We may not be participating in free agency at all.

[ICE74129]

http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20070211/7003599.asp

I gotta back the cheap bastard on this one. They haven't even seen their money for 06 yet?

Time for small market owners to get ahold of the Gov and start working some anti trust mojo OR ban together and sue the NFL.

Its apperant the NFL is dragging ass on this for some reason and it smells like a Jones, Kraft or Snider doing (or all of the above).

I think the reality is come Nov 08 they will have the votes to dump the current CBA. personally I hope they do and dont care if they strike. 59% of the gross is too much to the players, they should have looked it as 54% of 500 mill or so is much more than 45% of 200 mill and been happy with more money period.

Anyway, if ralph isn't going to get some cash soon, IMHO he just doesn't have the personal assets to cough up signing bonuses...even for draft picks.

[TacklingDummy]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

What's your post have to do with the title of your thread?

I agree with the thread title.

[ICE74129]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

What's your post have to do with the title of your thread?

I agree with the thread title.

read the article, the owners haven't been paid from the CBA for 06 yet. As for as the general 'not participating in FA' We had better pray there are some signings and a couple huge ones.

If not then the bills continue to suck. Now I know most fans are marv homers and think we can get this done only with drafting, and maybe we can in 5 years, but ralph isn't going to be running this team in that time frame.

Also with the CBA the way it is, I doubt this team stays in buffalo, so my thoughts are, spend what you have to in order to get this team up to speed ASAP.

[Jan Reimers]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

The trouble with greedy bastards like Snyder, Jones and Kraft is, however much money they have is never enough. Or maybe it's their egos. At any rate, they don't understand that the small market teams are part of the appeal - and success - of the NFL. Neither do they appreciate the risks that owners of the smaller market teams took in the early days.

If they kill off the small market teams, the league will not be as viable as it is now. But they've got theirs, and they're so friggin rich, that they could care less.

[OpIv37]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

you honestly think that $6 million is going to make or break the bank on FA's? If Ralph wants to pay someone, he'll find a way to get the $6 million before the NFL pays him.

That being said, I see this off-season as one where the Bills will actively pursue players but come up short more often than not. I'll be surprised if we get even one impact player out of FA.

[YardRat]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

The cap is actually a fixed amount in '06 and '07, 57.5% in '08 and '09, 58% in '10 and '11.

Time for small market owners to get ahold of the Gov

Ralph's been on that trail since before the season started.

[Goobylal]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

I don't agree that Ralph won't spend money. Last year the Bills had about $6.5M (that's including a $3M LTBE bonus for Shaud Williams that he never earned) in cap room (i.e. money in Ralph's pockets) after extending Peters and Lindell, and that represents more or less the increase in the cap ($7.5M) just by the owners voting-in the new CBA. This year the Bills have almost $40M in cap space, and at worst I see Ralph spending all but $10M, to again off-set the increase in cap without an increase in revenue sharing. The difference would ideally be made-up by the additional revenue sharing, but since it hasn't been decided-upon, I doubt Ralph will spend up to the cap limit. But it doesn't mean he won't spend ANY money.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

I think we'll see what we saw last year. Marv will target 3 or 4 mid level guys and try to nail them down right away.

[OpIv37]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

I don't agree that Ralph won't spend money. Last year the Bills had about $6.5M (that's including a $3M LTBE bonus for Shaud Williams that he never earned) in cap room (i.e. money in Ralph's pockets) after extending Peters and Lindell, and that represents more or less the increase in the cap ($7.5M) just by the owners voting-in the new CBA. This year the Bills have almost $40M in cap space, and at worst I see Ralph spending all but $10M, to again off-set the increase in cap without an increase in revenue sharing. The difference would ideally be made-up by the additional revenue sharing, but since it hasn't been decided-upon, I doubt Ralph will spend up to the cap limit. But it doesn't mean he won't spend ANY money.

we only have like 25 guys under contract, so that $22 million has to cover about 22 players. Plus it's not necessarily how much is spent- it's more how it's spent. Giving $10 million contracts to guys like Josh Reed and Robert Royal and giving Nate Clements a huge contract would be spending money, but it doesn't make the Bills a better team.

[ICE74129]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

we only have like 25 guys under contract, so that $22 million has to cover about 22 players. Plus it's not necessarily how much is spent- it's more how it's spent. Giving $10 million contracts to guys like Josh Reed and Robert Royal and giving Nate Clements a huge contract would be spending money, but it doesn't make the Bills a better team.

Where do you get that? Clump says over 40 are under contract. NEXT YEAR is when we have a ton that will be free agents.

[ICE74129]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

I think we'll see what we saw last year. Marv will target 3 or 4 mid level guys and try to nail them down right away.

Ah yes a team of mid level guys and draft picks. Thats the sure ticket to the superbowl...(sarcasm)

Too bad NE was willing to sign SOME big number guys to get there.

[Ickybaluky]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

As far under the cap as they are, they have to spend some money. There is a minimum cap-level as well, which is 90% of the maximum.

So if the cap is $109M, that means the minimum is $98.1M. That means, at worst, the Bills have about $20M in cap space to use or they won't be in compliance with the cap.

[X-Era]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20070211/7003599.asp

I gotta back the cheap bastard on this one. They haven't even seen their money for 06 yet?

Time for small market owners to get ahold of the Gov and start working some anti trust mojo OR ban together and sue the NFL.

Its apperant the NFL is dragging ass on this for some reason and it smells like a Jones, Kraft or Snider doing (or all of the above).

I think the reality is come Nov 08 they will have the votes to dump the current CBA. personally I hope they do and dont care if they strike. 59% of the gross is too much to the players, they should have looked it as 54% of 500 mill or so is much more than 45% of 200 mill and been happy with more money period.

Anyway, if ralph isn't going to get some cash soon, IMHO he just doesn't have the personal assets to cough up signing bonuses...even for draft picks.

I actually agree with the big market teams on this one. The Bills SHOULD have ticket prices that are in the same ballpark with the rest of the league.

Seriously, we fans should put our money where our mouths are here. I hear people ***** about paying another 5 bucks more per ticket. WTF? Do you want an NFL team or not? You will pay big bucks to go watch the Sabres but not the Bills? Dont give me the Sabres are at least good crap, they havent been, just real good this year.

People pay almost double to watch the NBA. The owners are right here, if you want more money to compete, charge more for your tickets, but then SPEND MORE TO MAKE A BETTER TEAM! You cant charge a fortune and then put out a crappy product. Unless your Arizona of course.

Personally, Im willing to pay an extra 10-20 dollars a ticket if it means keepingf the team or even spending the money to build a SB winner, I implore the rest of the fans to do the same.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

Ah yes a team of mid level guys and draft picks. Thats the sure ticket to the superbowl...(sarcasm)

Too bad NE was willing to sign SOME big number guys to get there.

Funny, I don't remember seeing the Pats in the Super Bowl.

And boy, Indy and da Bears sure signed a lot of big money free agents that did them well.

/sarcasm off

[YardRat]

Re: We may not be participating in free agency at all.

I hope everybody realizes that the salary cap isn't the same as actual dollars spent on contracts in given year. Even though signing bonuses are amortized over the life of the contract for cap purposes (up to a six year limit, I believe), the total dollar amount still changes from the owner's hand to the player's as soon as the ink dries.