Price tag for Peerless is getting high

[LouGrant]

[Sporting News]
By Allen Wilson/Buffalo News

Price tag for Peerless is getting high
Oct. 1, 2002
The club may pay dearly for letting wide receiver Peerless Price play out the final year of his contract. He is putting up tremendous numbers in a revamped passing attack guided by Drew Bledsoe.

Price ranks among the NFL leaders with 28 catches and 367 yards. He has always had the speed to separate from defenders. Now he is running much smoother routes and is more willing to make tough catches in traffic.

Price wants to stay with Buffalo, where he finally has an offense and quarterback to make the most of his talent. But his price tag will only increase if he stays hot. ...

Coach Gregg Williams prefers not to use key starters on special teams, but cornerbacks Antoine Winfield and Nate Clements will be on the kickoff coverage team, a crucial weak spot. They are two of the team's most sure-handed tacklers
...MORE... (http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/teams/bills/)

[Novacane]

I say wait until the end of the season and see what the going price for Price is. A guy will play a lot harder trying for that big contract. If they extend him now he may become content

[Creemoredrinker]

:feedback:

I do NOT expect him back next year. NOT because we can't afford him, but because I expect with his ego he will want the kind of money receivers who have been successful for 5 years are making even though he may have only done it for one. Tom is NO fool and will NOT overpay him.

[venis2k1]

I sure hope he stays, but if it comes down to resigning Winfeild or Price, i would pick Winfeild. hopefully we can keep him here for a few more years though.

[Novacane]

I agree. WR is the easiest posistion to fill IMO. If he leaves that just makes a bigger role for my boy Josh Reed!

If he is smart he would stay here. Can anyone think of a big name FA WR that went on to be the same player with his new team? I can't. They all fall off.

There is Joe horn but he was a nobody in KC. He blossomed after he became a FA

[The_Philster]

Maybe we can sign him for a one year deal for when we win the Super Bowl following the 2003 season. ;)

[JayWood]

I have mixed feelings over this topic. One part of me says he goes because he will be asking for a lot of money and TD is no guy to just throw money out to people. But then again where else could he go and have someone like drew bledsoe throwing to him, and be on a team which will be a pre season favorite for the popst season? The grass may look greener on the other side but in life as we all know when you get there alot of times people are dissapointed that they left the great situation they were originaly in.

[RedEyE]

I beleive that Price will sign with Buffalo. The Bills will be SB contenders next season and offer him the best opportunity to obtain a ring. He knows the offense, he knows the coaching staff, and he knows his team. If he decides to go eleswhere next season just for the money, I hope the door hits him on the arse on his way out. Personally, I'd rather see JR go then Price. Dave Moore can handle the work load.

[ArcticWildMan]

Just tell him to look at Sam Cowart :D

The Jets are imploding and his decision to jump ship sure looks pretty dumb now!!

[Novacane]

Redeye...........I think it is safe to say Reimersma will be gone if he does not take a decent sized paycut. They wanted him to take one this year and his base salary goes even higher next year.

[BillC]

I can see Price getting a ton from The Bengals and wind up underproducing and unhappy.

[WG]

Players that leave this team now voluntarily may be forgoing a SB ring! We'll have quite a bit of leverage in this. I can only wonder how many other WRs that will be available would love to come here and would be willing to take reduced level of pay to do so.

Besides, Price will end up as a solid 2nd receiver at year's end. Other than the Minnesota game where he had a monster game, largely b/c of O/T, he's only had 15 catches for 182 yards or an average of 5 for 61. That's about where I'd rank Price. He's capable of the big game as he's shown over the past few seasons. But I doubt he'll have more than one or two more such games this season. After that, expect more of the same average type of performances; 5 for 50-70.

The big reason why all the WRs are doing so much is b/c Drew's on pace to set NFL records for yardage. That doesn't necessarily mean that the WRs are all that much better. We've had two extra Qs to play than other teams too.

Can anyone imagine Price on say Chicago? What do you think he would do there? I don't think very well, certainly not better than he's doing here average-wise.

There's always lots of hype at the beginning of the season but things average out over the entire season. Eg., Brady is on pace to toss 44 TDs. Does anyone really think that'll happen? I agree he's better than most here gave him credit for, but he ain't gonna pitch 44. I'll be surprised if he gets over 30. Same w/ Priest Holmes; does anyone think he'll have 28 TDs rushing that he's on pace for?

If not, then that means their performances will average out over time. That's what will happen to Price, especially now that Drew's using all of his weapons for the first time after the Bear game. Even w/ 35 or 40 tosses, w/ 8 WRs, there's only so many balls to go around if Moulds gets 8 per game.

[WG]

Price will end up w/ 1,200 yards and 8 TDs. Certainly on a team that throws for 4,500 yards or so, that's expected for a #2 WR. I don't think most #2s under those circumstances would do any less. If he does that, he's still worth only $2, maybe $2.5M. As many have stated, WRs are a dime a dozen in FAcy. Better ones than Price as well.

