Bills are being played...

[jamze132]

But it just might work out to our favor and here's why.

Mario Williams and Robert Meachem both came to use us as leverage. As soon as a better opportunity arose for Robert, he bolted. Probably being the #1 guy in SD helped a little but we've seen this tactic used before.

In Mario's version, he knew the Bills were going to throw a hundred mil on the table as a starting point. He does the Buffalo visit, all while his agent is talking to other teams to see if they can match what Buffalo is offering.

What visit takes more than 48 hours? A visit that is based on other teams getting involved at some point. They are waiting for other pieces to fall in place for other teams to see who actually has the cash to play ball like Buffalo this year.

I think that he is having a hard time finding another team willing to give him what Buffalo is so I would expect some good news today. It hurts being used but if we get our man, so be it. This type of tactic will cease to work if we can start winning.

[Lexwhat]

Re: Bills are being played...

Very logical analysis.

[ThunderGun]

Re: Bills are being played...

Yay....

[BertSquirtgum]

Re: Bills are being played...

The Bills are playing mario williams.

[ServoBillieves]

Re: Bills are being played...

Who is Mario Williams?

[imbondz]

Re: Bills are being played...

I can definitely see that being the case

[BertSquirtgum]

Re: Bills are being played...

It would be pretty awesome for the Bills to invest all this time in super-M and lose out on all the rest of the top tier free agents only to have this guy walk on a plane tomorrow.

[Buddo]

Re: Bills are being played...

It would be pretty awesome for the Bills to invest all this time in super-M and lose out on all the rest of the top tier free agents only to have this guy walk on a plane tomorrow.

It'd just have to be back to the draft then.
While I do believe Williams can make the huge difference needed to our D, and as such is worth the investment, there's always another option.

[alohabillsfan]

Re: Bills are being played...

Denver and Tennessee can’t commit the money till Peyton makes up his mind. The longer Peyton ties up their commitment money the better we have a chance of signing him. I hope it’s today… Peyton, take your time….

[X-Era]

Re: Bills are being played...

Makes sense. Spend 3 days in Buffalo wasting time at the very start of free agency instead of going and visiting your next team.

[Night Train]

Re: Bills are being played...

Meachum got a surprise offer when SD overpaid seconds after losing Vincent Jackson. 24 hours before FA started, I'm sure his agent had an idea what his market was and SD vastly overpaid. I'm sure he was considering us until that call came in.

Hard to think Mario Williams would visit Buffalo first because he thought he could use them, of all teams, to establish his true market. We're not the team that establishes markets for anyone.
I think they knew their options were limited coming here and no late calls willing to match were coming. Then the Mrs. shows up and the " could this indeed be the place ? " discussion is on. Having a couple resident HOFers like Kelly and Thurman showing them where they live and why they love it here makes him stop and think hard.

That's why we're in Day 3.

[THATHURMANATOR]

Re: Bills are being played...

You are probably right Jamez!

[EricStratton]

Re: Bills are being played...

It looks a bit like he came to Buffalo and actually likes it. Mario came from a small town and didn't exactly go to a huge football factory in college.

Maybe the Buffalo lifestyle is just what he's looking for

[mjt328]

Re: Bills are being played...

Meachum got a surprise offer when SD overpaid seconds after losing Vincent Jackson. 24 hours before FA started, I'm sure his agent had an idea what his market was and SD vastly overpaid. I'm sure he was considering us until that call came in.

Hard to think Mario Williams would visit Buffalo first because he thought he could use them, of all teams, to establish his true market. We're not the team that establishes markets for anyone.
I think they knew their options were limited coming here and no late calls willing to match were coming. Then the Mrs. shows up and the " could this indeed be the place ? " discussion is on. Having a couple resident HOFers like Kelly and Thurman showing them where they live and why they love it here makes him stop and think hard.

That's why we're in Day 3.

I agree with this.

After Tuesday passed and he hadn't signed yet, I was worried that Mario was just using us for leverage. But I don't believe he would have stayed here for so long if we weren't a serious option.

With that said, I don't believe that Buffalo is Mario's first option.

I was scanning the Titans message board, and they believe Mario is waiting to see what happens with Peyton Manning. If Tennessee gets him, they are out of the race for Mario. But if someone else gets Manning, they are apparently willing to match Buffalo's offer for Mario. And with the money equal, he would rather play in Tennessee.

Not sure if that's true, but it would make a lot of sense.

All reports say that Buffalo has offered to make Mario the highest paid defensive player in the NFL. The only reason that he would stall is to see if a better market (meaning a city/team he would rather play for) will step up and match our offer.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Re: Bills are being played...

It looks a bit like he came to Buffalo and actually likes it. Mario came from a small town and didn't exactly go to a huge football factory in college.

Maybe the Buffalo lifestyle is just what he's looking for

I agree.

I think he came to Buffalo thinking that he wouldn't sign with the Bills because of Ralph Wilson's reputation for being cheap and the area's bad reputation and was pleasantly surprised to find that not only are the Bills willing to pay top dollar for him, but that the area and guys on the team are a lot nicer than he had been led to believe.

And, that's why he brought his fiancee here yesterday to show her an area that she probably didn't know much about and wasn't even thinking was a possible destination. They went out with some of the players and their wives (possibly also Jim Kelly and his wife) and stayed the night.

In the meantime, Mario's agent and the Bills' money men have been working out the details of a contract--when you're talking about the kind of money that this contract will amount to, both sides are going to want to make sure that every possible detail has been discussed and worked out before pen gets put to paper! And, that takes time, plain and simple.

Now, if Mario and his fiancee have been seeing what they are looking for (at this point, it's probably more a case of if Mario's fiancee has been impressed) and like the deal that his agent has come up with, he'll sign with the Bills.

I don't think it's a case of Mario "playing" the Bills as much as Mario originally not thinking that he'd like the situation in Buffalo, being pleasantly surprised, and wanting to get his fiancee on board with him signing with the Bills.

And, as far as his fiancee is concerned, I asked my wife (who is NOT a football fan) what Mario's fiancee might be thinking and she said definitively that, if the fiancee was uncomfortable or didn't like what she was seeing yesterday afternoon/evening in Buffalo, she and Mario would have left town last night--that they definitely would not have stuck around to go back to OBD today.

So, there is hope!