TD's worst blunder -restructuring Drew

[Albany,n.y.]

All GMs make mistakes, but the one that hurts us next year was the restructuring of Drew & the signing bonus that hurts us in future years. The best part of taking on Drew's NE contract was that if we left it alone it gave us time to evaluate Drew this season & activate the buyout on November 1st. Instead, TD gave him more $ and puts dead space on next year's cap (& possibly 2006 cap if we mitigate it with a 6/2/05 release) When we drafted JP, we had 2 viable options that gave us nothing bad on the cap: Release Drew & take a $0 cap hit. Keep Drew this year & buy him out in November-he would still finish the season under the terms of the contract -the only thing is we'd have to save $2 million on the cap during the season to do it. Instead TD took the shortest sighted thing & restructured the contract. Does anyone think Drew will be back in 2005?

 

Now after the first paragraph, I'm going to defend TD against those who want to fire him. TD has made some bold moves which could very well pay off in 2005. If McGahee gets any more speed back, which he probably will, we're looking at a genuine superstar who TD got at pick 23. Anyone who sees the way he carries tacklers ought to be impressed, & he's still not 100%! If Losman is as good as many of us think, he'll be here for the next decade. TD's 1st draft was excellent, yielding hits on his 1st 5 picks. Now everyone would have done some things differently than TD, but he hasn't been afraid to draft for the future. Personally, I would have drafted McKinnie instead of Fat Mike, & picked up Anthony Weaver instead of Josh "hands" Reed. I also would have taken JP at 13 instead of trading away the picks & found a speed receiver through other means. But overall I think next season will be a great one & all this fire TD talk will be over & done with when he gets a major extension.

[Rico]

All GMs make mistakes, but the one that hurts us next year was the restructuring of Drew & the signing bonus that hurts us in future years.  The best part of taking on Drew's NE contract was that if we left it alone it gave us time to evaluate Drew this season & activate the buyout on November 1st.  Instead, TD gave him more $ and puts dead space on next year's cap (& possibly 2006 cap if we mitigate it with a 6/2/05 release) When we drafted JP, we had 2 viable options that gave us nothing bad on the cap: Release Drew & take a $0 cap hit.  Keep Drew this year & buy him out in November-he would still finish the season under the terms of the contract -the only thing is we'd have to save $2 million on the cap during the season to do it.  Instead TD took the shortest sighted thing & restructured the contract.  Does anyone think Drew will be back in 2005?

87109[/snapback]

Yes, it was a disasterous decision. TD should've just cut his losses and moved on.

Getting fleeced by BB for a #1 pick would've still stung, but nothing compared to what he'll be facing next June when he eats Drew's bonus.

 

I do suspect though that Ralph may have forced TD's hand into giving Drew one more chance.

[Chalkie Gerzowski]

I'm not sure why Buffalo franchises tend to make an error in judgment and then continue with it.....It's like deliberately steering the Titanic into the iceberg because you want to test out the strength of the steel on the ship.

 

Donahoe's hanging on of Bledsoe is akin to Regier's hanging on of Connolly and Pyatt. "BY GEORGE WE WILL SEE THIS THING THROUGH.......SINK OR SINK!!!!!!!!"

 

Always think back to Sam Elliott in "Gettysburg" with his classic lines about what's about to go down......"MOVE IT ALONG......HELP IT FAIL!!!!"

 

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I think by far TDs worse blunder was to hire GW as HC when clearly he was not up to the job. This move cost the Bills his 3 years as HC, and set us back beyind his time which one hopes MM will address but so far it ain't happening.

 

In my mind the trade for Bledsoe was at worst a wash for the Bills up until the time TD made the mistake of resigning him and not going in another direction. While Rico or others may hold that the Bills got fleeced by NE in this trade I don't think this view matches the facts.

