stuckincincy Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 I mostly agree. The draft has always been the most important factor in building a team, even more today with the shrinking number of good UFAs. In the past, guys like Paup and Big Ted made a huge impact on the Bills. They kept them in games despite the team having a poor offense. Still, at the end of the day, the draft IS the most important way to build a football team. They can help. The B'gals have got good service from ex-Raider CB Tory James..he signed on and helped out a very sorry secondary that had a good player playing cb out of position - S Kevin Kaesviharn, and FA Bobbie Williams from PHI replacing G Mike Goff who left to go to SD. Those are the two that come to mind that made a difference, although not the impact that Paup/Washington did for the Bills. I'd add a good word for the FA, LB Kevin Hardy, who did a nice job for a podunk team. Also QB Neil O'Donnell. Both of 'em were good pros that played the best they could start to finish.
BuffaloBilliever Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 One name. Daunte Culpepper. Washes away everything.
Koufax Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 Getting big name players and great free agents is great, but this is a team game with 22 starters + substitutions + bench players. There is no Michael Jordan option there, so if that big name ties up too much of your available resources you become a worse team for it. I'd love to have Nate back, I hope we get Steinbach, but each of those might be more expensive than valuable, and prevent the team from making greater overall improvements with a combination of smaller name players.
The Jokeman Posted January 26, 2007 Posted January 26, 2007 They can help. The B'gals have got good service from ex-Raider CB Tory James..he signed on and helped out a very sorry secondary that had a good player playing cb out of position - S Kevin Kaesviharn, and FA Bobbie Williams from PHI replacing G Mike Goff who left to go to SD. Those are the two that come to mind that made a difference, although not the impact that Paup/Washington did for the Bills. I'd add a good word for the FA, LB Kevin Hardy, who did a nice job for a podunk team. Also QB Neil O'Donnell. Both of 'em were good pros that played the best they could start to finish. Bobbie Williams is a guy I had on my radar a few years ago but he's not as good as thought he was when he was with Philadelphia. Also. good lord, I didn't even know Hardy was still in the league! I remember the year the Jags drafted him and felt they made a mistake passing on Simeon Rice. There were a few years where he proved me wrong but as stated dang he totally disappeared off my radar until read this.
BillsVet Posted January 26, 2007 Posted January 26, 2007 Seems to me Free Agency has become significantly less of an option the last 2-3 years with the salary cap increasing as much as it has. Teams just have more money to keep their better players. That's not to say they keep everyone, just more of their better players.
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