Yes, I’m in kind of a “list” mood with the Bills. Um, yeah, sooner or later I will voice my opinion about the lockout. Anyways, I’ve decided to rank some of the best offseasons by the Bills. Now, these are going to be involving drafts and free agency. At some point, I’ll probably list some of the worst offseasons in Bills history. Anyways, here are some of the best Bills offseasons. Now, these aren’t in a particular order. I’m going to probably go through 7 or 8 of these. BTW, these are just my “personal” favorites.
2002: Key additions: Drew Bledsoe, London Fletcher and Trey Teague.
During this particular offseason, the Bills were going into year two of the Tom Donahoe/Gregg Williams era. At the time, the Bills were 3-13 and had a number of holes to fill on their roster. For starters, the offseason was a success, just in large part because the team decided to cut Rob Johnson. Sorry, but ending that era was definitely addition by subtraction. The Bills also decided to let Sam Cowart, who at the time, was coming off a serious ACL injury, leave for the New York Jets. Luckily for them, it worked out, as Cowart signed a huge deal with the Jets and was never the same as he was prior to his injury. On the player acquisition front, say what you will about Drew Bledsoe, but he played exceptionally well in his first season. If it wasn’t for the Bills defense being deplorable in 2002, the team could have very easily made the playoffs. Plus, with this franchise, he’s been the most consistent QB since Jim Kelly retired. Sure, that’s not saying much, but the trade did reenergized a fan base and made the Bills seem more competitive.
Plus, and I may be in the minority here, I thought it was a big mistake to cut him after the team was just one win away from making the playoffs in 2004. Other than the Bledsoe trade, the team signed free agent, London Fletcher from the Rams, who brought in his yearly 140 plus tackles and his Super Bowl Ring to the squad. The team also signed center, Trey Teague, from the Denver Broncos. Of course, there were some duds along the offseason. The Mike Williams draft pick was an epic disaster and how can we forget about the Eddie Robinson signing? Um, yeah, I think Robinson’s sneakers are still nailed to the ground at the Meadowlands (See: Chad Pennington’s touchdown run in 2002). Yeah, those signings went over like a fart in church. However, you can’t ignore that the Bills went from 3 to 8 wins. The 5 game improvement was actually the biggest in club history.
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