jahnyc Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeF Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 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. This is a good summary of the situation jahnyc--it leaves out one aspect though--I truly believe that Ralph has no problem with exhausting the cap in any given year, but when it comes to the big money free agents -- The Clements, Grahams, Steinbachs) its the up front money that Ralph is challenged with and that the bigger market teams have a huge advantage. Base salaries are not as much of an issue--the team has a revenue stream to offset these through ticket sales; annual tv money; etc. Its making that $30 M in upfront payments that will be a challenge--we don't have the profit margin of the big market teams and Ralph does not reportedly have the personal wealth to dip in and find an extra $20M sitting around for a bonus pool -- the answer to stay competitive in my opinion is to: 1) Realize that we are going to lose guys -- kind of like the Oakland A's of football but spend a lot on developing the talent pipeline--we have to have a scouting system that finds guys others miss and then secures them at lower prices for 3 to 5 years and then they leave us--some, Like Clements, will be just hitting their prime--others we will find better replacements for...We always have to have a back up plan for our superstars--Youboty is the back up plan for Clements -- unfortunately he is not the player Clements is right now and probably won't be so Simpson and Whitner getting better is also part of the Clements back up plan. 2) Lead creativity with contracts--offer some gauranteed years; tiered bonsues to get guys we really feel can make a difference 3) Balance your spending across the team--look for good role players at most positions and then select 3 or 4 positions where you go after difference makers (for example--I really expect Marv to work hard to extend JP and Lee Evans this offseason)-- but realize that your team is going to built out with Robert Royals and Ryan Denneys and find those guys who fit the system..and live by the adage that if you let a good player slip into the last year of a contract he is probably gone... 4) Build and reward a coaching staff that can teach and adapt--I think we have that This is our life and challenge when it comes to personnel ...we need to be better at finding the talent that few others see -- its our only way to remain competitive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahnyc Posted February 10, 2007 Author Share Posted February 10, 2007 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 I'm sure RW has been turned off from spending huge sums on players. After all, he's the guy who spent on Rob Johnson, Bledsoe, Mike Williams, Moulds, Spikes, and others. After all those guys collecting huge paychecks, he's no further along. We're left without a playoff appearance since 1999 and a playoff win since 1995. There's a great deal of money left under the 07 cap. It's been reported the cap will increase to 109 mil, though I've not heard much about a minimum. I'll speculate it lands around 90-94 mil. At that point, Buffalo would probably have to spend about 15 million to get there. A few players similar to last year's free agent pickups would get us there and leave a little room to sign draft picks. Undoubtedly Buffalo has more economic considerations (both team and market related) than most teams. Keeping Nate goes a long way to letting the fans know Ralph is more interested in winning football games than waging a David versus Goliath fight against the NFL. If he's not retained, and we go after cheaper FA's, I believe fans will see through the smoke and begin to question where this team is headed. It will be hard to lose 2-3 of our own free agents, replace them with less heralded FA's and draft picks, yet still call this team improved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneonta Buffalo Fan Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 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. Good points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts