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Playing catch-up
Whitner joins team for first day of practice
Kevin Oklobzija
Staff writer
(August 8, 2006) — PITTSFORD — The first order of business for Donte Whitner on Monday wasn't a quick review of the playbook or re-introducing himself to teammates.
Before joining the Buffalo Bills for his first practice of training camp at St. John Fisher College, Whitner had a little personal business to tend to.
The rookie strong safety, the eighth overall pick in the NFL draft, needed a new uniform number.
Given jersey No. 36, Whitner went looking for a trade. Well, more like a purchase.
Running back Shaud Williams was the seller, giving up No. 20 in exchange for No. 36 and a tiny percentage of the reported $13.5million that Whitner will earn from the Buffalo Bills over the next five years.
The parties agreed to keep the exact terms of the sale private.
"He came to me, and I told him I was going to hold out" for the best deal, Williams said with a smile.
Williams had good reason to be smiling. There were several digits in the sale price.
"Counting the zeros, seven ... with the decimal in there," Whitner said.
So why No. 20? The question was more "Why not 36?"
That's the number worn by Lawyer Milloy for the past three seasons. Milloy, released in the spring, is the player Whitner will be replacing in the defensive backfield.
"I didn't want to have the same number as he did last year," Whitner said. "And a lot of safeties in the NFL wear 20."
Whatever his number is, Whitner was just glad to be at practice. He ended his holdout by signing a contract with the Bills on Saturday and went through his own conditioning drills over the weekend.
He missed not only the first 10 days of camp but the bonding that goes with trudging through 95-degree heat.
"Being at home and watching the NFL Network and training camps around the league, you want to go through the tough days with your teammates, the days when you feel like you're not going to make it," he said.
He didn't think missing early practice sessions hurt his performance, though. He said he knows his responsibilities.
"Right now, I don't feel far behind — maybe a little in conditioning," Whitner said. "I know my job. Now I need to figure out what everybody else is doing around me — the linebackers, the defensive linemen."
While coach Dick Jauron was pleased that Whitner was finally in camp, the rookie out of Ohio State wasn't the object of his attention.
"I didn't zero in on him very often," Jauron said.
The Bills are trying to ease Whitner into the full practice scheme as quickly as possible but realize there are conditioning issues.
"I think he's a high-character guy, and we anticipated that he would come in in good shape," Jauron said. "But we didn't want to overdo it.
"We ran him a little bit Saturday, we ran him a little bit Sunday, just to get his feet under him."
Whitner says he'll be ready to play Saturday night when the Bills open the preseason in Charlotte, N.C., against the Carolina Panthers.
"I do want to play, but that's the coach's decision," Whitner said. "He's going to see me practice and decide."