Latest 2024 NFL Free Agency News Recap | Cover 1 Buffalo Podcast | C1 BUF

Join Aaron Quinn and Greg Tompsett for an exciting new episode of the Cover 1 Buffalo podcast as they delve into the latest developments in the 2024 NFL free agency frenzy. In this episode, Aaron and Greg provide comprehensive coverage and analysis of the key signings and contract extensions reshaping the Buffalo Bills’ roster.

Tune in as the hosts discuss the Bills’ acquisitions of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs safety Mike Edwards, and former Washington Commanders defensive end Casey Toohill. Get expert commentary on how these additions could impact the Bills’ defense and enhance their competitiveness in the upcoming season.

But that’s not all! Aaron and Greg also delve into the significant contract extension for Bills All-Pro Cornerback Taron Johnson, making him the highest-paid nickel cornerback in the NFL. Explore the implications of this landmark deal and its significance for the Bills’ secondary unit.

Don’t miss out on this episode filled with engaging discussions, strategic analysis, and the latest updates from the 2024 NFL free agency period. Whether you’re a passionate Bills fan or an NFL enthusiast, this episode offers valuable insights into the team’s offseason moves and their potential impact on the upcoming season.

Subscribe now to the Cover 1 Buffalo podcast for weekly episodes packed with compelling content, in-depth analysis, and passionate debates about your favorite NFL team.

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0:00 Show Start
2:53 Taron Johnson gets record-setting deal from Buffalo Bills
16:08 Defensive end Casey Toohill signs with the Bills
24:02 Safety Mike Edwards signs with the Bills
34:08 Buffalo Bills depth chart review
41:27 Bills salary cap update
47:57 Pivoting to NFL Draft season / Happy birthday to Sean McDermott

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Tonight on the fastest cover one Buffalo podcast in the history of our show we will talk about all the moves that have happened here in the past week the Taran Johnson ex session Casey two Hill Mike Edwards and more but first our guys Handsome Jack broadcasting live to bills Mafia

Worldwide with GRE topset and Aaron Quinn welcome to the NFL doesn’t matter what’s happened before today today’s a brand new day it’s a brand new season your number one podcast for objective Buffalo Bills coverage no matter where you are we got you [Applause] covered good evening and welcome to the cover

One Buffalo podcast you are joining your host Greg thsa along with my partner in crime Aaron Quinn Aaron I I cheated this week I watched you guys deal with snow from afar and as my flight landed back tonight the snow was gone and I’d never had to experience

It I honestly hate you so much I was texting you all week um here here while we were dealing with that this sucks March is the dumbest uh I know March Madness is going on and March Madness is cool I’m not taking it away from that

But March is the absolute worst of the months because they tease you a little bit we had those 70 degree days I would gladly trade those 70 degree days back for this weather we got and get those here coming up later it’s terrible we’re supposed to here in Western New York

There’s a possibility of another five inches tomorrow I don’t know if you guys are getting that in Ohio um it’s miserable and I’ve got two kids and it’s hard to get him out of the house when it’s like it’s muddy outside and just like 30 degrees and snowing half the

Time and just windy and cold half the time I it couldn’t be worse if it’s GNA be this cold and this weather’s gonna be this bad we could at least have the Buffalo Bills and we don’t even have that so it’s just it just feels terrible

Man yeah yeah it was it was rough I I was out at work conference I I was in San Diego and it was what San Diego is who was lovely out there 70 and sunny every day um but yeah it just miserable come back to muddy nasty gross stuff and

Uh everything going along with that the I was kind of hoping that maybe a couple more fun things would happen um the Buffalo girl ban and the banana stand soon here yeah um yeah what talk about that there’s we definitely have not like extinguished every dollar but we didn’t

Have a lot to begin with they added two players at positions that uh the team here at cover one all did profiles on and projected one specifically that I know you were clamoring for right from the beginning so we we had a decent run there but I think we should start with

The most impactful news of the past week and that was the Taran Johnson extension and you know obviously I love Taran Johnson and have been very you know uh excited about his play but I don’t know that anyone has championed the Taran Johnson fan club as much as you have my

Friends so you know just tell people what it was like when you saw that news you know we can’t pretend there was a lot of surprise here I think there was certainly some expectation but to see that not only is he back it’s a it’s not

A Band-Aid deal this is a new an additional three years and the coolest part for him he’s the highest paid Nickel in the NFL and the highest paid nickel cornerback in NFL history that is a really really cool designation for him to earn after you know he was an all pro

So this is certainly fully deserved this is not some aspirational you know goal contract that the bills gave him here he earned this money just tell the people what it was like to see a player the you been Champion like that be rewarded in the way he was yeah taran’s a super

Interesting one for me here um so when the bills drafted him all the this is gonna happen to us again this year but all the mock work all the stuff I did he did not pop up on my Raider and so when we drafted him I started looking into

Him looking at the mock drafta bles and looking at his measurements and stuff and I remember going to Eric I’m like God this guy’s got short arms he’s from a small school like what are we doing what is going on here what is this and

Then I really I fell in love with him immediately in the style of played his only highlight was getting pegged in the wrong side of the head because he was looking the wrong way in The Gauntlet drill like he’s the famous boink off the back of the head guy combine and at the

Senior Bowl it was Josh Allen just throwing Like Dimes over him in one-on-one coverage and stuff like that which whatever like that that’s tough um and so I was a little suspect but then as we saw that style of play and the way he pulls that trigger and the way he’s

Not scared to play and he plays bigger than his size and I just fell in love with that and I’ve been champing a long time that you know really recently with your Kenny Moors your Taran Johnson’s your um some of these players Mike Hilton like some of these guys that are

Playing yeah playing in the the slot have really revolutionized the game right and and that more teams are playing nickel you’re able to combat some of what offenses had been doing for years where Greg you and I it’s not that long ago where slot was the third best

Corner would just be a slot and that that would just be the the whoever was the third worst on the team or third best on the team however you want to put it whoever your smallest Corner yeah smallest Corners would be there and it’s become a specialty position and taran’s

A big part of that in the NFL but it also wasn’t that long ago like I’m glad you brought up me Champion again because it’s easy to like Taran Johnson now and he’s a fan favor and it’s easy to show like he’s been really good and been a

Big part of this defense but it wasn’t that long ago where he was benched and the play wasn’t to the level that it is now and his response to being benched and coming back and never even letting go of that seat and playing at an all pro level it really shows everything

That Brandon bean and sha mcder want which is draft and develop and turn these guys into All Pro Caliber players and this is the feeling I have when we’re talking about the safety position like I I trust in bean and babit and this organ and mcder this organization

To to get the most out of these players at positions in the defensive back field and Taran Johnson’s probably the best example of what they’ve been able to do with somebody getting a later round draft pick an undersized guy and turning them into a guy that’s really not only

Revolutionized their defense and making them a primarily nickel defense and that’s been talked about for years uh of teams trying to get them out of it but because he’s so good that they really won’t get out of it in a lot of situations um and he’s now become an all

Pro level player and they’ve rewarded him for that so I love it for him I love that guys like that have now made that a position in the All Pro I think getting that type of recognition at what it takes to play I we talk a lot about

Boundary corners and stuff and that is super hard to play on the boundary but all the space that Nicholls play with and then you talk about how offensive coordinators get some of their best receivers into the slot now and them off ball you can’t touch them then you also

Have run game responsibilities you’re passing off stuff to the linebacker safeties and Corners around you there’s probably no position that has as much on their plate as slot nickl Corner does and so I’m glad it’s getting the recognition that it deserves and for him to be the highest paid of those guys at

Least for right now is just awesome for him so I’m super happy for Taran there yeah it’s something where you hear guys talk all the time you don’t have that sideline as your cushion as your buddy out there you they can go either way when you’re in the slot and having that

Makes a huge world of difference and it’s really funny there’s some similarities in the Calo Shakir uh kind of Arc as there was you know now seeing the early stages of Taran Johnson where I was a huge fan of both guys as a rookie and then some

Of the struggles that happened I let myself kind of fall off and be like God we just benched him for some Schmucks here that like like I I just can we worry about this I mean I I had the whole thing where I was teasing about him being our third best linebacker and

That well at least he’s good in run defense because it can’t cover anybody and you know like a lot of that was tongue and cheek like I was just kind of teasing half as much because you liked him so much but there was there was still something there to make fun of and

To see him not only bounce back from that benching and from those concerns but to become you know legitimately one of our best defensive players and a an All Pro Caliber player and now to be the highest paid nickel corn Cor in NFL history that’s just a really really cool

Um moment to to have and I I think it’s awesome for him and an awesome story for the bills you know a day three pick developmental like we just talked through like had their had his lumps and earned it back that is the kind of stuff that sea McDermot you know can’t

Possibly have enough of in that locker room to tell that story that a guy who was a day three pick got benched early worked his way back worked his butt off to become the highest paid player at his position in NFL history that you can’t bottle that stuff for McDermot to to be

Able to tell that story so yeah and I love that you did the CLE compar CLE Shakir comparison because that was last year I was pounding the table right early in the season for saying like I think khil Shakir really figured it out and the blocking is where it showed up

First and I was like if he keeps doing that and showing that willingness you’re not going to be able to keep him off the field with this team and then he just continued to develop and that’s what I was saying all year last year like I think he’s my off ensive Taran Johnson

Like he’s making that same type of progression and so I love the those two very much uh have a lot of similarities and how they’re approaching the game and I think sha mcder loves both of them just the same way so uh specifics of that deal we’re still in a weird window

Here they actually haven’t like submitted the paperwork to the NFA so it was reported as a three-year uh $31 million deal uh you know obviously uh people were like crediting me with projecting it right it was not hard to do it was not hard to do because they

Said it already the week before right I I was joking tongue and cheek but this is the way that it works the moment that Kenny Moore got paid three years 30 million as the highest paid uh nickel corner in NFL history that is the framework like that is the number so

Immediately Brandy Bean’s gonna call him up and be like hey Teran can do that we’d love to make you the highest paid nickel corner in NFL history how about we give you 30.3 million uh so the fact that it was 33 years and 31 million that

Of course it’s what it was going to be that’s exactly what it was going to be um I there were smart people that were projecting he was going to get 112 and a half million a year so getting it for 10.1 million is a win for Brandon Bean

To be completely honest like that’s a win that it only cost us $10 million for the best nickel Corner in the NFL and it’s one of those spots where I kind of think this is the same as tight end and right tackle where tight end compared to wide receiver and right tackles compared

To left tackles everyone has kind of come around that does it really matter that you know Travis Kelce is the tight end in that offense or that Sam Loro was the tight end in that Detroit offense or that you know just so many times where

Mark Andrews is the tight end in uh the Baltimore offense but that they get paid like 60% of what the wide receivers get paid and that you know Lane Johnson is a right tackle or pen suul is a right tackle but they get paid legitimately like 80% of what left

