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I’ve had many recent discussions with friends of mine concerning the Bills. Some of them have been with Bills fans, while others are from fans of different teams. The subject pretty much always turn to the same topic.
“Why does this and why has this team sucked so bad?”
I think there’s been a lot of factors which have led to this team being the poster child for mediocrity since the turn of the century. The first is maybe the most obvious; poor head coaching. Greg Williams was not ready to be a head coach when he got the job in 2001, and Mike Mularkey didn’t have the ability to manage a team (or a game) when he followed suit. The jury is still out on Dick Jauron, though his track record is hardly a ringing endorsement.
Huge blunders on draft day have also contributed. Drafting Mike Williams fourth overall in 2002 was one of the worst decisions in the history of this franchise. Willis McGahee was a senseless and borderline cocky pick by Tom Donnahoe when we already had a valuable workhorse in Travis Henry. There’s been many other mistakes along the way as well.
But to me, the most logical explanation is total incompetence by both our GMs (Donahoe and then Levy) in the free agent market. I did research and looked up pretty much all of our free agents signed over the past seven years. I even skipped over some of the no-names that were signed to be little more than camp fodder. Even after that, the success rate we’ve hit on our free agents during this span is deplorable. When you examine this list and the players that were signed to fill important roles on this team it’s easy to see why this has been such a horridly run franchise; which of course translates onto the playing field on Sundays. It’s a simple formula; the front office targets players that are supposed to make the organization a better football team, and they sign them, sometimes to significant money to fill out the roster.
A look at our past seven years of free agency.
-2007- (Marv Levy)
Derrick Dockery- ??? Firmly entrenched as the starting left guard. We’ll have to see.
Langston Walker-??? Starting at right tackle. Given the release of Terence Pennington, the team has confidence in him. I do not but to be unbiased we have to wait and see.
Jason Whittle-- Had every opportunity to win the starting RG spot but couldn’t beat outButler
Jason Webster- Taking over for Nate Clements. It’s pretty obvious already that’s not good news.
Al Wallace- was recently signed and played all of one game before going to the Injured Reserve list.
Overall Grade: Incomplete of course.
======================================================
---2006--- (Marv Levy)
Andre Davis: Helped on special teams, did nothing as a WR. Wasn’t resigned and is gone.
Tutan Reyes: Total bust. Began as a starter, was cut by the end of the season.
Matt Bowen: Another guy who did nothing and was released after just one year.
Peerless Price: Starting #2 WR. Had two huge catches last season but did little else through the other 14 games. 8.2 YPC was worst among starting WR’s in the NFL. Not solid #2 production though his salary says otherwise.
Larry Tripplett: $17 million over 5 years yet was for the most part irrelevant and did nothing this preseason to change that. Given his salary, he looks like a bust.
Anthony Thomas: Valuable backup to McGahee last year. Was resigned this year only to see Bills use 2 of first 4 draft picks on RBs after. Doesn’t hurt any team he’s on but by no means is an impact player.
Craig Nall: Simply put, a horrible signing. Gave the guy a $1.3 signing bonus with Levy thinking he could compete for a starting spot. He couldn’t beat out Holcomb last year and he couldn’t beat out a rookie this time around. He’s already been cut. Had he amounted to anything we might not have had to waste a day one draft pick on a QB just one year later.
Kiwaukee Thomas: Fine backup player.
Robert Royal: Continues the Bills tradition of garbage production from the TE spot.
Melvin Fowler: The good news is he’s the Bills starting center. The bad news is that’s because we don’t have anybody else.Preston has been a complete waste. Sadly, he may be the best signing of this lot.
Aaron Gibson: Couldn’t make the team.
Overall Grade: F-, one of the worst FA classes I’ve ever seen.
=======================================================
---2005--- (Tom Donahoe)
Mike Gandy: Started at both tackle and guard over the past two seasons. That’s exactly why the OL has been the weak spot of our team for nearly a decade.
