Bills to Discipline Henry for Missing Minicamp

[G. Host]

AP

Disgruntled Buffalo Bills running back Travis Henry will be disciplined after missing the start of a mandatory minicamp Friday.

Without saying what form of discipline will be applied, coach Mike Mularkey said Henry is under contract and required to be present for the session that runs through Sunday.

I wonder how many fines it will take to get Henry's attention? He never was good at managing his money and his agent hasn't helped him.

Last month, Henry vowed he would not return to practice or play for the Bills.

"I know that he made the statement that he was not going to show. I held out a glimmer of hope, but it did not happen," Mularkey said. "He's under contract and he should be here."

Being a man of your word is great but he should be the man of his word for the contract he signed the first and second time.

Receiver Eric Moulds was hoping Henry would attend the minicamp.

"I respect his decision," Moulds said. "But at the same time, I'd like to see him here. ... You never know what's going to happen. We might have a guy go down."

I can NOT respect his decision nor repecting Eric Moulds for repecting the decision. If a player signs a contract, he should honor it. Some say they do not need to because they can be cut but then it is up to the agent to write a guarenteed contract for being cut is part of the overall NFLPA agreement.

It amazes me how badly this has gone for a player who supposedly (and this "supposedly" has been my opinion since he signed) was a Bills fan.

[Mr. Miyagi]

To hell with Henry.

[ddaryl]

It would be funny if TH sits out until the 12th game of the season and all his fines add up to where he has no choiced but to play the last 4 or so games for us for free, or otherwise owe Buffalo another year.

[djjimkelly]

you know on this type of topic with henry a no show players like ownes a no show and so on in football. people like lindros not wanting to goto quebec steve francis refusing to goto the grizzlies years ago. all i want to see is once owner just one take it for professional sports and force these guys in some way to have to respect where they are signed or drafted too. or someone like eli manning last year. i know it would be alot to sit the guy out for a year and so on but at some point just one owner needs to take a stand and make all these athletes understand they are lucky and severly provilegded to be playing any professional sport. i understand they work out year round and that is hard work however, im sure most of on this board make 100K or less and it would be like hitting lottery to be paid just one year like any of star athletes who are spoiled brats.


JUST ONE OWNER NEEDS TO TAKE A STAND AT SOME POINT! JUST ONE!

[Jayhawk]

punish him by sending him to a place with another good rb

[frank74]

i don't know

i wish i could agree with you guys, but TD screwed this up. henry was in his prime when we drafted mcgahee. yes, he had some injuries here and there, but he was still the man. i never understood drafting a running back first round when the one we had was doing just fine. was mcgahee a solid pick, yes, but his numbers have been no different than henry's so far. and, if you knew that willis was going to be your starter, why didn't you trade henry at the trade deadline last year. and the worst part is that the draft is over, no henry deal, and now he's really peeved and wants absolutely nothing to do with the bills. they screwed him in my eyes.

[mybills]

nor repecting Eric Moulds for repecting the decision.

Moulds entitled to his own opinion, and he prolly knows a lot more about the situation than we do. I respect that, and also that he's right when he says, "You never know what's going to happen. We might have a guy go down."

[camelcowboy]

i wish i could agree with you guys, but TD screwed this up. henry was in his prime when we drafted mcgahee. yes, he had some injuries here and there, but he was still the man. i never understood drafting a running back first round when the one we had was doing just fine. was mcgahee a solid pick, yes, but his numbers have been no different than henry's so far. and, if you knew that willis was going to be your starter, why didn't you trade henry at the trade deadline last year. and the worst part is that the draft is over, no henry deal, and now he's really peeved and wants absolutely nothing to do with the bills. they screwed him in my eyes.

It was funny when his own offensive corridnator at the time, gilbride, called him Travis Hunter, on a national radio show!

