“One of them said something at which point I repeated myself, that they had to leave, and then Rey Maualuga got up, took three or four steps and punched me in the face, more noticeably the eye, then my nose started to bleed,” Laham said. “Then security diffused the situation.”
Posted by Josh Alper on February 10, 2012, 8:57 AM EST
AP
Said former Bills WR Andre Reed on whether it was hard to come close to making the Hall of Fame, “It is. It is. And really, I’m at a loss for words because I’ve said as much as I could say, politically, the way I want to say it. I’m not going to go out and bash anybody. That’s not how I work. I don’t work like that.”
Routt’s agent told Josina Anderson of ESPN.com that Routt will visit the Bills and Titans in the coming days. It sounds like the Bills will meet him first Sunday and Monday. Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean reports the Titans visit is likely to happen early next week.
Early visits won’t necessarily result in a quick deal. Teams may not be ready to break the bank this far before free agency starts in full, so Routt might have to take a bit of discount to sign now. Cornerback is a deep position in free agency this year.
The early interest from both teams is interesting. On paper, cornerback is one of Buffalo’s more well-stocked positions. Tennessee could look to Routt as a backup plan if Cortland Finnegan leaves via free agency. Perhaps this is a sign the Titans don’t plan to use the franchise tag on Finnegan.
A league source has supplied the specifics to PFT.
As to Woodley, his 2012 cap number has dropped from $11.5 million to $4.94 million, creating $6.56 million in cap room. The move results from the conversion of a combined base salary and roster bonus of $8.9 million into a $700,000 base salary and an $8.2 million signing bonus.
The simple restructuring pushes the extra $6.56 million into the final four years of the contract, at a rate of $1.64 million extra per year.
For Timmons, his cap number of $9.125 million drops to $3.985 million, creating $5.14 million in cap space. The extra money comes from the conversion of $7.125 million in salary and roster bonus into a salary of $700,000 and a signing bonus of $6.425 million. It results in an extra $1.285 million being charged under Timmons’ name in the final four years of his contract.
It’s unclear at this point what else the Steelers will do to get under the cap. But they need to be there by the start of the league year on March 13. With these two restructurings, the Steelers pushed $11.7 million in current cap space into future years.
Posted by Mike Florio on February 9, 2012, 11:14 PM EST
AP
So why did the Raiders dump cornerbackStanford Routt today?
Per a source with knowledge of his contract, Routt’s $5 million base salary for 2012 would have become fully guaranteed if he had been on the roster five days after the start of the 2012 waiver period.
Though Routt loses the $5 million, he gets more than a fair crack at free agency, hitting the market more than a month before the official launch of the spending spree.
Thus, either way, tying guaranteed payments to presence on the roster early in the waiver period provides maximum protection. Either the team keeps the player and incurs the full guarantee (as the Jets did with receiver Santonio Holmes) or the team cuts the cord and the player walks away free and clear.
In Routt’s case, he carries with him $10 million paid out in 2011, the first — and ultimately only — year of his contract.
Posted by Mike Florio on February 9, 2012, 7:09 PM EST
Getty Images
The Bucs have been having a hard time hiring key assistants for new coach Greg Schiano’s staff. They’ve finally landed one of the men Schiano coveted.
Peter King of SI.com reported last month that Schiano wanted to hire Butch Davis, either to be the team’s defensive coordinator or to be an assistant head coach. Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com now reports that Schiano has hired Davis.
