Diner News: Bills have leverage in Peters' contract talks

Michael Lombardi surveys NFL topics in newspapers from around the country and adds in his own analysis and perspective.

FROM BOB BROOKOVER OF THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER... Buffalo Bills coach Dick Jauron acknowledged his concern yesterday about Jason Peters' well-documented contract dispute. "We're into our offseason training program and we're anticipating that he'll be around for the mandatory parts of it ... but, yeah, you worry about a lot of things, and that's another thing to worry about," Jauron said during the AFC coaches' media breakfast at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort. That concern could lead to the Eagles' trying to make a deal with Buffalo for Peters, a left tackle who has been to the Pro Bowl the last two seasons.

Lombardi: Don't get too excited about left tackle Jason Peters coming to your town, Eagles fans. What could you trade Buffalo to secure his talents? These trade ideas that pop up at this time of year make me laugh. Who would play left tackle for the Bills? Don't the Bills need a good left tackle, too? Unless the team has given up hope of signing the player, then this trade will never get off the ground unless the Eagles are willing to overpay in terms of draft picks. Now, does overpaying sound like something the Eagles would do?

Peters needs to get something done very soon. He did not play to his Pro Bowl level last year and needs to get back to that form. The Bills must adjust his deal now as they hold all the advantage and can make a good deal extending his contract. This is a make-or-break year for the Bills, who need to eliminate all possible distractions before the season begins.

FROM TOM SILVERSTEIN OF THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL... "I am confident in our team," (Ted) Thompson said during a break at the NFL owners' meetings at the St. Regis Hotel. "I think we have a fair group of players that now can play the game and play it well. I don't think we played as well as we should have last year. Notwithstanding, I think we have a good group of players who make up our team." Thompson's commitment to building through the draft might be the strongest of any general manager's in the National Football League, and since he's holding nine picks this year, including the ninth pick overall and four in the top 83, it would be logical to think he's expecting a couple of starters out of this class. But he's not even certain he needs to do that. "I don't know that's a particular goal," Thompson said. "It would be nice. It kind of depends on what's there when it's our turn to pick. We're pretty solid in our starting lineup."

Lombardi: There you go, all you Packer fans who read the Post. Your starting lineup is solid. Once again, the key to success in the NFL is being able to correctly evaluate your own roster and know the talent that you bring in is better than the talent you currently hold.

Counting on the draft to help the current team is always a risky proposition since the players you need to make a difference might not be available. Thompson is clearly a very patient man and is unwilling to invest in the free-agent market. As an owner, you love someone working for you who's conservative with your money, but there's a difference between being conservative and not spending at all.

The Packers have no interest in free agency, and unless they get a huge advantage in the deal, they will pass on the player. To me, that's like a real estate investor who never buys property, even when the property is sold in a depressed market. I know Thompson was burned by the Joe Johnson signing years ago, but when he ignores the free-agent market, he's limiting his options to improve his team. However, according to his view of the team, he doesn't have much work to do.

When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them I'm like a bank appraiser. I value talent and place a dollar sign on it. Not a complicated business if you know the market values of the players in the NFL. However, if you spend all your time working on the college draft, you have no real sense of the market, and every point of reference you have goes back to when the player was coming out. Then is then, now is now, but college-based personnel men often just ignore the pro market and focus on the draft. They refuse to use the tools of their trade to make their team better and use money as an excuse to avoid the market.

Thompson will play to his strength as an evaluator and rely on the draft to improve his team. He is college-based, not pro-based, so he is more comfortable dealing with the draft. For me, a general manager must use all avenues for improvement. Ron Wolf always did.

FROM JIM THOMAS OF THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH... With the NFL owners' meetings conveniently taking place an hour south of Los Angeles this week, Rams general manager Billy Devaney met with Mark Sanchez, the standout quarterback from the University of Southern California. According to league sources, Sanchez met with Devaney on Monday night at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, the hotel that is hosting the owners' meetings. Sanchez lives in Mission Viejo, Calif., maybe 15 minutes from the hotel's doorstep. "I don't know if they had a chance to meet Mark at the (NFL Scouting) Combine in Indianapolis," said a source with knowledge of the meeting. Devaney will head a Rams contingent that will be back in southern California next week for the Trojans' April 1 pro day. Sanchez is expected to throw and do a full workout at the pro day.

Lombardi: When I was looking at the Rams' needs Tuesday, it struck me that they need a quarterback badly and that they would have to look long and hard at either Matthew Stafford or Mark Sanchez. The biggest mistakes of my career were when I thought we could manage the quarterback situation rather than just start the rebuilding process. The Rams have very few options at quarterback, and I understand they have a huge investment in Marc Bulger, but the reality is, they still need a quarterback. And if the team is for sale, as many speculate, drafting a quarterback will enhance its value.

This interest in Sanchez is not a smoke screen. It's real and it is very much needed in St Louis.

FROM VIC CARUCCI OF NFL.COM... Despite the fact the Detroit Lions have made it public that they are seeking to negotiate a contract with the yet-to-be-unidentified player they would make the No. 1 overall pick of next month's draft, general manager Martin Mayhew told me that he is open to trading the choice if he could land the right difference-maker from another team.

Lombardi: Here's the problem with top-10 picks No one wants them because the amount of money has increased on an annual basis of around eight percent the past few years, and the players' talent level has not increased at all -- and in some cases has gotten worse. So, staying with the appraiser's analogy I used above, the value of the player does not match the contract. It's too upside down. In fact, the value of the player is so far below the contract that drafting in the top 10 is a losing proposition.

The NFL is like the NBA. Teams will have to give away the pick now, and it's not a bonanza for the trading team. If you want to be in the top 10, it's easy to get done. But no one wants to spend that kind of money.