Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Let's set aside the "free safeties aren't big money", "Byrd isn't a gamechanger", "Doesn't fit Pettine's scheme" sillyness for a second and focus purely on the cap space aspect. Why do people think we cannot afford to re-sign Jairus Byrd? People keep saying foolish things like "WHAT IF WE CAN'T RESIGN SPILLER?!?!"

Let's be clear about this: We have more than enough money to re-sign both and any of the other FAs coming down the pipe.

More. Than. Enough.

Keep in mind that most people are perfectly content to keep Byrd at 7M per year, but balk at paying him 9.25 or whatever he supposedly wants. Let's assume that's a correct report for the sake of argument. That's a difference of 2.25 million between what people are ok with and what they are willing to dump one of our best players for. Right now the Bills have 18 million in salary cap space including Byrd's franchise tag.

Now look at some of the Bills' horrendous contracts right now:
Mark Anderson (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/mark-anderson/)
2013 Cap hit: 4Million
2014: 5.5M
2015: 6.5M

This guy is a 3rd down pass rushing "specialist" who provided exactly one sack in 5.5 games before being hurt last year. Unless he turns into an enormous asset, he should be first on the firing line in either 2014 or 15, when it saves us millions in dead cap.

Brad Smith (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/brad-smith/)
2013: 3.75M
2014: 4M

This guy is a crappy wideout and a massive liability at QB. 3.75M for a return specialist is beyond dumb since we supposedly kept McKelvin for the exact same job. Cutting this guy alone pays for the Byrd deal for two seasons.

Fred Jackson (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/fred-jackson/)
2013: 3.7M
2014: 3.7M

Look, I like Fred Jackson. I have one of his TShirts. He's probably my favorite Bill since over the last few seasons. But Spiller has taken his job and he'll be 34 by the time this deal is up. This contract was really a "make up" kind of deal for his late start to the NFL, but is anyone seriously going to be sad if we offer him a vet minimum contract in 2015 and he leaves?

Rian Lindell (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/rian-lindell/)
2013: 3M
2014: 3M
2015: 3.1M

Ok, Lindell has been good to us for a lot of years, but Gailey didn't even trust him in a dome with the game on the line. We've tried drafting his replacement twice. Twice! Let it end!

Erik Pears (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/erik-pears/)
2013: 2.8M
2014: 3.45M

It Hairston does indeed take his spot this offseason, that is way, wayyyy too much to pay for a backup right tackle.

That's 5 bad contracts the Bills can get out from long before Spiller becomes a free agent in 2016. And on top of that, every single one of them is projected as a backup at best this year. Dumping Byrd, a 26 year old multiple all-pro, to avoid cutting overpaid backups is the height of stupidity.

A 6-10 team sitting on 18 million in cap space should not be dumping All-Pros in their prime to save money. Period.

[tampabay25690]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

But y does Byrd deserve 9 mill a year???

[TigerJ]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

There's no question the Bills can afford to make Byrd the highest paid safety in the league, at least with respect to this year's cap. The problem is, they appear not to value the position of safety highly enough to do so. The issue is not just can they afford it now. The issue is cap management. If they commit to Byrd's asking price, there's no question it will affect cap room out several years. The Bills may want to save that cap room to offer raises to players at positions they value more highly, or sign a big name free agent or two to a position they value more highly.

[clumping platelets]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

He does not deserve to be the highest paid FS in the league.

I'd get Eric Wood signed to an extension and then trade Byrd.

[BillsFever21]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

The Bills have been great with cap management over the years. Maybe one of the best teams in the league. We're always around 10-20 million under the cap every season. I bet not many other teams can say that

[BillsFever21]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

Let's set aside the "free safeties aren't big money", "Byrd isn't a gamechanger", "Doesn't fit Pettine's scheme" sillyness for a second and focus purely on the cap space aspect. Why do people think we cannot afford to re-sign Jairus Byrd? People keep saying foolish things like "WHAT IF WE CAN'T RESIGN SPILLER?!?!"

Let's be clear about this: We have more than enough money to re-sign both and any of the other FAs coming down the pipe.

More. Than. Enough.

Keep in mind that most people are perfectly content to keep Byrd at 7M per year, but balk at paying him 9.25 or whatever he supposedly wants. Let's assume that's a correct report for the sake of argument. That's a difference of 2.25 million between what people are ok with and what they are willing to dump one of our best players for. Right now the Bills have 18 million in salary cap space including Byrd's franchise tag.

