Bills get an "A" in Free Agency

[HHURRICANE]

I have been listening to various sports outlets and apparantly alot of teams are now panicked by how weak this years FA market. Certain teams have left their restricted FAs without enough comp and now teams are scrambling to get bodies.

It is now time to give the Bills a much better grade and heres why:

1) Letting Nate walk was the right decision. Anytime a player leaves it is going to leave a hole. I think the Bills were stupid to let Pat Williams and Winfield walk but this isn't one of those cases. Nate was not worth 80 million dollars. PERIOD. So stop *****ing.

2) Dockery was a great signing. He really was the only one available because Steinbach wanted to play for his hometown and Dielman ended up wanting to stay with the Chargers. The Bills got the best available LG and he's a legitimate starter. When was the last time that we could say that about a lineman.

3) Whittle and Walker might not look like much at first but going into last years pre-season we not only had a crappy line but we had no depth either. Matter-of-fact the whole team was lacking depth. Great teams have depth. Pittsburgh's 2nd string D manhandled us in a must win game a few years ago. Even if you don't like the Walker move it's another player competing for a position. You have legit backups and starters at every positon on the line.

4) I am not a huge Kelsay fan however with the addition A-train and K. Thomas signing the Bills were smart not to fight the battle on every front. Kelsay knows the system and in hind sight signed a very reasonable contract. The Bills have planty of holes and keeping continuity counts.

The Bills did a great job and deserve some credit. If the draft goes our way than this FA period will look like the draft that we supposedly didn't do well in last year.

[Jan Reimers]

I think we were wise to let Willis and Fletch go, too. We didn't make the playoffs with them - it's time to bring in better players at their positions.

[Saratoga Slim]

I have been listening to various sports outlets and apparantly alot of teams are now panicked by how weak this years FA market. Certain teams have left their restricted FAs without enough comp and now teams are scrambling to get bodies.

It is now time to give the Bills a much better grade and heres why:

1) Letting Nate walk was the right decision. Anytime a player leaves it is going to leave a hole. I think the Bills were stupid to let Pat Williams and Winfield walk but this isn't one of those cases. Nate was not worth 80 million dollars. PERIOD. So stop *****ing.

2) Dockery was a great signing. He really was the only one available because Steinbach wanted to play for his hometown and Dielman ended up wanting to stay with the Chargers. The Bills got the best available LG and he's a legitimate starter. When was the last time that we could say that about a lineman.

3) Whittle and Walker might not look like much at first but going into last years pre-season we not only had a crappy line but we had no depth either. Matter-of-fact the whole team was lacking depth. Great teams have depth. Pittsburgh's 2nd string D manhandled us in a must win game a few years ago. Even if you don't like the Walker move it's another player competing for a position. You have legit backups and starters at every positon on the line.

4) I am not a huge Kelsay fan however with the addition A-train and K. Thomas signing the Bills were smart not to fight the battle on every front. Kelsay knows the system and in hind sight signed a very reasonable contract. The Bills have planty of holes and keeping continuity counts.

The Bills did a great job and deserve some credit. If the draft goes our way than this FA period will look like the draft that we supposedly didn't do well in last year.

I agree that as of now we had a very decent free agency. I'm still a little torn on Fletcher, and I'm really hoping Walker pans out to justify the fairly large contract we gave him, but otherwise I feel pretty good about things. I wasn't really expecting that much out of free agency, and Dockery for me was a pleasant surprise.

You forgot to mention the McGahee trade though. While it left us with a hole at RB, I think that needs to be included as a job well done by the front office for scoring three draft picks--especially when you compare the paltry return the bears got for Thomas Jones.

[patmoran2006]

The Bills do not get a A in free agency.. Put that pipe down man.

They've done NOTHING to improve their defense; if you think their defense is BETTER because they dont have Fletcher and Clements, then IM going to question whether your posting this at this early hour from your home or from your local tavern after a few too many whiskeys.

They deserve props for addressing the OL right off the bat, especially since its ALWAYS our biggest weakness. but have done absolutely nothing since that.

Had they signed 1-2 defenders who could've made an impact for us,then a "A" might be considered. But right now, they get a "C"

[Dr. Lecter]

Tell me how it is possible for any team to sign 3 impact players in FA? How many have?

