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Buffalo Plus: A Buffalo Bills podcast
Bills Cap Moves for Moore, the cost for Wide Receivers and Beane in on Crosby
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I'll be surprised, very surprised if they take a wide receiver in the first, but I won't be mad. Hey everybody. Welcome to the Buffalo plus YouTube channel. I'm Mike Catalano with you today in the Connors and Ferris podcast studio for the league podcast brought to you by Stellar Roofing Windows and Siding. And we're happy you're with us. We're happy. Stellar is with us for this league podcast today. As always, please make sure to like, comment and subscribe. I say Dan and Jenna when I'm recording this on a Tuesday. Getting the veteran day off. This veteran is taking some time off next week, taking the family on a trip heading south. Nicer weather than we have in the western New York area. So this will be a lot of fun for me to get away for a little bit and I'm sure these two will have a ball taking care of everything for Buffalo plus while I'm gone. So I'll be gone next week. Right now we're going to talk about some of the things going on involving the Bills, involving the league, the whole conversation of the value of wide receivers and the way to build your room. And it involves the Bills and it involves, you know, now the Denver Broncos and a deal they made and even the Philadelphia Eagles and what they're trying to do. So we'll talk about that. We'll also talk about the way the Bills have handled the off season. An article in the Buffalo News on Tuesday about Brandon Bean's plan during free agency involving past rushers, what he did, how it worked, what his mindset was, some interesting stuff and I'll have my take on that. And the way the NFL season is going to start this year for television, at least the way it looks for right now. So that's what we're going to be talking about today. And I think the big news from the NFL on this Tuesday of the week. Oh, before I get to everything else, I did want to remind you we've had a lot of talk about Buffalo Sabres coverage and the Buffalo Sabres in Western New York. And now really around all of the NHL have been the story of the year, their resurgence. They're finally going to make the playoffs after a decade and a half. We did a podcast with Marty Baran. If you don't know. Marty was a goalie all around the NHL, the Rangers, the Islanders, the Flyers, and certainly with the Buffalo Sabres. And he's in the hall of Fame in the Rochester Americans of the ahl. He works on the Sabres broadcast as the pre game and then between periods and post game, Marty was our guest. He was phenomenal. And it's about hockey, it's about sports. Marty is a Quebec native, has that great French accent, you know, French Canadian accent. And so anyhow that will be up on the Buffalo Plus YouTube channel and wherever you get your podcast on Wednesday morning the 18th. So check that out. Maybe it has already passed that point and you can watch but we think you'll enjoy Marty and let us know, you know, branching out with some other stuff during this non playing season. Let's get to the football trade. Today it's Jalen Waddle leaving the Dolphins. Now let's start with the Dolphins, their fire sale. They're getting rid of people, they're accumulating draft picks. They are taking on a lot of dead cap this year and I like what they're doing. They have tried to build it and then rebuild it on the fly. It didn't work. They come in, new gm, new head coach, got rid of Tua. Now you know, obviously Tyreek Hill is gone and now Jalen Waddle. They're going to be a total rebuild this year. They have Malik Willis, good luck to him because they're taking on so much dead cap this year in order to move it forward. But they're picking up draft picks. Waddle goes to the Denver Broncos. So here's the compensation on the trade. The Broncos get Jalen waddle and the 111th pick in the draft. That is a fourth rounder from Miami. Miami gets Denver's first round pick this year, which is 30th, third round pick this year, which is 94th, fourth round pick which is 1:30. So the fourth sticks him in the middle there. The other picks really it's for a first and a higher third is what it ends up being. And to get Waddle, the reason I bring this up, as you know, the Bills were in on Jalen Waddle last year at the trade deadline and there were stories, not really confirmed but by some people in the know that the Bills were in on Waddle that were looking to give up a first round pick. There was the idea of what the Dolphins wanted, what the Bills wanted and who wanted to trade the pick for this year or who wanted to trade it for 2027. It ended up not working out. The Bills did not get Waddle. Waddle caught a touchdown pass against them that day, that weekend in Miami in a game that ended up truthfully costing the Bills a shot to win the division. It was a terrible loss for Buffalo, but so Jaylen Waddle stayed The rest of the year