It had been clear for weeks that the Buffalo Bills would attempt to continue their resurgence without quarterback Drew Bledsoe, and the team acknowledged its intentions publicly today. The Bills announced this afternoon that they will release Bledsoe when the league's waiver period resumes next Tuesday.
"It was a tough decision," Bills Coach Mike Mularkey said at a news conference. "But we're moving in a direction, and that's forward."
Bledsoe, 33, became the second prominent veteran quarterback to have his pending release announced this week, following Cleveland's Jeff Garcia, and he immediately becomes the favorite to be the Dallas Cowboys' starting quarterback next season. Signing with the Cowboys would reunite him with Coach Bill Parcells, who drafted Bledsoe for the New England Patriots with the top overall selection in 1993.
Releasing Bledsoe saves the Bills $2.2 million on next season's $85.5 million salary cap. Bledsoe still will count $4.3 million against the Bills' cap next season, but he would have counted $6.5 million if he'd stayed with the club. The Bills won't have to pay him a $1.05 million roster bonus due in March or his $3.3 million salary for next season. The release of Bledsoe and the just-completed restructuring of wide receiver Eric Moulds's contract will leave the Bills about $15 million beneath the salary cap.
Mularkey said that J.P. Losman, a first-round draft pick last year, will be the Bills' starter at quarterback next season. That continues the recent NFL trend that a quarterback drafted in the first round becomes his team's starter by his second pro season, even if his club has an established veteran ahead of him and is coming off a successful season. The Bills went 9-7 and just missed the playoffs last season, recovering from an 0-4 beginning under Mularkey. But Willis McGahee took over as the starter at tailback in his second NFL season, and now the Bills are ready to turn things over to Losman at quarterback and hope that they can have their offensive centerpieces in place for a decade or so.
"We had a good year last year{hellip} [but] it was not a super year," Mularkey said. "We did not reach some of the goals we set out to reach. We're trying to grow, and with that comes change."
Said Bills President Tom Donahoe: "We think our best opportunity to go forward is with J.P. at quarterback."
Mularkey described Bledsoe's reaction to the Bills' decision as "disappointed." Bledsoe was scheduled to speak to reporters via conference call this afternoon.
Mularkey and Donahoe offered Bledsoe a chance to remain with the club as Losman's backup if he'd accept a pay cut. But Bledsoe, who has started 171 of his 172 NFL games, refused because he still believes that he can play at a high level and wants a chance to compete for a starting job elsewhere.
"We felt the best situation for our football team was to have him around as a backup and a mentor," Mularkey said. "Drew did not feel that way because he felt he could still be a starting quarterback. I sort of knew that would be his response, knowing the competitor that he is."
Said Donahoe: "I never felt in my conversations with Drew or [agent] David Dunn that Drew would be comfortable coming back here, or going anywhere, as a backup."
Donahoe said he explored the possibility of trading Bledsoe but found no takers. He said he has granted Bledsoe and Dunn permission to begin talking to other teams immediately even though Bledsoe's release does not become official until Tuesday.
Bledsoe could get the opportunity that he wants in Dallas, with the Cowboys needing a starter because neither Vinny Testaverde nor Drew Henson proved to be the answer for them this past season. Testaverde is eligible for unrestricted free agency and could be headed back to the New York Jets, and Parcells does not seem ready to go with Henson or fellow youngster Tony Romo as his starter. Parcells coached Bledsoe for four seasons, between 1993 and '96, with the Patriots, and the two reached a Super Bowl together. The Cowboys went 6-10 this past season but could improve rapidly, with two first-round draft choices and abundant salary cap space to sign free agents.
The Browns also could be in the running to sign Bledsoe. New coach Romeo Crennel was the Patriots' defensive line coach for four seasons under Parcells when Bledsoe was with the team and returned as the club's defensive coordinator in 2001, Bledsoe's injury-shortened final season in New England.
