Joe: Joe and Rich here and we got burning takes about Richie Incognito. Alright, they aren’t that scortching, but because its the offseason, we gotta find some takes about the Bills. So it seems the Bills and Incoginto have hit a snag in the road of negotiations. PFT is reporting that the Bills are frustrated with Incognito because they feel he should take a discount in staying with the Bills. Incognito, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to agree with this stance. My question to you is do the Bills have a legit beef with Incognito since he was out of football for a year?
Rich: For me, I don’t think so. Ultimately, as a fan we become at times team-centric when it comes to negotiations. “I don’t want them to waste money on X because he’s y years old – A doesn’t give the effort B does” yadda yadda. Ultimately, the NFL likes to sell itself as a business when it’s time to make money and a family-friendly game when it’s time to give it out. Richie screwed up, big-time and paid a price. The Bills got him on the cheap and were able to steal a pro bowl performance for a million bucks. Now he wants to be paid commensurate to that ability and folks are balking.
Incognito was ranked by PFF as the 2nd best guard in football. He was was 7th in pass blocking and 4th in rush blocking.
Joe: Those are all valid points. Now, I’m gonna play devil’s advocate a bit. No one was even close to signing this guy last year. I mean, people totally forgot he existed when he was out of football for a year. Teams didn’t even have him in on visits or was on anyone’s radar. Heck, both of us couldn’t stand the fact they were bringing this douche bag to the team. When I actually have pause with signing a guy who has “Character” issues, you know its really bad because I’m desperate for the Bills to win and will make that deal with the character devil. If it weren’t for the Bills, he might still be out of football.
Rich: True. But, now that he’s been out of trouble for a year and has shown the silver bullet to any character issue (talent that is available) he’s different. Sure, he can be grateful – and the Bills to him for being so good for such a cheap price – but if he is such “damaged goods” in this market, why the angst about his demands? If Buffalo truly is the best place for him to fit, why not let him test the market and prove that no one will pay him more? That’s right – because they (and his agents) know that they are low-balling (read: “home town discount”) and he can make farrrrrr more on open market.
Joe: I’m curious to see what Incognito is demanding. His age is working against him as he’s not a spring chicken anymore. At 33 this may be his last payday. Keep in mind Incognito has NEVER had that huge type of contract for a top 10 guard. His contract with Miami was signed in 2011 for 3-years, 12.99 million bucks. That’s nothing for a guy like him. I wonder if he’s trying to recoup a bit of what he lost because of his incidents in Miami. Maybe he visions himself as being that OL who was supposed to get a nice deal after that Miami contract ran out. I’m also curious as to how much Whaley values Incognito. Remember there were those rumblings that Whaley isn’t exactly big on paying guards.
Rich: Whaley better update that playbook – with the league’s shift to interior pressure as well as the edges. Heck look at this team prior to Rex “tweaking” things! If Whaley wants Tyrod or whomever they get to be long term QB upright, having competent guard play is essential. If they want to let Richie test the market, I’d argue with his skill, despite his age he could get 7-8 million easy. Much like their poisoned contract for Clay, another team could pay him 8 mill up front this year and guarantee more in year 2 or three, which in theory could be matched. However, that first year can’t be done here. They can’t give him 8 million in cap – cash of course – but in cap? With other needs created for defense and either re-signing or franchising Glenn?
Joe: Putting devil’s advocate rhetoric aside, I do agree Incognito doesn’t owe the Bills anything. It was a low-risk, high reward signing. It was a huge gain for the Bills and now the chicken is coming home to roost in Incognito’s case. Its time to get paid for the work he’s done since the Bills got him for dirt cheap. Additionally, NFL contracts aren’t guaranteed and a lot of times, the teams are the ones who have the negotiating power. So basically hometown discount happens constantly because players are always going to be at a disadvantage. One last question…Do you think the Bills are playing hardball because of their home discount POV because they are against the cap?
Rich: I think it’s mainly the cap. From the perspective of last year for instance, Shady was none too pleased coming to Buffalo, so they sweetened his deal and dropped his cap to allow for signing Clay among others. At this point, while they would like to keep him, the amount of money he can make on his final contract, with the leverage of good behavior and superlative play forces him to make a business decision. While I would like him to stay and play LG – a thought I never imagined a year ago – maximizing his opportunity to win (yeah I said it) and his opportunity to make great money is more important. Wherever that may be.
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