2022 Free Agency Tracker

[Neophyte]

Removed Hamilton from the list - he was waved by the team in Jan 21 and played last season with Detriot.

 

[SkinsOrlando]

We still don't yet know if JD can pass a physical

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

I get us letting Settle go. I expected it. He was a 12-15 snap-a-game guy for us. There was no way we were going to match the money the Bills are paying him for that kind of playing time.

You're definitely right. Also, I remember when the Patriots took Haynesworth and turned him into... the same pile he was when he was here. So, of course, there is no guarantee that the Bills magically know things we don't.

However, Settle has the feel of someone who could have been a "value" contributor. Those are guys you need. You can't replenish through the draft all of the time, you do have to keep some FAs, and you also cannot afford to keep too many FAs if they demand top dollar from you. This is why the best teams have to make themselves out to be a "destination" and a place worth going to and sacrificing for, in the end. Usually the long-term winners have at least a few guys who probably accepted a below-market salary to play there. To get to that point, you need to keep the value contributors around. Those guys usually look like McKissic and Settle. Granted, I hear everyone on the neck injury, but just calling what I see - it looks like we let two walk who in my mind, we should have kept. If you want to keep McLaurin, the path to that includes two things:
- Available Salary
- Competitive team

Right now, my read is we took steps in the wrong direction on both fronts, because I think we sacrificed good value to the Bills. I actually think it's possible we regret the Settle loss even more than the McKissic loss. I mean, it's hard to tell because he hasn't had the work in the B&G, but just reading what he was saying, how he was putting in work and wanting more playing time behind Payne and Allen, and thinking that we are likely to lose Payne in the end; that is what makes me look in the future and predict this loss ends up being one to regret.

 

[Win4us]

By signing Johnson I take it they’re not interested in Slye? That dude was nailing them last year

 

[Boone]

Slye is a RFA so we will have the chance to match. What I’ve heard is they play to bring both guys to camp.

 

[Win4us]

Gotcha…I think they’ve got something good with Slye on roster

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Gotcha…I think they’ve got something good with Slye on roster

I couldn’t remember which kicker was killing it. It was Slye. I’m all for kicker competition though.

 

[SilentThreat]

This McKissic deal isn't sitting right with me. Usually I can explain things away like "It's possible he said 'no" or some variation, but the reports are we didnt even make an offer.... these are just reports, so i guess there 'could' have a conversation without a formal offer, but if there was a complete cold shoulder? I mentioned on the pod he number of available RBs but it was because I thought it would keep the contract modest (and the contract was modest). Payne is entering the final year of his deal, while Settle walks for a very reasonable cost. Payne is entering the final year of his deal, I wonder if we're going to make a move on him. If not, why is he still here? He's $8+ against the cap, and we're looking for ways to make room. Are we thinking ahead? IF Payne is in the long term plans, then he should be sitting on the chair outside Rivera's door with his agent waiting for Terry to walk out, so he can be right behind him negotiating his deal.... unless we see Smith - Williams and Bradley - King blow it up this year.

 

[burgold]

The scheme Washington came up with was, "Hey, we can't make a deal with you until we have the QB thing settled. So, we'd appreciate it if you give us a chance to match or beat if anyone else gives you an offer."

I think that works if you are the top dog, but doesn't work as well when you are the runt of the litter competing against top dogs. I believe McKissic when he said he wanted to play with Washington. Washington gave him a chance and made him an important player that the league took notice of. Still, that only gets you so far and every player wants to feel loved. We aren't good enough yet to say, "Hey, we're going to let the league negotiate for you and then you can do what's right and come home."

We're at the stage where we need to woo our own players and make sure they know how we appreciate them building something with us. I think that's why so far we have more players leaving than staying.

Mind you, I think Boone (I think it was Boone) might be correct that Washington was a little squeamish about McKissic's neck injury and that makes it a bit of a different story. It means we let him walk because we didn't want him.

