Donte's offer?

[Billy in 4C]

Donte has sucked every year until this year when he was in a contract year. Clearly money is his motivation - let him walk. He won't be any good after he signs a big deal. Someone will pay him what he's asking and it won't be the Bills.

[John from Riverside]

is there any way to include a clause that he needs to get so many int's a year? His backups seem to be able to get them.

[LabattBlue]

What is the going rate for an average SS?

Here are the 2009 numbers for all safeties...

 

http://content.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/salaries/playersbyposition.aspx?pos=152

[Ghost of Rob Johnson]

Donte has sucked every year until this year when he was in a contract year. Clearly money is his motivation - let him walk. He won't be any good after he signs a big deal. Someone will pay him what he's asking and it won't be the Bills.

They also changed defensive systems this year.

[Frostbelt City]

Under 5 million per year or let him walk on down to Cleveland

[Dawgg]

These posts are humorous.

 

Anyone who thinks Donte Whitner is worth $5M a year has no concept of value whatsoever.

 

These fans are the same lemmings who lauded the Dockery and Walker signings after they happened and the same sheep who were psyched about the McCargo selection.

 

With such a gullible fan base, it's no wonder Modrak, Overdorf and Brandon have lifetime job security!!! :lol:

Edited December 23, 2010 by Dawgg

[RTW2012]

These posts are humorous.

 

Anyone who thinks Donte Whitner is worth $5M a year has no concept of value whatsoever.

 

These are the same lemmings who lauded the Dockery and Walker signings after they happened and the same sheep who were psyched about the McCargo selection.

 

With such a gullible fan base, it's no wonder Modrak, Overdorf and Brandon have lifetime job security!!! :lol:

 

Right, because the fan base makes all the personnel decisions.

[Dawgg]

Right, because the fan base makes all the personnel decisions.

Wrong. These clowns have job security because the fan base is so gullible, they get excited when the front office makes boneheaded moves, renewing their season tickets and purchasing Whitner jerseys in droves.

 

In any other market, these clowns would get run out of town.

Edited December 23, 2010 by Dawgg

[Nostradamus]

well the bills stated they gave the big deal to kelsay as he is very important to the team. whitner sees himself as more important than kelsay and even tweeted that he wants to be paid based on his contribution to this team. whitner is not going to accept a deal where he is paid less than kelsay nor should he since he is more important to the defense than kelsay.

 

Kelsey has rebounded extremely well since he switched back to defensive end. I would say the two are comparable in terms of their value to the team. They are both average to slightly above average players when put in their natural positions. Apparently, they both possess similar leadership qualities. I would be shocked if Whitner hits the open market and makes anywhere close to what he thinks he should get.

[BADOLBILZ]

polamalu makes 8 mil per, ed reed about 7 per, donte should be more than happy with that deal but the bills shot themselves in the foot with the kelsay deal.

 

Donte made $29M over the past 5 years, so he has earned just under $6m per year. $5M is a paycut.

 

Yet another reason why where you draft a player matters.

 

If Donte had been a second or third rounder making a mill per or less and then performed so...ahem...."modestly"....for 5 seasons....then I think it's safe to say that $5M would be hard to turn down.

 

Kelsey has rebounded extremely well since he switched back to defensive end. I would say the two are comparable in terms of their value to the team. They are both average to slightly above average players when put in their natural positions. Apparently, they both possess similar leadership qualities. I would be shocked if Whitner hits the open market and makes anywhere close to what he thinks he should get.

 

 

The Bills claimed they extended Kelsay because the liked the way he was adapting to OLB. But he wasn't getting better, he was as awful at the end as he was at the beginning of his stint at OLB.

 

With Moats developing and Carrington and Troup looking like they might develop into solid 2-gap DL and of course the Dwan Edwards signing.......where does Kelsay fit next season? He is a contributor in a 4-3 only. Those guys are pretty much 3-4 only.

[boyst]

I support Donte and do not get the hate for him on this board. How many players in the league are better then him? Everytime Donte, a SS, is brought up Ed Reed, a FS, and Troy Polamula, the best SS in the game possibly ever are brought up. He is younger, entering his prime and a consistant performer on this team.

 

With Moats developing and Carrington and Troup looking like they might develop into solid 2-gap DL and of course the Dwan Edwards signing.......where does Kelsay fit next season? He is a contributor in a 4-3 only. Those guys are pretty much 3-4 only.

Kelsay's extension made no sense. It was ridiculous. We were in a transistion where the leadership said no one on this roster is safety and shipped two big names quickly yet they give him a huge deal. It sent a horrible message and Donte Whitner is one of the results. Our ILB's, Poz, Ayodele, Merriman, Ellison will all use Kelsey's extension as a bargaining chip. Remember, Kelsey was resigned as a LB. This will haunt us for several years just like Jim Jeffcoat, Eddie George, and Lawyer Milloy.

Edited December 23, 2010 by jboyst62

[Thoner7]

5 mil a year! Thats too much for an average-at-best safety! and he turned it down? Thats like Kelsay turning down his deal, he signed that thing as fast as he could before Buffalo thought about what they were doing. Id suggest Donte do the same thing!

[KOKBILLS]

Both sides, and fans, should be happy with about $6mil

 

 

Right...

[BADOLBILZ]

I support Donte and do not get the hate for him on this board. How many players in the league are better then him? Everytime Donte, a SS, is brought up Ed Reed, a FS, and Troy Polamula, the best SS in the game possibly ever are brought up. He is younger, entering his prime and a consistant performer on this team.

 

The reason Polomalu is brought up is because at SS in the NFL, there are the handful of playmakers and then there are the rest.

