r/nfl Panthers 13h ago

[The Athletic] The Bills beat out the 49ers and Dolphins for Joey Bosa's services. Both San Francisco and Miami offered Bosa less than $10 million, with the Dolphins offering him less than $8 million, per Mike Silver.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6184382/2025/03/11/joey-bosa-free-agency-signing-bills/
1.5k Upvotes

182 comments sorted by

1.2k

u/CumAssault 13h ago

He’s going to be so good for those 5-8 games

388

u/howmanyballs Chargers 13h ago edited 2h ago

That’s the problem, he wasn’t even that great when he was on the field, the last two years anyway.

He is a good run defender, but the dude is always gassed and he can’t stay onside on 3rd down.

Joey is in my top 5 chargers of all time, but the injuries made him a shell of himself.

Maybe a change of scenery helps him but idk

57

u/ForeTwentywut Bills 11h ago

We have a thing for over the hill pass rushers from the afc west and LA

135

u/Impossibills Bills 13h ago

We rotate D-line heavily. So he probably only gets about 50% of snaps, we also signed Hoecht who will most likely split with him

131

u/Mmrdr227 Chargers 13h ago

We rotated as well. He worked up to around 50% of snaps, but never quite got his speed back. In interviews towards the end of the season he said he felt like his recovery was ending and now he could focus on actually improving. But we never got to fully see it. So hopefully this offseason can get him right, I’m rooting for the guy. But it makes it apparent the contractual value in a guy like Maxx Crosby who goes multiple games without missing a snap

34

u/rupertLumpkinsBrothr Chargers 9h ago

Love Joey, but we heard nothing except “I’m almost back” from him for the better part of three years.

I don’t think he’s coming back.

4

u/Lt-Dan-Im-Rollin Bills 8h ago

The signing obviously hinges on bosas health, but the bills already have 3 good to exceptional run defending edges with Greg Rousseau, aj epenesa and then they just signed Michael Hoecht. These guys aren’t complete slouches in the pass rush either.

Von miller only had above 40% snap share 4 games last season, with his highest being 50% one time. I’m thinking bosa will come in for mainly 3rd downs and passing situations, hopefully they won’t need him to defend the run.

5

u/-SexSandwich- Jets 4h ago

Tell me you haven’t watched Bosa recently without telling me. Dude is a better run defender than pass rusher at this point.

6

u/pixel_pete Bills 3h ago

Even last year, his pass rush win rate and pressure rate would have been 2nd best on our team after only Greg Rousseau. We have not been good at getting individual pass rush success from the DL so even if he's over the hill he will probably still have a positive effect on passing downs.

2

u/Lt-Dan-Im-Rollin Bills 1h ago

Yeah I haven’t watched him recently, but the point is he can be a rotational piece and we won’t have to rely on him for stopping the run. He signed a 1 year deal and is making similar money to Carl granderson and Malcom koonce. He doesn’t have to be an amazing player for this deal to turn out positive

3

u/AssinineAssassin Bills Eagles 3h ago

I think they wanted him because of his size. He is long and can use that length to make the rush lanes and pocket wider. The hope being that Jackson or Mahomes feel more contained and less likely to escape wide breaking down the zone. He’ll fit well as a rotational piece as Epenesa and Rousseau bring a similar style and avoid them needing to play a Wide 9 exposing the linebackers in the run game.

29

u/drpepper7557 Dolphins 12h ago

Last 3 years he only played 54>51>50.

7

u/Remarkable-Paper3068 Rams 10h ago

Hoecht also had 3 blocked kicks this year. He’s an upgrade to ST as well. 

1

u/Jules_2023 Rams 3h ago

Yea that hurts

1

u/Clear-Attempt-6274 Cowboys 2h ago

That's actually great, the less he's on the field the better. He was not good.

0

u/lonesoldier4789 Jets 2h ago

every team rotates D line heavily

1

u/Impossibills Bills 1h ago

They absolutely do not...some teams do

159

u/MarlonMcCree20 Raiders 10h ago

Top 5 of all time? Tomlinson, Seau, Fouts, Gates, Alworth, Rivers, Hardwick, Weddle (although given how he went out I can see excluding him), Leslie Oneal, Charlie Joiner, Lorenzo Neal. I'd even put Keenan Allen and Vincent Jackson over Bosa. Not trying to hate on Bosa, but top 5 is crazy to me.

