anyone else not impressed by the FA?

[trapezeus]

It's not that i'm not impressed, but i definitely have a very tempered reaction to the signings. I feel like we went to a garage sale, bought a couple items and are trying to pass them on as shiny new items that everyone should have wanted, despite being on sale.

1. Mitchell - average LB stats. Played well against the bills and in the playoffs. Just won a superbowl, got his payday and may be in the prime and/or tail end of his career. We still don't have an adequate pass rush at the time of his signing.
2. Stroud - could be great, could be average. Has had several injuries. He did not get a huge payday so he could have incentive to prove people wrong. He obviously did not impress the jags enough that they took picks in the mid rounds.
3. Johnson - i realize he hasn't signed, but everyone is super high on this guy. i know nothing of him. in fact all the WR other than Hackett, i haven't heard much of. I can't imagine that size is so precious to us in a deep WR class that we should sign someone who is an underperformer and/or expensive relative to new WR from teh draft
4. TE free Agents - all the TE's that have visited or are rumored haven't shown promise as the lead TE. Hopefully the one we pick is a diamond in the rough. but that seems to be the case for all these guys.

in the end, i'm excited that we're looking through FA and being active, i'm just not ready to say that we've made any substantial improvements until i see it in week 1.

[m1orenz]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

you seem like the type of poster who would ***** even if the bills signed freeny to a 7 yr $10mil contract

nothing could every make you happy. It has been a very good offseason so far

[gr8slayer]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

It's not that i'm not impressed, but i definitely have a very tempered reaction to the signings. I feel like we went to a garage sale, bought a couple items and are trying to pass them on as shiny new items that everyone should have wanted, despite being on sale.

1. Mitchell - average LB stats. Played well against the bills and in the playoffs. Just won a superbowl, got his payday and may be in the prime and/or tail end of his career. We still don't have an adequate pass rush at the time of his signing.
Mitchell is not an average LB and will instantly be our best LB.

2. Stroud - could be great, could be average. Has had several injuries. He did not get a huge payday so he could have incentive to prove people wrong. He obviously did not impress the jags enough that they took picks in the mid rounds.
This is BS, players get traded every year because of various reasons. Just because they traded him doesn't mean they think he's a lesser player. His injury is a huge question mark but before it he was an elite level player. Perhaps his injury will allow him to return to form. But again, it's an upgrade and he'll instantly be our best DL.

3. Johnson - i realize he hasn't signed, but everyone is super high on this guy. i know nothing of him. in fact all the WR other than Hackett, i haven't heard much of. I can't imagine that size is so precious to us in a deep WR class that we should sign someone who is an underperformer and/or expensive relative to new WR from teh draft
He's not even our problem yet and likely won't be so why are you worried?

4. TE free Agents - all the TE's that have visited or are rumored haven't shown promise as the lead TE. Hopefully the one we pick is a diamond in the rough. but that seems to be the case for all these guys.
Again, none of them are signed so who cares?

in the end, i'm excited that we're looking through FA and being active, i'm just not ready to say that we've made any substantial improvements until i see it in week 1.

How can you be unimpressed with upgrading at positions of need? I'm Wilson's biggest critic and I think he's done an excellent job at getting the right people in here.

[Meathead]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

[trapezeus]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

you seem like the poster who was enthralled by everything the organization has done from 2000 through 2007.

i'm tired of seeing everyone go crazy about the scraps being the missing links. i'll be excited when edwards shows that he is the guy we are all hoping for him to be.

I'll be excited when the d can get off the field on 3rd and long. I'll be excited when 3rd and 3 is a manageable 3rd down conversion.

It's just nauseating to see everyone assume that these changes are upgrades when those changes have not been upgrades in years past.

[OpIv37]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

we have a long way to go, but all the guys we got are better than who we had. And Stroud and Mitchell were close to the best available at their position (Mitchell's no Briggs but he'll probably be a better value at the end of the day).

As far as Johnson, we have crap after Evans at WR and there isn't much available in FA. The FO is doing what they can to improve with who's available. Would you rather have overpaid locker room cancers like Moss or Berrian? Don't forget that Johnson was 3rd string behind two excellent receivers in Arizona, so there is a bit of an unknown factor there.

[justasportsfan]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

question is, has the team gotten better (on paper) by these additions? Yes. Anytime that happens it's impressive especially if we didn't dish out a ton to aqcuire these players.

