Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik and Bills general manager Buddy Nix were the victims of a secretly recorded five-minute prank call that captured both personnel men discussing their disdain for the NFL’s new three-day negotiating window and also found Dominik mentioning the names of LeGarrette Blount, Arrelious Benn, Jamon Meredith and an unnamed cornerback in trade discussions.

Deadspin.com did not create the pranked call, but has the full audio of the call, and the Buccaneers and the Bills are investigating the matter with NFL security as secretly taping a phone call without a person’s consent is a crime.

Dominik and Nix both do not like the three-day negotiating window between clubs and NFL agents that began on Saturday at midnight Eastern time, and feel it is causing the teams’ own free agents to put off re-signing with the clubs.

“None of mine are signing – not one of them,” Dominik said. “They don’t want to sign. A couple of them I don’t want to sign, but some of them think they need to go see the market. But I can’t get mine re-signed, Buddy.

“What’s the point, right?” Dominik said. “All it does is give leverage to the agents to ask for more money from the original club. Let’s take my corner, E.J. Biggers.”


Dominik and Nix agree that they should help get rid of the three-day window because of the leverage it creates for the agents.

“That’s a good point,” Dominik said. “It’s not a good play. There’s just no benefit to the club. I don’t see the benefit for us.

“All it does is make us bid against ourselves.”

As for the players that Dominik is apparently shopping, he mentions three players by name, and suggests that Benn and Blount, who was recently signed to a one-year deal worth $1.35 million in 2013, are receiving the most interest.

“I’m still working through some of those players that I sat down with you and talked about moving,” Dominik said. “Got some interest on one of them. A little bit more interest on Benn and Blount – those are the two that have the more interest. The kid, the corner (Biggers), I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I still haven’t decided what to with the corner yet. Those are the three. On Jamon Meredith, nobody has called me back on Jamon Meredith, to be honest with you.”

Dominik did not mention the cornerback, but it could be Eric Wright, whom the team is fighting a grievance over and wishes to release this offseason, Myron Lewis, a 2010 NFL Draft bust from the third-round, or perhaps Biggers, who will be an unrestricted free agent as of 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

The biggest news from Nix was how little he thought of Bills starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who suggested that Fitzpatrick will likely be asked to take a pay cut or be released.

“We're still struggling here with our quarterback,” Nix said. “We’re not really struggling. He's going to have to do something, or we'll have to … We just can't afford to pay that kind of money for a guy who's fighting for probably a backup job.”

The Buccaneers did not comment on the report, but it was suggested on ProFootballTalk.com that NFL security is investigating the matter.