Bills would have many options for fitting J.J. Watt under salary cap

[HipKat 32]

The salary cap should not be a big problem if the Buffalo Bills somehow were able to talk J.J. Watt into joining the AFC East champions.

 

The bigger challenge, of course, would be winning the recruiting battle for the star defensive end.

Watt, 31, was released by the Houston Texans on Friday. According to numerous media reports, a large group of teams is interested in the five-time, first-team All-Pro. Those reportedly include the Bills, Packers, Browns, Chiefs, Titans, Steelers, Colts, Niners and probably others. Watt is a native of Wisconsin, attended the University of Wisconsin and grew up rooting for the Packers. He has two brothers who play for the Steelers.

The Bills are tight against the projected salary cap, with roughly $3.8 million in space, based on a cap of $185 million for 2021, according to Spotrac.com. But the cap level is a guess. It could rise or fall from that level, and won't be set until closer to the start of the 2021 league year on March 17.

Like all teams, the Bills have many ways to create space. One is by reworking contracts to convert a player’s base salary for 2021 into bonus money, thereby spreading it over the remaining years of the contract. It’s just a question of how much money a team wants to push into future years.

The Bills could save the following cap space in 2021 by restructuring players who have long-term deals: Tre’Davious White ($7.5 million), Stefon Diggs ($7.1 million), Dion Dawkins ($4.73 million), Mitch Morse ($3 million) and Jordan Poyer ($2.6 million). Releasing players would also create space. The big savings via that route include John Brown ($7.9 million) and Morse ($7.59 million).

Money spent on Watt could make it harder for the Bills to retain linebacker Matt Milano or offensive linemen Daryl Williams and Jon Feliciano. Even without adding Watt, the Bills will likely need to restructure contracts to keep their own top free agents.  

Watt was owed $17.5 million by the Texans in 2021 and was playing on a deal that averaged $16.6 million a year.

Watt might command a two-year deal worth roughly $12 million a year, Sportrac.com speculates. The structure could vary. A team could fit him into its cap with $7 million of space for 2021, for instance. A $12 million a year deal would equal what Indianapolis gave edge rusher Justin Houston two years ago.

A lot of edge rushers are set to hit the free-agent market, which makes the value a little tougher to estimate. Among them are Tampa Bay’s Shaquil Barrett, Baltimore’s Matt Judon, Pittsburgh’s Bud DuPree, Tennessee’s Jadeveon Clowney, New Orleans' Trey Hendrickson and others.

Watt has missed 32 games in the last five years, although he played all 16 games in 2020. He had five sacks. He missed eight games of the 2019 season due to a torn pectoral muscle, but he returned for the wild-card playoff game against the Bills. Watt was brilliant in that game, making a key sack of Josh Allen late in the first half and recording five other hurries on the quarterback.

 

[cba fan 5,171]

could also cut Addison, Butler, Jefferson, and redo others to get to 51 million cap available.(i dont think Bills would approach Diggs for a restructure as he will want market rate soon and Bills knew this when they traded for him)( they may do the long term market deal though at less savings then a restructure but savings non the less) so no 7 mill savings on Diggs restructure puts Bills at 44 mill or so.

I would do all that to get Hendrickson, Shaq, and Watt. And maybe restructure Brown instead of release.

[HipKat 32]

44 minutes ago, cba fan said:

could also cut Addison, Butler, Jefferson, and redo others to get to 51 million cap available.(i dont think Bills would approach Diggs for a restructure as he will want market rate soon and Bills knew this when they traded for him)( they may do the long term market deal though at less savings then a restructure but savings non the less) so no 7 mill savings on Diggs restructure puts Bills at 44 mill or so.

I would do all that to get Hendrickson, Shaq, and Watt. And maybe restructure Brown instead of release.

I'm having a hard time deciding what to do with brown. I know he was injured and I should just leave it at that but I wonder if he is still effective in this offense

[Victor7 89,986]

2 hours ago, HipKat said:

I'm having a hard time deciding what to do with brown. I know he was injured and I should just leave it at that but I wonder if he is still effective in this offense

Same. I would love to have him back. If our offense was good without him. Imagine with him. Fully healthy. But at this point with the projected cap its more likely than not that he'll end up elsewhere. 

As for Watt I want him bad. I know he's not that young anymore. But he played all 16 games last year. He's still a force. And you won't find better leadership. Bring him in. 

[HipKat 32]

1 hour ago, Victor7 said:

Same. I would love to have him back. If our offense was good without him. Imagine with him. Fully healthy. But at this point with the projected cap its more likely than not that he'll end up elsewhere. 

As for Watt I want him bad. I know he's not that young anymore. But he played all 16 games last year. He's still a force. And you won't find better leadership. Bring him in. 

I believe that concerning JJ Watt, the pros far outweigh the cons