Orchard Park, NY (WGR 550) -- The Buffalo Bills finally have their new defensive end under contract: Aaron Maybin is a Buffalo Bill with a five-year deal. ESPN reports that Maybin's deal is worth $25 million. Maybin will not travel with the team to Green Bay and will begin practice Monday.
Maybin was selected with the No. 11 pick in April's NFL Draft.
The first question of course to the DE was what took so long? "It's pretty easy to try to finger point and do all the that kind of stuff, but truthfully, the past is the past. I'm here, ready to play football and I'm here ready to get things going and have a great preseason and let that momentum carry me into the season."
Maybin missed all of St.John Fisher training camp and said, "It's been hard. Anytime your teammates are out practicing and you're not able to be out there with them, it's always going to be a difficult process to deal with but the only thing I could really do was just continue to keep myself in shape and continue to keep working out to be sure that when my time did come, I would be able to keep things moving and make a contribution to the team."
Maybin did thinks the three weeks he has until opening night will be enough to get him ready. Unlike Jairus Byrd, Maybin did practice with the team through OTA's and Mini Camp.
Maybin did not get to a point in this process where he told his agent that he had to get this done. Maybin said, "You hire people like that to do a job and you have to let both sides do their job and you have to continue to have faith that things are going to work themselves out so, as frustrating as it all is, you really don't let it all get to you, you let things work themselves out."
Maybin got really upset a few weeks ago and stop using Twitter and other means to communicate. He said, "When some people don't understand the way the business is and when some people don't understand the ins and outs of it, it can be difficult to always give the same answers to everybody so we really felt on both sides that it would be better if we allowed both parties to work out the contract on their own in their own due time and for me to stay away from all the questions."
Maybin showed up with a new haircut which was shaved on the sides. One side had a bad imitation of the Bills logo and the other side had the numbers 58 and 78 for himself and Bruce Smith.
In other news, the Bills have also released DL Ventrell Jenkins from injured reserve and S Antwain Spann has been waived.
DEFENSIVE END AARON MAYBIN
Press Conference - Friday, August 21, 2009
On the delay in signing his contract:
It's pretty easy to try to finger point and do all that kind of stuff,
but truthfully the past is the past. I'm here, I'm ready to play
football and I'm ready to get things going with this preseason and have
a great preseason and let them momentum carry me into the season.
On if it was tough to wait around the last four weeks:
Of course. It was very tough. Anytime that you're a part of a team and
your teammates are out there practicing and you're not able to be out
there with them, it's always going to be a difficult process to deal
with. But the only thing that I could really do was just continue to
keep myself in shape, continue working out and continue to make sure
that when my time did come, and I was able to get here, that I was going
to be able to keep things moving and make a contribution to the team.
On being able to start practicing on Monday:
Yeah I'll be practicing on Monday.
On making the trip to Green Bay:
No. I won't be.
On his teammates being helpful:
Anytime, especially being that I'm a young guy, this is my rookie year
and I've never been in this position before having to deal with the
business side of things. It definitely always helps to have your
teammates rally around you. They've been through all these situations
before, they know the nature o f the business, they know how things go,
and it's very good to be able to have them rally around you and to be
able to lend their support and give their advice in times like this.
On what he thinks he missed not being at training camp:
Obviously you miss a lot. There's a lot of catching up that I have to
do, but we still have three weeks to go, three weeks of preparation,
three weeks that I have to make do of and to really do the best that I
can with. I'm really excited about getting back out there, getting back
on the field working with my coaching staff and my teammates again and I
think I'll be fine.
On making impact in the first regular season game:
Of course. I think that if I come in and I continue to work hard as I've
always done and I continue to allow my coaches to coach me to the best
of their abilities. They already have a plan set in place of how they
want to do things, so if I just follow the direction and the advice they
give me, I'll be fine.
On signing his contract this week:
It's always a tough situation, but you hire people like that to do a job
and really you have to let both sides do their job. You have to continue
to have faith that things are going to work themselves out. So as
frustrating as it all is, you really don't let it get to you. You really
try to just let things work themselves out and all you can really focus
on is making sure you're ready to contribute when the time comes.
On if he was frustrated with the critics:
Yeah. When some people don't understand the way the business is and
when some people don't understand the ins and outs of it, it can be
sometimes difficult to have to always give the same answers to
everybody. We really felt as though on both sides that it would be
better if we just allow both parties to work out the contract in our own
due time and for me to really just stay away from all the questions and
all that kind of stuff and just let them do their jobs.
On his current feelings:
Ecstatic. Overjoyed. Whatever you want to call it... that's me. I've
been smiling from ear to ear for the entire day. Ever since I got off
the plane it's just been great to be able to get back up here. It's been
great to be able to spend some time with my teammates and they're
getting ready to leave and head out to Green Bay. It hurts that I'm not
going to be able to go out there with them, but at least I'm back here,
out here in Orchard Park, getting ready to start up again and I'm really
excited about that.
On receiving any teasing from teammates today:
A lot of them kind of had a couple jokes and made references to the new
hairdo, but that was about it. We've all been trying to keep in contact
as much as possible for the entire duration of camp and all that kind of
stuff. It's just good to be able to see those guys again. You build a
little bit of camaraderie with them, with the guys that you play with
and it's always good to be able to spend time together.
On if he went to today's walk-thru:
No, actually I was upstairs for the most part from the time that I flew
right in. We came right in, went upstairs and met with the front office.
But I was able to go down as soon as they were finished and I was able
to sit down in the locker room for a little bit with the guys.
On when he felt that he was getting really close to signing:
When I got on the plane (laughs). This whole time, if you really get
caught up in all the he says, she says, and all the kind of stuff you
read on the internet, it's easy to get caught up in stories and all that
kind of stuff so really I was just like 'Alright. I know if I'm getting
on this plane that means we must be pretty close', so I was pretty happy
when that time came.
On when he boarded the plane:
This morning at about 7:30.
On being excited about his number and his new hairdo:
Yeah. I've got two numbers. I did carve my number in there but also in
respect to Bruce Smith being inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, I
figured I'd show him so love in the hair cut as well.
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