Now look at some of the Bills' horrendous contracts right now:
Mark Anderson (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/mark-anderson/)
2013 Cap hit: 4Million
2014: 5.5M
2015: 6.5M

This guy is a 3rd down pass rushing "specialist" who provided exactly one sack in 5.5 games before being hurt last year. Unless he turns into an enormous asset, he should be first on the firing line in either 2014 or 15, when it saves us millions in dead cap.

Brad Smith (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/brad-smith/)
2013: 3.75M
2014: 4M

This guy is a crappy wideout and a massive liability at QB. 3.75M for a return specialist is beyond dumb since we supposedly kept McKelvin for the exact same job. Cutting this guy alone pays for the Byrd deal for two seasons.

Fred Jackson (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/fred-jackson/)
2013: 3.7M
2014: 3.7M

Look, I like Fred Jackson. I have one of his TShirts. He's probably my favorite Bill since over the last few seasons. But Spiller has taken his job and he'll be 34 by the time this deal is up. This contract was really a "make up" kind of deal for his late start to the NFL, but is anyone seriously going to be sad if we offer him a vet minimum contract in 2015 and he leaves?

Rian Lindell (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/rian-lindell/)
2013: 3M
2014: 3M
2015: 3.1M

Ok, Lindell has been good to us for a lot of years, but Gailey didn't even trust him in a dome with the game on the line. We've tried drafting his replacement twice. Twice! Let it end!

Erik Pears (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/erik-pears/)
2013: 2.8M
2014: 3.45M

It Hairston does indeed take his spot this offseason, that is way, wayyyy too much to pay for a backup right tackle.

That's 5 bad contracts the Bills can get out from long before Spiller becomes a free agent in 2016. And on top of that, every single one of them is projected as a backup at best this year. Dumping Byrd, a 26 year old multiple all-pro, to avoid cutting overpaid backups is the height of stupidity.

A 6-10 team sitting on 18 million in cap space should not be dumping All-Pros in their prime to save money. Period.

I couldn't agree more. What also gets you in the most cap trouble is when you continue to sign average players for 3-6 million dollars a year to be backups or crappy starters. Then when you end up cutting them having all of the dead cap space like with Fitzpatrick. The dead cap space from bad contracts to guys like that can eat up around 10% or more of your cap in any given year.

You keep your young top players. The Bills don't draft many of them which makes it even more important to keep them around. Also if Byrd wants 9 million a year then that's his negotiation number and would probably take 8 million.

With being 25 million under the cap this season(without Byrd's franchise tag number) signing him to an extension wouldn't have hurt our cap in the future one bit if he performed like he has. When you're sitting there with all that extra cap space you could easily front load the contract this year and his cap number would be a bargain the rest of the years.

If he received an average of 8 million a year for 5 years you could've easily given him a cap number of 15 million this season and still had 10 million left over. That would've only left 25 million over the next 4 years and that's assuming he met all of his incentives. Much of that 40 million would've been monopoly money like any other contract. In reality he would see around 30-35 million tops or so over that span. That makes the cap hit even less.

Hell we have backup tackles like Pears with a 3 million dollar cap number, old backup RB who can't stay healthy with a 3.7 million cap hit and not to mention a situational pass rusher in Anderson making 5.5 this year. Now that was a horrible contract but keeping your best draft picks is a waste of money.

The same people will be saying the same thing when other good players we have drafted becomes a FA too. There will always be the next guys a couple years from now you need to save the money for when the time comes. If you don't ever use your cap space to keep your best young players then you will never build a winning team for the long-term. You will always have to use you draft picks to replace them instead of trying to upgrade other positions or fill in much needed depth. That's why we are drafting in the top 10 every single season.

I'd rather keep your best young players and try to build a team that can be successful and maybe win something. Then with good cap management you can make years before you have to pay the piper and it gives you that window of opportunity. After that you keep the best players you can and try to rebuild again. What's the worse that can happen you end up a 4-6 win team after that? Well that's what we already have been for a decade with this same current strategy we have been using since then.

[tampabay25690]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

He does not deserve to be the highest paid FS in the league.

I'd get Eric Wood signed to an extension and then trade Byrd.