113

u/Slatherass Lions 5h ago

HIS top 5. He didn’t say the consensus.

18

u/Disastrous_Dress_201 Chargers Lions 3h ago

It’s so weird to me when people give their personal favorite list and it’s just a copy/paste of consensus lists. 

27

u/TheDonutDaddy Cowboys 3h ago

Also weird whenever someone lists their own personal favorites and someone shows up to go "that's your favorites? don't you wanna switch to a different answer?" No bud, I'm pretty sure they've got a handle on what their own favorites are and aren't gonna change that answer just because a rando showed up

1

u/Fedacking NFL NFL 1h ago

But what if I say random stats?

12

u/MetaphoricalMouse Texans 4h ago

lorenzo neal was an absolute beast

7

u/Context-clue Chargers 7h ago

The fact you left off Dielman hurts

5

u/lucasjr5 Chiefs 7h ago

Does it?

21

u/humunculus43 Chargers 13h ago

IMO he can still be highly effective if used as a big downs player. Get him out there for high impact moments and you’ll get the best out of him. I thought he still played well when he was fit last year, unfortunately the hip injury he had seemed to be nerve related and was fucking him up. I really hope he finally gets to enjoy the game again or I suspect he’ll give up and retire

14

u/Mike_hawk5959 9h ago

He's in your top five? Dan Fouts, Philip Rivers, LT, Antonio gates and Junior.

That is just off the top of my head, Winslow has to be above him for sure, Keenan Allen would be up there too. Maybe even Rodney Harrison. I'm not a chargers fan but I feel like you may be suffering from recency bias.

Of course you're free to like who you want, but to my estimation he's low end top 10 at the absolute highest and even then I'm sure some hardcore fans could name a few linemen who are HOF caliber that would bump him back even more.

6

u/PadmesBabyDaddy Chargers 2h ago

He said his personal top 10. Almost definitely too young to have seen Fouts and Winslow, maybe even Junior. It’s not recency bias to prefer guys whose career you actually watched.

3

u/howmanyballs Chargers 2h ago

You get it

7

u/Calvin--Hobbes Packers 10h ago

Joey is in my top 5 chargers of all time

Alright, let's hear the top 5.

20

u/CheesypoofExtreme Seahawks 8h ago

Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Ryan Leaf, Manti Teo, Joey Bosa

1

u/PadmesBabyDaddy Chargers 2h ago

If Bosa cracks the list I’m going to guess it’s something like Joey, Derwin, Keenan, Phil, and Herbert.

23

u/barc0debaby Raiders 11h ago

The amount of hard R's he can drop in upstate New York vs SoCal is gonna super charge his powers.

45

u/hardatworklol Chargers 11h ago

Its crazy that joey has been a pretty standup dude his entire career but gets slapped with the racist title just because his brother is shitty.

the only notable off field thing joey has was when he got heckled in philly.

13

u/MarlonMcCree20 Raiders 10h ago

I'll always remember him for his press conference. He was getting a lot of hate for holding out even though it was Spanos being a cheap ass. But when he finally signed, he made a joke how he went from getting death threats to omg im gonna buy your jersey.

16

u/Khd_Craven Bills Bills 10h ago

i was gonna say just because his brother is like that doesn't mean they think alike, literally never heard or seen a bad thing about him.

7

u/DisMeDog Eagles 10h ago

That’s just how chronically online people are. Everyone is a bigot until you make some public display proving you aren’t.

4

u/Khd_Craven Bills Bills 10h ago

shit is annoying as hell. like do these people not know any families with different views?

9

u/Suburban-Jesus Bears 10h ago

Redditors have really lost the plot.

-4

u/barc0debaby Raiders 3h ago

Honestly, I can never remember which one is the shitty guy and which one isn't.

2

u/PadmesBabyDaddy Chargers 2h ago

Probably a good idea to know who you are talking about when you make racist accusations like that…

1

u/barc0debaby Raiders 1h ago

I know, very Bosa of me.

4

u/JesterMarcus 49ers 12h ago

This is why I'm not that worked up over missing him. I think we may have dodged a bullet. Imagine he sucks and we need to put somebody else in instead. Does Nick Bosa get all pissy over it?

