Wichard, Agent For Spiller, Has Had A Busy Week

by Brian Galliford on Jul 26, 2010 12:42 PM EDT in Buffalo Bills News

With Buffalo Bills training camp set to begin in three days, we've been deluged with requests to provide updates on all relevant details pertaining to the team's two unsigned draft picks, C.J. Spiller and Torell Troup. You asked, we dug; this post will be kept up-to-date in the immediate future, as well.

Spiller's agent, Gary Wichard, has had a busy week. First, he secured a six-year, $61.5 million deal (with $43.1 million guaranteed) for Denver linebacker Elvis Dumervil. Then he negotiated a one-year deal for veteran linebacker Keith Bulluck to join the Giants. Today, reports surfaced that Wichard is at the center of an NCAA probe surrounding North Carolina and senior DT Marvin Austin, along with several other college stars. Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal is doing fine work tracking that investigation. This isn't expected to affect Spiller negotiations, but it's worth mentioning, if only tangentially.

Meanwhile, we're still waiting for word on Troup's deal, which is almost certain to occur prior to Thursday's first practice, and which was described late last week as "imminent." More details after the jump.

First and foremost, here's a reminder of the most important deals to keep in mind when considering parameters for Spiller and Troup deals.

Rd.	#	Team	Player	Pos.	Report Date
1	1	St. Louis Rams	Sam Bradford	QB	7/28 (rookies), 7/30 (vets)
1	7	Cleveland Browns	Joe Haden	CB	7/23 (rookies), 7/30 (vets)
1	8	Oakland Raiders	Rolando McClain	LB	7/28 (rookies and vets)
1	9	Buffalo Bills	C.J. Spiller	RB	7/29 (rookies and vets)
1	12	San Diego Chargers	Ryan Mathews	RB	7/25 (rookies), 7/30 (vets)
1	13	Philadelphia Eagles	Brandon Graham	DE	7/26 (rookies), 7/30 (vets)
2	37	Philadelphia Eagles	Nate Allen	S	4 years, terms undisclosed
2	38	Cleveland Browns	T.J. Ward	S	4 years, $5M, $3+M G
2	41	Buffalo Bills	Torell Troup	DT	7/29 (rookies and vets)
2	42	New England Patriots	Rob Gronkowski	TE	4 years, $4.44M, $1.76M G
2	43	Baltimore Ravens	Sergio Kindle	LB	7/26 (rookies), 7/28 (vets)
2	44	Oakland Raiders	Lamarr Houston	DT	Terms undisclosed
2	45	Denver Broncos	Zane Beadles	OG	4 years, $4.2 M, $2.7M G

Here are the rest of the 11 rookies (which makes 24 in all) that play for teams that will report to camp before Buffalo. We're keeping the list to first- and second-round picks, as they're obviously most pertinent to Spiller and Troup.

Rd.	#	Team	Player	Pos.	Report Date
1	21	Cincinnati Bengals	Jermaine Gresham	TE	7/28 (rookies and vets)
1	22	Denver Broncos	Demaryius Thomas	WR	7/26 (rookies), 7/31 (vets)
1	25	Denver Broncos	Tim Tebow	QB	7/26 (rookies), 7/31 (vets)
1	27	New England Patriots	Devin McCourty	CB	5 years, $13.2M, $$7.83M G
2	33	St. Louis Rams	Rodger Saffold	OT	4 years, terms undisclosed
2	48	Carolina Panthers	Jimmy Clausen	QB	4 years, terms undisclosed
2	53	New England Patriots	Jermaine Cunningham	LB	4 years, terms undisclosed
2	54	Cincinnati Bengals	Carlos Dunlap	DE	7/28 (rookies and vets)
2	57	Baltimore Ravens	Terrence Cody	DT	4 years, $3.39M, $1.6M G
2	59	Cleveland Browns	Montario Hardesty	RB	4 years, $3.37M, $1.58M G
2	62	New England Patriots	Brandon Spikes	LB	4 years, $3.21 M

Finally, in case you're behind the times on tracking which first- and second-round picks have already signed league-wide, that list has grown considerably over the past few days.

