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Jauron is all about defense and he treats his players with respect and dignity. That's why we re-signed OL Aaron Gibson and RB Anthony Thomas. He treats his players the right way. That's been Marv's MO also. Let this year unfold and the players see their working enviroment. Sprinkle in some modest success and the players will buy in to what Coach is selling. If Clements shows his ability, Buffalo will show him the money. When it's all over and done with Nate will want to stay. He already has stated that he wants to finish his career in Buffalo. This team is going to be fine.

I'm sorry to crap in the punch bowl, but nc is taking the money and running. Over the next 15 months he stands to deposit about 25 mill in his bank account. Marv is going to pony up this year, but with Mcgee's recent contract as well as the three new rooks, he is simply renting. Da playmaker doesn't care about the team or our poor souls, he's eye efin all those zeros dancing in his head.

Marv has set himself up to succeed with the drafting of Youboty...and Whitner. He's got Nate locked in for a year, and if Youboty fails to produce, or isn't ready, he will negotiate a long term deal with Nate, and give Youboty time to grow. Look at McGee....very good DB, great return guy. He'll be corner number 2 for a while. Clements stays for a year, we've got 2 very good corners a talented rookie learning the ropes, and other capable backups.

I just thought I'd bring these two guys to everyone's attention. As both have a history playing under Perry Fewell in St. Louis. Of the two, I think Fisher has the more likelyhood of joining the Bills as Groce was an UFA last offseason and we didn't pursue him. Also Fisher is the better player and had his finest season (2003) when Fewell was the DB coach of the Rams. Of course one has to be concerned with his inabilty to stay healthy the last three seasons. While I don't think he's in Nate's class he might feel he can be a starting CB. Groce on the other hand has been a career nickel/dime CB. He could fill the same role here but don't expect us really lose Thomas but if we do always good to look at alternatives. Just thought I'd post something while was researching UFAs available. Feel free to add your thoughts/feelings.

Unrestricted free agent cornerback Nate Clements joined the Howard Simon Show to speak about where he'll be playing next year, what's important to him, and the Bills. Clements said there haven't been any discussions between his agent and the Bills, nor anything during the season. He said he isn't surprised by the lack of contact, and that there's no rush since he's waited so long to be an unrestricted free agent. "Free agency hasn't really started, plus towards the end of the season (they said) they made sure they would keep in contact with me," Clements said. Clements said there's a chance he could be back in a Bills uniform, but that he has an agreement with the team that Buffalo will apply the franchise tag to him. "There's definitely a chance I'll be back," he said. "I took care of my part on the field. I'm just letting the chips fall in place now." "This is where I started my career. They gave me the opportunity and I've been used to the atmosphere, used to playing for just one team. The business part of it, financially, they're capable of keeping me if they want." The average salary of the top five paid cornerbacks in 2006 was $5.8 million. The top ten paid: 4.7 million. In 2004, Denver's Champ Bailey signed the largest contract for a corner in NFL history at seven years, $63 million. Of the 2006 free agents, the largest contract went to Charles Woodson of Green Bay, who signed for seven years, $52 million, including a $10.5 million signing bonus. Other corners who received notable signing bonuses are Antoine Winfield ($11 million), Anthony Henry ($11.6 million) and Gary Baxter ($10.5 million). Clements said it isn't all about the money, that winning and his family are a big part of the equation. "It's a consideration, as far as going to a team that's already been there, or one step away from the Super Bowl," he said. "I'm a competitor and I hate losing. I just love to win." Clements feels the Bills have the intensity to win, that season felt the same as 2004, when they missed the playoffs by one game. He also said Buffalo plays another role in his decision. "It's a lot different for me than it was five, six years ago," he said. "I have to factor in my family. This could be probably the last contract of my career." On the rumors of his joining Gregg Williams and Jerry Gray in Washington, he said there's definitely a possibility because of the history. He said there's no team, division or conference where he wouldn't play. In 96 career games, the sixth-year corner out of Ohio State has recorded 447 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 87 passes defended, 23 interceptions and 13 forced fumbles. He's returned 5 interceptions for touchdowns, and also returned a punt for six points. Clements has suited up for every game of his career in Buffalo. His season-high for tackles was 81, in 2005, while his high mark for interceptions is six, in 2002 and 2004. The only year he didn't return a pick for a touchdown is 2005. The former first round, 21st overall pick made his only Pro Bowl in 2004.