[justasportsfan]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

you seem like the poster who was enthralled by everything the organization has done from 2000 through 2007.

i'm tired of seeing everyone go crazy about the scraps being the missing links. i'll be excited when edwards shows that he is the guy we are all hoping for him to be.

I'll be excited when the d can get off the field on 3rd and long. I'll be excited when 3rd and 3 is a manageable 3rd down conversion.

It's just nauseating to see everyone assume that these changes are upgrades when those changes have not been upgrades in years past.

I take it you'd be impressed if we did nothing instead of upgrading? NObody is going crazy We're just happy that we are trying to get better. We'll go crazy if we win the sb.

[OpIv37]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

question is, has the team gotten better (on paper) by these additions? Yes. Anytime that happens it's impressive especially if we didn't dish out a ton to aqcuire these players.

ha- that's the Cliff's Notes version of what I just said. It's one of those rare times where we agree (although those seem to be getting more frequent lately).

[gr8slayer]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

you seem like the poster who was enthralled by everything the organization has done from 2000 through 2007.

i'm tired of seeing everyone go crazy about the scraps being the missing links. i'll be excited when edwards shows that he is the guy we are all hoping for him to be.

I'll be excited when the d can get off the field on 3rd and long. I'll be excited when 3rd and 3 is a manageable 3rd down conversion.

It's just nauseating to see everyone assume that these changes are upgrades when those changes have not been upgrades in years past.

Please, find posts where I'm "enthralled" by anything this organization has done....

I'll be enthralled when Wilson brings home the Lombardi, but even with that pessimistic view on things even I can admit it when the FO does a good job.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

we have a long way to go, but all the guys we got are better than who we had. And Stroud and Mitchell were close to the best available at their position (Mitchell's no Briggs but he'll probably be a better value at the end of the day).

As far as Johnson, we have crap after Evans at WR and there isn't much available in FA. The FO is doing what they can to improve with who's available. Would you rather have overpaid locker room cancers like Moss or Berrian? Don't forget that Johnson was 3rd string behind two excellent receivers in Arizona, so there is a bit of an unknown factor there.

Trapezeus I think you're alone on this one. If even OpIv is speaking positively about our signings, you know they're doing a decent job.

[OpIv37]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

I'll back gr8 up on this one- he takes a lot of heat around here for being hard on the organization, particularly on Wilson. He's definitely not a homer or a FO cheerleader.

[Meathead]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

stroud upgrade over tripplet - massive
mitchell upgrade over ellison - big
johnson upgrade over reed/parrish - big
my grandma upgrade over our tight ends - significant

[Jeff1220]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

Mitchell is an underrated signing. I loved what I saw of the guy in the end of the season, the playoffs, and the Super Bowl. Don't forget, it was his first (and only) year in the Giant's system and was probably just truly getting to point where his actions were automatic.

Stroud is at worst a huge huge huge upgrade over Ellison. Injury or not, the guy is a three time PBer and one of the best run stuffers in the league. I remember when Ted Washington was in his early 30s and everyone was down on him because of his ankles/knees, yet he went on to play about 5 more years of very good fat guy football.

Stephenson is probably about an immediate push with Triplett, but with way more upside.

If the Bills sign B. Johnson, he would be a great compliment to Evans. Being behind Fitz and Boldin isn't exactly an indictment on his talent; it's a compliment to their's.

I'm not really too crazy about any of the FA TEs either.

[trapezeus]

Re: anyone else not impressed by the FA?

we have a long way to go, but all the guys we got are better than who we had. And Stroud and Mitchell were close to the best available at their position (Mitchell's no Briggs but he'll probably be a better value at the end of the day).

As far as Johnson, we have crap after Evans at WR and there isn't much available in FA. The FO is doing what they can to improve with who's available. Would you rather have overpaid locker room cancers like Moss or Berrian? Don't forget that Johnson was 3rd string behind two excellent receivers in Arizona, so there is a bit of an unknown factor there.

my post was just to show some level of caution. it's exciting that we're trying to improve. I actually like that we're trying to get the value players out there. But by going for those guys vs proven commodities, you have a chance for disappointment. It could turn out to be awesome additions. And i hope for that. But you see some posters expecting stroud to be our savior, and Mitchell to instanteously be able to give the bills a better pass rush and help against the run. i'll believe it when i see it.

For the last 8 years, i've blindly believed our FO was making the right changes, and it never panned out. So this year i'm takinga cautious approach. Hopefully that gives us different results. I want Playoffs more than anything.