You made my point for me. The Bills KNEW how much money they were going to have to spend for Byrd and Levitre, ball park. They absolutely could enter negotiations with that ball park number. OR they could know they weren't going to have enough money and inform his agent that it simply wasn't going to work.
They did neither.
Perhaps you need to re-read my post. I never said they should have entered negotiations or that they would have enough money. I said the theory that the Bills needed to sign Byrd first to see what money they had left over is hogwash. They knew a very good ballpark number of what they were going to have to give to Levitre after Byrd was franchised.
As far as your snide comment about the Bills finance guys not knowing what they're doing - has ANYONE in the Bills organization shown over the last decade that they know what their doing? If this was the Packers, you can make that comment. If this is the Patriots, you can make that comment. If this was the Steelers, you can make that comment. But it's not. It's the Buffalo Bills. The most inept organization, top to bottom, in the entire league over the past decade plus. So NO, I don't trust their finance guys. And as far as childs play goes, I think even a child could have gotten us to a playoff spot at least once over the past 13 years.