube and see what's going on here. So what we have is all of the players that are currently signed to the team plus the bill's free agents.
00:15:56
Speaker
All the players in white are currently under contract. All the players in yellow are free agents, meaning that they could be signed back to Buffalo or they could go to another team. And then lastly, the grayed out ones are players signed to a futures contract, meaning that they're players that Brandon Bean saw and the front office staff saw potential in and interest in. And these are players who essentially are getting kind of like a ticket to come to camp.
00:16:22
Speaker
They get to be on the team and train in Buffalo. Every NFL team will go from in balloon from their 53 man roster to up to about 90 at their 91 players over the offseason. So this is essentially Brandon be giving them the invite to come to Buffalo and
00:16:39
Speaker
Have the opportunity to compete for a spot to be here in Buffalo. So, um, nice. Where do you want to start? Do you want to start offense or defense? Let's go back, you know, in my prime, dude, I was a pretty, I was a pretty bad ass linebacker. Let's start on defense. Still are. Yeah. We're going to go with that. Yeah.
00:16:56
Speaker
All right. Well, heck yeah. Let's start Dns. Okay. This is going to be a big, a big spot for us, I think. Yeah, for sure. Those players who are still under contract with the Buffalo Bills are Greg Russo, who's on a rookie deal right now. Going to be thinking about a fifth year contract here soon. This is your four forever. You're three. I believe we're going into year four or
00:17:20
Speaker
No, he was a Rook. You should look this up. You should look this up. Yeah, we suck at this. No, we're really good. We're really good. Yeah, we're great. We drink beer on live live on YouTube.
Bills' Defensive Ends Discussion
00:17:31
Speaker
So I think we're doing just so we know what we're doing. Yeah, great. So we got Gregory. So Kingsley Jonathan, who kind of had some flashes. He was a practice squad player, had did some cool things in Von Miller, all science to contracts.
00:17:45
Speaker
of free agents are AG Appanessa, Leonard Floyd, and Shaq Lawson. And then Cameron Klein is signed to a futures deal. So looking at this list night, well, first off, do you have a Greg Russo contract update? Yep, he's heading into year four. Okay, so this is the year that we need to make
00:18:08
Speaker
It's off-season, right? That decision he made before the next season. Okay. So let's start there, right? He's a good player. He's so much fun. Greg Russo, nickname Groot. Because, you know, why not? That's freaking cool. It combines two of my favorite things, the Buffalo Bills and Marvel. Hell yeah.
00:18:27
Speaker
man, the guy's been great. I'm all about let's keep Greg or so here. The guy has been awesome. He's been a phenomenal run stopper, like an elite level run defender and a very, and a good rush pass rusher. I think there's definitely room and I would love to see more flashes, especially from a first round pick. And especially if we signed them to a, like a deal, it's going to be a big deal. It's not going to be small.
00:18:50
Speaker
We're gonna need to see more like pass rush productivity from him, but I'm all about him He's the guy he's been productive. He's been reliable He's had a couple injury concerns mostly around his ankles, right? I feel like we've always every year He has a little bit of a tweaked ankle. Yeah, um But I'm about it. What do you think?
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah. And if the question becomes, and we're going to have this conversation a couple of times, question for me becomes, do you, like, it's kind of like the Ed Oliver thing from last year, right? Do you ink him to the deal? Not like, do you sign him to a deal now? Or do you.
00:19:29
Speaker
like wait and play out the fifth year option and risk him blowing up so that the deal you know doubles right like that's the question to me to me you sign him to a deal now because he's already like you said he is an elite run game defenseman
00:19:45
Speaker
He seals the edge wonderfully. I would love, like you said, a little bit more diversity in his pass rush moves. But this is a guy where he, you know, the potential, the potential is huge. And he's, I don't think he's hit a ceiling yet. To me, you get him under a contract now, like you did with Ed Oliver before the next season, so that you get to a point where you're not like, shit, this still could have been.
00:20:10
Speaker
you know, 20 million dollars. Exactly. So, yeah, for me, Greg Russo. Yeah, he's I mean, he's a starter. He's a good starter. You sign him to a deal and you do it before he's insanely expensive. I agree. I agree. Especially because he's played well. It's not like he's we're concerned about him. And I think we can sign him now and get him at a reasonable contract.
Contract Strategies & Salary Cap Management
00:20:33
Speaker
Now, I think the next big ticket item we got to hit is Von Miller.
00:20:37
Speaker
This is for everybody, right? Everybody's like, what the heck? We're playing this guy because like $120 million over six years, we brought him in. And to be honest, I loved the process that Bean went through when he signed him. When he played his first 10 games that first last season, he played like an MVP future Hall of Famer. He was phenomenal. And you can't, you cannot plan
00:21:01
Speaker
You can't plan for injury. You just can't, right? There's no way to. So it's as unfortunate as it is. I still I mean, I'm all about this signing. I do think it was a longer signing for an older player. Six years is a long time. It is set up where after about three years, this and after next season, there's an opportunity for the Bills to get out of that contract. I mean, it'd be sweet if he could continue to play at a really good level and he's worth it. But
00:21:28
Speaker
Man, yeah, I mean, we have to have him. We cannot cut him the way that this contract is constructed. There's no cutting Von Miller next season. And we just got to hope and pray that he can do everything he can this offseason to get his butt in gear and come out and be the Von Miller we need him to be. Yeah.
