The Bills are cutting ties with OG Derrick Dockery, who they signed to a $49 million deal with $18.5 guaranteed only 2 years ago. The last contract he signed was, at the time, the biggest contract a Guard had gotten (pretty sure Faneca passed him).

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/storyBills cutting Dockery, RoyalComment Email Print Share By John Clayton

ESPN.com

Archive Offensive guard Derrick Dockery, who was signed to a seven-year, $49 million deal two years ago by the Buffalo Bills, was informed Thursday he is being released.

 

 

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Veteran tight end Robert Royal, who had two years left on his contract, also will be released, according to his agent, Rick Smith.

 

The two moves would free up a total of about $8 million in salary cap space for a team that has missed the playoffs for nine consecutive years, the worst streak in franchise history.

 

Dockery was one of the key prizes in the free-agent class of 2007. His agent, Todd France, was able to get him a Steve Hutchinson-type package to leave the Washington Redskins for Buffalo. His seven-year, $49 million deal was the highest salary for a guard at the time.

 

During the first two years of the contract, Dockery was guaranteed $18.5 million. France said he was informed by the Bills that they wanted to go in a different direction, and that Dockery didn't fit the offensive line scheme under assistant Sean Kugler, who took over last year after Jim McNally retired.

 

Dockery, who will go on the waiver wire at 4 p.m. ET, could go to the top of the list of guards in free agency.

 

The 28-year-old Dockery, who played in college at Texas, entered the league as the third-round pick with the Redskins and has 77 career starts.

 

Listed at 6-foot-6 and 335 pounds, he started all 32 games in Buffalo and was part of one of the NFL's largest offensive lines in terms of height and weight. But the line struggled last season, allowing 38 sacks, 12 more than the previous team, and the offense finished 25th in the NFL in total yards.

 

In another move, the Bills have re-signed starting fullback Corey McIntyre to a two-year extension.

 

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. Information from ESPN.com's Tim Graham and The Associated Press was used in this report.

 

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Is he still playing at a high level?

This is certainly going to make for an interesting FA period. Let the fun begin a midnight!

I just hope that JA will bring in some OL help via FA . These guys are experienced, just what JA likes in OLmen, and it will enable us to use draft picks on BPA-impact-future long-termers (OL depth?DE?LB?).

Is he still playing at a high level?

It's a little iffy. There's some question as to his motivation last year (for example, he was sucking one game early in the season, they benched him for a quarter and he came out and played quite well afterwards) and the Bills are cutting him for a reason (supposedly him not fitting well with their "Scheme", read what you will in to that). So, short answer yes with an if, long answer no with a but.

It's a little iffy. There's some question as to his motivation last year (for example, he was sucking one game early in the season, they benched him for a quarter and he came out and played quite well afterwards) and the Bills are cutting him for a reason (supposedly him not fitting well with their "Scheme", read what you will in to that). So, short answer yes with an if, long answer no with a but.

 

I'm not going to start a new thread for this, but I saw on NFPost.com that Jon Stinchcomb is going to be available. He is probably not a big ticket item, but is 29 and one of the better RTs in the game. I think signing him to a 3 year deal would be a far, far better option than giving that money to St Clair. St Clair may be versatile, but usually veratile means your not good enough at any one position to stick there. Stinchcomb is only a RT, but he's great at that.

I wouldn't mind Dockery depending on the cost. Chances are, we'll sign 2 or 3 FA's and none of them will be highly-touted. It's the Angelo way minus Moose.

He gave up 8 sacks last year, but the whole Bills line sucked. It's hard to judge him on that season as there seemed to be problems with the whole teams play, not just his.