Evans, Peters unlikely to be signed before Bills Camp

by Kurupt on Jul 18, 2008 12:06 PM EDT Comment 19 comments

Per Chris Brown. This is somewhat obvious considering camp begins next week. I think Lee Evans has a chance to sign before the season starts, and Jason Peters won't be getting a new deal until next year. We shall see, though it looks like Buffalo's front office will be letting these contract situations play out even further.

CB: I do not believe either of the two veterans will sign extensions before camp. Buffalo's front office is zeroed in on getting their draft picks under contract before training camp opens next week. That's the main area of focus right now. Both Evans and Peters are under contract already so they don't have to sign anything new.

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I guess I understand the thought process, but they’d better not be putting this off for much longer.

Keep in mind that Schobel signed his deal last year at the beginning of August – so clearly, there were some negotiations going on during camp.

by Brian Galliford on Jul 18, 2008 12:58 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Actually, I take that back – it wasn’t the beginning of August, it was the end of August. August 25, to be exact.

by Brian Galliford on Jul 18, 2008 12:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

They will sign Peters no matter what right?

I’m not worried about Peters, I feel like he is 100% going to get an extension at some point unless he gets a terrible injury. He is a top 7 LT and will only get better, as the older LTs retire he will move into the top 5. If the Bills don’t resign him I will be so bitter I may burn one of my jersey’s.

McKelvin and Hardy - rookies of the year

by poz on Jul 18, 2008 1:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

One of the things

that I know about Marv Levy’s philosophy is that it is important to resign the core players already on the roster. Marv’s moved on, and Peters still has some time left on his current deal, but I’m sure the front office is going to get him resigned someway, somehow. They know they have a special talent, and I think they and Peters can come to a reasonable deal between them in a reasonable timeframe. The question is: will that timeframe match our (or Peters’) expectations?

Evans situation is a little more pressing at this point, so I expect them to resolve that one first before Peters’ contract.

Get the Bills back to the big game!

by Blitz on Jul 18, 2008 2:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Signings

Well, the Sabres signed Ryan Miller today – finally! At least someone in Buffalo is working on contract extensions today. Though Evans and Peters probably want more than Miller’s five-year, $31.25 million… Of course, hockey and football contracts really can’t be compared, since hockey’s are guaranteed and have virtually no performance bonuses.

by Krenn on Jul 18, 2008 2:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Let’s hear it for the front office actually stepping up. Thing there are some frowns around the Red Wings front office today?

by pozzed51 on Jul 18, 2008 3:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rookies are the priority of course

CB usually doesn’t steer us wrong. He’s always offering these disclaimers that he doesn’t represent the Bills and doesn’t have any inside information… right.
The Bills are right to concentrate on the rookies, especially The Big Three: McKelvin, Hardy, and Ellis. Any significant time lost in training camp hurts their development and hurts the team, since they are all expected to contribute early, and in Hardy’s case, to start.

The vets can miss time, I suppose. Edwards publicly stated that Peters could miss the entire preseason, start against Seattle, and still make the Pro Bowl.

That might be a bit of hyperbole, but neither of them needs a lot of reps to be ready, although this is a team that was under .500 last year and it wouldn’t hurt the team if they were here on time and practicing with the rest of the squad.

by Defensewinsgames on Jul 18, 2008 2:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I must be in the minority

I would be disappointed if the Bills negotiate with either Evans or Peters until next offseason, for different reasons. Evans b/c I am not sure exactly what we have and he can be franchised, Peters because he got a great deal back when he was relatively a nobody and has 3 years left. It is my opinion Peters needs to play this year at the same caliber as last year b/f we start renegotiating. Also, Peters has no choice but to play…I mean he is not sitting out the season.

by Berg79 on Jul 18, 2008 3:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

No choice? Think again.

He might not be sitting out the season, I agree. But he might not be in a Bills uni either. A guy like this is not going to sit the bench – in western New York or anywhere else. He’s too hot.
You can make the point that players should honor their written word by honoring their signed contracts. In the real world, I agree. I honor my mortgage by paying it every month, which is about as close as I’m going to get to a pro contract.
In the world of pro sports, where the average career ends in under three years, contracts are always renegotiable when the player outperforms what was expected of him.
Peters has done that. Pay him.

by Defensewinsgames on Jul 18, 2008 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agree to disagree

Chad Johnson is not getting more money b/c he wants and deserves it. Many others have tried this tactic and failed as well. I am not saying that pro athletes cant try to renegotiate early but I do believe it is a bad precedent for any organization to renegotiate with more than 2 years remaining. Urlacher cant get the Bears to do it either. He will be in camp.

by Berg79 on Jul 18, 2008 5:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Peters

I think the Bills will play a little hard ball with him because he has 3 years left on his deal. In the end Peters will play mainly because both he and the Bills need him too, it would be very unwise of him to sit out a whole year, and after about 3 games of Kirk Chambers… well thats self explanitory.

The biggest down side to this is that it could create some bad blood and make future negotiations more difficult.

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Jul 19, 2008 2:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Without trying to bring up the Sabres on this...I wll.

Living in Buffalo, I’ve seen first hand how just a few bungled contract negotiations can demoralize a team and halt it’s momentum. I have to assume that OBD has learned a lesson from this. I don’t think they’ll let ti get to the bad blood point.

While they could play hardball with him, I do hope that they don’t. On the other hand, giving a guy a generous extension after only one season of All Pro play is somewhat of a dangerous precedent to set, even if the player seems to be on a meteroic rise.

Has anyone heard what Peter’s really wants? I haven’t seen any comments from him or his agent. If anyone has something, please feel free to throw it out there. I might have missed it…

by krytime on Jul 19, 2008 11:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Deadly silent

as far as I know. Publicly, neither the Bills or Peters have disclosed anything about his recovery from the hernia, either, though you’re supposed to recover from that kind of injury in 6 weeks.

by Defensewinsgames on Jul 20, 2008 3:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

On the other hand, giving a guy a generous extension after only one season of All Pro play is somewhat of a dangerous precedent to set, even if the player seems to be on a meteroic rise.

They’ve already set that precedent by giving all that cash to Schobel. And he was 30+, not in his mid 20’s and still getting better. This FO would have to be braindead not to cave into Peters somewhat. You don’t anger and just end up throwing away Pro Bowl LT’s, especially after being so terrible at the position for so long….

by Kurupt on Jul 20, 2008 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also, what the real harm? If you get named to either the 1st or 2nd All-Pro team you are probably top 3 in the entire NFL at your position. If that sets a precedent, so be it. If Whitner gets named to an All-Pro team, I’d give him a raise too.
Peter’s is a great talent and only getting better, I would have no problem giving him a new deal.

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Jul 20, 2008 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs