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This was just posted on the BZ PF, but being the "rep whore" that I am, I thought I would post it in here for your comments and criticisms. What do you think?
As I See It: Bills Acquire Marcus Stroud; Strengthen Defense With Solid Moves
by Neil Masters
The Bills acquisition of former Pro Bowl defensive tackle Marcus Stroud from Jacksonville for a third round pick and a fifth round pick on Saturday is a move that has satisfied the team's most avid fans and even many of its harshest critics.
Combined with the signing of free agent LB Kawika Mitchell on Friday and DT Spencer Johnson also on Saturday, the Bills, who released disappointing DT Larry Tripplett on Friday night, the Bills have gone a long way towards significantly improving their defense at a more than reasonable cost that will still allow them to have the financial flexibility to address the other things that they need to do this off-season to put the team in a position to be able to make a run at a playoff berth this up-coming season.
The trade for Marcus Stroud, a three-time Pro Bowler, is a very sound, solid move in every respect.
As a trade, the Bills gave up no more than any of the other teams did for a quality DT who fills what was the weakest position and the greatest need on the team. A 3rd and a 5th round pick wasn't just the "going market price" it also happened that those were the two round where the Bills already had extra picks, so that makes giving those picks up that much less painful all around.
Getting a quality, proven player like Stroud to come in with just a re-structured contract, rather than having to give him a considerable contract extension like the ones that fellow veteran DTs Corey Williams and Kris Jenkins got, can be considered a coup for the Bills' front office. Even if Stroud is going to cost Ralph Wilson more money "up-front" and there are incentives built into the re-structured contract that will result in Stroud being paid more than his deal with Jacksonville originally called for, any additional money that it may cost the Bills over the course of the contract will be money well-spent if Stroud earns it with his performance on the field. The Bills will not be locked in to paying him well into his mid-30s if he doesn't perform up to his prior standards.
If Stroud does perform up to the level that he has played in the past, the Bills will be happy to pay him, as they have shown that they were willing to do with other top performers in the past. And, in three years, who knows what the situation will be, especially if the NFL owners decide to opt out of the current CBA.
While Ralph Wilson will no doubt be concerned about what the NFL does at that point from a business perspective, at his age, who knows whether he will still be around to run the Bills then. In the meantime, Stroud will give his Bills a better chance to be successfully on the field and financially immediately. Getting Marcus Stroud and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, to agree to the deal that they did can prove to work so well for the Bills in that regard that it can only be seen as a very positive move by the Bills' newly restructured front office. And they deserve a lot of credit for getting it done.
Even though players who do not play up to the level of their contract, like Larry Tripplett, are never as bad as their critics amongst the fans make them out to be, there can be little doubt that with Marcus Stroud and Spencer Johnson joining holdovers John McCargo and Kyle Williams, the Bills are going to be in better shape at the DT position going into this coming season than they were last season. And, that was something that the Bills had to do everything that they could to try to accomplish this off-season.
While not nearly the kind of player that Marcus Stroud is, Spencer Johnson's acquisition gives the Bills much greater flexibility than they would have had had they kept Larry Tripplett.
Johnson, who played behind former-Bill Pat Williams and All-Pro Kevin Williams at defensive tackle in the Minnesota Vikings' Tampa-2 defense, is a quality back-up who, like suspended DE Anthony Hargrove, can play both DT and DE. With Marcus Stroud anchoring the middle of the defense and John McCargo's quickness, if the Bills choose to do so, Spencer Johnson could be used in a similar way to the way that the NY Giants used DE Justin Tuck during their run to the Super Bowl title last season.
Like Hargrove, Johnson is a high-energy player who has a reputation for going all-out on every snap when he is on the field. While perhaps not as fast as Hargrove on the outside, the under-sized, but very quick Johnson is very good inside and has been solid against the run in limited playing time. With three sacks in a back-up role for the Vikings, Johnson will give the Bills at least as much as a pass-rusher inside as Tripplett did and could even push John McCargo for some playing time in the Bills' DT rotation. And, unlike Tripplett, he can also give the Bills some snaps at DE if called on to do so.
Just as the addition of Marcus Stroud and Spencer Johnson should give the Bills a much better rotation at defensive tackle in the middle of their defense, the addition of Kawika Mitchell to take over from Keith Ellison in the starting lineup at WLB, along with the return of Paul Posluzny at MLB, should make the Bills considerably stronger on defense as well.
