Laveranues Coles didn't decide to become a Buffalo Bill today. If Brian is right about OBD pulling the offer if Coles doesn't sign in the next day or two then Buffalo will have to decide what is next. The free agent market is relatively thin and the Bills have quite a bit of unused cap space.
The Bills are reportedly trying to extend Jason Peters and still talking to Jabari Greer. Either or both of those contracts would take a serious chunk out of the available cap space. Buffalo obviously thinks there is space available to accommodate Peters, Greer and Coles... and possibly to extend Fred Jackson later in the off-season as well.
Since the Bills have made a serious offer to Coles we can assume that it's at least around $6 million per year and possibly more. If Coles won't commit in the time frame OBD requires, who else does Buffalo try to bring in via free agency?
I checked out Pat Kirwan's column at NFL.com and here is what he had to say about the remaining big names:
"Here are the players I expect to be signed in the next few days to a week: T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Kurt Warner, Ray Lewis, Derrick Ward, Bryant McFadden, Nate Washington, Matt Birk, Khalif Barnes, Jabari Greer, Jermaine Phillips and Leigh Bodden."
The Bills are already budgeting for Greer. Lewis and Birk seem to be headed back to their respective teams. The Bills don't really need to sign Greer due to DB depth which takes out McFadden and Bodden. That leaves Houshmandzadeh, Ward, Washington, Barnes and Phillips. Guys who didn't make Kirwan's list include players like SS Sean Jones and LB Cato June.