Tortured Soul Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 "*The Bills want to build their defense around middle linebacker Paul Posluszny, and have wanted to get him under contract before he becomes a free agent in the offseason. Problem? The 30 percent rule. He made $700,000 in 2009, and he can’t make more than 30 percent more than that in a new deal. Posluszny therefore, is basically unsignable until a new CBA is in place." http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/NFP-Sunday-Blitz-2727.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan_in_raleigh Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 i cant believe the point want to build defense around him look for 10 more suck years if this is the case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfreak Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 "*The Bills want to build their defense around middle linebacker Paul Posluszny, and have wanted to get him under contract before he becomes a free agent in the offseason. Problem? The 30 percent rule. He made $700,000 in 2009, and he can’t make more than 30 percent more than that in a new deal. Posluszny therefore, is basically unsignable until a new CBA is in place." http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/NFP-Sunday-Blitz-2727.html Let's hope they eventually do resign him and finally make a smart move, this FO has been a joke since it has been here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsObserver Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 As long as the deal is reasonable I'm alright with it. I don't LOVE Poz but we can't keep getting rid of guys and replacing them with undrafted free agents. Sign him to something reasonable and keep building this team up. If he's as talentless as everyone here claims, he'll eventually be replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Caveman Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Resigning Poz for a million a year is totally reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offside Number 76 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 The only reason they can't re-sign him now is if the deal is going to call for more than a 30% raise. Otherwise, they could do it--the current CBA still is in effect. So look for him to be making more than $910K next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Dan Pompei is a respected NFL writer with lots of experience and presumably, many contacts. That said, I don't know how credible this blurb is. Pompei has pressure on him to generate content for NFP and the Chicago Tribune and sometimes this dynamic causes some filler to be mixed in with some fact. He may have been picking up on the news out of Buffalo last week and before that the "30% rule" was holding up a Poz deal. But as has been discussed on this board previously, the 30% rule can be circumvented because it applies only to base salary. IF the Bills really valued and believed in Poz and felt he had a promising career, they could simply shift more of his compensation to the signing bonus. Yes that would mean more money is guaranteed but again, if they had a strong conviction in the player, they would not hesitate to do so. Personally, I'm skeptical of Pompei's blurb. The Bills could re-sign him if they wanted to, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 The Bills want to build their defense around middle linebacker Paul Posluszny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of Rob Johnson Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Dan Pompei is a respected NFL writer with lots of experience and presumably, many contacts. That said, I don't know how credible this blurb is. Pompei has pressure on him to generate content for NFP and the Chicago Tribune and sometimes this dynamic causes some filler to be mixed in with some fact. He may have been picking up on the news out of Buffalo last week and before that the "30% rule" was holding up a Poz deal. But as has been discussed on this board previously, the 30% rule can be circumvented because it applies only to base salary. IF the Bills really valued and believed in Poz and felt he had a promising career, they could simply shift more of his compensation to the signing bonus. Yes that would mean more money is guaranteed but again, if they had a strong conviction in the player, they would not hesitate to do so. Personally, I'm skeptical of Pompei's blurb. The Bills could re-sign him if they wanted to, IMO. I'm not sure how much guaranteed money they would want to give to a player with his injury history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiderweb Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Resigning Poz for a million a year is totally reasonable. That's absurd... The unwarranted bashing many here give Poz is beyond ridiculous. He may not be a star as of now, but he is a very solid player and solid players warrant considerably more $$ in today's game. To all those that bash him relentlessly, cut him and then see what's left, absolutely nothing. Zero LB's, with the possible exception of a guy who's been extremely limited due to injury for a couple years. Nice thinking there "Geniuses". Urlacher money, no, but due a considerable pay raise, heck yes he is. Simply unbelievable..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whodat Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 That's absurd... The unwarranted bashing many here give Poz is beyond ridiculous. He may not be a star as of now, but he is a very solid player and solid players warrant considerably more $$ in today's game. To all those that bash him relentlessly, cut him and then see what's left, absolutely nothing. Zero LB's, with the possible exception of a guy who's been extremely limited due to injury for a couple years. Nice thinking there "Geniuses". Urlacher money, no, but due a considerable pay raise, heck yes he is. Simply unbelievable..... That would be great if you were right. I don’t think there is anyone here rooting against him. We thought we were getting the second coming of Shane Conlin. Poz is a genuine good guy. The frustration comes from watching the steady flow of te’s beat him in coverage and the weak run defense. You can make an assortment of excuses on a bad defense. I’m sure some apply. But Kyle Williams is going to the pro bowl. You can see Kyle making plays and impacting the defense in positive ways. I rarely see that from Poz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobcat Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Posz is a great linebacker,most of his tackles he has to fight threw blocking o-linemen,once our d-line becomes upgraded and can keep blockers off posz ,he will really blossom..get him locked up.