It does not happen. There is too much competition from other teams.

Giving them a 'C' based on the REALITY of how FA works is stupid. You say you don't want them to sign every big name FA, but now you come and say they did not sign enough.

[Dr. Lecter]

BTW, I think an A is too high.

But anything lower than a B is being unrealistic.

[patmoran2006]

How much money did Cato June signg for?
How much money did Griffith sign for (FB )
How much money did Rod Hood sign for?
How much money did Dewayne White sign for?

Who's still our #2-3-4 WR's?
* Is Royal still the best tight end on this team?
* Who's going to take over should we trade Spikes or he gets hurt?
* Is Kiwi Thomas or Ashton YOuboty really starting? Is that un upgrade over what was here?
* How's that backfield doing with Anthony Thoma and Squid Williams?
* What fullback is blocking for them again?

You want to grade an "A"? LMAO, umm okies.
they improved in ONE position. That warrants a C

k..
http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/data/thumbnails/9/HOMERHULK.gif

[Dr. Lecter]

I said a 'B', not an A.

As for RB, you know that is the easiest place for rookie to play. And FB? Who cares?

June would be nice, but the lack in interest around the league makes you wonder, does it no?

[Saratoga Slim]

I said a 'B', not an A.

As for RB, you know that is the easiest place for rookie to play. And FB? Who cares?

June would be nice, but the lack in interest around the league makes you wonder, does it no?

I'm saying "B" too.

As far as Cato June and the several other FAs that seem like they'd be a good fit, skill wise in the Bills' defensive system, you've got to remember that there's more to the equation than simply what the guys can do on the field--and I'm not talking about money.

Guys like June, Hood, Harper, etc. may look great for us on paper and may have been affordable, but there's a subjective element as well that may explain why they weren't brought in. Look at a team interviewing free agents like any other company trying to fill a position. A particular candidate might have a great resume with perfect credentials for the job in question, but if the interviewer doesn't like 'em, and doesn't think they're going to get along with the other people in the workplace, the guy's not going to get the job.

[Bufftp]

I think they grade out a Q.
Lots of Questions yet to be answered.

[patmoran2006]

I think they grade out a Q.
Lots of Questions yet to be answered.
Disagreed.
The topic was a "Grade A in Free Agency". Pretty much all of the free agents are gone. ANything we do in the draft would be unrelated to the subject.
Grade: C (and I'm being somewhat generous)

[Dr. Lecter]

Did you ever post your off-season plan and what you would have done with REALISTIC ideas?

[Saratoga Slim]

Did you ever post your off-season plan and what you would have done with REALISTIC ideas?

Yes, he did, I think two of them. And I've got to admit both were pretty realistic--at least from out here where we can't see what's actually happening in FA negotiations, what FAs are even interested in coming here, and who our brass thinks is going to fit well on a personality basis with the guys we have here.

[patmoran2006]

Did you ever post your off-season plan and what you would have done with REALISTIC ideas?
I actuallly do not have a problem with most of what Buffalo has done.
I loved the Dockery signing, I like the Thomas and Thomas resignings, though their roles on the team should be different than what they currently are. I agreed 100% on letting nate walk as well.

I have a problem mainly with three things (in order)

1- Kelsay: He's not only not worth the money, he's not very good. He's a good pass rusher in obvious passing downs and he's horrible against the run. Denney is far less snaps last year actually had more sacks, and we also tendered Hargrove. I dont see the defense benefitted one drop by bringing back a guy who was a huge part of the run defense problem, not the solution. They could've taken his $ and signed someone of prominence elsewhere (perhaps Travis Henry would be a monster with this new OL) or resigned Fletcher. REgardless, he's barely better than Denney/Hargrove and his contract is going to drive Schobel's through the roof.

2- Fletcher: He's so sickeningly underrated by the fans here. The knock on him is he made too many tackles 7 yds past the line. Find me a MLB in the NFL not named Brian Urlacher in a cover two who makes a lot of tackles up close. the MLB in a cover two has a lot more responsibilities in pass coverage than in other defenses; and on top of all that he made a lot of big plays (4 picks and 2TDs last year) and was the unquestioned leader of this defense. He only got $25 mill from Washington, it would've been wise to resign him, even if he didnt play out the contract from getting too old. Fletcher + a healthy Crowell + spikes was a good LB tandem, and if Spikes gets back to where it was, it was a GREAT combo. Ellison is solid depth, soemthing we have NONE of at the spot. This move angers me, as now we pretty much HAVE To use an early pick at LB, even if someone else good is on the board at another position.

