Crumpler may meet with Bills

[Romes]

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/sports/falcons/stories/2008/02/21/crumpler_0222.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=21


"My agent was getting so many phone calls that I thought it would easier just to go there and meet with everybody," Crumpler said by phone from Phoenix, where he has been working out, just before catching a flight to Indy. "I really didn't want to go to five or six cities around the country."

Crumpler listed at least seven teams that he might meet with: Green Bay, Buffalo, Detroit, Seattle, Carolina, Tampa Bay and Tennessee.

[Romes]

Atleast it shows that Teyo isn't the final answer at TE for those who may have been worried that he would be.

[Scumbag College]

I think Teyo is only on the Bills on a tryout basis. If he comes in during the offseason and training camp and does well, great. If not, he can hit the bricks.

I'd like to see Crumpler brought in here. He was banged up last year and has played on a run first team. He might be able to get 40-50 catches a year if he was playing with another offense.

[B-DON]

i think we have as good a chance as any with those teams menitoned above. Green bay is the only one but crumpler could see vince young as his mike vick and we all know how well crumpler and vick worked out. killers

[TacklingDummy]

IVE HEARD OF HIM, LETS SIGN HIM!!

[Forward_Lateral]

Green Bay has Lee, why would Crumpler want to go there?

[Mitchy moo]

Green Bay has Lee, why would Crumpler want to go there?

I was just thinking the same thing.

[The Jokeman]

Green Bay has Lee, why would Crumpler want to go there?
Because he thinks he's better then Lee and Green Bay is a playoff team. Not to mention he'd play in a WCO and with Brett Favre. Every other team mentioned has some serious questions at QB.

[Forward_Lateral]

Because he thinks he's better then Lee and Green Bay is a playoff team. Not to mention he'd play in a WCO and with Brett Favre. Every other team mentioned has some serious questions at QB.

I should've rephrased. Why would GB want Crumpler?

[DraftBoy]

Not a bad idea

[bigbub2352]

interesting

[Oaf]

Sign this guy, trade a 3rd for Jevon Walker and I'd have no qualms in our first 3 picks going WLB, DT, DE in any order. That would be marvelous.

[TigerJ]

I think Teyo is only on the Bills on a tryout basis. If he comes in during the offseason and training camp and does well, great. If not, he can hit the bricks.

I'd like to see Crumpler brought in here. He was banged up last year and has played on a run first team. He might be able to get 40-50 catches a year if he was playing with another offense.

I think Teyo will at least be here for training camp. Crumpler isn't the be all end all in tight ends, but he's a solid player, good for 700-800 yards or more if he starts the whole season.

[Saratoga Slim]

i think we have as good a chance as any with those teams menitoned above.

Yeah, it's not a bad list of competition

Crumpler would be a good addition for us.

[Jan Reimers]

I think Teyo will at least be here for training camp. Crumpler isn't the be all end all in tight ends, but he's a solid player, good for 700-800 yards or more if he starts the whole season.
I agree. Crumpler is a good player with at least a few seasons left in him, and he's a much better pass catching TE than anyone we have. But I wouldn't break the bank for him.

[patmoran2006]

The Bills should and hopefully will look at anyone and everyone who is an upgrade as to what they have now.. Regardless of age. This team NEEDS more vet talent and leadership.

[Jan Reimers]

The Bills should and hopefully will look at anyone and everyone who is an upgrade as to what they have now.. Regardless of age. This team NEEDS more vet talent and leadership.
Crumpler just turned 30, so I think he has some gas left in the tank anyway.

[Michael82]

Sign him, Russ!!! :pray:

[Night Train]

But I wouldn't break the bank for him.

That's the key.

[patmoran2006]

This could kill my trading up into the late first round and taking Fred Davis... Danggggggggg

[Nighthawk]

It doesn't hurt to look at him. He's better than what we currently have on the roster.

