Wednesday Morning Update

It was a slow evening in Bills land last night. After the team hosted free agent RB Dominic Rhodes and reports indicated that another RB (Chris Brown) was coming in today, nothing happened. There was no more news on the Willis McGahee trade front. No other news of more visits. Silence from One Bills Drive.

I expect that to change today. The Bills have had a carousel of running backs the last couple of days. To me, that means that Marv Levy is getting closer to trading McGahee. I have no evidence to back this up. Call it a gut feeling.

Enough speculation, though. Let's talk about the monster deal that the 49ers gave Nate Clements.

Nate's Deal Has a Phony Year
Jaws around Orchard Park dropped last Friday when news broke that the San Francisco 49ers had paid Nate Clements (above, right with new coach Mike Nolan) $80 million over 8 years to play cornerback for them. The deal blew away the previous high for a defender in the NFL - Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey received a 7-year, $63 million deal when he moved from Washington to Denver. Clements' deal blew Bailey's out of the water.

However, the Sports Xchange's Howard Balzer is reporting that the final year of Clements' deal is, for the lack of a better term, "fake". The final year of the 8-year deal will be voided next off-season if the 49ers pay Clements a $10 million roster bonus. If the team does not pay that bonus, the entire contract is void and Clements' deal is essentially a one-year deal. If the team does pay that bonus, the final year is voided and the contract becomes a 7-year, $64 million deal.

Still a record, but not quite as impressive.

Why would the Niners do that? For an interesting (and stupid - I hate agents) explanation, read the report that was broken on PFT:

FINAL YEAR OF CLEMENTS DEAL IS PHONY

Howard Balzer of the Sports Xchange explains that the eight-year, $80 million deal given by the 49ers to cornerback Nate Clements contains a phony final year, which automatically will be voided when a $10 million option bonus is paid to the player in 2008.

So either the option bonus won't be paid, and it'll be just a one-year deal -- or the option bonus will be paid, and the contract will be worth $64.02 million over seven years.

This is far different from a puffed up back end; it's a complete fabrication of the final year.

They could have picked any number for that final year. Instead of eight years, $80 million, the contract could have been eight years, $100 million. Or eight years, $800 million. Or eight years, infinity.

So why did they plop $15.98 million into the eighth year will disappear a year from now? It was, in our view, a favor to the agent, who'll now be able to trumpet to recruits the fact that he negotiated an "eight-year, $80 million" contract.

He didn't. It's seven years, $64.02 million. Still impressive, but not as catchy.

Signings Update
Here are the signings league-wide, up to date since last post:

- Kenyon Coleman, DE, NY Jets (Dallas) - TBA
- Jeremy Newberry, C, Oakland (San Francisco) - 1 year deal
- Bobby Wade, WR, Minnesota (Tennessee) - 5 year deal
- Daniel Graham, TE, Denver (New England) - 5 year deal