FanHouse MarvLevy

TAMPA, Fla. – This morning in the Super Bowl media center, I spotted Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy chatting with a couple of members of the media who are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors. A little bit of eavesdropping revealed that Levy was lobbying on behalf of some of his players, and the Bills' longtime owner.

One of Levy's old players, Bruce Smith, is eligible for the Hall of Fame for the first time this year. Smith is one of the greatest defensive ends in history, and he is virtually assured of being selected on Saturday. So Levy doesn't have a lot of work to do there.

Media outlets in Buffalo are reporting that Bills general manager Marv Levy will retire. WIVB-TV first reported Levy's retirement.

Levy, the Pro Football Hall of Fame coach who led the Bills to four straight Super Bowls in the 1990s, is apparently citing his age (82) as the reason that he wants to move on.

Levy retired as the Bills' coach after the 1997 season but then returned as general manager in January of 2006. He has generally done a solid job running the Bills' front office, and although they don't have a playoff berth to show for it, the team is more talented now than it was when he arrived.

The big question now is whether Levy's departure will put head coach Dick Jauron's job in jeopardy. Levy hired Jauron, and it's entirely possible that a new general manager would want a new coach. The Bills' front office could be headed for a shakeup.

It looks like Darwin Walker's got a decision to make: since coming to Buffalo from Philly (he was part of the deal that sent Takeo Spikes and Kelly Holcomb to the Eagles), he hasn't spent much time at the Bills' facility. In fact, he hasn't showed up at all. He's unhappy about his contract, wants a new one, and is holding out in the meantime.

But here's the thing: 178-year-old general manager Marv Levy is nobody's fool. Everybody suspected he was senile when Buffalo made some at-the-time suspect draft picks in 2006. (In hindsight, the picks were solid, Levy looked like a genius and the rest of came off as jerks.) Now, if Walker refuses to show up for work, Levy's got an out:

If recently acquired defensive tackle Darwin Walker doesn't report to Bills training camp by Aug. 5, he will be traded back to Philadelphia for a 2008 sixth-round pick, NFL Network's Adam Schefter reported Friday.

According to Schefter, Buffalo included the clause in the original trade ... because they knew Walker was unsatisfied with his current contract.

Cue Nelson Muntz.

So, Darwin, when can the Bills expect to see you? Next week, at the OTAs? Great. Oh, and Marv says don't be late ... or it's coming out of your salary.

Gotta love old people.

Last season the Buffalo Bills won seven games. Depending on who you ask, that's anywhere between four and seven more games than was expected. A month into free agency, the Bills have cleaned house, choosing not to re-sign cornerback Nate Clements and linebacker London Fletcher-Baker, trading running back Willis McGahee, linebacker Takeo Spikes and backup quarterback Kelly Holcomb.

The question, now, is if Buffalo is a better team than they were when the season ended. The Democrat and Chronicle's Sal Maiorana writes that general manager Marv Levy made the correct personnel decisions given that (a) Clements ended up signing a $8 million, $80 million contract with the 49ers -- something that wasn't happening in Buffalo, (b) McGahee told the Baltimore Sun he couldn't wait to get out of town, and (c) Spikes, after suffering an Achilles injury in 2005, isn't the player he once was and worth trading.

Second-year cornerback Ashton Youboty will get the first crack at replacing Clements. Angelo Crowell could be moved to middle linebacker, taking over for Fletcher-Baker. Buffalo will go to a running back by committee with McGahee now in Baltimore. The names Anthony Thomas, Shaud Williams and Fred Jackson don't exactly instill fear in opposing defenses, but their collective jobs should be easier with the signings of offensive linemen Derrick Dockery, Langston Walker and Jason Whittle.

Still, as Maiorana notes, outside of the upgraded o-line, "nothing else the Bills have done bodes well for the upcoming season as they will be weaker in the secondary, at linebacker, and at running back." There is still the draft -- it's not very often three starters are found in two days, though -- but if the Bills land Adrian Peterson with the 11th-overall pick, it would be a good start.