Mario Williams a Bill?

As most of Buffalo knows by now Mario Williams; 2x pro-bowl defensive end from the Houston Texans and #1 defensive FA on the market is in Buffalo meeting with the Bills front office. GM Buddy Nix, Russ Brandon, Chan Gailey, Dave Wannstedt and fellow DL Kyle Williams are meeting with the 6-6 lineman tonight.

Joining Mario Williams is another top free agent, Robert Meachem. The former Saints WR is a highly coveted option now that multiple soon-to-be FA's were signed or tagged. Meachem would be a great second option to Ryan Fitzpatrick and should improve the Bills WR core, starting over Donald Jones.

Mario Williams would not come cheap. Mark Gaughan has reported that the Bills are ready to make Williams the highest paid defensive player in the league. The highest paid defensive player in the league right now is Bears DE Julius Peppers. His contract is worth $91.5 Million over a 6 year span. This is a heafty price to pay for a DE who has only started 19 games over the past two seasons but I believe he is worth it. He started all 16 games his first 4 years in the league and only has had injury problems the past few years.

He missed the second half of the 2011 season with a torn pectoral muscle and is obviously 100% recovered from it. He should not be labeled as an injury risk and is well worth all the money that will be offered to him by the Bills or any other team.

There are sources out there saying that the deal could be done tonight, I doubt those reports but he will sign somewhere in the next few days.

As much as I am excited about the possibility of having one of the best DE's in the league with the Bills I am not getting my hopes up. We all remember last year when Tyson Klabo "used" Buffalo as a bargaining chip to drive up his contract he signed with the Falcons. The same goes for Meachem. I am optimistic yet tempering my hopes on this issue. If it happens I will be as estatic as any Bills fan but 22 years in Buffalo has taught me to not get too excited.

EDIT: WGR-550 is reporting that a league source says that the Bills expect to sign both Williams and Meachem in the next 24 hours.