Wednesday, September 3, 2003
ESPN.com news services
A day after being cut unexpectedly by the New England Patriots, safety Lawyer Milloy has reached an agreement in principle with the Buffalo Bills.
The teams open the season against each other Sunday in Buffalo.
The Bills beat out the Redskins, who were the other team making a serious offer to the four-time Pro Bowl selection. The Bills had set Wednesday as a deadline day for getting a deal done with Milloy.
ESPN.com reported Tuesday afternoon that the Bills had made a contract offer and that by Tuesday night Milloy and his representatives were mulling offers from at least three franchises.
Beyond the Bills, the Redskins and New Orleans Saints made offers. It is believed Washington has offered a multi-year contract that would have paid Milloy about $5 million over the first two seasons. League sources said that the Saints had offered a three-year contract.
The Minnesota Vikings demonstrated early interest and then, when they saw where the market was headed, backed off later Tuesday. The New York Jets also made at least one exploratory phone call but it is believed their interest waned as well.
Milloy was entering the fourth season of a seven-year, $35 million contract that was seen as a landmark deal for a safety when he signed it in 2000. New England will save $4.4 million on its 2003 cap but will have to count about $6 million on its 2004 spending limit because of various prorated signing bonus segments.
Patriots sources said late Tuesday night that keeping Milloy on the regular-season roster would have pushed the team over the 2003 cap limit and perhaps forced the release of a starter or two. During the offseason, the so-called "rule of 51" applies to a team's salary cap, meaning it must count only its highest-paid 51 players against the ceiling. But when the regular season begins, every player under contract counts against the cap, and a club's account typically rises.
The scheduled 2003 cap charge for Milloy was $5.836 million. The two sides had been working on a potential reworked deal for four or five months but could not get together on numbers amenable to Milloy and the Patriots brass.