[Mr. Pink]

I wouldn't mind if we added Crumpler for one or two years as a stopgap at the position.

He is much better than anyone we have on the roster at the position.

Who knows, he may be able to take Teyo Johnson under his wing and teach him the position and help Teyo reach his full potential.

[YardRat]

I like Crumpler...bring him in and sign him as long as he isn't asking for the moon.

[yordad]

Out of all the Bills immediate needs, TE is arguably the deepest position in this draft. We are only likely to sign a couple free agents. It would almost be a shame to sign an expensive TE.

On the other hand, I think that at top form, Crumpler arguably upgrades our squad as much as any other probable free agent. Especially after the recent rash of franchising.

Worth a solid offer.

[DraftBoy]

Crumpler is one of the few vets who held this team together (that being the Falcons) through all this Vick stuff this past year.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

The Bills should and hopefully will look at anyone and everyone who is an upgrade as to what they have now.. Regardless of age. This team NEEDS more vet talent and leadership.

Geez, Pat, if you and a lot of the other guys here were just paying a little attention to what has been out there in various articles (and maybe reading between the lines in what has appeared on bb.com a little bit) it would be obvious that the Bills have already been trying to do this!

The team and its reps aren't going to drop the name of every FA that they might be interested in pursuing into the ear of some media outlet for publication--they don't have the kind of resources that some teams, like Dallas and Washington, etc. have, so it doesn't make sense for them to alert the competition to who they may be serious about trying to sign--but, if you have been reading things that come from people who may actually have gotten some information from people inside the Bills organization, it is apparent that the Bills have at least been in touch with reps of a number of players who are or might (have) become available already--because in addition to Z.Thomas and A.Crumpler, name--many, although not all, that have been mentioned in posts here--have been dropped in various media circles in connection with the Bills: either in their being possibly interested in them or with regard to the team feeling that certain players might not be available or signable (Asamugha, C.Williams, D.Clark, Haynesworth, etc.).

I cannot for the life of me understand why the assumption by you and so many others here is that the Bills' organization is NOT trying to do its "due dilegence" in exploring the players who are available at least in terms of evaluating whether they think that a player could potentially help the team and even going so far as contacting the agent of a player that they may like to see what it would take to get a deal done with that player.

I know, Ralph Wilson is cheap. And, the prople that he has hired to run the Bills organization are all universally stupid.

Despite the evidence to the contrary, of course. (The fact that it has been revealed that two-thirds of the teams in the NFL are now using the same "cash-to-the-cap" as the Bills still won't keep you and some others from complaining about the fact that the Bills have adopted this approach because it means that they won't sign all of the players that you want them to sign or the high-profile, big bonus players that Dallas or Washington will sign. Nor will the fact that even media "experts" who don't particularly like the Bills have now had to grudgingly acknowledge that--after two 7-9 seasons, the last one achieved despite a record number of injuries, particularly on defense--the Bills have quietly put together a group of players that, while still young, developing and needing more play-makers, has been able to out-perform all expectations the last two years (do you thik that happened by accident?) prevent anyone who chooses to from citing any number of reasons to say that the Bills and/or whatever Bills player they choose suck. Why be confused by the facts or by progress?)

Please understand this, folks: Just because the Bills may not do things the way you or I may want, just because they may not acquire the players that you or I may want them to acquire, that does not mean that the people who work for the team are stupid, that they don't have a plan that they are trying to follow, or that they are not working as hard--or harder--to do their job and achieve the goal of winning a Super Bowl as you or I work at our jobs or would work at theirs!!!

Whether they are ultimately successful at their jobs will be proven on the field--not in any other statistics that in wins and losses: who ends up with the most points at the end of each game and how many times the Bills end up with the most points. Their ability to keep their jobs--and, in that sense, the livelihoods of their families depend on their success.

