It comes down to $4.9M in 2006 & $11M in 2007

[Yasgur's Farm]

For that money... Would you rather see the Bills trying to fit Mike Williams into the lineup... Or maybe watch him ride the warm up bike on the sideline... Or maybe Bentley at center and possibly a new starting free agent guard or tackle... Perhaps even The Hutch?

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Realistically, while the Bills should try to sign Hutchinson and Bentley if they can find a way to fit them under their cap, the odds are that they may not get either one.

After spending his whole career in Seattle and talking about being willing to take less than market value to stay in Seattle, I would be very surprised--albeit pleasantly--if the Bills were to have even the slightest chance of signing Hutchinson. I just don't think that will happen no matter how hard the Bills try to get him. Bentley, on the other hand, is a different story: he does not want to go back to New Orleans and has expressed an interest in going to Cleveland, which may not want or need him given that they already have Jeff Faine. That being the case, I think the Bills would have a better shot at actually signing Bentley and should go all-out to get him.

However, there is no guarantee that Bentley will sign with Buffalo, even if the Bills were to make an all-out push to get him--there will, undoubtedly, be other teams who will be just as interested in him and one or more may be more attractive to him or have more money than the Bills will to give to him. In which case, the Bills had better have an alternative plan in place because it is unlikely that the Bills will be able to fill all of the holes that they have on both the offensive and defensive lines solely through the draft and free agency.

Mike Williams has said that he is willing to switch to left guard and is willing to restructure his contract and take "guard money" in order to stay with the Bills. Coach McNally stated when he first got to Buffalo that he thought that Williams' best position would be at guard. Given the fact that Williams has played reasonably well when healthy and is willing to play for "guard money", if he restructures his contract and can stay healthy, it is possible that Williams could be a part of the answer that the Bills are seeking to their offensive line woes. The question is whether Williams has fully recovered from his back injury and whether it was the type of injury that is likely to recurr or not. Only a doctor familiar with the specific injury Williams suffered, who had examined Williams, would really be able to make that determination.

If I were making the decision on what to do with Williams, I would send him to be examined by the two best specialists who deal with that kind of injury and would get their opinion on whether he has recovered and is likely to keep from re-injuring his back if he continues to play pro football. If they say that he is OK and there's no more chance of him re-injuring himself there than there is of him sustaining any other injury, I would begin talking with Williams' agent about restructuring his contract to see if a deal could be worked out that would fit within the Bills' salary structure--ie that would give Williams "guard money" instead of "left tackle money"--that would be acceptable to Williams. If we could work out a deal, I tell McNally to get to work on turning Williams into a guard and both McNally and Williams that their futures with the Bills will depend on whether Williams is ready to be a significant improvement over the the Bills left guard play the last two years.

Because the problems that Williams had in blocking prior to his injury last season were with the quicker, speedier DEs and LBs, it is very possible that a healthy Williams could really thrive playing on the inside against bigger DTs who are not quite as quick and fast. If the money is right, Williams could be a better solution to the Bills' problem at that position than any free agent that they could reasonably sign, Preston or a rookie. At least I would have to consider that possibility.

However, Williams' health is the key. Many kinds of back injuries can linger or recurr. If it is likely that Williams will not be able to stay healthy there is no sense in trying to keep him, even if he is the best alternative the Bills have for upgrading the position and the money is right. As you pointed out, he's no good to the team if he's in street clothes or only able to ride a bike on the sidelines. And that doesn't just apply to Williams, but to any player that the Bills are thinking of bringing in to improve their offensive and defensive lines.

[ddaryl]

Mike Williams has said that he is willing to switch to left guard and is willing to restructure his contract and take "guard money" in order to stay with the Bills. Coach McNally stated when he first got to Buffalo that he thought that Williams' best position would be at guard. Given the fact that Williams has played reasonably well when healthy and is willing to play for "guard money", if he restructures his contract and can stay healthy, it is possible that Williams could be a part of the answer that the Bills are seeking to their offensive line woes. The question is whether Williams has fully recovered from his back injury and whether it was the type of injury that is likely to recurr or not. Only a doctor familiar with the specific injury Williams suffered, who had examined Williams, would really be able to make that determination.



If Williams takes a big time pay cut then great, but I never heard this.

[Yasgur's Farm]

His salary is $4M
Amortized signing bonus is $3.5M
Other bonuses are $3.4M
Cap savings if released or traded is $4.9M

I've heard that the most the Bills could reduce his salary is 30%... $4M X .3 = $1.2M + $.9M up for grabs from other bonuses = $2.1M maximum cap savings by keeping him.

That still leaves $2.8M on the table.

[ICE74129]

Mike Williams has said that he is willing to switch to left guard and is willing to restructure his contract and take "guard money" in order to stay with the Bills.

Link please. The only press he has recieved is two straight years of saying no thanks to that proposal. He has flat refused to redo his deal. I am not saying you are wrong, but if you are going to make a statement that is a total 180 to what has realistically happened, Link please.

