Two Bills Drive

Tied for Seventh best with Cleveland Browns after Houston Texans (-18,600,000), Arizona Cardinals (-16,400,000), Chicago Bears (-10,280,000), Minnesota Vikings (-8,300,000), Cincinnati Bengals (-8,200,000), and Philadelphia Eagles (-7,600,000).

QB Rob Johnson $6.15 million, CB Ken Irvin $1.9 million, DE Phil Hansen $2.6 million (retired), LT John Fina $3 million (will be released in June)

With decision on his future as the Bills QB expected soon, Johnson will appear as a guest on “The Best Damn Sports Show Period” on Wed, Feb. 27 at 11:00 on ESN

Bills have begun the process of keeping restricted and exclusive rights free agents by tendering offers of $563,000 to restricted free agents Shawn Bryson, Jay Foreman, and Sheldon Jackson. The players have until April 15th to sign the tender offer.

Buffalo Bills announcement of planned Alumni events.

‘The mock drafts have the Bills taking Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington, Miami offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie, Oklahoma safety Roy Williams and Texas offensive tackle Mike Williams.’

‘Safety Blaine Bishop is likely to get cut by the Tennessee Titans before the free agency season opens Friday. Look for him to reunite with his former coach, the Bills’ Gregg Williams.’

‘Ch2 Sports has learned that unless there is a drastic change of heart from Burrough, which is unlikely, the Bills will take their latest offer off the table March 1st when Cowart becomes a free agent. So Cowart then won’t have the strength of having a standing offer to compare against others he may or may not receive.’

‘Just wanted to let all of you know that Jim Kelly will be at Eastview Mall in Victor NY on March 6th from 6-8pm. He will be signing the Hunter’s Hope Bears only and they have to be purchased that night. NO MEMORABILIA will be signed at all. The bears are $20 and he actually signs the hag tag on the candle. Would love to meet any of the TBDers as I will be running this event.’

@ Wegmans does have its name tied to another sports event. The grocer is the major sponsor of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) event held each year in Rochester.

"We plan to continue our sponsorship of the LPGA, which to our way of thinking is more of a community event in Rochester than a marketing initiative," said Natale. "Proceeds from that tournament are a primary source of funding for the Rotary camps in Rochester which are very important to our community."

The club would like to re-sign starting center Bill Conaty (UFA). However, there is no guarantee that LB Sam Cowart will be back. With Cowart poised to draw a lot of attention on the open market, the club will protect its linebacking corps by re-signing RFA Keith Newman. Cowart, who has missed 19 games over the past two seasons, could be replaced by another free agent like Pittsburgh’s Earl Holmes.

@ Jack in Syracuse, Buffalo Bills resident Blue Coat, reports on meeting with Tom Donahoe.

@ Q: How long do you see the team in a rebuilding mode? How long before our salary cap woes are under control? A: The Bills will be out of salary cap trouble in 2002 and I see a bright future for us commencing in 2003 but we are definitely no longer going to get ourselves in cap trouble that has occurred in the last two or three years.

@When Marv Levy made the jump from head coach at William & Mary to assistant coach for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1969, he was thrilled with the $1,000 raise that pushed his salary to $17,000. When he was named head coach of the Buffalo Bills 15 years ago, he negotiated his own deal for $200,000, and in ’96, his last season before retiring, he still was making less than $1 million, even after taking his team to four straight Super Bowls

@When the time arrived for teams to designate franchise and transition players, the game of tag was not played by Donahoe. No franchise tag; no transition tag. No agreement is in sight and, as has been the case over the past couple of years, Bills fans are getting a little edgy as to what’s going on. Bottom line? Cowart is ready to enter the free agent market since it doesn’t seem likely that the two sides will budge. Of course, everything said before the March 1st free agency kicks in is rhetoric, posturing and positioning.