Today's News on Spikes

[Romes]

http://www.bengals.com/press/notebook.asp?iCurPage=0&notes_id=495#cont1

Some interesting news. It says that Spikes and Bengals are nowhere close to negotiating a long term contract. They also state that if the Bengals were to use a tag it would most likely be a transition tag. That would cost $4.8 million. The Bills would be able to make an offer and if the Bengals did not match then the Bills would not owe the Bengals anything.

[BillC]

Well slap my @$$ and call me sally- Let's cross our fingers!

[WG]

Poor Lewis. He has the "Cincy Premium" that they have to pay. The additional cost of getting players to want to play there.

I see this rift remaining. Cincy has screwed too many players in the past.

Spikes is the one guy that I can see spending more than $4M on this season. Likely he'd cost somewhat more than that, even for us.

[clumping platelets]

Originally posted by BillC
Well slap my @$$ and call me sally- Let's cross our fingers!

SALLY!!


clumpBillC

[clumping platelets]

Spikes will get $6-7 million/season on the open market

[Bulldog]

That seems like an awful lot of money!! I feel there are better alternatives considering Buffalo still has to sign some d-lineman. Would people be OK with the Bills spending that kind of money on Spikes?

[BillC]

Structured right, yes we could do both.

[clumping platelets]

YES!


I ask, how much did the Bills give to an unproven rookie OT last year?

Spikes is only 25 y/o and has 4 or 5 yrs under his belt and he obviously has a true desire to win after spending that time in Cincy.

He also plays LB, one of our biggest needs

[venis2k1]

If spikes were to be on a winning team(ala buffalo) he would be a true star and a pro bowler every year.

[don137]

I would be shocked if the Bengals transition tag him that no one signs him such as a team like Buffalo...IMO he is a top 5 linebacker in the league so he should be paid as such. If Buffalo grabs him that fills one big piece of the puzzle defensively...

[clumping platelets]

If he's transitioned, a team would need to structure a contract that Cincy wouldn't want to match

[venis2k1]

If we sign him, i think keeping Newman might be a good idea. Aslong as we can get a decent DT. Two good DT's would keep the blockers off of Newman(that is his problem, he sucks at disengaging from his blocks) I think that newman could have a great year.

[Bulldog]

Let me pose this question. Who would have a larger impact on the Bills D, Spikes or Douglas?

[clumping platelets]

Spikes: He would be with the Bills for years, Hugh only a couple.

[Romes]

If we tag Price and signed Takeo would we have money to still improve our DL and maybe add another LB?

I realize there are many factors involved. I just want to know if it really comes down to a choice between Takeo or Price or if we could have both and still maybe sign a DT like Thornton and maybe resign Newman.