Rethinking how well TD did in the offseason

[Judge]

W/O question, TD greatly improved this team by trading for Drew Bledsoe, drafting Mike Williams, and signing free agent Mike Hollis. These guys stepped right in and have improved critical need areas on the team- especially, obviously, DREW!

What about the rest of the moves? Does anyone else think some of the moves, that looked good at the time, are questionable looking back?

London Fletcher- still considered a good move in my opinion. Maybe not a Pro Bowler here yet, but he is important to the D.

Trey Teague- good signing, showing selflessness by accepting move to center after signing as OT.

Charlie Rogers- good trade.

Eddie Robinson- I don't know.

Billy Jenkins- where is he? He got beat out by Coy Wire- wasn't supposed to happen that way!

Dave Moore- a wasted move so far.

Charles Johnson- not used much- worth it, or could $ be used better if the Bills had rookie WR's backing up?

Looking back, it might have made more sense to pass on Moore and Jenkins and sign a DT to shore up the D-Line, which is a clear weakness.

TD still improved this team from last year. I used to give him an A+, but now he might be in the A-/B+ territory!

[THATHURMANATOR]

I will still give him an A+. He maybe could have passed on Moore but it is still early.

[Pandaman]

Let's see what happens with Riemersma - Moore was insurance.

[Dozerdog]

Hollis was a huge move.

So far, Billy Jenkins is the only real dissapointment- he's been burned a few times.

Moore and Johnson are veterans who weren't expected to do mutch anyway offensively. Johnson is a locker room guy and moore is a grunt / blocker.

The Bills have been scoring via the air mostly so Moore doesn't get in the game during goal line situations mutch

[lordofgun]

Good post Judge!

I'm ok with Fletcher. Has anyone watched Sam Cowart this year so far??? HE LOOKS TERRIBLE! He is constantly overpursuing, which is allowing opposing RBs to cutback and gain BIG yards. I don't know if he's still rusty, or what, but he has not looked good this year.

[Dozerdog]

And both Moore and Johnson were vet minimum- what DT were you eyeing at thet price?

You need to look at those guys and who they replaced- Moore over Sheldon Jackson and CJ over McDaniels / Germany. Both of those guys were hobbled and unable to perform.

[JayWood]

We have only played three games, I think that we need to wait a little longer before we start writing some guys off. On the offensive side of the ball TD has rebuilt this team. Step two will be to resign the key free agents we have and to begin retooling the defense. This is a rebuilding project guys, you cant fix everything all at once. One thing at a time, and in the end when all the pieces are put together we are going to have on hell of a team...and there is no one i would rather have than TD leading the way!!

[WG]

Nice post Judge!

I'll agree for the most part. But you know I've gotta disagree somewhere, and I do. :D

Bledsoe: He's plain and simply playing the best ball of his career and is on pace to have his best year ever!!!

Reed: OUTSTANDING 2nd round pick!

Mike Williams: A shoe-in for success in the NFL.

Wire: A mid-round steal.

FAcy is where I have my issues w/ TD's movements.

Teague is overpaid at $2.5M to play Center unless he becomes one of the better centers in the league. He is also making some bad snaps. I merely think we could have done better for a Center.

Fletcher I suppose is solid. But he's made a few "Pop-Warner" open-field tackles as well. He's not earning the bucks at this point, but it's early too. I am also not seeing the side-to-side movement from him that is expected for LBs who are paid at that level.

Robinson, he's clearly on the downside of his career and should only be a backup next year. His strength is supposed to be pass-defending, and I just haven't seen a strong pass-D LB here. OK, certainly not great. I don't think he's getting paid all that much though, but I forget.

Jenkins, well, we all knew he was no game-breaker. So there should be no disappointment there. He's good depth and we can be thankful that Wire has played well enough to beat him out. Our secondary, other than Watson, is solid.

Charlie Rogers: Excellent pickup.

Dave Moore: Hasn't been asked to do anything. If given the nod for whatever reason, I'm sure he'd be more than adequate.

I'd like to see less of an emphasis on picking up old Pittsburgh players from here on out. I'm not sure one of them has worked out well.

Johnson, average, at best.
Farris, damaged goods
Huntley, nothing special as could have easily been determined before bringing him here

To TD's credit however, this past offseason, he had to pick up players like Teague, not knowing who was playing where and who most of our starters would be. That's tough. I'm sure he didn't envision Teague starting at Center although he knew he could try him there.

