Two Bills Drive

The club would like to re-sign starting center Bill Conaty (UFA). However, there is no guarantee that LB Sam Cowart will be back. With Cowart poised to draw a lot of attention on the open market, the club will protect its linebacking corps by re-signing RFA Keith Newman. Cowart, who has missed 19 games over the past two seasons, could be replaced by another free agent like Pittsburgh’s Earl Holmes.

@ Jack in Syracuse, Buffalo Bills resident Blue Coat, reports on meeting with Tom Donahoe.

@ Q: How long do you see the team in a rebuilding mode? How long before our salary cap woes are under control? A: The Bills will be out of salary cap trouble in 2002 and I see a bright future for us commencing in 2003 but we are definitely no longer going to get ourselves in cap trouble that has occurred in the last two or three years.

@When Marv Levy made the jump from head coach at William & Mary to assistant coach for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1969, he was thrilled with the $1,000 raise that pushed his salary to $17,000. When he was named head coach of the Buffalo Bills 15 years ago, he negotiated his own deal for $200,000, and in ’96, his last season before retiring, he still was making less than $1 million, even after taking his team to four straight Super Bowls

@When the time arrived for teams to designate franchise and transition players, the game of tag was not played by Donahoe. No franchise tag; no transition tag. No agreement is in sight and, as has been the case over the past couple of years, Bills fans are getting a little edgy as to what’s going on. Bottom line? Cowart is ready to enter the free agent market since it doesn’t seem likely that the two sides will budge. Of course, everything said before the March 1st free agency kicks in is rhetoric, posturing and positioning.

@There’s a stalemate between Cowart and the Bills. Who is right? Who is Wrong? Will they ever get together or will next week arrive and the headline will read – “Sam Cowart tests free agency.” Both sides are peppering the media. Cowart: “I want to stay and play in Buffalo.” Donahoe: “We want Sam Cowart to play with the Buffalo Bills.”

@If you browse around the Internet (i.e. The Stadium Wall), you will read that the Buffalo Bills are in a sticky situation. A team too young, a coaching staff unproven. You can call it criticism or, if you take the approach of a guy like Gregg Williams, you can call it a challenge.

‘"Wegmans is close to reaching sales and market share saturation in New York state, so the reinvestment opportunities are probably better in the new states," he said.’

One player who didn’t get a "franchise" or "transition" tag Thursday, but came close, was Buffalo LB Sam Cowart. The team worked hard on trying to cut a deal with his agent and thought seriously about "tagging" Cowart, then backed off.

The free agent market isn’t going to be strong in general, and specifically for a player like Cowart, who played in just one game in 2001 and is coming off an Achilles injury.

You’ve got to wonder how much New Orleans owner really wants coach Jim Haslett to stick around. The Saints recently offered Haslett a new, four-year contract with salaries of $2 million, $2.5 million, $2.65 million and $3 million. But the final two years of the contract were at the club’s option and Haslett rejected the proposal. There also was a stipulation Haslett could leave for another NFL job provided the Saints were compensated with a third-round draft choice.

If some team really coveted Haslett (like Buffalo in 2003, should Gregg Williams not show progress this year), a third-round choice would be small price to pay for him.

Wegmans partnership breakup includes ticket sales and training camp.

‘Cowart’s agents want his signing bonus paid before the start of the regular season. They’re not demanding he get most of it the day he signs a contract, but they want it all by the time the regular season starts.’

‘Cowart says he wants to stay, but the word around the league is that he wants out. The Bills say they want to keep him, while nudging him toward the door.’

‘Both sides are terming the decision a mutual agreement.’

The Bills are not ready to use their tag on LB Cowart. They want to continue to negotiate. So now they have eight days until Cowart can test the free agent market. At issue: how much of Cowart’s signing bonus should be paid up front. The Bills want to defer payment of much of the bonus until after the season so they can assess his recovery from a torn achilles tendon. His agent, Gene Burrough, says the Bills are essentially looking for a guarantee from Cowart that he’ll never get hurt again. The agent says there’s a 50-50 chance at best that Cowart will re-sign with the Bills.