You may be looking at the 8-million dollar man.
Do you want to pay Ryan Fitzpatrick that much money? I gotta admit, even though I’m a Fitzpatrick fan and I think he’s a QB that you could build your team around if some of those players are at an all-pro level, the price tag seems a tad bit much. Of course, I’m being a little cheap over here. Sometimes, I feel like Buffalo fans have been around such cheap teams (Before Pegula came here), that we tend to be cheapskates when it comes to giving out extensions.
When it comes to the QB position, we’ve really been oblivious to what the going rate for a signal caller can be. The most the Bills have paid for a QB since Drew Bledsoe was JP Losman. That’s not saying much. If fans remember, there were some reports that the reason why the Bills pushed Losman out as the starter in 2007, had to do with not allowing him to achieve salary insentives. Obviously, paying money for a franchise QB isn’t all of Wilson’s fault, because they haven’t developed a QB to get that sort of pay raise. Fitzpatrick represents the closest of any of the QBs since Bledsoe.
If you look at Fitzpatrick’s stats from last year, if he played all 16 games (Trent started the first two games and Brohm for the season finale) and averaged 200 yards passing and 1.5 touchdowns a game, his stats would be at 3,600 yards and 27 touchdowns. Yardage wise, that would put Fitzpatrick in the top 12, and touchdown wise, he’d rank 8th. Again, if he achieves those sort of stats this year, he’s gonna deserve 6-8 million a year.
With all that said, I gotta admit, I’m a little scared about giving him that much. The best way I can describe it for me is being in a decent relationship with a girl, then all of a sudden, you gotta pop the question and get married. So, no more looking at other girls. No more going out on dates. You are married to this person for the rest of your life! I don’t know about you, but I’d be bound to have cold feet. That’s where I’m act with Fitzpatrick. I’m just not so sure. For what we are paying him now, obviously, it’s money well spent. 7-9 million a year is a lot of bank to pay a QB.
If Fitz gets that sort of money, you are counting on him to win you games by himself. You are counting on him to be…gulp..a franchise QB. A QB will give you a chance to win in the 4th quarter against the likes of Tom Brady. Luckily, we have another season to go through before Fitzpatrick and the Bills have to exchange vows. However, if both parties delay, the price could skyrocket or plummet.
In the end, I’d love for a 2-3 year extension at around 6-7 million a year. Obviously, it depends what Fitzpatrick does this year.
Quick Hits:
–I’m already getting tired of training camp. Why? It’s because of fans on twitter who talk about how this or that player looks great/poor while doing drills. “Shawne Merriman is back!!! Fitzpatrick is the same because he overthrew a WR on one play, but throws a 50-yard bomb the next.” Um, yeah, it’s so easy to figure out what type of player you have when you consider he’s playing 7 on 7 drills! Look, everyone looks good when training camp starts. The hype for football season reaches its apex during this time period. Everyone gloats about being in the best shape of their lives because they gained or lost weight on the Atkins diet. Just don’t fall over yourself in judging the team by workouts is all I’m saying. It’s practice and the media/fans tend to overdo the coverage.
–Why is Buster Douglas Davis on our team?
–I didn’t really get into the loss of Whitner, mainly, because we already knew he was on his way out. For the record: I still think he’s very overrated as a safety, and for the people who think the Bills will be hurt by his loss, I really don’t think that’s the case. I think George Wilson is a better play-maker at safety, as his six interceptions over the last two seasons were double what Whitner accomplished during that time. It’s not like Wilson will be a stranger to starting, as he started 12 games in 2009 when Whitner went down with injuries.
–Call me crazy, but I think if Whitner just shut his mouth, didn’t argue with fans on twitter, didn’t run out of One Bills drive at the crack of dawn after the season finale, and bitch about being disrespected, he may be in Bills training camp right now. His contract is peanuts when you think about it. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s overrated, but less than 4-million bucks a year? If he wasn’t such an idiot, fans would be crapping all over the Bills for not giving him that much money. Of course, with Whitner acting bipolar, and wanting to be here one minute and then deported to Siberia the next, the Bills were going to have none of that. Bottom line: I think Whitner getting a twitter page cost him some serious dough.
–Very cool to see Darryl Talley and even Steve Christie come to camp this week to help coach some of the Bills players. I know most Bills fans would love to see Talley join the coaching staff, but former players’ aspirations to coach for the Bills, have kind of been rebuffed in the past. I remember Thurman Thomas was on WGR last season, and the subject was brought up about him joining the front office in some sort of capacity. However, Thomas said that Wilson isn’t a big fan for hiring former players, because if he hires one, then he’s going to have to hire all of them. Makes complete sense, right? (Sarcasm)
–Going back to my Fitzpatrick debate, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this, but don’t discount Tyler Thigpen. Now, I’m not saying he poses a threat to Fitzpatrick this year, unless he really bombs out, but if he’s gone next year, I wouldn’t be shocked at all if Thigpen is the starter. He’s got a 3-year deal, so, he’s not going anywhere any time soon.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
