The Buffalo Bills fired former VP of College Scouting Tom Modrak yesterday. The Buffalo News is reporting today that Modrak had one year remaining on his contract, and will get paid for the 2011 fiscal year.
Just as the case with fired head coaches - Dick Jauron serves as a recent example - executives earn every penny of their contracts unless they're fired for cause. Ralph Wilson obviously respected Modrak's opinions, and in January defended him.
"Well, I think Tom has been with us a long time," Wilson told the News in January. "He's a hard worker. He knows the game. In the draft, there's no question it's a big disappointment that we haven't had more impact players, players that make a big difference, go to the Pro Bowl. Tom does a good job, but he doesn't make the last call. He puts the [draft] board up. We have a lot of hard-working scouts. But it comes down to making the last decision. That's not Tom."
The News also notes that the team is not expected to add anyone to replace Modrak, instead saying that those people have already been added in the last year. Assistant GM Doug Whaley has been scouting nationally for a year, and Darrell Moody, hired a year ago as national scout, does the same.