3- Walker: We judged TD large in part based on his drafting of Mike Williams and a couple of bum FA signings (Anderson mainly). Well guess what, it's Marv's turn now with this one. $25 million and there's already talk about a camp competition. YOu dont pay someone STARTER money in FA if he's not going to start for sure.. He better start, and he better be a hell of a lot better than he looked in Oakland, or IMO that's a reflection of HORRIBLE GM management and talent evaluation.

This is a medicore team that will fight to hover around .500. They may be best served to go out in the draft and try to get weapons for Losman and try to out-score teams. It's probably the only realistic chance we have to be a playoff team. any rookie drafted in the defensive front seven will do little if any to help us in 2007; history shows that.

[patmoran2006]

Did you ever post your off-season plan and what you would have done with REALISTIC ideas?
sorry.. repeat

[Mr. Pink]

Tell me how it is possible for any team to sign 3 impact players in FA? How many have?

It does not happen. There is too much competition from other teams.

Giving them a 'C' based on the REALITY of how FA works is stupid. You say you don't want them to sign every big name FA, but now you come and say they did not sign enough.

The Browns last year signed more than 3 big name FAs....LeCharles Bentley, Joe Jurevicious, Ted Washington, Willie McGinest. I didn't even include Kevin Schaeffer who got a big contract. All 4 of those guys are household names amongst even the casual NFL fan.

They are a small market team in a city that isn't much different than Buffalo. If you have been there you can easily see it was a blue collar town that got turned into a white collar town overnight without the people having the ability to do it.

Pat is nicer than I am about this FA period we've had...Outside of Dockery, I'd grade us out to F. And no, I'm not kidding. Signing Dockery is a nice move and I'll upgrade to a D.

The rest of our FA has been a complete and total joke. We signed a "turnstile" by Oakland Raider fans claim to a 25 million contract? Yes I realize that fans become jaded when players leave, hell look at the boards with Fletch or Nate here.

We let Nate walk and replaced him with...Absolutely No One! Excellent.
Fletch walks and who replaces him? No one!
Willis gets traded and is replaced with? No one!

We re-signed Kelsay, who at best is a marginal pass rush specialist to a ridiculous amount of change. So ridiculous Aaron Schoebel should be at OBD demaning more money. If Kelsay is worth what he got, Schoebel is easily worth 10 mill a year.

Jason Whittle? Does anyone even care about this jabroni? Better question, did ANYONE on this board even know who he was before the Bills signed him?

We've completely neglected every facet of this team via FA outside of the O-line. And you're giving us a B and others an A? On what merits? An A or B grade means we've vastly improved this team, when in essence, as of today this team is vastly downgraded from as little as 20 days ago.

Yes, I realize the draft can make this team better. Yes I like the infusion of youth to make your team better. Yes, I'm sure I'll see but Bill Polian built this team through the draft in the early 90s. But this thread is dedicated to the grade of FA and FA alone.

D.

[Michael82]

I'd give them a B-

[HHURRICANE]

My grade is based on what we have, what we had, and what we need.

Certainly the Pats look great to the media and that is why they are deemed the "winners" in FA. But they already have a RB, an OL, an above average D. Every year they are a few key signings away. We are not. That's why they call it rebuilding.

Based on what we needed and what was available we did very well. Tell me what player we missed out on? Cato June who almost every team passed on? Adalius Thomas who was never going to sign in Buffalo?

Were we supposed to re-sign Nate? Everybody here agrees that would have been insane.

Should I pull up every ***** post about Fletcher? Geez. You guys act like we lost our best player. When we get done with the draft than we can second guess. Marv is still cleaning up the mess. Read my post again.

[Mr. Pink]

My grade is based on what we have, what we had, and what we need.

Certainly the Pats look great to the media and that is why they are deemed the "winners" in FA. But they already have a RB, an OL, an above average D. Every year they are a few key signings away. We are not. That's why they call it rebuilding.

