BillsVet Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 When I read your posts, I can't believe the Bills won ANY games. Trust me, I was there for the Seattle nail-biter, Oakland upset, and the narrow victory against San Diego. They won some games all right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave mcbride Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Not Jumping the Gun in Free AgencyFirst and foremost, I like the fact that the "inner ciricle" has decided to take its time. We've become all too accustomed to the 12:01AM signing at the start of the free agency period and it hasn't done the team any favors over the past few years. Why bid against yourself? This is why the Bills to overpay for talent like Dockery. There is something to be said about taking your time, allowing the market to develop and seeing where things go. It seems like Brandon has decided to employ that strategy this time around. Waiting will allow the Bills to find some bargains and maybe even take a few calculated risks. Letting Greer Walk They placed a value on Greer at 4 yrs $20M so that he has an option to stick around in Buffalo... but it seems like the front office has made a conscious decision to let Greer walk, unless, for some unforeseen reason, he garners no interest on the open market. While Greer vastly outplayed his status as an undrafted free agent, he simply doesn't have the coverage skills of Terrance McGee. Most posters seem to have an inflated perception of his skills... thankfully, the front office recognizes that McGee is more valuable to this team. He hustles on every play, he's a sure tackler, and his abilities on Special Teams speaks for themselves. Has he been beat? Every corner has! But this team needs more Terrance McGees, not fewer of them. Cutting Dockery The guy simply underperformed. The Bills wasted $20+ million on him, but it's better to admit a mistake and move on than to continue with a failed experiment. Making an offer to Jason Peters If they wanted to move on from Jason Peters, last year was the year... they could have drafted Ryan Clady for added leverage and sent Peters out of town. But this team can't afford to F**k around with the LT position now, particularly with a young QB. Pay the guy and move on. Good post, but let's wait and see what happens. The fact that Fred Taylor - a guy who WOULD have helped the team (and he will help the Pats) - picked NE so easily has me slightly miffed, but he's just one guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Good post, but let's wait and see what happens. The fact that Fred Taylor - a guy who WOULD have helped the team (and he will help the Pats) - picked NE so easily has me slightly miffed, but he's just one guy. Well, I think the Pats* makes far more sense for Fred, and Fred makes sense for them. I know this is may seem like breaking news, but an aging vet, with a couple of years left is far more likely to want to go to the Pats* than the Bills, right now. Add to that the fact that the Bills have two very good RBs, and Fred would most likely get fewer carries here, than in NE*, and it's a slam dunk, IMO. They were made for each other, at this point in time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebug Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Well, I think the Pats* makes far more sense for Fred, and Fred makes sense for them. I know this is may seem like breaking news, but an aging vet, with a couple of years left is far more likely to want to go to the Pats* than the Bills, right now. Add to that the fact that the Bills have two very good RBs, and Fred would most likely get fewer carries here, than in NE*, and it's a slam dunk, IMO. They were made for each other, at this point in time. We have the better Fred. (at this point in their careers) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawgg Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 He only puts those on when he's talking about the 49ers. I hate the 49ers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartacus Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 We have the better Fred. (at this point in their careers) yeah and that stellar front office may want to treat him accordingly and sign him to a long term contract instead of treating him as a crappy RFA and stringing him along- just because they can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I hate the 49ers! I don't dispute that. I'm saying you seem to spin their moves in a very positive light, despite the fact that they have little to show for them, on the field...similar to the Bills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave mcbride Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Well, I think the Pats* makes far more sense for Fred, and Fred makes sense for them. I know this is may seem like breaking news, but an aging vet, with a couple of years left is far more likely to want to go to the Pats* than the Bills, right now. Add to that the fact that the Bills have two very good RBs, and Fred would most likely get fewer carries here, than in NE*, and it's a slam dunk, IMO. They were made for each other, at this point in time. You're right. I'm just unhappy because I can see him gaining 1300 yards for a 12-4 Pats team ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartacus Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I totally agree with not spending big bucks on day 1. However, from what the Bills have done is significantly reduce the talent and resources they did have on the roster. And they are in an environment where it will be difficult to replace and upgrade the talent level in this off-season. My impressions of the Bills activities follow: 1. Greer - This was pre-determined by prior actions. Letting Greer walk is another is long line of decisions by the Bills to waste resources. Greer was a playmaker for the Bills and he is now gone for nothing in return. Greer actually fits the zone scheme the Bills insist on running- so his value to the Bills is much