Status quo is coming around again for the Bills

I’ve written on previous blogs that I wouldn’t be as harsh on the Bills for not being active during free agency. Now, there are some free agents that I wouldn’t have minded the Bills going after. However, like I’ve said all along, you have to build your team from within the draft.

Besides the draft, my biggest goal for the Bills offseason was to see what they would do with some of their current veterans. I’ve made no bones about wanting this team to do a complete makeover. Look, I’m not trying to be negative. I’m only asking for the Bills to do what other franchises have done after hiring a new GM and coach.

It’s common knowledge that whenever you have a new regime take over a franchise, they are going to cut the team inside and out. Bill Parcells did it when he took over the Dolphins. Mike Holmgren is in the process of doing that in Cleveland as we speak. Jimmy Johnson did that with the Cowboys and Dolphins. You always hear media members say, “A new GM or coach wants to choose their own players.” Well, I haven’t exactly seen that yet.

Now, getting rid of veterans isn’t about just killing off the team because I’m being irrational about the Bills failure to make the playoffs for the last 10 years. It’s about knowing that change is on the horizon and that the organization realizes that they’ve been doing it wrong for years. That’s all I’ve been asking from the Bills.

Core guys like Aaron Schobel, Marcus Stroud, Marshawn Lynch and Donte Whitner (to name a few) have failed to get the Bills over the hump. The Bills are acting as if they’re the Indianapolis Colts and are on the cusp of accomplishing something special. Sorry, but that ship sank two years ago.

Now, I haven’t been asking for Julius Peppers or Anquan Bolden. All you have to do is go back and read my GM series to see what I wanted the team to do. I know that Rome wasn’t built in a day, but the Romans sure as hell started building a pillar or two after Julius Caesar took over.

There are a number of vets on this team that make too much money, who haven’t been able to give an adequate return on the Bills investment. I know free agency isn’t even a week old and things can change. Unfortunately, all of my gripes have been manifested by the recent news about a Bills player who looks to be staying put.

Does anyone want to tell me why Chris Kelsay is returning to the Bills? In case you didn’t know, on March 5th, the Bills paid a roster bonus of $500,000 that was due to Kelsay. Why in the world are the Bills interested in a player whose never played a down as an outside linebacker and is going to be 31 in October? Makes absolutely no sense. I don’t want to hear how guys like Kelsay are bridge-gaps to younger talent.

The problem with that assertion is that Kelsay’s bridge has collapsed. You want veterans who can teach a young player what it takes to be a pro at their position. What’s Kelsay going to teach Aaron Maybin? How not to jump up and down when you make a tackle? Hell, they are both going to learn how to be outside linebackers this offseason. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Bills need to blow up their roster.

There’s only two reasons why I think Kelsay is coming back.

1) He’s only going to cost the Bills 3.7 million dollars this season.

2) The Bills are still being run by the same people.

As for reason one, everyone knows that even though there isn’t a cap anymore, the Bills are still operating with their cash to the cap philosophy. Kelsay was never worth the 6 million dollars a year that the Bills paid him in 2007, but luckily for the Bills, his salary goes down this year.

As for reason two, I said it when the Bills went in house to hire their GM. The mov
e reeked of damage control in showing the general public that change was happening. It was obvious to me that the Bills just rearranged a couple of office titles and just gave Buddy Nix a sexy secretary and a key to the executive bathroom. I know fans and media members were even naive to think that Brandon and Wilson wouldn’t have a big say in the team’s personnel because they weren’t at Chan Gailey’s introduction press conference. Please…

Like I wrote early, when you have a new regime in charge, they normally rip the roster apart. Something tells me that guys like Brandon and Modrak are putting in their two cents that Aaron Schobel and Kelsay can still play. Maybe they’re trying to justify giving those players long term deals by keeping them around. That goes for a number of other players on the Bills.

Look, I know it has only been two months into the Nix/Gailey partnership, and maybe I should give them more time to operate. I assure you, I’m looking for any sort of reason to think that the Bills are changing. Hell, it could be something as small as the Bills changing uniforms or flying in a free agent that hasn’t played for the Chiefs. Instead, the only news the Bills are making is signing retreaded offensive lineman from the Oakland Raiders.

Besides wanting change, I surly didn’t want to see the Bills catchphrase of “lets try and fit a square peg in a round hole” that has made Bryan Scott famous for playing linebacker.

Kelsay and Schobel at OLB? Kyle Williams at NT? Hell, I haven’t even gotten to Trent Edwards possibly starting next year. Again, wouldn’t a new GM/Coach combo want a new quarterback? New regimes should bring in change; not follow the game plan of their predecessors.

The more things change the more they say the same with the Bills. All I have to say is the Bills draft better be as good as the early Bill Polian years or this isn’t going to change. Better yet, maybe we should start googling mock drafts for top 5 picks for 2011-2014.