Two Bills Drive

The Bills are not ready to use their tag on LB Cowart. They want to continue to negotiate. So now they have eight days until Cowart can test the free agent market. At issue: how much of Cowart’s signing bonus should be paid up front. The Bills want to defer payment of much of the bonus until after the season so they can assess his recovery from a torn achilles tendon. His agent, Gene Burrough, says the Bills are essentially looking for a guarantee from Cowart that he’ll never get hurt again. The agent says there’s a 50-50 chance at best that Cowart will re-sign with the Bills.

‘”At Wegmans, we want to focus marketing initiatives that tie more directly to our company’s priorities,” she said. “We’re just choosing to spend our marketing dollars in other ways.”‘

The good news – no more former Bills running backs were arrested for domestic issues with their spouses. The bad news – Rob Johnson was either hurt or ineffective all season long. He’s never been particularly good, but throwing 5 TDs in 8 games are numbers that can be described only as ?Leaf-esque? (as in Ryan Leaf).

‘Cowart’s agent Gene Burrough said “it’s a good chance,” that his client has played his last game in Buffalo.’

As we continue to work towards a contract for Sam Cowart to keep him here as a Buffalo Bill, we opted not to place a tag on him. The rehab process continues to go well for Sam in his efforts to recover from his Achilles tendon injury and working to a time when he can pass a physical.

Based on stories over the past few years, it’s pretty clear that Modrak and Donahoe are very tight with the old-school, roll-up-your-sleeves football writers – Buchsbaum and Len P. (and Bill Werndl of XTRA and formerly of Philly, for that matter).

Question: What?s the first thing you should ask yourself when a marginal NFL player signs a lucrative, long-term contract?

Answer: When is he going to get cut?

If experience really is the best teacher, the Chargers will have a terrific mentor for their young wide receiver corps in 2002, with the team on Wednesday hiring former NFL star James Lofton as an assistant coach.

It will mark the first coaching assignment at any level for Lofton, who had a brilliant 16-season career in the league.

‘Avion Black is now a Houston Texan. The Bills never got close to utilizing Black’s speed. He could have been an excellent kick returner. In fact, against the Saints on opening day last season, he ran a punt back 34 yards. Unfortunately, he had one man to beat – the punter, who ended up tackling him. Still, it was among the best drive starts the Bills had on offense all season.’

‘It is the first NFL coaching job for Lofton, who played in the league for 16 seasons and spent the last eight years in broadcasting.’

The Chargers added one of the most prolific pass catchers in NFL history to their coaching staff when Schottenheimer named James Lofton as the team’s WR coach on Wednesday. This will be Lofton’s first coaching assignment. Lofton got to know Charger’s GM Butler when he was a Buffalo Bill.

Why do I get the feeling that years from now, after several Bills have been honored in the Canton hall, I’ll still be trying to explain how a team as talented as those great Bills teams failed to win a Super Bowl title?

Official Bills site catches up with free agent center, Billy Conaty.

Marlin Briscoe was the first African-American quarterback to start a pro game 34 years ago for the Denver Broncos. Now he's trying to make a difference again at an outreach program in Los Angeles. After his release from the Broncos, Briscoe latched on with the Buffalo Bills and became a wide receiver, a position he had never before played. The first season, he became the Bills' offensive MVP. A year later, he led the league in receiving and became an All-Pro

As for Blake, the Saints would like to receive a fourth-round pick for his services, with the Bills one team that may be interested. The Bills are looking for a veteran QB to compete with Alex Van Pelt, which almost certainly means that Rob Johnson won’t be back.

The 31-year-old Blake has a cap figure of $6.166 million in 2002, which is why the Saints want to trade him. They would save about $2 million by trading him. He is also due a roster bonus of $1.25 million on March 2.