Bills Are Falling Way Behind In FA In The AFC East

[raphael120]

Anyone out there got the exact numbers?

I got for the Bills:

Fred Taylor
Hangartner (signed)
Coles
Fitzpatrick (signed)
Simmons
June
Florence (signed)
Deshawn Foster
Kevin Jones
Joey Galloway
Keiaho
Winborn


Miami had about 5 visits total and signed 3 of them.

Grove, Berger, Gibril Wilson

New England had Banta-Cain, Listorti, Taylor, and Springs sign so far.

Btw, NE had Galloway visit their team too. Puh...gee I wonder what team he'll pick?

Jets had Bart Scott, Lito Sheppard, Jim Leonard, and Bajema sign.

They've had quite a few FA visits also.

But just look at the quality of the FA signed by the other 3 teams. Each has signed an impactful player. Miami signed Wilson, New England signed Banta-Cain and Fred Taylor, and the Jets are going crazy with Scott and Sheppard and to an extent Leonard.

And Hangartner is going to make us suddently compete better with these 3 teams? Fitzpatrick? A stud draft pick? I'm thinking no.

Unless there is a major trade the Bills pull off, we're being left in the dust hardcore. The way this is going we're definitely going to be 0-6 in the division again and therefore our chances of a playoff this year is 0%.

Oh, and Jauron. No wonder people in the press are saying this is the most disgruntled Bills fans have ever been. Look at the **** we have to put up with. OUR TEAM HAS TO PLAY A GAME IN CANADA! That's EMBARRASING ENOUGH! Let alone everything else that is embarrassing about this team...ugh...but I'm stupid, I'm a stupid fan and I'll show up for the first few games but unless theres another 4-0 run or something like that, I'm going to stop caring. I predicted the day they kept Jauron on that this team was crap. And pretty much I'm just going to stick around long enough this season to see if I'm right at this point.

[B-DON]

Oh man, here we go again!!

[jimbohastle51]

i hate to do it but i have to agree. all 3 of our division rivals have made moves to better there roster and we havnt to this point. we are way behind them and no one can argue that i mean seriously we lost all 6 division games last year, and after the additions by our division rivals we are not in a good situation at all. i wouldnt want to be the jets with our team without a QB now. no way our O-line can stop there blitz's especially knowing that our new center was beaten up for 3 years by kris jenkins at carolina (and yes he was beaten up on in practice, if he wasnt he would have one the starting job there)

[don137]

I will always root for them every Sunday but I definitely feel this team does not have the ownership, front office and coaching staff that can compete in the Arena Football League let alone the NFL. I have resigned the fact that they will not compete as long as Ralph owns this team.
The sad part is the worst is yet to come. This front office does worse in the draft than free agency.

[SquishDaFish]

Pats arent going to sign Galloway now after trading for Lewis

[X-Era]

Gotta be honest... not a single one of the signings by any other AFCE team is a big signing IMO.

The closest is Bart Scott, but before the franchise tags got handed out, he wasnt even a top 3 LB available this year. Suggs, Lewis, Dansby. Its not like the guy is a perrenial pro-bowler.

All of the rest of those signings are ho hum to me.

The problem is that the Bills arent seizing the day by signing or trading for pro-bowlers to get back into the race with these teams. They are already ahead of us.

Instead were going the same route.

[Mad Bomber]

The problem is that the Bills arent seizing the day by signing or trading for pro-bowlers to get back into the race with these teams. They are already ahead of us.

Instead were going the same route.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

- Albert Einstein

[Jeff1220]

Gotta be honest... not a single one of the signings by any other AFCE team is a big signing IMO.

The closest is Bart Scott, but before the franchise tags got handed out, he wasnt even a top 3 LB available this year. Suggs, Lewis, Dansby. Its not like the guy is a perrenial pro-bowler.

All of the rest of those signings are ho hum to me.

The problem is that the Bills arent seizing the day by signing or trading for pro-bowlers to get back into the race with these teams. They are already ahead of us.

Instead were going the same route.

Make no mistake. Bart Scott is a very very good LBer and instantly makes that Jets D much better. Many fans here in Baltimore were hoping to get him re-signed more than Ray Lewis.

[gil]

I'm not concerned with winning the offseason FA perception battle - hopefully they sign a few more guys who can help us.

How many times have the dolphins won the offseason FA bonanza, or the redskins, the cowboys, or the jets or jacksonville last year.

Just because somebody grades out your offseason moves at an A doesn't mean diddly squat when it comes to the season.

[mybills]

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

- Albert Einstein
"I'm a patient person. I must be, in order to keep my sanity."

- Bills fan stuck in NE.

[billogic99]

FA is not where you want to get your best players, you want to get your depth and maybe a starter or two, but your key talent needs to come from the draft. Yes we have issue there too, but FA isn't going to make or break this team. I don't know how many times we've seen teams go nuts and pay out the wazoo for multiple big name FA's an not even make the playoffs the Jets and Redskins come to mind.

I think the bigger problem for the Bills is the guy's in charge, Ralph is super cheap, and whomever is making the final decisions on the draft picks is not getting it done. This teams problems aren't due to poor FA's additions, it's due to poor coaching, poor GM decisions, and just a bad owner. I'll trade all the Albert Haynesworths, Bart Scotts and Anquan Boldins for an Owner, FO and HC that have a frikin clue.

[Bills Juggernaut]

I'm not concerned with winning the offseason FA perception battle - hopefully they sign a few more guys who can help us.

How many times have the dolphins won the offseason FA bonanza, or the redskins, the cowboys, or the jets or jacksonville last year.

Just because somebody grades out your offseason moves at an A doesn't mean diddly squat when it comes to the season.


Yeah, and how many of those teams made it to the playoffs in the last 9 years since we've haven't been there?

