Bills should sift through Bucs’ old plunder

By Anthony Bialy  |   Thursday, February 26, 2009  |  Comments( 132 )

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The Buffalo Bills could fill vacancies with ripened ex-pirates. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers released a chest full of ancient treasures Wednesday, including linebacker Derrick Brooks, wideout Joey Galloway and rusher Warrick Dunn. Each of the three would be a variously intriguing fit for Buffalo, as the team can get a few good seasons out of players who may individually have a few good seasons left.

Brooks tops the list. He was one of the players who helped make the Tampa 2 what it is, as his unparalleled weakside coverage abilities allowed the Bucs to go ahead and dominate. He’s one of those somewhat rare players who’s been to the Pro Bowl after virtually every season and has actually deserved to attend.

The Florida State man turns 36 on April 18, but he’s still capable of contributing, shown by his 73 tackles, seven defended passes and single interception just last year. He’d be an especially good fit in a system that happens to enjoy deploying linebackers in zones. Meanwhile, the team could use MLB Paul Posluszny more forcefully thanks to the security provided by knowing Brooks remains behind in coverage.

Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell could insert Brooks on the weak side, put Kawika Mitchell over the tight end and keep Posluszny in the middle, but any combination of those three should excite fans regardless of where they align. Sign Brooks, and let the three sort out among themselves where each wants to start.

As for Galloway, the part-owner of Buffalo’s former arena football team (now the Columbus Destroyers) might consider a less tangential connection to the area by joining the Bills. As with fellow jobless once-Buccaneer Brooks, he’s still played well late in his career: Galloway has had six 1,000-plus yard seasons, most recently only back in 2007.

While he struggled with a wonky foot last season, and while he’ll be 37 going into the 2009 campaign, the Bills should look him over just to see if he’s still fast enough to complement Lee Evans; it’s worth seeing if a historically effective receiver’s speed isn’t history.

On the other hand, the youngest of the three is oldest by NFL standards, as there must be questions about how many more carries Dunn can handle after he’s already taken 2,669 of them. He faces the Fred Taylor Quandary, namely whether a great but declining back has much left in the tank without even considering if he’d be comfortable buried on Buffalo’s depth chart.

If he’s acutely aware that he’d be employed quite sparingly, Dunn would be welcome in Buffalo, especially considering a player who also has 510 receptions could serve as a pressure release valve for Trent Edwards. In addition to obvious leadership qualities, he’d ideally provide rare carries and just about as many receptions.

Even if the Bills end up snagging none of the ex-Bucs, they could still learn a lesson from how Tampa generally assembles teams with class despite the occasional Warren Sapp-type exception. All three new free agents have been great players who will remain decent men after football, and the fact that both members of the non-country duo version of Brooks and Dunn have separately won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award doesn’t mean Galloway is a slacker.

Although the franchise has been middling on balance since winning the Super Bowl, the important part of the clause is “since winning the Super Bowl.” They’ve been collectively respectable in more ways than one since about 1995, which happens to be when Brooks arrived. Tampa has been skilled at adding good guys who are good at football, and the release of some of those players for reasons of finance or excessive maturity means the Bills have a chance to squeeze the last bits of talent out of some commendable gentlemen.
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CommentsComments: 132  |  Sign Up  View all comments
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No.1
Goose		10:55 AM
02/26/2009
Being in the Tampa area I'll give you my take on Tampa's black Wednesday; Derrick Brooks still has a couple of years left, true...
No.2
bflobob8		11:02 AM
02/26/2009
I can't see the Bills picking up any of those old men, it seems to go against their recent pickups. I don't care how good of an...
No.3
PimpDaddy		11:07 AM
02/26/2009
bflobob8, Ray Lewis? ROFLOL! That would be awesome but I SO doubt it will happen. A guy with fire like that, a rookie pass...
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