Would you re-sign Buffalo Bills WR Gabe Davis for these contract projections?

Everything is a value proposition

Everything in life is a value proposition. That includes the decision general manager Brandon Beane and the Buffalo Bills have to make regarding wide receiver Gabe Davis.

“What you give” versus “what you get.” When you got out of bed this morning, you made a value proposition. Whatever you wanted to do or achieve outside of bed was of higher value in that moment than staying in bed. You gave up more time in your bed, but you got to keep your job because you showed up on time and the paycheck associated with it. Maybe you gave up more time in your bed, but you received a shower, a good teeth brushing and a trip to the bookstore. I’m writing this article right now and I’m giving up time; in return I’m getting my monthly paycheck from Buffalo Rumblings and I’m getting the fun of writing about my favorite team. That’s my own value proposition in the moment.

When discussing pending NFL free agents, one of my least favorite queries is “should the (team) re-sign (player)?” The responses inevitably become an odd mix of defending everything the player does as being invaluable and criticizing the player themselves as if they aren’t already NFL rosterable. The question should never be “should the team re-sign this player.” If we’re outlining a value proposition, we’re missing one entire half of it.

We know what we get. We’re getting the player who most of us have watched play meaningfully over the course of their time with the team.

But we don’t know what we’re giving.

How on earth are we supposed to make judgements based on a value proposition that’s half missing?

When it comes to the Bills and pending free-agent wide receiver Gabe Davis, it’s not a matter of whether or not the player has any value to the organization. Davis has been a productive player who is spoken of incredibly highly by his teammates, the coaching staff, and Brandon Beane. The player unquestionably has value. The needle to thread in those discussions is how much value and what that is worth in contract dollars when accounting for opportunity cost (NFL teams operate in a limited resource environment) and replaceability. “Would you re-sign Gabe Davis to a one year, $4 million contract” is likely to receive a different response from many versus: “Would you re-sign Gabe Davis to a four-year, $80 million contract?”

So I’m going to ask the question in a more concrete way:

If you were Beane, would you re-sign Gabe Davis for one, multiple, all, or none of the following contracts projections?

Contract projection #1 – A to Z Sports

Three years, $37.5 million, $12.5 million APY, $15 million GTD

Contract projection #2 – Spotrac

Four years, $54.5 million, $13.6 million APY

Contract projection #3 – Pro Football Focus

1 year, $12 million, $12 million APY, $8 million GTD

For additional perspective, here are the top current wide receiver contracts in the NFL from Over The Cap, sorted by APY:

Now that we have both sides of the value proposition for a hypothetical discussion, we can better answer the question of: “Would you re-sign Gabe Davis?”

So, would you?

…and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m Bruce Nolan with Buffalo Rumblings. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @BruceExclusive and look for new episodes of “The Bruce Exclusive” every Thursday on the Buffalo Rumblings podcast network!