3 Free Agents

[patmoran2006]

Give me Corey Williams (DT), Lance Briggs (LB) and LJ Smith (TE) on day one of free agency and I'll happily say see you on draft day.

Our defense gets ridiculously better in one day.. The tight end position improves (talent wise) immensely and I'm taking the best rookie WR on the board with my first pick (Right now I prefer Kelly but that could easily change)

You now have a legit playoff contender.

We already have 42-45 "role" players on this team.. Dont bother with the Matt Bowens' and Peerless Price's of free agency.. Get me those three guys and I could care less if we sign another player the entire season.

Will Briggs and Williams cost a lot of money? You bet your ass they will. That's because they're great players. Stop for 2 seconds and imagine this defense upfront with Wiliams, Briggs and a healthy Poz. Top 6-7 defense in the league in my opinion. Our secondary will look a lot better when the QB doesnt have an eternity to throw. Schobel and Kelsay would be more effective and McCargo next to Williams could spell trouble for offenses.

[patmoran2006]

Don't say we're incapable of paying Briggs, because we gave Dockery 49 million over 7 years last year.

[Jeff1220]

Heck, I'd be pretty flippin psyched if they just signed Williams on Day1.

[patmoran2006]

Seriously imagine the front seven with Briggs and Williams on this team. WE'd have the best defense easily in our division, and that includes New England.

[Dr. Lecter]

That is nice, but probably a pipe dream. I would speculate that it would be the biggest and most expensive day in FA history, by far.

[raphael120]

Yeah I doubt the Bills could really afford one of those, besides LJ, let alone all 3. Let's keep things reasonable.

If we nab ONE of those guys, it would make that respective unit a whole hell of a lot better, pair that with a very solid draft, and we could be a playoff contender.

Oh, and Jauron has to coach like he's not a little girl.

[patmoran2006]

Briggs will probably get slightly more than Adalius Thomas got from NE last year in the open market (which I believe was about $7 million per)

Williams I can't really think of a comparision to. Probably in the $30-40 million range over 6 years.

LJ Smith won't get that much in the open market.

[patmoran2006]

That is nice, but probably a pipe dream. I would speculate that it would be the biggest and most expensive day in FA history, by far.
Briggs and Williams combined will probably not equal the $80 million Clements got.

I do see what you're saying though, because unlike the other 31 teams in the NFL, we're going to spend what we spend and pay everything up front. So if that philosophy continues, no way Wilson spends that much money upfront.

[Dr. Lecter]

Briggs and Williams combined will probably not equal the $80 million Clements got.

I do see what you're saying though, because unlike the other 31 teams in the NFL, we're going to spend what we spend and pay everything up front. So if that philosophy continues, no way Wilson spends that much money upfront.

I bet they get more than Clements combined and definetly get more guarenteed money combined.

And the great thing about spending to a limit every year is that the Bills can go shopping every year.

[Goobylal]

Expecting the Bills to sign Williams, Briggs AND Smith is fanciful at best. Williams and Briggs are looking at $7M a year and $15-20M guaranteed, while Smith will want $4M a year, if he's not franchised.

[yordad]

What are we 25 mil under the cap? So, paying signing bonuses and the first year of the contract for these guys will total less then 25 mil? I don't think so.

Corey Williams, and an upgrade for Ellison/Digi (ahem, not gonna be Briggs) is about all they will do. And, I would be alright with that. But, I think we have to get one or the other.

Oh, and there is an Eric Johnson (TE) dude that has been very productive in the past. He could be affordable.

[mysticsoto]

Briggs is not necessary here. I think he would be too expensive and we already have good LBs with Poz, Crowell, DiG and Wire. A better DT would be nice, unless we go for Ellis. LJ shouldn't be too expensive, but he has made claims to wanting to stay in Philly.

I'm curious what people think about these guys. From rotoworld:

The Dallas Morning News relays a rumor that the Cowboys are shopping DE Marcus Spears and LB Bobby Carpenter in trade talks.
Spears is a solid defensive end, but has never lived up to his first-round draft position. The Cowboys could move Jay Ratliff outside to take his job, with Jason Ferguson and Tank Johnson rotating inside. Carpenter, another first-round pick, just isn't a good fit in a 3-4 defense. He'd be a nice addition for 4-3 team looking to add depth at OLB.

