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'If I can't hire you, I'll fire you' Bills owner made general manager a premature free agent
Updated: Thursday December 21, 2000 7:23 AM
John Butler cleaned out his desk Wednesday morning. It took the better part of three hours to box everything up, wheel it to his car, and say his heart-felt goodbyes. He and the Buffalo Bills' coaching staff had had lots of practice at sending players packing through the years, but this time, it was Butler's turn to do the leaving. "I'm experiencing things for the first time," Butler told CNNSI.com on Wednesday afternoon. "You know, 14 years is a long time. It's tough to leave when you've been some place for so long. It has been a wonderful place." But it was far from a wonderful ending in Buffalo for Butler, the Bills' well-liked and highly respected general manager. Bills owner Ralph Wilson fired him Tuesday -- via long distance phone, no less -- for in essence not accepting Wilson's latest contract offer. Wilson's cantankerous ways are well known. But his approach this time was curious, to say the least. With one game remaining in the team's season, in essence he told Butler: "If I can't hire you, I'll fire you." Still sorting through the startling turn of events this Christmas week, Butler immersed himself Wednesday in the uncomfortable task of removing everything but his finger prints from the organization he served so long and so well. "It was tough," Butler said. "I'd be lying to say anything else. It was really tough just to see the looks on some people's faces, people you've been with for so long. It did take me a while. Boy, you accumulate things in 14 years." Butler's unpleasant chores were eased by the kind words and wishes that streamed in on the phone all morning. Former players, agents, and other employees from around the league called to offer their regrets and their thanks. He'd take a call, talk a little, reminisce, then hang up and pack some more. His emotions were on the surface all morning, but bitterness, he said, has not set in. Hurt is a fairer characterization. "Oh, you betcha," Butler said. "Because when you give so much for so long, and then it's over, it takes a little while just to deal with it. This place has been such a big part of my life." If you haven't heard the details, Butler was en route to Montgomery, Ala., to scout the Blue-Gray Game workouts Tuesday when Wilson lowered the boom. Butler got the news at the airport in Charlotte, where he was to have made his connection. He turned around and flew right back home to Buffalo. "I was in Charlotte because we ran into these 100-plus mile per hour headwinds and it took us longer to get there than they thought," Butler said. "When I got there, the plane for Montgomery had left. So I did what I naturally do. I called the office and checked to see if there were any calls or anything I could be doing. "And when I called, I was informed that Mr. Wilson did want to speak with me. And that's when he told me." Fired on the phone. After 14 years. We can only presume Butler flew home in a fog. "That's what was really tough about it," Butler said. "For the finality to be like that. To come back just to clean out your office, and realize it's all over."
A matter of both timing and moneyThat's the how part of this surprising story. Here's the why. Wilson said Tuesday that he had pressed Butler on at least six different occasions since July to negotiate a new contract with him. Each time, Butler put him off, or gave him no specific demands. The two last talked contract Monday, a day after the Bills lost their fourth in a row, at home against New England, for the team's longest losing streak since 1985.
Wilson said Butler again rebuffed his contract offer and seemed nonchalant about the topic. Determined that his general manager was non-committal in order to seek his value on the open market in the offseason, Wilson said he was left with no alternative but to think Butler no longer wanted to be a member of the Buffalo organization. Butler concedes that the rumors and speculation surrounding San Diego's certain interest in him might have influenced Wilson's decision. Butler worked for the Chargers as a scout before joining Buffalo in 1987. Other teams, such as Arizona, were reportedly keeping an eye on Buter's contract talks. But the facts are these: Wilson's contract offers weren't competitive. Despite being one of the most accomplished GM's in the league, and a shrewd judge of personnel, Butler's current salary was about $500,000, putting him in the lower third among his NFL peers. Wilson's last offer was in the range of $1 million, or even a little less than that, a figure he said was the average of the eight highest-paid general managers in the league. With Green Bay's Ron Wolf setting the bar in the league at $2.2 million per year, and Colts GM Bill Polian earning a reported $1.3 million, Butler, 54, was in line for more than $1 million per year. Butler wasn't looking to hold the small-market Bills hostage, but he didn't accept Wilson's contract offers because he didn't believe they were in the ballpark. Butler contends that he didn't see Wilson's axe coming, and takes exception with the perception that he was planning to draw Wilson into a bidding war for his services. "I really didn't think this was a possibility, because I'm still under contract until Feb. 28," said Butler, the Bills' general manager since 1993. "I could see it was really pressing on him in the last couple of days. But really, it takes two to be comfortable. I thought the best time to talk was at the conclusion of the season, when you sit down without emotions running so high. I didn't see where there was going to be any harm to the franchise in doing that."
Butler takes issue with the conventional wisdomThere are those who believe Wilson made the break now because he didn't want to be used as leverage in a competition for Butler, or because he knew he couldn't truly compete financially once Butler was on the open market. But Butler contends that logic is flawed. "I hope that wasn't the thinking," he said. "Because I don't know if it ever would have come to some competing situation. Maybe I'm the only goofy one here, but I'm under contract until Feb. 28, and free agency starts two days later. You'd think most teams would have had everything solidified and done by then, wouldn't they? "I don't know how many openings there would have been for John Butler. It would have been very difficult for me to be a total free agent at that time. If it were Jan. 1, that's a different story. But I don't see much of a window. Things get done very quickly after the season, within five to 10 days. So I don't buy that argument. I don't understand the thinking." Butler said there were issues other than the size of his contract that went into any decision to re-sign. He was believed to be concerned about the level of Wilson's financial commitment in terms of keeping the Bills' free agents, and whether the team could remain competitive without top-flight spending. Juxtapose for a moment Butler's situation with Carl Peterson's in Kansas City. Both were general managers in small-market situations, with teams operated by two original AFL owners. Both teams are perennial contenders who are a disappointing 7-8 entering the final weekend of the season, after recording the second (Bills) and third (Chiefs) most wins in the NFL in the 1990s. Peterson, who has been on the job since 1989, on Saturday received a new five-year contract from owner Lamar Hunt. Peterson's last deal was believed to be worth $1.85 million per year, and his new one might approach $2 million annually. Peterson gets plaudits and pats on the back. Butler gets a pink slip. You figure it out. "I don't know what I'm going to do," Butler said Wednesday, just hours after leaving the team complex on One Bills Drive for the last time. "I'm very busy right now looking through the unemployment ads, and you know what? There's many things I can't do very well. "But I do believe this. I think there will be inquiries from a few places and a few teams." In this great, new unknown that life has dealt him, that is one certainty John Butler can count on.
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