What To Do…What To Do, An Early Look At The Bills 2010 Off-Season

The Bills season is coming to an end soon and it is time to look ahead to the future.  Going into this season many fans were looking ahead with wonder, thinking about how much better Trent Edwards was going to be this season, or how well Marshawn Lynch will play when he returns from suspension, and let’s not forget the first round draft pick (and holdout) Aaron Maybin and his expected dominance on the pass rush.  Unfortunately none of these things came to fruition for the Buffalo Bills.  Instead they were replaced with questions such as; who will be Buffalo’s starting QB next year?  Or, Will Buffalo pay Marshawn Lynch his first round contract while playing 5th round minutes?  Also, where did Aaron Maybin go, is he even dressed for games?

Buffalo needs to take things slowly, and although we are a society that wants everything done yesterday, Buffalo needs to ensure the right decisions are made, instead of more front office blunders.  Buffalo first needs to decide what they will be doing with the head coaching vacancy.  Although Buffalo has expressed that they will spare no expense, history dictates that they most likely will come up short financially.  Although they are wanting to get an established head coach it is important to really look at the available options before deciding.  Mike Shanahan is a very good coach and one of the best available at this time.  But, post John Elway he was fairly average in a “par” division.  I am not saying he couldn’t help Buffalo, but why pay so much for credibility, if you can pay less and still get the same results.  The one good thing that Shanahan has in his favour is his ability to pump out 1000 yard rushers.  I can really see Shanahan getting the most out of Fred Jackson.  Shanahan will most likely want some pull in the front office and that is where Buffalo must draw the line as a good coach who is very ordinary at scouting is not a good combination.

Mike Holmgren is a coach who won a Super Bowl with Brett Favre.  He also coached a Seattle team in what has been one of the weakest divisions in the last decade.  I am unsure as to how good of a coach he really is, although he did help develop Matt Hasselbeck.  He is not as good of a coach as Mike Shanahan and is even worse at player scouting.  I would really not like to see Holmgren walking the Bills sideline at all.

To all those Bills faithful that are hoping for Bill Cowher, keep dreaming.  In no way will Bill Cowher come to Buffalo.  But,  if by the off chance he is interested I would hope Buffalo would roll out the red carpet and give him anything he wants.  Cowher is one of the top coaches over the past 15 years to grace the NFL sidelines.  What made him so good was his ability to always remain competitive despite losing a healthy slew of players each year.  No one has done more with less, than Bill Cowher.  I know, what about Belichick?  I answer that this way, what about him?  I would prefer Cowher over Belichick any day of the week.  Cowher understands small market football and is also able to get the most out of his players.  If Buffalo is serious about spending the 10 million on a coach then give him the straight up offer of 10 million to be coach and general manager.  But again, that’s if Cowher wants to be a Bill at all, which I doubt.

But, one name that seems to be popping up more and more lately has been Perry Fewell.  The current coach of the Buffalo Bills has started to become embraced by the fans.  Fewell will be exactly what Buffalo does not want, which is a coach with zero or very little experience.  But, Fewell has been very decisive as the coach of the Buffalo Bills.  The problem is that Fewell can’t do it alone and if Fewell stays, some other changes need to occur in order for this scenario to be a success.  First, Buffalo will need to either demote or fire Alex Van Pelt.  An offensive coordinator needs to be found in order to help fix this broken offence.  Also, a general manager must be found.  Russ Brandon has done an admiral job, but it is not his life’s passion and he needs to step aside and bring in a real “football guy.”  Buffalo needs a GM that is understanding of what a team needs before pre-season starts.  Buffalo can’t go into next year the way they did this year.  Buffalo was ill-prepared and had very little depth at almost every position.  Buffalo also must hire a defensive coordinator.  Although Fewell’s first inclination will be to hire from within, he will be best served to hire an established defensive mind who can expand on the groundwork Fewell has laid.  The last thing Buffalo needs is another Alex Van Pelt debacle, but this time on the defensive side of the ball.  Last but not least, Buffalo needs to invest some serious money into upgrading their strength and conditioning program.  Every season it seems like Buffalo is losing the most games due to injured players.  Buffalo needs to understand that it does not matter how much they spend on players if the players are not fit enough to handle the rigours of the NFL schedule.

