WEDNESDAY, 11:14am: Carpenter got $9.9MM over four years with the Bills, tweets Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports. His guarantee is a tad over $2MM.
TUESDAY, 4:58pm: The Bills confirmed their new deal with Carpenter today, according to Mike Rodak of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Carpenter tells Joe Buscaglia of WGR550 that it’s a four-year contract (Twitter link).
11:46am: The Bills appear likely to re-sign kicker Dan Carpenter today, according to various reports. Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports notes (via Twitter) that Carpenter caught a flight from Miami to Buffalo today, a strong indication that he’ll re-sign with the Bills. As Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports adds (via Twitter), Carpenter is coming off a minimum salary benefit deal, so he can’t sign for a raise until the new league year begins.
Carpenter, 28, enjoyed the best season of his six-year career in 2013 with the Bills, converting 33 of 36 field goal attempts and all 32 extra-point tries. His career percentages may not earn him a deal similar to the $3MM+ per year contracts signed by Graham Gano and Dan Bailey this offseason, but he should be in line for a nice raise on 2013’s $715K salary.
With Carpenter and Josh Brown likely to come off the market later today, there are only a handful of notable free agent kickers still available. Phil Dawson, Steven Hauschka, and Rian Lindell are among the players without contracts for 2014.