Peters’ holdout nears critical juncture for Bills
Tackle faces decision as season looms
The stare down between Jason Peters and the Buffalo Bills looks like it will come to a crossroads within the next 12 days.
It seems likely heading into the Bills’ third preseason game Sunday that Peters intends to skip the exhibition season. He sat out all of training camp, and his holdout now is in its 29th day.
The big question is whether the Bills’ Pro Bowl left tackle intends to give up regular-season paychecks in his quest to get a new contract.
NFL players receive their base salaries spread out over the 17 weeks of the regular season.
So while Peters is subject to fines for skipping training camp, he has yet to actually miss a significant check that he was scheduled to get.
Peters is scheduled to make $3.25 million this season, or $191,176 per week during the regular season. If Peters aims to minimize his financial losses, he would likely report sometime around Labor Day. The Bills’ season opener is Sept. 7 against Seattle.
No break in the stalemate was in sight as of Thursday. The Bills and Peters’ agent, Eugene Parker, have had no discussions on a new deal, sources said.
Peters is subject to a fine of $15,116 a day. Skipping Thursday’s practice at Ralph Wilson Stadium brought Peters’ fine total to $432,248. He previously was levied a fine of $8,638 for missing mandatory minicamp. It should be noted that it’s commonplace for NFL teams to negotiate some kind of settlement of the fine total when a holdout player finally reports to camp.
Bills coach Dick Jauron acknowledged Peters’ value to the team after practice but said he is not focused on the holdout.
“Certainly, I wish Jason was here; we all do,” Jauron said. “But I don’t think about it a whole lot. Certainly when I’m on the field, I can’t. That responsibility falls into somebody else’s lap, because there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Jauron said he still has had no contact with Peters since January.
Bills left guard Derrick Dockery, who has been in contact with Peters, said he’s trying to remain optimistic about the situation.
“Things happen and it’s a business,” Dockery said. “Jason is one of the best left tackles in the game so I think he’ll be just fine, come back to his normal self, give an excellent effort, play excellent, be physical and we’ll move right along.”
Dockery received a text message from Peters the day of the preseason game in Toronto.
“I just wanted to see how he was doing,” Dockery said, “and he texted me back and said, ‘Good luck. Play well. Play hard.’
“We’re friends, first and foremost. We text quite often, at least once or twice a week, just to see what’s going on. I want to see him happy. I want to see everyone involved happy.”
A happy resolution, however, is not evident at the moment.
The Bills have made it clear they do not want to cave in to the demands of a player who is holding out. They fear that would set a bad precedent. The Bills also appear firm in their position that given his holdout, they will not give Peters any new money in 2008.
There is little doubt that Peters is underpaid relative to his status among NFL offensive linemen. Peters’ deal, signed in July 2006, was worth a maximum value of $4 million a year. That makes him the third highest paid lineman on the Bills, behind Dockery (at $7 million a year) and Langston Walker (at $5 million a year). Peters still has three years left on his deal.
Parker’s holdout strategy with another client, Rams running back Steven Jackson, reached a successful conclusion Thursday. Jackson ended his holdout and agreed to a deal reportedly worth $7.3 million a year. However, unlike the Bills, the Rams had been negotiating a new deal for Jackson throughout the summer, well before camp opened.
The Bills are willing to give out big deals on occasion, as the contracts for Dockery and Aaron Schobel attest. But they are known as a budget-conscious organization.
It’s possible Parker has been hoping the Bills and their firstyear chief operating officer, Russ Brandon, would back down from their position given the prospect of starting Langston Walker, a true right tackle, on the left side. However, there is little doubt Bills owner Ralph Wilson, who has final say on any major decision and has a long track record of feistiness, is fully supporting Brandon’s stance.
At the least, Peters’ holdout serves as a very loud statement that he expects to be paid like the highest paid offensive lineman in the league.
