Comments on: Shawne Merriman’s contract gets worse

By: buffalose

buffalose — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:58:02 +0000

I thought the signing was an “OK” Gamble but i see this signing as more than hopeful production. He is one of the biggest names to be signed by Buffalo in years and seems to be a respected veteran by OTHER players. And that’s what Buffalo needs. Other Vets are more likely to come here when they see others vets getting big contracts. The Bills need to shake this cheap label and signing TO and Merriman show that. They fought with ATL and almost stole Clabo from them. He also helps the young talent on a barren OLB group with no idea how to play a 3-4 . Not saying this was a “great” signing but it makes sense for other reasons, the Sacks would be a bonus

By: Mr. Wright 212

Mr. Wright 212 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:22:22 +0000

What a fraud this guy is.

By: gregjennings85

gregjennings85 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:54:20 +0000

How else are you supposed to lure talent to sunny Buffalo?

By: EJ

EJ — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:40:58 +0000

The Bills might come away with more than it seems…
If Merriman can come back after the surgery, which is a possibility(Ex. Fletcher) they will have another shot to get him on the field. Secondly, the affect he has had in helping Buddy Nix sign Nick Barnett and Kirk Morrison.
I wouldn’t call it a total loss yet, he is still signed for one more year. Lets see how it pans out first.

By: maryannwiththeshakyhands

maryannwiththeshakyhands — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:40:41 +0000

Tila Tequila is flabbergasted.

By: bigcountrybiscuit

bigcountrybiscuit — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:00:34 +0000

It’s unfortunate for the Bills, but in my opinion the move was by no means “insane”. Merriman was one of the best defensive players in the league for a meaningful amount of time. He missed so many games, as you point out, because he was dealing with significant injuries. Hindsight is 20/20, but could you have definitively said two years ago that he wouldn’t eventually come back from those injuries? He was just 25 at the time. There was no reason to believe he couldn’t make a comeback. Countless players have done so before him.

The Bills were desperate for a pass rush, as were many teams in the league. At some point, teams in these situations need to take on some risk in their search for impact pass rushers. There isn’t what I would call a robust supply of players that have the talent to record 39.5 sacks over a 42 game stretch. The Bills took a chance on a guy that had that type of potential, but also came with some injury risk. The important thing to note is that they were compensated for that risk through a discounted rate. In other words, his contract would have been much more rich if he didn’t bring that injury risk along with him. In my opinion, anyone that thinks the contract is “insane” either doesn’t understand the concept of a risk/return tradeoff, and/or they don’t appreciate how talented Merriman is.

By: drobstad

drobstad — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:57:30 +0000

That’s what happens when you abuse steroids. You get caught and suspended. Then you try to ween your body off them and it begins to break down (A-Rod, Kevin Brown, Manny Ramirez etc…)

By: asublimeday

asublimeday — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:48:15 +0000

Same things going to happen to Matthews as soon as they start HGH testing.

By: cjspiller12

cjspiller12 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:40:51 +0000

@pixelito says:
Oct 26, 2011 12:07 PM
It’s a good thing Bills fans have Hockey after the Jets beat them this weekend.
__________________________________
And it shows just how smart you really are……The Bills play the Redskins this weekend you moron.

By: turdpony

turdpony — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:39:19 +0000

maybin is basically untouched on those sacks. he is feeding off of the jets coverage personel and blitz schemes. replace maybin with , where is a just another fast football player.

By: tdk24

tdk24 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:37:06 +0000

Best…signing…ever!

By: galluswien

galluswien — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:36:46 +0000

It wasn’t a total loss for us Bills fans.

The only reason why Nick Barnett and Kirk Morrison signed with us is because Merriman was here.

Not sure about Morrison yet, but Barnett has emerged as our best defender outside of (the now injured) Kyle Williams… HUGE upgrade over Paul Posluszny.

By: scudbot

scudbot — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:28:41 +0000

Accuse Matthews based on nothing, fine.
Point out that Matthews hasn’t failed a PED test, comment disappears.

By: linvillegorge

linvillegorge — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:24:20 +0000

‘roider isn’t so great without his juice

By: norseyapper

norseyapper — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:15:17 +0000

It looks bad now but Bills management knew their talent level was getting there and were hoping to hit the lottery.
Looks dumb today but imagine what the Bills would be like right now if he would have performed like his talent could allow.

By: broncotis3000

broncotis3000 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:11:18 +0000

Does this mean we dont have to see his lame sack dance ever again??

By: pixelito

pixelito — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:07:49 +0000

It’s a good thing Bills fans have Hockey after the Jets beat them this weekend.

By: emil4423

emil4423 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:54:26 +0000

And matt forte makes 600k…

By: xxwhodatxx

xxwhodatxx — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:54:18 +0000

I don’t know how you can look at his history and think anything would change big mistake.

By: rudegger

rudegger — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:50:50 +0000

Merriman’s contract is not getting worse, it’s getting better, for Merriman.

By: anthonyjets

anthonyjets — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:50:30 +0000

How about Maybin having 3 sacks for the Jets and the whole Bills roster only having 4 so far?

By: otis52gsh

otis52gsh — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:49:37 +0000

Bad decision on the Bills part from day 1

By: nysportsfan29

nysportsfan29 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:49:22 +0000

It certainly wasn’t a great contract. But the Bills have to overpay to get anybody worth mentioning to even consider Buffalo – they haven’t made the playoffs in over a decade and Buffalo isn’t exactly a thriving metropolis these days.

I don’t think the money they gave Merriman prevented them from signing someone else – they’re way under the cap right now. If nothing else, maybe he can give some of the Bills youngsters some usable advice in the next 10 weeks.

Here’s hoping Buddy doesn’t roll the dice on McNabb next year.

By: mljohns

mljohns — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:48:41 +0000

I remember when there was a debate on whether to take this guy or DeMarcus Ware. Not quite Manning/Leaf territory, but it’s close.

By: Lev

Lev — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:47:53 +0000

Hopefully they show Fitzpatrick some of the same contract love

By: agelardi

agelardi — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:47:09 +0000

And Aaron Maybin seems to be playing great (or maybe just good) for the Jets.

By: bombacim

bombacim — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:46:13 +0000

Something tells me that Clay Matthews career might look very similar to Merrimans. How’s Brian Cushing looking these days?

By: quittsburghstoolers

quittsburghstoolers — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:45:01 +0000

Just ask the fans of any team and chances are there has been at least a few bad contracts similar to this one they can tell you about.

The Bills took a major flyer here and yeah, they gave him money based on his performance from back in the days when he was young and healthy.

But every team has given out a bad deal in the past.
It happens…

By: iflounder

iflounder — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:41:45 +0000

so he’ll make basically what a decent backup qb makes.

By: kd75

kd75 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:37:39 +0000

The trade for Eli Manning looks better every day.