SI Article: Bills will regret spending on MW.

[Jeff1220]

Statistical Storylines Will Loom over Every Team in 2012

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/kerry_byrne/08/21/season-storylines/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t12_a0

Buffalo: How badly will Bills fans regret the decision to break the bank for defensive end Mario Williams?

Buffalo was clearly desperate for defensive help. The team could do nothing right on that side of the ball in 2011, surrendering 27.1 PPG. So it went out and signed former Texan Mario Williams to a six-year deal worth a reported $100 million, including $50 million in guaranteed money. It's the richest deal for a defender in NFL history.

But Bills management clearly overvalued his potential impact. In fact, Buffalo should have looked more closely at the Texans last year. They actually improved when Williams was on the sidelines.

Mario Williams' impact on the Texans

Record PPG YPG
With Williams 3-2 19.0 314.0
Without Williams 7-4 16.6 272.8

Williams has played just 18 of 32 games over the last two years, and has averaged fewer than 9.0 sacks per season in his career. But even if he were the second coming of Reggie White, it'd be hard for Buffalo to justify the shockingly large contract.

Bad organizations make desperate decisions in the misguided hope of finding a quick fix. The Williams signing looks like just such a decision.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/kerry_byrne/08/21/season-storylines/index.html#ixzz24NCibXEF

[IAG]

He might not make the plays that equal his money, but I am glad he is on my team. Give me pass rush!!!

[OpIv37]

Those stats mean nothing without analyzing the overall records and PPG of the teams played with Williams vs the teams played without him. Not all NFL teams are equal.

[better days]

Those stats mean nothing without analyzing the overall records and PPG of the teams played with Williams vs the teams played without him. Not all NFL teams are equal.

Aside from that, the Texans ran the 3-4 last year. Buffalo will run the 4-3 which suits Mario better & Marrio will be playing with the two best DTs he has ever played with in his NFL career. The Bills WASTED a huge amount of money making Dockery the highest paid guard in the NFL, but I think the mony for Mario is well spent.

[The King]

How can this article be written with out one actual down played.

[OpIv37]

Yeah I was just going to say pretty much the same thing: the Bills have three other very good defensive linemen who will benefit from Mario being double teamed. Barring another injury, there is just no way that he doesn't make this team instantly better.

- - - Updated - - -


How can this article be written with out one actual down played.

24 hour news cycle trying to cover a sport that's still in preseason.

"Hmmm.... what can we say that will start some controversy and get us some attention?"

[Meathead]

sometimes those 'biggest fa on the market' moves work out and sometimes they dont. plus as time goes on the money often looks less and less outrageous. chicago paid a ransom for peppers and that has worked out well for them

theres also the issue of marketability. the bills making that move has the real potential to shift their reputation in the league as a team serious about winning, helping them draw better free agents

it seemed like a good time to go all in for the bills and he was the perfect guy to do it with. the team was just becoming mature enough to make a move toward the playoffs and the mario and anderson signings could be what puts them over the top

of course we all hope it works out well here, too. should be the most fun season in quite a while. and remember, ralph is cheap

[stuckincincy]

Buyers' remorse a common thing. I was surprised at the $50M guaranteed part of the contract.

I think that Ralph wanted to give the club, the fans something to look forward to. I recall then-Reds' owner, the late Marge Schott re-signing a declining Barry Larkin. The late owner Carl Lindner bringing in Ken Griffey Jr.

[Joe Fo Sho]

There should be no one upset that the Bills took a chance on this guy. We've been *****ing about not spending money on FAs for what seems like forever. If he works out, great. If he doesn't, at least we took a chance. Before free agency started, someone please tell me they didn't want Mario Williams on this team. Besides, my understanding is that we gave him tons of money, but didn't really handcuff ourselves salary cap wise. Let's wait til the season starts before we let the sky fall on ourselves.

[Jeff1220]

I just hope someone posted this article in Mario's locker. :)

[Mahdi]

Honestly, I know its just preseason, but we really haven't seen Mario anywhere near the QB yet. RGIII stood comfortably in the pocket as did Ponder.

Hopefully once the reg season starts and the DL has a chance to get into a groove while playing series after series it won't be an issue, but if Mario struggles fans will not be so patient. He's no rookie and he's raking in more guaranteed cash than the entire D combined possibly.

[Skooby]

No chance the Texans had a weaker schedule either, why figure that into the equation?

[stuckincincy]

Honestly, I know its just preseason, but we really haven't seen Mario anywhere near the QB yet. RGIII stood comfortably in the pocket as did Ponder.

Hopefully once the reg season starts and the DL has a chance to get into a groove while playing series after series it won't be an issue, but if Mario struggles fans will not be so patient. He's no rookie and he's raking in more guaranteed cash than the entire D combined possibly.

What's curious to me, is that I don't see a single stat listed for him on NFL.coms' gamebook pdf.. No tackles, assists - nothing. I've no idea about how many minutes he's been on the field so far. Sooner or later, you gotta bump into somebody.

I understand the arguments about avoiding injury, but OTOH, you do have to mix it up a bit against the opposition, who aren't going to patty-cake like in practice.

[Pinkerton Security]

Those stats mean nothing without analyzing the overall records and PPG of the teams played with Williams vs the teams played without him. Not all NFL teams are equal.