Mitchell isn't a guy who is particularly outstanding at any one thing, but he is a solid all-around player who doesn't have a lot of glaring weaknesses, either. While he wasn't the greatest MLB when he played for Kansas City, he did rack up a couple of 100 tackle seasons there and really did a good job for the New York Giants when they shifted him to WLB after he joined them last season. Mitchell, who is considerably bigger and more experienced than Ellison, is reported to be tentatively slated to remain at WLB for the Bills this season, but, with his size and past experience at MLB, he could play any one of the three linebacking positions if need be. With Mitchell, Posluzny, starting SLB Angelo Crowell, Ellison, and John DiGiorgio, the Bills now have a solid, deep and flexible LB corps.
Having added Marcus Stroud, Spencer Johnson and Kawika Mitchell on Friday and Saturday, if the Bills can add a cornerback in the draft--preferably one with the potential to push for a spot in the starting lineup as the season goes on--by mid-season the Bills should be able to put a pretty good defense on the field. While it may take some time for their new players and the returning "walking wounded" to blend effectively with the rest of the Bills' returning defense and any additions that they make through the draft, the pieces are now falling into place to allow the Bills to put together a good enough defense to make a run at a playoff berth this season and become a serious playoff contender in the very near future.
The Bills still have a ways to go on offense and still have some young players who will have to continue to mature and get better before they will be good enough overall to make a run at a Super Bowl title, but they are in a much better position to do that now than they were on Thursday night.
Kudos must go to the Bills front office for getting the Stroud trade and the Mitchell and Johnson signings done. But, they cannot sit on their laurels. There are still things that they have to do and have to show that they can get done before the team will be in a position to be the serious Super Bowl contender that they--and we Bills fans--want them to become.
But, those things are doable and these deals have now put the Bills in a much better position to do them.
PS: On a more personal note: the Stroud and Johnson deals on Saturday--as good as they were for the team and as exciting as they were for Bills fans--do not entirely make up for the lack of courtesy shown by Bills management on Friday night when it left hundreds, if not thousands of its most avid fans hanging on their computers for hours waiting for news without so much as a mention of Stroud's name or even so much as a brief mention by Chris Brown on his blog that no further news would be forth-coming on their website after a certain point on that evening!
That lack of common courtesy upset a lot of Bills fans, including this one. And, it is something that Bills management should look to immediately correct.
There are understandable reasons for an "information blackout", but, even in such circumstances, there is no reason for the team not to post a simple statement that no further information will be forth-coming in such a situation when they know that their most avid fans are anxiously waiting to hear something, anything, from them on their website.
As I See It: Bills Acquire Marcus Stroud; Strengthen Defense With Solid Moves
by Neil Masters
The Bills acquisition of former Pro Bowl defensive tackle Marcus Stroud from Jacksonville for a third round pick and a fifth round pick on Saturday is a move that has satisfied the team's most avid fans and even many of its harshest critics.
Combined with the signing of free agent LB Kawika Mitchell on Friday and DT Spencer Johnson also on Saturday, the Bills, who released disappointing DT Larry Tripplett on Friday night, the Bills have gone a long way towards significantly improving their defense at a more than reasonable cost that will still allow them to have the financial flexibility to address the other things that they need to do this off-season to put the team in a position to be able to make a run at a playoff berth this up-coming season.
The trade for Marcus Stroud, a three-time Pro Bowler, is a very sound, solid move in every respect.
As a trade, the Bills gave up no more than any of the other teams did for a quality DT who fills what was the weakest position and the greatest need on the team. A 3rd and a 5th round pick wasn't just the "going market price" it also happened that those were the two round where the Bills already had extra picks, so that makes giving those picks up that much less painful all around.
Getting a quality, proven player like Stroud to come in with just a re-structured contract, rather than having to give him a considerable contract extension like the ones that fellow veteran DTs Corey Williams and Kris Jenkins got, can be considered a coup for the Bills' front office. Even if Stroud is going to cost Ralph Wilson more money "up-front" and there are incentives built into the re-structured contract that will result in Stroud being paid more than his deal with Jacksonville originally called for, any additional money that it may cost the Bills over the course of the contract will be money well-spent if Stroud earns it with his performance on the field. The Bills will not be locked in to paying him well into his mid-30s if he doesn't perform up to his prior standards.
If Stroud does perform up to the level that he has played in the past, the Bills will be happy to pay him, as they have shown that they were willing to do with other top performers in the past. And, in three years, who knows what the situation will be, especially if the NFL owners decide to opt out of the current CBA.
While Ralph Wilson will no doubt be concerned about what the NFL does at that point from a business perspective, at his age, who knows whether he will still be around to run the Bills then. In the meantime, Stroud will give his Bills a better chance to be successfully on the field and financially immediately. Getting Marcus Stroud and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, to agree to the deal that they did can prove to work so well for the Bills in that regard that it can only be seen as a very positive move by the Bills' newly restructured front office. And they deserve a lot of credit for getting it done.