Bledsoe played three seasons for Buffalo, in which the Bills went 23-25, after nine seasons with New England. He was obtained by the Bills in an April 2002 trade that sent a first-round draft pick to the Patriots. He has thrown for 39,808 yards and 221 touchdowns in his NFL career.
"When Drew came here, we were in a big black hole with our football team," Donahoe said. "And he helped us come out of it."
But Bledsoe was only the league's 25th-rated passer this past season, in which he threw for 2,932 yards, with 20 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He threw an interception, was sacked three times and fumbled twice in a season-ending loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers that knocked the Bills out of the AFC playoffs.
The Bills plan to sign a veteran quarterback to back up Losman. If Shane Matthews, who was with the team this past season and is eligible for unrestricted free agency, doesn't retire, he could be the choice. "I think Shane, if he'd be willing to do it, would be an ideal backup," Donahoe said.
Seahawks Sign W. Jones To Extension
Seattle agreed to a seven-year contract with Walter Jones today to keep the Pro Bowl left tackle off the unrestricted free agent market next month. The deal apparently contains more than $15 million in bonus money and is worth more than $50 million overall.
Jones had been among a group of 16 Seahawks players eligible for unrestricted free agency. That group still includes quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and tailback Shaun Alexander. Since the Seahawks can only use their franchise-player tag on one or the other, they hope to sign one to a contract extension before the free-agent market opens on March 2, and use the tag to retain the other.
Brees To Be Tagged Soon
The San Diego Chargers likely will place their franchise-player tag on quarterback Drew Brees within the next day or two. Brees was one of the league's most valuable players this past season, and the Chargers are unwilling to allow him to depart via unrestricted free agency.
Brees has expressed a desire to negotiate a long-term contract rather than a one-year franchise-player deal, but the Chargers have not worked out a multi-year agreement to this point with him and agent Tom Condon. The Chargers might not want to pay the hefty signing bonus yet that would come with locking up Brees to a long-term deal. They have the salary-cap space to be able to afford to retain Brees under a franchise-player deal, and they could keep both Brees and prized young quarterback Philip Rivers on the roster for one more season before deciding which one to keep for the long term. The franchise-player figure for a quarterback next season is $8.078 million, the average of the salaries of the five highest-paid quarterbacks in the league.
The only question is whether or not the Chargers will make Brees their exclusive franchise player. That would take Brees off the free-agent market altogether. He would be prohibited from negotiating with other teams. But in exchange, the $8.078 million figure could be adjusted upward later in the offseason to reflect upcoming signings.
If the Chargers make Brees their franchise player but not their exclusive franchise player, that $8.078-million figure would be locked in, but Brees still would be able to negotiate with other clubs and sign an offer sheet with another team if he chooses. The Chargers would have the right to retain Brees by matching the offer sheet, and would receive two first-round draft choices from Brees's new team as compensation if they would allow him to leave.
The Indianapolis Colts used their exclusive franchise-player tag on quarterback Peyton Manning last offseason but quickly removed it by agreeing to a seven-year, $98-million contract with him that included a league-record signing bonus of $34.5 million.
Grantham Interview Set
Houston Texans defensive line coach Todd Grantham is scheduled to interview for Cleveland's defensive-coordinator job today at the Browns' training facility in Berea, Ohio. Crennel seems likely to hire Grantham after being rebuffed by Patriots defensive backs coach Eric Mangini, who rejected more lucrative contract offers from Cleveland and Miami to remain with New England and succeed Crennel as Coach Bill Belichick's defensive coordinator.
Grantham also has been a candidate for the Dolphins' defensive-coordinator job but apparently has decided that he'd rather be with Crennel in Cleveland.
Labor Talks Today
Representatives of the league and the NFL Players Association are scheduled to meet today in their ongoing negotiations on an extension of their collective bargaining agreement. . . .
A federal judge Tuesday upheld an arbitrator's ruling that retired tailback Ricky Williams owes the Dolphins $8.6 million for breach of contract.