00:21:46
Speaker
You hit it, dude. It's because there is nothing we can do. Cutting him brings on, you know, a mortgage or like a house value in dead cap. So he's not going anywhere. Yeah, dude, you just have to you just have to hope and pray that he can get back to some of his original form.
00:22:07
Speaker
Right. Like even if he's not like he's obviously never going to be prime by Miller ever again. But like just that was true before the ACL. Right. He was never going to be prime. And now he's really not going to be prime. But before the ACL, how good was he? He was great. He was sick. Right. Great. I hope so. Finish your thought. And then I have one. Yeah. If we can get back to give me give me two thirds, three quarters of that. Von Miller, I'm fine.
00:22:36
Speaker
And especially if it means that maybe we're not using him for the 80% of snaps that he's used to playing. But maybe we use him for 50 to 60. And he's effective, right? We tried doing that at the end of the season where he came in on third and long. He came in on obvious pass downs. And it just wasn't effective, right?
00:22:55
Speaker
Dude, he didn't have his ability to go and finish plays the way he used to. So I want more of that, kind of the same percentage. And he's not going to be able to do the volume that he maybe wants to or thinks he can. But I think it'd be sweet to have him sprinkled in.
00:23:13
Speaker
Now, now nice looking at these other players. I think, well, first of all, I think if we can find some way to keep Kingsley, Jonathan and Buffalo, I think that'd be sweet. I think the guy has been great. He's been his process. He's not going to be expensive. So I hope being either is able to keep him on the practice squad or sign him to a cheap deal.
00:23:31
Speaker
Um, and send them to the roster. I think that'd be awesome. But looking at these other three, um, free agents, Asia, Vanessa, Leonard, Floyd, Shaq Lawson, who's your priority? Is there somebody that we would want to keep? Cause we're going to need, we're going to need horses in this stable, bro. Like edge rusher is a spot that every team needs to have guys. And right now we got three.
00:23:51
Speaker
And we're going to need more. So we're going to be allocating some funds and some resources here. If we were to keep one, who are we keeping? That's an insanely difficult question to answer.
00:24:15
Speaker
I think, okay, can I throw, can I, I'm going to throw the question right back at you, Tom. So I'm going to, yeah, Uno reverse. I am going to, I'm going to read you off some markets according to spot rack market value contracts. Okay. According to spot rack.
00:24:34
Speaker
AJ Epinesis market value is $5.6 million. Are you signing that deal or no? Oh, yesterday. It's a no-brainer for me as well. It's got to be double that. There's no shot he gets that is single digits. I bet he gets double digit contract. You think so, really? I think, man, he's got how many sacks he did. He had six or seven sacks this season. And he's done that a couple of years in a row. Like, teams will pay for that. He's a young player.
00:25:05
Speaker
double digits though. Whoo. I bet he pushes 10. I mean, I bet he gets those offers. That's why I think he's gone, but keep going. Keep going.
00:25:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, sorry, this didn't work the way that I wanted it to. I'm trying to find the Leonard Floyd. That's okay. That's okay. I'll talk more about AJFNS real quick. So, cause I, I mean, if we could keep him, I think that's worth it. He's a young player who's been in the system, who's developed. We, we, it's a, Brandon Bean loves to keep his picks, right? And I think Sean Montgomery does too. So if we, if we can get them for five and a half million and sign them for, I don't know, four years, 20.
00:25:42
Speaker
Like, sign me up, bro. That sounds great. Let me ask you this, then. And I have to I have to call you and I both out right now because we've already been on just the defense events for a while and we get so
Defensive Tackle Needs & Draft Prospects
00:25:54
Speaker
many things. I know we're going to talk. You and I, we talked before this podcast like, oh, it's going to be a short one in 40 minutes. Yeah, I do better. So, OK, so let me ask you this, then a Japanese deal becomes eight million a year. Still signing that deal.
00:26:09
Speaker
I think so. I think that's pushing the upper end of what I think we could and should. But I think especially if it's for a multiple year deal, because that means that Brandon Bean then gets flexibility within the contract. Yeah. If it's two to three seasons, then yeah, let's talk about it.
00:26:23
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So spot rack has, and this one now I'm starting to think you're right that they're just undervaluing these guys spot rack has Leonard Floyd at 8.1 million after a 10 and a half sacks season. I don't think there's any shot. He goes for eight one. I think, I think he's a 10 and a half million dollar player.
00:26:39
Speaker
I think so too. And man, if we were in the position, I just, I think we're at the point where we need to feel okay with turning over this roster, just like we talked about with the Sabres. Like, I think we need to be okay in trying to get some young blood of younger players. Yeah. So, okay. So for me.
00:26:59
Speaker
I am. I'm good with signing a Japanese for two. I would say I don't want to go over eight million a year. Okay. Jeff and SM Leonard Floyd, I think is safe to assume he's not coming back because if he comes back for this team, he's going to take a pay cut. He will get more. It depends on what he wants, right? Does he want to shout winning? Does he want the money?
00:27:19
Speaker
We want to retire with a big fat pile of money. The guys always seem to take the money. DeAndre Hopkins took the money. Chandler Jones took the money. All these guys that are in that bucket, they take the money. I would too. I signed me up. I don't blame him for a second. If I could do that, I would. This team isn't shelling out $10 million for Leonard Floyd, I don't think.