[B-DON]

i dont know one cowboy fan who likes carpenter. i would stay away.

[bigbub2352]

I like that alot, i would even be satisfied with Karlos Dansby form ARZ he is just as good in my opinion and would come cheaper freeing up more money to sign Corey Williams, i like him alot as well, Smith would be sweet, if he resigns go after Bryant Johnson Ernest Wilford or Porter, and still draft one on day 1, take a TE in round 2

[gr8slayer]

i dont know one cowboy fan who likes carpenter. i would stay away.
I know a TON of them that do. He just never got a chance in Dallas because he isn't a 3-4 guy.

And in response to Pats post, Corey Williams would be an amazing first day of FA in my books. That is a man that can bring down the hammer on an OL.

I don't want Smiths injuries and I don't want Briggs' *****ing. Just give me Williams and I'll be happy.

BTW Pat, you say "imagine the defense with a healthy Posluszny." You act like the guy has done something, so far he has proven nothing and until he does please refrain from saying things like this.

[Crisis]

I don't really like LJ Smith...but he can't be any worse than the crap we have now.

[gr8slayer]

I don't really like LJ Smith...but he can't be any worse than the crap we have now.
He can if he isn't playing due to injury.

[Philagape]

I'm not done dreaming for Dallas Clark yet

[gr8slayer]

I'm not done dreaming for Dallas Clark yet



Colts GM Bill Polian says Dallas Clark will likely be franchise tagged this offseason.
Polian doesn't expect to reach a long-term accord with Clark before late February. The franchise number for tight ends (likely around $6-7 million) is very manageable for a player of Clark's caliber.

[tampabay25690]

That is nice, but probably a pipe dream. I would speculate that it would be the biggest and most expensive day in FA history, by far.

Yes indeed...By the way HILLARY for PRESIDENT!!!!!

[tampabay25690]

I don't really like LJ Smith...but he can't be any worse than the crap we have now.

WHAT?????

If Smith is healthy he is a stud and the best TE we ever had in a BILLS UNIFORM!!!!

[Slim]

WHAT?????

If Smith is healthy he is a stud and the best TE we ever had in a BILLS UNIFORM!!!!

Metz was pretty good.

[feelthepain]

Seriously imagine the front seven with Briggs and Williams on this team. WE'd have the best defense easily in our division, and that includes New England.

Seriously! Your D finished in nearly last place in 07, but you add two players and you vault past everyone?? Not likely!

[gr8slayer]

Seriously! Your D finished in nearly last place in 07, but you add two players and you vault past everyone?? Not likely!
This coming from the person who pimped his team all last off-season talking about what dominating force all your old men on defense were. Shut your mouth and keep spanking it to Culpepper in your moms basement. You have no place to talk fish dick. Your team barely pulled off one game this season.

[YardRat]

Justin Gage, WR.

[Michael82]

Corey Williams would be nice, but just like Philagape said, I'm not done dreaming about Dallas Clark wearing the red, white and blue either. :drool:

[henrybacker]

justin gage sucks- watched him in chicago for years

[colin]

i think briggs would be the biggest upgrade. williams is good but i think when he's healthy mccargo will be nearly as good as he is, and i think we can grab a guy in the draft with not too far off ability.

obviously dt is a need, but i have to disagree with the above post that says that we have good LBs. our D line is much deeper and more talented than our LBs. we had one guy last year who had any business playing, crow. dipizza and ellison are tiny runt type guys with tons of heart. poz should be a big upgrade, but adding briggs (who has outstanding rare talent) would make us much better.

my ideal (and realistic, although not close to a sure thing of course) offseason is briggs/kid from az, and a trade landing us sean rogers and roy williams. we'd have to pay for all of them, but with our cap room and all the guys we have signed through the next few years i think we'd be able too (we could do bonuses over this and next season).

we'd then be able to move up when we need to and get solid guys in the draft, maybe 3 in the first 2 and 4 or 5 in the first 3 rounds. we can get a db, og/oc, and more dl there.

rogers williams and briggs would be expensive, but with the lack of big contracts going forward we can afford to pay them and still extend evans next year and our other young guys.

imo the last 2 seasons of not blowing money on a forward basis (assuming we spend right up to our cash to cap limit going forward) puts us in a position to keep our talent.

i remember we let ted washington, bruce smith, marcelles wiley, reed, thomas, pat williams, antoine winfield, jonas jennings, nate clements, and others go to keep some goofs we signed to way too big contracts (mike williams, ostraski, fina, rj, flutie, sam adams, etc.).

if we don't blow forward money on guys not deserving it, we can just cut anyone we don't like and reinvest in good players.