Tackles make and for some reason nickel corner is still in that range where it’s ridiculous that like xaven Howard is a $20 million corner but Kenny Moore and Taran Johnson are $10 million corners and that is like still l as the highest paid in NFL history it it’s super weird

And I I think it’s a matter of time before nickel and tight end specifically those two right tackle is catching up right tackle used to be 60 70% it’s getting up to 80 90% And I think Penny Su might be one of the guys that really

Takes it all the way up there but I think that tight end and nickel Corner are coming to be able to do that and it’s just weird that it shouldn’t be like good for Taran but it’s really nice that the player that we have the best

Player in the NFL or one of whatever you want to you know he’s the top three nickel Corner in the NFL it’s really nice that it’s also one of the most underpaid positions in the NFL it’s yeah it’s crazy well and the other thing that’s crazy is like I feel like guys

That excel at a high end on the boundary don’t always do it aren’t able to do it for a long period of time necessarily and so you end up paying them that money and it seems like most of those guys fall off once you start to pay them that

Big check um but it almost is as a you know as we ramp into draft season here good GMS should probably prioritize hitting on those positions that are still not going to get top market like you because if you have a good right tackle here’s the thing I didn’t never

Understood about the right tackle left tackle thing was back in the day it made more sense because your primary pass rusher would rush from the left side but now they’re moving these guys around and most teams have two like look at the dam it we ran last year where it was like

Okay well Dion Dawkins is dealing with this guy over here but Spencer Brown has to deal with this guy over here and so like the value shouldn’t be what it actually is when you look at the cap numbers yeah so uh the final piece of it

Is as I mentioned just a moment ago they haven’t submitted the paperwork so we don’t know exactly what the cap hit is going to be the maximum benefit that we can get is 4.7 million in change in cap savings I’m projecting that it’s going to be closer to like four million

Because they probably gave him a little bit of new money now there’s a chance that they only guaranteed all three years and 30.3 not all of it but they guaranteed the first and second year and that there’s a guaranteed option bonus next spring and they basically agreed to

What his signing bonus would be and he’ll get it next year I I expect that they also gave him a little bit of money early on and that he got some of that new money now and that’s why you know even if you do it with a couple void

Years and just gave him like five million of that money I’m count or say four million of that money that’s like the 800,000 that I’m counting of why it’s probably going to be four million in cap space not the 4.78 million because they probably gave him a little

Bit of new money on top of converting his existing salary into a bonus so he’s gonna get a nice check today it probably is going to be it was I think his salary was set to be 6.45 million so they’ll knock that down to the 1.2 million uh

Minimum he’ll get that check for 5 million plus probably another four million-ish so he’s probably going to get a check for like $10 million $ n10 million and then that’ll set him up for this year and next year um and that they’ll probably make it that next

Year’s cap hit is pretty manageable too uh and then he’ll get the bigger chunk of the cap hits in 2026 and 2027 which honestly is still fully fine because you’re talking about Taran Johnson’s age 28 29 30 Seasons like those are years that are going to be perfectly fine from

A an athletic standpoint yeah he might be a safety by then who knows you never know you never know we’ve SE there was the transition Mah Hyde made we we’ll see where that goes um so the couple other moves that happened this week obviously we knew there were some

Different ones here one that was um not not as exciting uh but it’s probably more of a maybe a sha law in upgrade I think is probably the the nicest put it yeah um is Casey twohill signed from Washington uh again the if anybody wants examples you know the guys

Here at cover one we are not you know homers in the sense that we go out there and try to tell everybody that the bills are going to sign you know the the Jaguars Josh Allen or Brian Burns or different stuff like that we we have a

Pretty good feel for the type uh Eric does a lot of really good research some of our producers guys like um Chris Seth Dave Tilton helped do a lot of statistical research on the archetypes of players the type of players I help re things in from a

Contract standpoint to be like yeah that you know Xavier mckin was a good example where the guys were kind of excited about him like no no no no no he’s gonna get 15 16 17 million do don’t even waste your time on him and he did he got

17.75 um so like I help Reign it in that direction and then we go to work on the list and Casey to hill was a guy that just checked a lot of the boxes you know was a absolute I don’t know if it was you or somebody floating around called

Him like a just the new Trent Murphy like he’s that hustle kind of guy that is getting effort sacks he um is a guy that isn’t the biggest guy but still does a decent job fitting and run fits in defense every no matter who you listen to Eric Turner Joe Marino anybody

You listen to Raves about his effort and his motor and constantly chasing things down he’s not some amazing you know crazy uh you know rusher that’s going to come in and have a bajillion sacks but he did have five sacks last year that’s a nice season um I I think that he can

Rotate I think he is a slight upgrade on Sha Lawson it probably getting the Sha Lawson when he was 27 like that that’s the kind of player that we’re getting here uh versus the Sha Lawson we’ve seen the last year or two and I think that

Casey2 Hill is probably sneaky fine as a fourth defensive end he’s the kind of guy you want as a hustle guy chasing opposite of Gregory rouso who’s collapsing the pocket or stepping in behind AJ Essa or Von Miller like he can soak up snaps he can play a decent chunk

Of snaps he had to when Washington traded away both Chase young and Montes sweat he got a chance to get in there and that’s where those five sacks came from is he got the chance to play he did a good job we haven’t seen his contract

Yet I I’m expecting it I think you’re going to see more this year we’ll do that $ 1.79 million thing a little bit but Brandon Bean’s very clearly trying to stay like in that 2.5 to 2.7 range because he knows it’s going to be just under the comp pick formula I expect