Based on what we needed and what was available we did very well. Tell me what player we missed out on? Cato June who almost every team passed on? Adalius Thomas who was never going to sign in Buffalo?

Were we supposed to re-sign Nate? Everybody here agrees that would have been insane.

Should I pull up every ***** post about Fletcher? Geez. You guys act like we lost our best player. When we get done with the draft than we can second guess. Marv is still cleaning up the mess. Read my post again.


We lost the vocal leader on defense and tackling machine. A mainstay on this defense in past seasons and replaced him with? Oh yeah, another guy on this defense who we now have to replace with a guy who'd be riding the pines on another team. Excellent!

We brought in a whole 1 guy on Defense, who was so talented I don't even remember his name. A guy we had no interest in signing anyways. So lets see, in this offseason we lost our top corner, the vocal leader of the defense and our best running back and replaced them with what exactly? 3rd tier NFLers. And this is a good thing?

Please explain to me why we're giving an A for this free agent period. You bring up Cato June, perfect...We gave some BUM tackle from Oakland 5 mil per season, June is getting about 4 mill per season. He's a perfect fit for the cover 2 and would cover the loss of Fletcher. I woulda much rathered paid Cato the 5 per season than Turnstile. Especially seeing Pennington is probably better anyways.

We lost our top corner and brought? ABSOLUTELY NO ONE! Isn't that wonderful? We've brought in NO LBs and instead of bringing in a new DLman we re-signed our old bum Chris Kelsay. Again, brilliant.

We let our best running back go via and trade and replaced him with A-Train, as of right now, a career NFL Journeyman, who wasn't good enough to stick on the Cowboys as a 3rd RB. A guy who also averaged a whopping 3.5 YPC last year.

And BEST OF ALL!!!! We have no FB. Period.

Again, there is a draft yes, but you're grading our FA period. I want a detailed explanation of how one good signing, Dockery, makes this a good FA period. Turnstile makes me vomit, Whittle who cares and I'm willing to wager no one on here heard of him til we signed him, Kelsay is the most overpaid backup pass rush specialist in the league, Shaud whatever, he's gonna be the 3rd string RB anyways, Tim Anderson doesn't even deserve a jersey.

We make ONE good move in FA and people are declaring this FA period a success...blows my mind.

[Pinkerton Security]

The Browns last year signed more than 3 big name FAs....LeCharles Bentley, Joe Jurevicious, Ted Washington, Willie McGinest. I didn't even include Kevin Schaeffer who got a big contract. All 4 of those guys are household names amongst even the casual NFL fan.

They are a small market team in a city that isn't much different than Buffalo. If you have been there you can easily see it was a blue collar town that got turned into a white collar town overnight without the people having the ability to do it.

Pat is nicer than I am about this FA period we've had...Outside of Dockery, I'd grade us out to F. And no, I'm not kidding. Signing Dockery is a nice move and I'll upgrade to a D.

The rest of our FA has been a complete and total joke. We signed a "turnstile" by Oakland Raider fans claim to a 25 million contract? Yes I realize that fans become jaded when players leave, hell look at the boards with Fletch or Nate here.

We let Nate walk and replaced him with...Absolutely No One! Excellent.
Fletch walks and who replaces him? No one!
Willis gets traded and is replaced with? No one!

We re-signed Kelsay, who at best is a marginal pass rush specialist to a ridiculous amount of change. So ridiculous Aaron Schoebel should be at OBD demaning more money. If Kelsay is worth what he got, Schoebel is easily worth 10 mill a year.

Jason Whittle? Does anyone even care about this jabroni? Better question, did ANYONE on this board even know who he was before the Bills signed him?

We've completely neglected every facet of this team via FA outside of the O-line. And you're giving us a B and others an A? On what merits? An A or B grade means we've vastly improved this team, when in essence, as of today this team is vastly downgraded from as little as 20 days ago.

Yes, I realize the draft can make this team better. Yes I like the infusion of youth to make your team better. Yes, I'm sure I'll see but Bill Polian built this team through the draft in the early 90s. But this thread is dedicated to the grade of FA and FA alone.