He has incentive to stay here. Next year Moulds and Reed will be the go-to guys anyway.

[Kelly The Dog]

Say what you want but with approximately zero quarterbacking, Peerless put up better numbers than Moulds did last year as the number two receiver. What is stopping another team looking at FA's next year, that has one or two good to great receivers, looking at what the Rams did with Hakim and what the Bills are doing with Peerless and Josh, to open up the vault for PP.

We as fans can also spew how righteous we all are about being loyal to your team and fans and not being a money-grubber but A) pro sports teams and fans are NOT loyal to their players for the most part either and will turn on them in a second and B) the average lifespan of an NFL player to make ALL of their professions lifetime earnings is 3-4 years while almost all other professions lifespans are 30-40 years, so they MUST take advantage of the money while they can. It's just a fact of life. Granted, if they're smart (and memorable as a player) they can usually leverage their fame and name for jobs after they retire but a lot of them, if not most of them cannot. PP has to do what is best for him, his family and then the Bills, in that order.

He may get a good offer from the Bills and if it is close to the free agent market he should strongly consider it. With Drew, Moulds and Josh all tied up for a few more years, and a young stud line, this offense should flourish for awhile, maybe even until his NEXT contract comes up.

[Crinoline]

> If he is smart he would stay here. Can anyone think of a big name FA WR that went on to be the same player with his new team? I can't.

Keyshawn! :)

[RedEyE]

Originally posted by Kelly The Dog
Say what you want but with approximately zero quarterbacking, Peerless put up better numbers than Moulds did last year as the number two receiver. What is stopping another team looking at FA's next year, that has one or two good to great receivers, looking at what the Rams did with Hakim and what the Bills are doing with Peerless and Josh, to open up the vault for PP.

We as fans can also spew how righteous we all are about being loyal to your team and fans and not being a money-grubber but A) pro sports teams and fans are NOT loyal to their players for the most part either and will turn on them in a second and B) the average lifespan of an NFL player to make ALL of their professions lifetime earnings is 3-4 years while almost all other professions lifespans are 30-40 years, so they MUST take advantage of the money while they can. It's just a fact of life. Granted, if they're smart (and memorable as a player) they can usually leverage their fame and name for jobs after they retire but a lot of them, if not most of them cannot. PP has to do what is best for him, his family and then the Bills, in that order.

He may get a good offer from the Bills and if it is close to the free agent market he should strongly consider it. With Drew, Moulds and Josh all tied up for a few more years, and a young stud line, this offense should flourish for awhile, maybe even until his NEXT contract comes up.

Well said. TD will most likely not pay him Eric Moulds type $$.

[Cntrygal]

Everyone wants to win. MOST players will take a little less money to have the chance at the Dance and a Ring. We weren't expected to be playing this good (tough), this early in the season. Yeah, we're 2-2...... but the two we lost... we should've won. We're young and on the move up!

:gobills:

[Creemoredrinker]

Originally posted by Cntrygal
Everyone wants to win. MOST players will take a little less money to have the chance at the Dance and a Ring. We weren't expected to be playing this good (tough), this early in the season. Yeah, we're 2-2...... but the two we lost... we should've won. We're young and on the move up!

:gobills:


....Fearless Freak (a.k.a. Peerless Price) is young an head strung. I see him simply going fo rth emoney thinking he can make any team a winner. Thus, he goes bye-bye.

As to Jay R., if he does NOT take th epaycut before next year starts, he will find himself lucky to find a team he can start for next year. Reality will set in in a big hurry for this guy.

[TigerJ]

I hope TD and Peerless can come to an agreement on a new contract, but I don't pretend to know what Price's priorities are. I think TD is a known quantity. He will offer a fair contract. He will not overpay. The ball will be in Price's court. If he wants to stay and be part of a winning team next year, he'll make more than a decent living, but if he only wants the bucks he'll find someone to overpay.

[clumping platelets]

I stand by my original prediction:

5yrs-$19 million with two-tiered bonus of $6 million

[Buffarama]

Give Peerless an incentive laiden contract. He knows he has it made here now. He'd be nuts to leave, but he wants the bucks. If he goes elsewhere, he still as good as he is now, but being freed up by Moulds is going to hurt his production. He knows that, he'll never say it.
So you give him a pretty signing bonus, and incentives he can't make as the #1 anywhere else. Lets face it, if he was the #1 anywhere else, he wouldn't be one of the league leaders in receptions. Especially without Drew.

[WG]

That's crazy CP! That's #1 cash!

No way he gets much more than $3M/yr no matter how it's sliced up. I just don't see it. It'd be stupid.

Besides, Price has what, 28 catches for like 367 yards or something like that, right? I'll bet ya all anything that he doesn't have much more than 45 catches and 650 yards after 8 games. 5 TDs total. He'll finish the year w/ 88 catches for 1,200 yards and 9 TDs or around there.