My thoughts exactly. It would be interesting to see that breakdown. If I get bored later I'll post haha

[Albany,n.y.]

sometimes those 'biggest fa on the market' moves work out and sometimes they dont. plus as time goes on the money often looks less and less outrageous. chicago paid a ransom for peppers and that has worked out well for them

theres also the issue of marketability. the bills making that move has the real potential to shift their reputation in the league as a team serious about winning, helping them draw better free agents

it seemed like a good time to go all in for the bills and he was the perfect guy to do it with. the team was just becoming mature enough to make a move toward the playoffs and the mario and anderson signings could be what puts them over the top

of course we all hope it works out well here, too. should be the most fun season in quite a while. and remember, ralph is cheap

You've noted what I think is the best part of the signing-it gives the Bills credibility with other free agents. The SI writer has no comprehension of free agency if he doesn't understand this. Good players help a team to bring other good players in. This writer should look at what happened the last time the Bills got some good players-guys like Spikes & Adams came here because they believed they could win, same thing with Early & Paup in the 1990s. While those teams had a name QB to help the drawing power, you can't always start at QB. However, when the team had no talent & QBs like Losman & Johnson nobody wanted to come here because they knew the team's shot at the playoffs & beyond was limited at best. I just wish we had a better free agent drawing card at QB, but Williams on D is a good start for future years.

[gebobs]

Williams has averaged fewer than 9.0 sacks per season in his career.
Lies, damned lies, and statistics. While the above is true, it's a blunt assessment and misleading considering the time he's missed. We had this argument over on the Range with the resident Jets troll, NYJunc.

If you go by sacks per game played, there are two guys that stand out among players active last year: Jared Allen and DeMarcus Ware. They both average better than 0.80 sacks per game. Sick.

After that, Williams is in an elite group that average about 0.60 to 0.70 per game:

Ware 0.89
Allen 0.84
Abraham 0.70
Freeney 0.69
Peppers 0.65
M. Williams 0.65
Cole 0.63
Mathis 0.62
Umenyiora 0.61
Taylor 0.60
Suggs 0.59

[don137]

You have to overpay to bring in a good player. The Bills needed pass rushers desperately. I don't think many people took the Bills as a serious playoff team until this signing. I rather see Ralph spend it then hoard it. Who else would we of spent the money on to make this team better?

[kingJofNYC]

he'll never be as good as his contract, but as long as we can resign our own guys (wood/levitre/byrd), and Mario performs at a level similar or better to that of A.Schobel we're fine. it's not our money, we shouldn't give a **** if it's too much, that's ralph's problem.

[OpIv37]

he'll never be as good as his contract, but as long as we can resign our own guys (wood/levitre/byrd), and Mario performs at a level similar or better to that of A.Schobel we're fine. it's not our money, we shouldn't give a **** if it's too much, that's ralph's problem.

well we should give a **** to a point because of the salary cap. Money spent on one player comes at the opportunity cost of getting another player or re-signing one of our own.

Still, you are right that if Mario plays well, no one will care how much he makes.

[better days]

Buyers' remorse a common thing. I was surprised at the $50M guaranteed part of the contract.

I think that Ralph wanted to give the club, the fans something to look forward to. I recall then-Reds' owner, the late Marge Schott re-signing a declining Barry Larkin. The late owner Carl Lindner bringing in Ken Griffey Jr.

There is no buyers remorse by the Bills or the vast majority of their fans. That stupid article was written by an outsider who had nothing to do with the purchase.

And I don't know how you can compare signing an NFL player in his PRIME to signing two OLD, over the hill baseball players.

[better days]

well we should give a **** to a point because of the salary cap. Money spent on one player comes at the opportunity cost of getting another player or re-signing one of our own.

Still, you are right that if Mario plays well, no one will care how much he makes.

The Bills resigned all of the players they wanted to. If a FA like Bell was not signed, it was because the Bills did not want him. Going into the future, the Mario signing will not have a huge impact on the cap.

[DraftBoy]

How can this article be written with out one actual down played.

Welcome to the joys of advanced statistics.

[justasportsfan]

even if Mario doesn't make 15 sacks a season as long as his presence allows the others to increase their production, it's all good.

[MattyNH]

I don't think you can argue that the Bills did overpay. That is the price you pay when you draft so poorly and have to rely on free agents. Whether they live to regret it or not is yet to be determined.

[X-Era]

His on the field play is only one of the parts that could make this such a pivotal move for the franchise.

The Bills won't spend for a top free agent- False
Ralph is cheap- False
The Bills use cash to cap so they can't afford a player like Mario- False
No big name players want to come to Buffalo- False

We now have national relevance again
We now have an excited fan base again

Mario doesn't have to be all world or even fully live up to his huge contract. I'm happy if he gets double digit sacks every year. His contract pays for itself in so many other ways.

[OpIv37]

The Bills resigned all of the players they wanted to. If a FA like Bell was not signed, it was because the Bills did not want him. Going into the future, the Mario signing will not have a huge impact on the cap.

THIS year.

The contract and salary affects the cap for multiple years. The Bills were so far below the cap, and I believe they had some carryover cap, so that wasn't a problem this year. But that won't always be the case, especially with the contracts they doled out to Williams, Anderson, Fitz and Stevie.

[better days]

THIS year.

The contract and salary affects the cap for multiple years. The Bills were so far below the cap, and I believe they had some carryover cap, so that wasn't a problem this year. But that won't always be the case, especially with the contracts they doled out to Williams, Anderson, Fitz and Stevie.

The point is in FUTURE years, the contract Mario signed will not have a huge effect on the cap. The Bills took the cap hit THIS year when they could afford it.

[ServoBillieves]

This is easily the worst week of the year. It's days before we see real action, hindsight becomes distorted, people want football so bad they put weight on games that mean nothing, and writers write they're doomsday/"I told you so" articles. No one wants to injure other players in the preseason. No one wants to show their schemes, their tricks, their essential gameplan, no matter what the armchair analyst wants to think.

Mark Anderson, Kyle Williams, Marcell Dareus, Mario Williams.

If you look down on that lineup, get your head examined. I'm confident enough to say THAT preseason.

[X-Era]

THIS year.