 

In essence the Bills got a Pro Bowl reserve for nothing in Bledsoe's first year as we traded the future 1st rounder for him. Given the excitement he brought to WNY about the Bills after they registered a 3-13 record and the fanbase was bruised by the RJ/Flutie dispute, the fact of getting Bledsoe and his 2002 performance where the team improved from 3-13 to 8-8 the Bills profited tremendously from this move on and off the field.

 

Further, the claim of NE fleecing the Bills with this trade is the fact that they sandwiched a year if completely missing the playoffs between 2 SB victories. I'm sure folks have myriad theories for what was different about the 2002 Pats from the 2001 and 2003 SB winners, but i would hold that th impacts of trading Bledsoe and the acceleration of his entire bonus onto their 2002 salary cap was a major factor in that the could neither add the 16 or so players they acquired after June 1, 2001 of their first SB team and nor could they add critical FA acquisitions such as Rodney Harrison that were a key to their 2003 season win.

 

I think many TSW posters place too much importance on the draft as key to producing a winning team. It is important but the Pats have demonstrated with their FA acquisitions and the effect of the Bledsoe cap hit that actually FA acquisitions are the key factor in building a winner. The draft is important, but simply less important than good FA management. Even to the extent the draft is important, it is the selection of 6th rounders like Brady rather than blue-chippers like Seymour which are the key to the draft being important for the Pats.

 

As fatr as the Bills giving up a 1st for Bledsoe, quite frankly given his output in 2002 this was a small and worthwhile price to pay even with his play going completely south the next year. You might want to argue that the PP deal was separate and the Bills would have had two 1st rounders, but the fact remains that in the big picture, the relatively small cost of giving up a 1st rounder for Bledsoe was mitigated by us finding a 2st rounder elsewhere so we had options.

 

As I have long said, going elsewhere for a QB made a lot more sense to me than re-signing Bledsoe, but this blunder stands on its own rather than falsely interpreting what really happened. The blunder of resigning Bledsoe which will cost us a year if we cut him after June 1st 2005 so the accelerated cap hit is distributed is small compared to the 3 year plus hiring GW cost our team.

[Happy Days Lois & Clark]

All GMs make mistakes, but the one that hurts us next year was the restructuring of Drew & the signing bonus that hurts us in future years.  The best part of taking on Drew's NE contract was that if we left it alone it gave us time to evaluate Drew this season & activate the buyout on November 1st.  Instead, TD gave him more $ and puts dead space on next year's cap (& possibly 2006 cap if we mitigate it with a 6/2/05 release) When we drafted JP, we had 2 viable options that gave us nothing bad on the cap: Release Drew & take a $0 cap hit.  Keep Drew this year & buy him out in November-he would still finish the season under the terms of the contract -the only thing is we'd have to save $2 million on the cap during the season to do it.  Instead TD took the shortest sighted thing & restructured the contract.  Does anyone think Drew will be back in 2005? 

 

Now after the first paragraph, I'm going to defend TD against those who want to fire him.  TD has made some bold moves which could very well pay off in 2005.  If McGahee gets any more speed back, which he probably will, we're looking at a genuine superstar who TD got at pick 23.  Anyone who sees the way he carries tacklers ought to be impressed, & he's still not 100%!  If Losman is as good as many of us think, he'll be here for the next decade.  TD's 1st draft was excellent, yielding hits on his 1st 5 picks.  Now everyone would have done some things differently than TD, but he hasn't been afraid to draft for the future. Personally, I would have drafted McKinnie instead of Fat Mike, & picked up Anthony Weaver instead of Josh "hands" Reed.  I also would have taken JP at 13 instead of trading away the picks & found a speed receiver through other means.  But overall I think next season will be a great one & all this fire TD talk will be over & done with when he gets a major extension.