[mysticsoto]

Seriously! Your D finished in nearly last place in 07, but you add two players and you vault past everyone?? Not likely!

This also assumes everyone else coming back from injury just fine - of which there are quite a few players that we lost. Our defense is actually better than it seems - and all it really takes to work is for the front 4 to be effective pass rushers. If they are, the cover 2 works beautifully. If they are not, it falls apart. That should be pretty basic even for you to understand...

[R. Rich]

Give me Corey Williams (DT), Lance Briggs (LB) and LJ Smith (TE) on day one of free agency and I'll happily say see you on draft day.

Our defense gets ridiculously better in one day.. The tight end position improves (talent wise) immensely and I'm taking the best rookie WR on the board with my first pick (Right now I prefer Kelly but that could easily change)

You now have a legit playoff contender.

We already have 42-45 "role" players on this team.. Dont bother with the Matt Bowens' and Peerless Price's of free agency.. Get me those three guys and I could care less if we sign another player the entire season.

Will Briggs and Williams cost a lot of money? You bet your ass they will. That's because they're great players. Stop for 2 seconds and imagine this defense upfront with Wiliams, Briggs and a healthy Poz. Top 6-7 defense in the league in my opinion. Our secondary will look a lot better when the QB doesnt have an eternity to throw. Schobel and Kelsay would be more effective and McCargo next to Williams could spell trouble for offenses.

I kinda want to see them get a stud DT in free agency. Then, we'll all get to see whether or not the rest of the front 7 is "good to go" and all the woes of the defense can be placed on the DTs. My fear is that there's more to the story, such as:

1. Smallish LBs who can't shed blocks
2. Smallish corners who can't outfight the bigger wideouts they face regularly
3. Smallish DEs w/ limited rush moves who cannot generate CONSISTENT pressure

I'm sensing some sort of theme here.

[gr8slayer]

The Packers are unlikely to re-sign free agent DL Corey Williams.
With Albert Haynesworth likely to be franchised by the Titans, Williams is set to cash in as the top defensive tackle on the market. The Packers are deep enough to withstand the loss with Cullen Jenkins, Ryan Pickett, and rookie Justin Harrell all locked up.

[Ed]

Williams and Briggs is a nice dream, but I think competition is more of an issue then money. Signing both could definitely be done, but you're talking about the two best players available at their positions. There are a lot of teams looking to upgrade that have plenty of cap space too. So not only do we have to out spend other teams, but the players have to see the Bills as the best opportunity. I think not having been to the playoffs for 8 years now makes us a harder sell.

[THATHURMANATOR]

Give me Corey Williams (DT), Lance Briggs (LB) and LJ Smith (TE) on day one of free agency and I'll happily say see you on draft day.

Our defense gets ridiculously better in one day.. The tight end position improves (talent wise) immensely and I'm taking the best rookie WR on the board with my first pick (Right now I prefer Kelly but that could easily change)

You now have a legit playoff contender.

We already have 42-45 "role" players on this team.. Dont bother with the Matt Bowens' and Peerless Price's of free agency.. Get me those three guys and I could care less if we sign another player the entire season.

Will Briggs and Williams cost a lot of money? You bet your ass they will. That's because they're great players. Stop for 2 seconds and imagine this defense upfront with Wiliams, Briggs and a healthy Poz. Top 6-7 defense in the league in my opinion. Our secondary will look a lot better when the QB doesnt have an eternity to throw. Schobel and Kelsay would be more effective and McCargo next to Williams could spell trouble for offenses.
I would love this.

[raphael120]

Here's a good point.

We probably couldve signed all 3 of those if we had kicked Schobel and Kelsey to the curb and not thrown tons of money at them.

Just food for thought...

