LifetimeBillsFan
02-15-2008, 10:15 AM
There's been a lot of talk here about the Bills needing to sign a big WR, like E.Wilford, B.Johnson or DJ Hackett, in free agency; about the Bills needing to sign C.Moore as a free agent; and about the Bills either using the 11th pick in the draft to select K.Rivers or D.Connor, or laying out big money to sign L.Briggs.
With a lot of teams looking to sign big WRs and knowing that the Bills are unlikely to want to ante up the kind of up-front cash that it probably will take to sign C.Moore or L.Briggs, I looked at the draft class and free agents out there and, while I hate to speculate about who the Bills will or should sign in free agency, I came up with a different approach that IMHO might be more finanacially feasible for the Bills and would allow them to address most of their most glaring needs:
Rather than going after Briggs, what if the Bills try to address their need at OLB by signing either Michael Boley from Atlanta or Victor Hobson, who reportedly would prefer to play in a 4-3 rather than a 3-4 defense) from the Jets?
While Wilford, Johnson and Hackett are all the kind of big WR that the Bills need, none of them has proven that he can be a game-breaker. However, with a lot of teams likely to be pursuing them in free agency, it may take the kind of money that you would prefer to give to a potential game-breaker to sign one of them. It is possible that Boley and/or Hobson, both of whom are proven performers, could be signed for the same amount of money--or even less-than it would take for the Bills to sign any one of these receivers.
If the Bills were to sign either Boley or Hobson, they would not need to draft an OLB, and could use their 1st Round draft pick to select a big, fast WR with the potential to be a big-time play-maker, like M.Kelly or L.Sweed. While it might take some time for the rookie to develop (it took L.Evans about half a season), in the long-term, the Bills would be better off than they would be with one of the free agent WRs.
Signing Boley or Hobson would also allow the Bills to take a TE, DT and CB (or pass rushing DE) with their three remaining picks in the first 3 rounds of the draft--which would also address their most pressing needs with young talent.
Finally, if the Bills could get Boley or Hobson for the same or less than a FA WR, they would also be in a good position, financially, to additionally address their D-line needs in free agency by signing a DT like Randy Starks or one of Tennessee's two FA DEs. Doing this would allow them to use a 3rd or 4th round draft pick to bolster their reserves on the offensive line with either a center or tackle prospect that they could give some time to develop.
Based on the way that the Bills have approached free agency the last couple of years, I do not expect them to go out and spend a lot of money on the biggest name free agents--let's face it, they are not going to throw money at every well-known free agent name out there! On the other hand, I expect that they will spend money--they've shown that they are not afraid to do that--but that they will target one or two players who they feel will give them the most "bang for their buck". The Dockery and L.Walker signings tell me that they know what the team's biggest weaknesses are and that they will try to address them--but, that they may do so by going after someone who is a little bit off everyone else's radar screens (when everyone was looking at Steinbach, they went with Dockery and nobody really thought they would target L.Walker!).
No doubt, L.Briggs is a good player, but M.Boley is an up-and-coming player who had 93 solo tackles, 16 assists, 3 sacks, 7 passes defensed, 2 INTs and 4 forced fumbles last season. V.Hobson is a very fast OLB who played in a T-2 scheme in college, but struggled last year in the 3-4 defense racking up only 48 solo tackles, 14 assists, 2 sacks and 4 passes defense in 14 starts, after logging 66 solos, 34 assists, 6 sacks, 2 passes defensed and an INT (fumble stats not available) the previous season. Atlanta may try very hard to keep Boley, but Hobson reportedly wants to play for a 4-3 team and might be very interested in playing for a team with a defense that will make it easier for him to maximize his talents.
So, what do you think?
With a lot of teams looking to sign big WRs and knowing that the Bills are unlikely to want to ante up the kind of up-front cash that it probably will take to sign C.Moore or L.Briggs, I looked at the draft class and free agents out there and, while I hate to speculate about who the Bills will or should sign in free agency, I came up with a different approach that IMHO might be more finanacially feasible for the Bills and would allow them to address most of their most glaring needs:
Rather than going after Briggs, what if the Bills try to address their need at OLB by signing either Michael Boley from Atlanta or Victor Hobson, who reportedly would prefer to play in a 4-3 rather than a 3-4 defense) from the Jets?
While Wilford, Johnson and Hackett are all the kind of big WR that the Bills need, none of them has proven that he can be a game-breaker. However, with a lot of teams likely to be pursuing them in free agency, it may take the kind of money that you would prefer to give to a potential game-breaker to sign one of them. It is possible that Boley and/or Hobson, both of whom are proven performers, could be signed for the same amount of money--or even less-than it would take for the Bills to sign any one of these receivers.
If the Bills were to sign either Boley or Hobson, they would not need to draft an OLB, and could use their 1st Round draft pick to select a big, fast WR with the potential to be a big-time play-maker, like M.Kelly or L.Sweed. While it might take some time for the rookie to develop (it took L.Evans about half a season), in the long-term, the Bills would be better off than they would be with one of the free agent WRs.
Signing Boley or Hobson would also allow the Bills to take a TE, DT and CB (or pass rushing DE) with their three remaining picks in the first 3 rounds of the draft--which would also address their most pressing needs with young talent.
Finally, if the Bills could get Boley or Hobson for the same or less than a FA WR, they would also be in a good position, financially, to additionally address their D-line needs in free agency by signing a DT like Randy Starks or one of Tennessee's two FA DEs. Doing this would allow them to use a 3rd or 4th round draft pick to bolster their reserves on the offensive line with either a center or tackle prospect that they could give some time to develop.
Based on the way that the Bills have approached free agency the last couple of years, I do not expect them to go out and spend a lot of money on the biggest name free agents--let's face it, they are not going to throw money at every well-known free agent name out there! On the other hand, I expect that they will spend money--they've shown that they are not afraid to do that--but that they will target one or two players who they feel will give them the most "bang for their buck". The Dockery and L.Walker signings tell me that they know what the team's biggest weaknesses are and that they will try to address them--but, that they may do so by going after someone who is a little bit off everyone else's radar screens (when everyone was looking at Steinbach, they went with Dockery and nobody really thought they would target L.Walker!).
No doubt, L.Briggs is a good player, but M.Boley is an up-and-coming player who had 93 solo tackles, 16 assists, 3 sacks, 7 passes defensed, 2 INTs and 4 forced fumbles last season. V.Hobson is a very fast OLB who played in a T-2 scheme in college, but struggled last year in the 3-4 defense racking up only 48 solo tackles, 14 assists, 2 sacks and 4 passes defense in 14 starts, after logging 66 solos, 34 assists, 6 sacks, 2 passes defensed and an INT (fumble stats not available) the previous season. Atlanta may try very hard to keep Boley, but Hobson reportedly wants to play for a 4-3 team and might be very interested in playing for a team with a defense that will make it easier for him to maximize his talents.
So, what do you think?