higher than other teams. He fits the scheme better than McGee. The real problem is the Bills talent evaluators have no clue how good he was. If they had any idea how to evaluate talent, they would have recognized his ability, signed him to a longer deal last year and not spent another 1st round pick on a CB. They should have taken Brandan Albert or Ryan Clady. More on that in a minute 2. Dockery and the OL Dockery clearly underperformed what they were paying him. However, cutting him outright right now with only 1 interior OL signed is just plain stupid. As noted by another poster, Detroit was about to trade for him but the Bills screwed up the paperwork. gee- what a surprise. The rumors of a Detroit deal and the quick signing by the Redskins clearly indicates that other teams valued Dockery. Again the Bills talent evaluators have no idea what this guy was capable of when they grossly overpaid him and then again when they cut him outright. The big question is why they did not more aggressively seek out a trade much earlier than the last day of free agency. This looks like a knee jerk decision to cut him made at the last minute without a lot of thought. Why they couldn’t have evaluated the big bonus before this time is beyond me. With the slim pickings of OL available and the decision to not chase free agents, how do the Bills possibly plan to improve the OL in one off-season? Even though Dockery underperformed, he is better than whatever the Bills will find this off-season. It sure would look good to have drafted Albert or Clady last year, instead of another midget CB. Without a C on the roster, the Bills are forced to draft one with a premium pick so the draft won’t be able to provide a replacement for LG. A little commitment to the OL every year would have avoided the huge mess they are in now. 3. Peters I would be much more impressed with the Bills if they had actually SIGNED Peters to an extension before cutting Dockery, instead of publishing a vague self serving sound bite to placate the fans on the first day of free agency. Anything less than a signed deal is just lip service from a front office that has not earned anyone’s trust. Again, if they drafted Albert or Clady last year while they knew Peters was avoiding all off-season activities, they would have given themselves some leverage to play the hardball game they so like. 4. Fred Jackson The hardball tactics are again being used against Fred Jackson. He proved last year to be the most explosive back on the roster and a real playmaker. Yet, instead of rewarding him with a well earned long term deal, Brandon is going to jerk him around as a RFA – just because he can. Maybe it’s because John Guy still does not see that Fred is a playmaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magox Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Fred Taylor not coming here is A OK with me. I never really liked the choice. Why in the world would we want to have an expensive, aging , often injured player for our third string RB? What is baffling me so far is that we are not pursuing Jason Brown. I thought for sure that we would be targeting him, hopefully something is happening behind the scenes. I believe that the signing of Dockery's 7 year $49 Million dollars is still urking the hell out of Ralph, and he is possibly giving direct orders to not pay that sort of cash for an interior lineman. Coles would be cool, not thrilled about it, but it would be an upgrade on offense. Not targeting Boley is another move that is baffling me, seems like he would be a very good fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganesh Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I agree with everything except for free agency...... We knew we were going to need to overpay in free agency to fill some crucial postitions and should have a couple of guys targeted......paid them...overpaid them if necessary and then moved on to the draft.... You know who looks like they did that? THE JETS The Jets did improve tremendously on Defense with the signing of Scott and trading for Sheppard. However, who is going to be the Quarterback ? I still hope the Bills find starters for their Guard and Center position before going into the draft. I cannot stomach the Bills trying to find 2 starters for their OL on the 1st day of the draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganesh Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 The Bills are right where they want to be in the FA mix. And, it aint good! They didn't want to spend big $$ and that was going to happen right away...so now they'll be content with settling for 2nd and 3rd rate guys on the cheap. May be you want to come up with real examples of who the Bills should have targeted and the likelihood of getting them ? Brandon moore chose to re-sign with the Jets. Jason Brown in all likelihood will hook up with the Ravens. Jonathan Vilam chose to re-sign with the Saints Haynesworth's contract was just too insane for the Bills to be even with a chance. The only signing I would have liked the Bills to follow would have been the trade for Winslow. He would really upgraded our TE position for that 2nd round pick... This years talent pool is pretty poor and the Bills IMHO are doing the right thing to stay away from OVERPAYING these guys including their own FA. The Steelers made a good contract for their guard and let Kendall Simmons go. THe steelers need to rebuild their OL which was pretty average and yet I have not seen a single PANIC Move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWVABillsFan Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Seeing how as it is now Saturday morning and all we have to cheer about is a 3rd string qb can't say I agree with you anymore. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2020 Our Year For Sure Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Seeing how as it is now Saturday morning and all we have to cheer about is a 3rd string qb can't say I agree with you anymore. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. You mean its been a whole day? Good god! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlbillsfan1975 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I definetly think the Bills need to bring in some talent in FA. But so far they havent been able to sign any of the big time guys. Bills aren't going to give a DT 100mil contract. Wash overpaid for him. 31 other teams thought so too. The Winslow to Tampa trade makes sense for Cleveland, send the player to the other confrence. LB Bart Scott is a good LB but not great and he got a great pay day. The gaurd Brown to ST Louis is another over payed player. Bills just got ride of an over payed gaurd in Dockery. I think the tone from Buffalo is we are going to wait and let some teams over pay. Then next week we are going to make some solid signings for the right price. Everyday one of those players sits there unsigned his value goes down a little bit. Look at what just happened in baseball this offseason. The first week was filled with overpaying for talent. Mostly by the Yankees(baseballs version of the Redskins). Then when the dust settled teams were able to get good solid players at a discount rate. Some teams are also looking at the sign of the times in our country. And saying what if attendence drops 20% next year because the economy is not good. And we all know that is a huge concern in Buffalo. The Bills will sign a couple of solid guys. But the FO believes they have a good young nucleus in place. And want to let them develope. They told us this when the said continuity was the reason they brought Jauron back. I dont have rose colored glass' but i am going to wait till FA is done and the draft. Ultimately we have to wait till this time next year to pass total judgement on the moves made this offseason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartacus Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I definetly think the Bills need to bring in some talent in FA. But so far they havent been able to sign any of the big time guys. Bills aren't going to give a DT 100mil contract. Wash overpaid for him. 31 other teams thought so too. The Winslow to Tampa trade makes sense for Cleveland, send the player to the other confrence. LB Bart Scott is a good LB but not great and he got a great pay day. The gaurd Brown to ST Louis is another over payed player. Bills just got ride of an over payed gaurd in Dockery. I think the tone from Buffalo is we are going to wait and let some teams over pay. Then next week we are going to make some solid signings for the right price. Everyday one of those players sits there unsigned his value goes down a little bit.Look at what just happened in baseball this offseason. The first week was filled with overpaying for talent. Mostly by the Yankees(baseballs version of the Redskins). Then when the dust settled teams were able to get good solid players at a discount rate. Some teams are also looking at the sign of the times in our country. And saying what if attendence drops 20% next year because the economy is not good. And we all know that is a huge concern in Buffalo. The Bills will sign a couple of solid guys. But the FO believes they have a good young nucleus in place. And want to let them develope. They told us this when the said continuity was the reason they brought Jauron back. I dont have rose colored glass' but i am going to wait till FA is done and the draft. Ultimately we have to wait till this time next year to pass total judgement on the moves made this offseason. who exactly is that nucleus that makes up the OL??? we have 0 centers and 1 OG on the roster we have 1 LT who likley hold out gotta like the odds of that OL coming together Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trader Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 who exactly is that nucleus that makes up the OL??? we have 0 centers and 1 OG on the roster we have 1 LT who likley hold out gotta like the odds of that OL coming together Maybe Langston Walker goes to Guard. They trade down draft Mack at C. Pick up an extra 3 rd. Trade back in the first or high second and get a DE or Pass rusher. with the 3 extra 3 rounsd pick that they did not trade drafta a linebacker 4. TE Gronkowski - If we are going to get beat give me a local kid to cheer for. From there on it's BPA work hard on the UDFA class. We finish 4-12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billnutinphoenix Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Seeing how as it is now Saturday morning and all we have to cheer about is a 3rd string qb can't say I agree with you anymore. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. Totally agree! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillsMagic1 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I want some of the drugs that the original poster is taking, that's for sure.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 May be you want to come up with real examples of who the Bills should have targeted and the likelihood of getting them ? Brandon moore chose to re-sign with the Jets. Jason Brown in all likelihood will hook up with the Ravens. Jonathan Vilam chose to re-sign with the Saints Haynesworth's contract was just too insane for the Bills to be even with a chance. The only signing I would have liked the Bills to follow would have been the trade for Winslow. He would really upgraded our TE position for that 2nd round pick... This years talent pool is pretty poor and the Bills IMHO are doing the right thing to stay away from OVERPAYING these guys including their own FA. The Steelers made a good contract for their guard and let Kendall Simmons go. THe steelers need to rebuild their OL which was pretty average and yet I have not seen a single PANIC Move. Except that didn't he sign the deal with the Rams since the Ravens didn't want to give him a competitive offer to the Rams? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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