87109[/snapback]

 

 

By Len Pasquarelli

ESPN.com

On another contract front involving a high-profile quarterback, ESPN.com has obtained the figures for the new three-year deal signed by Drew Bledsoe of Buffalo last week, and they show that the team realized a 2004 salary cap savings of $4.18 million by reworking the pact. The three-year contract is worth $18.5 million and drops Bledsoe's cap charge for 2004 from $8.33 million to a much more palatable $4.147 million. Bledsoe, who is coming off the worst season of his career, received a $6.5 million signing bonus. His base salaries will be $2.25 million (for 2004), $3.3 million (2005) and $4.35 million (2006). There are roster bonuses of $1.05 million each for 2005 and 2006. The salary cap charge will rise to $6.5 million for '05 and to $8.316 million for '06, but those are still far less than the cap charges for those seasons under the old contract. As noted here in the past, Bledsoe was due an option bonus of $7 million by Nov. 1 of this year to trigger the 2005-2007 segment of the contract he originally signed with the New England Patriots in 2001. Had the Bills agreed to pay that option bonus, Bledsoe would have been compensated in 2004 to the tune of $13 million and would have earned $25.5 million 2004-2006. But it is very doubtful, given his 2003 performance, that the Bills organization would have made such a huge commitment. Instead, the club likely would not have made the $7 million option payment in November and Bledsoe would have become an unrestricted free agent next spring. That fate, as players like Kerry Collins and Kurt Warner might attest, isn't nearly as attractive as it once might have been. So Bledsoe and the Bills made a mutually beneficial move. Bledsoe will still earn $8.75 million this year, hardly chump change, and the Bills get to keep the 11-year veteran around, probably for at least two more seasons, to help tutor heir apparent J.P. Losman.

 

As horrible as Bledsoe played in 2003, I certainly would have to say that Donahoe made a mistake with the contract extension. I'm not saying that I totally disagreed at the time of giving Bledsoe an extension but I felt the #'s were too high.

 

I also liked Anthony Weaver instead of Josh Reed with that 2nd round pick. Although many mock drafts had Josh Reed going in the first round, many mock drafts also had Weaver going in the first round too.

In hindsight it was an extremely bad draft for Donahoe.

http://www.gbnreport.com/2002draft.htm

[KOKBILLS]

Yes, it was a disasterous decision. TD should've just cut his losses and moved on.

Getting fleeced by BB for a #1 pick would've still stung, but nothing compared to what he'll be facing next June when he eats Drew's bonus.

 

I do suspect though that Ralph may have forced TD's hand into giving Drew one more chance.

87120[/snapback]

 

Agreed...No doubt about it...

 

I wonder what Ralph's influence was...I know he was vocal in favor of Bledsoe at the end of last season...But the chance to get out of that Deal with ZERO Cap ramifications still should have trumped all loyalty, even the Owners...It was just too good an opportunity to further build this Roster, especially on the O-Line... B)

[Justice]

I knew this topic would get started.

[AJ1]

I think by far TDs worse blunder was to hire GW as HC when clearly he was not up to the job.  This move cost the Bills his 3 years as HC, and set us back beyind his time which one hopes MM will address but so far it ain't happening.

 

In my mind the trade for Bledsoe was at worst a wash for the Bills up until the time TD made the mistake of resigning him and not going in another direction.  While Rico or others may hold that the Bills got fleeced by NE in this trade I don't think this view matches the facts.

 

In essence the Bills got a Pro Bowl reserve for nothing in Bledsoe's first year as we traded the future 1st rounder for him.  Given the excitement he brought to WNY about the Bills after they registered a 3-13 record and the fanbase was bruised by the RJ/Flutie dispute, the fact of getting Bledsoe and his 2002 performance where the team improved from 3-13 to 8-8 the Bills profited tremendously from this move on and off the field.

 

Further, the claim of NE fleecing the Bills with this trade is the fact that they sandwiched a year if completely missing the playoffs between 2 SB victories.  I'm sure folks have myriad theories for what was different about the 2002 Pats from the 2001 and 2003 SB winners, but i would hold that th impacts of trading Bledsoe and the acceleration of his entire bonus onto their 2002 salary cap was a major factor in that the could neither add the 16 or so players they acquired after June 1, 2001 of their first SB team and nor could they add critical FA acquisitions such as Rodney Harrison that were a key to their 2003 season win.

