Bills Training Camp: Focus is on wideout entering final year of deal as practice begins
Set for a money grab
Evans in line for big payday as receivers’ contracts escalate
PITTSFORD — Let the record show that Lee Evans caught the ball on the first play from scrimmage at Buffalo Bills training camp Friday.
The significance: Evans is a priority player for the Bills in 2008.
The Bills would like to sign Evans to a contract extension, preferably before the regular season starts Sept. 7.
However, league sources say there still is a long way to go in negotiations before the Bills seal a deal with their top receiver.
The Bills have conducted talks with Evans’ agent this spring and summer. But Evans is going to be expensive because the market for receivers in the NFL has taken a sharp turn up this year. It remains to be seen if the Bills can close the gap in contract talks.
Bernard Berrian, who caught 122 passes for 1,726 yards and 11 touchdowns for Chicago the past two years, was signed by Minnesota in March to a deal worth $7 million a year and $16 million in bonuses.
Evans is held in higher regard than Berrian around the NFL. Evans has 137 catches for 2,141 yards and 13 TDs the past two years.
It seems likely the Bills will have to go above Berrian money to sign Evans, who is entering the final year of his contract.
The positive news is the Bills are determined to make a strong push for Evans in the coming weeks, team sources indicate. And Evans would like to stay in Buffalo if the money is right.
Negotiating with Evans is on the front burner of the Bills’ salary planning. It’s more of a priority than talks with Jason Peters, because of the fact Peters still has three years remaining on his contract and he has not showed up for practices this year.
“I am very hopeful something can get done,” Evans said Friday. “I’m getting a lot of positive feedback from the front office. Now it’s a matter of making it come together. It’s dialog.”
Evans, 27, would like to remain a Bill.
“I’m close to my family here,” said Evans, a native of Cleveland. “Buffalo is a great sports town. It’s a great town to win in. The ideal is to be with one team for your whole career. Any time you have that opportunity, you try to take advantage of it.”
The Bills witnessed Evans’ deep-threat potential in 2006 when he caught 82 passes for 1,292 yards. The Bills’ passing game struggled even more in 2007 than it did in ’06, and Evans’ totals dropped to 55 catches for 849 yards.
The Bills are not blaming Evans for the drop-off.
“We have to get the ball to Lee,” said Bills offensive coordinator Turk Schonert in the spring. “We’ve got to move Lee around. We just can’t put Lee over here on the left every week and say, OK try and get Lee open.”
The Bills also like the character Evans brings to the locker room. Evans won the team’s Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2007. He also never whined last season about not getting the ball enough.
“For me that’s not how I go about my business,” Evans said. “Once you have trust in the coaches and they have trust in you, they deem whether they get you the ball or not. I try to control what I can control and go from there.”
Evans’ agent, Ben Dogra, was not available for comment, but he has a virtual corner on the market for top young wideouts. Dogra also is the agent for Detroit’s Roy Williams and Cleveland’s Braylon Edwards. Williams is in the last year of his deal. Edwards has two years left but will be the focus of renegotiation efforts by the Browns.
One way or another, Evans will get a big raise next year. If the Bills can’t re-sign him, they could place a franchise tag on him. The franchise tag on a receiver will be more than $8 million in 2009.
