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Bills Daily Week in Review - March 27th - April 2nd, 2000Previous Week

Bills Sign Brown; Extend Fina's Deal

This week was a very busy one as the Bills locked up the left side of their offensive line for years to come. Let's take a look at the week in review complete with our take on the situation:

Friday was a very good day for Bills fans as Ruben Brown agreed to a seven year contract worth $32 Million with a $7 signing bonus. He will get $15 Million of that over the next three years. Our Take: It turns out the Dusty Ziegler did the Bills a favor by spurning the Bills for the Giants. If Ziegler had signed with the Bills they wouldn't be bringing Brown back, and Brown is definitely the better player.
Also on Friday, John Fina agreed to a six year contract extension worth $27 Million. He will receive $8.2 Million this year. Fina was instrumental in bringing Brown back. They share the same agent and Fina's desire to play alongside Brown allowed the Bills to do both. Fina's deal was cap friendly and opened up enough space to sign Brown. Our Take: Fina proves that he is the ultimate team player by taking a little bit less money and not testing the market next season just so the club can sign Brown. The left side of the line will be solidified for years to come.
The flip side of Friday's news is that the Bills are in a tighter crunch than before which could mean cuts on June 1st to clear cap room to sign rookies. Names being rumored around are Ted Washington and Sam Gash. Our Take: Washington will be back because Phillips will demand it. Gash will either have his contract extended to save cap room or be cut. The Bills will play a lot of one back offense this year and figure Shawn Bryson or Jonathan Linton can be the blocking back when they need it. We feel that isn't the case and Gash should have his contract extended in a cap friendly way.
Wade Phillips is at it again, he refused to say that Rob Johnson will be his starter this week and speculated that he may play both QBs this season. Our Take: This is just double talk to keep Doug Flutie happy. Johnson will be the starter opening day just like everyone knew Flutie was last season even though Phillips never would admit it. As far as bringing Flutie off the bench, this could be an interesting possibility when Johnson struggles.
The regular season schedule should be announced by April 9th or 10th. The Bills did find out this week that they will play the Cincinnati Bengals in their only home game of the preseason the week of Aug. 4th or 5th. Our Take: Get the schedule out so we can make our Fall plans!
The Bills also found out that they will get one compensation pick near the end of the seventh round for losing Lonnie Johnson last season to free agency. Our Take: Not a bad deal for Lonnie! Find out more about the draft by checking out our draft section.


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