00:27:39
Speaker
Um, Shaq Lawson, another guy I would love to have back, dude. I just think he's such, he's so solid in terms of depth. He's not a guy that makes mistakes. You know, he's not flashy, but he's just a solid technical player. I bet Brandon Bean is a pro at like just searching that little budget bargain bin.
00:27:58
Speaker
I bet we're able to get Shaq Lawson back on that one point seven, one point, whatever million dollar deal that Bean just handed out, like just like it was candy last season. I think we can get if we could. I would love that. Shaq is great. He's a great teammate. He's he's a dog. He comes in and works. He's just all energy. And you're like, you're right. Like you said, he's effective. He's not going to be the top pass rusher we have on this team. And if he is, we have a problem.
00:28:27
Speaker
But he's a great player. He's just solid depth. So that to me then puts defensive end as a need. Oh, absolutely. You got one guy that's a legit number one starter. We don't know what we're going to get with Von Miller.
00:28:42
Speaker
completely agree. There will be picks in the draft that are on edge. There will be a couple free agent resources picked on edge. Now, before we keep going, Ninesh, we're going to produce real quick here. I think I vote that we just talked defense today and we save offense for next week. So that way we don't have to keep talking because this is fun.
00:29:00
Speaker
Hell, yeah. OK, sick. I'm glad we don't cut ourselves off at the ankles there, because. Yeah. Yeah. Because otherwise there's no fucking way. So, yeah, we'll do defense this week. And then when Jake comes back next week, we'll be able to talk to Muffins. Jake will lead that whole conversation. He's going to be great. Yeah. Jake, I'm really excited to hear about what you have to tell me about Ryan Vandermark and his effect on this team. I don't think it was Ryan Vandermark plays on this football team. Love you, Jake. Love you. All right. All right. So, yeah, let's talk defense and then we can come back. So you folks out there, come on back.
00:29:29
Speaker
Yeah, buddy. All right. D tackle. There's a lot of yellow. There's a lot of yellow, but no D tackle. Yeah. Right away. Yeah. I'm doing it right now. Our one, our one signed player, Ed Oliver, who's been signed to, I don't know, maybe my favorite deal that Brandon has ever signed to a multiple year deal on a, and he should be paid a lot more. And thank you, Ed. We love you. You're getting paid a lot of money, so I don't feel too bad, but you definitely should be paid more than what you are.
00:29:59
Speaker
Correct. And then let's list off all the free agents. Daquan Jones, Poona Ford, Tim Settle, Jordan Phillips, and Linval Joseph. Eli Anku is signed to a futures deal, which I like because I think whenever he's come up, he's done his job and been a great contributor. So I'm fine with Eli Anku coming into camp and being most likely a practice quad player.
00:30:23
Speaker
So that's cool. Let's talk. Ed Oliver, can we just agree that we love Ed and we can do a little lasso dance for Ed and move on? Yep. Okay. Ed, we love you. Thank you, pal. Have a great offseason and see you in camp. Yep.
00:30:41
Speaker
All our yellow guys, where are we going? Okay. What do you want to talk about first? So, okay. I'm going to jump in a little bit here and I'm actually going to address everybody right now. Okay. Okay. There is not a single guy in yellow on the defensive tackle position that I am absolutely going to lose sleep over if we don't get them back.
00:30:59
Speaker
Okay. And I say this, and I know Daquan Jones prior to the torn pack was having a hell of a season, dude. But he's north of 30. I believe pretty sure he's north of 30. And he's gonna command a decent amount of money, dude.
00:31:16
Speaker
I am not hell bent on, you know, giving these guys that are north of 30 these big deals, dude. This team is at a bit of a crossroads where I feel like we need to get a little bit younger and a little bit cheaper.
00:31:32
Speaker
So, and the problem with that is there's other places where our high draft resources need to go. But I think for me do this is one of the ones that I need to see in the top three rounds you have to draft a guy here in the first.
00:31:48
Speaker
It's been a while. It's been since at Oliver since we've picked a D tackle who has stuck around on the team. Correct. So I agree. Yes, I completely agreed. We need one or maybe even two picks in this draft that are at the D tackle. Just maybe one that's a for sure a stud that we're excited about and then maybe a hopeful later in the draft.
00:32:09
Speaker
But I agree, because we need to fill these coffers, right? Right now, we've been patching this with a bunch of veteran free agents, which has been awesome. And I agree completely with you. There's nobody on this list that I really want back. To be honest, Jordan Phillips, I appreciate you, man. You've had some ups, you've had some downs. I would be totally... We can't re-sign him. Nope. Linval Joseph, man, I'm so glad you got to come out of retirement a little bit and had some fun.
00:32:37
Speaker
See you later, buddy. Tim, settle. I was excited when you came. I came from he came from the commanders where he was kind of deep on a depth chart and had some potential. Hasn't flashed and hasn't shown me anything that I'm excited about. So later Puna Ford on the right deal, I'd be OK with, hey, don't don't spend a lot of money. But if we need if he's one of the four or five details we have on the team, I'm OK. And I can see him coming back. He's of the guys on here right now. Puna Ford is the one that I think is the most likely to come back to this team.
