keepthefaith

Good news is you can always buy tickets later if you change your mind. As far as Willis goes, I think DJ is just acknowledging what ws already out there as public info, maybe put out there by the Giants. It's a little early to judge Marv on his off-season moves. Let's see who the Bills take to Training camp and how some of the young players improve (or not).

That was a smart move by TD. Extended a guy who is on the upswing and got it done at a lower rate. Bills need to be working more of their roster this way with guys like Lee Evans, JP, (Peters and Crowell got done already).

\ Darned right. Heck, trade rumors happen in a lot of sports. Trades that never happen and players go on to finish their careers in fine fashion. This is a helluva wake up call for Willis. The Bills have sent a clear message by offering him in a possible trade and by saying publically there will be a back in camp to compete. Great move by the Bills IMO. If Willis is not traded, we'll see how he responds to the challenge.

I hear you, but if that means they will spend $30 million on players this offseason, that would rate as the most they have ever spent in a single offseason and should buy a few players.

Translation: If another team is willing to trade for Willis and offer him a big contract, we support the move, and Willis doesn't like it in Buffalo.

It's too early to call the Bills cheap. We have yet to see who they resign, what effort they make to resign their free agents and who replaces those unsigned free agents.

In the NFL you have to have some tolerance for "bad boys" otherwise most teams would have a tough time fielding 22 starters.

Suddenly, Tommy seems to falling apart. Maybe the law of averages is catching up with him.

Not on this thread nor any other have I declared myself a football expert. I will say that your posts are among the more entertaining on this board. I'd say that in about 10 years you'll realize how little you know now about many things, but self confidence is a good thing. I think I read somewhere that you are studying to be a lawyer. In that profession, being able to make a point (even when untrue or unsupported by fact) with conviction is a good quality. In that regard I would say you're off to a good start. All of this of course is just my opinion.

You can make your point all you want, but understand that you have no credibility as a football expert. You simply aren't one. For every non-expert opinion, there is an equal and opposite non-expert opinion.

That's a great question and a big transition for that team if they intend to change.

You need to find a good job in the media. Like others you could be highly compensated for your ability to be critical and negative about things you know little about.

Who would be that middle LB replacement? I'm concerned that we might ge the D-line fixed only to be very thin at LB.

Darned right. With regard to Nate, the Bills have a shot a him if they really want him. That's the first question. Is Dick Jauron telling Marv "hey, we need this guy. Get him signed." or is he telling Marv "we have greater needs on both lines. Let's focus on those first." With Nate, they have some cards to play. First, the Bills kept their word. They didn't tag Nate the 2nd time around. Second, by tagging him last year, they gave him a huge raise. That has to count for something. It's the Bills that paid Nate $7.5 million last year and helped him get in the position he's in now, a very good position. Third, if he wants to continue in Buffalo, the Bills are in a position to offer him a contract that will provide him financial security for the remainder of his life. Fourth, ask for a last look at the deal. The Bills have earned that right on the previous points. If they can't get a last look at the deal after what they have done for Nate over the past year, then they are extremely weak negotiators or they are dealing with a player and agent that don't want to be in Buffalo or they don't want him that badly. They have showed Nate a ton of respect over the past year. If they want the guy or any other guy for that matter, I would expect them to go after those players with some determination and fire in their belly. For if they don't, they won't sign anybody. I am not fooled by Marv's vanilla press conference. Among the team leadership there has to be some aggressive planning and hard work going on behind the scenes. People willing to get after it. This is football dammit! Eat matches and schitt fire!

The Bears are notoriously cheap. People think the Bills are cheap? Chicago with much higher revenues does not have the same excuse.

Lot's of ways to structure a deal and I am also in the camp that thinks the Bills can get this done if they really want to retain him.

And the Cowboys hired Wade over Norv. What a clusterfu_ _.

This is one area where Willis has more experience and expertise than Tom Brady. Brady should give Willis a call for some advice.

He does not want to be confused with the facts, his mind is made up.

Of course the player would not accept it without being protected. The Bill's can guarantee him the roster spot or injured reserve in which case he gets the salary either way. It's no different than a team paying him a huge up-front bonus in March if he were to then have a season ending injury in training camp. In that scenario you've paid the money to the player and he does not play that year. My whole point is this. When you are under the cap, you have the luxury of structuring a deal so that the cap hit is where you want it to be and you can still guarantee the player big money. The Redskins who are generally fighting to stay under the cap would not have the option of structuring the deal in so many ways. They would be forced to sign a player like Nate to a very long term deal with a large bonus up front and small salaries in the early years of the deal so that they can spread the cap hit way out in order to stay nder the cap now. The Bills have more latitude in terms of structure and might actually be able to show Nate as much money in terms of cash flow as a team like the Redskins and not tie him up for 6-7 years. Maybe write a 4-5 year deal and give him a chance to be a free agent again. Remember, the up front money is nice, but the longer term deals generally have higher salaries backloaded in them and that is not guaranteed. If he signs a long term deal with big up front money, backloaded salary and then that team doesn't want him 4 years from now when the salary is escalated, he gets cut and has to start from scratch. Players and agents must be savvy to this by now. Look at Moulds, he signed a long term "cap-friendly" deal and never saw the big money written late into the deal. The Bills launched him and he played for less in Houston. The Bills have some angles to play here if they really want to retain him.

Sure he would if the first year salary is very high because that would be guaranteed once he is rostered.

Action speaks louder than words. Under-promise and over-deliver. Maybe he's practicing these. Free agency starts very soon. Relax, we'll all know soon enough who is signed and later who is drafted.

If what you say is correct they can simply pay a player like NC a small bonus and a large salary in the first year of his new contract in order to apply most of the contract to this year's cap. There are all kinds of ways to structure these deals in terms of up front bonus, salary, term length, roster bonuses, option years, renewals and the timing of bonuses, etc in order to drop the dollars anywhere you want along the life of the deal (cap-wise). I do expect the Bills to make a big effort to resign Clements, Kelsay and Thomas. A little creative structure will go a long way to getting the job done and the Bills with a lot of money to spend even with the "cash to cap" approach are in a good position to compete for these players. I won't be critical of the organization now as it remains to be seen who will get signed this off-season.

Hard to judge Marv on this now as it remains to be seen if Nate is a Bill this year and if not, who plays that position and how.

Here's to voting you off the island and seeing you leave in a body bag.