Mickey

They didn't give up a first round pick, they swapped Dallas' that year for ours the following year. If no trade, over those two years we would have had 2 first round picks, after the trade, in those two years, we had a total of 2 first round picks. It was 2 in one year rather than 1 each year for 2 years. Nothing personal but I amazed to still hear this after all these years, that JP cost us a first round pick. He didn't. Picking a guy in the first round who never made it wasted a first round pick for sure but we didn't lose one in the trade.

And if he gets hurt in one of these voluntary work outs, what then? He will have obliterated his value when it was otherwise at its zenith. Sound advice? Thats risking an awful lot for a voluntary work out.

Yeah, I think that would be a great strategy, turn a minor contract negotiation with a single player into a full blown league wide labor dispute. Why don't we just set fire to the entire stadium when Peters walks in. That would really get him. It is easy to be stupid when you aren't really in charge. Did you by any chance just leave the Bush administration?

You really have an active fantasy life. Why would Ralph look like a genius for benching a pro bowl left tackle while paying him 4-5million while spending a first round draft pick to play ahead of him, whom he will pay more than Peters, a proven player, is asking? Even better, he could sell the team to Somalia and nPeters would have to play home games in a war torn desert. Ha! Now that would really show him!!!

Brilliant, pay him 4-5 million bucks to sit on the bench. Great strategy, that would really show him. Grow up. His reputation league wide is that of being one of the best LT's in the game who is in his prime. Whether, all things considered, the team would rather save the money and hope they find a LT elsewhere than pay Peters what he is worth, is simply a business decision. Get some big boy pants and cut out this 15 month long temper tantrum you have been throwing since, gasp, Peters did what every underpaid top pro athlete does, holds out for a better contract. Where was all the whining and crying when Schobel, after years of getting top dollar, signed a huge contract and then threatened a hold out the very next year because they paid somebody else on the team more than him?

Actually, if history means anything, when they redid his contract the last time, ie, paid him more money, he worked his tail off culminating in his 2007 season where he was the best in the league. The year they wouldn't negotiate with him and he didn't get $ commensurate with his performance and position is the only time he had an off year. If LT's really are as important as everyone says they are, this guy is worth his considerable weight in gold. As bad as contract demands are now, they will be worse when the top LT in this year's draft signs his contract raising the bar that much higher. The best time to get a deal with Peters is now and if they don't resign him by the draft, I don't think he will be signed at all. I think the Bills know they have him contractually wrapped up and that the only thing he can do is inflict another long hold out on them, showing up again just before opening day to avoid losing a game check. They endured that last year and to save the money, are willin gto do so again this year. But Peters won't be as good a player if he misses camp again and there is no way, once this contract finally ends, he will ever, ever sign with them at any price. If the team's main goal was to win, he'd already be signed. 7-9 teams who haven't seen the playoffs in a decade have no business risking the services of the only player on their roster ranked among the elite at his position.

My own guess is that Ralph wants a winner before he dies. Money is no longer an issue for him though I think that he would like to see the team still be a Buffalo team after he dies. He could have made a ton moving this team at almost any time over the last 25 years and he didn't. I really do think he wants to win and he wants to keep the team here. To some extent, those are conflicting goals. I beleive that as desparate as he is for a winner, he has lost his patience with the geniuses he has hired over the years like Donohoe. He has been so frustrated that I think he has just decided to take the wheel and hired non-entities like Brandon and Jauron. These are not guys who are going to stick to their guns in an argument with the owner. Ralph no longer trusts these guys. After Donohoe and all those sorry coaches, I can't say I blame him. Unfortunately, I think Ralph needs a GM who will stand up to him, even piss him off on occasion. I really do think we have an owner who is literally dying to watch his team win again. Anyone who has ever been a part of a winning team can tell you, there is nothing like it. Some of my fondest memories are of the winning teams I was lucky to be on. I am convinced that is what Ralph wants more than anything. Signing Owens says that loud and clear.

For the same reason they re-did Schobel's contract about a year after he signed it even though it was the biggest on the team at the time.

Did it bother you that the coaches, you know, the guys whose jobs depend on him playing well, the same guys who pore over every scrap of film from every game, supported him?

