jahnyc

Your reasoning is correct. Unfortunately, my sense is that this cash to cap concept is being implemented for this year without giving effect to prior years. The Bills will end up significantly under this year's cap (and in future years as well) if ithey implement and adhere to cash to cap spending.

I think the intended audience of the "presser" was the nfl hierarchy and big revenue teams. The message is clear: the lack of agreement on revenue sharing among the nfl teams has put the Bills in the position of being unable to compete with regard to signing bonuses to retain players or to sign free agents. The press has picked up on the cash to cap concept and it is highlighted on the Buffalo Bills website. This is no accident. .

Harper (cb) from the Indy Colts.

Nate needs to be re-signed. As Bill from NYC noted, we cannot continue to be the dog chasing its tail (which we would be if Clements leaves and we draft another cb in the first round of the draft). The Bills were a little better than anticipated last year, and there is some hope for next season and the forseeable future. But to continue to improve, the team needs to stop being in the position of having to fill major holes each offseason and instead focus on upgrading the roster and developing depth. If the Bills lose Clements, Fletcher, and Kelsay, there is little chance that between free agency and the draft that the Bills will be able to find replacements or upgrade cb, middle lb, guards, te, right tackle, dt, fb, and wr (a true number 2). A couple of other points: 1. If the Bills don't re-sign Clements, it does not guarantee that they will use the money elsewhere (i.e., guard). 2. An average to above average free agent cb will cost at least $5 million per year. 3. A cb drafted with the number 12 pick in the draft will end up costing the Bills a lot of money in terms of bonus and base salary. 4. The quality of free agents seems to decline each year, because most teams are using cap money to re-sign their own players (Fletcher, Clements and Kelsay will be among the top free agents available this year).

Very good points. I have wondered why the Bills are not more creative with their contracts. They could be pay guaranteed roster bonuses or other guaranteed bonuses to reduce the upfront bonus cost. The problem I have with the current approach is that the Bills will always be filling more holes than most teams and trying to replace their top players, because they will be the ones we cannot afford to re-sign. As you noted, what it means is that we will need to be better than the other teams in finding talent.

From the perspective of the fans, the only reason not to sign Clements would be if the Bills used that money for other free agents while spending close to the full amount available under the cap. With the amount of cap space available, the Bills could re-sign Clements and acquire other top free agents (i.e., Steinbach/Dielman, Graham with room for more). Unfortunately, this would not be consistent with the economic and political realities of the Bills' situation. Actually, the political issues concern me more than anything else. I doubt that RW will re-sign Clements and make a splash in free agency while he is confronting the other owners about the plight of the small market teams and revenue sharing. It is a shame that these issues have not been resolved yet. If they had been resolved, RW may have had more potential freedom in terms of economics and politics to pursue top free agents. It also will be unfortunate if the Bills do not take advantage of their available cap space for reasons related to strategy. They could utilize cap money now to manage future years, providing the team with cap flexibility for the forseeable future.

I also read that Hall fared poorly against Ted Ginn (Ohio State) and D. Jarrett (USC). I watched parts of both games, and if he was the primary cover defender for Ginn and Jarrett, then I would agree with that assessment.

From what I could tell, he seemed to be the best cb during the last college football season, but the reports from the Senior Bowl suggest that he does not have elite speed. I am getting the feeling that there may not be a cb prospect worth taking at #12, but we will see.

Must be a typo. Interesting that Baxter and Henry each received signing bonuses in excess of $10 million. Clements is a superior cb. I would expect with the majority of teams significantly under the cap, he will get at least a $12 million signing bonus (and possibly $15 million or more). Bills need to step up.

I can't see the Patriots letting Asante go. They will either re-sign him, franchise him or get compensation for him. I still don't understand why the Bills agreed to not franchise Nate for a second year.

After I read the article about KC re-signing Gonzalez, my reaction was that the Bills need to re-sign Clements. It will be expensive, but all of our other options are expensive either in terms of dollars or consequences (or both). The Bills do not have a player that is ready to step in and replace Clements and the Bills will overpay for any available free agent cb because of the amount of salary cap space available throughout the league. Would you rather pay Nick Harper four or five million a year or pay Clements seven (particularly when the Bills have the cap space to sign Clements and other free agents)? I would rather pay Clement seven million. The other consideration is that McGee is not a #1 corner and had some problems last year. The Bills could draft a cb in the first round, but the #12 pick will end up with a big contract (and big bonus) and will be unproven. I hope the Bills have learned from their mistake in failing to re-sign Pat Williams. As many have noted, most teams have or will re-sign their own free agent players. In a year with few good free agents available, the Bills will be one of the only teams losing quality players (Clements, Fletcher and Kelsay).