Even though players who do not play up to the level of their contract, like Larry Tripplett, are never as bad as their critics amongst the fans make them out to be, there can be little doubt that with Marcus Stroud and Spencer Johnson joining holdovers John McCargo and Kyle Williams, the Bills are going to be in better shape at the DT position going into this coming season than they were last season. And, that was something that the Bills had to do everything that they could to try to accomplish this off-season.
While not nearly the kind of player that Marcus Stroud is, Spencer Johnson's acquisition gives the Bills much greater flexibility than they would have had had they kept Larry Tripplett.
Johnson, who played behind former-Bill Pat Williams and All-Pro Kevin Williams at defensive tackle in the Minnesota Vikings' Tampa-2 defense, is a quality back-up who, like suspended DE Anthony Hargrove, can play both DT and DE. With Marcus Stroud anchoring the middle of the defense and John McCargo's quickness, if the Bills choose to do so, Spencer Johnson could be used in a similar way to the way that the NY Giants used DE Justin Tuck during their run to the Super Bowl title last season.
Like Hargrove, Johnson is a high-energy player who has a reputation for going all-out on every snap when he is on the field. While perhaps not as fast as Hargrove on the outside, the under-sized, but very quick Johnson is very good inside and has been solid against the run in limited playing time. With three sacks in a back-up role for the Vikings, Johnson will give the Bills at least as much as a pass-rusher inside as Tripplett did and could even push John McCargo for some playing time in the Bills' DT rotation. And, unlike Tripplett, he can also give the Bills some snaps at DE if called on to do so.
Just as the addition of Marcus Stroud and Spencer Johnson should give the Bills a much better rotation at defensive tackle in the middle of their defense, the addition of Kawika Mitchell to take over from Keith Ellison in the starting lineup at WLB, along with the return of Paul Posluzny at MLB, should make the Bills considerably stronger on defense as well.
Mitchell isn't a guy who is particularly outstanding at any one thing, but he is a solid all-around player who doesn't have a lot of glaring weaknesses, either. While he wasn't the greatest MLB when he played for Kansas City, he did rack up a couple of 100 tackle seasons there and really did a good job for the New York Giants when they shifted him to WLB after he joined them last season. Mitchell, who is considerably bigger and more experienced than Ellison, is reported to be tentatively slated to remain at WLB for the Bills this season, but, with his size and past experience at MLB, he could play any one of the three linebacking positions if need be. With Mitchell, Posluzny, starting SLB Angelo Crowell, Ellison, and John DiGiorgio, the Bills now have a solid, deep and flexible LB corps.
Having added Marcus Stroud, Spencer Johnson and Kawika Mitchell on Friday and Saturday, if the Bills can add a cornerback in the draft--preferably one with the potential to push for a spot in the starting lineup as the season goes on--by mid-season the Bills should be able to put a pretty good defense on the field. While it may take some time for their new players and the returning "walking wounded" to blend effectively with the rest of the Bills' returning defense and any additions that they make through the draft, the pieces are now falling into place to allow the Bills to put together a good enough defense to make a run at a playoff berth this season and become a serious playoff contender in the very near future.
The Bills still have a ways to go on offense and still have some young players who will have to continue to mature and get better before they will be good enough overall to make a run at a Super Bowl title, but they are in a much better position to do that now than they were on Thursday night.
Kudos must go to the Bills front office for getting the Stroud trade and the Mitchell and Johnson signings done. But, they cannot sit on their laurels. There are still things that they have to do and have to show that they can get done before the team will be in a position to be the serious Super Bowl contender that they--and we Bills fans--want them to become.
But, those things are doable and these deals have now put the Bills in a much better position to do them.
PS: On a more personal note: the Stroud and Johnson deals on Saturday--as good as they were for the team and as exciting as they were for Bills fans--do not entirely make up for the lack of courtesy shown by Bills management on Friday night when it left hundreds, if not thousands of its most avid fans hanging on their computers for hours waiting for news without so much as a mention of Stroud's name or even so much as a brief mention by Chris Brown on his blog that no further news would be forth-coming on their website after a certain point on that evening!
That lack of common courtesy upset a lot of Bills fans, including this one. And, it is something that Bills management should look to immediately correct.
There are understandable reasons for an "information blackout", but, even in such circumstances, there is no reason for the team not to post a simple statement that no further information will be forth-coming in such a situation when they know that their most avid fans are anxiously waiting to hear something, anything, from them on their website.
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