I've done some very rough calculations on the career football earnings of Bills defensive tackle Justin Zimmer. A native of the central Michigan town of Greenville, Zimmer, who played his college ball at Division II school Ferris State in Big Rapids, Michigan, was not drafted to the NFL when he left college in 2016. Since then, he has defined the role of fringe player, bouncing around the practice squads (with an occasional injury call-up to dress for an actual game) of the Saints, Montreal Alouettes, Falcons and Browns. 2020 represents his second stint with the Bills who first signed him as undrafted free agent in 2016 when Rex Ryan was coaching the Bills and Doug Whaley was the GM. The Bills signed him again on August 16th of this year, waived him on September 5th then, after having cleared waivers, signed to the practice squad - once again. He dressed for games this season in weeks one and six as well as yesterday against the Patriots. Entering the game, he had five career NFL tackles. I figure that, including his CFL earnings and four seasons mostly on various NFL practice squads, he has earned about $20 per hour - mostly for practicing football. Not exactly high paying work but more interesting and fulfilling than working at, say, an Amazon warehouse.
With 16 seconds remaining in yesterday's game, the Bills appeared to have managed to play exactly well enough to lose the game 28-24 as Cam Newton had led his team into the red zone, and was surely about to complete the game's winning touchdown drive - or at least send the game into overtime if the drive stalled. But Newton wasn't ready for Justin Zimmer. Through his years of toiling in Division II, punching the clock on practice squads and even going north to the CFL for part of a season, Zimmer had been patiently biding his time, waiting for the opportunity to make his way to the headline of an NFL game recap - and into this blog. From behind, as Newton was about to be tackled, Zimmer punched the ball out of his hands and eventually into the hands of team-mate and fellow fringe player Dean Marlowe. It was the Patriots only turnover in a game where both teams were able to run the ball effectively at times on a windy and rainy day in Orchard Park. Maybe Zimmer will retire now that he has carved out his place in Bills history, delivering the key blow in the team's first home win against New England since 2011. But he probably won't. After all, he needs the money and with the economy the way it is.......
That last home win against the Patriots in 2011 also came as a result of a key and rare turnover in a game I attended. Tom Brady's 4th quarter pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage and landed easily in the hands of Bills cornerback Drayton Florence who ran it back for a touchdown. A few minutes later, Ryan Lindell then kicked the winning field goal as time expired as the Bills went to 3-0 on a warm September afternoon. Bills fans were giddy and sensed a magical season was at hand. After improving to 5-2 with win over Washington at the Rogers Centre in Toronto a month later, the Bills signed quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to a lucrative contract extension. He then slumped badly as the team would win only one more game for the remainder of the season, finishing 6-10.
But things are different this time. Josh Allen remains on his rookie contract so we don't have to worry about him - at least not until 2023 when he could become an unrestricted free agent if the Bills do not sign him to an extension beforehand. If he continues the season-to-season progression we've seen since 2018, he will command a top NFL quarterback salary which will probably be more than $40 million annually by then. Eat your heart out, Justin Zimmer. And the coach Sean McDermott, who yesterday earned his first win over legendary coach Bill Belichick in seven tries, is more likely to lead the team to the division title and a home playoff game than Chan Gailey ever was. Now that the Patriots have sunk to 2-5, the Bills will now need to worry more about the Dolphins as a division threat this season. And those Dolphins, predicted in the pre-season to be in the running for a very high draft pick, earned their first win yesterday with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa over the Rams to stay a game and a half behind the Bills at 4-3. Maybe their week 17 game in Orchard Park will be a big one after all.
Tomorrow (Tuesday November 3rd) is a big day for me for a few reasons. It marks the 10th anniversary of the death of a good friend, the 21st anniversary of the death of another good friend's father, the 94th birthday of yet another good friend's mother.....and the US election. The main hope I have for the election is that it be decided by the American voters and not by Amy Boney Carrot. I mean, she hasn't finished the SCOTUS orientation program yet, still needs the photo taken for her office pass and was seen on the weekend wandering around the east side of Capitol Hill looking for a washroom which wasn't locked. Let her settle in at least until the next abortion case reaches the court.
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