00:33:07
Speaker
I agree. Um, and especially because, I mean, he was a, he was a healthy scratch the season, right? Which was surprised for me. I was, when we signed him, I was all about him. I was like, let's go. This guy's he's, he's no, he came from Seattle. He's the guy who
00:33:22
Speaker
has been great and then all of a sudden he was on our healthy scratch list all every every game like it was weird to be honest yeah um i'd be fine with him coming back and honestly for the right deal i'd be okay with daequan jones coming back too but i can't be at the top of the list he can't it can't be ed oliver and then daequan it's gotta be ed oliver and then maybe two other guys and then daequan
00:33:45
Speaker
You know, I would even I would even be OK if he was the third de tackle on the team in
Linebacker Strengths & Free Agency Needs
00:33:50
Speaker
a perfect world. And we're going to get to the offense next week, probably. But in a perfect world, it's going first round. Number two wide receiver. Second round stud de tackle to play a lot at Oliver.
00:34:02
Speaker
I'm in for me. That's that's my goal. And the biggest thing for those folks out there, like the biggest thing with getting these rookies is not only do we get young players who have some potential, who could blow up, who could do different things. We maybe we have we draft players who are like known prospects and then we have a bunch who are maybe unknown prospects.
00:34:21
Speaker
We also get them on longer term, cheaper deals, where this team right now is a lot of very, very top heavy, lots of very expensive deals. So Brandon Bean is going to have to continue to work his magic to get some cheaper deals. So that's, that's why Nigel and I are already kind of very much on the same page of rookies are going to be a big deal for us. Yeah. So yeah, this team has to get younger and cheaper.
00:34:45
Speaker
Yeah, I completely agree and and just and reflood with the from the bottom, right? And this is how good teams stay good. This is how the Chiefs stay good. This is how the Patriots stayed good for so long is because they were able to continue to draft, replenish. And it was not the same team every year winning all the time. The Chiefs like Chris Jones and Patrick Mahomes are like the two only players who are and Travis Kelsey are the only two players who are the same.
00:35:11
Speaker
from these last couple of Super Bowl runs. Like they've turned the roster. That's going to be my little model this off-season. Let's turn. Turn, baby. Turn, baby. Turn. So I don't know, man. So I think D tackle is a huge need. In my mind, it's almost going to be above the end. But we're going to eventually, another day,
00:35:34
Speaker
because we're always looking for things to talk about. Well, then debate the order of these needs, but I think we just make a list and then debate it another day. Is that cool? Yeah, good by me, homie. Okay, linebacker.
00:35:45
Speaker
yeah buddy this is not a huge need to me because um yeah so obviously your two starters are entrenched in matt mulatto and terrell bernard that is a no-brainer can you wait i cannot wait to see day one week one matt mulatto and terrell bernard out there good luck i don't care who we play good freaking luck i'm just so upset dude
00:36:08
Speaker
We have them. We're playing in the Super Bowl this weekend, but it doesn't matter. OK, anyway, I know we're so sad. Oh, hey, cheers. Cheers. Yeah. Cheers, buddy. Yeah. Someday we'll get our turn. OK. Let's start with Tyler Madakevich.
00:36:25
Speaker
I am okay so we were just like one of the worst special teams teams in the league dude which bums me out because big baller bean does shell out serious cash to special team players include and I think the special teams guy that makes the most on this team right now aside from maybe kicker and punter
00:36:45
Speaker
is Tyler Maticavich. I'm fine with him going because if our special teams is this not good, then I don't want to shell out that money to that guy. You know what I mean? So I'm fine with him going or you can bring him back, sure, but bring him back on a way smaller deal.
00:37:09
Speaker
much smaller. And I don't think he will. I think he's going to be still a great, like he's going to be a great contributor, like on any team, right? He's still a fine special teams linebacker. But if you were to ask us, Hey, who's depth on the builds roster and who do you want to be starting at linebacker? It's not Tyler Mettekevich, right? We need, I need Bean to kind of re-associate and kind of not re-associate. I need him to
00:37:35
Speaker
re look at his ability to find special teams players who can also play on defense or also play an offense, whatever their designated position is. We need to move away from these pure specialists. Yes, I agree, dude. And that was like, that was the same situation we had with like Taiwan Jones for so long, right? Right. The guy, so much money.
00:38:00
Speaker
And he made like, I don't know, he had like nine snaps at running back his entire career for like 10 years. He played, he played forever, you know, and then he didn't do much. I got to give a little shout out. My buddy Ethan is out here logging in. What's up, Ethan? Good to see you, buddy. Oh, what's good, Ethan? Bro, I, so Tyler Medikevich is like a base salary the last couple of years of 3.57 million. Bro, you can't, you can't pay him that.
00:38:25
Speaker
You can't, you can't. And like, you know, Hey, hey, good for him to going out and making a career out of being a special teams guy. Totally. Like, but we can't, we can't do it. So, and Medicaid, which is, yeah, he's, he's in that, he's in that bucket. Now I'm super excited. I think Matt Milano and trail, Bernard, or like we said, we're complete locks there. We're really excited. Let's have a great off season. Matt Milano get healthy buddy, his, his, his, and for the record, so everybody else out there, his, um, he had a broken leg and
00:38:53
Speaker
A broken leg is not the same concern as like an ACL. It's a bone that clearly has to heal, but it doesn't have the same drop off of athletic ability that an ACL or an MCL or any of these other kind of ligament injuries kind of provide. So more than likely, Matt Milano, once he's healthy, he'll be able to play pretty darn close to where he was. So that's exciting. It's unfortunate that it happens, but it's not
00:39:21
Speaker
doesn't have much future implications. Yep. Dude, Tyrell Dodson. What are your thoughts? Hit me with them.
