RealityCheck

I get it. When a question is asked a quick assumption needs to be made. If your attitude and reading comprehension are indicative of the former players that Joe is referring to then that is likely part of their problem and why relatively little of the NEWLY earned money is being given to them. Perhaps I missed something but I have not witnessed any NFL fans banning together in any tangible economic fashion to pressure the league on this matter. When you spend your money on a product you condone the manner in which it is manifest. In case you haven't noticed you vote with how you spend your money.

Interesting imagination you have there. I made no reference to there not being enough money for retired players. That is obviously not the issue. The issue is that the current players and former players are at odds on this. Year in and year out many issues are addressed which may or may not become a priority come contract time. That is the beauty of collective bargaining. There were many opportunities for these guys to address these issues and for whatever reason they signed on the dotted line and willfully accepted the terms. Personally I would love to see the current players step in and make concessions to these guys but it is not my right to impose my ethical perspective on what they should do. As a fan of hard working men and women and having intimate knowledge of collective bargaining agreements I feel that something is missing from Joe D's argument. What about the players from his era vs. the retired players before him. I would love to know the consensus back in his day concerning the welfare of prior players. The greatest irony I see when people complain about pensions and retirement investment returns is that the American monetary policy is actually at the heart of why it will never be enough. The purposeful devaluation of the American dollar makes it artificially difficult to extract that money (plus taxes) upon retirement and have it be enough if you are blessed with living for a while. The inflation tax that no one ever talks about is the real killer of retirement plans.

Your voice means something when you are economically viable. No one cares what you have to say when you are not. The retired players had their opportunities many times over when active to negotiate better deals for themselves. It is what it is. If you can't manage your life more money taken from someone else will not help.

Interesting how you don't equate college tuition to a ticket students can't afford. Tuition is insane and is the primary tax that supports those college sports programs. Since most college students require huge loans is it safe to say that college tuition lending institutions are the real underwriters of college sports? How many Bills fans have to take out loans to watch Bills games?

Stevie is a good receiver, he just isn't great. 6 million a year, sure. Is he worth 9 million a year, I just don't see it. It will be interesting how the rest of the league values him. For his sake financially I hope he doesn't end up like Dante.

As I recall the other 2 heads of our alleged 3 headed monster at the time were injured since game 1 of preseason. Lynch was far from 100% for game 1 and Fred had a cast on his hand. I agree that Spiller was not ready for prime time and he owns that himself, but if you were to refresh your memory somewhat you might find that Spiller was the only sensible option to start those first few weeks despite his ineffectiveness.

Most American auto insurance companies don't cover that for a reason.

2000 yards from scrimmage total, sure. I just don't see the total rushing attempts going up until the offense starts hitting some big plays downfield. I love the optimism though.

Considering our current talent level at DE I don't see a reason to get rid of Merriman before camp unless he is injured.

To the OP, the combine makes a lot of people a lot of money and promotes further NFL propaganda. You don't really explain your perception that money is being wasted.

I am aware of all that, I am asking how that affects when he can be signed.

Gaither-again?

This seems like a non-story in the sense that at no time in this process has Manning stated a willingness to restructure his deal. In this particular game of chicken Irsay has been and will continue to be the one that HAS to make a decision. Manning can sit back and either get paid or be given a weeks time to line up teams for another pay day. I don't care if this guy is in a wheel chair, at least a few teams will be willing to pay a king's ransom for his services.If it is not about the money for him then I would think that landing on a playoff team would be a real possibility. By the way, if Manning gets cut before FA does that allow for him to sign with another team before the official start of FA due to being cut?

I can see it now, the Bills will keep staying well under the cap and keep rolling over the unused number until they are only 7 or 8 players away and then bang! They do what the Eagles did last year in FA but even more so and then another bang! A triumphant return to 7 and 9.

Our o-line is a paper tiger. It appears that most fans feel that way at least. One thing that bothers me about the O-line regardless of statistics is that when I watch these guys block there is always at least 1 of them that gets blown up in a hurry. The few times I have seen Fitz actually sit in the pocket it usually does not end well. The O-line is clearly getting better, but I would not mistake that for being good. The fact that they can't stay healthy might be a result of being physically overmatched on a way too often basis. It's the difference in lifting between doing 3 sets of 10 with weight you can handle and doing 3 sets of 10 doing nothing but negatives. These guys always appear to be in over their heads physically. Whatever Fitz ultimately becomes is unknown, but outside of FJ it seems that everybody on offense is underachieving.

Another poster last week mentioned this rule also, and if I remember correctly he stated that injuries only have to be reported if said player is not available for organized team activities. If he makes it to the practice field perhaps that allowed for a little subterfuge. Perhaps not. I don't know the rule myself but it would appear that if Fitz was going to start a specific game that it would be to his advantage if the opposing team was unaware of his injury. If Fitz was injured I am happy that they lied about.

If only that were true. Jouron just can't be killed with Earthly weapons.

I am sure you feel better about yourself now.

Who signed Fred's contract? Whoever that was is responsible for the outcome. I just fail to see how Fred is somehow a victim or is getting screwed. For whatever reason it took him till very late in his career to blossom. The way the world works is that infinite things happen simultaneously which affect everything. Fred was a backup RB at the time and apparently agreed that signing the contract was in his best interest. I just don't see the reason behind portraying his situation as being one of getting screwed. Fred took a while to play his best football and 30 will always be 30 as an NFL RB. If his age plays into the contract talks then it is what it is. As a fan of his I just hope that he has a good team in place on his behalf. I know that it's 2012 but people are still responsible for their own lives.

You're basically saying Fred screwed himself. It's his responsibility to acquire proper representation, no one else's.

I must be missing something. The quotes in the article from Nix were made weeks ago. Nothing has changed since then. No buddy said that they would extend Fred. Saying you will negotiate with Fred does not mean you will extend him. I just don't see the Bills paying him serious money or Fred excepting their offers too quickly. Talking about a deal and getting it done are 2 different things.

I say patience. It's only a matter of time before we get him off the waiver wire for nothing.

That got my attention too. Being rich and horny isn't cool anymore?

Refresh my memory gentlemen. When Chan first got here, wasn't the plan on offense to have Lynch and Fred in a lot of 2 back sets until they both got hurt in game 1 of the preseason. For some reason I remember that being the talk at the start of camp that year. If that is true I wonder if they would go for it now.