[mysticsoto]

i wish i could agree with you guys, but TD screwed this up. henry was in his prime when we drafted mcgahee. yes, he had some injuries here and there, but he was still the man. i never understood drafting a running back first round when the one we had was doing just fine. was mcgahee a solid pick, yes, but his numbers have been no different than henry's so far. and, if you knew that willis was going to be your starter, why didn't you trade henry at the trade deadline last year. and the worst part is that the draft is over, no henry deal, and now he's really peeved and wants absolutely nothing to do with the bills. they screwed him in my eyes.

The problem is, Willis McGahee is on another level that Travis. Remember our 1st few games and how poorly we played. And how things dramatically changed once Willis got in. He is stronger and faster than TH - and that is not a knock on Travis. In KC, 2 years ago, would you rather start Priest Holmes or Johnson or blaylock instead? Those backs might be good enough to start on another team (like TH is), but you still go with the RB that is the best.

Last year, they didn't want to trade TH b'cse he became WM's backup. Remember, WM is coming off a serious injury and he could regress or get re-injured. You still need a good backup and Shaud was decent but new to the scheme of things. It wouldn't have made much sense to trade TH - not that people were flocking around asking either. To do a trade, you 1st have to have an interested party. Then you have to agree on what the trade is going to be and it has to be mutually beneficial to both parties. For awhile, the Bills entertained the idea for Shelton, but clearly they didn't feel he was a calibre LT and therefore felt that trade was too one-sided.

With the roughness of the NFL, there is no doubt that sooner or later a RB will go down (look at Everett for us already) and then that team will come flocking desperate looking to fill that sudden hole. TH needs to stop pouting like a little girl and just do what he has to do. When you think about it, what benefit does he get from sitting out these training camps? He's not hurting the team, TD or anyone. We have plenty of RBs on the team and all he's doing is making things worse for himself.

[BuffaloRanger]

The Bills took a ProBowler with a cheap contract and turned him into a RB only worthy of a 4th rd pick. Yes WM is better. But if the Bills would have gone Olineman instead of selecting WM in 2003 (or gone Olineman early in 2004) maybe TH would have stayed productive. TH looked like crap behind a crappy Oline playing against the best Dlines last year. WM had the luxury of going against weak teams with an Oline that was playing better.

I'd take Shelton over Gandy. Why can McNally make a good lineman out of a bum off the street but can't do anything with a former 1st round pick?

Oline coaches don't want high draft picks because who would get blamed if the line sucks? The line coach.

If the Bills would have gone LT in the 2nd and Center in the 3rd round and the line blew this year, McNally would be blamed. But as it stands now, if the Bills line sucks this year TD will be blamed by the majority of fans for not improving the line enough.

[jamze132]

If he was smart he would relize that he's not in a bad situation in Buffalo. Willis could go down at any given time and Henry would have to step right in. But if Henry does indeed sit out all season, I wouldn't bring him back even if Willis go's down. I would start whoever else on the roster even though they may not be better than Henry.

[HurryUpTom]

you know on this type of topic with henry a no show players like ownes a no show and so on in football. people like lindros not wanting to goto quebec steve francis refusing to goto the grizzlies years ago. all i want to see is once owner just one take it for professional sports and force these guys in some way to have to respect where they are signed or drafted too. or someone like eli manning last year. i know it would be alot to sit the guy out for a year and so on but at some point just one owner needs to take a stand and make all these athletes understand they are lucky and severly provilegded to be playing any professional sport. i understand they work out year round and that is hard work however, im sure most of on this board make 100K or less and it would be like hitting lottery to be paid just one year like any of star athletes who are spoiled brats.


JUST ONE OWNER NEEDS TO TAKE A STAND AT SOME POINT! JUST ONE!

I'll agree with you on most of the statement - once you sign a contract, you should fulfull it ... but why should a player be forced to play where he was drafted. Especially when you're talking someone like Lindros (primarily due to age) ... why should he have to live in the Soo at 16 (a day's drive from where he is living at the time)? ... or why should he have to move to Quebec when he's 18? (think about that for a second ... he isn't old enough to drink in the province he lives in, nor old enough to drink at the location of neither the union's head offices or the league's head offices - yet he is old enough to be forced to move across the country where they speak a different language) Drafted players haven't had any say in the union rules, so why shouldn't they hold out?

