The Buffalo Bills began the first phase of offseason voluntary workouts this week, and safety Jordan Poyer was not in attendance. He is not the only player absent, but it comes as he is seeking a contract extension.
General manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott both were candid that while they would prefer him in Orchard Park for the voluntary workouts, it is Poyer’s right to prepare elsewhere.
“I'm a big fan of Jordan. I think he's done a great job here for five years,” Beane said. “I got nothing but glowing things to say about Jordan and his family. That's probably as deep as I can get into it.”
Poyer is coming off an All-Pro season in which he was the only player in the NFL to record five sacks and three interceptions. He had 91 tackles and eight tackles-for-loss.
Poyer, who turns 31 next week, is heading into the final year of his contract. He is set to make a base salary of $5.6 million, which ranks No. 10 among safeties, per Spotrac.
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Earlier this month, he changed agents, and is now working with Drew Rosenhaus. Rosenhaus told The Buffalo News that he has approached the Bills about a contract extension for Poyer, who would like to retire a Bill.
While Beane emphasized that he doesn’t get into contract details publicly, he said he was not disappointed that Poyer’s side went public about his request.
“He's got a really good agent,” Beane said. “I've worked with Drew for a number of years, and we've always had a great relationship. So there's nothing – there's no conflict or anything like that.”
Beane’s outlook would have been the same for any player: He hopes they come to build chemistry, but understands that not all players will participate.
“I want Jordan here,” Beane said. “I'm not looking for anything different than that. It's just business gets in the way sometimes, and I respect that. I'm not upset or anything.”
McDermott also stressed a balance of preferring players come in for the voluntary workouts while understanding this is bound to happen around the league each year. He said he has “a lot of confidence” in both sides to work things out.
"I've been in communication with Jordan," McDermott said. "That's part of the NFL and how things work this time of year with some business that's going on. I love Jordan, I love his family and he's been a big part of what we've done here to this point. The more people that come, the better it is, the more our team comes together. We'll just leave it where it is right now."
From a big picture standpoint, Beane explained that there’s no way in the NFL to get every player paid as much as they’d like while staying under the cap, and that these conversations are normal.
“I love these guys. I love them to death, but I also have a job to do and have rules to follow from a cap standpoint and cash,” Beane said. “And so, unfortunately you have to say goodbye to some. There is more than just Jordan that would be looking to get an extension. Just right now, we're focused on the draft.”