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphean Bills Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 They probably just fired Cross because Poz made him look too good to keep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoner7 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Poz has weaknesses which are extremely evident with the crap he is surrounded with. He isnt fast enough to pursue all the way to the sideline but if our end or OLBS could turn a play inside like they are supposed to then he would be stuffing people and everyone would be saying how good he is. Dont blame Poz for other peoples mistakes. He also shouldnt be our top cover LB but he is because of how terrible our roster is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 I'm not sure how much guaranteed money they would want to give to a player with his injury history. That's absolutely true. Whether it's performance and/or durability, the bottom line is that the team is not willing to circumvent the 30% rule when it comes to Poz. It doesn't have to be one or the other. It could be some of both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 The only reason they can't re-sign him now is if the deal is going to call for more than a 30% raise. Otherwise, they could do it--the current CBA still is in effect. So look for him to be making more than $910K next year. There was a post about this a few weeks back. For the 30% rule, they can consider his base salary AND optional bonus or performance incentives as well if he had such language in his contract. They can also give him a signing bonus this year, with performance incentives for subsequent years. Another team board (SF49?) posted about resigning a LB and there was a link on TBD where this was all explained pretty clearly. So Bills could resign Poz right now, IF he had some "wiggle room" in bonus language and IF they were willing to give him a signing bonus. I have no problem with re-signing Poz. He hasn't shown himself to be fantastic, but he's a solid player. He's not the problem. With the right coaching and pieces around him and enough S&C to stay healthy he might be part of the solution What I'm really interested in is whether there are quality players on other teams in similar situations that we could "snipe" to improve ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stealth Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 (edited) Poz is a solid albeit highly unspectacular linebacker. My biggest issue with him isn't his play vs the run, or even his lack of speed. The issue I have with Poz is the guy couldn't cover an leg amputee patient, let alone te's, or rb's in coverage. The thought of building a defense "around Poz" is a bit depressing. The guy is ok, but it's not like he's Brian Urlacher in his prime out there. With that said don't cut off your nose to spite your face. They did that when they let Fletcher walk a few years ago. It's probably the biggest reason the Bills are in the position they face currently. Consistently letting servicable/good players walk, and creating holes where none need to be created. All at the expense of using valuable draft picks to replace said players. Instead of improving other areas of the team. Hopefully that philosphy changes in the coming years. Edited January 9, 2011 by Stealth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExWNYer Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 That's absurd... The unwarranted bashing many here give Poz is beyond ridiculous. He may not be a star as of now, but he is a very solid player and solid players warrant considerably more $$ in today's game. To all those that bash him relentlessly, cut him and then see what's left, absolutely nothing. Zero LB's, with the possible exception of a guy who's been extremely limited due to injury for a couple years. Nice thinking there "Geniuses". Urlacher money, no, but due a considerable pay raise, heck yes he is. Simply unbelievable..... Agreed. If people don't think he's great, I don't have a problem with that. To say he "sucks" is flat out ignorant. No team has Pro Bowlers at every position. The morons who think that everyone on this team should be cut are unbelievable. You can't fill all 22 positions with all stars. You need solid, if unspectacular, players, too. Poz definitely qualifies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Tuesday Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Man I wish we could dig up old TSW threads bashing Fletcher when we gave him his walking papers. Some of you never learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I hate the Bills ! Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 SO resign him for a million dollars a year for 2 years and then draft to replace him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justnzane Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Poz is a solid albeit highly unspectacular linebacker. My biggest issue with him isn't his play vs the run, or even his lack of speed. The issue I have with Poz is the guy couldn't cover an leg amputee patient, let alone te's, or rb's in coverage. The thought of building a defense "around Poz" is a bit depressing. The guy is ok, but it's not like he's Brian Urlacher in his prime out there. With that said don't cut off your nose to spite your face. They did that when they let Fletcher walk a few years ago. It's probably the biggest reason the Bills are in the position they face currently. Consistently letting servicable/good players walk, and creating holes where none need to be created. All at the expense of using valuable draft picks to replace said players. Instead of improving other areas of the team. Hopefully that philosphy changes in the coming years. To be fair Stealth, most inside backers are not asked to cover TE's or WR's like the Bills have had Poz do as Kelsay couldn't cover a tombstone. Most often, an Inside Backer is asked to cover a fullback or tailback, or to spy or blitz. I will say that Poz is an adequate player on an otherwise lackluster unit. Before the Bills can consider shipping him off, they need upgrades over Kelsay, Torbor, and Ayodele. Furthermore, they need to find somebody better than an aging Stroud to man the DE spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFan-4-Ever Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) how can you "people" rag on Poz when he has the 3rd most tackles in the NFL this season ?? !!! http://www.nfl.com/stats/player?seasonId=2010&seasonType=REG&Submit=Go Don't you ever look at the player rankings? Obvoisly not... talk about Edited January 10, 2011 by BillsFan-4-Ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Can someone explain something to me - i see a lot of our so called "experts" saying that if we wanted to sign him so bad we can do a front loaded contract, etc. The question I have is - what is the advantage of doing a convoluted contract to circumvent the current rules rather than waiting for a new CBA and signing a normal contract extension. As far as I can see, there is no advantage...right? I mean there is absolutely nothing to say they can't simply work out an extension when new CBA is in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanC883 Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) Poz has weaknesses which are extremely evident with the crap he is surrounded with. He isnt fast enough to pursue all the way to the sideline but if our end or OLBS could turn a play inside like they are supposed to then he would be stuffing people and everyone would be saying how good he is. Dont blame Poz for other peoples mistakes. He also shouldnt be our top cover LB but he is because of how terrible our roster is. You are 100% right. He gets blown off the run due to our weak D-line, and a MLB should NEVER be covering a TE. That's what OLB's and even FS's are for. If you want to see how it's done, watch the Steelers D, where people actually can play in position. Poz is all over the field covering for people's mistakes. If he is assigned to cover someone on a pass, then our D coordinator is terrible. Edited January 10, 2011 by RyanC883 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aristocrat Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 poz is one of those guys that would look better with a stud next to him. he is a role player Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Trooth Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 OK... It's bad enough that any team would want to build their defense around Poz. But, even worse, pay him more than 30% more? WTF? How about 30% less than he's making now? And I'm not even sure that amount wouldn't be more than than his performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfreak Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 That's absurd... The unwarranted bashing many here give Poz is beyond ridiculous. He may not be a star as of now, but he is a very solid player and solid players warrant considerably more $$ in today's game. To all those that bash him relentlessly, cut him and then see what's left, absolutely nothing. Zero LB's, with the possible exception of a guy who's been extremely limited due to injury for a couple years. Nice thinking there "Geniuses". Urlacher money, no, but due a considerable pay raise, heck yes he is. Simply unbelievable..... I totally agree with you, alot of clueless morons on this board when it comes to bashing certain players with no basis to do so. If you put Poz on the Steelers you might be able to say he is the "weak link" or one of the lesser players, but on this team, and especially on this defense, considering what he has around him, he is comparitively speaking a superstar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 I totally agree with you, alot of clueless morons on this board when it comes to bashing certain players with no basis to do so. If you put Poz on the Steelers you might be able to say he is the "weak link" or one of the lesser players, but on this team, and especially on this defense, considering what he has around him, he is comparitively speaking a superstar. I guess I'm one of those "clueless morons" that has questioned Poz's ability for two seasons now. And while I question his ability to take proper angles, not over-pursue, shed blocks, and maintain his gap responsibility, I also know he is BY FAR our best LB. What does that say exactly? GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VADC Bills Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 (edited) OK... It's bad enough that any team would want to build their defense around Poz. But, even worse, pay him more than 30% more? WTF? How about 30% less than he's making now? And I'm not even sure that amount wouldn't be more than than his performance. +1 What competent GM would say he was building a defense around Poz. I would let Poz walk if he didn't agree to a mediocre salary. It's not like when Poz gets injured the level of play of the defense decreases. He is hardly missed. I see nothing but excuses for Poz blaming everyone else for his inability to play his position well. Every MLB has to cover his space whether the RB's or TE's are coming through it. When a slow TE catches a pass on Poz it always the safeties fault. When a RB runs through him and drags him 3-4 yards, its alway the d-line's fault. My favorite is "If he had better