The contract and salary affects the cap for multiple years. The Bills were so far below the cap, and I believe they had some carryover cap, so that wasn't a problem this year. But that won't always be the case, especially with the contracts they doled out to Williams, Anderson, Fitz and Stevie.
Don't know the accuracy of the numbers but this says next year looks like around 15 -17 mill under. we have 9 as of now. Merriman saved another 4 and Thigpen will save us another 3.5 (if/when cut).

http://nyjetscap.com/Bills/bills2013.php
http://nyjetscap.com/Bills/bills2014.php

[BillsWin]

I don't like that man's tone....

[stuckincincy]

This is easily the worst week of the year. It's days before we see real action, hindsight becomes distorted, people want football so bad they put weight on games that mean nothing, and writers write they're doomsday/"I told you so" articles. No one wants to injure other players in the preseason. No one wants to show their schemes, their tricks, their essential gameplan, no matter what the armchair analyst wants to think.

Mark Anderson, Kyle Williams, Marcell Dareus, Mario Williams.

If you look down on that lineup, get your head examined. I'm confident enough to say THAT preseason.

Every team has seen every play that every team can possibly run. There is nothing to hide. Clubs don't run fancy plays because they pepper the game with young players during the preseason.

Pro football is a 4-act play that's been running for well over a century. There is nothing new, nothing that hasn't been seen before. IMO, get your starters in and be done with this fear of injuries. Better to get their noses dirty in anticipation of the real thing. And give the customers their money's worth. How would you like to pay for an oil change and be told that they only added 3 quarts because they were worried that the grease monkey might be injured?

It's an ovoid ball that travels well through the air. It bounces funny ways. OL, DL dance a timed concert.

Football is not very predictable. An inch here, an inch here, a second missed, the wind, the fast or muddy field. That's its' charm.

The phrase "...on any given day" is true.

[better days]

Don't know the accuracy of the numbers but this says next year looks like around 15 -17 mill under. we have 9 as of now. Merriman saved another 4 and Thigpen will save us another 3.5 (if/when cut).

http://nyjetscap.com/Bills/bills2013.php
http://nyjetscap.com/Bills/bills2014.php

Cash to cap. I think it is a smart way to go. Pay with cash or pay with credit. The Jets chose to pay with credit a few years ago. It resulted in a couple good years, but now the credit card bill is due & the Jets can't really afford to pay it. They will be eating hotdogs & beans for a while to come instead of having a nice porterhouse steak with all the trimmings.

[GingerP]

Cash to cap. I think it is a smart way to go. Pay with cash or pay with credit. The Jets chose to pay with credit a few years ago. It resulted in a couple good years, but now the credit card bill is due & the Jets can't really afford to pay it. They will be eating hotdogs & beans for a while to come instead of having a nice porterhouse steak with all the trimmings.

The Bills can use "Cash to Cap", but they still need to be under the salary cap like all teams, as outlined in the CBA. Williams cap hits do get quite large in the future. The Bills paid huge money up front in bonus, spreading the cap hit out, thus using the "credit card" approach you are criticizing the Jets for. They paid him a $19M signing bonus, and will give him a $8M option bonus next season.

Here are Williams cap numbers by year:

2012: $9.8M
2013: $12.4M
2014: $18.4M
2015: $19M
2016: $19M
2017: $16.5M

Here is cash payments paid to Williams.

2012: $25M
2013: $15M
2014: $13M
2015: $13.6M
2016: $14.5M
2017: $14.9M

I'm not criticizing the contract, but when you pay someone $100M/$50M guaranteed the hits are going to be big no matter the method used to account for it.

[gebobs]

Williams cap hits do get quite large in the future.
I'm not much of a fan of the economics side of football. I just like to watch the games. But in my mind, "cap hit" is the portion of the total team cap that any player's contract eats up.

Tracking the cap history since it's inception, it goes up linearly by about $6 million per year. By the end of his contract, the cap will likely be about $250 million. But to your point, if I take your numbers and calculate the proportion of total cap taken up by Mario Williams, it starts this year at 8%, peaks at about 14% in 2014 and 2015, then drops down at the end to about 11%.

Egad.

[better days]

The Bills can use "Cash to Cap", but they still need to be under the salary cap like all teams, as outlined in the CBA. Williams cap hits do get quite large in the future. The Bills paid huge money up front in bonus, spreading the cap hit out, thus using the "credit card" approach you are criticizing the Jets for. They paid him a $19M signing bonus, and will give him a $8M option bonus next season.

Here are Williams cap numbers by year:

2012: $9.8M
2013: $12.4M
2014: $18.4M
2015: $19M
2016: $19M
2017: $16.5M

Here is cash payments paid to Williams.

2012: $25M
2013: $15M
2014: $13M
2015: $13.6M
2016: $14.5M
2017: $14.9M

I'm not criticizing the contract, but when you pay someone $100M/$50M guaranteed the hits are going to be big no matter the method used to account for it.

Like I said the Jets are in cap hell because they did not pay up front. Now they are stuck with dead money, paying for players no longer on the team & they can't afford to bring in new players they desperately need like a RT & pay them much. The future numbers for Mario are reasonable for a player of his caliber & won't have a huge impact on the cap which will be going up.

[TedMock]

I love stats, but they can be so misleading. The Texans defense as a whole improved as the year went on. It's not that uncommon. So did Denver's, for example. Early on, Williams was the best DL on the team, so to say that the team was better off without him is ridiculous. The guy had 5 sacks in 5 games. Also, he's actually pretty solid at holding his ground against the run and turning plays back. Hard to argue that being on pace for a 16 sack season is a liability. Also, tough to argue that he'd stay on that pace for another three months based on anything more than basic stats.

Big time free agent signings work great sometimes and poorly other times. Time will tell. Saying that it won't work based on some numbers, but not all and not taking cirucumstance into consideration, is just stupid. Honestly, it's probably 50/50 right now. On one hand, he's a tremendous talent who's 27 years old and was playing great pre-injury last year (He's a year older than Jared Allen was when Minnesota signed him and that one worked out beautifully). On the other hand, he's had injuries the last couple of years, so that's a concern. A torn pec last year is not a huge concern, but the ACL two years ago could be should there be any lingering weakness that has yet to show up. Again, not uncommon. There's also the potential of just not living up to anything special (see Neil O'Donnell, Alvin Harper, etc...). Overall, I'm excited about him being here and cautiously hopeful that he will play well for us. Fingers are firmly crossed right now and will be throughout the year.