 

[Canadian Hog]

Like clockwork, it seems as though every year in the draft the team ends up taking players at positions where we as fans feel like we are set. Don't be surprised if that position this year is DT. Settle is out the door, and Ioannidis and Payne are both off the books next year. A year from now, outside of Allen, DT could be a bare cupboard. Is Ioannidis getting a second team-friendly contract here? Based off of last season, I say it is not likely. As for Payne, he is going to command big money. Are we prepared to pay him after having a lot already investing in Allen? On top of that, you have to start thinking about the futures of Sweat and Young. In reality, I think we are going to be facing a scenario where realistically, we might be able to retain two of the "big four" upfront long term. With that in mind, I wish that sometimes this team would be more proactive when it comes to contracts. For instance, if Payne or Sweat are not in the long term plans, would it hurt to explore trading these guys? I know Payne is on an expiring contract and that adds a wrinkle, but still...I wouldn't put that off the table this April if I am Washington.

 

[Chris]

Can the team begin to speak publicly today about free agency?

Will the team speak publicly today about free agency?

(Beyond ‘we like where we are. We really, really do’?)

 

[MikefromOH]

We went from the most dominant DL in the league...to now scrambling to see if we will even have a second DT on the books! That's so tiresome.

National media is loving the Bills signing JD. Why wouldn't they?! Dude is an explosive receiving back who just adds another weapon to an already stacked Bills team!

Did Vinny hack our system?!

 

[Neophyte]

We also have no clue what is happening behind the scenes, guys. There are a lot of moving parts to all of this and it's more like a game of Tetris with these contracts, where each piece impacts what you do with the next piece than anything else.

QB was obviously the priority this off-season and I think we can all agree that is as it should have been. That was always going to be the largest piece and therefore the one that everything else has to fit around. That only got settled last week. While "legal" tampering started on Monday, does anything really think that there wasn't some illegal tampering going on before then?

Settle is no surprise or shouldn't be anyway. There has been talk of him going somewhere else in the media, on Twitter, and even this sight for 6 months or more. The dude is too talented for 12-15 reps a game but here he arguably has more talented guys ahead of him. You also don't pay the 4th guy on the depth chart what he was going to get somewhere to start. Simple math, right?

McKissic hurts. No question. But what if the team decided that he wouldn't be as much of a big cog in the offense this year with a QB who can push the ball downfield and use the WRs more. There are only so many balls to go around and Turner obviously wants to use more medium and deep routes than he has been able to over the last 2 seasons. McKissic was a big part of the offense because those plays were not part of the Heinickie/Smith/ skillset. Wentz is a different cat. We still have Gibson who has great hands and can catch a couple of balls a game. A deep game is likely to pull defenders out of the box which is going to open up space and likely make Patterson more effective on the ground.

And with Wentz, we know have legit NFL talent at pretty much every spot on the team except MLB which opens up a world of possibilities in the draft.

Not happy about losing McKissic but I can see how he might not have been priority for the coaches at this point.

 

[MikefromOH]

I'm going on record to say I'm not convinced that Wentz is a legit QB any longer. He's been broken, he's been on 3 teams in 3 years. I'm not sold. For the money we spent on him we could have kept JD, Settle, and worked on signing others who are coming up.

Now, we need DE, DT, MLB, and most likely RB again. We are not better than we were at the end of the season last year...we are poorer and looking at a bunch of people walking at the end of next season.

 

[Canadian Hog]

At some point we have to get creative. We are watching guys walk out the door in Washington at a more frequent pace for nothing.

We did good work to keep Allen around - he is a cornerstone and leader. If you do the same with Terry on the other side of the ball, you have to feel good about having two rocks to be the face of this franchise well into the future. The reality is that the truly successful teams usually have 3 or 4 stable pieces long-term, and the rest of the club are interchangeable parts.

That said, nothing should be off the table. We tend to sometimes as fans overvalue what we have in the building, because we watch them every week and follow them closely. We survived a half a season with guys off the street and late round picks at DE for half a year and actually played an improved brand of football defensively for the most part in the absence of our "stars."

Take a risk or two - see if there is a market for one of those names on the DLine. Get some draft capital back, trust your scouting department and see what you can build. This would be the time to do it - I don't think anybody is truly thinking we can compete for a Super Bowl this year.

I know in theory it is likely easier said than done though.

 

[Canadian Hog]

 

[SilentThreat]

We also have no clue what is happening behind the scenes, guys. There are a lot of moving parts to all of this and it's more like a game of Tetris with these contracts, where each piece impacts what you do with the next piece than anything else.

QB was obviously the priority this off-season and I think we can all agree that is as it should have been. That was always going to be the largest piece and therefore the one that everything else has to fit around. That only got settled last week. While "legal" tampering started on Monday, does anything really think that there wasn't some illegal tampering going on before then?