 

Donte is in "the rest".

 

If you want a better frame of reference, he is a notch below Yeremiah Bell of the Dolphins, who signed a 4 year $20M deal with $10M guaranteed in 2009.

 

Bell is bigger and more impactful at the LOS and just generally makes more plays and has been to a Pro Bowl. He also accumulates a lot of tackles, despite a lot less opportunities, playing on one of the leagues best run defenses.

 

Judging from Donte's twit about being compared to other players, it's quite possible he was talking about being compared to Bell. If so, that is generous of the Bills.

[In-A-Gadda-Levitre]

Donte made $29M over the past 5 years, so he has earned just under $6m per year. $5M is a paycut.

to simply divide his rookie contract of $29M by the number of years, and compare it with a report that says the Bill's offer is $5M a year offer and he's looking for ~$7M, is just too big of a leap.

 

8/5/2006: Signed a five-year, $29 million contract. The deal includes $13.5 million guaranteed. 2009: $2.355 million, 2010: $2.445 million, 2011: $1.95075 million (Voidable Year), 2012: Free Agent

Who knows what bonus, guaranteed money, escalators, etc. are included with the new deal.

 

The Bills claimed they extended Kelsay because the liked the way he was adapting to OLB. But he wasn't getting better, he was as awful at the end as he was at the beginning of his stint at OLB.

 

With Moats developing and Carrington and Troup looking like they might develop into solid 2-gap DL and of course the Dwan Edwards signing.......where does Kelsay fit next season? He is a contributor in a 4-3 only. Those guys are pretty much 3-4 only.

Nix explained the reason they gave Kelsay an extension, was that he was a part of a core group of players that showed the character of the team.

 

"The thing you don't want to do is take your core guys and your leaders out of your system," Bills general manager Buddy Nix said Thursday, the first time he commented on Kelsay's extension. "We decided, obviously, that we've got four, five or six guys like that. They maybe are not great players, but good players that set the tone for what you want everybody else to be.

 

"Chris Kelsay is a good player. He exemplifies what we want players to do and how we want them to be. So that's the reason he's here."

You probably won't get much argument from the Bills staff that Kelsay is better at a '4-man front DE' than a standup OLB, but they didn't pay him because of his progress at learning a new position.

[BillnutinHouston]

What Whitner has to realize is that it's not about what you SAY you're going to do on the field, it about what you actually DO out there that makes all the difference. I don't think people would have as much of a problem with Whitner if he didn't talk like he was the greatest thing to ever happen to this earth. The bottom line is that he is AVERAGE. And his sense of entitlement is misguided.

 

Teams pay big money to players that have the ability to change the outcome of a game. That's what guys like Polamalu and Reed do out there. They are a threat to force a fumble, intercept a pass, or make a stop on 3rd down every time they take the field.

 

Donte doesn't do that for the Bills. He simply does his job. He makes the tackle down field as a safety should, he has an occasional tackle for loss, and he's intercepted a pass that was poorly thrown by the opposing QB. That's great and he's doing what he's supposed to. But the Bills need to pay guys top dollar that make a difference in winning games. And there are only a few guys like that on every team. I would much rather pay a big free agent like Lamar Woodley of the Steelers or David Harris of the Jets that you see making big plays every week.

 

 

^^ This is the right answer.

[Malazan]

No way I give him 5 million. I'm willing to lose another 'Star' if he wants more than that. I could manage to swallow 5 million a year, but if he thinks that is 'far off' then he is obviously looking for the payday that some team will inexplicably give him in free agency.

[boyst]

The reason Polomalu is brought up is because at SS in the NFL, there are the handful of playmakers and then there are the rest.

 

Donte is in "the rest".

You may be right, but again, how many of the NFL players are "playmakers?"

 

If you want a better frame of reference, he is a notch below Yeremiah Bell of the Dolphins, who signed a 4 year $20M deal with $10M guaranteed in 2009.

 

Bell is bigger and more impactful at the LOS and just generally makes more plays and has been to a Pro Bowl. He also accumulates a lot of tackles, despite a lot less opportunities, playing on one of the leagues best run defenses.

 

Judging from Donte's twit about being compared to other players, it's quite possible he was talking about being compared to Bell. If so, that is generous of the Bills.

Bell signed this deal when he was 31 years old, and is almost 33 now. He was paid on his past performances. He is at the very top of his performance and will not get any better and in fact will continue to decline like he has this year. Donte is 25 years old and will see the Pro Bowl by the age of 31. He will start his 5th season at 26 years old. He is only going to get better with age, unless injured of course. It is the way of the NFL that younger players continue to get more for what they are doing then players have in the past. Am I saying that he should be paid more then $5mil? I cannot answer that. I can only say that Whitner is better then people realize, is a leader on this team as much as Kelsey, and we would be taking a step back to not have him on this team next year.

 

We have 3 great safeties, Wilson, Byrd and Whitner. Why aren't people crying for Youboty to step up, anyway?

[The Big Cat]

 

 

We have 3 great safeties, Wilson, Byrd and Whitner. Why aren't people crying for Youboty to step up, anyway?

 

Because Youboty wasn't the 8th overall pick.

[Dan]

He's a solid player... not great, but certainly good enough to be starting. Not re-signing him creates a hole on a team with several other holes. It's not my money. So.... up the offer to $6mill or give him more guaranteed cash.. I don't really care, just get him re-signed.

 

I really don't understand how fans can blame Ralph for being cheap, but then they immediately start screaming about high salaries being paid to players. The only pertinent question is: are the Bills better with or without Whitner? I say better with him.. .therefore I hope they come to terms.