Bills sign their second free agent of the day

Wow! It’s like Christmas in March for the Buffalo Bills. First, you get Andra Davis coming to terms with the Bills. Now, Adam Schefter is reporting that the Bills have signed Dwan Edwards from the Baltimore Ravens. Well, so much for free agents using the Bills. Maybe the Bills represent a franchise that is viewed as the team to play for when you can’t find a home during the beginning of free agency.

OK, so these aren’t the sexiest names on the free agent list and my excitement is mostly attributed to the team actually signing someone that hasn’t played for the Raiders or a quarter of the other NFL franchises. But, both signings are extremely smart for the Bills.

Davis represents a player that can be a stop-gap at linebacker, who plays well against the run and provides a lot of leadership qualities to the young linebacking core. As for Edwards, he’s someone that is young enough for the Bills to develop into a legit defensive end that can play for the next five years.

Edwards isn’t the type of player that is going to get you 10 sacks a year. However, he has experience working in a 3-4 defense and plays exceptionally well against the run. From what I’ve read about the guy, he’s the type of player that will do all the dirty work that is asked of him. He didn’t get a lot of publicity in Baltimore because of being surrounded by so many all-pros, but did play well enough to take away Trevor Pryce’s starting job on the defensive line.

Right now, it would appear that the Bills starting defensive ends would be Marcus Stroud and Edwards. The Bills are all of a sudden a nose tackle away from having a pretty stout defensive line against the run. Sorry, but I’m still not a fan of putting Kyle Williams in as your starting nose tackle.

Now, these moves aren’t going to put the Bills defense in the top 10 of the NFL. However, the Edwards and Davis signing sure do make the Bills 3-4 defense look a lot better on paper than it did yesterday. Going forward, if the Bills can somehow find a legit nose tackle and maybe an outside linebacker that can rush the passer (Joey Porter anyone?), this 3-4 defense may actually end up working in its first year.

Overall, this is best day for the Bills organization since firing Dick Jauron. Seriously, don’t laugh, because the Bills haven’t done anything remotely inspiring since the removal of their head coach. Yes, it’s kind of sad to get excited about two signings that will be a 10-second mention on Sportscenter, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Now, is it going to result in 5,000 new season ticket buyers? Um, no. However, it’s a lot better to write about these signings than about which quarterback on the Bills roster I’d like to see starting on opening day. All kidding aside, good day for the Bills 3-4 defense.

Update: Patrick Moran of Buffalo Sports Daily exchanged e-mails with Adam Schefter, and the ESPN reporter wrote that the Bills haven’t actually signed Edwards, but have reached an agreement with him. However, Schefter did say that he fully expects Edwards to play for the Bills in 2010.

Update II: It’s a done deal. 4-years at 18 million dollars.