Chris in Syracuse Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 After reading the article in Buffalo News we will spend $ 10M against the cap to cut him before March and $10.45M to keep him. We are only talking about $450k. As bad as he has played he could be retained and compete with whoever they bring in and at the least be a backup. The question I pose to all you closet GM's is do we keep him and get some value or cut him and throw $10M away against the cap? The article does not say if renegotiating the contract to reduce the cap hit is possible. Let's assume it is not an option and decide what is best for the Bills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerNapalm Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcbillsfan Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Cap hit is one thing. It cost real money to keep him. Time to go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maury Ballstein Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Nope...,time to put real qbs on the roster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in Syracuse Posted December 28, 2012 Author Share Posted December 28, 2012 Cap hit is one thing. It cost real money to keep him. Time to go That is very true. The cap hit is mostly the bonus spread out over the terms and duration of the contract. Does he have any value to the Bills as a prepaid mentor/backup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 (edited) Keeping him and playing/starting him are 2 very different thing. You keep him as a backup if the cap hit is better next year and you have the money to pay him this year. If the hit isn't better next year, or the are strapped for actual cash, you let him go before March No way he starts/plays unless its absolutly necessary though Edited December 28, 2012 by apuszczalowski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobobonators Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 (edited) After reading the article in Buffalo News we will spend $ 10M against the cap to cut him before March and $10.45M to keep him. We are only talking about $450k. As bad as he has played he could be retained and compete with whoever they bring in and at the least be a backup. The question I pose to all you closet GM's is do we keep him and get some value or cut him and throw $10M away against the cap? The article does not say if renegotiating the contract to reduce the cap hit is possible. Let's assume it is not an option and decide what is best for the Bills. i'd keep him. draft a QB in rounds 1-3 and let them compete. QB's in the draft don't cost as much as they used to. Thigpen should be gone. If we cut Fitz and draft a QB, who's going to be our backup? None of the QB's in this year's drafts are "no-brainers" so there's a good chance that the rookie may seriously struggle early on. I'd much rather start fitz for first half of season (when the bills usually do well) and if the season starts going downhill, you plug in the rookie to see what he can do after learning for half the season. Only way i'd let go of Fitz is if we are able to land another QB via trade AND draft a QB...but if we're only drafting a QB, you HAVE to keep fitz imo. Edited December 28, 2012 by bobobonators Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_Formerly_of_Roch Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 You can always renegotiate the contract, so yes that is always an option. That article also stated he's the 19th highest QB which is probably about where he'd be ranked, likely a bit lower, but as salary's go up, ten mil next year would likely push him down the ranking without ever taking a snap. Then Fitz has to decide if he could get more elsewhere or take the pay cut. Fitz has some leverage as he can point out the cap hit to the Bills if they end up cutting him. But a cap hit is "play money" as opposed to paying him with real money. Personally I'd be fine with keeping him with a new coaching staff who's not wed to him particularly if you bring in a rookie as I do think he'd be a good type for a rookie to learn from. I'd even be fine starting him the first 3 or 4 games, then as soon as he starts losing you games, you go to the rookie. If they brought in someone like an Alex Smith, then less need for Fitz so then more likely he's not back. I'd be OK paying him maybe half that to teach a rookie and eventually he's the backup by mid year. I'd probably rank him as one of the top backups too. I'd also make the contract for not more than two years as likely by the following year the rookie is the starter and $5 mil is too much for a backup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddog69 Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Cap hit is one thing. It cost real money to keep him. Time to go Yep. This is the real issue. The Bills don't care about cap space. They are not up against the cap. The issue would be the actual expenditure of approximately $7m to keep him. This is real money that can be used to re-sign Levitre and/or Byrd or go out and get a UFA LB. I expect Fitz to be cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 i'd keep him. draft a QB in rounds 1-3 and let them compete. QB's in the draft don't cost as much as they used to. Thigpen should be gone. If we cut Fitz and draft a QB, who's going to be our backup? None of the QB's in this year's drafts are "no-brainers" so there's a good chance that the rookie may seriously struggle early on. Only way i'd let go of Fitz is if we are able to land another QB via trade AND draft a QB...but if we're only drafting a QB, you HAVE to keep fitz imo. thigpens a FA, they would have to re-sign him to cut him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bufcomments Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 (edited) why would u keep a loser. fitz had his chance for 3 yrs. It's time for him to go. Nice guy , he did well for a 7th round draft pick. Edited December 28, 2012 by Bufcomments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max997 Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 We are talking about 10.45 mil in actual money vs 10 mil in cap money which are two completely different things Only way to keep Fitz is as a backup at an extremely reduced salary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobobonators Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 thigpens a FA, they would have to re-sign him to cut him that's what i'm saying, thigpen is gone and then you cut Fitz..where the hell is our QB depth? We're going to put all our marbles on a rookie QB from day 1 with no competition? Again, none of the QB's this year are "can't miss" QB's. They're all a bit of a project. Keep Fitz. He's a stand up guy and not an A$$...he shouldn't cause much trouble. He's the perfect backup actually. Heck, maybe ask him if he'd be willing to restructure his contract. why would u keep a loser. fitz had his chance for 3 yrs. It's time for him to go. Nice guy , he did well for a 7th round draft pick. if that's the case, why not cut CJ, Mario, Dareus, KW, actually, cut the entire team..they all have the same record the last 3 years as fitz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerNapalm Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Heck, maybe ask him if he'd be willing to restructure his contract. F*ck That! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob's House Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Of course you keep him. Everybody has always said he'd be a great b/u. Well, then have him as a b/u. You're not getting that money back, so why in God's name would you release him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobobonators Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 this board is getting nuttier by the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max997 Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Of course you keep him. Everybody has always said he'd be a great b/u. Well, then have him as a b/u. You're not getting that money back, so why in God's name would you release him. So ur ok paying a backup 10.45 mil? I'm certainly not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in Syracuse Posted December 28, 2012 Author Share Posted December 28, 2012 Would Fitz make more money to redo his deal and stay or be a high quality backup somewhere else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob's House Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 So ur ok paying a backup 10.45 mil? I'm certainly not $10 million of that's already gone. So how're you going to get around that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobobonators Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 (edited) So ur ok paying a backup 10.45 mil? I'm certainly not i'd rather pay Fitzpatrick 10.45 and draft a QB where the contracts are a lot cheaper than they were a few years ago as opposed to cutting Fitzpatrick, taking the cap hit, and still having to sign 2 quarterbacks. Edited December 28, 2012 by bobobonators Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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