 

I think many TSW posters place too much importance on the draft as key to producing a winning team.  It is important but the Pats have demonstrated with their FA acquisitions and the effect of the Bledsoe cap hit that actually FA acquisitions are the key factor in building a winner.  The draft is important, but simply less important than good FA management.  Even to the extent the draft is important, it is the selection of 6th rounders like Brady rather than blue-chippers like Seymour which are the key to the draft being important for the Pats.

 

As fatr as the Bills giving up a 1st for Bledsoe, quite frankly given his output in 2002 this was a small and worthwhile price to pay even with his play going completely south the next year. You might want to argue that the PP deal was separate and the Bills would have had two 1st rounders, but the fact remains that in the big picture, the relatively small cost of giving up a 1st rounder for Bledsoe was mitigated by us finding a 2st rounder elsewhere so we had options.

 

As I have long said, going elsewhere for a QB made a lot more sense to me than re-signing Bledsoe, but this blunder stands on its own rather than falsely interpreting what really happened.  The blunder of resigning Bledsoe which will cost us a year if we cut him after June 1st 2005 so the accelerated cap hit is distributed is small compared to the 3 year plus hiring GW cost our team.

87263[/snapback]

 

Donahoe compounded his first error in QB selection (RJ instead of Flutie) by the Bledsoe trade. The 8 great games in 2002 do not balance the mess since. The lack of perception by TD has directly put this franchise in trouble. Any boneheaded contributor on this board could have done as well.

[obie_wan]

Donahoe compounded his first error in QB selection (RJ instead of Flutie) by the Bledsoe trade.  The 8 great games in 2002 do not balance the mess since.  The lack of perception by TD has directly put this franchise in trouble.  Any boneheaded contributor on this board could have done as well.

87380[/snapback]

 

All bad things can be traced back to Detroit's surprise decision to draft Joey harrington at #3, right before the Bills.

 

Teflon Tom had structured his entire re-buidling plan around drafting Joey H at #4, including the timeline of giving him a couple of years to mature.

 

when Detroit picked him at #3, TD panicked and grasped at what he thought was the least risky pick at that point- Fat Mike. The proper plan should have been to trade down, but no TD had not explored any serious trade talks because he was set on taking Joey H. The extra pick could have produced an interior OL. Drafting a run blocking RT at #4 who had never played LT was a huge mistake from the moment the card was handed in due to the huge cap hit for a RT. At least McKinney was a LT.

 

Things got worse when TD worked out plan B to get Drew to replace the lost Joey H. Too bad that the the pass protection that Drew desperately needs would never be coming from Fat Mike. Mike Pearson shoould have been the pick to play LT in the 2nd round- instead of Josh Reed.

 

Redoing Drew's contract for more money was complete arrogance when combined with the acquisition of Losman for 3 draft picks. Worse is that TD did not use the deferred cap savings to bring in any quality OL to protect Drew and fuel the running game.

 

Teflon Tom - too many arrogant moves- not enough production

[sidbuff]

I talk to alot of PATSIE fans and they said that watching Drew play us reminds them of how he made the same mistakes when he played for them back in NE.

 

He F*** up when the pressure is on. EIther by not producing in the RED ZONE or falling behind in points.

 

He just doesn't play good when he is loosing.

[Guest BillsRebound]

The numbers of that contract point to Bledsoe probably being here one more year. Cutting him at the end of this year only results in a $2m savings, and despite his obvious declining skills, Drew is a professional and I'm sure he would help in the development of JP.

[Guest Guest_dogbyte_*]

If Drew is demoted to backup, I think you will see him retire. I do not see him doing the Tom Brady thing again with JP. He will either play or retire

[Rico]

The numbers of that contract point to Bledsoe probably being here one more year.  Cutting him at the end of this year only results in a $2m savings, and despite his obvious declining skills, Drew is a professional and I'm sure he would help in the development of JP.

87429[/snapback]

And if JP gets hurt, we're in the same mess all over again.

Drew needs to leave town.