John from Riverside Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 Did you know that the Bills outspent the 'big spending' Dan Snyder Washington Redskins last year? The more you know. I am more talking about who they are throwing their money at.... The redskins were worse then us the year before....yet they landed Donavan McNabb...prior to that they threw 100 million dollars at the supposid top DT, and on and on. The Redskins dont settle....they find a way to get the players they want. Now it has not parlayed out to a championship....yet.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cash Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 The phrase "building through the draft" is such a joke. It's just something that teams say to get their fans excited. Especially because they usually say that they're building through the draft instead of through free agency. Every team gets draft picks. Every team hopes to hit on all of those draft picks. If they're pretty good at drafting, they don't really need to sign many free agents, and you end up with a team like the Steelers. If they're pretty bad at drafting, they need to sign a ton of free agents, and if those free agents are good, they'll be a good team. But if they're bad at drafting and either sign crappy free agents or don't sign many free agents at all, then you get a team like the Bills. Where are these teams that are forfeiting their picks because they believe in building through FA instead of the draft? You can sort of argue that a team that makes a lot of trades (like the Jets since Ryan took over) doesn't believe in building through the draft, because they keep giving away their picks. But that strategy has been working great for the Jets. They basically traded all of last year's draft for 2 guys - Sanchez & Greene. (Maybe that doesn't count, b/c both were still draft picks.) They traded a 3rd + a 5th for Braylon Edwards, a 3rd for Antonio Cromartie, and a 4th for Santonio Holmes. All three of those moves look pretty good right now. We'll see how that 4th + 5th or 6th turns out for the Bills, but I tend to doubt that both picks combined will be half as good as Marshawn Lynch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sllib olaffub Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 One of the problems the Bills have had over the last decade is that they've had absolutely no grasp on contract timetables, player's peaking times. What I mean to say is that we've spent money on F.A.'s, but we haven't spent wisely, nor with any coordination. We've done absolutely absurd things like bringing in T.O. without having an offensive line to block for a Qb - and without having a Qb to throw him the ball. That was wasted money in football terms - although they made money off the publicity and false hope that came with him. We'd of been so much better off if we hadn't spent much on F.A.'s, and rather pooled the money over a few year's span, and then, when we were ready with, say, 60% of the puzzle, then go out and finish it with quality players. Instead, though, we can use Dwan Edwards as an example. Adding him to a front seven that lacked a run stuffing DE, or as a DT to a decent 4-3 squad, would make a lot of sense. Considering his age he'll be solid for a few more years and then start to decline. The way the Bills have worked recently, we'd grab him, but then only have the other pieces in place after he's peaked. Basically, we need to keep the roster's overall age and contract status in mind with this build. As has been mentioned, if we just go the draft route, we'll be losing guys as we're gaining. We need to concentrate on having all the pieces in place on a given year - say 2013, and be sure the major players are in place to be together for 3-4 years after that, or else we'll keep on like we have been, never having all or enough of the pieces together at the same time. That's just foolish spending, and foolish management. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Biscuit97 Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 You build through the draft. The Steelers always like guys walk and rarely sign any big name FAs. Find a franchise QB and build around him. The draft allows you to get quality talent for several years at "bargain" prices. Free agency is false gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
box0life Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Problem is no matter what you say to these free agents they won't want to come play for this team. For every free agent available, the Bills will always be the last choice they pick. That is just the way it is with this team. They have a huge disadvantage in outbidding for free agents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Biscuit97 Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Problem is no matter what you say to these free agents they won't want to come play for this team. For every free agent available, the Bills will always be the last choice they pick. That is just the way it is with this team. They have a huge disadvantage in outbidding for free agents. You overestimating players. You pay a guy enough, they will play in Alaska. But as history has shown, overpaying for FAs guarantees nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartacus Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 You build through the draft. The Steelers always like guys walk and rarely sign any big name FAs. Find a franchise QB and build around him. The draft allows you to get quality talent for several years at "bargain" prices. Free agency is false gold. that's because the Steelers actually find playmakers in the draft the Bills not so much they had a chance to trade up to get Big Ben but instead chose to waste a boatload of picks on Losman talent evaluation is seriously lacking at OBD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob in STL Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 And that may end up being what it will be...... I think that if we targeted the RIGHT free agents and combined it with a strong draft....we could compete for a wildcard next year I am just wondering if there is any chance Ralph does that. Remember the year under Wade Phillips when Mr. Wilson actually allowed us to bring in Ted Washington, Jim Jeffcoat, Chris Spielman (This might have happened over a couple of years) I am not talking about Washington Redskin type spending....but if you targed certain free agents and then added it to a strong draft that is when you can make some magic happen......what you are trying to do is create real NFL caliber type competition at positions...... I dont know....its late and Im frustrated with this team. Just thinking out loud. You are correct. The Bills have to augment good drafting with free agents. We do nbot ven need many top tier free agents, just a few key acquisitions to briung in experience and toughness. There are way too many holes and by the time we ever get two good draft classes to develop we start losing the veteran players and creating more holes all over again. Our inability to sign our own players has been a problem, although not as pronounced as the horrible draft record of the past 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartacus Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 The 2010 UFA class was sparse, so it's hard to hold it against them for not spending mega dollars just before a new CBA. That said, there will be a new CBA and I would think a team going on 11 straight seasons without a playoff appearance would make an attempt to find some quality players. Filling 2-3 positions of need in UFA allows them to use the draft to build, not maintain as they've used the selection weekend to do. I would think Doug Whaley is an improvement over Guy, and RW holds true to his promise to bring a winner to Buffalo. If they don't, that's tells a story that what they say isn't they're doing behind the scenes. It should never take 3 years to rebuild in the free agency era. Well, that is if you're more concerned with selling the team and profiting in the short term It is a cop-out to excuse the bills because it was a lean year in free agency The Bills had the rights on 2 restricted free agents who would be vast improvements over the current OL imposters again, the talent evaluators blew it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphean Bills Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 The phrase "building through the draft" is such a joke. It's just something that teams say to get their fans excited. Especially because they usually say that they're building through the draft instead of through free agency. Every team gets draft picks. Every team hopes to hit on all of those draft picks. If they're pretty good at drafting, they don't really need to sign many free agents, and you end up with a team like the Steelers. If they're pretty bad at drafting, they need to sign a ton of free agents, and if those free agents are good, they'll be a good team. But if they're bad at drafting and either sign crappy free agents or don't sign many free agents at all, then you get a team like the Bills. Well said. The Steelers are a well managed small market team and they can draft well because they have strategic planning at the organizational level that is bigger than any individual. "Building through the draft" is nugatory hooey. Every team drafts and adds players via the draft to their team. The difference is that good teams draft well, whereas bad teams draft poorly. The Bills are a bad team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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