Whitner signs, reports to camp

[Ron Burgundy]

The Bills finally have their entire nine-player draft class signed. Top pick Donte Whitner finally agreed to terms early Saturday.
"It's good news," said head coach Dick Jauron.
Whitner hopped on a plane Saturday morning from Columbus to Rochester and arrived on the St. John Fisher campus around lunch time. While he signed his contract prior to the day's afternoon workout, Jauron didn't want to rush him onto the field.
"He rushed to the airport this morning, he has to get fitted with all his practice gear," said Jauron. "I don't know if I like rushing him into the practice an hour after he arrives."
But Whitner has missed a week of training camp and a total of seven practices. Jauron doesn't deny there's a lot of ground to make up.



more...


http://www.buffalobills.com/news/news.jsp?news_id=3933

[Mitchy moo]

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great news, now get yer *ss to camp.

[lordofgun]

:bf1::bf1::bf1::bf1::bf1::bf1::bf1::bf1::bf1::bf1::bf1:

[shelby]

:phew:
Thanks for letting us know!

[hammerbillsfan]

About friggin time!

[lordofgun]

I wonder how many years...

[YardRat]

Very cool. One week in, and everybody's in the fold. I can deal with that.

[Nighthawk]

...per Buffalobills.com. Yeah!

[shelby]

"He's significantly behind," admitted Jauron. "We have confidence in his mental and physical abilities, but it's hard to catch up because you just don't have the time. Not only does he not have the time to ever get it back, but we don't have that time as a staff. We've got a limited number of people. So when he comes in we don't have 10 hours to devote solely to him."

[Nighthawk]

Sorry, just posted same thing...uggh! My bad!

[PUCKER]

Nice. :bf1:

[Devin]

Sweet! :bf1:

[Mitchy moo]

Josh brazen was released as a result of this.

[lordofgun]

lol

[Meathead]

OMG we lost Josh Brazen

[OpIv37]

FINALLY!!! WTF took so long?


I wonder how many years...

at this point who cares? He's in camp and learning the D.

[shelby]

i wonder if he's on the :curse: list for holding out so long.

[MTBillsFan]

GREAT! Get out there and show us why we picked you!

GO BILLS!

[lordofgun]

Big deal. I doubt he makes the team.

[FlyingDutchman]

I wonder how many years...

yeah anybody know the terms?

[LtBillsFan66]

:bf1:

[Mad Bomber]

WOOOOHOOOOO! :bf1:

[L.A. Playa]

Bills signed Ohio State SS Donte Whitner, the No. 8 pick overall, to a five-year contract that includes $14 million in guaranteed money.
A vicious hitter, Whitner was a bit of a surprise in the top ten. But he should provide an upgrade over Matt Bowen and Coy Wire and is an excellent dynasty IDP target. Whitner missed eight days of training camp while holding out. Only Jason Allen and Matt Leinart remain unsigned.

[SquishDaFish]

According to ESPN.com it was a problem of 5 years Vs. 6 it was a problem of Bills offering 12.9 M and whitner wanting 15.0M

[Don't Panic]

He got the deal he wanted... Marv blinked first. Not a big deal, but if Marv knew he would have caved eventually, he might have thought about doing it 8 days ago. Like I said though, not really a big loss. Will he start the first preseason game? I don't know...

[Irish Phin Fan]

Glad to hear it. Now all I need is that waste of pick Jason Allen to sign in Miami. I am still trying to figure out what the deal with him is.

[Luisito23]

Great news....:beers:...



GO BILLS!!!!

[SquishDaFish]

He didnt get the deal he wanted they met in the middle.

[OpIv37]

He got the deal he wanted... Marv blinked first. Not a big deal, but if Marv knew he would have caved eventually, he might have thought about doing it 8 days ago. Like I said though, not really a big loss. Will he start the first preseason game? I don't know...

preseason- meh.

As long as he's starting by the first regular season game, it's all good.

[Don't Panic]

He didnt get the deal he wanted they met in the middle.

This is what I had been seeing/hearing during his "hold-out":

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-bills-whitner&prov=ap&type=lgns

"Whitner was seeking a five-year contract that included about $14 million guaranteed. The Bills as recently as Wednesday were offering him $12.9 million guaranteed over five years."

Reports are, 5 years, $14 million. Plus, we wanted a 6th year, he wanted 5.... you said it yourself up above.

[dolphan117]

Oh !#$@ Now Jason Allen's agent may go back to demanding only a 5 year deal as well. If I were a Bills fan I would be very, very, disappointed that my GM settled for the 8th pick in the draft signing only a 5 year deal. Right now its not a big deal but 4 years from now if Whitner has turned out to be what you all hope he will and he is in negotiations for a lucrative extension so he dosent go on the market at the end of the season you are all going to be wishing that it had been a 6 year deal so you would have the extra year (relatively) cheap. Its not a huge thing but its the small things about how a franchise is run that add up in the long run. To me its inexcusable for the 8th pick in the draft (Or any in the top 10 for that matter) to only sign a 5 year deal.