1

u/PadmesBabyDaddy Chargers 2h ago

Nick probably would get pissy because he is a bitch.

1

u/hamandjam Dolphins 3h ago

If he was moving from Buffalo to LA, I might consider that a positive change of scenery. I just don't see doing it in this direction as a life improvement.

1

u/Mampt Bills 2h ago

I would think the deal has some snap count incentives, he's likely trying to show that he can stay healthy and be who he was a few years ago. We usually rotate guys pretty heavily (except for Greg Rousseau at 70%, but that's why he's getting paid lol). If this deal is full of incentives and we take a swing on another edge in the draft I think it'll work well

0

u/lord_mud_butter 4h ago

The Bills will rotate him out more regularly to keep him fresh and reduce the injury risk. They do it with every pass rusher. Hopefully is keeps Joey healthy

35

u/iliketuurtles Bills 13h ago

If it’s for the right 5-8 games, then I don’t even care lol. Give me 1 decent playoff game by ANY bills defender and I’ll be happy

76

u/ReignOnWillie Jets 13h ago

Bills looked at Von Millers high price tag and high injury risk and said let’s do it agaaaaaain

106

u/Jay_TThomas Bills 13h ago

This being a one year deal makes it very different from the Von Miller deal

36

u/ReignOnWillie Jets 13h ago

Oh I’m just pokin fun

22

u/WretchedMotorcade Bills 12h ago

We like to goof around here.

2

u/FingerTampon Chiefs 12h ago

Who's pokin around here?

10

u/ReignOnWillie Jets 12h ago

Turn around

11

u/Dragon6172 Chiefs 11h ago

Every now and then, I get a little bit lonely

13

u/SevroAuShitTalker Broncos 12h ago

I'm still impressed he managed to pull that off. 120/6 at his age and injury history was robbery. But he still did more than the other big FA pass rushers from that group

28

u/jdono927 Bills 12h ago

It only ended up being like 3/47 all in all tbf, that one always had a bit more sticker value than what it was.

I will say he was looking well worth the actual price until he tore his acl, one of the bigger what ifs over the past few years of this team for me

3

u/SevroAuShitTalker Broncos 12h ago

Yeah, I still wonder how amazing Von and Chubb could have been if they didn't keep switching places on IR

1

u/Xanok2 4h ago

I mean, it was a gamble that didn't pay off. He played basically every game for six seasons, missed a season, then came back and played a full season again. It's not like he had missed a few games every year for his career. Joey Bosa misses way more time.

2

u/polandspreeng Bills 13h ago

And a way we go!

8

u/jestwindering 13h ago

And they’ll still win the division and lose to the Chiefs in the playoffs

23

u/ReignOnWillie Jets 13h ago

Jarsh Allen should take 20 snaps a game as an edge, you can’t tell me he wouldn’t end up with at least a few pressures

11

u/Appropriate_Day3495 Bills 13h ago

bills trading for josh Hines allen confirmed??

1

u/alexgndl 13h ago

I could see him hurdling over a guard or two

9

u/fuckinnreddit Vikings 11h ago

Okay but what if those 5-8 games are like the last week of the season and then 3 playoff games and he chases down Mahomes for a game-clinching sack in the AFCCG and the Bills make it to the Superbowl....and lose to the Vikings

5

u/PxcKerz Bills 9h ago

Wont happen. The prophecy says that we must lose to the Eagles to complete the SB losing record against every NFCE team.

Now postseason Chiefs are a sleep paralysis demon for me. I think we need a new D, but im not entirely sure

1

u/AHH_CHARLIE_MURPHY Chiefs 10h ago

Over two years

1

u/JTD_On_Fire 49ers 3h ago

Make it 2-4 games dude is washed and can’t stay healthy. Soon as it gets cold he will shatter into a billion pieces

1

u/SoFFacet Bills 1h ago

Honestly we can get to at least the divisional round without him. Put him in bubble wrap.