Thank u!!!

[jimmifli]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

But y does Byrd deserve 9 mill a year???

Because there is no better way to spend $9 million dollars on improving our team this offseason.

[jimmifli]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

He does not deserve to be the highest paid FS in the league.

He deserves to be one of the top 5 paid safeties in the league, and he happens to be the only one with a contract that is up. So until next year he'll be the highest paid safety, and then he won't be. And pretty soon he'll have a contract that is cheap compared to the top safety.

[Ingtar33]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

But y does Byrd deserve 9 mill a year???

lets see...

Ed Reed - first 4 seasons.
Tackles - 271
Pass Defended - 53
Interceptions - 22
Forced Fumbles - 4
Fumble Recoveries - 3
Sacks - 4
Defensive TDs - 3

Jarius Byrd - first 4 seasons
Tackles - 308
Pass Defended - 27
Interceptions - 18
Forced Fumbles - 10
Fumble Recoveries - 5
Sacks - 2
Defensive TDs - 2

Loos like pretty much a similar player.

[kishoph]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

lets see...

Ed Reed - first 4 seasons.
Tackles - 271
Pass Defended - 53
Interceptions - 22
Forced Fumbles - 4
Fumble Recoveries - 3
Sacks - 4
Defensive TDs - 3

Jarius Byrd - first 4 seasons
Tackles - 308
Pass Defended - 27
Interceptions - 18
Forced Fumbles - 10
Fumble Recoveries - 5
Sacks - 2
Defensive TDs - 2

Loos like pretty much a similar player.

Look at the passes defensed, last year alone Reed had 16 PD's, Byrd had 6. Reed has consistently been a top safety for 10 years, Byrd has had 2 good years out of 4. The Bills have offered to make Byrd one of the highest paid safeties in the league, Byrd wants to be the top paid. WGR's reporting that Byrd will not consider any contract, unless it has him as the top paid at his position and he is the the top player at his position.

[GingerP]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

Look at the passes defensed, last year alone Reed had 16 PD's, Byrd had 6. Reed has consistently been a top safety for 10 years, Byrd has had 2 good years out of 4. The Bills have offered to make Byrd one of the highest paid safeties in the league, Byrd wants to be the top paid. WGR's reporting that Byrd will not consider any contract, unless it has him as the top paid at his position and he is the the top player at his position.

Ed Reed is one of the greatest S ever. To be even in the same ballpark as him says a lot. Nobody knows what Byrd is asking or what the Bills are offering, but the fact is Byrd has proven to be a very good player in the NFL. He is one of the top S in the NFL by any measure.

Who cares about leading the team in cap room? I'd rather have a good team tight against the cap then suck and have lots of cap room. The bad contracts are the ones where you pay top dollar for a guy who produces, the bad contracts are the ones you pay a lot of money to a guy who isn't worth it. Byrd is a good player and deserves to get paid, paying him a lot is not going to cause cap problems.

[tampabay25690]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

lets see...

Ed Reed - first 4 seasons.
Tackles - 271
Pass Defended - 53
Interceptions - 22
Forced Fumbles - 4
Fumble Recoveries - 3
Sacks - 4
Defensive TDs - 3

Jarius Byrd - first 4 seasons
Tackles - 308
Pass Defended - 27
Interceptions - 18
Forced Fumbles - 10
Fumble Recoveries - 5
Sacks - 2
Defensive TDs - 2

Loos like pretty much a similar player.

Dont ever compare Byrd to Ed Reed....
U can throw all the stats u want at me...
Jarvis Byrd is not a 9 mill per year safety

[better days]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

Dont ever compare Byrd to Ed Reed....
U can throw all the stats u want at me...
Jarvis Byrd is not a 9 mill per year safety

Thank you. This is the trouble with stats. Anyone with two eyes that watches & knows the game of football can see Ed Reed is a HOF player, Byrd is not. Receivers FEAR Reed, they don't fear Byrd.

[tampabay25690]

Re: Why do people think we can't afford Byrd?

Thank you. This is the trouble with stats. Anyone with two eyes that watches & knows the game of football can see Ed Reed is a HOF player, Byrd is not. Receivers FEAR Reed, they don't fear Byrd.

I want Byrd to stay but for 7 mill per.....
Sorry just don't pay a guy 9 mill per just because u have cap space