I seem to remember a farily highly drafted TE we all had high hopes for who blew out his knee at his first OTA after the draft, setting his career waaaay back. Same guy, you might recall, who years later broke his neck the year he was finally going to get his chance to shine. Yeah, you're right, worrying about injuries in the NFL is silly, it just never happens does it? I look forward to you posts calling for the team to cut every other player who is skipping these glorified weight lifting sessions. To do otherwise would indicate you have some sort of personal, jilted lover thing going exclusively for Peters and I know that can't be the case. Really, all personnel decsions should be based on emotions like that, on who we like and don't like. Chambers is such a nice boy, we should start him and dump that pro bowler.

You mean like when Schobel skipped the OTA's less than a year after he got a new contract making him the highest paid player on the team? You mean like Owens who is skipping these practices as are a bunch of other players? Do you really think that the team is going to make attendance at a non-mandatory weight lifting session in April the make or break issue in signing a two time pro bowler? If that attendance is so critical, why is the team negotiating and in fact, offering him a large raise when they still have him under contract and don't have to? Kind of looks like they are willing to reward this player if they can get him at the right price regardless of whether Peters shows up for any more OTA's than Owens does which won't be many. Going to practice now would be like riding a motorcycle without a helmet in a rain storm on your way to the front office to sign the most important contract in your life. Yeah, what a moron that agent is.

Of the three, Dick, Ralph and Brandon, the guy I would most want to make the decisions is Jauron. It figures that he would actually have the least influence of the three. I don't think Brandon should be doing anything besides fetching coffee and bagels on draft day.

I would be thankful to even have a shot at 7-9 if that is the case. We would have to get lucky to achieve mediocrity.

And if he shows up and gets injured in an OTA? What would happen then? I know all you would be agents are far smarter than Peters' actual agent so please explain to me why, on the cusp of a new deal or trade, would Peters risk obliterating his economic value in a meaningless OTA in April for godsake? Don't quit your day job.

ummm....How and why would Dick explain the terms of a deal that hasn't actually happened yet? Can you cite an example where a team has ever called a press conference to explain a deal "prior to the deal" just to give everyone a heads up?? I may be crazy but exposing your negotiations prior to a contract being executed would be about the most moronic thing a front office could do when trying to nail down a trade. And for doing this foolish thing, the Bills would gain what exactly? As opposed to explaining its terms after the deal is done?

He wasn't getting paid very well for a two time pro bowl LT. The team has apparently been negotiating with him and also, looking at a trade. Wouldn't even a minor injury during an OTA endanger either possibility, trade or new contract with the Bills? As for being bitter, Brandon's press conference at the start of camp last year was unprofessional and uncalled for. There was no need to make that a public spectacle and negotiate through the press. Peters and his agent never said a single unkind word about the team, Ralph, Brandon or any one in the front office. Pity the GM couldn't return that courtesy.

He wants a new contract and I don't think he is going to risk incurring an injury in camp or in an OTA which would kill any chance for a new deal this year with anybody, including any potential trade suitors. The Bills are going to pay him or trade him, the one thing that could blow that is twisting a knee during a next to meaningless OTA in April.

But they don't have to, they have him tied up, just like Peters and they can tie him up him again in 2010 for only 2.2 million. Peters certainly proved himself, far more than did Freddy, in 2007, it didn't get him much. So now Freddy is doing the same thing Peters did after his best year as a pro and what Schobel did, etc. I don't see any way they give Freddy anything huge. I like the guy, a lot, but he has even less leverage than Peters. Now, maybe there are those who think the Bills make contract decisions based on good citizenship, or a sense of morality and fair play. Okay, now that I have stopped laughing, let me finish that thought. I rather think they make decisions based on business realities. What is the least they can pay a guy and still get him to perform based on the leverage they have and don't have in the negotiations? That is the standard. One of the few times they deviated from that for anything but a hall of famer was Schobel and that was a huge mistake.

I think it is more challenging to play for a team that only throws when everyone in the stadium knows they are throwing. Having to block when the defense only needs to defend the first 5 yards off the line of scrimmage doesn't help either. Add in a total stiff at guard next to you, so stiff he was cut, kind of adds to the difficulty. I think the surest way out of medicority is to let our best players leave. Because Lord knows, the stiffs we have had at DT are way better than Pat Williams so good thing we didn't break the bank for him. And certainly, losing Antoine Winfield and Nate Clements had nothing to do with our having to spend more and more draft picks on DB's every year to get their replacements while the other positions rotted on the vine. I think our strategy, to over pay for guys like Kelsay because hey, they carry a lunch pail and have a great motor and to break the bank for aging vets on the backsides of their careers like Schobel rather than signing young pro bowlers in their prime is working like a charm. We have the 7-9 seasons to prove it.