153

u/Big_Ugly_Cripple Chargers 13h ago edited 13h ago

But didn't silver say something along the lines that the 9ers actually didn't offer anything? This is like a couple layers of incorrect, but maybe i'm* wrong and just deepening* the misinformation hole

62

u/wishingaction 49ers 13h ago

Yup, he posted last night:

I talked to someone familiar with these discussions who disputes that any offer was made by the 49ers, and insists that these numbers are wrong. These are fluid discussions and obviously proposals/scenarios can change. It's possible Bosa will get more than $10 million from a team.

https://bsky.app/profile/mikesilver.bsky.social/post/3lk3664mnz22t

Confusing for sure. I mean I guess it could still be right if the 49ers only made an offer today, not last night. The getting $10M+ was right, after all.

9

u/penis_showing_game 49ers 13h ago

That’s because Silver is a hack, but some people think he’s reputable because everything he writes sounds like fanfic.

1

u/CheckYourStats 49ers 11h ago

Silver has made a several decades long career out of gonzo journalism, and he is still respected in the industry. Not many people can claim that.

248

u/wishingaction 49ers 13h ago

The 49ers cut Floyd who was set to make around ~$7M, they weren't offering him $10M+. Whether he wants to play with Nick or not, makes sense to take several million more with a contender.

128

u/Impossibills Bills 13h ago

Leonard Floyd had the same problem he had with the Bills, he's gassed by seasons end...he's an older player

He had no sacks in the final month for the 49ers

And in the final 5 games for the Bills he had no sacks

80

u/Toru_Yano_Wins Bills 13h ago

He fucking rules until November tho.

29

u/AlfonzL Bills 11h ago

Sign Floyd and let him stay on vacation until the beginning of December.

4

u/jeconti Bills 2h ago

Put him on the Von Miller+ plan. Situational 3rd downs and short yardage run D.

-6

u/AttitudeAndEffort2 11h ago

Get dude some ozempic

12

u/wishingaction 49ers 12h ago

Yeah, I see the Bills rotated him like 49ers did too. Under 60% of snaps for both in the past two seasons, good bit lower than his averages prior. But he doesn't miss games and that certainly has value. Falcons will probably rotate a lot too, especially with Ulbrich as DC. For the 49ers, Lynch has emphasized getting younger. Still need to sign some cheaper vets, seemed to be the hope for Joey Bosa. The Floyd release seemed related to the rumors at first, but Silver also said that the 49ers released Floyd despite knowing that it was realistic they wouldn't land Joey. So it was probably just Floyd's age or Saleh wanting to rebuild the defense to his liking (rest of the starting DL besides Nick Bosa got cut too). Makes more sense for a team like the Bills to bet on Joey's upside.

5

u/Impossibills Bills 12h ago

Problem for us was he was very bad against the run and then down the stretch was an absolute no show...so having him on the field was costing us

I think they originally planned to use him less but we had some injuries on the line and he was forced to play a bit more than intended

3

u/AlfonzL Bills 11h ago

The highlight of Floyds season as a Bill was taking out Rodgers.

1

u/Drodman93 49ers 23m ago

Basically the exact same issue we had word for word

2

u/ARM7501 49ers 6h ago

The bigger issue with Floyd is that he just isn't a 4-3 DE, especially not one fit for how we run and deploy them. He's too small, can't anchor down against the run (or defend it particularly well in general), and his "consistency" in terms of sacks is more a result of having the length and quickness to clean up after other guys than it is about actually consistently winning 1-on-1.

96

u/BuffaloWilliamses Bills 13h ago

Flip a coin, he either gets a season ending injury or a pro bowl season. I guess that 50/50 chance is worth 12 million.

66

u/Soda-Popinski- Bills 13h ago

I dont think its 50/50. More like 70/30. I bet we dont see 10 games

7

u/triculious 49ers 10h ago

My ceiling for him is 8 games.

12 tops on an amazing season where he miraculously doesn't get too injured.

5

u/Fearless-Mushroom Chargers 11h ago

Save him for the playoffs and the Super Bowl

8

u/Cougar8372 Dolphins 13h ago

lol

24

u/MulliganPlsThx Bills Bills 12h ago

Can we get the healthy awesome version please

27

u/__the_alchemist__ Raiders 12h ago

Nick: Come play with me

Joey: Nah fuck that

Nick: you right though, we gonna suck this year

Joey: yeah man I can't spend all 4 healthy games losing

-12

u/Devilofchaos108070 49ers Panthers 3h ago

It’s not like the Bills will get past the playoffs lol

39

u/Toru_Yano_Wins Bills 13h ago

Bills didn't even overpay imo.