In the spirit of keeping some focus this off season and avoiding duplicate threads and off-topic posts (as mentioned in another thread ), I'm opening this thread as a place for discussion of Nate Clements, his contract situation, his value, and our alternatives at corner. My opinion is that keeping Nate would be great all things being equal, but with the monster contract he is going to be after (and likely get), he probably does not represent value to the Bills, and we probably have to shed a tear and let him walk. If so, one option is staying with what we have, and hoping Youboty can step into those big shoes, with McGee staying at the other Corner and KT or someone new as the nickel. The worry there is that Youboty was unable to crack our lineup much this year after his slow start, and that might be more responsibility than he can handle this soon. The second option is signing another less expensive free agent corner from a list that includes: Asante Samuel UFA New England Patriots Ken Hamlin, UFA, Seattle Seahawks Roc Alexander, RFA, Denver Broncos Jordan Babineaux, RFA, Seattle Seahawks Jason David, RFA, Indianapolis Colts Randall Gay, RFA, New England Patriots Nick Harper, UFA, Indianapolis Colts David Macklin, UFA, Arizona Cardinals The third main option is drafting a corner high, which I hope we don't do unless there is really exceptional value. I would rather see the first day picks go to the lines, maybe linebacker, and other positions only if they blow us away as the best football talent available at our draft slot. Drafting a planned need can greatly reduce the value you get unless you are lucky. So the question arises what is a fair price for Nate? How high can we go before we have to forget about it? I think Marv should figure that out and make his highest offer pretty early, rather than try to get into a bidding war when Nate is closer to phone calls from Daniel Snyder, etc. I was rooting for Youboty all year, but was very disappointed that he wasn't able to get more playing time away from McGee and KT who are solid but not stellar DBs. Have at it guys, and hopefully this thread can grow long and stay on topic, and we can avoid duplicate threads about the Nate/CB situation.

If we can't afford Nate Clements with 35 million in cap room, who can? Just sign him. I guess we should let London go back to St. Louis. I'll miss his downfield tackling. Willis can go. He's a thug. I've never liked the guy. He's a friggin' thug. How can you possibly ask for a renegotiation when you couldn't come up with 33 yards to get 1000? He's not a character guy. We'll get a 3rd for him. He's only had one breakaway run in 3 years. Lose him. I don't think we're far away from the playoffs. Let Marv build us up.

Asante Samuel played himself into a Washington Redskins uniform last night (and throughout the playoffs) and into Dan Snyder's wallet. Clements value had taken a drop as it's clear that Samuels will not only test the FA market but likely bolt from the Pats. http://www.silive.com/sports/advance/index....xml&coll=1 (see bottom 3rd of article) Samuel, who had 10 interceptions in the regular season, had two picks in the postseason. He has a total of 19 interceptions, regular season and postseason, in a four-year career. He wants big money. He said the Patriots have balked. "We've talked about a new contract," Samuel said last week. "What they offered isn't even worth discussing. It's disappointing. You want to believe they know what you've done, so you hope for the best, but you end up feeling underappreciated. You feel disrespected, especially how they come at you with so much negative stuff. "I took it personally, at first. You'd think I would have been around this team long enough to realize it's all about business."

