43 replies to this topic

[simpleman]

My question is "What is his motivation to take less money from Buffalo to stay?" If Buffalo released him tomorrow how much total money will he actually get from the Bills upon his release? And then he would then be free to take that money and sign a Tjac sized deal as a backup QB elsewhere. Other than his ego thinking he might actually be the starter all season in Buffalo this year, is there any financial motivation for him to renegotiate for less money to stay? I searched this site for the amount remaining on his guaranteed money and didn't get a result that way. I'm not talking about this from the team's perspective like cap or dead money, but from his perspective. Can anyone explain how much he actually gets in total if he is released?

[Wagon Circler]

My understanding is he is guaranteed close to $10,000,000 whether he stays or goes, so there is no incentive whatsoever to take a pay cut.
I believe that if Geno Smith falls to us, Fitz will be released. The bonus date is immaterial as he is owed that money anyway.

[JESSEFEFFER]

If cut he gets nothing additional.  The cap hit is the unamortized, if that's a word, portion of the signing bonus he has already received.  The incentive to restructure usually involves some up front money but on a lesser, revalued contract rather than facing the uncertainty of free agency.

Edited by JESSEFEFFER, 06 March 2013 - 02:24 PM.

[Maddog69]

The way I see it, here is Fitz's perspective:
He is due a $3m roster bonus and $4.125m in base salary from the Bills if he stays
If he is cut, he gets $0 from the Bills.    He would be free to sign elsewhere but he has said himself that he realized nobody is going to sign him as a starter.

So, the questions to him:
1.) How much does he expect to be offered by another team to be a backup (my guess is somewhere around $2m)
2.) How mush is it worth to not have to relocate his wife and newborn child
3.) Can his ego accept going into the season and having to compete for the starting job with TJax and a rookie.

In the end, I think Fitz will accept a pay cut.   Something that will reduce his salary this year, replace it with incentives and reduce the cap # for the Bills.    I'm really starting to thing he stays.

[RealityCheck]

The only incentive for Fitz to restructure is that if he loses the QB competition this Summer against TJax and a possible high draft pick he will be cut at a time that will make it almost impossible for him to slide into a starter job elsewhere before the season starts. The odds of a team outside of B-lo giving him the keys to the Ferrari even today is highly unlikely. If he renegotiates now he could still hedge his bet and slide into a back-up role for a few million a year if he struggles over the Summer. Guessing how Fitz views it is still a waste of time though. Who knows how he views himself or what his long/short term plans are. For all we know he wants to be cut now, get what's left of the guaranteed, and sign with another team in time for OTAs. Fitz is a competitor, but he is not a winner. 2 very different things.

[JESSEFEFFER]

Just speculating, but I would guess that Fitz has a restructured, more cap friendly contract offer in hand and has been given a certain amount of time to mull it over.  That is why NIx can say that nothing has been decided yet.  They are waiting to hear his answer.   If they weren't interested in retaining him in any way they would have cut him by now.  There's been plenty of time to do the evaluation.

[Marauder'sMicro]

It would be great if they cut Fitz, and Arizona signed him to be their starter, so they pass on selecting a Qb ahead of the Bills!

[Kellyto83TD]

We need to cut him before we pay him that bonus.  We are not going to tip our hand by cutting him, everyone in the NFL knows we haven't had a QB since 1996 and we are taking one in this draft.

[JPS]

Fitz has nothing coming to him. But he's smart guy. Whatever he does will be the right thing to do for him. I'm pretty confident in that.  My Question is: If they cut him to save the $3M roster bonus, then resign him later to a 1 year deal, what's his cap hit?

[jjmac]

RealityCheck, on 06 March 2013 - 02:11 PM, said:

The only incentive for Fitz to restructure is that if he loses the QB competition this Summer against TJax and a possible high draft pick he will be cut at a time that will make it almost impossible for him to slide into a starter job elsewhere before the season starts. The odds of a team outside of B-lo giving him the keys to the Ferrari even today is highly unlikely. If he renegotiates now he could still hedge his bet and slide into a back-up role for a few million a year if he struggles over the Summer. Guessing how Fitz views it is still a waste of time though. Who knows how he views himself or what his long/short term plans are. For all we know he wants to be cut now, get what's left of the guaranteed, and sign with another team in time for OTAs. Fitz is a competitor, but he is not a winner. 2 very different things.

So we're a Ferrari these days?   I was thinking more of a Yugo.

[RealityCheck]

jjmac, on 06 March 2013 - 02:52 PM, said:

So we're a Ferrari these days?   I was thinking more of a Yugo.