That to be two Hills contract details when it comes out is it’s going to be 2.5 million with a chance that he could earn up to four if he hit sack incentives that kind of thing um so I I think this is a nice signing it’s not the most exciting thing that’s ever

Happened it’s not something we should go raving about he’s going to be our fourth guy but he probably is better than a Kings leg Jonathan or a Cameron Klein he probably is better now than what sha Lawson now is uh you know Shaq at his Peak was probably as good or better but

This is a guy who’s better now for what we need in that fourth defensive end spot and I think uh Brandon bean I don’t know if he said it as much recently but he often has talked about um buying in on ascending players versus descending players and I think the battle for that

Linebacker spot if it was between Shaq and a guy like two Hill you’re dealing with an ascending player versus a descending player in sha lawon there nothing against Shaq Shaq’s a really good run Defender I think that he’s reliable player like I wouldn’t have been mad if they brought Shaq back but

What get lock room guy yeah what gets me excited about t Hill here is you talked about yes he is a little bit undersized but in terms of athleticism he’s much more athletic than Shaq is right now when he came out of college if you go

Look at his Ras card the size isn’t there but he’s Elite in every other category and it’s in the top of the section in every other category I think that’s what they’re looking for in that position a little bit is to get a little more leite and then you add in the motor

To that type of athleticism and I think that’s going to be something that sha McDermot has a tough time keeping off the field if he can show that type of motor and work he’s gonna have a tough time keeping him off the field and so this is a nice depth piece that’s going

To fill in and I I wasn’t the one that said the Trent Murphy thing I think uh our friend Bruce Nolan was the first that I saw okay um and I do see it but again but more athletic so he’s got that same work ethic that ability to get to

To keep that motor going but he provides you that ability to maybe move a little bit faster a little bit quicker and provide you a little more of that so in I will also bring up he’s not going to bring in the expectation of the contract Trent correct because I used to always

Joke that why does everybody love the idea of I think it was Eli an no no um um um darn it who’s the defensive end that had the name like that uh um yo it’s gonna make me crazy I’m trying I don’t know who you’re talking about

Right now with a e it was right around that same time as TR yes fa OB fa Oba everybody loved fa Oba and everybody hated Trent Murphy and they were the exact same player yeah but everybody hated Trent Murphy because he was getting like seven eight n million doar

A year and F obata was like a minimum contract and like they’re the same player you’re just mad because your expectations were here and here right because of the contract people are going to love Casey twohill because it’s gonna be a two million dollar player like he’s

Going to be super cheap and he is going to have some cool hustle sacks he is GNA have like some fun chase down plays from behind because it’s what he does yeah um you want to know what he’s also gonna get mauled by a right tackle every once

In a while and because he’s 254 pounds and that’s what happens like he’s he’s not some guy that we want playing 70% of snaps but he’s the kind of guy that when we want somebody to come in for his 30 35% of snaps I want a guy with some

Elite athletic ISM who plays like his Harris on fire that’s what I want that’s the kind of guy that I want that spot um and he’s going to come in and be athletic with super high energy and scramble around to be able to do those things so uh I I’m I’m looking forward

To it I I think it’s a it’s a very nice value signing we should not have high expectations if uh I think somebody might have been spin in here that said it in the chat um if he gets another five sack season it’s an incredibly successful that’s a huge if we bought

Five sacks for $2 million in change again we haven’t seen the contract yet but I’m pretty confident that’s what we’re talking about here uh that’s a huge win and that’s a great contract so that’s the kind of thing we should be looking at he should be contributing um

I do think that we’re seeing a bit more of some of the guys playing a higher snap count rate we saw ad Oliver get up there last year dayquon Jones started playing more last year Greg rouso started play more last year I think AJ

Essa can have an uptick there I do and I think Von Miller is getting back closer to what we saw towards the end of the year so I think he’s going to get back closer to his um slightly higher uh snap count so those different things are

Going to be there I think that it’s going to be uh a nice cheap depth pickup that fans will like yeah and then this is Classic Bean of just like filling out those spots before you enter the draft right like and it doesn’t have to be expensive it doesn’t have to be fancy

Just has to be an arch type that traic der’s going to like and that’s exactly what he did here exact same um so one that is much more slated as a starter is one that you know credit to you we we’ve had a list of potential uh safety

Additions that we could make here there were you know this was one where we thought maybe we would Splurge a little bit more there were some guys brought in for visits they did not reach you know contract terms with some of those guys I do think that they kick the can uh kick

The tires or whatever you want to call it kick the tires on some of the uh maybe bit more expensive players and just didn’t reach the deals that they had and one of the guys that we saw as a potential value signing who has had some starting opportunities but been a

Rotational player that played a lot of snaps at these last two spots has started in two Super Bowls that his team won uh including last year with the Kansas City Chiefs where he started for the Chiefs in the Super Bowl uh Mike Edwards a guy that you were a fan of uh

In the college scouting uh season that he was coming out in the draft and have been interested in uh a couple years in a row here as a free agent uh so a guy that I was perfectly happy with he wasn’t my target that I had out there

But I I did the work up on him uh and projected the contract we’ve got him for one year $2.8 million with some incentives makes go up to four very similar to the Taylor RP number where hey if a rookie beat you guys out God bless you that happens but if you guys

Start and play and play a little bit more you earn a little bit more money really really nice spot a guy who’s not amazing but has range can come up and Tackle has I think three interceptions in in the playoffs so he makes plays on