[OpIv37]

Oh !#$@ Now Jason Allen's agent may go back to demanding only a 5 year deal as well. If I were a Bills fan I would be very, very, disappointed that my GM settled for the 8th pick in the draft signing only a 5 year deal. Right now its not a big deal but 4 years from now if Whitner has turned out to be what you all hope he will and he is in negotiations for a lucrative extension so he dosent go on the market at the end of the season you are all going to be wishing that it had been a 6 year deal so you would have the extra year (relatively) cheap. Its not a huge thing but its the small things about how a franchise is run that add up in the long run. To me its inexcusable for the 8th pick in the draft (Or any in the top 10 for that matter) to only sign a 5 year deal.

7 and 9 both signed 5 year deals.

6 would have been preferable, but the important thing is that the dude is in camp and learning the D. We can always use a franchise tag to get that 6th year.

If he turns out to be good, then 5 years from now we'll get pissed at Marv and co. One thing at a time.

[dolphan117]

7 and 9 both signed 5 year deals.

6 would have been preferable, but the important thing is that the dude is in camp and learning the D. We can always use a franchise tag to get that 6th year.

If he turns out to be good, then 5 years from now we'll get pissed at Marv and co. One thing at a time.Man I dont know, like I said in Miami we have an identical situation, our first round pick was a safty who is expaected to start and wants to only sign a 5 year deal. As much as I would love to get him into camp (and I really would) if it takes a holdout for the team to get that sixth year I'm OK with it. Safties are now starting to sign very lucritive deals, Archuleta signed a six year 30 million dollar contract and Ed Reed signed a six year 40 million dollar extension. Five years from now it is NOT going to be cheap to franchise a Saftey. I would say too that if I was a Niners or Lions fan I wouldnt have a ton of trust in my GM either since they also couldnt get there top 10 picks to ink 6 year deals.

[TedMock]

If he's productive, he's going to get an extension by year 4 either way.

[Michael82]

Excellent news!!! :bf1:

[Michael82]

If he's productive, he's going to get an extension by year 4 either way.
EXACTLY!

[lordofgun]

If he's productive, he's going to get an extension by year 4 either way.
Kinda like Nate Clements! :bf1:

[Night Train]

To me its inexcusable for the 8th pick in the draft (Or any in the top 10 for that matter) to only sign a 5 year deal.

Working on a Tony nomination ?

I have a huge problem with unproven rookies getting more $$ than 95 % of the active roster, which happens most times with high 1st round picks. Mike Williams ring a bell ?

5 years is 5 years too much if he's a bust. Half of the 1st round picks are considered busts.

[FlyingDutchman]

Working on a Tony nomination ?

I have a huge problem with unproven rookies getting more $$ than 95 % of the active roster, which happens most times with high 1st round picks. Mike Williams ring a bell ?

5 years is 5 years too much if he's a bust. Half of the 1st round picks are considered busts.

Good point. I had a big problem with Kellen Winslow Jr for demanding to be the highest paid TE in the league before even stepping foot on the field. Donte should have been estatic to get what he was offered to begin with considering he wasnt projected to go very high, not to mention he should show some respect for the Bills who have taken a chance on him at 8.

[BADTHINGSMAN]

Great news, wonder if Marv saved him a slice of cake..

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Bills signed Ohio State SS Donte Whitner, the No. 8 pick overall, to a five-year contract that includes $14 million in guaranteed money.
A vicious hitter, Whitner was a bit of a surprise in the top ten. But he should provide an upgrade over Matt Bowen and Coy Wire and is an excellent dynasty IDP target. Whitner missed eight days of training camp while holding out. Only Jason Allen and Matt Leinart remain unsigned.

Where is this info came from? I looked all over and the closest I got is Whitner's quote that he and the Bills split right down the middle on the difference of guaranteed money.

[dolphan117]

Working on a Tony nomination ?

I have a huge problem with unproven rookies getting more $$ than 95 % of the active roster, which happens most times with high 1st round picks. Mike Williams ring a bell ?