D.
And the Brownies did what last year that warrants those great signings to be brought up? They are "household names", but what did they do??? Not help the browns win, even though they they do need all the helps they can get.

Joey J: 13 games played, 40 catches, 500 or so yds, 3 tds.
LeCharles: injured badly
Mt. Washington: 52 tckls, 0 sacks
Willie McGinest: 46 tckls, 4 sacks


The point I'm trying to make it, who cares if we signed "big name" FA's. If they do well in the season, I'll be happy. If not, then I won't be happy. Until we see if they pan out, then its all a guessing game and NO ONE is right, plain and simple, so dont get too upset or excited.

[patmoran2006]

LOL at Bilsins05 groaning every comment I make.

Ok I changed my mind.. the FO is brilliant.. every move or lack there of was pure brilliance and its why year after year we're competing for a Super Bowl.

[Mr. Pink]

And the Brownies did what last year that warrants those great signings to be brought up? They are "household names", but what did they do??? Not help the browns win, even though they they do need all the helps they can get.

Joey J: 13 games played, 40 catches, 500 or so yds, 3 tds.
LeCharles: injured badly
Mt. Washington: 52 tckls, 0 sacks
Willie McGinest: 46 tckls, 4 sacks


The point I'm trying to make it, who cares if we signed "big name" FA's. If they do well in the season, I'll be happy. If not, then I won't be happy. Until we see if they pan out, then its all a guessing game and NO ONE is right, plain and simple, so dont get too upset or excited.

And how did our signing of scrubs and Larry Tripplett get us last year? Same place as what the Browns got, out of the playoffs. But at least the guys Cleveland signed show some attempt at getting better, albeit, it didn't work and builds hope for the fanbase prior to the season.

Re-signing your own scrubs doesn't show attempt at getting better it shows contentment with mediocrity. There's the difference.

And the point was to show that teams can and do sign more than 1 "impact player." I even used a team in the same economic state as we are. I didn't have to go to the Jerry Joneses and Daniel Snyders of the league to do it.

[Pinkerton Security]

And how did our signing of scrubs and Larry Tripplett get us last year? Same place as what the Browns got, out of the playoffs. But at least the guys Cleveland signed show some attempt at getting better, albeit, it didn't work and builds hope for the fanbase prior to the season.

Re-signing your own scrubs doesn't show attempt at getting better it shows contentment with mediocrity. There's the difference.

And the point was to show that teams can and do sign more than 1 "impact player." I even used a team in the same economic state as we are. I didn't have to go to the Jerry Joneses and Daniel Snyders of the league to do it.

I never said anything about our signings last year. I know they were crap.

And I knew your point, i was just making my own point that often times signing names doesnt equal wins, and Snyder should know this full well considering he is often the most active in free agency, and they are no better than us.

[justasportsfan]

And how did our signing of scrubs and Larry Tripplett get us last year? Same place as what the Browns got, out of the playoffs. But at least the guys Cleveland signed show some attempt at getting better, albeit, it didn't work and builds hope for the fanbase prior to the season.

Re-signing your own scrubs doesn't show attempt at getting better it shows contentment with mediocrity. There's the difference.

.
wow, you're ready to judge those so called scrubs after one year? The Pats should've hung Bellichick after his first year when they went 5-11.


I don't know what you were watching but last years so called scrubs were more competitive from the year before. So while you suggest that your browns were getting better, so were the bills in case you missed watching the 2nd half of the season.

[Throne Logic]

The Browns last year signed more than 3 big name FAs....LeCharles Bentley, Joe Jurevicious, Ted Washington, Willie McGinest. I didn't even include Kevin Schaeffer who got a big contract. All 4 of those guys are household names amongst even the casual NFL fan.

Yeah? How'd that work out for them? Something about 4 - 12?

[Throne Logic]

wow, you're ready to judge those so called scrubs after one year? The Pats should've hung Bellichick after his first year when they went 5-11.

I hear ya.

What some folks seem to be missing here is the vision to see the big picture. They are pretending to understand the detailed story plotline by skimming through the Cliff Notes which are, themselves, missing every other page.

