As I see it: Lee Evans: "Unhappy Camper"

by Neil Masters

I know that Evans said that he is looking forward to negotiating with the Bills this summer, but the fact that he said "this summer" and did not indicate that he wanted to start negotiations immediately feeds a suspicion that I have been developing about Evans--and, at this point, let me make it clear that it is just a suspicion that I have, NOTHING MORE.

Lee Evans clearly was an "unhappy camper" with the Bills last season:

1.) He was very open in his support of JP Losman as the starting QB and about his unhappiness that JP lost the starting QB job to T.Edwards after his injury at the start of the season.

2.) He was extremely frustrated by Trent Edwards' reluctance to throw the ball deep to him during his initial stint as the starting QB. While some of the blame for that goes to then-OC S.Fairchild, it was also clear from statements that both Fairchild and Schonert made later that some of that was due to Edwards' impatience (preference for "checking down" to shorter routes, rather than wait for deeper pass patterns to develop) and unwillingness to risk turnovers (something that the coaches stressed, but that is always a greater risk on deeper patterns). Again, Evans voiced his frustration not only towards the coaches, but obliquely in some of his comments favoring Losman's return to the starting QB job.

3.) While Evans didn't complain about Losman's second benching and did praise Edwards' development after Edwards returned to the starting QB job at the end of the season, his support for Edwards did not come close to being as unequivocal as his earlier support for Losman.

4.) Like all of the rest of the Bills receivers, Evans also made it clear that he was very unhappy with the way that S.Fairchild ran the Bills offense last season.

As a result, going into the OTAs this season, Evans very well may have some serious concerns about what the Bills' offense will be like this season and how that might not only impact his stats, but also create serious frustrations for him:

1.) While Turk Schonert has promised that, as the new OC, there will be significant changes in the Bills passing game this up-coming season, he and Jauron have also said that, in many ways, it will be essentially the same offense.

2.) In all likelihood, Evans' pal, JP Losman will be gone this season. If that happens, if Edwards fails, takes a step backwards, is inconsistent, or gets injured, that means that it is also likely that whoever is backing up Edwards will not have nearly the same rapport with Evans that Losman had--which could mean that Evans' opportunities to shine will be seriously reduced.

3.) With Edwards firmly installed as the starting QB, if Edwards doesn't take a step forward this season in his development and continues to show a reluctance to throw the ball deep to Evans as he did last season, that, too, could also be very frustrating for Evans as well.

With these questions in his mind--and given how frustrated he was last season--it would certainly be understandable if Evans (and his agent) had some serious reservations about signing a contract extension with the Bills--certainly before he had a chance to see what kind of changes Schonert intends to make in the Bills passing game and play-calling and had a chance to assess how well Edwards is progressing in his development and whether the two of them can develop a better rapport with one another than they had last season.

From Evans' perspective, it would only make sense to wait, at least until the end of the OTAs, before beginning any kind of negotiations on a contract extention with the Bills: if he believes that he can be an All-Pro WR and deserves to be paid as a # 1 WR (and why wouldn't he?) in the right offense with the right starting QB and he knows that he won't be able to put up the kind of numbers to justify either of those things unless the Bills offense and his rapport with Edwards is going to be significantly better than it was last season, why shouldn't he wait to see what the Bills offense and his rapport with Edwards has the potential to be like this season before talking contract with the Bills?

While I think Evans likes Buffalo and the Bills and would like to stay with the team, I doubt (because it would be illogical not to) that he would want to stay with the team if he feels that doing so would significantly hurt his career or earning power (because the Bills offensive system will not use him enough or the starting QB won't throw to him enough). It would make no sense for him to do so. So, with plenty of time still remaining for him to work out a contract extension with the Bills, why not wait until he can get a feel for whether he can achieve his goals by staying or not? It would only make sense for him to do so--at least until sometime this summer.

Because Evans is their best play-maker on offense right now and because everything that I have seen indicates that the Bills would like to keep Evans, I suspect (and it is a suspicion that has been growing for some weeks now) that the reason that we haven't heard anything about the Bills working on a contract extension with Evans may well be because Evans (and, likely, his agent) has decided that it would be better for him to wait a little--until he can see what will be happening with the Bills offense this coming season--before starting (or not starting) contract negotiations with the Bills.

Now, again, this is just a suspicion that I have--and I could be totally wrong--but, if this is the case, it may not be a case of the Bills not wanting or trying to start contract negotiations with Evans, but a case of Evans not being ready or willing, yet, to start talking to the Bills about extending his contract. And, if the latter is the case, then, there really isn't anything that the Bills, as an organization, can do about it until Evans and his agent are ready to start talking with them.

One thing that a lot of fans just don't seem to want to comprehend is that it takes agreement on two sides to make a deal and that, sometimes, no matter how much one side wants to make a deal and is willing to offer, the other side may not be ready or willing to even talk about, let alone make, a deal. And, that not only applies to contract extensions, but to free agent signings as well.

NOTE: On the other hand, the Bills have been known to conduct contract talks very quietly with their players in recent years, only revealing that they have been talking with certain players when they have announced that they have successfully completed a deal--as in the case of Schobel, Parrish, etc. So, it is also possible that the Bills have been and are talking with Evans' agent, but that neither side is talking about the fact that they are in negotiations and we won't know that they have been until a contract extension has been finalized. So, while I have the suspicion that I have just outlined, personally, I hope that is also the case with Evans.