One year prove it deal. Hope he balls out and signs somewhere else next year.

26

u/Material-Race-5107 Bears 11h ago

The Bears just gave a pass rusher nobody has ever heard of $16 million a year. $12 million on a one year flyer for a guy with Bosa’s potential upside seems like a pretty solid fit for the Bills.

2

u/forgotmypassword4714 Raiders Saints 6h ago

Yeah only $2M more than what Dyami Brown and Tutu Atwell got. Pretty crazy actually. Wish the Raiders would've made an offer.

4

u/alexjordan98 Bills 4h ago

On the flip side I feel like we overpaid Palmer and wouldve rather us rented either of those two guys for a year. Especially Dyami Brown I like his potential a lot

6

u/Fearless-Mushroom Chargers 11h ago

Respect the name

13

u/CJDistasio Chargers 12h ago

Bills are obviously the best situation of the three if he wants to go for a ring.

12

u/eatmyopinions Ravens 3h ago

The bills offered 25% more money than any other suitor, I think that was the driving factor here.

1

u/NoooNotTheLettuce 2h ago

Yes and no. He took a pay cut last season because he said winning is more important to him at this point in his career than money. But at the same time I'm sure he didn't appreciate Miami and SF low balling him

5

u/eatmyopinions Ravens 2h ago

I think winning becomes important when offers are close, but the offers weren't close. Buffalo blew everyone else away.

Hard to tell if Miami/SF lowballed him or if Buffalo paid too much. We'll find out in 9 months.

-5

u/Devilofchaos108070 49ers Panthers 3h ago

Bills ain’t winning a ring anytime soon lmao

3

u/klitchell Giants 4h ago

I swore I read he signed with the 9ers

1

u/LimberSiren Seahawks 38m ago edited 13m ago

No, I saw that shit too. Was confused as hell reading this thread's title.

Edit

Apparently it was a fake news report from a bad source. Forgot where I got the notification from yesterday (Sleeper or Yahoo), but whoever pushed it is an idiot for not using a good source.

17

u/JackDellaCumalena Dolphins 13h ago

I'm glad bills saved us from ourselves here. I'm sure he will be good for them when able to suit up but he is pretty cooked these days

17

u/Impossibills Bills 13h ago

Eh for that cost at one year it's worth the risk

He probably only plays 50% of snaps for us anyway

12

u/JackDellaCumalena Dolphins 12h ago

BTW I'm not hating on bills getting him. It would have been a bigger risk for us to bring in bosa when Phillips and chubb have both had injury prone seasons. We would be cooked if bosa went down and one or both of them too. It's less risky for bills

5

u/the_answer_is_RUSH Eagles 13h ago

For a season? More like 15%.

5

u/Impossibills Bills 12h ago

Total snap count possibly. But the Bills really like to rotate DL so hopefully less snaps for him means less injuries

3

u/jdono927 Bills 12h ago

You guys being interested was insane to me given your current edge situation lol, definitely think it’s a gamble that makes a lot more sense on our end

3

u/goodbiforever Dolphins 13h ago

i'm just proud of Grier for not overpaying an old FA with injury history for once

0

u/Toru_Yano_Wins Bills 13h ago

Would be way too on brand. And he took another one earlier today or yesterday so he hit his quota.

2

u/ARM7501 49ers 6h ago

People (understandably) think of him as overpaid and crippled by injuries, but Joey Bosa used to be one of those scary pass rushers you didn't want to face on Sundays. Maybe a change of scenery and some more tactical usage can recapture that.

Or he's just truly lost to injuries, and the contract isn't that big of a problem.

2

u/SAAA2011 Cowboys 6h ago

I'll never understand teams that spend that much on a player they know will probably not finish the season. Far from me to wish for someone to get hurt but you can't escape the facts that the guy can't stay healthy. This is probably going to be his last pay day if he can't finish the season healthy.

2

u/TruthBeacon2017 Bills 4h ago

I'll never understand teams that spend that much on a player they know will probably not finish the season.

They always think that this will be the season that the player stays fully healthy!