[ICE74129]

His salary is $4M
Amortized signing bonus is $3.5M
Other bonuses are $3.4M
Cap savings if released or traded is $4.9M

I've heard that the most the Bills could reduce his salary is 30%... $4M X .3 = $1.2M + $.9M up for grabs from other bonuses = $2.1M maximum cap savings by keeping him.

That still leaves $2.8M on the table.

Time to part ways with fat bastard.

[Stewie]

I don't see MW pulling right and laying a sweet block on a backer.. .maybe its just me... I see him stopping to get a hot dog on the way

[Yasgur's Farm]

Yup UT... That's the only solution I see at this point.

That is unless the powers that be have more info.

If he is expected to make a full recovery...
AND the coaches know that his poor performance was due entirely to injury...
AND they know he will perform as an above average guard (not just capable of it).
Then i guess I'm reluctantly OK with keeping him for the $2.8M difference...

Otherwise... take the $15.9M 2 year savings ($4.9M 2006 + $11M 2007) and buy 2 of the best DAMNED O-linemen we can get.

[Dont drink the water]

We need to find someone to replace wonderkid Peters. Some of the WRs are better runblockers than him.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Link please. The only press he has recieved is two straight years of saying no thanks to that proposal. He has flat refused to redo his deal. I am not saying you are wrong, but if you are going to make a statement that is a total 180 to what has realistically happened, Link please.

Williams made a comment in an interview where he talked about being willing to switch to the guard position and the fact that he understood that, if he did, the Bills would want to pay him less. That interview, while now archived by the Buffalo News, has been refered to in an number of articles, but here is the relevant information from the sidebar in a story that recently appeared in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

" As for Williams, the fourth overall pick in 2002, he's on record as saying he wants to remain a Bill and would play guard, even though guards are paid on average less than tackles in the NFL. Williams is only 26 and the Bills' new staff may deem him worth salvaging.

"The contract's a contract," Williams said. "What I mean by that is, obviously they're going to renegotiate whether I'm at tackle or guard. That's understood."
URL: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060129/SPORTS03/601290335/1021

The info was also recently refered to in another recent article analyzing the Bills here (scroll down to the section on Mike Williams): http://bills.mostvaluablenetwork.com/

The issue, naturally is a question of money. The Bills are going to have a lot of money on their cap from Williams' original contract whether they keep or cut him. The question is, first, whether he will be healthy and, then, if he is likely to be, can the Bills sign an offensive lineman that they think will be better than a healthy Williams for less money than it would take to keep Williams? When you start talking about signing Jeff Backus or anybody from the Detroit Lions' offensive line--which nearly got 2 QBs killed and could open up holes for an emerging RB like Kevin Jones, keeping Mike Williams at a reasonable price begins to look like a better option if he is healthy.

Again I want to reiterate my primary point that it is easy for fans to say "we should sign this guy and that guy....", but the fact is that, in reality, it is a lot harder for any team to sign a free agent than fans think--unless the team has so much free money under the cap that it can overwhelmingly outbid every other team for him. There are other factors that come into play in many signings other than money: for example, Steve Hutchinson may be willing to stay with Seattle for a fair amount less than he may be offered by other teams because he may feel that he has a good chance to win a SB with the Seahawks if he stays or because he and his family like living there. If a player likes his coach and teammates or wants to be in a certain area, etc., he can make it much easier for the team he wants to be with to sign him and much harder for other teams to outbid that team. That's a reality that fans don't bother to take into consideration. While I would love to see the Bills TRY to sign Hutchinson and Bentley and some other FAs, I will not kill the front office if they don't, so long as they make a good faith effort to do so.

And, if the Bills can't sign every FA that they target, they are going to have to figure out a way to address the need that prompted them to look to sign those FAs--in short, they are going to have to have a Plan B. In the case of Williams, he could be a Plan B solution that will give the Bills a better chance to obtain a Plan A answer, like a LeCharles Bentley, at another position. It's a potential option, but an option that depends, first and foremost, on Williams' health.

[HHURRICANE]

Have you all lost your minds?! Mike Williams sucks. PERIOD. They tried him at guard and he sucked. He sucks. He's fat and lazy. The only place to fit him in.. is in a cab on the way to the airport!!

I swear you people have lost your minds. He is half the reason the Bills suck. We keep waiting for ****ty players to at least play mediocre. It's like the love fest with Fletcher who never makes a play when we need it. Did anybody watch the games?!

Our team chemistry blows. Mike Williams is a loser and if you think he needs to stay than you are a bigger a loser than him because he has your HARD EARNED DOLLARS IN HIS pants pocket.

[patmoran2006]

Well written peice, Lifetime...

but I don't think Williams has what it takes to be successful, especially on this team.

I say, cut your losses now. And use that cap money saved to sign a REAL guard to this line, not another project. For $4-5 million per (money saved by cutting williams) they can get a GOOD interior lineman, not a "potentially" good guard