Q: While people say Ralph Wilson never has paid for a top-tier coach in the past, when he hired John Rauch, then the Raiders coach, and Chuck Knox, then the Rams coach, didn’t he pay at the time top dollar? And: Many people have said over the past weeks that Dick Jauron was the worst coach in Bills history. Didn’t he have some competition in the likes of Harvey Johnson (twice), Jim Ringo, Kay Stephenson, and Hank Bullough?How do their winning percentages compare?— Dennis Priore, Clarence.

A: Coaching salaries in the NFL did not escalate in a big way until the mid-to-late 1990s. You’re right, Rauch and Knox were high-profile, highly paid coaches for their time. But coaching salaries were relatively modest back then. The difference between the top and the middle was not great.

Knox signed with Buffalo for a reported $200,000 a year. Adjusting for inflation, that’s about $650,000 in today’s dollars. Don Shula made $75,000 during Miami’s perfect season of 1972. That’s $382,000 in today’s money. (Shula also had an ownership stake in the team.) Salaries for players took a huge boost a few years before those for coaches. The average player salary, for example, went from $196,000 in 1986 to $800,000 in 1993.

The first $5 million-a-year coach was Steve Spurrier of the Washington Redskins, in 2002. He lasted two seasons.

Meanwhile, Jauron was 24-33 (.421). Of the 14 head coaches in Bills history, that win percentage ranks seventh. At the bottom of the win-percentage list are Johnson 2-23-1 (.080), Bullough 4-17 (.130), Ringo 3-20 (.130) and Rauch 7-20-1 (.260).

Q:Do you think they should take the Thanksgiving Day game away from Detroit to make it a more entertaining show on TV?—Sam Mathis, Toronto.

A: Absolutely not. I love the tradition of the game in Detroit, which has had the game since 1934. Detroit has had an awful decade. But the Lions will come back. I like coach Jim Schwartz. They will be better. I don’t like the idea of moving the Thanksgiving night game around to different cities. I think Detroit, Dallas and former host Kansas City should be the permanent home teams on Thanksgiving.

Q: I believe player contracts are guaranteed for the first year and teams have the option to renew after the first year of a multiyear contract. Only superstars get guaranteed contracts. Coaches’ contracts are guaranteed. Is my understanding true?—Cheryl Cranston, West Seneca.

A: Coaches’ contracts are guaranteed. No player contracts are fully guaranteed. If a player gets released before the season-opening game, he gets no more base salary. There are guaranteed bonuses in many contracts. When a big free agent signs, he gets his signing bonus, and typically there is a roster bonus that is guaranteed the following year, and maybe even the year after that. Washington signed Albert Haynesworth to a seven-year, $100 million deal. But in reality it’s a four-year, $48 million deal, because the ’Skins either will cut him or renegotiate the deal after the fourth year. It has been reported that $41 million of his deal is guaranteed.

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