Rd.	#	Team	Player	Pos.	Terms
1	24	Dallas Cowboys	Dez Bryant	WR	5 years, $11.8M, $8.5M G
1	27	New England Patriots	Devin McCourty	CB	5 years, $13.2M, $7.83M G
2	33	St. Louis Rams	Rodger Saffold	OT	4 years, terms undisclosed
2	35	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Brian Price	DT	4 years, $5.35M, $2.75M G
2	37	Philadelphia Eagles	Nate Allen	S	4 years, terms undisclosed
2	38	Cleveland Browns	T.J. Ward	S	4 years, $5M, $3+M G
2	39	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Arrelious Benn	WR	4 years, terms undisclosed
2	42	New England Patriots	Rob Gronkowski	TE	4 years, $4.44M, $1.76M G
2	44	Oakland Raiders	Lamarr Houston	DT	Terms undisclosed
2	45	Denver Broncos	Zane Beadles	OG	4 years, $4.2 M, $2.7M G
2	48	Carolina Panthers	Jimmy Clausen	QB	4 years, terms undisclosed
2	53	New England Patriots	Jermaine Cunningham	LB	4 years, terms undisclosed
2	55	Dallas Cowboys	Sean Lee	LB	4 years, terms undisclosed
2	56	Green Bay Packers	Mike Neal	DE	4 years, terms undisclosed
2	57	Baltimore Ravens	Terrence Cody	DT	4 years, $3.39M, $1.6M G
2	59	Cleveland Browns	Montario Hardesty	RB	4 years, $3.37M, $1.58M G
2	60	Seattle Seahawks	Golden Tate	WR	4 years, $3.26M, $1.47M G
2	61	New York Jets	Vladimir Ducasse	OG	4 years, $3.225M, $1.435M G
2	62	New England Patriots	Brandon Spikes	LB	4 years, $3.21M
2	64	New Orleans Saints	Charles Brown	OT	4 years, terms undisclosed

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Comments

I think you need more parentheses around the word “imminent.” Or change it to described late last week as “moraned.”

All your tshirt needs.
Twit wit, minus actual wit.

by twoeightnine on Jul 26, 2010 1:08 PM EDT reply actions

I just hope Troup in there from day one. If Spiller misses a week it probably isn’t going to matter much.

by paxon on Jul 26, 2010 2:28 PM EDT reply actions

When was the last time we had all of our picks signed before camp?

Is this your homework, Larry?

by Schooled You on Jul 26, 2010 2:34 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

Probably the last time when we didn’t have a 1st round pick….

Act like a sober human being, not a drunk Internet username. -- Brian Galliford

by NorCal BillsFan on Jul 26, 2010 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions

5-Year Deal for Spiller would be nice...

I see where Dez Bryant signed for 5 years and a number of the teams that have higher draft choices in the first round try for 5 year deals… However, I don’t believe Buffalo has signed a rookie to a 5 year deal in a long time (if ever?).

WIth a longer deal there is certainly more money in guaranteed $ that they would have to fork over… but I would think his rookie deal in a few years might be a bargain if he is really going to play up to the stardom that people think he can be in this league.

Of course they can always renegotiate the rooke contract, but that might cost them more money later on… probably most renegotiations of rookie contract occur with lower round or UFA’s that turn out to be a lot better than what they signed for and have much more of an impact on the team. It is too bad, we couldn’t get money back for the higher priced guys that don’t work out (Well I guess the Raiders are trying to get a few million back from Russell)

by dabillsr1 on Jul 26, 2010 4:00 PM EDT reply actions

5 year deals

Whitner and McCargo signed 5 year deals.

Lynch signed a 6 year deal with a voidable final year, so it’s basically a 5 year deal.

McKelvin signed a 5 year deal.

Maybin and Wood signed 5 year deals.

I think you must have meant the Bills sign every 1st rounder to a 5 year deal. It won’t be a surprise when Spiller inks his 5 year deal in the next week or two….

~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."

by Kurupt on Jul 26, 2010 9:09 PM EDT up reply actions

C. J Spiller will be a huge contribution to this offense.

by Guru506 on Jul 26, 2010 7:25 PM EDT reply actions

Im not sure why everyone thinks CJ signing right away is less important than Troup. CJ Spiller is walking into the most talented and competitive position battle in Buffalo’s training camp. Every day he misses is a day he falls behind Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch. I dont care how much talent he has, he is a rookie who has to beat out two talented veterans for playing time. The reason Dez Bryant is signed and in camp in Dallas is because he knows the situation he is in. He is a guy talented enough to be a major contributor – if not the biggest contributor – to his teams offense but to do so he has to get to the top of a positional depth chart stacked with talent and earn himself the touches he wants from a group of guys with names like Miles Austin, Jason Witten, Roy Williams and Patrick Crayton. If we want CJ to have as big an impact as a rookie as we hope he has to get in camp and start battling it out with Marshawn and Fred.

