Did we overpay?

[kernowboy]

Whilst I congratulate the fact that the front office for immediately addressing issues the team have, I wonder whether we have actually got value for money?

Is Dockery really worth only $500,000 less than Eric Steinbach and the same amount as Steve Hutchinson got last season? Personally I think his play was poorer than Kris Dielman's and I am sure the latter would have signed on the dotted line for that

Whittle is obviously just fodder.

Langston Walker? mmm, whilst the guy obviously does well on special teams and is still young enough to have upside, how much of an upgrade will he be over either Pennington and/or Butler ... he hasn't done much in his career and last year played for Art Shell one of the better OL practioners. If he is moved inside to G, would Fonoti or Montrae Holland have represented cheaper and as effective alternatives?

Are we still spending cash to cap or was that a ruse?

How will this impact our need to look at DT, LB or CB in free agency? Will we have the cash to look at the likes of Ian Scott, Napolean Harris or Roderick Hood at other needs positions? What about a big WR?

Have we just telegraphed to every team in the league where we are going in the draft?

Again, I applaud the decision to address a key concern, but I feel the jury is still out on who we signed

[Devin]

Of course we did, everyone did. Unfortunatley thats just the way it works now and moreso in the future.

[RockStar36]

Impossible. Ralph is cheap.

[BillsFever21]

25 million for Walker is terrible. He is another journeymen that we overpaid. He's been in the league for 6 years and only started one season. That does not amount to 25 million dollars.

Between Walker and Kelsay that is48 million in wasted money on average players who are little to none of an upgrade over players we already had on our roster.

That 48 million dollars would've came pretty close to signing Clements. Throw in some of the useless signings last year like Price and Royal there is another 20 million. That basically could've almost had Clements.

Marv has definitely shown that he isn't a negotiater and gets pounded up the rear. He is too old to be shrewd enough to get the best deal.

I'm happy to have Dockery but for the same amount as Steinbach and Hutchinson? Gimmie a break.

[Ebenezer]

***** if they sign ***** if they don't...they just can't win.

the simple fact is that there will be a lot of overpaying by a lot of teams because teams MUST spend a certain amount of money. It's not like you can field a team for $60 mil and put the rest in your pocket. The money MUST be spent (clump can quote you an exact percentage).

Would you prefer they sit on their hands and field a team of high school rejects :rolleyes:

[Devin]

25 million for Walker is terrible. He is another journeymen that we overpaid. He's been in the league for 6 years and only started one season. That does not amount to 25 million dollars.

Between Walker and Kelsay that is48 million in wasted money on average players who are little to none of an upgrade over players we already had on our roster.

That 48 million dollars would've came pretty close to signing Clements. Throw in some of the useless signings last year like Price and Royal there is another 20 million. That basically could've almost had Clements.

Marv has definitely shown that he isn't a negotiater and gets pounded up the rear. He is too old to be shrewd enough to get the best deal.

I'm happy to have Dockery but for the same amount as Steinbach and Hutchinson? Gimmie a break.

Is Dockery in the same class as Hutch? Of course not. But neither is Steinbach, and neither is Dielman. You have to pay to play now. PLain and simple.

Ill give you that we over paid but thats about it. And everyone overpaid, Clements...80 mil? PLEASE.

If Marv didnt sign anyone he sucks and ralph is cheap. They go and drop 75 mil on 1000 of beef out the gate and they over paid and are getting reemed for 2nd rate talent.

So yes I guess going by your post if we hadnt signed walker, kelsay, a few guys from last year and managed to come up with the rest we could have kept Clements.

Cool I guess.

[clumping platelets]

:movie:

[jmb1099]

How easily we forget Clements played with about as much heart as WM until the second half of last year. He is inconsistent at best and is never going to be worth 80million.
But as it has already been said everyone paid too much, sporting salaries are out of control. However this is the name of the game and if you want to have a quality team on the field you have to pay big bucks. Now it just so happens that Clements did nothing for our oline, I know that's hard to believe, but its true. We needed to upgrade the oline and we did, if clements and fletch were the fodder necessary to make that happen so be it.