People want the magic bandaid cure, which obviously doesn't exist outside of lopsided blockbuster trades. Since we don't have a Hershel Walker option and Mike Ditka is still retired, Marv and Dick have reasoned out the intellingent long term plan. They are slowly collecting the pieces of their puzzle while discarding the patchwork fill-ins. I seriously doubt that Marv does anything that hasn't been carefully calculated.

Last year's FA moves were a part of this team's noticable improvement in 2006 over the 2007 campaign. I don't give a crap about statistics and rankings. The 2007 Bills were a team I enjoyed watching. They player harder and smarter than the 2006 version, which was just plain frustrating and embarassing. How can you brand that as failure? It's a big move in a positive direction.

Yes, there are currently holes in the roster. I suspect that the coaches don't feel that many of those holes are as large as we, the semi-informed fan, see them to be. I do expect to see some major roster changes / additions between now and September. Then we'll see what the product really looks like.

[YardRat]

I might as well put my two cents in...I give them a 'C' at this moment.

Nate Clements-almost everybody knew he was gone for big dollars, I wouldn't have re-signed him, and although the drop-off initially is 'glaring' I'm actually looking forward to what Youboty/Thomas/a draft pick may do. Theoretically, if a fantasy team offered me Dockery, Walker, and Whittle in a trade for Nate Clements, I'd take it. A loss at corner, but a bigger gain for the offensive line. One step back for the defense (maybe) but two steps forward for the offense.

Dockery was a good signing. More than I would pay for a guard, but that's what the market dictated and it was the biggest need going into the off-season so I'm willing to bite the bullet at this point.

Whittle was a great signing, IMO. Good for depth and can step in almost anywhere if necessary. I can see Whittle being this team's John Davis, and that's not too shabby.

Walker is the wild card right now and could influence the final grade of this FA anywhere from boosting it up to an 'A' or dropping it down to a 'F'. If he can play up to what the Bill's front office see as his potential, we got a pretty good deal on a RT or RG. If he plays like did in Oakland, they screwed the pooch.

We overpaid for Kelsay, plain and simple. Don't mind him being back, but we could have signed him for less, IMO.

A-Train - Good re-sign, and even if we go into the season with him as a clear-cut starter I think he can carry the load enough to be serviceable for a year, maybe two, and not be a hindrence to the rest of the offense. Overall, he's a better fit for Buffalo at this point than McGahee even though Willis may actually be the better player.

K.Thomas - another good re-signing. Don't know if he's going to start or play nickel at this point, that's up to him and Youboty, but he played solid enough to keep a spot on the team and compete.

Fletcher - Great leader, great tackler, all hustle and heart but I think we'll see bigger plays out of the MLB position with Crowell in there instead. Fletch most likely will have more tackles at the end of this season than Angelo, but I'm betting Crowell turns in more INT's, FF's, FR's, sacks, etc. Not to mention TFL's.

McGahee - He didn't want to be here, and IMO he isn't worth the money. Give me a guy with less talent and more heart anyday. Willis will out-perform Thomas overall, but McGahee still isn't a game-changer and the drop-off between what A-Train will do for this team and what Willis might have done will be minimal.

Defense, in general - we haven't done anything of note to attempt to address the defense in any manner, whether it's at CB, LB, or DT, and I think we could use a couple of guys at least for depth or to compete with Ellison/Spikes, Youboty/Thomas, or Anderson.

[Mr. Pink]

Ok, so the scrubs improved this team?

How did Robert Royal improve this team over Mark Campbell? He didn't. Campbell and Royals' production about washes out, however I don't remember Campbell making any bonehead plays to shoot the team in the foot.

A-Trains 3.5 ypc really helped us. His 3 TDs were even more amazing. Sadly we felt justified to bring him back again with that type of output.

How did Matt Bowen do? Oh yeah, nothing.

Tutan Reyes? Benched for a low round draft pick.

Tripplett? Who by almost everyone on this boards' account was invisible for most of the season. Sadly he put together a season that is on average for his career.

Fowler? Adequate at best. Hell, he got traded from Cleveland because of a 7th rounder they drafted. And he would probably be a backup on almost every other team in the league.

Davis? He served a purpose, outside of ST tackles, not sure what that purpose was, hence why he's not coming back.