[starrymessenger]

Texans schedule generally got softer after Mario got hurt, but the point has correctly been made that the author should not be relying on stats to support the point he is making and, secondly, he probably doesnt understand the message Buddy was sending to the team, the fans and the NFL at large in signing Mario. That is partly what Buddy was paying for. On the other hand, this guy has seen a lot more of Mario than most Bills fans have and I suspect his evaluation of Mario's mindset is spot on. He is not driven the way Deacon Jones, Reggie White and Bruce Smith were (all for different reasons). And that is why he may be a pro bowler rather than a HOfmer when all is said and done.

[better days]

Texans schedule generally got softer after Mario got hurt, but the point has correctly been made that the author should not be relying on stats to support the point he is making and, secondly, he probably doesnt understand the message Buddy was sending to the team, the fans and the NFL at large in signing Mario. That is partly what Buddy was paying for. On the other hand, this guy has seen a lot more of Mario than most Bills fans have and I suspect his evaluation of Mario's mindset is spot on. He is not driven the way Deacon Jones, Reggie White and Bruce Smith were (all for different reasons). And that is why he may be a pro bowler rather than a HOfmer when all is said and done.

Well, when Mario was drafted by the Texans, most fans of that team HATED the pick. They wanted either VY who played his College ball in Texas winning a Championship or Reggie Bush. Mario was shown no love at all by that City. Maybe the love he gets in Buffalo will inspire him to play at a HOF level, not to mention the players he will be playing with. This DL will be the beest Mario has ever played on & I would not be surprised if people talk about this defense as one of the best ever in the future.

[PTI]

Should have broke the bank to try to obtain a QB who can actually play.

[better days]

Should have broke the bank to try to obtain a QB who can actually play.

WHO?

[PTI]

WHO?

RG3, Manning, trade for someone, I really don't care, the guy we have is not capable of being a real leader, he can't play hurt, he has a history of sucking in November and December, he regressed last year, and he is in his 8th season with no prospect of ever getting any better. Anyone.

[better days]

RG3, Manning, trade for someone, I really don't care, the guy we have is not capable of being a real leader, he can't play hurt, he has a history of sucking in November and December, he regressed last year, and he is in his 8th season with no prospect of ever getting any better. Anyone.

Well, there was no chance in hell the Bills could have lured either of those guys to Buffalo. No team is going to trade a GOOD starting QB, well, except the Broncos. I would not be surprised if the Broncos do not match last years record myself.

[starrymessenger]

Well, when Mario was drafted by the Texans, most fans of that team HATED the pick. They wanted either VY who played his College ball in Texas winning a Championship or Reggie Bush. Mario was shown no love at all by that City. Maybe the love he gets in Buffalo will inspire him to play at a HOF level, not to mention the players he will be playing with. This DL will be the beest Mario has ever played on & I would not be surprised if people talk about this defense as one of the best ever in the future.Well he is a small town boy and Houston is a big city. I hope you are right of course but given all else his signing should do for us I would be well satisfied with double digit sacks, which on this line should be doable. And frankly if football is not 110 percent of his life, I could not hold that against him.

[Extremebillsfan247]

Mario Williams will do fine here. If he would have signed with a team like New England, or Green Bay for 100 million, no one would even question it. It's because he signed with Buffalo, and some people just don't like that. That's my opinion.

[more cowbell]

Sports Illustrated still exists?

[X-Era]

Cash to cap. I think it is a smart way to go. Pay with cash or pay with credit. The Jets chose to pay with credit a few years ago. It resulted in a couple good years, but now the credit card bill is due & the Jets can't really afford to pay it. They will be eating hotdogs & beans for a while to come instead of having a nice porterhouse steak with all the trimmings.
The Mario Williams contract shattered the notion that the Bills will strictly operate by cash to cap.

[X-Era]

The Bills can use "Cash to Cap", but they still need to be under the salary cap like all teams, as outlined in the CBA. Williams cap hits do get quite large in the future. The Bills paid huge money up front in bonus, spreading the cap hit out, thus using the "credit card" approach you are criticizing the Jets for. They paid him a $19M signing bonus, and will give him a $8M option bonus next season.

Here are Williams cap numbers by year:

2012: $9.8M
2013: $12.4M
2014: $18.4M
2015: $19M
2016: $19M
2017: $16.5M

Here is cash payments paid to Williams.

2012: $25M
2013: $15M
2014: $13M
2015: $13.6M
2016: $14.5M
2017: $14.9M

I'm not criticizing the contract, but when you pay someone $100M/$50M guaranteed the hits are going to be big no matter the method used to account for it.

Strict cash to cap does not allow for amortizing bonuses paid out over the length. The Williams contract is not cash to cap. As you've stated, we made a non-cash to cap deal to get Williams like other teams in the NFL do.

The credit card approach works fine if you spend it wisely. It remains to be seen whether that's the case. I believe it is.

[better days]

Strict cash to cap does not allow for amortizing bonuses paid out over the length. The Williams contract is not cash to cap. As you've stated, we made a non-cash to cap deal to get Williams like other teams in the NFL do.

The credit card approach works fine if you spend it wisely. It remains to be seen whether that's the case. I believe it is.

I don't know where those figures came from, but my understanding is the contract is cash to cap. Mario was paid a $19Mill signing bonus this year. In future years, he will get a roster bonus, however if for any reason he is not on the team, the Bills won't have to pay him that money. That is far different than what the Jets did & they are still paying for players no longer on their team. That is the difference between paying cash & credit. The Bills will only pay Mario while he is a Bill.

