Why the demand for a "big name" FA?

[Judge]

I don't understand why there's a demand out there that TD sign a "big name" FA to show that he's serious and successful this offseason.

"big name" FA's don't necessarily guarantee improvement on a team. I'd rather see TD address the needs of the team in a way that improves the team with value players rather than break the bank for 1 big splash.

Would Takeo Spikes help? Of Course. But I think passing on him and signing Posey (I think the cap hit is only 1.1 mil next season) and 3 or 4 other guys for the type of cap hit Spikes might have would be a far better way to go.

[Lone Stranger]

Your reasoning is sound. There are a few other factors. Next year TD will have to deal with players whose contracts have expired and as he adds to the quality of the players contracts will have to be updated regularly. It makes no sense to over-commit at this point and only have a recurrence of cap-jail.

Further it seems that TD would rather bring in a bunch of mid-level players to see who best fits into our systems. Then, as he has with Bill Jenkins, he can weed out the ineffective.

[Typ0]

Perhaps, but the stand out players can make a huge difference in a game. The best defenses are built around a couple of key players usually. I don't think we have one player on our defense that can take over a game. We have a couple above average players but no one has shown they can rise up and make that winning difference in a game.

[Typ0]

I don't agree with that at all fmr. A bunch of mid-level players is going to equal a mid-level defense. If you truly have a desire to win the SB that is not acceptable.

[TypicalBill]

im with Typ0 on this one, this team needs a playmaker on defense, a player that forces turnovers and becomes a leader for the defense.
Im not saying we should break the bank on 3 or 4 superstar players, but we need one big play FA to help us out. We certainly have the cap room to do that. Otherwise, why were we happy to know that we were 13mil under the cap before the offseason? certainly not because we'd have the ability to sign many mid-level players IMO

[don137]

I'm also with Typ0. You need a couple of real solid players on both sides of the ball. Solid players are the type of players are keyed on by the oppsotition but still makes plays (i.e. Ted Washington, Bruce Smith). This frees up the role players to become more effective.Your only as good as the players around you and if you have a couple of difference makers it gets contagious an then the mediocre players elevate their game and they start making plays.

[BFBills]

and of course the ticket part

[kgun12]

Bull$**** to needing a few BIG name players. Name me N.E.'s big name players on there D when they won the SB. How about T.B., I know you are going to says W. Sapp, I will take P. Williams anyday, check out stats. (keep in mind the Players around him), Which is my next point. When T.B. signed most of their FA's they weren't big names. They grew together and became GREAT! We had BIG names during our SB run and didn't win, because they were me palyers. If you want to talk about BIG anme players, let's look at Oakland's Defense this year, Did they win the SB, NO! Get me players that put TEAM first, not ME first and let's go win a SB.

[ArcticWildMan]

Ummm...NE has one thing we don't...a master defensive planner. GW can't even hold Belichek's jock when it comes to defensive scheming. Belichek's strength is using the players he has and capitolizing on their strengths. GW's strength is instituting a system that shows the weakness in it's players.


Don't forget, NE has/had some of the best CB's in the NFL and a LB corp that wasn't too shabby either (even if they were no-names).

[Typ0]

TB:

Dexter Jackson
Derrick Brooks
Simeon Rice
Warren Sapp

NE:

Lawyer Malloy
Tebucky Jones
Ty Law

Baltimore:

Ray Lewis (a whole team by himself)
Sam Adams
Rod Woodson

[Typ0]

None of those guys are no-names and we don't have one player that is in their league nor are we going to get a medicro player that is. Get with it man TB defense was stacked last season.

[kgun12]

Originally posted by Typ0
TB:

Dexter Jackson
Derrick Brooks
Simeon Rice
Warren Sapp

NE:

Lawyer Malloy
Tebucky Jones
Ty Law

Baltimore:

Ray Lewis (a whole team by himself)
Sam Adams
Rod Woodson

Your right, now these guys are all big names, but other than Sapp how many were before they played with there SB teams Really! Look at Tb, none of these guys did anything without there collective group on other teams.
I will put Clemons
and Winfield against Malloy and Law, and Wire will be better than Jones ever thought of being.
Knowone even heard of Adams before he won the SB, remember who was next to him, Saragosa. How well did he do this year in comparison to his days in Baltimore. I will give you Lewis, and Woodson than.

