Will Malarkey ask Drew to restructure his contract??

[elltrain22]

Will he or won't he? This will probably be one of the biggest decisions our new coach will have to make. Drew is set to make a whole lot of dough next year, and w/ Winfield's pending free agency, and our obvious needs on the o-line, don't you think that Malarkey will at least pose the question.

I personally hope that he does, and if he does, if Drew says no, then get him the hell outta town. I don't think Drew is that dumb, nor that blind to see that this team needs him to take a paycut.

[eyedog]

Mularkey won't ask him anything regarding his contract. If that happens it comes from TD.

[Tatonka]

exactly.

[elltrain22]

Okay, will TD ask him.

Is this 4th grade???

you know what i mean.

like malarkey wouldn't have something to do w/ this anyways.

[Dozerdog]

The Biggest reason I beleive that he will renegotiate is this-

I remember reading somewhere (I wish I could remember ) that Bledsoe's people put in the unusual option of $7 million to be triggered in NOVEMBER as sort of a poison pill- to force the Patriots to negotiate and/or decide to pick up the option in the 2004 offseason.

Obviously no one could forsee the emergence of Brady and the trade.

[Dozerdog]

The Bills have a major decision to make regarding quarterback Drew Bledsoe, a decision that new coach Mike Mularkey has to be watching closely. According to NFLPA figures, Bledsoe is set to have a cap figure of $6 million this season, which isn't bad by quarterback standards. But the Bills will either have to give him a $7 million option payout by November of 2004 to trigger the contract years for 2005-07 or pay him $2 million not to exercise the option.

That means he will cost them $13 million this season if they decide to keep him and exercise the option. If they keep him and don't, it will cost them $8 million. If they release him, it won't cost the team a penny.

So why keep him? They don't have anything behind them, plus they might think that having Mularkey in as the coach could jump-start Bledsoe's career after a poor 2003 season. Some inside the Bills front office wonder if Bledsoe can be the quarterback to take them to the Super Bowl. If that's the case, then they have their option to get out of the contract before the season starts. But then what at quarterback? Travis Brown? Alex Van Pelt? Sign Mark Brunell? Draft a guy?

Bledsoe still has some good football left in him, but the Bills need to get him some weapons. No quarterback, Manning included, can drop back and make plays when the receivers are not open, the backs don't do well in the passing game and there is not a legitimate threat at tight end. Fear not, though. Willis McGahee is on the way, he and his reconstructed knee. There is no assurance that McGahee will ever be the same back. Mularkey should either hold onto Bledsoe, find a way to get Drew Henson or sign Brunell.

http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/7009045

[TigerJ]

I think TD will be talking to Bledsoe's agent during the current offseason. We may never know about it however, until or unless an agreement is reached. I don't think that Mularkey will stick his nose into that part of team operations.

[Halbert]

After the crap season Bledsoe had I'm betting there'll be some concession from his agent going forward. I could be wrong but I get the feeling that Drew really likes it here and would like to end his career as a Bill. He also knows that the Bills are very close to being serious SB contenders. He has enough money to last several lifetimes, he could give up a mil or two and still be in great shape.

[Dozerdog]

I'd take 3-4 Mill against the cap per year

[Mr. Cynical]

Option A: $13M
Option B: $8M
Option C: Dump him and free up the money
Option D: Renegotiate

None of the above are particularly attractive to me.

Option A: Absolutely NOT worth that much.
Option B: Still not worth that much.
Option C: Would love to go this route and really get a fresh start, but unless we can get a good...don't need great....FA qb, I don't like this option too much either. But look at the league....tons of examples of "average" qb's getting their teams to the playoffs and beyond (Delhomme, Green, Brady, etc.) If we just draft a qb, that means we are basically saying '05 season for the playoffs (at best).

If we could get a good FA qb and draft a good qb prospect, we'd have at least $8M to spend on the OL, DL and WRs by dumping Drew. So I guess for me it comes down to how quickly TD can find a suitable FA qb before I could decide on which option I like best above.

Option D: Most likely option. Helps a little with cap room but unless we draft a good qb prospect we don't gain anything (unless he makes a miraculous change). In addition, he's not going to cut THAT much of his price, so it's not like they'd have tons to go and and spend on DL/OL/WRs.

Without an obvious FA qb to sign, this is certainly not a simple situation.

[clumping platelets]

The $7 million option does not count vs the cap right now. Only once it is exercised

[Mr. Miyagi]

MM was brought in to resurrect Bledsoe's career. No way they dump him.

Drew just plain HAS to restructure, and he will. Simple as that.

[jchild178]

if bledsoe doesnt re-negotiate i would definitly drop him and sign brunell and bring in a QB in the draft

[ublinkwescore]

Signing Brunell doesn't sound like a bad idea - isn't he younger then Bledsoe?

[Mr. Cynical]

Originally posted by clumping platelets
The $7 million option does not count vs the cap right now. Only once it is exercised

I know....but it still factors into the decision making right now as to whay they do.

If they keep him and....

He does well enough for them to exercise the option, they pull the trigger and sink another $7M (totalling $13M)...a ridiculous number for him no matter how you slice it.

...or....

He does poorly, so they don't exercise the option. However that is still gonna cost them $8M ($6M +$2M out clause). I dunno but $8M is alot of cash for an "oops".

After thinking about it, Brunell might not be such a bad idea. IF we can get him cheap, we will free up $8M (the lowest number if we keep Drew), have a "competent" qb (all that really is needed in this league if you have a good coach), and someone to hold the fort while grooming a rookie qb.

ublink - Birthdays are Brunell: 9/70, Bledsoe: 2/72