Motivation

[Jeff1220]

Some of the talk of how/why the Bills are finally making a FA effort had me thinking...
some have said that it's to impress Toronto
some have said that maybe Ralph/Jauron & Co. really do want to win.

I think it's both of these to some degree, but consider this - there is a lot of criticism toward Ralph for the FO hires/non-hires made this offseason. Maybe these guys Brandon/Guy/Overdorf/Modrak are out to prove that they can do the job.

Ego is a pretty strong motivator sometimes.

Just a thought.

[The King]

Marv did a solid job building this team a foundation for relatively no money. Maybe its time we're getting serious.

[ddaryl]

We spent good money last year, and this is 3 years after TD. Everyone here had to know that after TD was let go the Bills were 3-4 years away from being rebuilt into a serious playoff contender.

Year one post TD was about cleaning house and re-evaluating what we had

Year 2 post TD was about fixing our OL so our young QB's had a chance ot develope

Year 3 will be about filling in as many pieces we can after the last 2 years of evaluation

Will spend money... but those that cry "Ralph is cheap" are nothing more then instant gratification whores.

Now Ralph does deserve some critism, but that would be for hiring TD and we had to rebuild the team after his departure which always sets back any franchise.

heck Ralphs choiced of GM since he fired Polian have been questionable, with Marv being the best of the bunch since IMO. The GM by committee approach we have this year is yet to be determined

[jdbillsfan]

I think Dick realizes that he can't wait too much longer....

[LifetimeBillsFan]

I also think that by basically selling the Toronto games to the Rogers group, Wilson now may have a bit more "up-front" money available to use for bonuses.

The Bills have said that they are just basically going to be providing the teams to the Toronto consortium that will be doing all of the marketing of the games played in Toronto. Which means that, in effect, the Toronto group is "renting" the teams for the game--paying the Bills and their opponents a set fee up-front--and then selling the performance, ie the game, to the Toronto audience at whatever price they feel that they need to get in order to make a profit.

But, that also means that the Toronto group is paying Wilson a set fee--a fee that has to be greater than what Wilson would get if the Bills played those games in Buffalo (otherwise why go through the hassle of playing those games in Toronto!). And, in all likelihood, they are paying at least some of that fee "up-front".

If that is the case, then, Wilson has that "up-front" money NOW and doesn't have to wait until after the game is played to get it (as he would have to do if these games were being played in Buffalo). And, if he has that cash "in-hand" now, that would mean that he would be in a better position to pay free agents the kind of bonus money that they want.

Having more money available to pay out in bonuses would definitely make it a lot easier for the Bills FO to attract and potentially sign the free agents that they are interested in and have targetted. And, that would make the Bills a more attractive team for free agents to consider as well.

I don't think that you can underestimate the role that this could play in what the Bills may try to do this offseason in free agency. Because, more than anything, money is the biggest motivation in free agency. It isn't the only thing--in some cases it may not even be the most important thing--but it is, at the very least, a major factor in free agency.