00:39:29
Speaker
Man, I think the guy's gonna go out and get a great deal on a bad team. You know, I think the guy's gonna get paid for, he's gonna get paid a lot of money to go be somebody starting linebacker and I'm happy for him. But if he wants to stay on a competitor, I would love for him to stay in Buffalo, you know? But I think the guy's gonna go to Arizona. I think the guy is gonna go to Carolina, you know, and get paid five million a year, six million a year, which is more than what I think we should pay him as a depth linebacker.
00:39:59
Speaker
So Spotwreck hasn't valued right now a 4.8 average annual salary. You know, for me, dude, I'm probably signing him back if it's that number. If somebody's going to throw $7, $8 million at him, okay, let's get one thing established.
00:40:21
Speaker
If you are coming out and you're offering Tyrell dots and 10 million to come to your starting linebacker, you're an idiot because he's not a starting caliber linebacker. He really isn't. He had really good moments this year and he's great depth. He's right on. He's on that cusp of like you could start, but you don't want him to like if this, if, if I can't see, let's see.
00:40:42
Speaker
If we would be starting this guy, he would be 100%. That's a great way to put it. If starting is right here and like the next tier is here, he's like right where my eyeballs are.
00:40:54
Speaker
like watching you trying to get your hands in camera. This is good. Yeah, me too. Especially when I was looking at the spot rack page. Yeah, dude. Um, so yeah, dude, it's, it's tough to like, cause you don't, you never know what people are going to throw it in 4.8 million. Hell yeah. I'm taking him back, but you get up into seven, 8 million. Nah.
00:41:14
Speaker
And I think he might, you know, the guy could be signed. He played really well. He was the rank PFF. So this is the profession, like a ranking system for players that they of what, how well did they fit their role? And he had the best of the league.
00:41:30
Speaker
Like, not even it, which is insane, right? Because, because I know it's so stupid. PFF grades are kind of dumb. It's grading on what did, did you perform what the team asked you to do? And to be honest with you, the bills only asked him to do what he was good at. So he didn't really well at it, which is great. But what he's not, he's not a super well-rounded linebacker. In fact, in the way. And so what Nigel is saying is like, he should not be a somebody starting linebacker unless you're kind of hurting for linebacker.
00:41:59
Speaker
He's lucky, buddy. Yeah, I love you, Tyrell Dodson. Thank you so much for what you did this season and what you've done in the last few, but we can't pay him that. So if he can go back on a cheaper deal, I'm about it. Now, another player that I'm really excited, honestly, too, is Dorian Williams and Bayland Specter. These are two players that have been drafted. And honestly, I mean, me included, I was scratching my head when we drafted them, right? Like, what are we doing? However,
00:42:27
Speaker
I think this is Brandon Bean, honestly, kind of being like Giga brain here, right? I think he's been kind of seeing the future of what the NFL is going to watching the NFL, the offense start to lean towards playing bigger personnel more often.
00:42:44
Speaker
And seeing the future that the bills are going to be leaning more on larger personnel, meaning more linebackers, more safeties who can play against larger players, against tight ends, against bigger wide receivers. And I think Dorian Williams is starting to fit that bill, which is pretty freaking cool.
00:43:03
Speaker
Yeah, it would be. I'm excited about him as well, dude, because the athleticism is off the charts there. Right. But like, you know, and he's, you know, he's a rookie. So like the mental component of playing in an NFL defense wasn't there yet. But hey, dude, you know what? I, I shit all over the Terrell Bernard draft pick.
00:43:24
Speaker
Right. Oh, yeah, and I am getting absolutely fisted on that one So I am no longer questioning the third fourth round pick linebacker selections because if this guy turns into like, okay, dude, let's say Right. Let me paint you a sweet picture here
00:43:44
Speaker
Let's say Dorian Williams becomes three quarters of what Terrell Bernard did this season and suddenly your three linebackers are Matt Milano, Terrell Bernard, Dorian Williams. Good night, dude. You have the best line backing trio in the NFL and it's not close. I don't care who plays alongside Fred Warner. I don't care who plays alongside Roquan Smith. Those two guys are elite and they're better than all three of those guys that I mentioned. However,
00:44:11
Speaker
You're not putting together a better group of three if Dorian Williams becomes what I just projected.
00:44:18
Speaker
You're not getting a better three than that. There's no shot. Yeah, man. That's exciting. That's exciting. Which to me tells us that I don't think this linebacker needs to go on the needs list. Nope. I think I wouldn't be upset if like clearly we're going to need to bring in at least a free agent between I think honestly, we should get a veteran free agent to fill in the role where Tyle Dodds and Tyle Metakiewicz are kind of going to leave. Agreed. And I don't really want that to be a rookie to fill those roles.
00:44:44
Speaker
Um, so I think it's a cheaper veteran linebacker, you know, um, and then that's roll, you know, maybe we, maybe we get a draft pick because we have a bunch, we have 10 picks this year. So if we do one at linebacker, I wouldn't be upset, but, um, just, you gotta keep that, you know, keep the, the factory line going, but I would be okay with
Cornerback Concerns & Drafting for Depth
00:45:05
Speaker
that. So I don't think it needs to go on the needs. Do you agree? I agree.
