Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo News spoke with a source who indicatedย that the Bills never extendedย veteran G Richie Incognito a contract offer during the season.
According to Dunne, the Bills “lowballed” Incognito at the Scouting Combine last week, and didn’t contact his representatives for a four-day period.
A recent report mentioned thatย “frustrated” with Incognito’sย refusal to take their offer, and the team believes heย should give them a break after they were the only team willing to offer him aย second chance at an NFL career.
However,ย Incognito made it clear that he isn’t looking to take a deep discount just to be back in Buffalo.
โThis is a high-stakes business,โ Incognito said. โThereโs no such thing as a hometown discount. Thereโs fair, thereโs market value, thereโs team-friendly, thereโs player-friendly. . . . I definitely feel I owe Buffalo a lot. But I owe them on the football field.
โI play my heart out.โ
Buffalo elected to sign him to aย one-year contract andย Incognito responded with a Pro Bowl season and is now in position to be one of the better guards in this year’s free agent market.
Incognito, 32, wound up being a much better signing than many anticipated for the Billsย when they signed him to a one-year, $1.45 million last year. He’ll be an unrestricted free agentย in the coming days.
In 2015, Incognito appeared in all 16 games for the Bills and was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 2 guard out of 82ย qualifying players.
We haveย him featuredย in ourย Top 2016 Free Agents list.
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