Numerous Questions in Bills' Future

Offseason Roundup: Buffalo Bills

Since the NFL's franchise owners avoided a confrontation with the players' union by voting, 30-2, in March to ratify the sport's proposed labor and revenue-sharing deals, Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson has been telling practically everyone willing to listen that he doesn't know if a team in a market as tiny as Buffalo can remain financially viable. He has rallied support from politicians, who in turn have sought and received assurances from NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue that Wilson will serve on the eight-owner committee that will help to determine which clubs will receive money from the revenue-sharing plan.

Wilson was one of the two owners to vote against the labor settlement, and his point has been that the revenue-sharing deal is not sufficient for a team like the Bills to meet its escalating financial obligations to the players under the revised salary cap system.

But anyone watching the Bills operate this offseason would be wary of finding a way to funnel any more money to the club. There's no telling how it might be spent.

People around the league have been scratching their heads all offseason, trying to figure out exactly what the Bills are doing. It started in January, when Wilson fired Tom Donahoe as the team's president and general manager and hired Marv Levy to replace him. Levy coached the Bills to four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s. He's a Hall of Famer whose knowledge of the game is to be respected. But now he's a rookie general manager. He will have, just as Joe Gibbs had in his return to coaching with the Washington Redskins, a period of relearning and readjustment. The league changes. And, unlike Gibbs, he's doing a job that he hasn't done before.

Wilson decided to retain Mike Mularkey as the club's coach, but that lasted only until Mularkey walked into Wilson's office about a week later and told the owner he was resigning. Wilson and Levy turned to Dick Jauron, the former Chicago Bears head coach who was the NFL's coach of the year in 2001 but had an overall record in Chicago of only 35-46 and went 1-4 as the Detroit Lions' interim coach last season.

Levy and Jauron inherited a muddled quarterback situation from Donahoe and Mularkey, and did little to fix it. The previous Bills regime used a first-round draft pick on quarterback J.P. Losman in 2004, and before last season handed Losman the starting job and released veteran Drew Bledsoe when he refused to take a pay cut to stay around as the youngster's backup and mentor. That was, simply, the way things work in the NFL these days: The Bills had invested money and hope in a young quarterback, and made him the starter entering his second pro season.

The problem was, Mularkey got impatient. Instead of living with the inevitable ups and downs that come with playing a young quarterback, he benched Losman when things got tough last season and turned to journeyman Kelly Holcomb. The Bills got a temporary lift with Holcomb in the lineup, but it didn't last. They ended up not only having a miserable season, but also not finding out whether they could depend on Losman to be the starter. Mularkey didn't bother to hang around to clean up the mess that he helped to create at the most important position on the field.

This offseason, the Bills signed Green Bay Packers backup Craig Nall as a free agent to compete for the starting job, and there have been rumblings around the league that Losman could be traded. When two of the top three quarterbacks in the draft, USC's Matt Leinart and Vanderbilt's Jay Cutler, were available to the Bills for the eighth overall choice in the draft, they passed on both and picked Ohio State safety Donte Whitner, who'd been projected by other teams as a mid-first-rounder. They also used a first-round pick on North Carolina State defensive tackle John McCargo, a marginal first-round prospect.

In free agency, the Bills handed out a four-year, $10 million contract to wide receiver Peerless Price, who had failed miserably in stints in Atlanta and Dallas since being a standout complementary receiver in Buffalo, and probably deserved a far more modest deal to attempt to revive his career.

Lee Evans takes over as the top receiver for the traded Eric Moulds, and the Bills still have a superb young tailback in Willis McGahee. They did their best to restock their defense on draft day, also using a third-round pick on Ohio State cornerback Ashton Youboty and a fourth-rounder on South Carolina safety Ko Simpson.

Maybe this draft class will form the foundation of a solid defense on a contending team someday. But it's unlikely that the 2006 Bills will resemble a contender. If Wilson needs evidence that it is difficult for a small-market team to compete in today's NFL, he probably won't have to look very far next season. He needs to remember, however, that how wisely and efficiently a franchise is operated is just as important as how much money it takes in and spends, and his argument that the Bills deserve more money in revenue-sharing would be bolstered if he first could demonstrate that his team was operating smoothly and making some sound decisions in allocating its current resources.

Around The League

Mike Holmgren's agent, Bob LaMonte, is scheduled to meet with Seattle Seahawks officials today to negotiate a contract extension for the coach.

Holmgren's contract with the Seahawks runs only through next season. He had been noncommittal earlier in the offseason about his future with the club, saying he liked working for the Seahawks but didn't know how much longer he wanted to coach or if he wanted to seek opportunities to be a general manager elsewhere. Now, though, it appears likely that he will stay in coaching and remain in Seattle. . . .

The Seahawks and Texas A&M University resolved a dispute over the team's use of the school's trademarked "12th Man" slogan. The Seahawks acknowledged the school's trademark rights but will be allowed to continue to use the 12th-man phrase in game-day activities and promotional efforts. The school dropped the lawsuit it had filed over the Seahawks' use of the slogan. . . .

Houston Texans owner Robert McNair likely will meet with General Manager Charley Casserly within the next few days to determine Casserly's future with the organization. There have been reports that Casserly could leave the Texans to work in the league office. . . .

Houston, as expected, signed free agent tailback Antowain Smith, who spent last season with New Orleans. . . . New England signed linebackers Barry Gardner and Jeremy Loyd. Gardner was released by the New York Jets, and Loyd became a free agent when the St. Louis Rams declined to retain his rights. . . . Miami signed free agent wide receiver Frank Murphy, formerly of Tampa Bay. . . . Dolphins rookie defensive tackle Rodrique Wright underwent shoulder surgery on Monday and his status for the 2006 season is in doubt. The Texas product tumbled to the seventh round of the draft because of a torn rotator cuff. . . .

Wide receiver Javon Walker has agreed to a five-year contract extension with Denver, the team that traded for him during the NFL draft, apparently worth about $41 million. The deal runs through the 2011 season and includes about $15 million in bonuses. Walker's previous deal, inherited by the Broncos in their trade with the Packers, pays him a salary of $1.15 million next season, and Denver added a $1 million roster bonus. That means that Walker will earn about $43 million over the next six seasons.