00:45:08
Speaker
OK, are we ready to move the corner? Let's do it. What do we do? I want a quick shout out Luis, our buddy Luis from Ithaca is in the chat. What's up, buddy? Cheers, dude. Good to see you, man. Thanks for tuning in. We appreciate you. Hell yeah, dude.
00:45:24
Speaker
All right. Now the corner room, this one, I don't have freaking know, dude. I don't know what to do. Um, the big thing is there's a lot of speculation, right? Um, there's, we have, um, a lot of players signed to contracts, which is exciting. We have the following players, Trudavius white, Kyra, Kyra, Ealing, Christian, Benford, Taran, Johnson, Saran, Neil, and Rasool Douglas all signed a contract.
00:45:47
Speaker
Great. We have one player who's a free agent, Dane Jackson, and then two signed to future steals, Kyron Brown and Jamarcus Ingram. Now, I don't know how I feel. We have a couple of question marks. And can we start with the question marks? And I want you to name who are the players that are our question marks, Nij. Trenavious White. Uh-huh. That is number one. And then number two for me, personally, is Kyra Elam.
00:46:09
Speaker
Uh-huh. Fantastic. I like you when we think alike. This is great. Oh, wait a minute. Go ahead. You spoke first. Okay. So I think that, so Trey.
00:46:21
Speaker
I love the guy. I feel so I am heartbroken. It sucks. It sucks so much, dude. He was so good. It was so good. He could. He still could be. I'm not gonna I'm not ready to put the nail in his coffin. However, I think I bought the nails at the hardware store, you know, like I have.
00:46:40
Speaker
The nails are purchased. I just ordered the coffin on Amazon 20 minutes before this podcast started. What sucks, dude? It does, dude. And I like it kills me, dude. It honestly rips me wide open because I know he was the first player that to me, we drafted that that started the turnaround. Right. He was. Was it? Wasn't he if I think he was Brandon's first first round pick?
00:47:04
Speaker
Well, I think it was before even Bean was here, I think McDermott picked him. Oh, that's right. Yeah, you're right. Yes. McDermott, this is the first one that this new, this new leadership, new regime picked. And it just breaks my heart. It was a home run.
00:47:21
Speaker
He had an ACL and then what's what's the Achilles? He's had both in two years and older players and he's older. Cornerback. Cornerback where you got to be incredibly athletic. You just you just don't come back from that. So I don't know. I don't know. I should eventually do some research and see if we can. What what does it look like if we caught him? I'm sure.
00:47:47
Speaker
There's got to be some injury stuff built into his contract. And I don't, I don't know contracts well enough to know how all that works, but like for me, dude, I go about my business. Assuming the Trudavius white is a fraction of what he used to be and cannot be counted on as a starting caliber cornerback. I agree. Hope I'm wrong. However, the problem is, is that we're paying him like a starting quarterback.
00:48:14
Speaker
He was extended a few years ago, so he's on a large deal, which I want to say, if my brain remembers correctly, it's like $16 million a year, which is a lot of money for a guy who maybe does not give us starter contributions. So I'm a little, I'm not sure.
00:48:32
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know it's exactly like it's hard to really project this one because we don't know we don't know how he's gonna come back from these injuries He's set to be a UFA in 2026 This past season he made or coming. Yeah this past season he made 8 million six hundred thousand dollars So his contract and that's that's just his base salary his total cap hit. Yes is 16 million but
00:48:57
Speaker
OK, well, that's that's kind of what I'm facing. Yeah, yeah. And so I don't know, man, that one, if we can find some way for him to be cornerback three or four, I'm about it. But I just can't have him being the top two. I can't. I can't feel good about that, at least.
00:49:13
Speaker
And who knows, right? This might be, as a GM, Brandon Bean's going to have to take some gambles. This might be a gamble he takes. We have to know, as a Bills fan, this might be a gamble that Brandon Bean takes, that Travis White will be able to recover and come back. And he's taken gambles before, right? I'm talking Spencer Brown. I'm talking Terrell Bernard. So we just have to live in a world where that's a possibility. I don't know if I want that, but we have to know that's a possibility. Agreed.
00:49:42
Speaker
Right? So moving on, Kairi Elam, this guy, he was a first round pick two seasons ago now and has been a disappointment, right? The guy has just not done what he, and I don't know if it's a hundred percent his fault. He was in college, a very much a man corner type cornerback. He was incredibly good at that and then came into a very zone heavy system. So he's been asked to do things he has, was not naturally good at, or at least didn't have the training and experience at.
00:50:10
Speaker
However, the guy just still has not every time we see him on the field, I'm concerned. Yeah, so I don't know.
00:50:19
Speaker
For me, dude, and I want to let Kyrie Elam cook for one more year. I'm down with that. Yeah, I think three years, if you haven't taken a significant step, I think that's my cutoff point. And three years feels good to me. I can't necessarily say why. I think to tie him to another player on the team,
00:50:42
Speaker
I think Russell Douglas took a little bit to really establish himself as a legit CD one in this league. And I think it was around year three, maybe even four for him.
00:50:55
Speaker
for me, dude, you invested a first round pick. Okay. And I think because of that, you let him cook for one more year. And if we don't see some decent improvement this year, then you're obviously not picking up his fifth year contract. And, you know, you just have to just cause he signed for four years. Right. So you just have to get to the end of that and be done with it. But yeah, he's been, he's been a bummer for sure.