[alohabillsfan]

Since the coaching staff watched every game that these players played in last season (I am sure they also looked at Dielman, Stienbach etc..) and came away wanting and signing them, Whittle on the plane out of Minny at 3am and Walker on the redeye (slightly before midnight, hehe) out of Oakland, I will defer to the experts and their analysis!

We just got BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!

[YardRat]

Regardless of whether we overpaid or not, I'd rather have four lineman than one cornerback for the same amount of money.

Dockery better be a stud worthy of Pro Bowl consieration.

I hope we signed Walker for guard, not tackle.

Whittle's going to be a nice insurance policy, IMO.

[Don't Panic]

25 million for Walker is terrible. He is another journeymen that we overpaid. He's been in the league for 6 years and only started one season. That does not amount to 25 million dollars.

Between Walker and Kelsay that is48 million in wasted money on average players who are little to none of an upgrade over players we already had on our roster.

That 48 million dollars would've came pretty close to signing Clements. Throw in some of the useless signings last year like Price and Royal there is another 20 million. That basically could've almost had Clements.

Marv has definitely shown that he isn't a negotiater and gets pounded up the rear. He is too old to be shrewd enough to get the best deal.

I'm happy to have Dockery but for the same amount as Steinbach and Hutchinson? Gimmie a break.

That's 4 players you just traded for a CB who is more than we need in our system. That's some brilliant stuff... question, though - who would fill the spots of the four guys you just kicked to the curb?

[X-Era]

Is Dockery in the same class as Hutch? Of course not. But neither is Steinbach, and neither is Dielman. You have to pay to play now. PLain and simple.

Ill give you that we over paid but thats about it. And everyone overpaid, Clements...80 mil? PLEASE.

If Marv didnt sign anyone he sucks and ralph is cheap. They go and drop 75 mil on 1000 of beef out the gate and they over paid and are getting reemed for 2nd rate talent.

So yes I guess going by your post if we hadnt signed walker, kelsay, a few guys from last year and managed to come up with the rest we could have kept Clements.

Cool I guess.

Exactly, its not the fans that set the market price, its the teams sign the players.

I was completely wrong and Im happy to admit it. I thought the Bills were making some sort of statement and saying they just werent gonna pay money to compete with the other teams, they did and are.

The Bills have figured out what it takes to win in the offseason. They had stellar success in the draft last year if you consider the production we got from our draft. Now they are having a great free agency so far by adding players on the right side of 30, with upside. Dockery is NOT a second tier guy, hes right up there with Dielman, Steinbach I had a bit higher.

I honestly believe you must play to win in ALL phases, on and off the field. Draft, and free agency are part of that.

All of our "cash to cap" concerns are put to rest. I warned many not to jump to conclusions about what it meant. I didnt see this coming, I thought we would spend money for second tier guys and take a wait and see approach.

Again, when a team signs a player, it sets the market. Hutch last year set the market for this year. Bailey set the market.

There is no such thing as bargain basement deals in the NFL anymore, and last time I checked none of us are paying the bill, so why do we care so much?

[patmoran2006]

We did overpay, but with Dockery is was a necessity.. You cant win without a good OL in the NFL.

I think Walker was a terrible deal giving the money he got, he only started for two years, and from what i've heard he got beat early and often. Personally, Fletcher could be back for the same monehy, I'd have brought him back and left Pennington at RT.

Whittle doesnt bother me cause that was for penny's, I hate the Kelsay deal, that was 10x more "overpaid' based on needs than Dockery's.

Basically, I love the Dockery deal, hate kelsay deal, dont like Walker deal adn dont care about the rest.. thats the best your gonna get out of me.

[patmoran2006]

Walker is a more expensive (and bigger) Gandy... If I had my choice, I'd have kept Fletcher and Gandy and not signed Walker..

But I heard Jauron watched Walker play 10 games on film last year and was impressed. I really hope he plays RG, but im almost positive he's going to play RT.

[Michael82]

Walker is a more expensive (and bigger) Gandy... If I had my choice, I'd have kept Fletcher and Gandy and not signed Walker..

But I heard Jauron watched Walker play 10 games on film last year and was impressed. I really hope he plays RG, but im almost positive he's going to play RT.
We'll see. I liked Fletcher, but it was time to move on. He's not a good MLB for this Cover2 defense. He's too slow and gets a ton of tackles, but they are too late.