Again, Buffalo does want an established coach, but it really would not surprise me to see them go with a coordinator as head coach.  Perry Fewell is already laying the ground work to make it an even easier decision for the Buffalo Bills as he continues to prove himself.  But, it doesn’t matter who Buffalo brings in as there are more holes in the front office and training staff than just the head coach.  Buffalo needs to put serious thought into how they want to go about fixing this team.  At this point it may be better to just start from scratch.

Once all of these positions are in check then the product that takes to the field every Sunday can finally be addressed.  Where to start?  I say on offense where it obvious there are still too many holes.  The offensive line played poorly but also was unable to play healthy.  Although Buffalo could draft yet another young lineman next year, it would only add to the inexperience of this line.  Buffalo needs to do two things, be active in free agency and be active with the handling of their assets.  If you have been reading my blogs you are well aware of my feelings toward Marshawn Lynch, but shifting those aside he is still an asset.  My belief is that Buffalo needs to deal him as he still has perceived value of being a viable NFL starter.  There are several teams that can use a running back and would pay handsomely for it.  Buffalo will also be in need of a wide receiver.  One option would be to look at the availability of Braylon Edwards.  As his stock continues to drop he could be had for cheap.  Beggars can’t be choosers at this point and Braylon is not playing like a number one, but he would make a fine number two on this team once Owens leaves.  Buffalo needs to fix the O-line first as they need a LT and possibly a RT as well.  Depth is a huge issue on the line.  Buffalo must also replenish their WRs as well.  But even with all of that out of the way, what does Buffalo do at QB?  

Trent Edwards seems to be relegated to permanent back-up duty with the Buffalo Bills.  I assume it is a fair assessment of Ryan Fitzpatrick to say that although he is the starter, he really shouldn’t be an NFL starting QB for a full season.  So what does Buffalo do?  Drafting a QB will put them even further behind, and their is not a can’t miss QB that will be available to them in the draft anyway.  Also, if Van Pelt stays with the Bills he will most likely be the QB coach again, and do you really want him touching another of Buffalo’s QBs?  We saw what his magic did in helping the first two.  Who is available via free agency or trade?  Jake Delhomme may be done with Carolina, but how much does he have left?  Kerry Collins has given way to Vince Young, again, but will the Titans want to keep their insurance policy?  Jeff Garcia is out there, but at 65 years old (joking) does his legs really still have it?  There are two viable options though.  

With the emergence of Chad Henne, Buffalo could take advantage and make a move to acquire Chad Pennington.  He is an efficient passer how is a true game tested NFL QB.  Pennington would add instant credibility back to this offense and would at least do for them what Trent Dilfer did for the Ravens, not make a ton of mistakes.  Better yet, not lose the game for the Bills.  The other option is a guy who I have been warming up to recently.  I have never liked this guy as a player, and from the time he was drafted I felt the team that drafted him made a mistake.  Through all of the Deion Sanders led hype sessions, I could never understand what all the fuss was about.  But as I said, he is game tested, and I think, due to circumstances with his life outside of football, mature enough to make the jump to the next level in his career.  Buffalo should pursue Michael Vick.  Sitting and watching McNabb this year can only do good for the guy.  But more so because McNabb and Vick shared similar styles when they both came into the league, Vick just needs to recognize this and make the jump to the next level the way that McNabb did.

On defense Buffalo still needs to fix the problems with the defensive line.  They are still missing a legitimate threat from the LE position.  Chris Kelsay is far too inconsistent and Aaron Maybin is far to invisible to have any impact for the Buffalo Bills.  Buffalo also needs an outside linebacker.  Buffalo has filled this position for the last several years by promoting from within and the results on the field have reflected that.  Buffalo needs to invest the money and the time to scout and either; sign or draft a legitimate force to man the outside.  Last in rush defense should be enough to hopefully get Buffalo’s attention that these two areas need to be fixed.

Tags: Aaron Maybin, Alex Van Pelt, Bill Belichick, Bill Cowher, Braylon Edwards, Brett Favre, Buffalo Bills, Chad Henne, Chad Pennington, Donovan McNabb, Fred Jackson, Jake Delhomme, Jeff Garcia, Kerry Collins, Marshawn Lynch, Michael Vick, Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan, Perry Fewell, Russ Brandon, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Terrell Owens, Trent Dilfer, Trent Edwards, Vince Young