Bennie Anderson: Was a colossal failure and cut after just one season.
RaShad Lee (RB): Never did anything for us.
Kelly Holcomb: Decent backup quarterback but may have hindered Losman’s development. Still given the situation (Bledsoe released) and his salary, it was a wise signing.
Overall Grade: D. Donahoe tried to address the OL through FA with new starters in Anderson and Gandy. The thinking was good, but the personnel decisions as usual were terrible.
========================================================
---2004---- (Tom Donahoe)
Troy Vincent: Helped out the young guys and played decent, but was a shell of his former pro bowl self by the time he came toBuffalo
Oliver Gibson (T): Did nothing for us and couldn’t even make the team.
Overall Grade: D. Vincent played hard and was a good mentor to the younger guys, but was way past his prime.
========================================================
---2003--- (Tom Donahoe)
Takeo Spikes: Biggest FA signing since Bryce Paup. The guy was a warrior for us for three seasons before suffering the unfortunate injury. One of the few impact signings the Bills have made this decade where the player was a difference maker.
Jeff Posey: Inconsistent and never seemed to fit in well with our defense.
Sam Adams: Started out as a powerhouse for us in the middle along with Pat Williams but slowly regressed until benched by Mularkey in 2005 before being released. Overall was a good signing.
Bobby Shaw: Did very little to help the team.
Izzel Reese: See Bobby Shaw.
Orlandis Gary: Was expected to be a chain-moving RB for the team. It never happened.
James Jett: Never made the team.
Rian Lindell: Still the kicker today. Solid pickup.
Laywer Milloy: Played great his first season, before missing give games in 2004 and seeing his play radically digress in 2005 in which he was released.
Overall Grade: B. Until his injury, Spikes was worth every penny. He brought an attitude to the defense that seen them ranked near the top of the league two straight seasons.Adams was a force until the team decided to not resign Pat Williams. Rian Lindell has been solid if not unspectacular as the kicker going into his fourth year with the club. Milloy started off well before seeing father time diminish his skills. Posey was productive only at times and the rest of the lot was meaningless, but overall still by far our best FA class of the decade.
======================================================
---2002--- (Tom Donahoe)
London
Dave Moore: Decent backup TE at best. Good blocker, bad pass catcher.
Marcus Price: Played well as a backup to both tackle spots.
Trey Teague: Was too small and weak to be a good starting center.
Chris Watson: One of the worst coverage DBs this team has ever seen.
Eddie Robinson: Looked like he was 87-years old by the time he got to the Bills.
Mike Hollis: Kicked for the club for exactly one year.
Chidi Ahanotu: Despite his cool last name, he was hardly a factor for the defense.
Overall Grade: C-. Fletcher saved this lot from being graded a F.
========================================================
---2001--- (Tom Donahoe)
Larry Centers
Overall Grade: C
========================================================
So to summarize, over the past seven seasons I’ve listed 39 of the free agents we’ve signed. Only two of them (Takeo Spikes and London Fletcher) have turned out to be impact free agents that made this organization a better football team. Centers, Adams and Milloy turned out to be decent pickups. If you want to be really generous, I’ll even go ahead and list a kicker (Lindell) in this group. In fact, I’ll go ahead and pencil in Dockery ahead of time as an impact pickup.
That leaves the Bills at hitting on about 18% of their free agents during that span. That will simply never get it done.
You can draft all the talent in the world, but as long as you’re filling out your roster with unproductive and at times expensive free agents; as the Bills seem to do 80%+ of the time, then you’re a team that will continue to go through the recycling stages of rebuilding.
It’s of my opinion that until the Bills bring in a general manager who has the gift to pluck productive free agents at a far more successful clip, this is a team that unless they catch lightening in a bottle; will continue to finish in the bottom third of the league.
When you look at the 17 free agents listed over the past two seasons and even after prematurely giving Dockery the “impact player” label, it’s a pretty repulsive success percentage.