[JoeMama]

Yeah, it totally sucks signing the premier pass rusher in 2012.

And with the new cap rules, it's not like you can just have idle cap space burning a hole in your pocket.

You do have to spend a large percentage of it.

Mario Williams may not be god's gift to DE like Bruce or Reggie, but he's a good starting point for a team that needs a new attitude up front.

And look at the aesthetic upside. Signing Williams makes us look like we believe we're on the precipice of contention.

Others will join us.

[Albany,n.y.]

Well, there was no chance in hell the Bills could have lured either of those guys to Buffalo. No team is going to trade a GOOD starting QB, well, except the Broncos. I would not be surprised if the Broncos do not match last years record myself.

The Broncos were stupid to trade Jay Cutler, but what does that have to do with Peyton Manning matching last year's record? Cutler was traded long before last season. Last year's QB in Denver has been horrendous in Jets camp & pre-season games this year.

[Joe Fo Sho]

RG3, Manning, trade for someone, I really don't care, the guy we have is not capable of being a real leader, he can't play hurt, he has a history of sucking in November and December, he regressed last year, and he is in his 8th season with no prospect of ever getting any better. Anyone.

It's just that easy, huh?

[better days]

The Broncos were stupid to trade Jay Cutler, but what does that have to do with Peyton Manning matching last year's record? Cutler was traded long before last season. Last year's QB in Denver has been horrendous in Jets camp & pre-season games this year.

Well, Tebow has led the Jets to scoring drives in both games. Everyone knows Tebow is not a practice player like Trent Edwards. He is a game player. And Payton Manning has not looked all that good in the preseason games either. Like I said, I would not be surprised if the Broncos miss the playoffs this year. And you are right, the Broncos were STUPID to trade Cutler as well as Tebow.

[GingerP]

I don't know where those figures came from, but my understanding is the contract is cash to cap. Mario was paid a $19Mill signing bonus this year. In future years, he will get a roster bonus, however if for any reason he is not on the team, the Bills won't have to pay him that money. That is far different than what the Jets did & they are still paying for players no longer on their team. That is the difference between paying cash & credit. The Bills will only pay Mario while he is a Bill.

"Cash-to-Cap" does not exist on an NFL level. Every team accounts for cap space the same way, per the rules outlined in the CBA. Just because the Bills decide they will spend cash to the cap does not mean they are exempt from the cap rules of the CBA. They are not, they must comply. They are subject to the same calculation for cap room that all teams are.

The $19M signing bonus that Williams was paid counts as $3.8M against the cap from 2012 - 2016 (can't spread a signing bonus more than 5 years).

The $8M option bonus he is due next year (guaranteed) will be spread as $1.6M against the cap from 2013 - 2017.

That is how the CBA accounts for it, and it is how the Bills must account for it when cap room is computed. The Bills have said they will spend cash to the cap, but that is entirely their choice. They can only spend that cash if they have the cap room to spend it. It is the same restriction the Jets have, no difference.

For example, if he were cut 2 years into the contract prior to the 2014 season, the Bills would have $17.8M in amortized signing bonus spread into future years that would need to hit their cap. If that cut were designated as a "pre-June 1" cut, that $17.8M would be charged against the Bills cap in 2014. If it is a "after June 1" cut, then $5.4M would be charged against the 2014 cap and $12.4M would be charged against the 2015 cap. That is what is referred to as "dead money", or in your parlance the credit card coming due.

Williams cap charge this year is only $9.8M, which is made up of his $5.9M salary, $100K workout bonus and $3.8M in amortization from his $19M signing bonus. That cap number is quite different from the cash he will be paid for the season, which is $25M.

[dannyek71]

I thought the same thing about the Rams signing Faulk.

[feldspar]

What's all this crap about the Texans defense actually playing better without Mario? First of all, he played 4 games, really...4 games and a quarter. He was playing very well at LB, and the Texans defense brought in some better players and a new scheme with a great defensive coordinator...so of course they were going to better than previous years anyway.

The Texans gave up almost exactly the same average points per game with Mario than without him last year, and 1 of his games was against New Orleans. The Texans didn't exactly have a hard schedule last year. Of the 12 games that Mario didn't play in, 7 of their opponents were in the bottom 11 in points scored. 5 games were played against the bottom 6 teams as far as points scored.

C'mon now, only three of those 12 games were against top 10 offenses, and the highest-ranked offense was 7th. After that, we are talking about middle-of-the-pack offenses at best. They never faced any top-five offense.

Some people actually kinda suggest that the Mario was holding that defense back or something. The team was 3-1 when he went down. The Saints beat them. The Bills look like they have a favorable schedule too.

Some people like to suggest that Bills fans think that Mario Williams alone is going to turn things around. That's not accurate. This whole d-line is something we've never seen. Dareus was the only constant on last year's team carrying over. Now we have Mario, a healthy Kyle Williams, Dareus, and Anderson/Kelsay. And we have depth. That's 3 new guys compared to last year, basically. Our worst liability is now a major strength. We have Gillmore. McGee may return. Other things, too, like having potential up-and-comers. We should be better on offense, too, and the Bills DID score points last year.

All of us know these things.

How do bad teams get better? By bringing in good players, which is what we did not only with Mario, but with other players as well. As far as the money goes...well, the Bills HAD that money, so why not spend it? That's how much he was going to cost...pretty close to that anywhere he was going to go. The Bills are being smart about HOW they break down paying him, too. Here are the details of how he is going to be paid, year-by-year:

http://blogs.buffalonews.com/billboard/2012/03/mario-contract-details.html

[better days]

"Cash-to-Cap" does not exist on an NFL level. Every team accounts for cap space the same way, per the rules outlined in the CBA. Just because the Bills decide they will spend cash to the cap does not mean they are exempt from the cap rules of the CBA. They are not, they must comply. They are subject to the same calculation for cap room that all teams are.