in Miami, and now he goes to Denver. So let's talk about that a little bit. In comparison to the deal that the Bills made for DJ Moore. Waddle's a little younger, they play differently. Waddle's a little smaller, maybe faster. Moore is a different type of receiver. Waddle's a really good player, and he plays a lot just like DJ Moore does. They don't miss games. There's been, you know, there's this narrative around certain players that Jalen Waddle misses a ton of games. He doesn't. Everybody else in Miami is hurt, but Waddle has played 27 years old. He's. His averages during his years in Miami is basically a thousand yards each year average around 70 catches, around 100 targets, and around five touchdowns. Now, he's played with good receivers. I mean, he did have Tyreek Hill there with him for a few years. And Tua, when he was good, he was pretty good. Not great, as you all know, but he was a pretty effective player. So compare this to the trade for D.J. moore. The Bills gave up less draft compensation. The Bills took on Moore salary, and the Bills just reworked DJ Moore's contract. So we can talk about that in connection with this trade that was made for Jalen Waddle. This is how they changed DJ Moore's compensation and how it made it a much better, much more palatable thing for 2026. But it starts to get a little dicey going forward. More this year with a restructure is going to earn a base of 1.3 million, gets a restructure bonus. You guys know how this works. You take the salary, you put it into a. A bonus for that year, and then you spread out the cap bonus of 22 million and change workout bonus to 250,000. It's funny. We throw out $250,000 as a little bonus for him, right? Isn't that funny to work out? I understand why they do it. Cap hit this year is low. 6,752,000 dead cap is huge. 61,000. And this pushes it down the road. So it created $18 million in cap room for the Bills this year. That's smart. That's what Bean needed to do in order to make this contract work. Now, you can argue he took on a lot of salary and he really pushed it down the road. But if you're going to make these kind of moves, you have to. You got to kick it down the road. That's the way the NFL salary cap works. 2027, the cap hit is $29 million. Now, there's no way. I think no matter how he plays, he's going to play with $29 million cap hit. It's not going to happen. So I think you're set up already to a restructure of the deal in 2027. Good, bad or indifferent, it might impact how they restructure it, but this baby's going down the road again. It's a lot of money on this contract was a lot of guaranteed money. So a lot of people around the league have a problem with the amount of compensation and that. That's where I wanted to get to it. Look, the Broncos gave up a ton for Jaylen Waddle. I mean, it's a first round pick. It. It stretches back into the. When you look at it, based on the first and the other pick, they. They ended up giving up that they. It's really like the 24th, 25th pick in the draft. That's pretty good compensation for a player that while still younger you could. He's a very good player, but that's pretty high compensation. Now you look at DJ Moore, it's a second round pick plus the Bills get back a fifth, so it moves it more like the value of a third. You can get a pretty good player there, as the Bills have shown they can do. And you're paying him a lot of money and it's a lot of guaranteed money that all plays into it. Salary cap space that you create is an asset. It is for teams. My problem in this case for both teams is the idea of using in this case both trade capital and cap space in order to. To acquire a top wide receiver. It's tough to get those guys. I guess at some point you bite the bullet and get them. But you need to draft. The Bills have not drafted Keon is really all they've done in terms of the draft. They traded for Diggs, they signed free agents Curtis Samuel, Josh Palmer. Right. And now you trade for DJ Moore. It's an expensive position. I know you're excited about DJ Moore. I'm excited to see him play. I think he's going to help the Bills and that's great, but that's a tough way to do business. This is why I continue to say the Bill's cap issues are not about Josh Allen. The Bill's cap issues are about other players on the roster, the ones who either don't work out or it's too much money. DJ Moore's got to be really good. I won't say he's got to be great, he's got to be. I mean, he has been really good in his career. If he's putting up, I don't know, 90 catches, 1100 yards, seven touchdowns, and his impactful and big moments, I'm with you. Bite the bullet. You need that for a couple of years out of this deal. But if it gets him somewhere this year, nobody's going to really be worrying about the draft capital and the salary cap hit. But he's got a hit. You're giving up a lot for him. It's not like drafting a young player. That's why I say to you, take a look at what Keon makes as the first pick of the second