Dear Ralphy Boy, Remember when we had that Super Bowl run those 4 years. Remember how successful we were by KEEPING our top players in their prime and not letting other teams strengthen themselves with OUR drafted talent. Heck, it was actually longer then 4 years because we were good right before that 4 year run and right afterwards as well. Anyway, I know we haven't sold out a couple of games and all lately and thats really no excuse, but please start investing heavily in the OL and DL like you used to and for heavens sake, don't let our one and only true shutdown corner walk with plans of unproven Ashton Youboty taking over. You know what that means Ralphie, don't you?? It means OPEN UP THE DAMN POCKETBOOK! Yes, I know there was a time we had salary cap problems and all but that was spending stupidly on middle of the road players or guys past their prime. I much rather flirt with salary cap hell then be sitting home watching the playoffs year after year after year. We are finally on the right course now. Its not a time to take any steps BACKWARDS! Even though you majorly screwed up for letting Bill Polian go. Even though you made another blunder by picking Tom "Bonehead" Donahue to run the team so he could pick the likes of Mike (I want my mommy) Williams and Willis (what down is it) McGahee with a 24 year old Travis Henry on our team. I still "might" be able to forgive you if only you could field us, once again, a Super Bowl caliber team. We all know it starts up front and adding a Steinbach to our team for the OL sure would help. Trading up this year to get an extra first round pick might not be bad if you could "HIT" on a bad ass DT to help sew up our run defense. I will miss the awesome play of Fletcher but its time to go with youth at that position and Patrick Willis would be a nice fit. If you don't go with Patrick Willis, at least get us a top notch WR to complement Lee Evans and also give us some much needed red zone size like a Dwayne Jarrett. Adding that big red zone target could only help Losman's development. Daniel Graham would be a much needed TE upgrade after you blew it by overpaying a below average TE Robert Royal last year. Signing Daniel Graham should not be outrageous money and I can't remember the last time we had a solid TE. Oh yeah, Pete Metz during our Super Bowl run. Nate Clements, gotta resign him. It is so hard to find a lockdown corner in his prime capable of taking the other team's #1 receiver out of the game but essentially thats what he did this past year. Those kind of players are so hard to replace. I know, I know, your probably saying................how are we gonna afford all this? Well, if the SORRY ASS Redskins can be in salary cap hell EVERY YEAR and still go out and sign big free agents, we have to be able to find a way to do some serious "but smart" spending as well with all our cap room. The only difference being the Skins spend foolishly on their overrated free agents, we need to spend, but spend wisely on some "proven" talent without mortgaging our future because we all know how important it will be to keep the likes of Losman and Evans when they are free agents in a couple of years. Ok, so I will wait and see if you're going to step up to the plate and keep this team heading on the right track, or are you going to continue to be ultra conservative and let our top players walk away in their prime and then spend all our extra money on the Robert Royals of the world. If you go the wrong way on us Ralphie Boy, I can't guarantee the fans will show up and sell out the stadium each week like you and I both want. The fans need something to cheer for and you are in the strongest position to make that possible. Jauron and Levy were a good start with turing around the mess you created, NOW FINISH FIXING THE MESS BY BRINGING US HOME A SUPER BOWL WINNER!!!! SHOW ME THE MONEY RALPH!!!!!!!

He will become an unrestricted free agent, so he is absolutely free to go whereever he wants. I wonder if he will give the Bills the chance to match. Anybody remember Cornelius "Benedict Arnold" Bennett, who promised he'd give the Bills the right to match, so don't bother tagging me....and then just signed with Atlanta? What Nate and the Bills agreed to last year was a mutual risk. Nate was coming off a pretty bad year, and he wasn't going to get market value. The Bills were willing to pay him the Franchise Tag amount for a one year deal, and he went out and had himself a pretty good year. Did he make the Pro Bowl? No. Did he make All-Pro? No. Then why does he think he should be the highest paid corner in the league? I'd make him a really good offer, and hope to sign him. Maybe 5 years, 42 million or something. If that won't work, tell him good luck...if you don't mind, run the numbers past us before you sign, we want you on the team, but that's what we have right now. And see what happens. Will somebody pay him the huge dollars? He had a really good year. Not a great year.

I am going with either Cap room or finding a replacement for Youbooty.

.... please someone take him off our hands right now!!!! http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=ApRz...=yhoo&type=lgns

McFarland Was On Bills' Radar: Many thought that when the Colts traded for DT Anthony McFarland from the Bucaneers that he would have been a great fit for the Bills. He did play in the Tampa 2 which the Bills defense is based on. As it turns out, according to a report from the Sporting News, the Bills were interested in him. The report says the Bills were looking at trading Nate Clements to Tampa Bay for McFarland. When the trade fell through, the Bucs sent him to Indy for a 2nd round pick. The Bills would not part with such a high draft pick since there 2nd will be much higher then the Colts pick. They were probably willing to part with Clements since he is most definitely gone in the offseason as a free agent when they agreed to not use the franchise tag on him again. The Bills then went to plan B and traded for Anthony Hargrove who was in on two tackles in his Bills' debut yesterday.