Settle is no surprise or shouldn't be anyway. There has been talk of him going somewhere else in the media, on Twitter, and even this sight for 6 months or more. The dude is too talented for 12-15 reps a game but here he arguably has more talented guys ahead of him. You also don't pay the 4th guy on the depth chart what he was going to get somewhere to start. Simple math, right?

McKissic hurts. No question. But what if the team decided that he wouldn't be as much of a big cog in the offense this year with a QB who can push the ball downfield and use the WRs more. There are only so many balls to go around and Turner obviously wants to use more medium and deep routes than he has been able to over the last 2 seasons. McKissic was a big part of the offense because those plays were not part of the Heinickie/Smith/ skillset. Wentz is a different cat. We still have Gibson who has great hands and can catch a couple of balls a game. A deep game is likely to pull defenders out of the box which is going to open up space and likely make Patterson more effective on the ground.

And with Wentz, we know have legit NFL talent at pretty much every spot on the team except MLB which opens up a world of possibilities in the draft.

Not happy about losing McKissic but I can see how he might not have been priority for the coaches at this point.

I understand that completely, but I have to wonder.

Regarding Settle. We're walking into the final year of Payne and he's not under contract beyond this year (AND he's costing double what Settle signed for). Payne was 'speculated' to be a potential trade chip because there's always been a question (all via fans / media, never from the team) that he'll sign a second deal here. He wasn't traded away for a QB, but we're yet to extend him OR McLaurin (and if we extend Payne and not McLaurin... it will be mutiny). I just wonder where the looking ahead is coming in to play. If we don't extend Payne, ultimately letting him walk after next season, we're going to be looking back wondering WTF?

I'm also not heartbroken McKissic LEFT, it's how it happened. Same with Scherff, just different scenarios. We're not in a position to expect the good will of players because of some loyalty. We NEED to be making offers to guys like McKissic and making sure EVERYONE knows that we care about the 'horses that got us here.' We're not in a position to be staunch businessmen that players go out of their way to play for.. We don't have that good will or that equity. I worry that arrogance is creeping in over there. Yes, I understand the NFL is a privelage, but playing for this team ISNT. I understand that moves HAVE to be made... and I think the Wentz deal was necessary, including the 'overspending' so we didn't let him him Free Agency because honestly he likely would NOT have come here off of the open market. THIS is where we are now. Be smart about it, but we can't act like players are going to bid themselves DOWN in order to play here. If you're McKissic, without getting so much as an offer from the team, would you afford them the benefit of giving them a shot instead of signing with the team that's currently go the BEST ODDS IN VEGAS to win a SuperBowl in 2022?

 

[SilentThreat]

TAKE EVERY DOLLAR YOU HAVE ALLOCATED TO EXTENDING OFFENSIVE PLAYERS AND GIVE IT TO TERRY MCLAURIN... FIGURE THE REST OUT AFTER THAT DEAL IS DONE

*** unless this is a 1 year deal... cuz an extension for Terry likely doesn't effect this years cap number anyway... ****

 

[Chris]

Am I the only one who is a bit unconfident with the McClaurin contract extension situation?

 

[Boone]

Only thing I’ll say is, we don’t KNOW how it happened with McKissic - we only know how it’s been characterized by other people who don’t know how it happened on Twitter

At face value it looks bad. My sense is they never made an offer and said ‘come back to us once you have an offer and we’ll talk’.

That may not be what happened that’s just how it’s being characterized on social media. A lot of players don’t just want to get paid, they want to feel valued and appreciated and if that’s the way it was approached it probably pissed McKissic off and I wouldn’t blame him for that. It would be a poor way to approach it for a valued player, and also a one given you are then competing not only in dollars but in terms of setting and quality of franchise, things we aren’t very competitive in.

You don’t encourage the lovely girl you are smitten with to go hang out with your better looking and more successful friend and then act bewildered when you never hear from her again, right?

Possible this was always about their assessment of his talent, how he fits with the offense they envision with Wentz, using those salary dollars elsewhere, or his health. I’m fine with any of those rationales. I just hope it doesn’t turn out we DID want to resign him but just bungled it.

I think what Rivera says about it when asked today, and maybe how he responds - ie if he gets defensive and angry that might be an indicator it’s a bungled mess.