round. You hit on a player there, you are golden, right? I mean, JSN isn't making money yet. Real money yet, right? This is, this is the way it works. Everybody talks about the quarterback salary, which is true, but you're putting three, four, five receivers on your roster. You need some cheap alternatives. Both of these teams have gone with major assets to get wide receivers. Denver's wide receiving group was pretty good. I mean, like if Cortland Sutton, they have, they have some nice players. Waddle's going to be their best player. I don't know if he's a true number one. Like, I don't know if D.J. morris, depending on how many guys you put in that category of number one. But this is what I keep going back to. And I know there's a lot of you that get mad at us, or mad at me in particular because I've harped on that second round pick. I just think it's too much draft capital to give up. I think it's too much and I would love to have seen them address it in the draft. I think it restricts what they can do now going forward because they have needs on defense. And you. I still want to see a young receiver in the building. I'll be surprised, very surprised if they take a wide receiver in the first, but I won't be mad. I think they need defense and that's probably where they should be looking. They need a pass rusher, they need a linebacker. They also need a young wide receiver that you can count on or hope to count on. I don't know if the ship has totally sailed on Keon. In my mind it has. In their mind, it hasn't. So if I'm wrong and all evidence, it's not fair to say the majority of the evidence to this point points in my direction. Not what Bean is saying, not what Brady is saying not what the franchise is saying about Keon. He's failed to this point. He's been a failed draft pick as the 30th pick 30. But a 33rd pick in the draft doesn't mean he can't get it going. You know, my friend Sal Mayorana said to me, was referencing Eric Molds and then I gave him a hard time and said, sal says Keon Coleman's going to be Eric Moles. If Bill's fans remember, Eric Molds did nothing for a couple of years and then just exploded on the scene and was phenomenal with Doug Flutie. He's got Josh Allen now with Keon, I kid with him to say he thinks he's going to be Eric Molds. But sometimes the light goes on. I just don't see it in Keon and I don't know if they really do. My only point is keep trying. It is an inexpensive salary move to draft wide receivers. That's why Denver Bit the Bullet gave up a first round pick. Denver's close, right? With their quarterback. They would have been in the super bowl last year. I mean, we know the Bills are close and they have a much better quarterback than Denver and he needs maybe even a little more help. I think Jaylen Waddle fits pretty well there and I think that makes Denver a tougher team. Could they have drafted a guy? Sure. They also got a lot of dudes on defense and I know Jim Leonard came from there and I'd hope the Bills would have gotten some of them, but they seem to be keeping all their guys, most of their guys on defense. So they're sort of running it back and adding Jalen Waddle. I think that makes them a more legitimate team, depending on what you can get out of Bo Nicks. But again, draft capital for them and I mean, I, I will say that's a little bit different in the money for Waddle. It's less total because his contract, basically you would assume. I don't think they would do anything on Waddle yet. Maybe, maybe. And they get him in the building. It's a restructure in another year. Maybe it's now because I think the way his contract is structured, most of the guaranteed money goes through this year and next year, but we'll see what they decide to do. He's a younger player, but got to draft these guys. Got to draft them. You got to keep drafting them. I, I think that's been a failure of the Bills, so let's see how it plays out. You can also Go the cheap route. I know a lot of you didn't like my idea of Mike Evans. He wasn't going to come to Buffalo. I love him on a one year deal. The Eagles got Hollywood Brown, you know, an okay player, still has pretty good speed. They got him on a one year deal. Agent talk up to 6.5, 6 million, something like that. It's probably more of like 3 and change guaranteed and then he can make more in incentives. That's just a guess, but you know, you can go that route like the Bills have done, but when you do that, go cheap. Don't give them the Josh Palmer deals. In my opinion, hey, maybe Josh Palmer, maybe it's his year, but it's the value of the player in terms of his cap space and in your draft capital. And I would just use more of it on wide receivers. So let's see what Brandon Bean decides to do. Dan's idea, and he thinks it's is they trade back. And I know it'll bug everybody on the Thursday of the draft. Pick up an extra two and then maybe it gives you more options. You would end up still with three picks in the top. I guess it would still be the top 100 as