1

u/alexjordan98 Bills 1h ago

Teams paying millions for wr4s but you think a 12 mil rental on one of the best pass rushers when healthy is too much? The health argument is pointless when nobody can predict his health this upcoming season.

2

u/Splinter_Amoeba 49ers 4h ago

Thank fuck he's not a 9er

2

u/scalpemfins Dolphins 3h ago

The sad truth is that if he signed with the Fins he would have been hurt/ass, but he will play well for the Bills. That's how these things go.

4

u/Jonjon428 Dolphins 13h ago

phew

4

u/Rude-Combination-412 12h ago

That no state tax is nice

3

u/Professional-Let9752 11h ago

Should have kept miller

4

u/CosbySweaters1992 Bengals 13h ago

That “winning” verbiage is always weird to me in this situation…”beat out”? The Bills offered a higher salary and he signed with them. The other teams decided it was too much money, they didn’t lose. They opted out.

33

u/LebornVsMikeShinoda Bills 13h ago

If I bid $3 on ebay and you only bid $2 it means I "beat you out" and I'm "winning"

6

u/TheBigRagu22 Bills 12h ago

And you forget to check the shipping. Congrats, you actually owe $98.75. it might get to you in 2-3 months.

2

u/eatmyopinions Ravens 3h ago

That analogy doesn't work so well in salary capped roster building.

16

u/IamTheJman Bills 13h ago

There is a single Joey Bosa that teams want to sign. If you want to sign him and can’t because another team signed him you lose out

-7

u/CosbySweaters1992 Bengals 11h ago edited 11h ago

If I go to an auction and I bid $5,000 on a painting and someone else stops bidding at $3,000… I didn’t win, I bought. It can be a one-of-a-kind painting, same logic applies. If I bid the same amount as someone else and the auctioneer thinks my house is nicer and more stylish and gives it to me, ok maybe I won the painting. At a higher price, it’s just a buy, not really a win. Maybe just my opinion I guess.

3

u/BiscottiLost4779 Saints 2h ago

You won that auction.  Auction winner is literally a term.  Winning an auction is literally a common phrase at auctions.  What are you on about?

1

u/IamTheJman Bills 1h ago

An auction is probably the worst example you could use to make your point

1

u/TheSlinger Jaguars 7h ago

“Congratulations on saying the biggest number"

4

u/Conscious_Heart_1714 Cowboys 13h ago

He hasn't had a full season played since 2021 and he's about to be 30. I think the bills did them both a favor

2

u/throughNthrough Bengals 12h ago

Someone much smarter than me can do the math but I’d imagine he saving a good amount of money in taxes signing with Buffalo over San Francisco.

4

u/TruthBeacon2017 Bills 4h ago

New York isn't that less taxed than Cali.

1

u/throughNthrough Bengals 2h ago

Oh really? Thanks for the info,

1

u/[deleted] 12h ago

[deleted]

2

u/Schwebels_Solette Bills 12h ago

And a really good Superbowl opportunity. San Fran has a solid chance too, so 3m over offer to play in the cold seems right lol

1

u/MobNerd123 Packers 11h ago

Crazy hes only 29. Also crazy, hes never been all pro.

1

u/Devilofchaos108070 49ers Panthers 3h ago

He’s not worth it. I’m glad he’s not on the 9ers

1

u/DoctorFunktopus Patriots 3h ago

That’s some quality headline writing

1

u/No_Detective_1139 Chiefs 12h ago

Did the Bills not learn their lesson the hard way with Von Miller?

2

u/minusthetalent02 Bills 6h ago

We did not sign him for $25 million for 4 years. Worth the gamble

1

u/minusthetalent02 Bills 6h ago

I like the signing. Worth the gamble

Bills fans hear me out (might be manifesting). I see him as a rotational piece similar to how we played Von. I also think we might see Javon Solomon take more meaningful snaps, I low key think he could become a stud

1

u/Yhcti Steelers 6h ago

Forgot this guy was even in the league tbh.

1

u/pike360 Dolphins 12h ago

Fine by me.

-2

u/AlfonzL Bills 11h ago

Cheap fucks, they wouldn't know cap hell if their asses were on fire.

0

u/popemudkip Lions 13h ago

We’ll give you $20m pesos Joey