The $19M signing bonus that Williams was paid counts as $3.8M against the cap from 2012 - 2016 (can't spread a signing bonus more than 5 years).

The $8M option bonus he is due next year (guaranteed) will be spread as $1.6M against the cap from 2013 - 2017.

That is how the CBA accounts for it, and it is how the Bills must account for it when cap room is computed. The Bills have said they will spend cash to the cap, but that is entirely their choice. They can only spend that cash if they have the cap room to spend it. It is the same restriction the Jets have, no difference.

For example, if he were cut 2 years into the contract prior to the 2014 season, the Bills would have $17.8M in amortized signing bonus spread into future years that would need to hit their cap. If that cut were designated as a "pre-June 1" cut, that $17.8M would be charged against the Bills cap in 2014. If it is a "after June 1" cut, then $5.4M would be charged against the 2014 cap and $12.4M would be charged against the 2015 cap. That is what is referred to as "dead money", or in your parlance the credit card coming due.

Williams cap charge this year is only $9.8M, which is made up of his $5.9M salary, $100K workout bonus and $3.8M in amortization from his $19M signing bonus. That cap number is quite different from the cash he will be paid for the season, which is $25M.

Well, my understanding is you can't spread a bonus out more than 5 years, but you can pay it off sooner. I believe the Bills did that because they had the cap room to do so this year. Any future bonus Mario receives will be a roster bonus for the year in question. The Jets did spread out bonus money then cut players they paid the bonus to hence dead money on the books. The Bills will not do that with Mario.

[feldspar]

Well, my understanding is you can't spread a bonus out more than 5 years, but you can pay it off sooner. I believe the Bills did that because they had the cap room to do so this year. Any future bonus Mario receives will be a roster bonus for the year in question. The Jets did spread out bonus money then cut players they paid the bonus to hence dead money on the books. The Bills will not do that with Mario.

Williams got an initial signing bonus of $19 million. He gets a base salary this year of $5.9 million. In 2013, he gets an option bonus of $8 million, with a base salary of $6.5 million. In 2014, he gest a roster bonus of $10.6 million with a base salary of $1.9 million. In 2015, he gets a roster bonus of $1 million with a base salary of $12.1 million. In 2016, he gets a roster bonus of $2.5 million with a base salary of $11.5 million. In 2017, he gets a roster bonus of $3.5 million with a base salary of $11.4 million. He also has workout bonuses that amount to a total of $2.1 million over the first five years of the contract.

...cap hit and money paid out from year-to-year is not the same thing.

From this, I gather that Mario will get almost $25 million this year, which is almost 1/4 of his six-year money. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

[better days]

Williams got an initial signing bonus of $19 million. He gets a base salary this year of $5.9 million. In 2013, he gets an option bonus of $8 million, with a base salary of $6.5 million. In 2014, he gest a roster bonus of $10.6 million with a base salary of $1.9 million. In 2015, he gets a roster bonus of $1 million with a base salary of $12.1 million. In 2016, he gets a roster bonus of $2.5 million with a base salary of $11.5 million. In 2017, he gets a roster bonus of $3.5 million with a base salary of $11.4 million. He also has workout bonuses that amount to a total of $2.1 million over the first five years of the contract.

...cap hit and money paid out from year-to-year is not the same thing.

From this, I gather that Mario will get almost $25 million this year, which is almost 1/4 of his six-year money. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

Well like I said, cash to cap. I don't think the Bills spread out that $19 signing bonus. Why would they when they had to cap room this year to absorb it? In the future if for any reason Mario is no longer on the team, the Bills will not have to pay the roster bonus.

[Mr. Pink]

Regret is harsh. I mean who else were we gonna spend the money on?

It just depends on what you expect out of him going into the year. If you think he's gonna have 20 sacks, 80 tackles, 10 FF then you'll regret the move and be disappointed. If you have realistic expectations then you'll be pleased.

He's gonna have around 55 tackles, 10 sacks and 3 FFs. If he does that, then he earned the contract...imo

Did we overpay to get that? Of course. But that's the reality of free agency in the NFL. Everyone gets overpaid at every position.

[Albany,n.y.]

Well, Tebow has led the Jets to scoring drives in both games. Everyone knows Tebow is not a practice player like Trent Edwards. He is a game player. And Payton Manning has not looked all that good in the preseason games either. Like I said, I would not be surprised if the Broncos miss the playoffs this year. And you are right, the Broncos were STUPID to trade Cutler as well as Tebow.

The Jets haven't scored a TD yet in 2 games. If a team is satisfied with a couple of field goals, they're in big trouble. The fact that a QB 2 years removed from the 1st round of the NFL draft combined with a 7th cannot command anything higher than a 4th & a 6th is a very bad sign. It indicates that no other team was willing to offer anything better (Jax tried to offer something comparable but not better). Any QB dumped for virtually nothing after 2 years isn't starting material. I've been through this before when I tried to tell people that QBs are like gold in the NFL and if a QB is good enough to be a high pick & is jettisoned for nothing or next to nothing in a short time, he'll never amount to anything-NFL scouts are too sophisticated to let a formerly high profile get away without their team bidding up the price unless the concensus around the league is he doesn't have anything. See Brohm, Brian.

[better days]

The Jets haven't scored a TD yet in 2 games. If a team is satisfied with a couple of field goals, they're in big trouble. The fact that a QB 2 years removed from the 1st round of the NFL draft combined with a 7th cannot command anything higher than a 4th & a 6th is a very bad sign. It indicates that no other team was willing to offer anything better (Jax tried to offer something comparable but not better). Any QB dumped for virtually nothing after 2 years isn't starting material. I've been through this before when I tried to tell people that QBs are like gold in the NFL and if a QB is good enough to be a high pick & is jettisoned for nothing or next to nothing in a short time, he'll never amount to anything-NFL scouts are too sophisticated to let a formerly high profile get away without their team bidding up the price unless the concensus around the league is he doesn't have anything. See Brohm, Brian.