Again, there’s been many other factors that have gone into the Bills merry go ‘round of mediocrity seven years and running; bad coaching, some poor draft choices, etc--- but it’s fairly evident that no factor has been more prevalent than utter horrible decision making in the free agent process and selections.
“Why does this and why has this team sucked so bad?”
I think there’s been a lot of factors which have led to this team being the poster child for mediocrity since the turn of the century. The first is maybe the most obvious; poor head coaching. Greg Williams was not ready to be a head coach when he got the job in 2001, and Mike Mularkey didn’t have the ability to manage a team (or a game) when he followed suit. The jury is still out on Dick Jauron, though his track record is hardly a ringing endorsement.
Huge blunders on draft day have also contributed. Drafting Mike Williams fourth overall in 2002 was one of the worst decisions in the history of this franchise. Willis McGahee was a senseless and borderline cocky pick by Tom Donnahoe when we already had a valuable workhorse in Travis Henry. There’s been many other mistakes along the way as well.
But to me, the most logical explanation is total incompetence by both our GMs (Donahoe and then Levy) in the free agent market. I did research and looked up pretty much all of our free agents signed over the past seven years. I even skipped over some of the no-names that were signed to be little more than camp fodder. Even after that, the success rate we’ve hit on our free agents during this span is deplorable. When you examine this list and the players that were signed to fill important roles on this team it’s easy to see why this has been such a horridly run franchise; which of course translates onto the playing field on Sundays. It’s a simple formula; the front office targets players that are supposed to make the organization a better football team, and they sign them, sometimes to significant money to fill out the roster.
A look at our past seven years of free agency.
-2007- (Marv Levy)
Derrick Dockery- ??? Firmly entrenched as the starting left guard. We’ll have to see.
Langston Walker-??? Starting at right tackle. Given the release of Terence Pennington, the team has confidence in him. I do not but to be unbiased we have to wait and see.
Jason Whittle-- Had every opportunity to win the starting RG spot but couldn’t beat out
Jason Webster- Taking over for Nate Clements. It’s pretty obvious already that’s not good news.
Al Wallace- was recently signed and played all of one game before going to the Injured Reserve list.
Overall Grade: Incomplete of course.
======================================================
---2006--- (Marv Levy)
Andre Davis: Helped on special teams, did nothing as a WR. Wasn’t resigned and is gone.
Tutan Reyes: Total bust. Began as a starter, was cut by the end of the season.
Matt Bowen: Another guy who did nothing and was released after just one year.
Peerless Price: Starting #2 WR. Had two huge catches last season but did little else through the other 14 games. 8.2 YPC was worst among starting WR’s in the NFL. Not solid #2 production though his salary says otherwise.
Larry Tripplett: $17 million over 5 years yet was for the most part irrelevant and did nothing this preseason to change that. Given his salary, he looks like a bust.
Anthony Thomas: Valuable backup to McGahee last year. Was resigned this year only to see Bills use 2 of first 4 draft picks on RBs after. Doesn’t hurt any team he’s on but by no means is an impact player.
Craig Nall: Simply put, a horrible signing. Gave the guy a $1.3 signing bonus with Levy thinking he could compete for a starting spot. He couldn’t beat out Holcomb last year and he couldn’t beat out a rookie this time around. He’s already been cut. Had he amounted to anything we might not have had to waste a day one draft pick on a QB just one year later.
Kiwaukee Thomas: Fine backup player.
Robert Royal: Continues the Bills tradition of garbage production from the TE spot.
Melvin Fowler: The good news is he’s the Bills starting center. The bad news is that’s because we don’t have anybody else.
Aaron Gibson: Couldn’t make the team.
Overall Grade: F-, one of the worst FA classes I’ve ever seen.
=======================================================
---2005--- (Tom Donahoe)
Mike Gandy: Started at both tackle and guard over the past two seasons. That’s exactly why the OL has been the weak spot of our team for nearly a decade.
