Buffalo Bills 2026 Thread

[chugg21]

How does it all work w restructure? Like how is money freed up?

So anyone that has a big base salary on the books for the year can do a simple restructure which just moves that base salary down as low as to the vet minimum which I think is $1.3m this year and the rest is converted into a signing bonus which the player then receives immediately and the team spreads that signing bonus over the next handful of years. Bills do it every year with Josh and their very best players that they plan on keeping around for a while. It becomes dangerous when they were doing it with guys like Dawson the last few years which resulted in his cap hit being $17m this year. Great way to immediately free up some space but at the end of the day that money is still coming due at some point in the future. Think we're just basically on the Saints plan with what they did with Brees which is just keep kicking the can down the road and keeping the window to win open for his career and then...dead.

 

[chugg21]

Hes better then Bosa as hes much better against the run and setting the edge. Chubb was also double teamed a ton last year on a bad defense, difficult to do vs Buffalo. He's also going to be 2 years removed from the acl tear. Money is actually reasonable compared to other DE signings but looms high compared to the cap space Buffalo has.

Believe with the Josh, DJ and Knox restructures combined with the cuts that it wasn't too big of a deal to fit him in. Great signing. Probably the best guy on the board at our #1 position of need combined with a good value on the contract. Would have led our team in sacks last year (Not saying much) while coming off a full missed season. Had the same amount of QB hits that Crosby did as well.

 

[JarHeadJim]

 

[JarHeadJim]

 

[JarHeadJim]

 

[JarHeadJim]

 

[JarHeadJim]

 

[JarHeadJim]

 

[JarHeadJim]

 

[JarHeadJim]

 

[JarHeadJim]

 

[JarHeadJim]

 

[JarHeadJim]

 

[JarHeadJim]

I think that the secondary has a chance to become one of the best in football. If Hairston, who seems to fit well in this defense, makes a “Bishop like leap” in year 2 they could be incredible. There is playmaking all over. It should be (or at least could be) a strength of this team.

It’s still quite thin but that’s okay at this point. We need to be focusing on the top of the roster before filling out the depth. That’s not always how the Bills have done it but that’s right. Hancock is a versatile reserve with upside. They could use an experienced boundary corner and S as depth. Then you can add a young guy or two in the draft depending on Strong’s recovery.

 

[JarHeadJim]

 

[JarHeadJim]

7 INT as a Raven in 2023

6 INT 2024-2025 as a Bengal

26 years old

 

[JarHeadJim]

The Bills are signing Safety Geno Stone to a 1-year deal. Don't have the terms, but estimations were in the $4M-$7M range. Covered him as an option on the pod. Solid player.

- 5-11, 210. RAS of 3.76 - not a dynamic athlete but he's instinctive
- Turns 27 in April
- 2020 7th round pick out of Iowa by the Ravens
- Developed into a starter for Baltimore. Had 7 picks his last season and signed a 2yr, $14M deal with the Bengals ahead of 2024 and started there for the last 2 seasons.
- 85 games, 53 starts, 14 INTS, 21 PBUs. 13 INTs over the last 3 seasons.
- Only missed 1 career game
(1/2)

(2/2)
Bills are suddenly loaded at safety. Stone is more of a free safety. Think we want to free up Bishop and CJGJ to align everywhere. Super interesting.

Stone is a sufficient level starter. Wasn't quite as good in Cincy over the last 2 seasons on a bad Bengals defense. Solid coverage player with good ball skills. Have a bunch of tape to watch this weekend. Plenty of thoughts to come.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

The Bills are signing Safety Geno Stone to a 1-year deal. Don't have the terms, but estimations were in the $4M-$7M range. Covered him as an option on the pod. Solid player.

- 5-11, 210. RAS of 3.76 - not a dynamic athlete but he's instinctive
- Turns 27 in April
- 2020 7th round pick out of Iowa by the Ravens
- Developed into a starter for Baltimore. Had 7 picks his last season and signed a 2yr, $14M deal with the Bengals ahead of 2024 and started there for the last 2 seasons.
- 85 games, 53 starts, 14 INTS, 21 PBUs. 13 INTs over the last 3 seasons.
- Only missed 1 career game
(1/2)

(2/2)
Bills are suddenly loaded at safety. Stone is more of a free safety. Think we want to free up Bishop and CJGJ to align everywhere. Super interesting.

Stone is a sufficient level starter. Wasn't quite as good in Cincy over the last 2 seasons on a bad Bengals defense. Solid coverage player with good ball skills. Have a bunch of tape to watch this weekend. Plenty of thoughts to come.

Anyone with the name Geno Stone gets an immediate approval from me

 

[syrBossHogg]

I think that the secondary has a chance to become one of the best in football. If Hairston, who seems to fit well in this defense, makes a “Bishop like leap” in year 2 they could be incredible. There is playmaking all over. It should be (or at least could be) a strength of this team.

It’s still quite thin but that’s okay at this point. We need to be focusing on the top of the roster before filling out the depth. That’s not always how the Bills have done it but that’s right. Hancock is a versatile reserve with upside. They could use an experienced boundary corner and S as depth. Then you can add a young guy or two in the draft depending on Strong’s recovery.

Hancock might be a sleeper in all of this. Yeah he struggled in the playoffs but it wasn't that long ago people were very down on Bishop and put together a very nice 2nd season

 

[Toga]

Hancock might be a sleeper in all of this. Yeah he struggled in the playoffs but it wasn't that long ago people were very down on Bishop and put together a very nice 2nd season

Has anybody heard anything re Strong post surgery?

 

[chugg21]

The Bills are signing Safety Geno Stone to a 1-year deal. Don't have the terms, but estimations were in the $4M-$7M range. Covered him as an option on the pod. Solid player.

- 5-11, 210. RAS of 3.76 - not a dynamic athlete but he's instinctive
- Turns 27 in April
- 2020 7th round pick out of Iowa by the Ravens
- Developed into a starter for Baltimore. Had 7 picks his last season and signed a 2yr, $14M deal with the Bengals ahead of 2024 and started there for the last 2 seasons.
- 85 games, 53 starts, 14 INTS, 21 PBUs. 13 INTs over the last 3 seasons.
- Only missed 1 career game
(1/2)

(2/2)
Bills are suddenly loaded at safety. Stone is more of a free safety. Think we want to free up Bishop and CJGJ to align everywhere. Super interesting.

Stone is a sufficient level starter. Wasn't quite as good in Cincy over the last 2 seasons on a bad Bengals defense. Solid coverage player with good ball skills. Have a bunch of tape to watch this weekend. Plenty of thoughts to come.

Think we have very different definitions of what loaded means. We've got one above average starter given Bishop's trajectory and then 2 guys that we took 1 year fliers on that weren't in heavy demand elsewhere. What we have now though is have taken a weakness and negated it in a way where we could have a starter go down and it's not going to create an immediate emergency like what happened in the Broncos playoff game and cost us dearly.

 

[syrBossHogg]

Has anybody heard anything re Strong post surgery?

Nope

 

[syrBossHogg]

Think we have very different definitions of what loaded means. We've got one above average starter given Bishop's trajectory and then 2 guys that we took 1 year fliers on that weren't in heavy demand elsewhere. What we have now though is have taken a weakness and negated it in a way where we could have a starter go down and it's not going to create an immediate emergency like what happened in the Broncos playoff game and cost us dearly.

I can still see them drafting a Safety and RS behind CJGJ for this season