00:51:23
Speaker
I wouldn't hate him being part of a trade. There might be another team who sees, oh, this is a first round prospect who's not succeeding in that kind of system. There might be somebody. If we could maybe trade him, I wouldn't be upset.
00:51:38
Speaker
Okay. Would you, would you accept a, cause you're not getting a first for him. You're probably not getting a second either. Would you accept, would you accept a fourth round pick for not one for one, but like if the, if the main part of the compensation was a fourth round pick, how do you think about that? Oh, at this point, I hate that personally. I hate it, but I also like, let's get something. I don't know.
00:52:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think you can let him cook and underperform for one more year and still recoup a fourth round pick. Sure. Right now, if somebody called, pretend I'm Brandon Bean, if somebody says a third round pick and whatever else, I'm making that deal. Yeah.
00:52:17
Speaker
Now to kind of move on, um, some players I'm excited about to Ron Johnson, the guy had a second team, all pro season. The guy is phenomenal. Let's extend the shit out of him. Let's keep him here. I love him. He's our slot corner. Um, and has been playing out of his minds. He's in my mind's top three slot corner in the league. Are you, yeah, maybe even top two.
00:52:37
Speaker
Right? Like the guy is phenomenal. He has developed beautifully. He is clearly somebody that McDermott loves and relies on. And this defense like revolves around him. Honestly, on this defense, he's probably the player I'm most scared of going down to injury. Yeah, he might, he honestly could be the most important defenseman on the team.
00:52:58
Speaker
Yeah, agreed. So, he's signed to a contract. However, I would love for if Bean needs to do some magic and get some cap space, that's extend to Ron. Now, another player who I would love an extension for is Mr. Rasool Douglas. Okay, man, as a trade from Green Bay Packers, partway through the season, it was like a steal of a trade. It was phenomenal.
00:53:21
Speaker
Yeah, just roadside robbery. And the guy came in and played out of his mind. He was electric. He had a little bit of a game or two kind of buffer where he played but didn't wait to make much noise. And then boom, something happened where the guy started seeing everything. He had a ton of big influential plays where he was taking away the ball through fumbles, through interceptions. He's been great. He's signed to us one more year on his deal.
00:53:50
Speaker
which I think is fully guaranteed. That's like $8 million, which is fine. However, let's extend the guy. I don't know. Maybe extend one or two more seasons onto the end of that. He is older. He's not old, but he's not young. Yeah. I think he's 30. I think he's 30 plus. So let's not sign him to a five-year deal, but tag on another one or two. And I think Bean's got a great thing going on there.
00:54:15
Speaker
Yep, I agree, dude. And at this point right now, for me, you're you're starting cornerbacks heading into next year. Sorry, I just aged Russell Douglas. He's 28. So I should shut my mouth. Yeah, we're old. Yeah, we are. We are old. I think you're starting Seabees right as things sit right now for next year. Our Christian Benford and Russell Douglas. I think that's kind of a no brainer. I think I think that'd be great.
00:54:41
Speaker
And maybe we're surprised by Trey, but probably not. And then I agree. I think Christian Benford is really exciting, like you just said. Saran Neil has been on this team as a another kind of Tyler Medicevich type player, as a very much a special teams player. He came in and played a little bit of safety. He played a little bit of relief for Taran Johnson at the corner at the slot corner position.
00:55:06
Speaker
I don't know. I'm not enthused by him. He assigned to the deal. I think we keep him, but that's not extended kind of thing. Yep. Yeah. He's, he's solid depth for me. Um, I,
00:55:19
Speaker
Yeah, he's under contract. I'm not. I'm not rushing to extend him. I'm I'm I would be fine to resign him when the time comes, but he's not a guy. I'm like, get this guy on paper. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dane Jackson, real quick. Spotrack estimated value three point one million. I'm assigning him back for that one. Oh my God. Oh my God. Holy cow. There's no way that he gets more than that.
00:55:40
Speaker
Yeah, I think he's probably going to end up commanding between five and six would be my guess. And honestly, for those, I'm still bringing him back. I think so, because I think he's a great player. And again, he was drafted by the Bills. He's been developed by the Bills and he's played great every time he's been asked and tapped into to go to play in the game. Like,
00:56:02
Speaker
I would love to have Dane Jackson on this team. I just don't know if it's going to happen. However, it's just, you know, we'll see. I'm not sure. Yeah, well, you agree. Do you put a corner? Do you put cornerback as a need? Compared to the end of the tackle? No, I put it on the list, though.
00:56:24
Speaker
Yeah, I put it as I put it on the list because we don't know about question marks on Trey and Kyra. Right. Those two players are question marks, not like feel goods. So you're right. I don't think it's as as as as big of a need. But if we can go out and get another seventh round pick who turns into Jane Jackson, Christian Dunford or six that turns into Christian. I don't know. I feel like good luck is not all that. Yeah. Good point. Drafted Christian in the six and he drafted Dane Jackson, the seventh, who both have started for this team.
00:56:53
Speaker
Call facts. So if we can get another player in the sixth or the seventh who's going to do that, sign
Safety Position & Future Drafting
00:56:59
Speaker
me up. Let's go. That sounds great. Agreed. Agreed. All right. Last position, safety. The specialist, those people who are looking online, specialist is not something we're going to talk about today. We'll do that another day because they're not the defense. So safety.