Bennie Anderson: Was a colossal failure and cut after just one season.
RaShad Lee (RB): Never did anything for us.
Kelly Holcomb: Decent backup quarterback but may have hindered Losman’s development. Still given the situation (Bledsoe released) and his salary, it was a wise signing.
Overall Grade: D. Donahoe tried to address the OL through FA with new starters in Anderson and Gandy. The thinking was good, but the personnel decisions as usual were terrible.
========================================================
---2004---- (Tom Donahoe)
Troy Vincent: Helped out the young guys and played decent, but was a shell of his former pro bowl self by the time he came to
Oliver Gibson (T): Did nothing for us and couldn’t even make the team.
Overall Grade: D. Vincent played hard and was a good mentor to the younger guys, but was way past his prime.
========================================================
---2003--- (Tom Donahoe)
Takeo Spikes: Biggest FA signing since Bryce Paup. The guy was a warrior for us for three seasons before suffering the unfortunate injury. One of the few impact signings the Bills have made this decade where the player was a difference maker.
Jeff Posey: Inconsistent and never seemed to fit in well with our defense.
Sam Adams: Started out as a powerhouse for us in the middle along with Pat Williams but slowly regressed until benched by Mularkey in 2005 before being released. Overall was a good signing.
Bobby Shaw: Did very little to help the team.
Izzel Reese: See Bobby Shaw.
Orlandis Gary: Was expected to be a chain-moving RB for the team. It never happened.
James Jett: Never made the team.
Rian Lindell: Still the kicker today. Solid pickup.
Laywer Milloy: Played great his first season, before missing give games in 2004 and seeing his play radically digress in 2005 in which he was released.
Overall Grade: B. Until his injury, Spikes was worth every penny. He brought an attitude to the defense that seen them ranked near the top of the league two straight seasons.
---2002--- (Tom Donahoe)
Dave Moore: Decent backup TE at best. Good blocker, bad pass catcher.
Marcus Price: Played well as a backup to both tackle spots.
Trey Teague: Was too small and weak to be a good starting center.
Chris Watson: One of the worst coverage DBs this team has ever seen.
Eddie Robinson: Looked like he was 87-years old by the time he got to the Bills.
Mike Hollis: Kicked for the club for exactly one year.
Chidi Ahanotu: Despite his cool last name, he was hardly a factor for the defense.
Overall Grade: C-. Fletcher saved this lot from being graded a F.
========================================================
---2001--- (Tom Donahoe)
Overall Grade: C
========================================================
So to summarize, over the past seven seasons I’ve listed 39 of the free agents we’ve signed. Only two of them (Takeo Spikes and London Fletcher) have turned out to be impact free agents that made this organization a better football team. Centers, Adams and Milloy turned out to be decent pickups. If you want to be really generous, I’ll even go ahead and list a kicker (Lindell) in this group. In fact, I’ll go ahead and pencil in Dockery ahead of time as an impact pickup.
That leaves the Bills at hitting on about 18% of their free agents during that span. That will simply never get it done.
You can draft all the talent in the world, but as long as you’re filling out your roster with unproductive and at times expensive free agents; as the Bills seem to do 80%+ of the time, then you’re a team that will continue to go through the recycling stages of rebuilding.
It’s of my opinion that until the Bills bring in a general manager who has the gift to pluck productive free agents at a far more successful clip, this is a team that unless they catch lightening in a bottle; will continue to finish in the bottom third of the league.
When you look at the 17 free agents listed over the past two seasons and even after prematurely giving Dockery the “impact player” label, it’s a pretty repulsive success percentage.
Again, there’s been many other factors that have gone into the Bills merry go ‘round of mediocrity seven years and running; bad coaching, some poor draft choices, etc--- but it’s fairly evident that no factor has been more prevalent than utter horrible decision making in the free agent process and selections.
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