The Buffalo Bills may have lost free agent linebacker Paul Posluszny to the Jacksonville Jaguars Tuesday night, but they were able to re-sign another of their top-priority players on Wednesday afternoon. Cornerback Drayton Florence has announced on Twitter that he’s re-signed with the Bills, and will report to St. John Fisher for training camp when the new league year begins on August 4. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that it’s a three-year deal worth $15 million – a very nice raise for the veteran corner. (Buffalo Rumblings)
Mind of Joe:
Anyone who says the Bills overpaid for Florence is insane. Cornerbacks can get a ton of money in the open market and when you consider how Florence made only 3-million a year, I think he deserved a raise. I actually thought he could have gotten 6 million bucks, only because they gave McGee that much in 2008. Now, I know at that time, McGee was a better player than Florence is today, but he never made it to the open market (Bills extended him in September of 2009). As we all know, when you hit free agency, you tend to get overpaid.
Anyways, I like the deal and as I’ve alluded to multiple times on this site, I thought Florence was a more important signing than Poz or Whitner. I know the Bills were terrible against the run, but when teams decided to pass on them last year, they got burned (See: Ravens, Patriots and Packers games last year). In a pass happy league like the NFL, you can never have enough cornerbacks on your team. If the Bills didn’t re-sign Florence, you’d be looking at Terrence McGee (Injury plagued) and Leodis McKelvin (unproven) as your starters. With Florence in the mix, you are adding a ton of depth to the secondary
The biggest difference between Poz and Florence is that I felt #29 was the better player last year.
Bottom line: He made more plays.
Sure, Florence was inconsistent at times, but you noticed him when he was making plays. I never noticed Poz doing much of anything besides making tackles 5-yards down the field.
The signing also marks the 2nd time the Bills decided to re-sign a cornerback who was an impending/entering free agency. For almost 17 years, I would always throw cold water on the Bills attempting to re-sign a cornerback. From Odomes to Burris to Winfield to Greer, it was always a revolving door. Now, the Bills have given McGee and Florence over 40-million dollars in contract extensions. You see, maybe Buddy Nix is actually changing the philosophy of the Bills and it isn’t all Ralph Wilson being a meddlesome owner..(Ignore Kelsay’s deal)
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