Buffalo Bills Breakout Player Last Year

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

A question about who us Bills partisans thought would be the breakout player in 2005 got me thinking a little bit about last year. Whos was the Bills breakout player last year.

 

My first thought was that it obviously was Willis McGahee, but as I thought about this question, he did not make the Pro Bowl as the best player at his position and though bummed by this decision (because his performance in '04 easily exceeded reasonable expectations) I was not upset by it as the players chosen instead were pretty good players who had played a full season.

 

There were several other Bills who did make and merit Pro Bowl selection (not a perfect indicator of performance at all, but one which should not be ignored totally as I think the coaches and players who count 2/3 of the total vote are a reasonable indicator of player performance) and several of them had breakout performances as I did not expect them to star in the game.

 

I think that consideration of this list should actually make Bills fans quite hopeful. I think that there is a case to be made for each of the players that their 2004 performance was good and that it exceeded reasonable expectations for them at some point last pre-season.

 

The really good news for us is that with the exception of Sam Adams (who I think is on the backside of his career though his performance on the backside finally is that of a player who does not take a lot of plays off and tha he is actually a more productive player now than he was when he simply got by on his speed and talent) these players have not reached or are at their prime. When you add in the hopes for newbies like Peters and Losman or rehab of past performers who hit the wall like Reed, 2005 looks pretty exciting for a Bills fan.

 

This is my generacut on my list:

 

WM- My original choice as the 1000+ yards he put up in a part time season was phenomenal. Coming after the grievous injury he suffered which cost him a likely top 3 draft pick, his performance in 2004 may make this TD choice one of the great draft picks of all time if he goes a few more years at this pace. Still despite his showing some phenomenal tools (the stiff-arm) and speed, he was not able to trust or evoke enough trust in his knee to play a full season. Thus, identifying a player who was the best at his position as THE break-out player for the Bills last year is not totally insane.

 

The scary thing for opponents is that WM may actually have even another gear he has not recovered yet and that injury allowing he may be even better in 2005.

 

Evans- Did not make the Pro Bowl reasonably as there are better WRs in this league (and even on this team as Moulds produced significantly more catches and yds/game) but his performance last year was simply outstanding as he easily led the team in yds/catch and produced 9 TDs to Moulds 5. Not the best WR on the team in my book and the attention Moulds drew allowing Evans to use his speed on a second tier CB wasa big part of his success. However. Evans easily exceeded my expectations for what I expect from a first year WR (but then Josh Reed did as well).

 

McGee- Finally the KR game is a threat for the Bills and McGee deserves a ton of credit for his unexpected by me production in this role. 1 KR TD would have been satisfactory. Two would have been outstanding. 3 was clearly a breakout in performance and his Pro Bowl selection was merited.

 

In many ways I am more psyched about his TD returns than I think KC fans were about the great work Hall did for KC a couple of years back. McGee deserves full credit for this work as he set things up and read the blocks perfectly as he jetted for his scores. However, he was virtually untouched on these returns and simply identified the holes and jetted through for the score. Its a question whether you are better off with the talents of a Hall who seemed to make his own breaks and turn nothing into something or better off with the talents of McGee who is a singular athlete but his production owes much to the April system. The good news for us is that I think many returners can produced in the April system and we are not dependent on McGee's talents to have good yield on the KR.

 

However, McGee really does deserve an individual nod because in addition to his KR game he clearly was improving as a CB and I feel great about our CB situation with Clements, and McGee starting. Vincent giving us a FS easily capable of CB coverage and Thomas and Greer backing up giving us reasonable nickel and dime depth even with an injury.

 

Nate Clements- He slid in due to injury, but I think he also merited a Pro Bowl nod because of his willingness to play ST an to perform there (with the exception of an ugly fumble against Pitts) on the punt return game. I had hoped for but did not expect the Pro Bowl nod and say what you want, he earned the money he received from the achieved bonus and will get from the Bills or elsewhere as an FA. His adventure against Jax probably costs him a breakout acknowledgment in my book (bookended by the Pitts fumble) but his Pro Bowl nod gets him onto my consideration list.