5 years is 5 years too much if he's a bust. Half of the 1st round picks are considered busts.I agree with you about how much money the top of the draft makes while many NFL vets sign for the vet min and I wish there had been some kind of a cap put on Rookie contracts in the last CBA. That being said the contract we are talking about here is 5 years for 14 million. That breaks down to less than 3 Million a year and not even all of it is guaranteed. A sixth year and say another 4 million dollars (even if it was all dead cap which depending how it was structured it wouldn't be) the cap hit would still be manageable. To me you either have to believe in the players you are drafting or not. You cant draft players in the top 10 and then say "Well we could have signed him for an extra year for a measly (By NFL standards) 4 million dollars but we were afraid he would be a bust and we didn't want that gigantic cap hit hanging over our heads. And to carry this a little further if you were a good GM and drafted a guy thinking he was going to be great only to have him show up at your OTA's and perform badly to the point that you think he might be a bust the answer is pretty simple. Sign him to a 6 year deal with an min salary in the 5th and 6th years along with a significant (say 3 and a half million dollar) roster bonus in both of the last 2 years. If he is a bust than you cut him after year 4 and have almost no dead cap for the last 2 years. There are many ways a good GM can structure a contract so that the team is protected and its not all that hard to do.

As to saying rookie contract length doesnt matter because if the player is productive he will be given a new contract anyway, that's simply not true. Many if not most teams have a standing policy that they only renegotiate contracts with one year left. If however you DID for some reason decide to give a guy a new contract after 4 years it is still in the teams best interest to have the original contract be as long as possible. A team that has a guy signed for the next 2 years will almost always be able to negotiate a better contract than a team working with the same player when there is only one year left or when he is a FA.

I'm not saying that this 5 year deal spell the doom of the Bills franchise but I don't think its a great sign when the when you are joined by Mat Millin and the struggling Niners as the only teams in the top 10 to not get there draftees to sign 6 year deals. I have to say of all three the Niners situation is the worst though since they are solidly in the middle of rebuilding. Its not like whether Davis is in camp on time or not is going to have much bearing on whether or not they are a contender. Having him miss camp would have been a small price to pay to have an extra cheap year 4 years from now when you really hope Allex Smith has turned it on and you are a contender. I guess its just a question of whether you want short term results by getting him into camp on time or long term value by having a longer contract. Like I said it makes no sense to me when you are in a situation like the Niners and are going to be at best average this year anyway.

[TigerJ]

The Bills my be a few games into the season before Whitner is ready to start, thanks to the mini holdout. Fortunately, Bowen's had a string camp and the Bills don't look like they'll suffer too much as a consequence of the holdout.

[Kerr]

at last.

[BillsFever21]

Marv let this thing ride out this long over less then a million dollars? It's only obvious Marv isn't savvy enough to get his own way and was gonna give in to him. He should've had him to camp on time.

Once Marv gets the reputation of being a pushover and giving in first this won't be the last time something like this happens. People take advantage of pushovers. Just like in the Eric Moulds deal and now this.

Oh well. I'm happy he's finally in camp but it should've been a week ago. We never had player holdouts before this year. It's no coincidence it happens after we hire a pushover rookie 81 year old GM.

McGahee was the only one in recent years but it didn't matter because he was sitting out the year anyway. There will be more of this in future years for our team.

[YardRat]

I'm not saying that this 5 year deal spell the doom of the Bills franchise but I don't think its a great sign when the when you are joined by Mat Millin and the struggling Niners as the only teams in the top 10 to not get there draftees to sign 6 year deals.

Huff and Sims, the players drafted 7 and 9, both received five-year deals from what I've seen.

[Mitchy moo]

http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20060806/1056396.asp


PITTSFORD - Donte Whitner has been getting long-distance updates on Buffalo Bills practices the past week. The team's No. 1 draft choice will finally get to work on his game in person come Monday.

Whitner reported to training camp Saturday morning and signed a five-year contract with the Bills. Thus ended an eight-day holdout in which the strong safety from Ohio State missed 14 practices.
The full value of Whitner's deal was not available but it's believed to be worth in excess of $13 million in guaranteed money. It will be the second-richest rookie contract in Bills history, behind only the blockbuster contract given to tackle Mike Williams, the fourth overall pick in 2002.
Whitner, the eighth overall pick in the draft, thinks he can catch up quickly on the work he missed so far.
"I feel like I'm behind a little," Whitner said after going through a conditioning run Saturday afternoon. "But I'm going to meet with (defensive backs) coach (George Catavolos) today and tomorrow and go over a lot of things I didn't get in minicamp." Whitner has put in a lot of phone calls from Columbus, Ohio, where he has been working out, to Pittsford. He has been getting updates from rookie defensive backs Ashton Youboty and Ko Simpson and from veteran safety Troy Vincent.

[Michael82]

We never had player holdouts before this year. It's no coincidence it happens after we hire a pushover rookie 81 year old GM.

Since when? I remember some holdouts. Some of them were only a couple days, but we have had holdouts.

[The Spaz]

Willis McGahee held out too.