It depends on who's driving.

[It's in My Blood]

I really hope if the Bills draft a QB early, they restructure Fitz's deal and keep him around for a few years.  Besides being a great teacher to a young guy and being a team leader, I think he's a good guy and would be one of the top back ups in the league.

[yungmack]

Kellyto83TD, on 06 March 2013 - 02:39 PM, said:

We need to cut him before we pay him that bonus.  We are not going to tip our hand by cutting him, everyone in the NFL knows we haven't had a QB since 1996 and we are taking one in this draft.

I didn't know you were personally on the hook for that dough, and in charge of cutting players and drafting players.  So, who are you picking at #8?

[BarkLessWagMore]

From Fitz's perspective: "wow, I really suck and they're still willing to pay me money. Cool."

[simpleman]

Now I'm really confused. I guess I'm not the only one confused, since I am getting contradictory info. Has he already received the 10 million in guaranteed money and is what I see in contract sites strictly cap related accounting figures ? Is any more of his money in the future guaranteed? I have gotten different contradictory answers. Does anyone have any links? Help!!

[Hopeful]

Wagon Circler, on 06 March 2013 - 01:50 PM, said:

My understanding is he is guaranteed close to $10,000,000 whether he stays or goes, so there is no incentive whatsoever to take a pay cut.
I believe that if Geno Smith falls to us, Fitz will be released. The bonus date is immaterial as he is owed that money anyway.

Negative, not $10 million.  The "low" guaranteed money was touted as one of the "benefits to the Bills" of Fitz's contract.  

This might help and This.  We've already paid him all or most of the money he was guaranteed ($21 million paid, some reports are $24 million guaranteed but that last $3 million may be guaranteed only if he's on the roster on March 13).

If we keep him, we pay him $3 million in roster bonus, $4.25 million in salary, $0.2 million in workout bonus.  Plus, part of his signing bonus of $10k will count against our cap.
The rest of his signing bonus will count against our cap NEXT year, even if we cut him next year.

If we cut him, we pay him nothing, but we take a cap hit of $10k this year from his signing bonus and other payments which were spread over 5 years (then we're done)

So Fitz' motivation to restructure would be if he wants to have a shot to stay on the team.
His motivation to not restructure is to play "chicken" with the Bills - if they keep him on the roster until they see who they can draft, he gets $3 million even if he's cut before training camp

$3 million might be closer to the total figure the Bills have in mind as his 2013 salary.

Hope this helps!

[Jim in Anchorage]

BarkLessWagMore, on 06 March 2013 - 05:04 PM, said:

From Fitz's perspective: "wow, I really suck and they're still willing to pay me money. Cool."

Exactly. His coach turned into a pumpkin long ago but the dough still rolls in.

[Hopeful]

Marauder, on 06 March 2013 - 02:36 PM, said:

It would be great if they cut Fitz, and Arizona signed him to be their starter, so they pass on selecting a Qb ahead of the Bills!

WINNER!

JPS, on 06 March 2013 - 02:48 PM, said:

Fitz has nothing coming to him. But he's smart guy. Whatever he does will be the right thing to do for him. I'm pretty confident in that.  My Question is: If they cut him to save the $3M roster bonus, then resign him later to a 1 year deal, what's his cap hit?

~$11 million.  The cap hit reflects his signing bonus, already paid

Maddog69, on 06 March 2013 - 02:11 PM, said:

The way I see it, here is Fitz's perspective:
He is due a $3m roster bonus and $4.125m in base salary from the Bills if he stays
If he is cut, he gets $0 from the Bills. He would be free to sign elsewhere but he has said himself that he realized nobody is going to sign him as a starter.

Link?

[QCity]

March 13 4PM is D-Day. Fitz now has 6 days and 19 hours left in a Bills uniform. I predict the axe will fall on Friday. Godspeed Fitzgibbons.

Edited by QCity, 12 March 2013 - 12:53 PM.

[simpleman]

Hopeful, on 06 March 2013 - 07:16 PM, said:

Negative, not $10 million.  The "low" guaranteed money was touted as one of the "benefits to the Bills" of Fitz's contract.  

This might help and This.  We've already paid him all or most of the money he was guaranteed ($21 million paid, some reports are $24 million guaranteed but that last $3 million may be guaranteed only if he's on the roster on March 13).


Hope this helps!

Thanks for the links. So if that is true I hope he either renegotiates to a cut in his contract, or is let go now. Then next year we will be free of his cap hit completely and will have the room to build a real team around that Franchise QB we draft next year!