There are tons of WRs that you can get to do that. Just look at how the WRs around the league are developing every year.

[clumping platelets]

You have to look at the market......next year more teams have cap space, thus more $$ is available. $19 million/5 yrs=$3.8 million/season......Tim Dwight got $5yrs-$15 million from BUTTler and Price is more productive. That's not #1 $$$ BTW......Moulds 6yrs-$40 million is #1 $$$$

:)

[WG]

I look at what McCardell got this year as a solid #2 performer. He got $10M for 4 years. I think McCardell and Price are comparable. Very much so.

So I'm simply not expecting Price to do much better.

Butler is an idiot, I think that's borne itself out often enough. Flutie, Rogers, Dwight their CBs last year, etal.

Does anyone really think that there's any other GM in the league who would have dished out $5M for Dwight or even close?

I'd say if the Dolts hadn't signed him, he'd be playing for maybe $2M this year. He's totally one dimensional as a WR for the most part. (Flies) He's a good returner, but not so good that he warranted $5M/yr.

[clumping platelets]

BUT wys...you must look at this past offseason's market......fewer teams had cap space AND teams are starting to get it when it comes to managing the cap.

I stand by my prediction!! :)

[WG]

And oh how S.D. is getting their money's worth. I just took a peek:

Dwight on the season:

5 catches for 72 yards
4 carries for 43 yards
NO returns

Let's see, at that rate, he'll have 20 receptions at year's end for less than 300 yards and little other contributions.

That's $250,000 K per catch...

If Price can do as well in S.D., the more power to him. They can surely probably use him a lot more than they're using Dwight.

You must remember that Price will post much better numbers here as a #2 than many #1s elsewhere will and that he'll post much better numbers here in Buffalo than he would w/ just about any other team.

So simply b/c he has a good year here, does not mean he will elsewhere. He's got loads of help distracting the DBs and taking the heat off of him.

Like I said, he'll get in the $2-$3M range. He's also gonna slow down as the season goes on. Gilbride is incorporating the entire gamut of receivers now, the 2 TE sets, Centers, etc. We also hope to get our rushing game going. It is unlikely, not impossible, but unlikely that Drew will break Marino's records. I surely think he can do it, but if we find our rushing game, then we'll be rushing more as well and won't have to rely on Drew to put up 400 ypg each week. Records are records for a reason. They are milestones not easily reached.

Henry has what, 5 TDs. Is he gonna have 20 at year's end? I doubt it. Yet, that's the pace he's on.

[clumping platelets]

I stand by my prediction after all....I am one of the salary cap experts ;)



:ontome:

[WG]

"I stand by my prediction!!"

That's assuming what? He'll finish the season where? What kind of stats?

As of now he's on pace to do:

112 catches
~ 1,500 yards
12 TDs

Do you think he'll have that at year's end? I don't.

I'd say 80 catches, 1,100 or 1,200 yards, and 8-10 TDs

As a GM, could you justify paying ~$5M per year for a WR who's put up the following seasons:

31 for 393 and 3 TDs
52 for 762 and 3 TDs
55 for 895 and 7 TDs
80 for 1,200 and 9 TDs

Would you shell out big bucks for this WR?

That'd be foolish!

$2-$2.5 which is what he'll be worth.

Look for his performances to taper off some, for him to disappear in a couple of games. Sure, he'll probably have his customary 3 big games. I doubt that they'll match his Vikes performance however. But as the season goes on, if Gilbride knows what he's doing, we're gonna have to spread the ball out and in particular get the TEs more involved as in the last game in which Price had what, 3 catches.

He had...
7 in game 1.
13 in game 2.
5 in game 3.
3 in game 4.

I discount games one and two since the entire team was new and figuring out what we're doing. Probably only getting our feet wet as our O went. As the season goes on, Gilbride will, I hope, start adding some complexity to this O and start getting other offensive players involved. That already happened last week. It will continue.

I can appreciate the optimism on Price, but many of the fans are basing their notion that he's gonna finish in the top 10 on one game, namely the Vikes game in which we put up almost 200 yards in O/T, much of which went to Price. Without that, he's performing just as a #2 should. I don't think he's made any pitch that he can be a #1 anywhere yet.

Again, if you use the other three games to extrapolate over 16 games, you come up with about 75-80 catches, 900-1,000 yards, and 6-8 TDs. I think he'll do a little bit more than that, but heck, when you're on a team where your QB is on pace to toss for over 5K yards, you'd better have more than that if you're the #2. The Vikes game was anomalous. He'll have another couple of big games where he'll have 8-12 catches. But then what you'll see is the same thing we've seen for several years. He'll post games of 3-5 catches for between 30 and 70 yards.

In any case, it's my prediction that he won't have been the type of WR who commands a $5M/yr. salary.