Bills thoughts: Dante Culpepper wants to play in Buffalo…Gailey’s thoughts on Tebow…Adding another running back..and more

So Dante Culpepper is interested in playing for the Buffalo Bills. Well, at least it’s nice for someone to actually want to come to Buffalo for a change, instead of coming here because he can’t pass team physicals (I kid, I kid).

As much as Culpepper’s early career accomplishments were outstanding, he hasn’t played well since Drew Bledsoe was the Bills quarterback. It’s kind of a sad story that his terrible knee injury suffered in 2005, totally derailed his brilliant career. Unfortunately, he’s not the same quarterback and has failed in Miami, Oakland and Detroit.

The guy makes Drew Bledsoe look like Mike Vick with his mobility. And if I’m correct, he’s like in the top three for most fumbles by a quarterback. I can already predict what the argument is going to be for Culpepper in Buffalo:

“At least he’s an upgrade over Fitzpatrick and Edwards.”

As bad as I want Edwards off this team and would be happy with just about anyone else under center, I know my hatred for Trent would just blind me in evaluating Culpepper as my starter. Culpepper just isn’t an upgrade in my view.

Now, I wouldn’t kill the team for signing Dante, but it’s not going to make a difference if it’s Edwards or Culpepper back there. One of Buffalo’s biggest goals this offseason is to try and find a franchise quarterback. Throwing Culpepper in the mix with three other quarterbacks isn’t the right choice. Plus, this is an NFL team, not a retirement community.

=======================================================

Allen Wilson and Tim Graham caught up with Chan Gailey today to discuss a wide number of topics. One of the questions posed to Gailey was his thoughts on Tim Tebow:

“He’s got every intangible that you could ever want in a quarterback. The bottom line on him is, is his delivery going to keep him from being able to play. How much work is there to be done? I haven’t gotten the tape yet, so I don’t know about his workout. But how much work is there yet to be done and how much of a change can he make because if you go with the delivery he had he will really struggle in this league.”

Well, on the surface, it doesn’t sound like Gailey has a man crush on Tebow. However, you can’t ignore the fact that the Bills are bringing him in for a personal workout, which tells me they are still interested in him. Gailey could be saying all of this as a smokescreen; so other teams may wait to select Tebow in the 3rd or 4th round without considering the Bills as competition.

I’ll be frank, I really don’t have a strong opinion about Tebow, and there are a couple of reasons why: There are a number of NFL elite quarterbacks that were drafted late or were bagging groceries when scouts and critics were chastising those players prior to the draft.

However, that number is probably equivalent to the amount of college quarterbacks that have won the Heisman and couldn’t make the transition to the NFL. I’m not enamored in Tebow’s accomplishments as much as others, mainly because I’m not a big college football follower.

More importantly, I’m completely over the topic. This could be the biggest debate to lead to absolutely nothing. I think the Tebow commentary is complete overkill by the media because everyone has an opinion about it.

To me, Tebow is no different than Chad Henne, Todd Collins, Trent Edwards, Matt Hasselbeck, Tom Brady and all the other late round quarterbacks selected in the history of the NFL Draft. The only difference is that Tebow just has a huge following….which I don’t care for (No offense).

I’m not a professional scout and neither are the talk show hosts, print journalists, or the talking heads on ESPN. In the end, we have absolutely no idea what any of these draft picks are going to do as pros.

On a side note, if it was up to me, I’d rather draft a conventional quarterback like Colt McCoy or Dan LeFevour. Also, never underestimate the Bills wanting to draft Tebow to appease some of the fan base that are so hungry to become “relevant” again. Which seems to meet the fans expectations more so than finding a legit quarterback or building the offensive line.

===================================================

Frankly, the Tim Tebow discussion wasn’t the most telling comment made by Chan Gailey today. It was the talk about wanting to add another running back to the mix.

“We’ve got to upgrade there in some way, shape or form, and there are some good running backs in the draft this year, different from what we’ve got,” Gailey said. “So a change of pace is may something we could do there with a different type of player. The guys who are coming out now, there’s a bunch of those 5-9, 180 to 185-pound, quick-as-a-cat water bugs that are running backs/receivers that might give you a little bit of a punch on the field and maybe make a big play.” –BTN–

First off, I don’t have a dam clue what a water bug looks like or if they are quick as cat. Secondly, I’ve always been a big proponent for the Bills to acquire a change of pace running back. However, it would be rather difficult for the Bills to add a third option to the team’s already crowded backfield. If the Bills are serious about adding another running back, Marshawn Lynch has to be on the trading block.

Now, the Bills better not be thinking of adding one these water bugs within the first three rounds of
the NFL draft. Recently, I was watching the NFL Network, and one of their draft experts predicted that the Bills may end up taking running back CJ Spiller with their first round pick. Now, it’s just another talking head draft expert, but you can’t dismiss it, because it’s coming from an NFL Network personality. I’ve always believed that the NFL Network insiders normally get more information than ESPN personalities do, because they are owned by the 32 NFL owners.

I assure you, if a running back is drafted first by the Bills, I’ll be taking a cab to Radio City Music Hall and kicking the ass of the guy who answers the phone at the Bills draft table.

It’s a forgone conclusion that you can find great running backs later in the draft. It happens almost every year that an unknown back finds his way onto the football field and pays dividends for his team. Plus, the Bills running back situation is just fine. What is with the fixation of drafting a running back early?

If the Bills decide to draft Spiller, it would mark the 5th running back (Antowain Smith, Travis Henry, Willis McGahee and Marshawn Lynch) that the Bills have taken within the first two rounds of the draft since 1997. Which would be the most for any team selecting in those rounds. In that time frame, there have only been 18 teams that have drafted two or fewer running backs within the first two rounds.

I think a part of the reason why the Bills love drafting running backs so early is because first round picks tend to get long term deal (5-6 year contract) than a later draft pick would. Which means by the time they reach the age 27 or 28, their days as a legit running back will be coming to an end. All and all, it makes for a very cheap investment for the Bills.

Now, that’s just the financial part. As for the on the field part, the Bills running back situation ranks about 15th between repaving the parking lot and building a football museum on the Bills “To do list” for the offseason. If they want to add a change of pace back, trade Marshawn Lynch for Darren Sproles or draft one in the 5th round.

====================================================

In keeping with the theme of Chan Gailey, the Bills franchise decided to let their coach be the deciding vote in the overtime rule change for the playoffs. Of course, we all know that the rule change went down, but Gailey was against the OT change.

Now, I’m for the overtime change because I just thought the old format was outdated. However, it’s kind of strange that Bills decided to let their first year head coach be the end all be all for the overtime rule. I mean, this Chan Gailey, not Bill Belichick. Even Buddy Nix was for the rule change. I can only guess that Gailey must have gotten burned coaching Georgia Tech with the college OT format.

I know, I know…the Bills may never make the playoffs, which seems to be the joke of the day. But, Gailey’s vote could show a side of the type of coach we are getting with him. Saying you don’t want the new OT change tells me that you’re kind of conservative. Which is something many of Gailey’s critics have said about him.

Yes, I should wait to till the season starts to critique Gailey’s coaching methods, but he’s been compared in some circles as being the offensive minded version of Dick Jauron. I know, give the guy a chance…we’ll see.