This next offseason we will be much more poised to go get players to fill very specific roles. We are in the envioius position of almost being able to completely ignore our offense. We can expend our money on DTs, a DE if necessary, and some LBs. Then depth.

[JefftheBillsfan]

i think TD did a great job...maybe we overpaid for Teague though. He is better than Conanty, but that much better? But its not fair of us to second guess him now. At that point we didn't have Mike Williams either. BTW...how has Roy Williams looked this year? I haven't gotten the opportunity to see him play yet.

[WG]

Yeah, given the circumstances he did do a good job. The bar gets raised this offseason.

Last year, we had some real issues as to the basic structure of this team. This coming offseason that will not be the case.

TD can go out and doesn't need to shop for linemen who can play 2 or 3 positions. He can afford to pursue a good solid DT or two, perhaps one as a backup. He can afford to go after an oustanding LB to replace Robinson.

We are 80% in tact and solid in our secondary and all-around on offense and OK on STs. Coaching may be the primary issue there.

So that means our focus can be on specific players for the DL and in the LBing ranks.

I'd like to see us grab a monster DT and another that is quite capable of playing backup and replace a starter if necessary or to rotate. I'd also like to see us grab a premier OLB. If we don't have a player step up and play DE well opposite Schobel, then I'd like to see a nice DE acquisition as well.

[WG]

Another OL as depth wouldn't hurt either. We've been fortunate so far so as not to have had any serious injuries on our OL.

[Creemoredrinker]

:5:

It is waaaaaaaaaaaaay too early for this type of analysis. A lot of Tom's moves will make perfect sense in the long run -- for example, when Jay is cut loose before the start of next year.

Please be patient and keep the faith.:up:

[Captain gameboy]

I agree with everything said on this thread so far. Good subject Judge. My question is can TD "finish." The team he built in Pittsburgh was good, but didn't win a Super Bowl. In my view, our offense, barring injury, will be good enough next year to run the table. Our defense is a year and a half behind. TD is known as a tough negotiator who doesn't usually overypay-good in the draft, but not that attractive to FA's. Can he put the four people in place to get it done? One starting LB, one starting DT, one starting DE and someone in the secondary. We have a good, young team that will compete for years, but getting to the playoffs is not satisfactory over a three year period. We must win one. I like where we're headed, but this offseason will determine his true skill.

[WG]

Moore isn't the answer for the long run. He's like 32 or 33 too. I suppose that's not that old for a TE.

I just hope we don't jinx the rest of the season by all the positive talk about Drew, Price, Reed, etc.

[TigerJ]

I think that TD's trademark is to make few big bets (high priced potential stars). Drew Bledsoe is the obvious exception. For the most part TD shoots for value. If he's wrong about how much a player will contribute then he will not have lost that much. For example, for the most part we're not too happy with Eddie Robinson who appears not to have a whole lot left. But TD did not have to mortgage the franchise to sign him. I doubt his departure will put us in salary cap hell next year. TD does not have to be right with every acquizition. He just has to be right more than he's wrong. It's a careful style of management and doesn't require rocket scientist type brains.

[JayWood]

I do agree with wys that the bar will be raised for TD during this offseason...but damn people we couldnt wait for the season to begin and here we are in the start of an exciting year and we are talking about the offseason...STOP!!!

[Creemoredrinker]

Originally posted by JayWood
I do agree with wys that the bar will be raised for TD during this offseason...but damn people we couldnt wait for the season to begin and here we are in the start of an exciting year and we are talking about the offseason...STOP!!!

:fabulous:

Let the love shine in. Out with the bad thoughts. In with the good.

[Butch]

I think it is too early to try and judge what TD did this offseason, but I do think we may have overpaid for Teague, but I think it is too early to say for certain. And even though guys like Johnson and Moore haven't done anything, FA signings don't need to be bonafide starters, it is ok to sign FA for added depth in case of an injury.

[Creemoredrinker]

Originally posted by Butch
I think it is too early to try and judge what TD did this offseason, but I do think we may have overpaid for Teague, but I think it is too early to say for certain. And even though guys like Johnson and Moore haven't done anything, FA signings don't need to be bonafide starters, it is ok to sign FA for added depth in case of an injury.