I can understand it if we had made it once or twice and discvoered that being aggersive in FA dosen't really work to get you a SB ring, but we can't say that for sure.

I can say for sure that the route we are taking dosen't, as proof of the playoff drought we've been in.

[OpIv37]

numbers are irrelevant. It's filling holes and quality over quantity. But your points hold true: our opponents, who were already better than us, have filled some holes and generally improved while we spin our wheels yet again.

[EDS]

Gotta be honest... not a single one of the signings by any other AFCE team is a big signing IMO.

The closest is Bart Scott, but before the franchise tags got handed out, he wasnt even a top 3 LB available this year. Suggs, Lewis, Dansby. Its not like the guy is a perrenial pro-bowler.

All of the rest of those signings are ho hum to me.

The problem is that the Bills arent seizing the day by signing or trading for pro-bowlers to get back into the race with these teams. They are already ahead of us.

Instead were going the same route.

If the Bills signed Scott he would instantly be the best linebacker on the team, so I would consider signing him a legitimate talent upgrade for the Jets as well.

[Jeff1220]

numbers are irrelevant. It's filling holes and quality over quantity. But your points hold true: our opponents, who were already better than us, have filled some holes and generally improved while we spin our wheels yet again.

No more spinning wheels, Op. This team is officially in reverse.:tired:

[bigbub2352]

I think the thing that has bothered me personally the most is the fact that we absolutly sucked last year and have concentrated more on signing our own players rather than try and improve depth thru FA,
I am not saying to sign everyone and anyone, but for example Pat THomas came in for a visit he would be an instant up grade over Corto, Costanzo, and Ellison and he would be an excellent backup and ST player,
Also the fact that we seem to lack direction on what we are trying to accomplish as a football team
We got alot of holes and depth issues here and it seems like we are not in any better of a siutation since FA began over a week ago

[Ickybaluky]

You can't look at FA without looking at the overall strategy of the team. It is true each team has needs, but you have to fit the pieces together in all methods of procurement (draft/FA/trade).

For instance, in the Pats case, their strategy seems to indicate their plan on draft day:

1) They are getting role players to improve depth on offense (Fred Taylor, Chris Baker, Greg Lewis). Given them addressing those needs, it would indicate a defense-heavy draft. It wouldn't surprise me if they add more guys on offense, maybe a FB and another WR, in FA.

2) They are looking at a lot of veteran CB. Given they drafted a couple CB last year, it shows they are looking for veteran CB to help until those guys are ready.

3) They haven't addressed their pass rush, a huge need. I would expect that to be a big investment on draft day.

4) They haven't signed any big-money guys. This is because they have several of their own key players to sign and it will take a lot of money. They are saving their money for their own guys.

5) They haven't signed any true "unrestricted" guys. The guys they have signed were cut from other teams. Those types of players don't count towards the compensation pick system. The Pats don't have any big-time players who signed elsewhere, but Heath Evans, Lamont Jordan or Jabar Gaffney or Lonie Paxton might bring back a late-round comp pick because their contracts were for more than the minimum. Signing an "unrestricted" guy (as opposed to a cut guy) would jeopardize that, so the value has to be taken into account when making a signing.

Looking at the Bills:

1) They seem hell-bent on bringing in a vet WR and RB. This tells me they prefer to let the guys they have develop, and not address those in the draft.

2) They haven't addressed a huge need at TE, so I expect that to be a focus in the draft, especially considering they let Royal go.

3) They are bringing in a lot of cover-2 LB. If they can find one or two that fit they can focus elsewhere in the draft.

4) They did bring in an interior OL, but they lost one as well. It looks like OL could be a focus in the draft.

5) They haven't looked to upgrade their front-4, DE or DT. That means they likely make it a priority on draft day.

6) Signing Florence means they are probably set in the secondary.

7) In terms of Comp picks, Greer would probably qualify for one in a middle round (4th?), but both Hangartner and Fitzpatrick offset that signing so they may not get it. Florence was cut, so he doesn't count towards the Compensary process.

So their you have it. The Bills have addressed CB and look to want to address WR and LB. Their draft strategy seems to focus on DE, DT, TE, OL.

[mybills]

They'll draft 3,000 TE's this time, like they drafted 3,000 CB's last year.

/sarcasm

[tat2dmike77]

The jets have been throwing around money in FA for the past couple of years now. How many playoff wins do they again?

[Mudflap1]

You also have to look at some things that happened outside of free agency to get an even better feeling of the overall landscape:

Bills

1. Dockery was cut and is currently replaced by Kirk Chambers.
2. Greer was not re-signed.
3. Lynch is likely going to get suspended.
4. Royal (starting tight end, although largely useless) was cut.
5. Both centers were left go via free agency.

Patriots

1. Getting Tom Brady back.
2. Traded Matt Cassel for a 2nd round pick.

Jets

1. Brett Favre retired (you can look at that as a positive or a negative for them I guess).
2. Rex Ryan is the new head coach (you can look at this as a positive or a negative, but he has brought in some good talent so far).

Dolphins

(No major moves outside of free agency?)

My point is, the Bills have, as it stands now, made themselves worse outside of free agency, and certainly New England has gotten stronger, probably the Jets also.

[X-Era]

Make no mistake. Bart Scott is a very very good LBer and instantly makes that Jets D much better. Many fans here in Baltimore were hoping to get him re-signed more than Ray Lewis.

Hes a solid LBer I agree.

But hes not a pro-bowler. There is a difference

[Jeff1220]

Hes a solid LBer I agree.

But hes not a pro-bowler. There is a difference

Not yet anyway. Remember when the Bills signed TKO and what a big signing it was - he didn't make his first pro bowl until after signing with Buffalo.