All I know is last years off-season ended up very good by the time the season started without much money. I'll wait to the end of this off season before I panic. I just don't think we need big name player pick ups to be better. They usually don't help the team that gets him as much as they hurt the team that loses him.

[justasportsfan]

KGun , what would you do with the extra $$$ we save if we don't get stud D?

[kgun12]

All I'm saying is you guys are panicing, and FA isn't even 4 days old.
I said it in my "Don't be disappointed thread" how TD would go about FA, cause I new that there would be threads like this.
Now to answer your qeustion JSF, I would rather fill as many holes a possible with quality players rather than a BIG name just because he's a big name.

Now let me ask you a question, What BIG names do you want in here.

[venis2k1]

Originally posted by kgun12
Now let me ask you a question, What BIG names do you want in here.

Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, now thats a big name.

[kgun12]

Originally posted by venis2k1


Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, now thats a big name.



:lol:

[Judge]

Originally posted by Typ0
TB:

Dexter Jackson
Derrick Brooks
Simeon Rice
Warren Sapp

NE:

Lawyer Malloy
Tebucky Jones
Ty Law

Baltimore:

Ray Lewis (a whole team by himself)
Sam Adams
Rod Woodson

We've got a couple of guys already-

Pat Williams
London Fletcher
Nate Clements
Antoine Winfield

Get some good talent w/o breaking the bank to fill in some need areas- on the d-line in particular, and watch those 4 guys become the kind of gamebreakers you're talking about.

[The Natrix]

Originally posted by Judge


We've got a couple of guys already-

Pat Williams
London Fletcher
Nate Clements
Antoine Winfield

Get some good talent w/o breaking the bank to fill in some need areas- on the d-line in particular, and watch those 4 guys become the kind of gamebreakers you're talking about.

Good point. It is very possible that the weak links on D were VERY weak. They were maybe the weakest low end starters as a whole in the NFL last year. Insert average players into DT, WLB, FS, DE, and on paper the Bills have an above average D unit.

Your point will be further supported if we say for example land Spikes for a lot of green and then we still end up having a VERY weak link or two (I fear that FS could be that weak link).

I would rather have a LB who is better than Posey but not quite as good as Fletcher and a definite upgrade over Pierson P. than Spikes.

Anyway, basically what I am getting at is Pierson P. needs to be replaced. I would start a thread on the topic, but I have done so before.

[WG]

First of all, Fletcher isn't nearly as good as many suggest. Depending upon what happens in FAcy, that will be apparent again.

Winfield and Clements are good, but we need someone up front. LB or DE. Pat Williams is good, but keep in mind, we don'te even have a viable starting DT opposite him. Besides, your big plays don't generally come from your tackles. If they do, then that doesn't speak very well of the rest of your D unit, does it. Unless we're gonna continue to "let these guys grow" and experiment with them, it's foolish to assume that mediocrity is gonna somehow blossom into excellence. Same for Posey. He's excelled for one single season in 6 and then only on a team in a 3-4, with a proven defensive coach, and on a team with the dead last time-of-possession by an average of well over a minute.

That doesn't exactly spell the type of player that will improve our D let alone make big plays. Sacks aren't everything anyway. But the word is that this guy is just like Newman and Houston apparently is interested in Newman to replace Posey. I can see Newman doing the same exact thing in Houston and Posey busting here.

No, Posey's not the kind of signing that's gonna fix our D. It fills a hole, that's it. Not with any special talent either. So as of now, we have Fletcher, a slight above average MLB, and a SLB who's questionable at best, a bust at worst. Doesn't seem like a big improvement to me.

As a matter of fact, I'll post a comparison thread between Newman and Posey. I think you'll scratch your head as to why we even signed Posey.

[Judge]

Maybe we signed Posey b/c he'll be cheaper than Newman. We'll see. If it's really just a tradeoff, then take the cheaper guy.

As for Fletcher: give him another decent DT to plug up the middle and watch what he can do.

We don't need LB's in my opinion- first need should be to make sure the DL is in order. Maybe it is now w/ McKenzie and Jones. If so, then we're in good shape and can splurge a little. If not, then get it in order so that the LB's are freed up to make plays.

I'll stand by my assertion: Fletcher, Clements, and Winfield are gamebreaking difference makers if the DL is in good shape.