Bills veteran DE Mario Williams tells Josina Anderson that he’s open to taking a pay cut to be back with in Buffalo next year.
“Yes most definitely,” Williams said of whether there’s a way to work things out with the Bills. “I love my team. I love my teammates. Everything has been fine. It’s just a matter of if there can be a better understanding of being able to do what we do..at least meet half way. That’s all, meet half way.”
In regards to a pay cut, Williams said that it will depend on a few things.
“Yea, I mean, it all depends on what it is happening,” Williams told Anderson. “My thing is this…obviously I’ve had big contracts, but once you get on a team and you get around the guys, it becomes family. The guys on defense, we laugh and talk about anything. We do a bunch of stuff together on and off the field, obviously. It’s bigger than just numbers. But at the same time as far what you said about it being feasible, a (cap) crunch is a crunch. Obviously there’s two great players on the other side of the ball that need to be back (impending UFA’s LT Cordy Glenn, LG Richie Incognito). Like you said, I’m not an accountant either. I don’t even know how you can go about making it where it makes at least some type of sense. That’s not what I do, so that’s why I don’t even worry about it.”
Williams, 30, is in the fourth year of his six-year, $96 million contract that included $50 million guaranteed. He’ll make a base salary of $12.1 million this season to go along with $11.5 million in 2016 and $11.4 million in 2017.
According to OverTheCap.com, releasing Williams would free up $12.9 million in cap space for the Bills while creating $7 million in dead money.
This season, Williams has appeared in 14 games and recorded 17 tackles and four sacks for the Bills. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 47 defensive end in a 4-3 defense out of 51 qualifying players.
We’ll have more regarding Williams and his future with the Bills as the news is available.
Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?
Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!
This is my thinking on Mario. His age is getting long. His desire to play is in question. He was very unhappy with Rex’s scheme, to the point where he spoke out publicly. To some he quit, I agree. He is a very good DE but only when he’s happy. Now we have 2 contracts that need the right amount of money to fill. Glenn and Incognito are 2 very good players, happy to be a Bill. Glenn is gonna command upwards of 10 million dollars. Incognito much less. Cutting Mario, because nobody will trade for him at his current salary, brings back 12 plus million for those aforementioned players to be re-signed. Plus, and this does matter, in the draft the Defensive line position is big. We can find Mario’s replacement with a younger, hungrier player at the league rookie salary. To me it’s really a no-brainer, we cur Mario.