Bills DT Marcell Dareus will sign franchise tag if needed

Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus was not pleased with Buffalo’s most recent contract offer and feels undervalued by the team, he told The Buffalo News on Thursday.

“I’m not necessarily looking at Suh numbers”, Dareus told reporters after practice in Pittsford, N.Y., on Saturday, referring to Ndamukong Suh’s $114 million contract with the Miami Dolphins. “I love beating people into the ground”.

“If that’s something they consider”, Dareus said Saturday, via ESPN.

Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus isn’t feeling the love from the team that drafted him third overall in the 2011 NFL Draft. “I feel like they don’t want me here as bad as I want to be here, as bad as the fans and my team wants me here”.

Dareus all but admitted that he turned up the intensity a bit on the Bills’ nationally-televised preseason win over Cleveland last night, showcasing his prodigious talents with a dominant first-half display in which he recorded four tackles and a sack.

A 2x Pro Bowler, Dareus led the NFL in sacks by defensive tackles last season with 10. That number will grow to at least two this year: He will be sitting out the first game against Indianapolis due to a violation of the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. Considering he’ll be in a blitz-heavy defensive scheme under head coach Rex Ryan, Dareus should expect bigger statistics this year as a clog up the middle.

“He’s probably in a pretty good position, when you see what the numbers were”.

If there is one thing that is for sure Dareus is a talented player but I don’t know if turning your nose up to a $90 million dollar offer is the smartest idea. He had Darrelle Revis sit out all of training camp in 2010 with the Jets. “If I’m unhappy, I’m unhappy”. As of now, however, the Bills front office and their anchor on the defensive line have failed to make any progress towards a long-term extension. “I’ll sign the papers”. It’s not clear if the two sides are willing to continue talking through the season, but it’s likely the Buffalo Bills would like Dareus to be locked down by then.

Ultimately, he’s right. The current collective bargaining agreement makes it so that any threats to circumvent playing on a franchise tag aren’t even thinly veiled, they’re downright empty. He took a majority of the reps at running back during practice and was in on the kick return unit as well.

“They’re playing”, Dareus said.