Whilst fans are loathed to accept this, the work of Nix and Galley will require 2 years to bear real benefits.
There is a tendancy to try to fix all of our problems in one offseason and the truth of it is, it is simply not possible. Rome was not built in a day and neither will this franchise be.
The failure so far to agree on the CBA muddies the waters because free agency pickings will be even slimmer. Even if it was agreed to, the Bills ability to compete with teams undergoing a makeover like the likes of Washington, Seattle etc are limited.
We have seen ourselves be burnt before in Free Agency. When players are released or not resigned it is often because they are on the downside of their careers and have lost a step, or are demanding ridiculous amounts of money which they will never play up to. Only very occasionally it is because a team changes its system and they no longer fit. A player who might hit the market under those circumstances is Aaron Kampman who has struggled in the 3-4.
If Nix is therefore going to focus on the draft, we cannot expect to get a franchise QB and ProBowl LT in the same draft starting from Day1, whilst also looking at switching to a 3-4 whilst replacing players who seem destined not to be resigned likes Owens and Reed. It is simply not physically possible.
The question fans must ask is will Nix and Galley look at the QB and LT prospects in both 2010 and 2011, and based on this work out which way to jump. With a number of junior LTs out this year (Davis, Campbell, Bulaga) compared to junior QBs staying in school (Locker, Mallett, Devlin etc) they may feel they will get better value fixing the OL first .... considering its a 2 year project
After all you don't park your shiny new Merc in the roughest area of town waiting for it to be vandalised - you don't give a rookie QB $60m without proper protection.
There is a tendancy to try to fix all of our problems in one offseason and the truth of it is, it is simply not possible. Rome was not built in a day and neither will this franchise be.
The failure so far to agree on the CBA muddies the waters because free agency pickings will be even slimmer. Even if it was agreed to, the Bills ability to compete with teams undergoing a makeover like the likes of Washington, Seattle etc are limited.
We have seen ourselves be burnt before in Free Agency. When players are released or not resigned it is often because they are on the downside of their careers and have lost a step, or are demanding ridiculous amounts of money which they will never play up to. Only very occasionally it is because a team changes its system and they no longer fit. A player who might hit the market under those circumstances is Aaron Kampman who has struggled in the 3-4.
If Nix is therefore going to focus on the draft, we cannot expect to get a franchise QB and ProBowl LT in the same draft starting from Day1, whilst also looking at switching to a 3-4 whilst replacing players who seem destined not to be resigned likes Owens and Reed. It is simply not physically possible.
The question fans must ask is will Nix and Galley look at the QB and LT prospects in both 2010 and 2011, and based on this work out which way to jump. With a number of junior LTs out this year (Davis, Campbell, Bulaga) compared to junior QBs staying in school (Locker, Mallett, Devlin etc) they may feel they will get better value fixing the OL first .... considering its a 2 year project
After all you don't park your shiny new Merc in the roughest area of town waiting for it to be vandalised - you don't give a rookie QB $60m without proper protection.
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