Buffalo Bills facing tough negotiations with Tyrod Taylor and Stephon Gilmore
This week the Buffalo Bills announced the signing of left tackle Cordy Glenn which will keep him in Buffalo for the next five seasons. The $65 million contract keeping one of the league’s top tackles will surely cause tough financial decisions to be made in the next year, as both Stephon Gilmore and Tyrod Taylor — two of Buffalo’s biggest stars — will require new contracts within that time frame.
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Ideally, Buffalo Bills’ fans would love to see both re-signed and staying with the team — myself included — but looking at the current financial structuring of the team, is there room for both considering they will both be demanding hefty payments?
For the past few years, much of Buffalo’s cap was spent on the defensive line as Kyle Williams, Mario Williams, Jerry Hughes, and Marcell Dareus proved to not be an easily affordable line combination. But with the recent departure of Mario Williams and the saddening fact the Kyle isn’t getting any younger, is there reason to believe that the once concentrated heavy pay may be able to be distributed throughout the roster?
Let’s say for arguments sake that Buffalo only has the financial resources to re-sign one of the two players, which one will it be? To make a case for Tyrod Taylor, Buffalo has been starving for a quarterback for over a decade and Taylor has shown us that he may very well be the guy to deliver exceptional play to the position.
If he can manage to improve on last season and show that it wasn’t a fluke, I’d have a hard time swallowing a situation where he doesn’t wear the Bills logo in the future. In one year he managed to transform himself from a relatively unknown backup to a three-way quarterback competition, and finally to one of the fan’s most favorite player.
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This potential situation would also be eerily similar to when the National Hockey League’s Buffalo Sabres let Chris Drury and Daniel Briere walk just about a decade ago. It didn’t work out well for the Sabres, it would likely not work out well for the Bills.
To make a case for Gilmore staying, you could make the argument that he is in general, a better player at his respective position, if you can even compare the two. Gilmore has shown serious improvement in his time with the Bills and now is regarded as a top shutdown corner in the league.
Also, Gilmore was drafted by Buffalo back in 2012 and keeping him would be a testament to Buffalo’s drafting abilities. Not sure that this is a factor, but an interesting side note to this potential situation.
Hopefully, Doug Whaley and the rest of the front office will be able to restructure contracts in a way where both superstars can stay in Western New York. With the Buffalo Bills ever growing roster full of talent, we will soon learn that cuts are going to have to be made. The biggest question on many fan’s minds is, who and where.
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