Does Schobel have a severe character flaw because he refused to play out a contract only a year old that was a whopper to begin with and when he had been getting paid top dollar since he was drafted? The only difference here is that the team made a huge mistake with Schobel and with Kelsay and are trying to get the horse back in the barn with Peters. Up until the first day of camp last year and the no-class press conference Brandon conducted, no one anywhere thought he had any "severe character flaws". It is pretty simple. The team thinks he is a hell of a player but they have him over a barrel and want to keep him there if they can and Peters is doing what every player in that situation has done, pull out all the stops to try and get a new deal. Its not about trust, girl scout cookies or the warm and fuzzies. It is about $. I know, the primary role played by money in a professional sports league must come as a complete shock to you. The team will try and get the most player for the least money and the player will try and get every dime he can. Again, shocking, I know. Who could have seen this coming?

He did that in 2007 so what you really mean is that you want to see him do it again. The team can decide if they want a happy Peters performing at his best with a full camp, like he did in 2007 or if they want another off season drama (or trade him and fill the hole on the roster with chewing gum). One way saves some cash but gets the team no closer to the playoffs. The other is going to cost big time. Not an easy choice for any team. And I think it is even harder for the Bills given what they are shelling out for Schobel and Kelsay. Peters could have allowed 40 sacks last year and still been more valuable to the team than those two. For Peters, he hasn't much to lose. Apart from this authoritarian rich board, there isn't anyone in the league that doubts Peters is among the best in the league at LT. The Bills certainly think so. For them, this is just a numbers game, they want him but there is is a limit as to how bad they want him. Lord knows where their top number is or where Peters' bottom is but that is what negotiations are all about.

You read "fined" and concluded "paid"? We all know he was fined, this is nothing new. The full quote makes it clear they are simply recounting the situation as it was last year: "After being fined more than $600,000 for the time he missed, Peters agreed to report only after the Bills provided him an assurance—but not a guarantee— they would discuss a new contract." This simpy says that he was fined for not coming in to camp and after having been fined, ie, an event that occurred last year, he then came in to camp after some warm fuzzzies were exchanged with the team. Did you not know he had been fined from the first non-voluntary practice he missed so that this is suddenly news to you? Reading comprehension is a lost art.

Yeah, 'cuz that happens all the time. In fact, I can think of...of...of...well, okay, I can't think of a single example where a player got a new contract one year, and held out that same year. Can you? They are talking and that is a good thing, you can't make a deal if you are not even talking. And as long as there are negotiations, I think Peters will come in and we can all go on with our lives. I also think it is a good thing that his agent isn't negotiating in public and that this time around, the team is doing the same thing. Brandon publicly demonizing Peters last year served no purpose unless they had decided to let him go and were just getting the fans on their side before doing so. That clearly is no their intention so I still don't know what Brandon was thinking.

I'll take: 3) Our offense

The only people seriously questioning Peters' ability are people, some of them anyway, on this board. I can certainly understand, even if I disagree, with those who think the hold out was bad strategy. The idea, however, that he is some sort of malcontent who in the end, isn't all that good, is just silly. It's an opinion born of anger and bitterness which I really have trouble understanding when there are other players who have done similar things. But if you think about it, even those opinions contain the seeds of their own demise. There would be no need to be that bitter, that angry, that concerned if Peters really wasn't a good player. The overblown reaction is due to these people, despite all the bile, knowing just how good he is, how important it is to keep him on the roster and what a long term set back it would be if the team doesn't resolve the dispute. They won't admit it but with every additional, increasingly shrill post, it becomes pretty clear what they really think of hs abilities. They truly do protest too much, not to mention condescend, accuse, and insult too much. A team trying to claw its way out of a 7-9 hole (with an easy schedule no-less) can ill afford a public feud with one of its best players and rising stars. But that is where, under the leadership of this oh-so-talented front office, we find ourselves.