I have to say, I’m fricken exhausted. From refreshing my Twitter feed to listening to WGR, I’m mentally fried. I just want Mario to either sign or move on. My life has come to a complete halt because of this. I need to move on! This process was fun from 4pm-8pm yesterday, but now, the talk is becoming unbearable. I’m ready for a news station to interview someone from the department of food & beverage to talk about why the food nutrition in Buffalo is awesome. Maybe we can get a real estate agent telling us that the region is on the up and it should lead to Mario signing here.
I can’t handle the non-football stuff in this discussion. I can’t contemplate whether Mario’s woman likes the city or not. I can’t handle “The F’N Center needs to be loud because Mario Williams is at the game.” If I hear one more time that the hunting in Buffalo is awesome, I’m going to hunt someone down.
I’m sorry, but signing the guy is what makes it fun and not the discussion about why Mario may or may not love the city. If the Sabres didn’t sign #24 or #10 last year, July 1st would have sucked balls!
I think it is utterly hilarious that we have Paul Peck taking photos of Mario at an airport or reporters covering the front entrance of One Bills Drive. Why don’t we have someone check the sewers to make sure Mario didn’t tunnel his way out? Maybe, have Mercy Flight follow the caravan of desperate housewives (Mario’s fiancee and Bills wives) around town. I’m sorry, it’s just too funny. We are such a cute, small town sometimes. It’s fun, strange and comical.
What I saw/heard was a bunch of callers/tweets doing their best self-promotion about how awesome the city of Buffalo is and how if Mario signs somewhere else, this will be just another death knell for the psyche of Buffalo. I’m here to tell you to shut it. I’m not Mario Williams. I don’t know what his motivation is when it comes to signing with X or Y team.
I’ll just use my powers of seeing free agents from years gone by. If he wants money, he’ll sign with Buffalo. If he wants to win, he’ll go back to Houston for less money. Maybe if Manning goes to the Titans, he’ll want to play with him. Look, if the Bills add Mario, at best, they are probably a 9 win team.
I think the city is a minor part in all of this.
Green Bay and Detroit (Red Wings) aren’t exactly beach front property now, but they do just fine in recruiting guys. Why? Because winning matters. I think if he goes back to Houston or maybe goes to where Peyton Manning is playing, it will be about winning. It won’t be about who has the better chicken wing or friendlier people. If the Bills lose out, you can blame 12 years of being a crappy football team for it. Maybe the team shouldn’t have gone on a 7-game losing squid. Harsh, but don’t tell me it doesn’t matter.
Now, he did bring his main squeeze into town, so maybe city does matter in all of this. Of course, some players like to have their wives/family be their side when they are going through the process. I also happen to believe that if you are filthy rich with a family, you can make any city ideal to live in. Of course, that’s just me.
There haven’t been many rumblings from other teams who are begging for Mario. Wouldn’t he have left already to see those teams? Of course, a deal could be made elsewhere without him visiting other cities (See: Robert Meachem).
Right now, I don’t know what to think. I’ve watched enough Arliss episodes to know not to trust any sports agents. OK, that was a joke. But everything is a negotiation. It gets leaked that the Bills are going to make him the highest paid defensive player. Other GMs who are interested in it will take notice. Even bringing his wife to town will cause other GMs to think he’s serious about signing. I’m not saying this is an elaborate plan by Williams to show this, but I think it strikes a cord with other GMs.
Again, it goes back to what Williams wants. What matters more to him, less winning or more money? It should be noted, that Mario is coming off a 54-million dollar rookie contract, so, it’s not like he’s looking for his first pay day here. He’s been paid. Hell, his rookie contract would be the biggest contract in Bills history to this date.
Also, don’t think his agency isn’t talking to other teams. There are people called junior agents, you know? They know what other teams are offering. Maybe they are keeping it hush-hush. I just seriously doubt it is Buffalo and Williams doing the talking only. As far as news goes, the only thing being leaked are from the Bills and nothing from the Williams camp. Of course, the Bills are going to say everything is going great.
Then you get PFT.com (Who BTW, got crapped on by everyone, which I think is joke. I mean, the guy works at NBC Sports and has broken news in the past. Sounds like people are bitter towards someone making his bones out of Johnny’s basement or can’t handle the truth that Mario may not want to be here.), saying that Williams was scheduled to leave tonight. Of course, they could have gotten that info from the Williams camp in order to spin up interest from other teams.
Opposing GM: Sh#t! Mario is leaving Buffalo. Let’s call his agent and see if we can get him here or up the ante.”
Of course, with PFT saying that they are now in serious negotiations, it puts pressure on other teams to dive in. That’s the agent’s job. Get his client as much money as possible. Again, Mario could have a preference in what he wants from a team not named the Buffalo Bills. You telling me he wouldn’t sign with the Pats for 15-million less? I would, but again, I’m not Mario.
There are just hidden meanings to everything said or reported.
DON’T TRUST ANYONE!
Lastly, Gun to my head: It’s close, but I think he leaves. I think he would have signed here by now. 3 days is too fricken long for a visit. Vincent Jackson got signed in like 6 hours. Right now, he’s the only big fish left. I think he’s buying his time to see what is left.
I just hope the Bills have some sort of backup plan if he leaves. They said they wanted to be players and quickly but surely, the best WR out there is Mario Manningham and other guys. I will say that waiting it out might be their best hope because plan B pals in comparison.
Well, Bills fans can only wait and to quote Jack Buck: We will see you tomorrow night.
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