Most of the desirable fruit has been plucked from the NFL's free agent tree and so far the Bills have been able to make just a marginal improvement on the team that finished 6-10 last season.
Only defensive tackle Larry Triplett and blocking tight end Robert Royal would be among anyone's top 50 free agents with the big disappointment being the bidding-war loss of defensive tackle Ryan Pickett to Green Bay.
If Pickett had found the Bills more to his liking than the Packers, it would have gone far in repairing the gaping hole in the middle of their defensive line when confronted by an opponent with a strong running attack. Making Pickett the partner of Triplett would also have allowed Buffalo to use the eighth selection in the draft to strengthen another weakness, safety, by presenting a possible chance to pick Michael Huff, the Texas star. Now it seems vital that the Bills draft a monster in the middle, namely Oregon defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, in order to keep blockers off undersized middle linebacker London Fletcher and surgically repaired Takeo Spikes. It's been years since the Bills have been in position to acquire a defender of Ngata's size and ability. In fact the only super-big man who came to the team during Tom Donahoe's reign as general manager was Mike Williams, now an unhappy memory.
Only defensive tackle Larry Triplett and blocking tight end Robert Royal would be among anyone's top 50 free agents with the big disappointment being the bidding-war loss of defensive tackle Ryan Pickett to Green Bay.
If Pickett had found the Bills more to his liking than the Packers, it would have gone far in repairing the gaping hole in the middle of their defensive line when confronted by an opponent with a strong running attack. Making Pickett the partner of Triplett would also have allowed Buffalo to use the eighth selection in the draft to strengthen another weakness, safety, by presenting a possible chance to pick Michael Huff, the Texas star. Now it seems vital that the Bills draft a monster in the middle, namely Oregon defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, in order to keep blockers off undersized middle linebacker London Fletcher and surgically repaired Takeo Spikes. It's been years since the Bills have been in position to acquire a defender of Ngata's size and ability. In fact the only super-big man who came to the team during Tom Donahoe's reign as general manager was Mike Williams, now an unhappy memory.
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