00:57:13
Speaker
uh signed to contract we have uh Jordan Poyer throw one more one more year on his deal Demar Hamlin and Kendall Williamson who I don't know much about the um
00:57:25
Speaker
free agents for the team are Micah Hyde, Taylor Rapp, and Cam Lewis. This is a spot where I think is highlighted by the fact that we are very much age heavy. And unfortunately, because man, oh man, one of my favorite parts about watching the Buffalo Bills the last, I don't know, as long as I can remember, six or seven years has been Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer. A hundred percent.
00:57:47
Speaker
I think we just saw the final snaps of those two playing together. And I think we should. If we do, then I think it's a problem. I think it's us. I think it's Brandon being make a mistake if we see them on the field together again. I also think it's Mike Hyde making a mistake, dude. That poor guy just has to call it. He's going to get he's going to get hurt for life if he keeps going, dude. His neck is just banged up, dude. He's got a beautiful wife, a beautiful family. He's got kids, I hope truly. And, you know,
00:58:16
Speaker
I, I and athletes like this dude like you can't, you can't take that competitiveness from them. Like and I think like I think that's what just kept Tom Brady going for so long like just one of the greatest competitors of all time like up there in terms of a competitive spirit with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
00:58:32
Speaker
Yeah, but you'd like absolutely I so I just hope like cuz there's so much more life for my guide to live And I just wanted to go and enjoy it. He's made a boatload of money in the league Beautiful wife beautiful kids, you know just go I don't want to see him get hurt
00:58:48
Speaker
I hope he retires, and that way he retires as a bill, which I'm excited about. Yes, which I also love. And not for nothing, dude. For me, Michael Hyde and Jordan Poyer are Ring of Honor players. Oh, absolutely, man. Honestly, let's put them together. Let's put them. Oh, my God. Just like a Poyer plus side. Yeah. Yeah, I'm about it. Yeah. So now let's just run the free agent kind of side here. Taylor Rapp and Cam Lewis. Honestly, I mean, Taylor Rapp, I'm fine with. Let him walk.
00:59:16
Speaker
If you am Lewis, I'd be if if we could get him for cheap I'd be in but again not spending money on him Yeah, Taylor rap dude, if you get it for the same dude, you just signed him for which was pennies. Yeah, bring him back. Fuck it. Who cares cam Lewis I honestly I've ranked cam Lewis Above Taylor rap for me personally agree. I'm I'd be more inclined to take back cam Lewis. Yep. Yep Dude, okay
00:59:44
Speaker
I think cutting Jordan Poyer gets us like 4 million something in cap savings, maybe more than that. I don't exactly remember. Are you keeping him or are you taking the salary cap savings? If we need it, absolutely. And there's no other solution, I think you have to take them. But I think as leadership and to help this transition into a new set of safety regime, I'm okay with keeping them.
01:00:12
Speaker
Yeah, I see both sides of it, dude. For me. I can't I can't stomach the idea of watching Jordan play or play without my guide. I also can't stomach seeing him playing on their team, though.
01:00:27
Speaker
Yeah, I can stomach that more than seeing him go without Mike a hide for me, dude. I turn the page on both of those guys and I turn them over to more Hamlin. If we do that, then that absolutely goes flying up the list for me for needs.
01:00:44
Speaker
And, and I think third round, fourth round pick should be a, should be your next starting safety. I agree. And yeah, I think that flies up. If we lose both Micah and Jordan, Jordan, I don't have anybody on this team who I feel is a starting, starting caliber safety. I think tomorrow, Hanlon can start. I think he could, but he's in the same realm as a Tyrell Dodson of like, man, you're doing it, but it's not going to feel pretty. It's not going to feel good, but okay, we're going to do it.
01:01:13
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if I put them quite in the same bucket for me. I don't put them quite in the same bucket as Tyrell Dotson. I think Demar Hamlin is a better starter for me personally than Dotson. But I would love to be proven wrong and I got to do a little more research on that. But just for what I've seen, I don't feel
Optimism for Bills' Offseason & Listener Engagement
01:01:28
Speaker
confident. Yeah. As depth, fantastic. As a number three safety, let's go.
01:01:34
Speaker
Yeah. So for me, first round pick number two, white receiver, second round pick, defensive tackle. Yep. Third round pick safety. I like it.
01:01:47
Speaker
What do you think, buddy? Is that it for today? That's pretty good. That's pretty good, man. We did good. We did. Hey, love you, buddy. Love you, pal. All right. Well, hey, folks, this is just the beginning. All right. Off season work is honestly some of the most important work because this is how we really dig into this team. We learn about them. We learn about what our beliefs. We learn about what we think the team believes. And I think that's a big deal.
01:02:11
Speaker
So we have lots to look forward to. This Bill's team is young. This Bill's team, well, okay, maybe they're not super young, but this Bill's team is great and super fun to watch and super fun to be around. So we got a lot of work to do. That we do, Bill. That we do. That's a bring it home. So thank you all so, so much from the bottom of our hearts for hanging out with us for this hour. We appreciate it. If you are here, can you please give us a like? We appreciate that.
01:02:37
Speaker
If you are not hearing your listeners afterwards, please give us a like, share this episode, and follow us on Instagram X and our freshly minted YouTube channel and TikTok, all at Let's Go Buff Pod with two Fs. That's my buddy, Nige. My name is Tom, and you're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo podcast. We're sending you love wherever you are. Go Bills, Go Savers, Let's Go Buffalo.