How did Polian/Levy do at keeping their own?

[MrLocke]

I have a question for the older members of the board. I was a die-hard Bills fan in my younger years, but was clueless about front office matters. I was only born in 1984 so I think I was 6 for the first SB. Anyway TD seemed like a show-off in Pittsburgh and Buffalo, to me anyway. It was like he had to let stars go to show off how good he was in the draft that he could replace players like Kevin Greene and Chad Brown through his draft picks.

 

I know Polian will not spend money to keep linebackers around based on what he has done in Indy. He let Marcus Washington go, Mike Peterson go and David Thornton. How was he when he ran things in Buffalo? Do you think Levy will be the same way? If TD was still GM I would say no way that Nate stays, but Levy seems like he would be more loyal and reward players who do good by him. Anyway is How Polian ran the team any indication of how Marv will do things? If so what will be the consequences?

[Lurker]

Apples and oranges.

 

The Polian/Levy years were before the salary cap, which has dramatically changed the way teams develop and retain their young players. It's a whole different world today, much harder to keep star-studded teams together than it was during the Super Bowl run.

 

That said, to the extent the Bills have a lot of free cap space, it's likely Marv will want to retain/build on the younger core guys with a few "sensible money" FA's. I'm still not sure if that will include Nate, given the "crazy money" signing bonus he's going to command.

[stuckincincy]

Apples and oranges. 

 

The Polian/Levy years were before the salary cap, which has dramatically changed the way teams develop and retain their young players. 

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Plus, teary hand-wringing about druggie, boozed-up players was off the radar then.