8 Visits to Buffalo, No Signings...

[raphael120]

They're truckin...but they're in 1rst gear so far.

I'm hoping for an announcement sometime during the night or this weekend with a flurry of answers to our questions.

[Slim]

They're truckin...but they're in 1rst gear so far.

I'm hoping for an announcement sometime during the night or this weekend with a flurry of answers to our questions.

I want some tonight. And not just Hangartner.

[bigbub2352]

who are the 8?
coles
fitzpatrick are the only ones confirmed
kendal simmons
geoff gangartner
and...

[Slim]

who are the 8?
coles
fitzpatrick are the only ones confirmed
kendal simmons
geoff gangartner
and...

Winborn, Florence, Taylor. 7.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

It hasn't dawned on a lot of the mid- and lower-level free agents and their agents that they are the ones who are going to feel the effects of the economic slowdown the most this offseason.

The top-tier free agents, like Haynesworth, etc., are going to get paid the big bucks, as they have in past years. But, the guys who aren't in that class as players are going to find out that they are not going to be offered the kind of money that they thought that they were going to get as free agents.

The guys on NFL Network were talking about this and said that reality would begin to set in about Wednesday or Thursday of this coming week as the players and agents begin to realize that the money is just not going to be there for the mid-level FAs as it was in prior years, but I think that it is already starting to happen. A few teams have been out there throwing money around trying to gobble up the high-priced, top-tier free agents, but, if you notice, most of the teams have been pretty quiet in terms of actually signing players.

It should be noted that far more free agents have been re-signing with their old teams, often at reduced prices, than in prior years. Brandon Moore re-signed with the Jets for $ 4 million per year, less than he was looking to get. Keamoeatu went back to the Steelers. T.Spikes took less than last year to re-up with San Fran, etc. Think about this: D.Dockery is going from making almost $ 8 million per to $ 5 million per year.

None of the guys--other than F. Taylor (who was admittedly looking for a winning team with an immediate shot at a SB) and, perhaps, L.Coles--that the Bills have had in for a visit could really be considered a top-tier free agent. If the Bills offered them contracts in line with what are expected to be the new economic realities for mid-level and lower-level free agents, it shouldn't be surprising that they didn't accept those terms right away--their agents would probably want to shop around and see what kind of interest other teams might have in signing them and at what terms first. That doesn't mean that the Bills might not end up getting some of those players eventually, however.

One thing that the guys on the NFL Network (Scheffter and Woodson were two of the guys who talked about this) mentioned was that a number of teams seemed to be looking more at trying to lock up their own young players rather than pay big-money in free agency. And, they said that, given the way that a fairly high percentage of free agents haven't ended up playing up to the money that they got, this might be the smarter approach.

If the Bills don't sign any big-money free agents, but just fill the holes in their roster with mid-level free agents, I won't be unhappy--so long as they then use their money to lock up their core players, like Peters, Edwards, Poz, etc. I might like to see the team make a big splash in free agency with some big-name signings and be disappointed if they don't do that, but I would be able to accept that if they were to turn around and come to a long-term agreement with one or more of their own core players who would be a big-time free agent if they didn't lock him up and he hit the free agent market in a couple of years.

But, if they are going to do that, they had better pick the right guys to lock up with long-term deals and do a better job of finding elite level players in the draft.

[kernowboy]

LTBF, totally agree.

Why massively overpay for average players?

There has been some grumbling about the players we seem to be courting at present but for me the bottom line is that players like Hangartner won't cost the earth and are young enough to have upside.

Lets focus on this, signing our talented players, and making sure we have a decent Day2 at the draft

[Jan Reimers]

The trouble is, our our existing talent - sans Dockery, Royal, Crowell and Greer - are a 7-9 group. We really need an infusion of new blood to get this thing turned around.

It looks like our new blood is goling to be a little thin.

[yordad]

Actually, I think we would have been better then 7-9 had Crowell not went down. Not that that makes your point less valid.