Buffalo has precedent to strike a deal with Whitner

[The_Philster]

The Oakland Raiders and their first-round pick, safety Michael Huff, came to an agreement on Monday. The seventh overall selection signed a five-year deal worth between $22.5 and $26.5 million with $15 million in guarantees. Huff's contract also includes incentives that would make the former University of Texas star up to $43 million.

Naturally, the Buffalo Bills paid very close attention to Huff's contract, since they, too, took a safety in the top 10.
more (http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2006/07/donte-whitner-bills250706.html)

[LtFinFan66]

Can you pay him in :zb: :idunno: You have the salary cap room so it should get knocked out pretty quick

[YardRat]

Regardless of the position, both player-wise and draft pick-wise, I'm sure Marv will wait for a few more to sign before determining where they stand.

[jamze132]

Regardless of the position, both player-wise and draft pick-wise, I'm sure Marv will wait for a few more to sign before determining where they stand.
Well they don't have much longer. The three unsigned guys are pretty important to the Bills plans this year and it would be a shame to not have them when camp breaks on Friday.

[Jan Reimers]

Can you pay him in :zb: :idunno: You have the salary cap room so it should get knocked out pretty quick
Isn't there a "rookie cap" anyway?

[Historian]

He'll be at the big social this Thursday...mark my words.

[Jan Reimers]

He'll be at the big social this Thursday...mark my words.
I hope so. I'm a supporter of Ralph, so I'm thinking we'll get Whitner, McCargo and Youboty signed by Friday.

[jamze132]

I hope so. I'm a supporter of Ralph, so I'm thinking we'll get Whitner, McCargo and Youboty signed by Friday.
Yeah I am pretty sure that the deals will get done as well. I think they were just waiting on Huff's numbers before doing what's necessary.

[OpIv37]

this is why I hate the draft. The ****ing Raiders just gave this guy $43 million before he's even played one down in the NFL.

Since Whitner was only one pick behind him, he's going to want something very similar.

These guys get too much money for being completely unproven.

[patmoran2006]

This is possibly where not trading down could come back to bite us in the ass..

I dont see getting a deal with Whitner done being a huge problem, hopefully it wont be outrageous.. once he inks a deal, if its even remotely close to Huff's Whitner automatically has a nice load on his back to carry.

[HAMMER]

this is why I hate the draft. The ****ing Raiders just gave this guy $43 million before he's even played one down in the NFL.

Since Whitner was only one pick behind him, he's going to want something very similar.

These guys get too much money for being completely unproven.

That is not at all the case, the only money they have given him is the signing bonus, the rest he has to earn.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

With the rookie salary cap and now Huff deal and Wenbley's contract providing the parameters for a deal, I don't see the Bills having that much of a problem getting Whitner signed. The one thing that might be a problem is that Huff's deal apparently includes a lot of incentives in it that can increase the deal to the $ 43 million value: it is possible that Whitner or the Bills may want more guaranteed or salary money in his deal rather than incentives and they will have to work to figure out how they want to balance the deal to satisfy both parties.

The bigger problem could be getting McCargo in on time. Thus far a lot of the players taken at the bottom of the first round are still unsigned, so the parameters for contracts for those players have not been set yet. I would imagine that most of the teams and agents for the players taken late in the first round do not want to be the first "give in" and set the market, so they are all waiting for someone else to make a deal first. And, of course, while they are all "playing chicken", waiting for someone to "blink", the time before training camp opens is rapidly ticking away, making fans of all of those teams more and more nervous. I don't expect the Bills to be a team that will be willing to set the market for everyone else, so, unless some team strikes a deal with a player taken close to where McCargo was drafted pretty soon, I can see it being difficult for the Bills to get McCargo signed in time for the beginning of training camp.

Another potential problem that I could see being far more difficult to resolve than getting Whitner signed would be if Youboty's agent were to take the stance that, since Youboty was projected to be taken much higher than he was actually drafted, his client should be paid more than what his draft position would seem to dictate. That's the stance that D.Rivers' agent took and that that R.Bush appears to be taking this year and is one that could very easily produce an extended holdout. While this is not usually the kind of stance that is taken by a third round draft pick's agent, it is not often that you see a player projected to go late in the first round, like Youboty, fall all of the way into the third round without some kind of legal or serious character issues influencing his fall, either. Needless to say, I sincerely hope that Youboty's agent does not try to do this--because I think it will seriously hurt both the team and his client--and that the only reason that a deal has not yet been reached with the Bills is because so few of the other early third-round draft picks have been signed so far.

Because so many agents and teams are "playing chicken" with the first round draft picks and how much those picks get will determine how much is left to sign the second and third rounders, a lot of first day picks have not been signed yet. Once the ball gets rolling with the top to middle of the round first rounders, I expect that the other players deals will get worked out pretty fast, like dominoes falling. It's just a matter of how soon that process begins. I think the signings of Huff and Wembley could be the catalysts--at least I hope so!