Now, obviously, with the Bills not making the playoffs for the last 7 seasons, the organization has not been very successful at doing their jobs. You don't think that they know this and are even more aware of this than you are? Even though the current management set-up has only been in place for a little over 2 years now (yes, I know many of the people in place are the same as worked under T.Donahoe, but just because a boss may be bad, that doesn't mean that everyone working under him is as well--haven't you ever worked for a bad boss at some point? Does that mean that you sucked at your job?), you can bet that they are acutely aware of that record of failure and are feeling the need and pressure to take the team to the next level as soon as possible--Dick Jauron has already said as much, don't you believe him?

But, you also have to understand that, absent incredible good luck and unlimited resources, there are steps that a team has to take when rebuilding virtually from scratch--and make no mistake about it, the Bills have been in the process of being rebuilt virtually from scratch since the end of the 2005 season. And, if you fairly evaluate how the team has performed thus far in the course of that process, somebody somewhere in the organization must have been doing a pretty good job because, while the Bills haven't had a winning season or made the playoffs and may only have beaten other bad or rebuilding teams the last two seasons, the Bills haven't sunk to the level of a sub-5 win team during the time that they have been turning over the vast majority of their roster--instead they have played meaningful games in December, been in the hunt for a playoff berth, and earned a reputation around the league for being a team that plays hard all of the time and won't quit in the face of adversity. No, it's not the playoffs or winning the Super Bowl, but it's a helluva lot better than what Oakland, St.Louis, the Jets, Cincy, etc. have done in similar circumstances. And, again, that hasn't happened by accident--somebody somewhere in the organization has been doing their job properly, even if you or I haven't necessarily been pleased with what they have done or how they have gone about doing it.

While the Bills obviously need to step up to the next level and make the playoffs this season and they have some very apparent holes in their roster that they are going to have to fill with quality players and play-makers this offseason in order to achieve that, all the evidence suggests (if you have been paying close attention--which I know some folks aren't in a position to do) that the people in the organization know full well what they have to do and are already trying to do what they can right now to at least check out some of the players that they think can help the team.

So, at least give them some credit for trying to do their "due diligence".

And, talking to A.Crumpler is a sign of the fact that they are at least trying to do that.

As far as signing Crumpler goes, I think that it is obvious that the Bills are very much aware of the fact that the team is VERY thin at the TE position right now and that, with a QB who likes to use his TE in the passing game, they are going to have to bring in at least one, and more likely two, TEs before the OTAs begin (especially with more and more teams going to two TE sets to offset certain defensive alignments that have become prevalent around the NFL).

IMHO, of course the Bills should be interested in talking with Crumpler: despite being hampered recently by injuries, the guy has been a Pro Bowl TE. If he is healthy, Crumpler is a terrific all-around TE who has terrific hands, can block well (something that a lot of TEs with good receiving stats don't do well), and is just a load for opposing teams to cover in the middle of the field.

The question is going to be how much does he want and how much are other teams going to be willing to pay him?

If the Bills are going to have to pay X number of dollars to sign M.Gaines and, then, Y number of dollars to a rookie TE that they select in the first two rounds of the draft, it may be more cost-effective for them to sign Crumpler for Z number of dollars more than it would take to sign Gaines and then be able to get back a little of that money by waiting to draft a TE until the 3rd or 4th round, where the amount they would have to pay the rookie would be substantially less. And, they would be getting a former Pro Bowler that opposing defenses would have to account for as a threat immediately.

That being the case, it really comes down to whether Crumpler would be interested in coming to Buffalo and whether some other team will want him so badly that they will try to "blow him out of the water" with an outrageous offer for his services. I thiink that, if he is healthy and willing to consider coming to Buffalo, the Bills may very well make him a decent offer--at 30, he could give them 3-4 good years and, even if he slips with age, would be more than an adequate replacement for Royal down the road (especially if they bring in a young TE to develop).

It's certainly worth looking into for the Bills and it appears that that is precisely what they are doing at this point. IMHO it makes more sense than talking to Z.Thomas.