Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

[Night Train]

From The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Whitner, taken No. 8 overall in April's NFL Draft, not only has a deal worth nearly $29 million - he's got one for five years, which will make him a free agent sooner than numerous first-round picks who signed for six years (including Browns linebacker Kamerion Wimbley).

Whitner's deal is almost 15 percent higher than that of last season's No. 8 pick, Antrel Rolle of Arizona. Among other goodies in Whitner's contract:

He'll make $12 million more than the rookie taken one pick after him (Ernie Sims of Detroit) and nearly $4 million more than the player selected two spots before him (Vernon Davis of San Francisco).

He'll make nearly $4 million more than Wimbley - even though Wimbley's deal has an extra year.

Wow.

[YardRat]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

Five years is what Huff and Sims each received, so the length of the contract is equivilant to those drafted around him.

Does the 29mil include incentives, or not? Huff's contract could hit 43mil.

How does the 15% increase over last year compare to other 2006 draft picks and their counterparts from 2005?

I may have missed it, but I still haven't seen a figure as to what was gauranteed. 13.55 was the figure in between Huff and Sims, I believe.

[Mitchy moo]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

Sounds like his agent did his job, he better play well for it.

[ICE74129]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

Sounds like his agent did his job, he better play well for it.

Ok what does that have to do with anything? The BILLS skoob, not Whitner, Decided to take him at #8. So if he isn't up to being good enough in the NFL to warrant that high of a pick....whos fault is it?

Marv Levy's.

[BillsFever21]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

From The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Whitner, taken No. 8 overall in April's NFL Draft, not only has a deal worth nearly $29 million - he's got one for five years, which will make him a free agent sooner than numerous first-round picks who signed for six years (including Browns linebacker Kamerion Wimbley).

Whitner's deal is almost 15 percent higher than that of last season's No. 8 pick, Antrel Rolle of Arizona. Among other goodies in Whitner's contract:

He'll make $12 million more than the rookie taken one pick after him (Ernie Sims of Detroit) and nearly $4 million more than the player selected two spots before him (Vernon Davis of San Francisco).

He'll make nearly $4 million more than Wimbley - even though Wimbley's deal has an extra year.

Wow.

That Marv sure has one hell of a poker face.

He gets 12 million more then Simms and is gonna make more then Vernon Davis?

Marv is gonna ruin this team. He's overpaid for numerous FA's that nobody else wanted. He caved in to Houston for a 5th round pick in the Moulds deal. And now we got robbed by Whitner. All it takes is for somebody to play hardball and Marv will cave in.

This will set a terrible precedent with our team. Players will realize that all they have to do is put up a struggle and they will get what they want.

How the hell does a surprise pick like him make 2 million more then one of the highest touted impact player in the draft like Vernon Davis who was drafted ahead of him.

Marv must've learned from Butler too much. Cave into the players and pay them more then they're worth to avoid problems.

All Whitner had to do was holdout for a week and his agent knew that an old senile rookie GM like Marv would eventually cave in to their demands first and they would get what they wanted.

There will be many more deals like this happening in Buffalo as long as Marv is the GM. This would've never happened with Donahoe here. Whitner would never have gotten that much money and probably would've been in camp much earlier.

Say what you want about Donahoe but he had a hell of a poker face and got his may most of the time. The players and agents wasn't the one in control of the situation Donahoe was.

Marv is gonna ruin this team. He has been made a fool way too many times and it's only his first offseason. This is a freaking joke.

I know the homers will come back and say "it's not a bad contract. Marv hasn't done anything wrong"

The fact is he is making 12 million more then the guy drafted behind him and more money then one of the most demanded players in the draft in Davis who was drafted ahead of him.

Chalk this up with the rest of the pushover deals for Marv this offseason. Giving people like Price and Reed 5+ million in over the first couple years of their contract for people who haven't done anything in years. Giving Craig Nall 3+ million this season to be a 3rd stringer.

This team is gonna be in even worse shape by the time Marv is gone. This contract is insane.

[Tatonka]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

fever.. that was way too long to read, and after the first few lines of whining and "the sky is falling", i felt ill.. but i am sure you had a great point.

[Risin]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

BillsFever21, excellent post.

I tend to look at the glass as half full, and I still think Marv is in over his head.

I'm not going to call for his resignation yet, but he has made a few moves that have me scratching my head.