Well, Tebow has played better than Sanchez. That is a FACT. If you go on a Jets board, you will see that people that were against the Jets trading for Tebow are now on board the Tebow bandwagon.

And YOU pointed out yourself, the Broncos were STUPID enough to trade Cutler for the scrub Orton. If the Broncos had not traded Cutler for Orton, they would have had no need to draft Tebow, or trade him & VASTLY OVERPAY an OLD INJURED QB that has nothing left. They got a better deal in the Tebow trade than they did the Cutler trade. They are just STUPID.

And to people that think a franchise QB trumps all, the Colts won one Super Bowl with maybe the best QB of his generation. ONE. His brother has already won TWO.

[YardRat]

Strict cash to cap does not allow for amortizing bonuses paid out over the length. The Williams contract is not cash to cap. As you've stated, we made a non-cash to cap deal to get Williams like other teams in the NFL do.

The credit card approach works fine if you spend it wisely. It remains to be seen whether that's the case. I believe it is.

It's two different things, X-...a set of league rules, and a team philosophy. A contract will be counted against the cap by league rules, for the purpose of league accounting, and the same contract can be counted as cash-to-cap for individual teams for in-house purposes. Until the league-wide floor kicks in, which is basically an adoption of a form of cash-to-cap for the entire NFL, as a group.

If the Bills chose to treat Williams contract as cash-to-cap for this season, they certainly can, and that wouldn't affect one iota the league's accounting practices for the salary cap.

[better days]

It's two different things, X-...a set of league rules, and a team philosophy. A contract will be counted against the cap by league rules, for the purpose of league accounting, and the same contract can be counted as cash-to-cap for individual teams for in-house purposes. Until the league-wide floor kicks in, which is basically an adoption of a form of cash-to-cap for the entire NFL, as a group.

If the Bills chose to treat Williams contract as cash-to-cap for this season, they certainly can, and that wouldn't affect one iota the league's accounting practices for the salary cap.

Thanks YardRat. And my understanding is that a number of NFL teams have already adopted the Bills cash to cap philosophy.

[Albany,n.y.]

Well, Tebow has played better than Sanchez. That is a FACT. If you go on a Jets board, you will see that people that were against the Jets trading for Tebow are now on board the Tebow bandwagon.

And YOU pointed out yourself, the Broncos were STUPID enough to trade Cutler for the scrub Orton. If the Broncos had not traded Cutler for Orton, they would have had no need to draft Tebow, or trade him & VASTLY OVERPAY an OLD INJURED QB that has nothing left. They got a better deal in the Tebow trade than they did the Cutler trade. They are just STUPID.

And to people that think a franchise QB trumps all, the Colts won one Super Bowl with maybe the best QB of his generation. ONE. His brother has already won TWO.

Day in and day out in practice, Sanchez has outperformed Tebow. The Jets boards you're reading don't match what the reporters covering the team are saying in the NY media. I hope the Jets have a QB controversy, because in the end it's either Sanchez or none of the above because Tebow isn't much.

I agree that Peyton is washed up. Denver's big mistake will be signing Peyton and not someone else, not getting rid of Tebow.

A franchise QB does trump all, unfortunately for Peyton Manning other franchise QBs with better teams have won the Super Bowl during his career-Brady 3x; Roethlisburgr 3x; Eli, possibly the best clutch QB in the NFL today 2x; Rodgers; Brees; Warner; Elway and Peyton himself. In his 14 NFL years, only 2 Super Bowl champions weren't QBd by a franchise QB (Tampa Bay & Baltimore). That's over 85%. You can go all the way back to the last 20 Super Bowls and with the exception of those 2 teams every Super Bowl winner was QBd by a franchise QB, that's 90%!

[better days]

Day in and day out in practice, Sanchez has outperformed Tebow. The Jets boards you're reading don't match what the reporters covering the team are saying in the NY media. I hope the Jets have a QB controversy, because in the end it's either Sanchez or none of the above because Tebow isn't much.

I agree that Peyton is washed up. Denver's big mistake will be signing Peyton and not someone else, not getting rid of Tebow.

A franchise QB does trump all, unfortunately for Peyton Manning other franchise QBs with better teams have won the Super Bowl during his career-Brady 3x; Roethlisburgr 3x; Eli, possibly the best clutch QB in the NFL today 2x; Rodgers; Brees; Warner; Elway and Peyton himself. In his 14 NFL years, only 2 Super Bowl champions weren't QBd by a franchise QB (Tampa Bay & Baltimore). That's over 85%. You can go all the way back to the last 20 Super Bowls and with the exception of those 2 teams every Super Bowl winner was QBd by a franchise QB, that's 90%!

EVERY QB you named had a GOOD team around him. Payton Manning is the QB that did the most with the least. A big reason for that was his greed. Brady, Big Ben, Eli , Rodgers , Brees, and Elway ALL played for less than Manning in both Indy & now Denver. Manning did not leave the Colts much cap room to work with & now he is doing the same in Denver.

As I said Tebow is NOT a practice QB. If you want that, you want Trent Edwards. He always played great in practice with no pressure on him. Tebow has played BETTER in GAMES than Sanchez. That is a FACT. Like I said, Denvers BIG mistake was to trade Cutler for Orton. It was also a BIG mistake to sign Manning & trade Tebow. You will see that after this season is over.

[GingerP]

Thanks YardRat. And my understanding is that a number of NFL teams have already adopted the Bills cash to cap philosophy.

"Cash to cap" is a team constraint. They are only going to spend cash to a limit. I would guess all teams have a cash budget as well, it is a business. It has nothing to do with the cap. Every business has an operational budget.

