Mikie2times

His amortized bonus is 1.8 million this year, so if the Bills spread that out evenly with two years remaining his cap hit would be at least 3.5 million. It could be a little more or less depending on when we do it, and how the contract is structured. As for his trade value I would have to say it's slim to none. He might get a few feelers because he has a couple years of potential upside with injury involved, but at this point other teams likely view him as old damaged goods with a hefty price tag.

I watched him in college for N. Illinois several times. I've probably watched about 10 games of him at the pro level. He hits the hole like a freight train and is very difficult to bring down. His build makes it very difficult to even get your arms around him. He's more quick then fast and agile, but he still has the speed to finish runs. He's far from ideal as a pass receiver which makes me question how good a fit he is for us. His arms are very short, his hands are small, and he doesn't catch or run routes very well. He would be a perfect fit for a power rushing team that doesn't utilize its backs as receivers. The Bills are looking for smaller athletic lineman, and a back that’s diverse enough to also play receiver. I don't see him being a great fit for us but he will do very well if he signs with the right team.

I've been watching the guy since N. Illinois, he can't catch worth a crap.

Turners built like bowling ball, and goes downhill as fast as one. The one thing I do question is his diversity. Buffalo wants a guy that can be effective as a receiver, and Turner has short arms with bad hands.. In his three years with the Chargers he's only caught 7 passes. I would avoid him for that and the high draft pick. I do think he will do well if he goes to the right team.

It hasn't made any sense anytime you've said it either. Jauron can call us a cover 2 team but we played almost no cover 2 from the bye on. After the bye we played Nate man up on the team’s number one. Now we lose Nate, and have to return McGee to zone which was a big reason we switched in the first place. How is Dre Bly not a good fit if we want to continue the schemes that did well last year?

How about our #1 for the Giants #1 and #2.

Hmm......... In the commercials he said because he lost weight chicks "dig" him. Maybe he found out it wasn't true.

Wow, if thats what we will give Kelsey I have to think we have a shot at Steinbach or Dielman.

He's right to a degree. Cover 2 corners are somewhat restricted to zone, and that limits the playmaking style of the great corners like Nate or Bly. Bly has come out and said he doesn't want to be restricted in this manner. That said Buffalo all but abandoned the traditional cover 2 look after the bye week. McGee was better in man then zone, and Clements was a waste off talent keeping him in zone underneath. If Buffalo wants to play the same looks as last season they will need to fill Nates shoes with a quality guy.

http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?showt...mp;#entry914192 Also Nate played almost no cover 2 last year. He was straight up man from the bye week on. That type of role is exactly what Bly is looking for.

Marv you hurt my feelings, I don't want to play in my contract year.

The player never sees the last few years of a back loaded contract anyway so that points irrelevant.

Yes you can structure it like this. It's just not a popular format because you need so much cap room and it's not an efficient way to clear immediate cap space. For our situation it would be a very good strategy to employ.

For combat or entertainment?

He never learned to scroll down.

If you have any questions about how contracts are structured this is a great source of information. http://www.falcfans.com/features/capmain.html

I would say that’s a very reasonable and accurate take on things. Good post.

As Cinci pointed out 53*32= 1696 roster spots in this league. Less then 5% of those players will demand a signing bonus in excess of 10 million if they hit the open market. It's probably even less then that. For every Nate Clements Free Agency has 50 John Doe's. John Doe might not win you a championship but neither does dropping 20 million on a FA signing bonus.

Would you say our future is doomed? We seem to disagree most the time but I respect your opinions and feel you’re a very knowledgeable guy when it comes to football. I guess I would be disappointed if you thought that way. All things aside I do see a world of obstacles ahead for the franchise, and I'm very worried about our future. I'm just trying to stay positive by looking at ways we can remain competitive.

I don't disagree but did you see McGee play zone last year? The man was picked on more then a thong.

I'll agree with you I've been saying the same thing for a while. Coverage wise we dumped the cover 2 at the midway point. With the way McGee played zone we needed to. To say I'm concerned about next year’s strategy would be understatement.

He would be stupid not to take deal one, but that’s assuming deal one is even on the table. I'm not making that assumption; I just used it as an example to show that even a wide gap in bonus money can be eliminated with front-loaded base salary. Tweak the numbers a little more and I'll show you a deal that’s more lucrative to the player after just his second year. You can even guarantee the first year of the deal. My point isn't to make our position sound better from a buying perspective, I'm just showing some of the things we can do and how we will still be involved in Free Agency.

If your point is a player would rather get guaranteed money then non guaranteed money your right. If your point is we can’t be competitive under this structure your wrong. The front loaded structure we can layout before a player in base salary can actually be more lucrative an offer then a team that invests more with guaranteed money. Some players will take to it and others won’t but we will still make some very competitive offers. Take two 25 million dollar 5 year deals. A.The first team signs a guy to 10 million dollar bonus and amortizes it over the 5 years. The cost in cap terms would be 2 million per year for the bonus. His base salary is made up of the remaining 15 million on the deal and will be back loaded. It would probably be something like 8% in year 1, 12% in year 2, 20% in year 3, 25% in year 4, and 35% in year 5. The total value of the contract adding in the bonus would be. Year 1- 3.2 Mil Value after first year 11.2 Million Year 2 -3.8 Mil Value after second year 13 Million Year 3 –5.0 Mil Value after third year 16 Million Year 4- 5.75 Mil Value after fourth year 19.75 Million Year 5- 7.25 Mil Value after fifth year 25 Million B.The second team signs a guy to a 2 million dollar bonus and amortizes it over the 5 years. The cost in cap terms would be 400,000 per year for the bonus. His base salary is made up of the remaining 23 million on the deal and will be front loaded. It would probably be something like 25% in year 1, 20% in year 2, 20% in year 3, 20% in year 4 and 15% in year 5. The total value of the contract adding in the bonus would be. Year 1- 6.15 Million Value after First year 7.75 Million Year 2- 5.0 Million Value after Second year 12.35 Million Year 3- 5.0 Million Value after Third year 16.95 Million Year 4- 5.0 Million Value after Fourth year 21.55 Million Year 5- 3.85 Million Value after Fifth year 25 Million By year 3 the second deal is already more lucrative then the first deal. It’s damn near the same after the 2nd year. It’s important that we have a GM people trust because trust is what we will need to convey to players without a lot of guaranteed money. Again all Marv is saying is show me you can play and I’ll pay you well. Some guys will understand that, some won’t but lets not get over dramatic about the situation.

I don't think they do but it's almost irrelevant anyway. If they had a policy that truly covered them from risk the premiums would be just as big a burden as the dead cap would be. It's not uncommon for 10-30% of the annual cap to be made up of dead cap space. The average is around 12% so dead cap will make up over 10 million for the average team this year. Some will pay upwards of 30 million in dead cap. This number doesn't even factor in any base salary that teams pay because they usually keep an injured or uninspired player a few more years if a big bonus is invested.

Talk about a classic example of point 1, look at LeCharles Bentley. 12.5 million dollar signing bonus, all guaranteed. His annual salary being eaten because the investment is to large to just let him walk. When it's all said and done Bentley could cost the Browns 20 million or more for a couple weeks of football.