Troup on the other hand is sharing a position with a guy who was a stud last year but doesn’t have the same job as him. If he misses a week or two Kyle Williams wont become our run stuffing NT. Troup is clearly important to get in on time but I can’t see his playing time diminishing too severely compared to if he doesn’t. With CJ I can see it changing drastically.

"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly"

by poz on Jul 26, 2010 8:13 PM EDT reply actions

Im not sure why everyone thinks

poor choice of words: im not sure why “some people” is more appropriate. Im not even close to being the only one here on this side of that debate.

"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly"

by poz on Jul 26, 2010 8:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Spiller and Bryant

Both were going to be big parts of their teams’ offenses regardless of if they signed before camp or a week in. Bryant has to beat out a couple of turds in Williams and Crayton for snaps. That’s not exactly something he’ll have to struggle to do I’d be shocked if he isn’t starting by October.

Same thing with Spiller. Although he’s not likely to be the starter, he’s certainly going to be given a large chunk of the work at RB. There’s no way he’s going to be battling Lynch for playing time. Lynch will be battling Jackson for snaps and carries, not Spiller. Spiller is such a different player and his big play ability is absolutely needed on the field as much as possible.

I’m not sure I’d call RB the most competitive position battle in camp. I’d have to believe Jackson and Spiller are already penciled in (maybe penned in) as the main ball carriers. It’s just a matter of how much Spiller can handle right away.

~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."

by Kurupt on Jul 26, 2010 9:14 PM EDT up reply actions

I think the competition at RB is going to be more intense than we think. As Chris Brown noted today :

Looking at Chan Gailey’s history in the NFL as an offensive coordinator and head coach, there are nine seasons in which he ran his team’s offense. In those nine seasons his team’s lead back accounted for more than 70 percent of the carries made by the team’s top three rushers by season’s end (70.6%).

Thats a pretty serious stat and would seemingly imply that Chan is going to look for one of his RBs to become THE guy in the backfield. While Chris Brown discounts Spiller from that role because hes a hybrid type guy and pegs it down to Marshawn vs Fred I wouldn’t discount Spiller at all IF hes in camp on time. And why would Marshawn not be battling for playing time? Chan and Buddy obviously believe Marshawn has the talent to be a lead back or they wouldn’t have held onto him this off-season. Trade offers were there but they believed Marshawn was worth more.

If Chan sticks to his past behavior, he’ll be looking for one guy in training camp that hes going to trust to shoulder a major burden in the running game. I’d say if CJ Spiller is not in attendance it would severely hurt his chance of getting this large chunk of the workload that you talk about and with the talent that Jackson and Marshawn have, Chan could develop a preference relatively early in camp.

"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly"

by poz on Jul 26, 2010 10:36 PM EDT up reply actions

He also seems to have the record of tailoring his scheme to his pieces, and his pieces here cry out for at least a fair amount of distribution, moreso than compared to the past tandems he’s had at HB. But we’ll see. As much as I love Jackson, I don’t know if they team gets a running record if he’s getting huge feature carry numbers. I don’t really have anything to back that up but on plays not going to Spiller it feels like Lynch and Jackson should be a bit more even, if Lynch "has it’.

by paxon on Jul 26, 2010 10:51 PM EDT up reply actions

*The team gets a WINNING record... jeesh

by paxon on Jul 26, 2010 10:51 PM EDT up reply actions

RB

And why would Marshawn not be battling for playing time?

I didn’t say that. I said Spiller wouldn’t battling him for carries. Spiller is going to get his carries and touches on offense, no matter what. They didn’t select him in the top 10 so he could fight Marshawn Lynch for touches. Whether it’s Jackson or Lynch handling a lot of carries, I don’t think it’ll matter much for Spiller. He’s going to get his work regardless of who the “between the tackles” runner is.

Lynch, as I said, will be battling to take some of Jackson’s carries. Right now, I think there’s a pretty good margin between the two with Jackson holding the starting job and likely to get a good chunk of the overall work with Spiller. Sure, Lynch can steal or earn some of those carries back from Jackson, but it’s going to take a really strong preseason from him to do so.