All NFL teams are subject to the cap in the same way, per the rules of the CBA. The cap hits for Mario's contract are not figured any differently because the Bills use a cash budget, the cap hits are computed per the CBA.

William's contract is leveraged heavily because he got signing bonus money spread over the life of the contract. I guess they could have given him a roster bonus instead if they wanted to charge it all this year, but then they wouldn't have been able to do much else because he would eat up $25M in space in 2012. It also would be risky, as that roster bonus would not be subject to the same forfeiture rules as a signing bonus. If a guy were to get into trouble a team can attempt to re-capture part of a signing bonus, but a signing bonus is gone the minute they pay it.

In short, the Bills really don't do anything differently than any other NFL team when it comes to the cap. For all the talk of "cash to cap", it is merely their operational budget for player salaries. The cap is the cap, and it is the same for the Bills as everyone else.

[better days]

"Cash to cap" is a team constraint. They are only going to spend cash to a limit. I would guess all teams have a cash budget as well, it is a business. It has nothing to do with the cap. Every business has an operational budget.

All NFL teams are subject to the cap in the same way, per the rules of the CBA. The cap hits for Mario's contract are not figured any differently because the Bills use a cash budget, the cap hits are computed per the CBA.

William's contract is leveraged heavily because he got signing bonus money spread over the life of the contract. I guess they could have given him a roster bonus instead if they wanted to charge it all this year, but then they wouldn't have been able to do much else because he would eat up $25M in space in 2012. It also would be risky, as that roster bonus would not be subject to the same forfeiture rules as a signing bonus. If a guy were to get into trouble a team can attempt to re-capture part of a signing bonus, but a signing bonus is gone the minute they pay it.

In short, the Bills really don't do anything differently than any other NFL team when it comes to the cap. For all the talk of "cash to cap", it is merely their operational budget for player salaries. The cap is the cap, and it is the same for the Bills as everyone else.

The signing bonus is only spread out as long as a team wants. The point of spreading it out over time is to pay a guy when a team does not have the cap space to do so. However, evenutally you have to pay the piper. Then that team will face the constraint of the cap & have to cut players to stay under the cap.

The Bills had the cap room this year to absorb the entire signing bonus to Mario & that is what they did. What they paid him this year will not affect the cap in the future because they did not spread it out over the life of the contract.

Every team has the same cap number thay can not go above. In the past they could be below the cap by as much as they wanted, now they have to spend up to 90% of the cap. A team that spread the bonus put off the cap hit until future years like the Jets did. This year the Jets have to count that money towards the cap & the Jets are paying for players that are no longer on that team which is less money they have to spend this year on needed players.

[GingerP]

The signing bonus is only spread out as long as a team wants. The point of spreading it out over time is to pay a guy when a team does not have the cap space to do so. However, evenutally you have to pay the piper. Then that team will face the constraint of the cap & have to cut players to stay under the cap.

The Bills had the cap room this year to absorb the entire signing bonus to Mario & that is what they did. What they paid him this year will not affect the cap in the future because they did not spread it out over the life of the contract.

Every team has the same cap number thay can not go above. In the past they could be below the cap by as much as they wanted, now they have to spend up to 90% of the cap. A team that spread the bonus put off the cap hit until future years like the Jets did. This year the Jets have to count that money towards the cap & the Jets are paying for players that are no longer on that team which is less money they have to spend this year on needed players.

You are mistaken. Signing bonus money is spread the same for all teams. Mario Williams cap number is $9.8M this year, despite being paid $25M, because his bonus is spread over 5 years of the deal. If they wanted it all to count this year they could have made it a roster bonus, but they didn't because they didn't want to.

All teams are governed by the CBA. You can't "choose" to do something differently than the CBA outlines, such as how you want to spread a signing bonus for cap purposes. There are a number of rules governing salary and it is too complex to address here (such as the Deion Rule, etc.), but the treatment of signing bonus is the same for all teams.

That doesn't mean Mario's contract is a bad one. If he comes in and plays well and revitalizes the defense he is worth a big contract. It just means his contract isn't different from any other big-money contract signed by any other team in terms of the cap, even the Jets.

The cap is covered by the CBA, and is the same for all teams. The Bills can use "cash-to-cap", but really they are just referring to their operational budget for player salaries. How they structure their contracts and how they count toward the cap uses the same rules as everyone else.

[coastal]

This article is a ripoff of a thread I started on another website.

Mario Williams is Fools Gold.

I started it before we even brought him in. Why?

The production just isn't there.

[BuffaloWingEater]

there are so many things wrong with this:

1. the bills are arguably the worst nfl franchise in the past 12 years and due to our record and wny's reputation, buffalo is amazingly not a free agent destination hot spot. so of course you have to overpay.
2. the bills courting of mario was everywhere in the media. if the bills didn't land him; espn, si, fox etc., would use the above statement and "ralph is cheap"
3. if he signed for the same money in places like nyc, new england, chicago, etc. sports writers would be loving the move.

[Mike]

EVERY QB you named had a GOOD team around him. Payton Manning is the QB that did the most with the least. A big reason for that was his greed. Brady, Big Ben, Eli , Rodgers , Brees, and Elway ALL played for less than Manning in both Indy & now Denver. Manning did not leave the Colts much cap room to work with & now he is doing the same in Denver.


That goes to show how important a franchise QB is! Its much much easier to build a Good team around a great QB that to find and put a great QB on a good team. This is the answer to the popular questions which came first the chicken (QB) or the egg (team). There have been more bad teams that have drafted a great QBs and evolved to become good wining teams, than great teams that have drafted an average QB and made him great.

Great QBs are the pillars that great teams are build around. Its the QBs that come first and the team second. Very rarely is it the other way around, which is why its harder to find a HOF Caliber QB (cant name one) on a loosing team, than to find a great team one great QB away from winning a SB (I can name a few)

[YardRat]

Its the QBs that come first and the team second.

No.