The only thing I can say is, if we go to the playoffs this season, we'll all forget what Marv paid these guys, and how big of reaches they were.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

That piece does not have anywhere near enough information about the details of the contract.
I still find it intriguing how some like to jump to conclusions and write a story about a subject they just read about at the top of a thread in a forum. It's really weird.

[don137]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

Why do people blame Marv for the contracts? He is in charge of personnel not the contracts. Jim Overdorf does the contract negotiation not Marv. Quit having the sky is falling mentality and he is way overspending. Last I checked the salary cap is much higher than last year. As a result the 15% increase over last year is not that bad. Instead of "Levy" doing a bad job since Whitner will make more than Davis maybe Davis's agent did a bad job.

[DMBcrew36]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

Whitner better start, and more than that he better produce. He better be damn rookie of the year.

[Mitchy moo]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

Ok what does that have to do with anything? The BILLS skoob, not Whitner, Decided to take him at #8. So if he isn't up to being good enough in the NFL to warrant that high of a pick....whos fault is it?

Marv Levy's.

I really think Whitner holds a little of the responsibility as well.

[BillsFever21]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

Overdorf might do the negotiations but everything still goes through Marv for approval.

You think Overdorf just does the negotiations and then whenever he's finished just let Marv know how much the contract was for? Get real now people.

The GM will set the guidelines and the final approvals go through them.

That's like in a workplace where they have accountants make up the budgets but the guidelines is set by the upper management and has to pass approval.

But I'm sure Marv just tells Overdorf do go ahead and do his thing and let him know the numbers after it's finished.

Overdorf did the same job when Donahoe was here but there wasn't these types of outcomes. The GM tells them what they're willing to spend and sets the guidelines for the contract and any final deal has to be passed by the GM.

You think Marv just found out about the numbers the next morning like the rest of America? He knew what the contract was before it was signed. Overdorf just takes care of the dirty work. One person can't do everything. The final approval goes through the GM though and Marv got worked over once again.

[Don't Panic]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

Agreed that this guy is playing with some questionable numbers, but if this is anywhere near true, then our management (not Marv alone) is way off. Nothing can be determined about this management's decisions yet, but the one blatant fact is that a lot of people have been doing a lot of defending of Marv and Co. Those serve as red flags to anyone who has followed this game long enough. The Price deal, the Reed deal, the Nall deal, the Royal deal, taking Whitner as high as they did, trading up for McCargo... it's a lot to defend. Nothing has been determined yet... just saying it leaves a lot to be defended.

[BillsFever21]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

Why do people blame Marv for the contracts? He is in charge of personnel not the contracts. Jim Overdorf does the contract negotiation not Marv. Quit having the sky is falling mentality and he is way overspending. Last I checked the salary cap is much higher than last year. As a result the 15% increase over last year is not that bad. Instead of "Levy" doing a bad job since Whitner will make more than Davis maybe Davis's agent did a bad job.

How many of the other contracts got 15% increases? Certaintly not #9 who got 12 million less then Whitner or Vernon Davis who got less money then Whitner.

It's not like Whitner was this highly touted major impact player everybody wanted like Reggie Bush.

Does he have pictures of Marv or something? He made this guy at least 15-20 million more compared to where he would've been drafted by somebody else and the contract he would've received. Christ Bunkley only got about 17 million over 6 years and Whitner got 29 over 5? At the very least this should've been a 6 year deal.

It's not like Whitner is a QB who generally gets more money. It's a freaking safety for gods sake and not even the first one selected. This is pathetic.

[BillsFever21]

Re: Whitners' Holdout Did Produce More $$

Not only did he only sign for 5 years and not 6 we also got robbed on the money.

Marv got bent over in the years and money for the contract. This agent wasn't dumb. Marv proved with the Moulds trade and the other contracts signed that if they held out long enough that Marv would bail out and give them what they were asking for.

How the hell does he get more then Vernon Davis and 12 million more then Sims drafted right behind him? And 12 million plus 1 year less then Bunkley who was drafted 5 spots later.

He got as much money as Brickashaw Ferguson too who was the 4th pick in the draft at a much more important position. He got 27.5 million over 5 years. The 2nd safety drafted 4 spots later gets as much money as the #4 pick in the draft and the top LT?

How can any of you defend Marv once again. You see the contract numbers. You see the other numbers for guys drafted ahead of him. He's getting as much as Ferguson? Are you kidding me?