Releasing the bad easier than adding the good for Bills

By Anthony Bialy  |   Monday, March 02, 2009  |  Comments( 108 )

Buffalo Bills
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The Buffalo Bills are going in a new direction, hopefully for them one where they don’t overpay for underperformers. Left guard Derrick Dockery and tight end Robert Royal both disappointed in their unique ways, and while it’s great current management recognized where previous management goofed, the challenge is replacing the released players with athletes who won’t consistently fizzle.

In Dockery’s case, that specifically means adding a lineman who won’t fizzle at great expense. His agent claims his client didn’t fit the Bills’ scheme once Sean Kugler took over as offensive line coach. He’s right: Buffalo was looking for quick blockers who use their strength and don’t react slothfully off the snap. Not providing rather fundamental traits means a player won’t suit many teams anywhere. The former and current Redskin seldom recognized situations quickly and failed to exert his will through strength when he did. Forget anyone from the opposing front seven: The guard only dominated a share of the salary cap.

Royal was less disappointing only by comparison. He managed 81 catches over his three seasons, which is actually fair for a player who isn’t the best catcher. Royal’s a blocker first thanks to his granite hands, which makes assuming that he could be the team’s top receiving threat from the line’s end a curious decision. In turn, the team’s annual offensive struggles don’t seem peculiar.

It’s easy to look back and announce the signings were failures. And it’s justified, too, as it’s personnel’s job to see into the future and know who is worth signing for how much. In that regard, management undoubtedly made two huge mistakes here, namely assuming that Dockery was one of the game’s premier guards and that Royal was a starting-caliber player. Both were Marv Levy-as-GM signings, and while he generally set the ship upright, these two particular acquisitions didn’t exactly help the team sail ahead.

But can the current staff do better? In casting off empty weight, they’ve simultaneously given themselves more holes to plug; if they had kept the two, they’d at least know what they were getting heading into this season. Now, they must replace the devils they knew with players of unknown competitive virtue; based on the franchise’s oft-spotty track record, management is at the point where it must show it can improve each position. They haven’t earned fans’ faith.

Meanwhile, Royal would be a good backup for a team sensible enough to have a genuine pass-catching tight end as its first-stringer. As for Dockery, he already found someone to overpay him, although not by as much: His new deal with the Redskins is reportedly for $26.5 million over five years. It’s a well-earned pay cut, as his greatest achievement as a Bill was not being the worst Texas offensive lineman they’ve ever had. And that’s only by default. Compared to space-holding lump Mike Williams, everyone else is competing for second.

Never adding any Longhorn ever again is a good basic principle for the Bills, but on a broader scale they must now prove they can sign better veterans or perhaps draft better rookies to play on the line’s left interior and far right end. Unfortunately, the cuts were the easiest part.
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CommentsComments: 108  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Greg S		10:21 AM
03/02/2009
There's a reason that free agents are available, that's because the team they played on do not think they are worth the big...
No.2
bflobob8		10:33 AM
03/02/2009
Or, Greg, it could be a matter of having too many of something and because of the cap you have to make decisions. If you have 2...
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No.3
ba bye		10:41 AM
03/02/2009
Addition by subtraction. Promote from within. In Marv we trust. Makes tackles 5 yards down the field. High motor. Lunch bucket....
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