~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."

by Kurupt on Jul 27, 2010 12:20 AM EDT up reply actions

one things for sure – we’ll have fresh legs at the RB position through the entire game every game

We got the tools, We got the talent

by J2 on Jul 27, 2010 8:39 AM EDT up reply actions

ah I see

Your saying that Spiller is not getting the bulk of carries anyway and that the battle is down to Marshawn and Fred, not that Marshawn will be fighting Fred for second back duties?

"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly"

by poz on Jul 27, 2010 5:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Mostly because he’s a running back and that’s the easiest position to come into the NFL and contribute in this side of kicker. Granted, he has to learn the passing game and all that jazz. DT is a bigger learning curve likely, and Troup has as much chance of getting heavy playing time as Spiller.

by paxon on Jul 26, 2010 9:19 PM EDT up reply actions

it may be the easiest position but he will be coming in behind two very good backs. While Troup may have a greater chance of getting more playing time, Spiller will have to fight for his. I hear you on DT being a bigger learning curve but there is so little in front of him on the depth chart hes going to get his feet wet and start developing and contributing right away, ready or not, he’ll either learn or fail. Spiller needs to get himself in camp if he wants to see the field his rookie year as much as he should.

"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly"

by poz on Jul 26, 2010 10:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Well

It could affect his touches in the first couple games, I’m not saying it won’t. But it won’t affect his overall learning curve probably. It would probably have a deeper impact on Troup’s learning curve and maybe an equal impact on his playing time out of the gate. Put it this way, even if Spiller is a couple weeks behind, it shouldn’t matter AS MUCH due to the depth there, and the fact he can still contribute in the return game… and the fact he’s still gonna get SOME early touches to make the risky pick look good. Troup on the other hand really needs to be able to come in and contribute because Williams is not going to be able to take every down in this scheme unless there is some sort of perfect storm of coaching and player stepping up.

Let’s juts make this simple, it is huge to get both in camp on time, and if they miss a substantial amount of time it will be bad news for the player and the team. The impact on the team would probably be worse in Troup’s case and the impact on the individual will probably be worse in Spiller’s case.

by paxon on Jul 26, 2010 10:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Let’s juts make this simple, it is huge to get both in camp on time, and if they miss a substantial amount of time it will be bad news for the player and the team. The impact on the team would probably be worse in Troup’s case and the impact on the individual will probably be worse in Spiller’s case

Well said, I agree. But whats bad for Spiller is bad for the Bills unfortunately. But as you said, keeping it simple, I agree with what you said.

By the way you had a hilarious comment at postingandtoasting in the clones piece. I was cracking up and I think you know which one I was talking about.

"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly"

by poz on Jul 27, 2010 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Aha thanks. I’d been reading this site and posting and toasting for a couple weeks (with some sporadic reading over last season) and decided I should finally sign up so I can get my chatter on.

by paxon on Jul 27, 2010 9:28 PM EDT up reply actions

would be shocked if troup didn't sign before camp...

with both Cody and Price already inked I’m a bit surprised Troup hasn’t closed yet.

by adamsam on Jul 27, 2010 12:35 AM EDT reply actions

troup

the raiders have signed lamarr houston so maybe troup will be tomorrow or wednesday.

by bills21 on Jul 27, 2010 12:57 AM EDT reply actions

It’s too bad that a deal can’t be completed earlier because of the fact that the player’s agent is “too busy”. The draft was in early April. The fact that Spiller’s agent may or may not have spoken with the Bills yet about a contract is a major problem. And this should be something the league handles in the near future. Players need to be in camp on time.

by bruuuuce_02 on Jul 27, 2010 3:37 PM EDT reply actions

The fact that Spiller’s agent may or may not have spoken with the Bills yet about a contract is a major problem.

What does that sentence even mean?

@BrianGalliford

by Brian Galliford on Jul 27, 2010 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions

It means that Spiller’s agent hasn’t done anything for him yet, and the draft was a long time ago. Agents are holding the players hostage from their teams until it’s convenient for them to make things happen. Why don’t they start working on contracts right after the draft? What’s the hold up?

Is that clear enough?

by bruuuuce_02 on Jul 27, 2010 5:35 PM EDT up reply actions