Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Progress on Byrd?
By Tim Kavanagh
When the Buffalo Bills elected to part ways with veteran S George Wilson recently, many outside observers opined that this all but confirmed that the team would be bringing back impending free agent Jairus Byrd this offseason. What remained to be determined was whether it'd be on the one-year franchise tag or a multi-year pact.
According to John Wawrow of the Associated Press, there may soon be progress made on that latter strategy. A source has confirmed to the reporter that the Bills are expected to meet with Byrd's camp (nest?) at the scouting combine this week in Indianapolis. It's during these talks that the framework for a new deal can be worked out. If they seem relatively far apart in those talks, a tag before the March 4 deadline is likely.
If Byrd is tagged, this doesn't mean he won't get a long-term deal at some point; in fact, we saw several of the tagged players get long-term deals last offseason. It would appear that this is the goal of both sides, so it's just a matter of finding common ground.
James Walker
Bills, Byrd ready to talk"No surprise here. Byrd is Buffalo's top free agent and time is running out before he hits the open market. The Bills need to know if they can re-sign him to a long-term contract or use the one-year franchise tag."