I don't know what you do for a living ... let's say you sell cars ... do you think that when you graduate(d) from university, Ford, GM, Toyota, et al should get together and draw straws to determine where you can work. And if you don't want to go there, you have to sit on your ass? That's exactly what the draft does. Fine, be a fan of it if you think that it helps parity (Pats, Ravens, Eagles, Lions, Cards, Bengals, and more prove it doesn't) ... but to say that players shouldn't take the one course of action they have to determine where they make their living ... that's just plain assinine. What other career makes the most talented individuals work with the most untalented in their profession?

[HurryUpTom]

If he was smart he would relize that he's not in a bad situation in Buffalo. Willis could go down at any given time and Henry would have to step right in. But if Henry does indeed sit out all season, I wouldn't bring him back even if Willis go's down. I would start whoever else on the roster even though they may not be better than Henry.

Yep ... that way we all win ... we're not putting our best team on the field and Henry isn't playing. Everyone comes out great.

[HurryUpTom]

The Bills took a ProBowler with a cheap contract and turned him into a RB only worthy of a 4th rd pick. Yes WM is better. But if the Bills would have gone Olineman instead of selecting WM in 2003 (or gone Olineman early in 2004) maybe TH would have stayed productive. TH looked like crap behind a crappy Oline playing against the best Dlines last year. WM had the luxury of going against weak teams with an Oline that was playing better.

I'd take Shelton over Gandy. Why can McNally make a good lineman out of a bum off the street but can't do anything with a former 1st round pick?

Oline coaches don't want high draft picks because who would get blamed if the line sucks? The line coach.

If the Bills would have gone LT in the 2nd and Center in the 3rd round and the line blew this year, McNally would be blamed. But as it stands now, if the Bills line sucks this year TD will be blamed by the majority of fans for not improving the line enough.

Regarding McNally and choosing draft picks ... he had a huge say in who the Giants have put together for their line in recent years ... anyone want to claim that they're any good?

McNally is a great coach ... that doesn't necessarily mean that he is great at spotting talent or that he is great at building a team. Yes, you do have to take a position coach's input into consideration, but at the end of the day, it's not their responsibility to build the team.

[frank74]

true

The Bills took a ProBowler with a cheap contract and turned him into a RB only worthy of a 4th rd pick. Yes WM is better. But if the Bills would have gone Olineman instead of selecting WM in 2003 (or gone Olineman early in 2004) maybe TH would have stayed productive. TH looked like crap behind a crappy Oline playing against the best Dlines last year. WM had the luxury of going against weak teams with an Oline that was playing better.

I'd take Shelton over Gandy. Why can McNally make a good lineman out of a bum off the street but can't do anything with a former 1st round pick?

Oline coaches don't want high draft picks because who would get blamed if the line sucks? The line coach.

If the Bills would have gone LT in the 2nd and Center in the 3rd round and the line blew this year, McNally would be blamed. But as it stands now, if the Bills line sucks this year TD will be blamed by the majority of fans for not improving the line enough.

I agree 100%. People need to realize that the bills were not at all "fading" with TH. when we drafted WM, TH was in his prime; 26 years old and hungry. now, unless we're talking barry sanders, not many rb's put up more than 1000 yards without an OL. To say that WM is better is not at all true. is he a bigger back; yes, is he faster; check again; can he make his own holes; yes,....bottom line is that they are two totally different running backs. the real issue is that we shouldn't have wasted a first round draft choice on a running back, especially when you need OLmen. call me crazy, but rb's are a dime a dozen, especially if you have a solid OL. Denver is a fine example. it blows my mind how they continue to turn-over so many great backs; why....OL. we need to realize something, mcnally is not a miracle worker and in the NFL you don't take sub-par linemen and turn them into all pro players. it just doesn't work that way. you're either good and may get somewhat better, or really good on the way to greatness. call me negative, anti-this, whatever, i'm just saying what needs to be said. no OL, no championship.