There are many, many questions regarding the Buffalo Bills as they begin their 2010 campaign. Upon the entire roster, sans C.J. Spiller and Aaron Schobel converging Wednesday in Pittsford in preparation for the start of training camp, one speedy glance at the faces on the roster and a burning question became abundantly clear.
For the love of God, who is a star on this football team?
Nearly universally around the league, each team has a player the organization simply can’t withstand losing. Take away Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Drew Brees and are the Colts, Patriots and Saints, respectively really a Super Bowl contender? How quickly does Houston’s offense go down the drain without Andre Johnson? If Patrick Willis goes down, the San Francisco defense immediately gets significantly softer. Do the Titans have a chance to win six games without the services of Chris Johnson? I can go on and on.
Except for when it comes to the Bills.
The team has a lot of what we’ll call “nice” players, but it’s glaringly apparent there’s little, if any star power on the roster. There’s no single player in a Buffalo uniform the team can ill-afford to lose and still be any more— or less competitive than they already are.
In a select few cases, due to quality depth, that’s a good thing. Fred Jackson is a horse at running back, but if he gets injured the team has equally talented replacements in Marshawn Lynch (for now at least), with more help eventually on the way in Spiller. Drayton Florence’s ability last year proved the team could withstand losing 2008 top draft pick Leodis McKelvin. George Wilson was more productive than 2006 top pick Donte Whitner. That is, on the rare occasions Whitner was healthy enough to play.
Depth, quality depth at running back and the secondary are plentiful. Unfortunately, that’s where it ends.
Far too many critical positions on this roster are littered with journeyman or youngsters who’ve proven nothing at this level.
The whole Trent Edwards vs. Ryan Fitzpatrick vs. Brian Brohm battle this summer will be played out and discussed daily to the point of nausea, but does it really matter who wins the gig? Edwards’ flame out as starter has deteriorated faster than an angry Mel Gibson voicemail. Fitzpatrick is the poster child for journeymen and despite his popularity due to not falling on his face on the field just yet, Brohm is hardly the blue chip prospect most fans make him out to be. There’s a reason the Green Bay Packers let him walk last year. All they had to do was promote him to the active roster as their third quarterback to block the Bills from claiming him. They didn’t. Like it or not, that’s telling and what little we saw of him last year (against Atlanta) did nothing to squash the skepticism. Right now, he’s the cool pick by default.
Who’s going to block for the last quarterback standing? More importantly, how long will said quarterback actually BE standing once he earns the starting nod? Is Demetrius Bell really a top of the line quality starting left tackle? For that matter, is he even better than Jamon Meredith, who’s proven equally little? When you move to the other side, Cornell Green has gone completely under the radar since being the Bills first free agent signee in March. How long before the games start are fans reminded this is the same Green that was a complete disaster in Oakland? He’s also 33 years old and suiting up for his eighth different franchise.
Andy Levitre and Eric Wood showed lots of promise as a rookie guard tandem last year, but have miles to go before anyone begins mistaking them for Steve Hutchinson. Speaking of Wood, his leg has to be a concern. To date, the Bills have the likes of Kirk Chambers, Cordaro Howard and Kyle Calloway serving as interior depth.
Whether he plays or not in 2010, Aaron Schobel has at least one foot out the door. To boot, he’s going to have to learn the outside linebacker position in a brand new defense after playing end his first nine seasons.
Based on last year’s showing, it may be tougher to project a Dave Chappelle return to Comedy Central than evaluating what kind of football player Aaron Maybin will turn out to be. The only noise Maybin’s made in his career thus far has come via twitter. That could change with a new defensive scheme, but until it does based on recent high Bills draft picks, you’ll have to color me suspicious.
Maybin, at least through the infancy stages of his career joins fellow first rounders Whitner, Lynch, Wood and McKelvin as players much bigger in stature than durability and production— again, at least until this point.
Kawika Mitchell, Andra Davis, Terrence McGee, Marcus Stroud? Quality veterans they are for sure. But star players and impact game-changers they’re not.
Lee Evans is regarded by some fans as a star, and he’s certainly paid like one. The reality, however, is he’s been in the league six years and only has a pair of 1,000-yard seasons to his credit. Even having Terrell Owens next to him to take off pressure last year failed miserably. People quickly forget that Evans only had 44 catches for 612 yards last season, hardly the numbers of a star player. Granted, the entire offense was abysmal last year and he’s not heavily at fault, but even double, triple teams and lousy quarterbacking doesn’t stop studs like Andre Johnson, Brandon Marshall and Calvin Johnson from putting up star-like numbers.
Jairus Byrd is probably the closest thing the organization has to a true star, but whether he’s really a game-changing safety in the mold of an Ed Reed or Troy Polamalu, or just a guy who was often in the right place at the right time last year remains to be seen. I’ll give him this; he seems to be one player on the roster who has a star aura about him.
The lack of stardom extends beyond the playing field. Chan Gailey is respected in coaching circles, but he’s hardly considered a star in his business. Buddy Nix is a 70-year old first time GM.
To Nix’s credit, he did say upon taking the job in January the Bills were not going to make a lot of splashy moves. Six months later, he’s proven true to his word.
Still, he says that he likes the direction his team is going in.
“We think we got some guys that fit,” Nix said yesterday in Pittsford. “We hadn’t made the big splash and I told you guys (media) that when I got this job that we wasn’t going to try and be real popular in January, February, April, whatever. But we think we got guys that fit the Bills and fit what we’re trying to do. They’re character kids that work hard, got good work ethic and I think that there’ll be some good things that come out of this group.”
Perhaps he’s right. It’s wrong to forego giving a man the benefit of the doubt before he’s had a chance to succeed or fail. Maybe the Bills come together as a team and start doing the little things it often takes to win football games, something Dick Jauron-led teams rarely did. Maybe Gailey and his new staff get guys like Maybin, Whitner, McKelvin and Paul Posluszny to the next level. Heck, maybe new quarterback coach George Cortez even brings the best out of one of the three starting candidates and they become a star.
But at first glance of the seventy-something football players that entered the Pittsford campus Wednesday, it’s hardly promising.
(Photos: Mike Thomas)