The ball as he’s doing those things is a guy that will be a nice raise the floor starter is not GNA be a superstar but it’s gonna be a good player and can come in and do that uh so tell the people why you were excited by him yeah so in h the

Year he was coming out on the draft both Eric and I started falling in love with his style of play he just screams a Shawn mcdermit style bills defensive back um and I really wanted him in that draft because I was kind of looking ahead of yeah we got poer and hide but

What happens if one of them starts to get hurt or what happens when we hit that age or are we going to be able to maintain the both of them going forward and we were able to do that a little bit longer than I think than I projected

That we would be able to and so that was great and I love those guys but I thought he could come in be a rookie sit behind those guys learn behind those guys and get into the the fold and become a starter eventually and then when he hit free agency the last time

Again he was right there back on my list because I think he just fits exactly what the bills defense wants uh out of a safety and if when we look back we had that conversation again I forget who it was with I think Taylor de George maybe had been and great listener great

Follower um and it wasn’t anything against him but people were saying you know you miss on a lot of these guys and my thing has always been sha mcder has gotten more out of defensive backs uh than any position when you look at undrafted free agent Levi Wallace I know

A lot of fans didn’t like him but he got him to become a starting quarterback to at one of the top pass defenses in the NFL we just talked about what he did with Taran Johnson we’ve talked about D Jackson is a seventh Christian is a

Sixth Teran Johnson is a day three pick Mah Hyde and Jordan puer are also great examples Jordan puer hadn’t played until he nobody knew anything about him when he entered this team and michah Hyde m m Hyde was really similar to Mike Edwards Mah Hyde was a guy who wasn’t a starter

For Green Bay but played snaps people liked him but he hadn’t really gone out there and started all that much and so I do think I I think you’re right I think he raises the floor of where they were at losing puyer and Hyde so I think that

You have at least raised the floor of that starting position but I think he hasn’t played his best football yet and I this defense I believe is going to give him the opportunity to play his best football in college and so far he’s a gamer he he just plays the game the

Right way he’s always around the football he probably should have a lot more interceptions than he does he’s had his hands on a lot of balls he can get in there make plays had 11 interceptions and three more in the playoffs 14 is nothing it’s not nothing and and he

There’s more meat on the bone for him he doesn’t mind coming up and getting nasty in the Run game he can do exactly what the Micah High Jordan puer thing where he can come up and play in the Box he can play free safety he’s got some athleticism it doesn’t look he doesn’t

Look as athletic as he actually is uh when you just like watch him for a second but he actually has good range stuff like that and the one thing I don’t think people have done with him enough that showed up a lot in college is he’s a much better Blitzer than I

Think that he’s been utilized as and we saw both both safeties have been used in this defense in that blitzing packages and getting them going after the quarterbacks I think the bills are going to use them in that sense this is a real good one for me this hits that

Goldilocks uh free agent type guy for me and that’s why he’s continued to be on my wish list is he’s undervalued around the league but I think that his tape and his body of work shows that he’s a good value for the bills and fits exactly

What they want I think he’s going to buy right into what they’re doing here and I I think fans are going to fall in love with his style of game and I what I don’t want fans to do he’s wearing the number 21 we have a lot of emotional

Ties to the recent safety Duo that was there what I hope do he’s not gonna be michah Hyde or Jordan puyer especially not right away and so I’m not I I’m very excited about this player I think he’s gonna be good I don’t want to get people

Too excited that he’s gonna come in and finally just make you forget all about those guys but don’t hold it against him that those guys were so good but because I do think we’re still going to get good fun safety play out of them but the

Bills are probably going to need to get a little more out of the defensive line to make this safety combo of a rap and a Mike Edwards look as good as maybe we have seen in the past yeah and I I’m again he he wasn’t my top choice because

I I think he’s fine I think this is a nice player I think he is a starting caliber player so I think some people were maybe a little bit too down on this and that oh he’s a backup like he’s played a lot of snaps everywhere he’s

Been he consistently gets on the field if anything that you talked about the blitzing sometimes I think he gets a little too aggressive you see him um he doesn’t always have the best um M his has a high Miss tackle rate uh each year so that’s something that will be a

Concern welcome to the club in Buffalo we yeah he’s gonna fit right in in our locker room missing tackles that’s certainly something we’re if you can disrupt that’s gonna be good enough for the bills right correct um and that’s I think if you’re gonna take Salas and

Some of those numbers is that he is around the ball all the time and that is you know we talked about the same thing with like a Terrell Bernard in that it’s something that it’s hard to put a number on it’s hard to put a grade on it’s hard

To put a statistical analysis too and that that’s a tough spot to be in so um here I know you know like gorei is asking so do we have the money to go after a Justin Simmons or Julian Blackman the answer to that is yes we do

We could I don’t expect that to happen um we now have uh Mike Edwards Taylor rap cam Lewis Demar Hamlin all under contract at safety and I expect a draft pick at safety so I don’t expect them to sign a fifth veteran safety yeah um now maybe

If someone’s still available and we end up somehow not taking one in the draft uh I maybe if like nobody bites on Simmons and he just wants to come in for he wants to do a one-year deal to come back uh this is a great one Anthony

Pello here saying uh mcder is to DB is what Mike Shanahan was to running back yes yeah honestly yes that that and again that doesn’t mean Superstars that you know Oris Gary had a nice season running there Mike Anderson had a nice season they weren’t Superstars but they

Were good they could produce that’s what the bills defense does that’s what sha mcder and that defense does is that we get good defensive back play even from Modest Investments at the position when you see again undrafted free agent seventh round pick sixth round pick fourth round pick are wear those uh you