For some reason my internet isn't working all that well and I'm having trouble loading almost every website, but the Wall is working OK (can't get on Nfl.com or cbssportsline.com). Can anybody get some Champ Bailey vs Nate Clements stats (for their careers) I have to win an argument (who has more total TDs but could use all stats). Thanks in advance to anyone who responds.

linky

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2362994 I didnt know that Nate just got an extra 1.3 million !!! So I guess we have less to spend. From ESPN : The Minnesota Vikings lifted the transition designation on cornerback Brian Williams after a recalculation of the one-year tender based on changes in the new collective bargaining agreement. The new CBA calls for the values of the previous year's franchise and transition tenders to be used in calculating this year's tenders. Because the tenders were so high last year for cornerbacks -- $8.816 million for a franchised cornerback and $6.938 for a transitioned cornerback -- the tenders for this year increased considerably from what teams expected ($5.89 million for a franchised cornerback and $4.77 million for a transitioned cornerback). It's not clear exactly what Williams' tender would have been, but Nate Clements, who was franchised by the Bills, will have his tender increased by $1.3 million, to roughly $7.22 million, by the recalculation. Williams, a nickel cornerback, would have made significantly more than the one-year tender of $4.77 million he was initially offered. After getting those new numbers, the Vikings decided he was too expensive and pulled the tender, making him a free agent.

1) When does the 120% rule kick in? Is this only for players who have already spent a full season as a UFA? 2) Have I missed any reports of any possible efforts/negotiations to lock him up? 3) Last season, I thought that he would be traded before the draft (wrong again ). Do you people think that the odds of such a trade this season are better or worse? Personally, I would rather that the Bills keep him long term, but stop using him on punts. Too dangerous, ya know?

Just interested to see what people think of him

With Nate Clement our franchised player for the 2006 season not saying much or the Bills not saying much, I don't know what we should do. I know that he's young and a GOOD corner in this league. I'd hate to see us lose another GOOD corner for nothing in return though, like we did with Winifield to Minnesota What should the Bills do? Personally, I would try to get a long-term deal done until a couple of weeks before the trading deadline. If it didn't work out to where we could atleast lock him in for another 3 years, I'd seriously explore the options of moving him. I'd hate to see him go believe me, but the possibility of getting nothing in return is discouraging. It's an extremely tough situation. But if he's talking like he's going to bolt on Buffalo, I'd trade him and let Youboty start learning and taking his lumps at starting corner early. What do the rest of you guys think?

tba

"I want to be compensated for my play. The film don't lie, the numbers don't lie. You can compare my numbers to any corner and they are up there with any corner in this league and I want to be compensated for what I've done."' http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/teams/report/BUF/9268076 Nate, do you REALLY want to look at the film? How about we play the film of you in the Miami game? PTR

The deadline for the Bills to designate a franchise or transition player is 4:00 p.m. ET Thursday, February 23.

Over-rated. Anyone care to argue that with me again?

thanks for nothing, Reed, 2(more) critical drops, Nate, want butter with your toast...WM, muffed exchange my arse, it was all you! How can we expect JP to succeed when we put him in such a hole!!!!

He's above average, but the best at his position, hardly. I have a vivid memory of him saying that he deserves the salary of the best cornerback in the league during training camp. He has done nothing to earn his self-proclaimed title. My evidence includes: 1 - Not knocking the ball down last year during week 1 against Jacksonville on the last play of the game 2 - Getting burned by subpar receivers, for example today against Parker and the geezer McCardell 3 - Having the audacity to say that he is the best at his position, and then performing below average So far the defense has completely collapsed, but NC hasn't done anything to show me he is worthy of the money he wants. Don't re-sign him.