 

Sam Adams- Again a breakout performance as I did not expect his play to merit a Pro Bowl nod this late in his career. I found it amusing that some labeled him a mere fat tub of goo when TD picked him up (for a very competitive contract also) because in my mind even a fat tub of goo was an upgrade at DT for the Bills and his acquisition improved the team. His performance as a Bill and last year clearly exceeded my and most other expectations of him.

 

2005 will be interesting as his buddy Phat Pat is gone and he did throw a bit of an on-field snit in mid-season last year (though ironically it was a snit because he wanted to play more so thats fine with me if that is what it was. If he steps up again we should not miss Pat at all. If he returns to his old ways we will need Anderson to step up fast or we are in big trouble.

 

Takeo Spikes- Its hard to call his play unexpected as he merited the Pro Bowl selection the year before, but his outstanding play merits mention. In many way it is actually his LB mate Fletcher who made a breakout performance at LB in '04 for the Bills as he led the team in tackles, contributed on ST, and despite losing control a couple of times and getting a bad call once leading to some personal fouls it was the Fletcher performance which probably impressed me more at LB for the Bills.

 

Brian Moorman- This is the one case where I was pissed that he did not get a Pro Bowl nod as I think that he is the best punter in the league. His performance was not a break-out either for TD who long ago signed him to a long-term contract which is an endorsement of his skills as a kicker and TD/Modrak's skills as evaluators of talent and control of the salary cap. Some have suggested him as being the most valuable Bill and though other positions are glitzier I would not reject this notion out of hand.

 

Mike Williams- The presecene of a non-Pro Bowl performer like Moorman deserving a nod on this list led me to add Mike Williams to this list. MW's 2004 performance does not gurantee that he will not be a disappointment for me as a Bills fan (though given the need for us to invest on the OL and given the disappointin play of McKinnie, its hard for me to see that TD and the team could have made any other rational choice with the #4 pick unless someone offered a Wickey Williams like deal for the #4 we do not know about) in 2005.

 

However, MWs 2004 performance was a breakout in my view as he was pretty close to being reasonably declared a bust as a player after he missed all the voluntary camps last year when he reacted unprofessionally to the death of the grandma who raised him. He simply let down his teammates and the region when he went into a funk and then hurt himself trying to get quickly back into shape.

 

However, I think his performance in 2004 was the real deal. JMac did a wonderful carrot and stick job managing this employee by threatening his FA future with talk of a move to LG (though this made little football sense to me as agility against outside rushers has not been his problem despite his large size) and later recognizing his improvement by rewarding him with a gameball.

 

MW deserves to be noted for a breakout performance in 2004 not because he was so good (he did not deserve a Pro Bowl nod at RT at all last year and moving him to LT like his contract dictates is not necessarily a good thing until he demonstrates he is dominant at RT) but because his good performance came on the heels of him seeming to deserve to be out the league last off-season.

 

So thats my thoughts on last years breakout performances by Bills, i welcome what others think in these dog-days of the off-season.

[bradjames24]

I would vote for McGee. He's the first kick return threat we've had in years. Also, to me a "breakout player" can't be a rookie. The person would have had to play a year or 2 in the league and then really step it up (aka break out). Don't take anything away from McGahee or Evans, but I think the award should go to someone who's really broken out after a couple seasons in the league.

 

But what do I know.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I would vote for McGee. He's the first kick return threat we've had in years. Also, to me a "breakout player" can't be a rookie. The person would have had to play a year or 2 in the league and then really step it up (aka break out). Don't take anything away from McGahee or Evans, but I think the award should go to someone who's really broken out after a couple seasons in the league.

 

But what do I know.

288994[/snapback]

 

Interesting points. Judging from the early returns which show WM and Evans leading the pack with approaching a dozen combined votes folks do not seem to have the bias against rookies you indicate.

 

I think NFL careers are short enough, worst to first is possible like never before and the premium under the CBA is teams need to be productive right here and right now (though TD seems in no danger of losing his job despite a lousy career W/L record as Bills GM) that I'm comfortable with giving the breakout designation (as unreal as it is) based on a year's production.

 

I acually have not voted myself yet because after working through the post I really am uncertain about this choice. However, the key thing for me is that having many choices bodes well for the Bills in my book.