Blue Chipper Posted November 21, 2005 Posted November 21, 2005 All this talk about where and who we should spend money on this offseason. There should be no discussion- it has to be the offensive line. Target one free agentt stud and make it your only priority. Over pay if you have to but make it a long deal. Then spend your top two picks on the o-line too. Then in the third look at filling theother holes- db, dline etc. There is no bigger whole than our horible o-line. We have scrubs in there that would not be starting on other teams. I would also start my two drafts picks next year with our free agnet pick up. Throw in Preston and one other lineman from this current team and there is your starting 5. Let them learn on the job with JP and Willis. But the key is play them where they should- all this drafting a guard and moving him to takle or a guy plays center in college and youtry him at tackle is a bunch of crap. O-line is not as interchangeable as we think. Look at Williams- couldnt cut it at tackleso lets move him to guard. Not. Now he is lost. Maybe I think that going out and getting a free agent lineman is easy and finding two to take with your top two picks is a piece of cake. But there has to be someone on this coaching staff or front ofice that needs to start to consider this. We have neglected or O-line long enough.
X. Benedict Posted November 21, 2005 Posted November 21, 2005 The Bills have started the last three seasons wondering if the O-line was any good. The moves to fix it have been as anemic as they have been futile. I blame the GM.
SF Bills Fan Posted November 21, 2005 Posted November 21, 2005 Get rid of all of them. Bring in the Winnepeg Blue bombers line. It would probably be an improvement.
MDH Posted November 21, 2005 Posted November 21, 2005 All this talk about where and who we should spend money on this offseason. There should be no discussion- it has to be the offensive line. Target one free agentt stud and make it your only priority. Over pay if you have to but make it a long deal. Then spend your top two picks on the o-line too. Then in the third look at filling theother holes- db, dline etc. There is no bigger whole than our horible o-line. We have scrubs in there that would not be starting on other teams. I would also start my two drafts picks next year with our free agnet pick up. Throw in Preston and one other lineman from this current team and there is your starting 5. Let them learn on the job with JP and Willis. But the key is play them where they should- all this drafting a guard and moving him to takle or a guy plays center in college and youtry him at tackle is a bunch of crap. O-line is not as interchangeable as we think. Look at Williams- couldnt cut it at tackleso lets move him to guard. Not. Now he is lost. Maybe I think that going out and getting a free agent lineman is easy and finding two to take with your top two picks is a piece of cake. But there has to be someone on this coaching staff or front ofice that needs to start to consider this. We have neglected or O-line long enough. 508951[/snapback] I always love the generic "sign one FA stud" posts. Name one "stud" OL that is a FA this year that isn't going to be signed or franchised that is worth big money and that is young enough to sign to a long-term deal? Then, if such a player does exist the Bills have to compete with about 10 other teams that are vying for this guy's services I’m not making excuses for TD but these types of posts just drive me crazy. Pretty much the only way to get a young “stud” on the Oline is to draft him, because teams don’t generally let these types of guys hit FA. .
Blue Chipper Posted November 21, 2005 Author Posted November 21, 2005 There were over 160 free agent o-lineman last year. Sure many were over the hill and were simply cut but many changed teams aswell. I was using the generic "stud " reference in my thread and yes there will be other teams bidding on this lineman's services but so what. You do what it takes to get it done. Yes quality O-line man are rare and my point was to be a participant and not a watcher when it comes to making offers on these guys. It is TD'S fault for letting the line come to its current state which is bad. The best example is plugging in a guy you drafted to play Tight End at your starting left tackle position. That shows how desperate we are. To Peters credit he has done a fair job.
colin Posted November 21, 2005 Posted November 21, 2005 we need to get 1 or 2 new olinemen, renegotiate mike williams and have his start at RT. hutch and bently are FA this year, if we sign one or both and let TT walk AND draft a young guy we are well on our way. we need to draft high and often for DT, and sign ANY decent DT that has a chance to come our way. KC is a team with an outstanding O line that can't get it done. we need some guys on D too. can we draft a coach?
Typical TBD Guy Posted November 21, 2005 Posted November 21, 2005 One stud isn't enough. We need 2 studs - one at LT and the other at LG - before we can start calling ourselves a power running offense again without laughing. Hopefully that's all, assuming Preston will become a good C and Peters a good RT and Villarial a healthy RG for the remainder of his contract... these last 6 games should reveal more on these guys. As for the other 6 linemen on the roster: Mike Williams - gone. Bennie Anderson - gone. Trey Teague - gone. Mike Gandy - backup. Justin Gesinger - backup. Greg Jerman - gone. And the practice squad: Dylan McFarland - gone. Jasen Esposito - gone. Marques Ogden - unsure, haven't ever seen him play. And the IR squad: Ben Sobieski - gone. Lawrence Smith - gone. Sadly, this thread is an exercise in futility. Teflon had 5 years to put together a proper OL, and he didn't. What makes anyone think that the 2006 draft will be any different from 2003 or 2004 or 2005 when we threw a lot of our picks away at the chance to land the biggest "name" player at the skill positions? And why would this free agency offseason be any different from last year's? In 5 years total, only once did we go after one of the more coveted free agent linemen, and when we did, he was a 30+ year old guard (Villarial) who now is starting to look badly overpaid for the production. So in other words, until we find a new GM, we're all just setting ourselves up for some major disappointment by talking about all these great available linemen.
Marv Levy Posted November 21, 2005 Posted November 21, 2005 Get rid of all of them. Bring in the Winnepeg Blue bombers line. It would probably be an improvement. 508960[/snapback] HA HA!! What he said. My god do the Bills linemen suck!
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