Know lowend value free agent signings who turn into all Pros that is what we’re talking about here is that um I think the floor for Edwards is going to be good I think there’s going to be a good solid starter I don’t know that there’s a ton of upside that he’s going

To become some Superstar but I think he’s going to play well obviously nobody thought Jordan puyer was going to become an all proo nobody thought Micah Hyde was going to become what he became uh some people liked him and thought he was a good player but I don’t think anybody

Saw that end of it so I’m not gonna say never of course Mike Edwards could turn into more he hasn’t had a chance to come in and be a solidified starter right from the beginning anywhere of where he’s been so there’s a chance that that

Could work out that way I think at a minimum what this does and you’ve now seen this across multiple positions we signed both Curtis Samuel and Ma Hollands we brought back dayquon Jones we now added brought back AJ Essa and signed Casey T Hill um we’ve now at

Brought back Taylor R and signed Mike Edwards we have now plugged almost all of the holes where of course I I do think defensive tackle is still one where we need another signing where that hasn’t quite happened yet and that we need um another signing to be able to

Get really what we need and then also one more draft pick but that’s really the only one where it’s obvious yeah that we still need one uh of course I still want a wide receiver in the draft I still want uh maybe a corner a nickel that can be teran’s backup like there’s

Still lots of places we want Improvement but we don’t have the gaping hole that we had previously at some of these spots where oh my God if we don’t do if we don’t come away with a day one starter at this position we have a huge huge

Issue and heck even those last year we all saw that at linebacker and T end up being a revelation so yeah here I sent you a a tweet from Eric that Eric made if you can pull that I’m not technologically Sav enough to pull that

Up for the people to look at to just show I mean when Eric first made this graphic I wish I had a before and after of going into free agency versus where we are at now um I don’t know if we can make that bigger for the folks but there

We go um just showing the look of the depth chart when we were going into free agency this thing was full of red right you had all no defensive tackles except for at Oliver you had no safeties except for Demar Hamlin going into this and the

Way that he’s been able to fill this in and get it ready for the draft is just such a classic Brandon Bean example of even up against the cap and this team kind of uh going into free agency not sure that they were going to be able to

Fi there was people saying like we’re going to need to use every single pick we have and hope to land starting caliber players now I’m rolling into the draft thinking like all right well we’ll probably talk about it here we probably got to get another body at defensive

Tackle before we get in there but I know everybody wants wide receiver or Bust or whatever we can’t have to walk the wide receiver but really the doors open for everything and for the board to fall your way and that’s exactly the spot that Brandon Bean and the front office

Want to be in right now yeah if the best player on the board is a defense fend it’s okay if it’s a defensive tackle it’s okay Heck if it’s that Jackson Powers Johnson like if it ends up being a guy that’s you know a guard Center

Kind of guy that could make sense of course if it is a wide receiver that’s great that’s wonderful I would love to have that but it’s now opened it up where we don’t have to be this position or bust we can have there of course I

Want the first four draft picks to be you know a wide receiver a d tackle a DN a safety like I want them to be those positions but I don’t need anyone like I don’t need it to be first round wide receiver yes yeah the order doesn’t have

To be married to that exact same spot so um again I think if you’re asking me I I think we still see some additional signings here um the in interior defensive line is absolutely the spot where we still have a a CH yeah we only have ad Oliver and dayon Jones like we

Still need there we obviously saw um you can’t hate on Eli Anu like that though right there’s gonna be some stands that come at you for that somebody’s gonna come yell at me Austin Johnson was in we Sebastian Joseph day I really you know I didn’t I haven’t seen what Tennessee

Ended up giving him so so I don’t know what money we had he Pro again I think they’re offering everybody that hey here’s 2 and A5 million in some incentives where you could earn more um I’m looking right now we haven’t seen his contract updated yet for what

Tennessee gave him but you know uh Austin Johnson makes a ton of sense you saw dayquon Jones talking to Austin Johnson he is a good solid backup One tech like a improvement over Eli Ana I still think then that would let us draft ated Oliver’s backup in the draft to be

The rotational three that’s nice because then you get a rookie contract mixed in there um the same thing if if you know if one of these veteran free agent uh pass rushers that stay out there late into the the summer every year if that happens to come out again okay that’s

Fine I I’ll bring in a veteran pass rusher guy later on if we don’t find one in the draft and we want somebody else there but right now we have four guys and we have Kingsley Jonathan as a fifth guy like that’s reasonable y um everybody wants an outsid receiver I

Want that too but right now that graphic we showed if you’re trotting out a week one offense where it’s Josh Allen with James Cook Dalton cancade Stefan Diggs kalalo Shakir and Curtis Samuel that’s a modern NFL offense that’s a good offense we’re already in good shape and

Hopefully we have a dynamic you know explosive outside receiver that’s there pushing for for snaps in that hopefully a couple I think you can get a walk away with the amount of picks you have you can get a couple of those guys here in the draft so yeah it’s it’s it just

Opened up everything that’s there so I you know if we go and sign one of the running backs is still available that’s fine I I won’t be upset with that but we could probably draft one if we go sign another linebacker we could probably have another guy fight for linebacker

But we could probably draft one if we sign one of the backup nickel guys that’s that’s floating out there I know uh Eric was uh kind of standing for tavier Thomas like yeah sure that’d be great or we could draft one like we just are in a lot of spots now where besides

Defense tackle I don’t know that we have to go out there for anyone and if anything is a spot maybe interior offensive line honestly if there’s a guard still floating out there maybe that’s what I’m going to look at is what guards are still available in free