opposed to two. So let's see what they end up doing. But we have time to talk about the draft. The other thing I wanted to talk about was the article Lance Laskowski from the Buffalo News did and he talked to Brandon Bean about how he approached this off season. It was a lot about Max Crosby and that the Bills were in on that and all on, in on Trey Hendrickson too and how it fell apart. And the story says that Bean, Bean tells him that, you know, we were in on Max and Baltimore was giving up. They knew what Baltimore or at least had an idea that it was a higher pick because Baltimore had the 14th pick in the first round. They were given up two ones. That's a, that's a high one. You know, we talk about these late first round picks being they're not really second round picks, but you know, when you're picking 30th or 28th or 29th, you know that's, it's very, very different. I know it's simple math. Was very different than 14th. So that's a very valuable pick. The Ravens were including in that. And so the Bills didn't want to match that or go above that. I think Bean was said in the article, you know, it would have taken like their one and maybe a player and another pick. That's a lot. But in on the conversation. So then they pivot and they were in on the conversation on Trey Hendrickson. And in the interim he said, that's when he said I needed to make the move for more. And in that move, he gave up the second round pick. So that is trade capital and leverage in any sort of a deal, maybe with Crosby. So he, they're out on Crosby, free agency. Hendrickson, he ends up going to Baltimore. And we know Ravens gm, the cost of. I mean, he lied and said we were going to sign both of them. We all know that was a lie. He was gutted. Yeah, whatever. He, he sort of weaseled out of the deal, in my opinion. Bean was quoted as saying that's not, he didn't say specifically about the Costa. He said I would have had to basically backtrack on deals I had made. That's not the way we do business. I appreciate that. I think that's the way you should do business in the league when you sort of give your word on a trade and you had information. I didn't like the way the Ravens handled that. I don't think people around the league liked it. I don't think the Bills operate like that. I think that's not good faith. So I appreciate Bean saying that. But I will say this. I love the fact that the Bills are in on these guys. They're always in on the guys. They gotta close at some point. You gotta close on these guys. He brought in the big fish before, traded for Diggs, got Von Miller. I don't consider the Von Miller thing a failure. I know everybody says was like a great 10 games. It was then he, then he got his knee wrecked. I mean, I was there. I've said this to you guys, you know, I mean, it's his knee. I mean, he's a beast. And then he came back and it wasn't as good. I get it. That could happen to anybody. That could happen to a 25 year old free agent that you sign. Maybe they come back a little quicker. But I like the aggressiveness. You went out and got the best pass rusher available probably in Von Miller. And Trey Hendrickson, the best pass rusher, Max Crosby, probably the best pass rusher, run defender, because that's not Hendrickson's deal. You just want somebody to pile up the sack numbers, he's your guy. Crosby's a much better all around player. But I like that they're in on it, but, you know, less need in la. He's in on a lot of deals and he gets it done. You know he got Devonte Adams. He. Well, he got Matthew Stafford. He got Devonte Adams in a trade. He just got Trent McDuffie. He's in on these guys and they deliver. Howie Roseman always in on deals. You always see he's lurking around there. He's always in on deals. He gets guys. You got to get him at some point. I know, I know the Bills are going to be interested in any big player. I'm sure they've had conversations before about A.J. brown. It's fine if you didn't get them, but I just assume if you're Brandon Bean and you have Josh Allen, if there is a top level player out there, you are in on him. And I appreciate that. He always says that. You know, I don't like a GM who I don't like when there's excuses and he's made some excuses. I like when he just get in the conversation. Some point he's going to land another one of those guys. I asked him at the combine about not making the big swings and he pushed back and said, I'm always aggressive. I think there's aggressive and then I think there's big swings. He's done it before and I get the more swing is decent and Bradley Chubb is, you know, decent. I like that contract better, but I wanted to see. I, I shouldn't say this. The Crosby thing is interesting. Like, we don't really know the medicals. Like I said, I think the Ravens lied. I think Crosby's still going to get traded, but teams will know more of what the medical show, whether they're interested in the guy. I still think a lot of teams are going to be and I still think he's going to be