I think Kelsay will be back, but NC and Fletcher will leave. It will be a shame to lose them, particularly NC. He is young, healthy and physical (helps in run support). The Bills may be able to replace Fletcher, who has played extremely well, but the bottom line is that it will be nearly impossible to fill NC's spot with a comparable player next year. This will be a big loss for the Bills.

Dielman would be a great addition, but I think he will be really expensive, particularly since the other highly rated guard to be a free agent (Manuwai), was re-signed by the Jags.

He will go to the highest bidder and will not give the Bills a discount on his services. I believe that as a part of the one-year tender that Clements signed for 2006, language was included providing that the Bills would not franchise Clements in 2007 (i.e., it is memorialized in an agreement).

That sucks. I was hoping to watch the game at home on Sunday.

Clearly, the Bills have enough cap space to re-sign Clements. The question is whether RW/Bills have enough cash to pay the signing bonus. The Bills need to re-sign Clements. He is a very good player, relatively young and there is no player on the roster that is ready to start at cb.

1. TD's departure (and MM's resignation and the retention of a new head coach and staff) lowered expectations for this year and allowed the Bills to play their rookies and young players, giving them the opportunity to develop. JP and our rookie class of draft picks are the primary beneficiaries. 2. The 2006 draft produced a number of quality players (at least after their first year). Whitner started well, but he has not made many plays over the last half of this season. We will see if Whitner can play to the level expected of a #8 overall pick in the draft in the next number of years. 3. I have a feeling that Ellison will end up being the best pick from the 2006 draft. 4. I wonder if RW will be very restrained in free agency in light of his efforts to get appropriate revenue sharing for small market teams. 5. I think Jauron and his coaches have done a very good job. New schemes (offense and defense), many rookie starters and contributors, some injuries, and yet the team was in most every game and had a shot at the playoffs. Even some players that seemed like busts (JP, Denney, Reed, Parrish) performed better this year. 6. Very disappointing that Clements is a free agent and likely will not re-sign with the Bills. Losing Winfield, Williams and probably Clements really hurts. If we lose Fletcher and Kelsay as well, I can see the Bills drafting heavy on defense again this year, with a CB as the number one pick.

I recently read an article that stated that there were six teams (including the Bills) who would have more than $30 million in cap space going into next offseason. The article also noted that there were about 14 teams with more than $20 million in cap space. Other articles have suggeste that this years crop of free agents is very weak. Clements will be a hot commodity and sign a huge contract.

Although the Bills defense does not have great statistics, they generally have been able to keep the team in most games. That may not be the case this week. McCargo and Crowell are out for the year. Whitner and McGee are at best questionnable. Ellison does not seem to be at full speed and Wire may start at LB. Simpson and Williams are still rookies. The Jets scored a lot of points against the Packers. Our offense needs to step it up this week and score points. It is time for them to lead the team.

I would be really happy with J. Long. The Bills have no running game. I am not sure whether that is the guards or the RT, but Long will be an upgrade at either position.

1. I see many negative posts about the coaching, but the Bills played hard and were in the game until the end against a very strong team. Adjustments were made at half-time, and the overall performance of the Bills significantly improved in the second half. Yes, two timeouts are inexcusable, but I think the coaching is has been solid throughout the season. 2. Although the pass protection has improved dramatically, run blocking by the o-line is still poor. I expect much more when the Bills are playing at home. The Bills still need to upgrade the o-line in the offseason. 3. I am wondering if Whitner and Simpson have hit the wall in their first season as somethimes happens with rookies. They are not making plays. Clements looks great. As others have noted, he needs to be re-signed, even if very expensive. 4. Not to be controversial or disagree with my sense of what the majority seems to think, I thought JP had a bad game. Yes, he made some first downs with some nice scrambles, but many of his throws were poor and San Diego dropped at least three easy interceptions. 5. The Bills need a starting DT who can stuff the run. McCargo may become a good DT, but he is not this type of a player.

I really liked Marlon. I thought he was going to be a very solid cb for the Bills for many years. I remember that he hurt one or both knees covering a punt or kick-off. This may have been after he tore the acl in one of his knees the year before. A real shame.

I agree. I was shocked that he called a pass play. If the Texans had run the ball and not made the first down, it still would have forced the Bills to use their last timeout. A terrible call by Kubiak.

Yes, free agent acquisitions generally have not worked out well. I still don't understand why the Bills paid Price such a large signing bonus (or why they signed him). I like our draft choices and many are getting valuable playing time. I also think that Levy and Jauron have been a breath of fresh air compared to the TD regime. I do think that Marv needs to take a hard look at the Bills' free agent talent evaluators. I believe they are the same people that TD hired, and they have made poor recommendations over a number of years. It is time to get some new people.

Does not look like a good list to me. Stienbach should be targeted, although there will be a lot of competition to sign him.