Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

[The Answer]

I usually agree with Connor Byrne, but not this time. Peters is coming off an injury and needs to prove he is the real deal by having a career year in 2008 before I would even consider giving him more money:

http://www.realfootball365.com/index.php/articles/bills/11306

Bills shouldn’t play contractual games with Peters

Friday, May 23, 2008 | Posted by Connor Byrne

It's sometimes hard to believe how far a professional athlete can progress in such a short period of time. That's the case with the Buffalo Bills' Jason Peters, who has improbably gone from undrafted free agent in 2004 to Pro Bowl-caliber left tackle in just four NFL seasons.

When the Bills signed Peters out of the University of Arkansas over four years ago, they were uncertain what position he'd play. The 6-foot-4, 340-pounder used his great size to accompany freakish athleticism (4.9 in the 40-yard dash) as a tight end for the Razorbacks. In his first year with the Bills, Peters' most memorable play was a blocked punt against the Cincinnati Bengals in a late-season victory. After Peters blocked the punt, he fell on the ball in the end zone, earning six points for Buffalo............

~The Answer

[OpIv37]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

Peters plays LT and is the 3rd highest paid lineman on the team. On one hand, he should honor the contract that he signed. On the other hand, he's severely underpaid and doesn't have the option of just changing jobs like most of us do.

[hydro]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

I agree with the injury thing. I think he needs another year to prove he is worth top LT money.

[RockStar36]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

I think he deserves a raise but he should play out this season before getting any more money. If he plays well again this year then show him the money.

[Devin]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

You guys are friggin nuts.

[TacklingDummy]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

3 years left on his deal. If the Bills want to be nice they could look into contract after this season.

[TacklingDummy]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

Peters plays LT and is the 3rd highest paid lineman on the team. On one hand, he should honor the contract that he signed. On the other hand, he's severely underpaid and doesn't have the option of just changing jobs like most of us do.

Most of us don't make 3 million dollars per year. And if any of us did I doubt we would be *****ing about it.

Im going to go out on a limb here and say that if you add everyone who posts here regularly paychecks toegther that they don't add up to $3 million per year.

[justasportsfan]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

I agree with the injury thing. I think he needs another year to prove he is worth top LT money.

he's not even making average LT money. Bills should meet him halfway and pay him top 15 average LT money with incentives that will pay him top LT money if he makes probowl again.

[The Answer]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

You guys are friggin nuts.

The front office is not going to cough up more money for a guy that has 3 years left on an existing contract. And if they are stupid enough to set that type of precident than what do you think is going to happen with Stroud, Evans, Whitner, and all our other key players.

Bottom line - Peters has no leverage whatsoever, if he wants to sit out than let him try. He is coming off a serious injury and needs to show gratitude and respect to the team that took a chance on him when he wasn't even drafted.

~The Answer

[hydro]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

he's not even making average LT money. Bills should meet him halfway and pay him top 15 average LT money with incentives that will pay him top LT money if he makes probowl again.

That would be the ideal situation I think.

[Mitchy moo]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

Most of us don't make 3 million dollars per year. And if any of us did I doubt we would be *****ing about it.

Im going to go out on a limb here and say that if you add everyone who posts here regularly paychecks toegther that they don't add up to $3 million per year.

How long is that limb????

[TacklingDummy]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

How long is that limb????

10 inches

[patmoran2006]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

You guys are friggin nuts.

Thank you..

Let him have another Pro bowl year and see his price tag go through the ****in roof. L

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

Considering the kind of money that M.Roos and D.Diehl (who? you might ask) just got and the fact that Peters is the third highest paid O-lineman on the team, IMHO he has a right to be looking to get paid more--he has worked extremely hard and done everything the team has asked of him to get to the level of player that he has gotten to.

That being said, I wish that he would live up to his contract and was not looking for a new deal at this point, when the Bills are trying to come up with a deal to retain L.Evans and probably A.Crowell. But, this being the real world, asking for that is simply wishful thinking.

Considering that the Bills already have re-structured M.Stroud's deal and gave A.Schobel a contract extension, I don't think that doing something for Peters at this stage would create any more of a precedent than what they did with those deal did (and, yes, they did set the precedent that Peters is just trying to get the team to follow again in his case).

So, this being the real world of the NFL, what I would like to see--and what I think might very well be possible--would be for the Bills to re-structure Peters current deal, with an agreement to negotiate a fair contract extension with him after this season. That's what the agent that Peters just hired to help him in negotiating with the Bills did with R.Seymour and the Pats a couple of years ago.

If they could do something along those lines, hopefully, that would still leave the Bills enough money under their "cash-to-the-cap" structure to still re-sign Evans and Crowell now, while pushing their contract dealings with Peters into their budget for next offseason--making it easier for the team to be able to afford all three players.

I'm sure the Bills MDs have a pretty good idea what Peters' injury was and what his prognosis for being able to return to play at the level that he played before the injury is. And, the Bills can put some language into a re-structured deal to protect themselves should the injury be a chronic problem.

There are a lot of ways that this issue can ultimately end up being resolved amicably at this point and I take it as a positive sign that neither side is saying anything about what is going on at this point. That leads me to believe that the two sides have been talking and do not want to preclude any options by talking publicly and possibly locking themselves in to a particular position at this stage of their discussions.

The Bills have traditionally conducted their negotiations with players very quietly and have been most successful in their dealings with players when those negotiations have remained quiet. While that may be nerve-wracking for the fans (just remember the Stroud deal or their talks with Schobel), I'd rather that these negotiations continue to be kept quiet and be amicably resolved--not just in Peters' case, but in the case of Evans and Crowell as well--than see the two sides try to negotiate with one another through the press and have things end up poorly.

Given the fact that C.Brown had commented on the Diehl contract in his blog, I think that the Bills know that they have to do something with Peters' contract--even if they would rather not--and will try to see if they can get something done with him. I think the fact that D.Jauron was very careful not to say anything that might be interpreted negatively about Peters' absence from the first week of the OTAs when he was asked about it directly further underscores this.

And, now, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

[YardRat]

Re: Bills shouldn't play contractual games with Peters

Take the money we saved by not signing a WR and TE in FA and give it to Peters. At least he's earned it.