Agency do we have a guy that is still out there that we could add but that’s where i’ love to attack in the draft and get some youth in there and develop and I think you got enough to get through a year but develop some youth in there uh

Along the way um I one I want to self-correct it’s elely Anu I said Eli yeah I don’t want the his stands coming at me for that one so I apologize for that one thing I would love to see is I I would love Austin Johnson to just sign

I know he was on a visit and maybe that’s still I don’t know if he went on to visit anywhere else today but I won’t lie on my longer flight today I didn’t buy the internet and I told myself I was watching like a show I downloaded I’m

Like I’m gonna land I’m going to turn my phone on and I’m G to see that Austin Johnson signed and we’ll have that for the show tonight I know well I yesterday I tweeted out it was a great day to sign either Blackman or Edwards and then

Edwards signed and I was like well I’ll try this again and I did it’s a great day to sign Johnson it didn’t happen so I’m going to stop doing that but one I would really love and I know Eric has told me to pump my own breaks on this

It’s not happening but tier tart has been since the start of free agency was one that I was just I think it’s a good fit I think it’s exactly what we need uh for that spot and but he I thought he would get a little bit on the higher end

Of the defensive tackle Market but it’s that we talk about that game of musical chairs all the time I know he wants to be a starter Eric’s talked about him he wants to go somewhere to start he is not going to have that opportunity here to

Be a starter but he’s going to have the opportunity to be on a team that’s going to go deep into the playoffs and make a run those two guy with dayquan and tar only having to play 50% of snaps each oh my God that’d be so nice every day that

Goes by that dream grows a little inside me because there’s a game of musical chairs that he’s missing out on at some point he’s going to have to make a decision of maybe I take a little less for one year and go on a team that’s got

A run and I maybe I don’t have to play as much because dwan there and I can just play really good and less snaps and really earn my value back up on a team that’s going to be on prime time and that’s going to be in playoff games and

I don’t know every day that goes by that’s get a little bit more true for me so hopefully he signs somewhere else so I can just get over it but that would be my dream right now is to get him in of the guys that are there tier tart would

Be you know there kind of like the not it’s not a Justin Simmons level but it’s probably more the like I wanted quandre Diggs was the one that I wanted out of that safety group um and it’s like we well we probably won’t be able to get

Him but hey he’s already kind of lost the musical chairs maybe we can still get him at that level uh one other name to throw out there is uh Rakim Nunes roaches is a guy that I did some research on before as well uh he is

Another one of those guys who can be the big stout one Tech uh backup guy and if we don’t hit on Austin Johnson he’s a guy I could see as a fallback option that would still be worthwhile so we’ll see where it goes but like every year

Brandon Bean comes in gets some value signings is able to get some things cleaned up and puts us into a decent spot um I actually think the bills are in pretty good shape right now honestly yeah uh so most of the websites are going to show you that there’s 7.4

Million in cap space um there’s a couple moving Parts there because on the positive side Taran Johnson’s not included so let’s assume that’s four million uh and even four million in change let’s see it’s the maybe 4.3 or 4.4 or whatever it is that would put us

At 12 million in cap space I think that each of the Mike Edwards and Casey two Hill deals are probably 2 million in change so that’s going to count about a million and a half each above the minimum contracts are already there so that’s three million of that that brings

Us back down um already to say n million Tai Johnson’s probably real close to the minimum so but maybe it’s a little you know a little bit of money above um so we’re probably like eight and a half million dos in cap space with the moves we know of right now that doesn’t

Include anything for Trey white that doesn’t include an an ad Oliver restructure which we could still do that doesn’t include a Matt Milano restructure that we could still do those are dollars that are sitting out there and available to us so Brandon Bean really could spend all of that money I

Did an explainer today on Twitter about we don’t really need that money that much money for the draft class because the right now with those three contracts you’re talking about Mike Edwards Tai Johnson and Casey twohill our cheapest our 51st contract is 985 th000 that’s

Already as much as every we get that Tre white money um without the Trey white without the Trey white money we only need 1.8 million in cap space because our first round pick counts is 2.4 million so that’s like 1.4 above the minimum and our second round pick is

Like 1.3 million so that’s like 200,000 above so those two together it’s like 1.6 1.8 million that we need everybody else you’re just swapping out another minimum guy who’s already there that was already counting for us so yeah all those different things we we could spend another six seven million doll in cap

Space and then get Trey White’s money which is all we need for during the season so yeah I don’t expect some other big move but they have enough money to play around for a couple more a two million a two two and a half three million defensive tackle another one and

A half or2 million do running back uh another $2 million guard a you know maybe another linebacker to compete like we we can play around as a back Elliot or something yeah yeah that there’s different players like that floating around uh one guy that I like Dante

Foreman signed with the the Browns he was a guy that I would have gone after yeah um the other thing we don’t knowy to play with people get so panicked like especially even that first wave of free agency when not everyone’s signed and the team’s not done and all that stuff

But then there’s still Panic now of well you know now the the games of musical chairs are running up and the you go look on these lists of free agents that are available and it’s getting thin you still have so many opportunities to add talent to this roster you got the whole

Draft with where you have a ton of picks this year you have the undrafted free agency where they’ve done pretty good at undrafted free agency even though it’s getting harder to for those guys to get on the Bills roster but then you have this wave that’s going to come here this

Summer of all the teams that have added and are going to continue to add young Talent you’re going to get guys that get cut that are quality starters that are guys that are going to be chasing rings and stuff like that and so to have some of that leeway and money available in

