Top 3 unsigned on Bills' training camp eve
First scheduled practice Friday
The Buffalo Bills’ top three draft choices remained unsigned Wednesday as the team prepared to descend on St. John Fisher College in Pittsford for the start of training camp.
The Bills continue to work on contracts for first-round pick Leodis McKelvin, second-rounder James Hardy and third-rounder Chris Ellis.
The pace of signings for first-rounders this summer is typically slow, with most negotiations for top picks expected to drag on to the final hours before training camps open.
Just nine of 31 first-round picks had signed contracts as of Wednesday evening. Signings had been announced for 15 of 32 players taken in the second round. Click here for the contract status of first-round draft picks.
The Bills are scheduled to report to training camp tonight and hold their first training camp practice from 8:30 to 10:20 a. m. Friday. There will be a second workout from 2:15 to 4:05 p. m. Friday.
It’s expected all the Bills players will be in attendance, except for unsigned rookies. Tackle Jason Peters would like a new contract and skipped all of the team’s spring practices. However, the fine for holding out of training camp is steep — $15,116 a day. That works out to $105,812 a week.
The Bills reached an agreement Wednesday with fifth-round pick Alvin Bowen, a linebacker from Iowa State. They were believed to be close to a deal with sixth-round pick Xavier Omon, a running back from Northwest Missouri State. The other five Bills picks previously had signed their deals.
McKelvin, the cornerback from Troy University, was taken 11th overall.
Each of the first four overall picks have signed contracts. But none of the players taken from fifth to 13th overall had been signed.
Hardy, the 6-foot-6, 217-pound wide receiver from Indiana, was taken 41st overall. Four of the five players taken in front of him in the draft also remained unsigned, as did the player taken directly after him. Still, the parameters for a Hardy deal appear to be coming into focus. Washington signed receiver Devin Thomas, taken 34th, to a four-year deal worth a reported $1.2 million a year. Chicago signed Matt Forte, taken 44th, to a four-year deal worth $925,000 a year.
There was some conflict in negotiations between teams and agents this year on the length of contracts for second-day picks, those taken the third through seventh rounds.
Some teams have signed players this year to three-year contracts, a year shorter than has been common throughout the league. The shorter deal allows a player to become a restricted free agent after his third season. Few restricted free agents change clubs, because a club can retain the player’s rights by making him a tender offer. However, the tender offer has risen to the $2 million range, which is higher than what second day picks get in the fourth year of their rookie contract. A player becomes an unrestricted free agent after his fourth year in the league.
The Bills have avoided giving out any three-year deals to rookies. All of their second-day picks so far have signed four-year contracts.
