SF Bills Fan Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 (edited) It sounds like Jim was pretty influential in persuading Mario that Buffalo is a good place to live. And the nine deer in the backyard helped greatly. I can just see the scene at the house as Mario roles up....."Cue the deer" Edited March 16, 2012 by SF Bills Fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kabnt2005 Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Knowing Jim and our mutual friend, I wouldn't be surprised in the least bit if they baited the deer to the backyard. I can see him dumping bushels of apples in the backyard to get deer to come when Mario came over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PearlHowardman Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 I honestly think it was the money that Mario was offered by the Bills that motivated him to sign with us. Not so much Jim Kelly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bladiebla Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 I honestly think it was the money that Mario was offered by the Bills that motivated him to sign with us. Not so much Jim Kelly. Meh dont think so, read what he said prior to FA and after signing. What's the difference between 30 or 50 million guaranteed anyway. You cant spend either unless your name is TO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmur66 Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 I posted something on his facebook page about WNY having bigger deer. That probably had something to do with it also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMonkey Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Meh dont think so, read what he said prior to FA and after signing. What's the difference between 30 or 50 million guaranteed anyway. You cant spend either unless your name is TO. 20 million dollars is the difference, and that's a lot of money I don't care who you are. If it made no difference he probably would have signed the contract much quicker. At the end of the day all things factored into his decision I'm sure. But I feel certain a low-ball offer (like 30 million guaranteed) would not have gotten the job done. You have to give Nix credit. He went all-in with this signing to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 20 million dollars is the difference, and that's a lot of money I don't care who you are. If it made no difference he probably would have signed the contract much quicker. At the end of the day all things factored into his decision I'm sure. But I feel certain a low-ball offer (like 30 million guaranteed) would not have gotten the job done. You have to give Nix credit. He went all-in with this signing to be sure. The Bills were in a position to offer a boatload of money and we were likely to pay him more than anyone. But it's not as though he couldn't have received almost as much by visiting a couple teams and getting into a short bidding war. Without knowing this, I would bet a lot of money that the actual money played very little into Mario's decision. He knew he was going to make a ton. His first contract was like 63 million so it's not like this was going to be new to him. I doubt that anyone on the Bills even mentioned money to him his entire trip other than you're going to make a mint. His agent dealt with the money side, and knowing a little about his agent, I now firmly believe that the wait was all about the agent getting more money out of the Bills, getting the very most guarantee they could, getting that mythical "highest paid defensive player in history" label, knowing all the while they were going to sign with us and no one else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hondo in seattle Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Obviously, money is exceptionally persuasive. But it is interesting that Mario visited Buffalo first and decided to forego visiting any other franchises. Rumor has it that Tennessee would have matched the Bills offer if they didn't get Manning. Mario could have waited to see how that drama played out but he didn't. I think Mario's agent told him that other clubs might match the Bills offer but no one would exceed it, at least not substantially so. So the final question was, did he want to be a Bill? And he did. Let's all celebrate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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