Cap when we thought we were going to be up against it before this point is a huge Plus for Brandon Bean to know that hey we don’t even know the stockpile of people that are also going to be coming onto the market here over the spring and

Summer as they get released from teams because they’re getting their jobs are getting taken by rookies whether they’re teams that aren’t super competitive and looking to get their rosters in shape or whatever it is there’s going to be a whole another influx of talent and you

Got to be able to have some money available so that you can pounce on those moves when they come up and that’s where the bills are at now yeah uh so a couple of the guys on on Facebook here John and Shan were talking about Reggie Gilliam so I’ll give you although

Obviously no one at his tier of contract is guaranteed like a Quinton Morris is a guy that like sure you could upgrade him but those two guys people need to remember we just lost Saran Neil and Tyler mvic and Terell Dodson and a lot of guys who played a lot of

Special team snaps two of the guys that played the most special team snaps who were back on the team are Quinton Morris and Reggie Gilliam and those are guys that that’s a good third tight end that’s a good fullback and and fourth tight end and they play special teams so

That’s a guy that you’re never going to be upset is game day active because he can fill all those roles he can play on punt return and punt block and kick return and kickoff and a utility and play in short yardage and play as a

Fullback in a tight end so all of those things those are guys that just don’t there’s no value in replacing them and I also I don’t want them to go spend more money at fullback we don’t use a fullback often enough that in the 10 or

15 snaps we need him to play on offense he’s a perfectly good fullback we don’t need somebody to do more than that he is that h-back move tight end fullback special teams guy that’s what we want those guys to be um those are are good cheap filler positions that we need

There uh to be able to fill in those spots so those are guys that there’s not a lot of value in upgrading if we sign another linebacker who beats out Nicholas Morrow for that roster spot God bless him that’s if we sign if we draft if uh if Justin

Shter beats out ma Holland for that roster SP God bless him that’s great that’s fine nobody cares that’s not GNA hurt anything um some so that’s fine if we bring in someone to compete and push those guys but it’s not something that’s a priority for me and it’s not something

I want to spend money on doing not at all yep yeah all right so um yeah uh and this is my official pivot uh after the first two weeks of free agency I held off I have not done a single mock draft uh I am going to do one uh maybe this

Weekend I might even do a special one on the on the the YouTubes to have people watch me do my first mock draft is that on the sport show it might be the screen we might do that uh I think Sunday afternoon uh three o’clock right now is

Our Target we’re going to try to do a Greg Toms set Sports show my first mock draft of the offseason going to mess around and play around with that um we have had a really good time and another thing you know we’ve mentioned we’re doing a giveaway for our one pass

Signups anybody who signs up we’re giving away a PlayStation 5 we’re giving away at Josh Allen Jersey we’re giving away to Bill’s neon sign all kinds of cool stuff and the best part is people have actually taken us up on it we’ve had a really cool run of uh signups of

New one p pass members the slack channel has been awesome uh and and tons of new people in there a couple really smart new ladies join in the the chat there uh they have jumped in and been really cool addition to the discussion there which I

Love to see uh bringing in some new ideas into the chat and if you want to know a little bit more about that listen to these guys here many people ask us the best way to support us here at cover one and that is to sign up to become a

Cover one one pass member that contribution helps give us the access to all the data and information we use to create the content that you love and I think most importantly brings you into our community of insiders it’s a great Community Based on slack I know a lot of

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Awesome t-shirts a cool decal and a letter from the cover one team signed directly to you all for $60 that gets you the entire season next year’s free agency and draft 60 bucks click the link in the description cover one Insider become one today all right any final thoughts for

The people uh uh what if you are into mock drafts we have a Mock Draft channel in the slack Channel as well and that’s always fun you come share your mock drafts that you’re talk about there’s a lot of fun channels uh We’ve uh today we got lately the golf channel has been

Going up there’s general channels there’s television show channel so it’s not so there’s always something going on and there’s other interests and stuff so it really is has developed into its own community of Bills fans and it’s like-minded people so you don’t get the people on Twitter just in there to tell

You you’re an idiot or whatever name they want to throw out at you it’s a respectful area where we try to have respectful conversations so that’s good but my other last thought is uh Happy Birthday sha McDermot hey happy birthday coach I know that he’s probably the most

Polarizing coach of my lifetime but he’s also the winningest coach in terms of winning percentage in Buffalo Bills history and so shout out to sha mcdermit and thank you for every these last years have been damn fun and thank you for that Sean mcder yeah it’s fun to to have

Have winning football to care about uh that that is a fun new experience I I have not been used to that for most of my adult life so uh it hasn’t got quite where we need it to yet but it’s still been damn good and been a lot of

Entertainment for uh for our football live so um thank you to everybody in the chat you guys have been awesome uh thank you to our awesome producer Chris Kepner uh all the guys over at cover and everybody in the slack Channel we appreciate you guys uh anyone else who’s

Considering it I can’t recommend it enough when you sign up this takes you all the way through the draft all the season all the way through next year you’re good for a calendar year it takes you all the way along there give it a if you’re considering a way uh to be able

To learn more about it or you just want to find out ways to help us out and to be able to support all the research that we do um that’s where that money goes it buys us the access to research all the things that we do to put this work

Together for you um so it’s it’s something that we take a lot of pride in and couldn’t be more thankful for everybody who’s been uh jumping in to help us out so on behalf of Chris gner and Aaron Quinn I’m Greg Thomson you’ve been listening to cover one Buffalo and we are out