traded. Maybe the Bills circle back. Maybe there's something you can do. I think once they sign Chubb, they're probably out on that, but I think you should be in on all those players. So that doesn't, that doesn't surprise me. The numbers are also in on cj, gj. Jenna says she doesn't like the, the initials. She doesn't think enough people know it. Chauncey Gardner, Johnson Jr. And his contract. I, I looked at it today and I said that's the kind of contract I like. I think it's a one year deal that he's getting and he's getting. Yeah, I think, yeah, it was a one year contract. Oh, here it is. Yeah, he's getting a one year contract. I think his guarantees were 3.5 with a chance to make more. Here it is. Excuse me. $3.5 million base, 3 million and change guaranteed, 2 1/2 million in incentives, cap hit of 3.4. A couple of void years at the end. Fine. It's a one year deal with a little spillover into the next seasons to save on the cap. That's what you do. And he's on a one year deal because you have to sign that guy to a one year deal. That's what he's going to do. What is it? Seven teams in six years and then I want to see them draft another safety. That's what you do. And I know you'll say, well, we have the start. Yeah, yeah, I don't care about that. This is a one year guy. I'm telling you now. Chauncey is going to be a one year deal with this team and it may be great, but this is the way it goes with him. So have that next guy in the pipeline. I wouldn't mind seeing him make the move early. This draft has a bunch of safeties. If they say safety with the 26 pick in the draft, I don't have any problem with it. If they drop back and get two picks in the second round and one of them is the safety, I got no problem with that. I want to see the long term guy with Cole Bishop. This puts you in a spot where that guy can learn the position and play and you do have a veteran starter to go with Cole Bishop. So let's see how it plays out. But I like those kind of contracts. That's why I like the one year deals. I would have liked it a wide receiver, but I've said enough about that. And the other thing I wanted to mention was the opening of the season. The schedule. There's. It's unofficial of course, but the season's going to open. Seattle is going to open at home on a Wednesday. Normally it's the first Thursday of the year, but there's a game in New Zealand. It's New Zealand. Yeah, New Zealand. So that travel is like four and a half days to get there. So they're going to give the teams a little more time. So they won that game on Thursday, plus they can't play a game on Friday. There's this antitrust thing with the NFL and agreement they had. I don't remember the exact thing. Somebody in the comments will say exactly what the rule is about playing on Fridays at a certain point of the year. It's got something to do with high school football. I know that sounds funny, but it was a thing. The NFL has had for years. It's part of their antitrust agreement and so they aren't going to play that first Friday. They've done it before, but I think it was because it was earlier in the month. Labor Day is later. The season starts after Labor Day. So anyhow, the opener on a Wednesday, the game in New Zealand, I think the Rams are playing. Maybe it's the Rams. I think so on that Thursday and then we'll see what happens with the Bills. A lot of thoughts that the Bills open up on the road and then come home week two to open up the stadium. Oh, by the way, Stadium news. Pete Guelly was on with our friends at WKBW in Buffalo saying that they're getting the keys to the stadium in June at some point and they're gonna have some things go on. The first football event is expected to be the Blue Red scrimmage, which comes up usually in mid plus August, right after they're done in Rochester with camp. So keep that in mind. That has always been, you know, where they draw a lot of people. My guess is if they have that scrimmage, there's going to be a lot of people there to see that stadium. So things are moving ahead on the stadium. But maybe it's week two of the season when they put the when they put the Bills with their first real home game. There'll be a preseason game, too. I don't know how many they'll have at home. Maybe it's just the one, but we'll see how that plays out too as we get towards the summer. All right, that's going to do it for me today. Thanks for being with me. As always, please make sure to like, comment and subscribe from here in the Connors and Ferris Podcast studio in our league podcast. A reminder, we'll have content continuing all through the free agency in this offseason. We have our Sabers podcast with Marty Baran that is up as of Wednesday morning, so make sure you look for that. And we are going to continue with all of our coverage, including the league podcast brought to you by Stellar Roofing Windows and Siding for our entire team. Thanks for being with me today. I'm Mike Catalano and we'll see you next time on Buffalo plus Buffalo.