Buffalo's Dareus signs massive $100m extension

Rex Ryan wishes he could have been a better football player, rather than a coach, after seeing Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus signing a whopping $100-plus million contract extension.

As consolation, Ryan will settle on having Dareus anchoring Buffalo's dominant defensive front for a long time to come.

"That's fantastic," Ryan said on Thursday after Dareus signed a six-year contract extension that makes him the team's top-paid player. "He's ours, and obviously we're happy about that."

A person familiar with negotiations revealed the length and value of the contract to the Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team did not disclose those figures.

The extension kicks in after this season, and it means the Bills will now have two $100 million starting defensive linemen. The value of Dareus' new deal surpasses the six-year, $100 million contract the Bills signed defensive end Mario Williams to during free agency in March 2012.

"Marcell Dareus is a tremendous player and we feel he has a great opportunity to reach his potential as a player and a leader here with the Buffalo Bills," general manager Doug Whaley said in a statement. "Throughout this process, we wanted Marcell to remain a Buffalo Bill for the long-term, and he made it clear to us that he wanted to continue his career in Buffalo."

Now the Bills have to wait a week before Dareus can take the field. He will miss the Bills opener against Indianapolis on Sunday while serving a one-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.

The suspension stemmed from Dareus being arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia after being stopped by Alabama State Police on May 5, 2014. Dareus avoided trial, during which he would have faced felony drug charges, by agreeing to enter an NFL substance abuse program a few months later.

On the field, Dareus has become one of the league's top defensive linemen since the Bills selected him with the No 3 pick in the 2011 draft out of Alabama.

Meanwhile, the Carolina Panthers' Luke Kuechly also cashed in on Thursday and celebrated becoming the NFL's highest-paid middle linebacker by heading back into the film room to study more tape of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"Then I will go to sleep and do it all over again tomorrow," Kuechly said at a media conference.

That's pretty much the Carolina Panthers fourth-year linebacker in a nutshell - focused, always working to get better, and relentless in his pursuit of victory.

(China Daily 09/12/2015 page11)