players around him he would be better"..who wouldn't. Good players make people around them better not the other way around. Let the Poz experiment end. We can get a rookie to play to the same level of Poz for cheap. I totally agree with you, alot of clueless morons on this board when it comes to bashing certain players with no basis to do so. If you put Poz on the Steelers you might be able to say he is the "weak link" or one of the lesser players, but on this team, and especially on this defense, considering what he has around him, he is comparitively speaking a superstar. If you put Poz on the Steelers he would suck. If you put Poz on the Ravens he would suck. If you put Poz on the Patriots he would suck. If you put Poz on the Raiders, Redskins, Giants, Colts, Bengals.....you finish the sentence. Edited January 11, 2011 by VADC Bills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfan89 Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 As long as the deal is reasonable I'm alright with it. I don't LOVE Poz but we can't keep getting rid of guys and replacing them with undrafted free agents. Sign him to something reasonable and keep building this team up. If he's as talentless as everyone here claims, he'll eventually be replaced. Thats exactly it. Poz is a better then average player when healthy the problem is he has a hard time staying healthy. Give him a modest 2.5-3.5 million dollar a year deal with a low guarantee and its a fair deal for both sides. We can't plug two holes and cause three more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purple haze Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Dan Pompei is a respected NFL writer with lots of experience and presumably, many contacts. That said, I don't know how credible this blurb is. Pompei has pressure on him to generate content for NFP and the Chicago Tribune and sometimes this dynamic causes some filler to be mixed in with some fact. He may have been picking up on the news out of Buffalo last week and before that the "30% rule" was holding up a Poz deal. But as has been discussed on this board previously, the 30% rule can be circumvented because it applies only to base salary. IF the Bills really valued and believed in Poz and felt he had a promising career, they could simply shift more of his compensation to the signing bonus. Yes that would mean more money is guaranteed but again, if they had a strong conviction in the player, they would not hesitate to do so. Personally, I'm skeptical of Pompei's blurb. The Bills could re-sign him if they wanted to, IMO. No, they can't resign him. The blurb is accurate from other reporting I have seen. You can't assume what they would or would not do based on shifting money to signing bonuses and what not. What if that left them in a bad position down the line. We aren't salary cap experts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 No, they can't resign him. The blurb is accurate from other reporting I have seen. You can't assume what they would or would not do based on shifting money to signing bonuses and what not. What if that left them in a bad position down the line. We aren't salary cap experts. Well I can tell by your first sentence that I've studied this issue more than you have. Because you're flat out wrong. The Bills CAN re-sign Poz. Just like the Niners re-signed Patrick Willis and Vernon Davis who were both also restricted by the 30% rule. The problem is that unlike the Willis and Davis contracts, Poz's contract has a low base salary so the Bills would have to increase the signing bonus (guaranteed money) and they probably don't believe in Poz enough to invest that sort of guaranteed money in him. He has been injury prone and his play has been that of an average linebacker. On the other hand, the guaranteed money wouldn't approach what Willis and Davis received because Poz is nowhere near as good a player as the other two. The Bills payroll is at around $112 million. The salary cap in 2009 was $127 million. The Bills have plenty of salary cap room for when the cap returns. Bottom line, if the Bills truly wanted to re-sign Poz, they would. If he was as good a player as Patrick Willis, you can bet they already would have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 (edited) Well I can tell by your first sentence that I've studied this issue more than you have. Because you're flat out wrong. The Bills CAN re-sign Poz. Just like the Niners re-signed Patrick Willis and Vernon Davis who were both also restricted by the 30% rule. The problem is that unlike the Willis and Davis contracts, Poz's contract has a low base salary so the Bills would have to increase the signing bonus (guaranteed money) and they probably don't believe in Poz enough to invest that sort of guaranteed money in him. He has been injury prone and his play has been that of an average linebacker. On the other hand, the guaranteed money wouldn't approach what Willis and Davis received because Poz is nowhere near as good a player as the other two. The Bills payroll is at around $112 million. The salary cap in 2009 was $127 million. The Bills have plenty of salary cap room for when the cap returns. Bottom line, if the Bills truly wanted to re-sign Poz, they would. If he was as good a player as Patrick Willis, you can bet they already would have. Could not agree more with your assessment. The fact the Bills CAN re-sign him and haven't speaks volumes. Like most around here I really like Poz as a person and was hoping he'd turn a corner after four seasons. That hasn't happened. There is the possibility that the Bills HAVE made him an offer and perhaps he'd rather test the waters if/when he becomes a free agent. In that case I wish him the best. But the Bills D won't miss a beat. Just as it hasn't the numerous times he's been out. He's the best LB we have but, unfortunately, that's saying less than not much at all. GO BILLS!!! Edited January 11, 2011 by K-9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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