[YardRat]

justin gage sucks- watched him in chicago for years

6'4", 212 lbs. 55 catches, 750yards, 13.6 yard average. Originally drafted by DJ. A position the Bills need to upgrade. Cheap, but we'll overpay commensurate to what he's actually worth.

Just the type of player I expect them to bring in this off-season.

[THATHURMANATOR]

Here's a good point.

We probably couldve signed all 3 of those if we had kicked Schobel and Kelsey to the curb and not thrown tons of money at them.

Just food for thought...
We still could because we have a ton of cap room.

[Confused]

I'm rollin a doob..... but the writer of this thread obviously beat me to it

[HHURRICANE]

Seriously! Your D finished in nearly last place in 07, but you add two players and you vault past everyone?? Not likely!

This board has finally done it!!

I 100% agree with FTP!!:err:

[HHURRICANE]

Here's a good point.

We probably couldve signed all 3 of those if we had kicked Schobel and Kelsey to the curb and not thrown tons of money at them.

Just food for thought...

I'm actually going to defend the Kelsay move as there was nobody that was better that we were going to get in FA. Actually some pundits thought we did pretty well to re-sign him.

The Schobel move is mind boggling when he already had a contract. just ridiculous when you could force him to play it out or at worst say, "hey we'll negotiate at the end of the season". 6 sacks!!!

[colin]

i think our ends and d had a bad year for obvious reasons. pretty good shot they come back this next season IMO.

25+ sacks from DE's in 08 if we get a better DT and OLB.

[henrybacker]

6'4", 212 lbs. 55 catches, 750yards, 13.6 yard average.


-Please post his career stats

[Owen DeBoard]

I'm actually going to defend the Kelsay move as there was nobody that was better that we were going to get in FA. Actually some pundits thought we did pretty well to re-sign him.

The Schobel move is mind boggling when he already had a contract. just ridiculous when you could force him to play it out or at worst say, "hey we'll negotiate at the end of the season". 6 sacks!!!
Yeah it makes alot of sense to have pay Kelsay more than Schobel. Chris Kelsays 2.5 sacks to Schobels 6.5 sacks sure warrented Kelsays contract but not Schobels.

[tampabay25690]

With all this talk about the BILLS future why would a FREE AGENT want to sign in BUFFALO right now?????

[henrybacker]

<TABLE class=tborder id=post2318601 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=alt2 width=175></TD><TD class=alt1 id=td_post_2318601><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=alt1 style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 10px; WIDTH: 100%" align=left><!-- icon and title -->Re: 3 Free Agents <!-- Start Post Thank You Hack --><!-- End Post Thank You Hack -->
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<HR style="COLOR: #f3f3ff" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->6'4", 212 lbs. 55 catches, 750yards, 13.6 yard average.


-Please post his career stats
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>(GAGE)


DIDN'T THINK SO

[kernowboy]

With LJ Smith getting the Franchise tag, that option is out the window

An alternative route to go might be

DT Randy Starks, 6ft3, 312lbs, 24years old
LB Teddy Lehman, 6ft1, 238lbs, 26years old, played SLB/MLB under Jauron
TE Eric Johnson, 6ft3, 252lbs, 28years old, if he could remain fit

However I think both at DT and at TE, we could probably get identical if not superior quality in the draft

I'd be happy to take Lehman on a contract and then draft Sean Lee in 2009 to replace him, or Crowell if we don't keep him onboard

[DraftBoy]

LJ Smith wont happen, he's been franchise, and there is no way in hell he's worth not only the contract it would take but also the pick compensation.

Briggs, love to see it happen and while we can afford it, we cant offer a comparative team to play with. He wants a ring, we arent close to that yet.

Williams, makes sense, love to see it happen!

[THATHURMANATOR]

Yeah it makes alot of sense to have pay Kelsay more than Schobel. Chris Kelsays 2.5 sacks to Schobels 6.5 sacks sure warrented Kelsays contract but not Schobels.
what are you talking about? Kelsey was a FA and Schobel was under contract. :shakeno:

[THATHURMANATOR]

With all this talk about the BILLS future why would a FREE AGENT want to sign in BUFFALO right now?????
because we offer them the best contract. How many times must we say this. You offer them better money and they will come. 99.9% of all players care about money first.