Bills bring back a familiar friend

By Connor Byrne  |   Tuesday, April 11, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Buffalo Bills
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On Monday, in a surprising turn of events, the Buffalo Bills agreed to terms with their former receiver, Peerless Price. The contract Price signed was for four years and $10 million, which seems fairly high. Price reuniting with the Bills comes on the heels of the recent trade in which former starting receiver Eric Moulds went to the Houston Texans for a fifth-round pick in this year's draft.

Originally drafted by the Bills out of the University of Tennessee in 1999, Price, a former second-round pick, spent four seasons in Buffalo before being traded to the Atlanta Falcons in the spring of 2003. After improving steadily in his first three seasons, Price broke out in 2002 with 94 receptions for 1,252 yards, and nine touchdown catches. Because of those numbers, Price became a highly-coveted free agent, but former Bills GM Tom Donahoe slapped him with the team's franchise tag. Still, in Donahoe's best move in Buffalo, he traded the overvalued, ultra-expensive Price for a first-round pick in the '03 draft. With that pick, the Bills selected their starting running back, Willis McGahee.

Price spent two incredibly disappointing years with the Falcons before being released late last summer. He eventually signed with the Dallas Cowboys, but appeared in just seven games before being released in early December; he ended up with just six receptions on the season. In fairness to Price, he wasn't totally familiar with the Cowboys' offense, and he was stuck trying to compete for catches with receivers Keyshawn Johnson, Terry Glenn, Patrick Crayton, and tight end Jason Witten; because of those factors, the Cowboys just weren't a good fit for him.

As for Price's somewhat shabby career with the Falcons, he might deserve some benefit of the doubt for that because he was paired up with one of the league's most putrid passers, Michael Vick. Even with Vick at the helm, Price still pulled in 109 passes over two seasons. Hence he averaged just below 55 receptions per season. Last season, the Falcons' leading receiver was tight end Alge Crumpler, who came down with 65 receptions. As evidenced by that statistic, it's quite difficult for any player to catch a lot of balls in the Falcons' current run-first offensive system.

Price's biggest problem at this point might be the questions surrounding vision problems in his right eye. He was diagnosed with a retinal disorder by an ophthalmologist in the summer of 2004, and that may have be an underlying factor in his extreme drop-off in production, especially last season. Even though Price is insistent that his eye is just fine, plenty of others have inquired about it. Obviously, if Bills GM Marv Levy thinks it's not a factor, then it likely isn't.

When new Bills head coach Dick Jauron brought in former St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild in to fill the same position in Buffalo, the coordinator may not have known how closely the Bills' pieces would resemble the ones he had in St. Louis. The Rams' offenses have been notorious for great speed over the last few seasons, and it appears the Bills are going the same route. Receivers Lee Evans, Andre' Davis, Roscoe Parrish and Price all possess blazing speed and average height. It will be interesting to see how their alacrity works against opposing defensive backfields this season. The fact that all of the Bills' receivers are undersized may come back to bite them in 2006.

At this point, one of the biggest mysteries on the Buffalo Bills' roster centers around who will start at receiver opposite Evans. By signing Price, the Bills have perhaps answered that question. If Price can't win the job, he'll be able to push other competitors such as Parrish, Davis, and veteran Josh Reed. Price could end up as an opening-day starter, or he could end up as just another training camp release. Either way, the 29-year-old is proving that you can, indeed, go home again.

--Connor Byrne can be reached at cbyrne@realfootball365.com.
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