Truth is none of our FA acquisitions improved this team on the field. JP progressing is what improved us most of all. The juggling of the o-line after getting FA waste Tutan Reyes off it, improved the team. Lee Evans solidifying his role as a top WR in this league improved us.

What FA acquisition helped us win games on Sundays? Seeing that is your contention. I outlined the main 3 reasons this team was better last year than the year before.

By the way, I never said the Browns acquisitions panned out or worked for them, I did say it showed that they were willing to spend some dollars to TRY keyword TRY to make the team better.

[gr8slayer]

Jason Whittle? Does anyone even care about this jabroni? Better question, did ANYONE on this board even know who he was before the Bills signed him?


I knew who he was :idunno:

[!Papacrunk!]

Dockery was a good signing. More than I would pay for a guard, but that's what the market dictated and it was the biggest need going into the off-season so I'm willing to bite the bullet at this point.

Wait a sec--didn't the Bills help create that over inflated market with that early signing into free agency? It seems like there are a lot of NFL teams that got a little cap drunk and way overspent for players that haven't justified (up until this point) the current contracts being given to them. A lot of horrible overpaying for some average to slightly abover average players out there. Mark my words, this kind of overspending, is going to come back and bite a lot of NFL teams' rear, maybe even the NFL as a whole. I read a pretty good Sporting News article that I'm going to make a thread about, in regards to this subject.

[ShadowHawk7]

I'm still holding out hope that we sit Preston in favor of Pennington so Walker can be at RG. That was our weakest position last year, and Walker has got the perfect size for it, plus he has experience there too.

[OpIv37]

I think the grade depends on how you define your A. I could buy the argument that they did the best they could given who was available, although Kelsay and arguably a few others were overpaid.

On the other hand, if you're giving out grades based on how much we upgraded our team overall, there is no way this FA class gets an A. We lost two starters on the 27th ranked run D and replaced them with no one, plus we're bringing back our entire crap-ass DL from last year. So it's impossible to give them an A when the team still has some serious flaws.

[YardRat]

Wait a sec--didn't the Bills help create that over inflated market with that early signing into free agency? It seems like there are a lot of NFL teams that got a little cap drunk and way overspent for players that haven't justified (up until this point) the current contracts being given to them. A lot of horrible overpaying for some average to slightly abover average players out there. Mark my words, this kind of overspending, is going to come back and bite a lot of NFL teams' rear, maybe even the NFL as a whole. I read a pretty good Sporting News article that I'm going to make a thread about, in regards to this subject.

I would counter that the market for guards was set last year with the Hutchinson signing. Buffalo certainly didn't try to curtail it by ponying up Hutch-type money right off the bat.

I agree with you on overspending coming back to bite the league in the ass in some manner in the future...it's getting out of hand.

[HHURRICANE]

I think the grade depends on how you define your A. I could buy the argument that they did the best they could given who was available, although Kelsay and arguably a few others were overpaid.


This is exactly how I did it.

Was there a better DE in FA than Kelsay? No. Kerney spends more time on IR than on the field. Kelsay, who everyone knows I'm not a big fan of, is young, knows our system, and never gets hurt.

Could Fletcher be replaced in the draft? Yes. At 32, he was mediocre and undersized and got manhandled alot. For all of the Adalius Thomas fans many could argue that he is the Nate Clemets at the LB position. Above average but not worth the big money, especially at 30.

Our OL blew. I liked Yardrat's logic. Would you trade Nate to bring in Dockery, Walker, and Whittle? Yep, and we gained more than we lost.

The only thing that I could argue a lower grade on is the McGahee trade. The Bills have to prove that they have a legitimate gameplan as far as replacing him. If we pull off a draft that includes a Lynch/Willis type day than it would be hard to argue the moves that Marv has made. The 28th of April can't come soon enough.

[feelthepain]

LOL at Bilsins05 groaning every comment I make.

Ok I changed my mind.. the FO is brilliant.. every move or lack there of was pure brilliance and its why year after year we're competing for a Super Bowl.

Welcome to my world!! If I posted that crap, I'd be a real good poster here. I'd be 50,000 rep points in the yellow. Not like I care about that, just making a point. Good to see most Bill fans treat anyone who tries to be honest and truthful about the Bills the same. God forbid the Bills aren't awsome in every post.