Buffalo Bills: Using Free Agency to End their Playoff Drought
By Andrew Mills
The Buffalo Bills have not been to the playoffs since 1999, the longest current streak in the NFL. Signing a wide receiver to help their young quarterback could go a long way toward ending that streak.
Tyrod Taylor surprised many Buffalo Bills fans in 2015 by not only winning the starting quarterback job for the Bills but by putting together arguably the best season that Bills fans have seen by a quarterback in roughly a decade and a half.
The young signal-caller, formerly the backup to Joe Flacco in Baltimore, ended the year with 3,035 yards, 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 14 games. His favorite target by far was Sammy Watkins, who ended the year with 60 catches, good for 1,047 yards (17.5 avereage) and nine touchdowns.
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Unfortunately for the Bills, and Taylor, it is more difficult to determine who the second wide receiver is on the team. Robert Woods (47 receptions for 552 yards and 3 touchdowns) does not have the size or speed to be a consistent playmaker. The same can be said for Chris Hogan, who totaled 36 catches for 450 yards and two touchdowns. Charles Clay, the team’s high-priced tight end, flashed dominance at times but was inconsistent throughout 2015. Still, he ended the year with the second more receiving yards (528) on the team and also caught three touchdowns.
While the Bills fancy themselves a hard-nosed, running team, if they want to become more than a middle of the road team on offense, they are going to need to add a complement to Sammy Watkins on the other side of the field. Popular names at the position this year in free agency are Travis Benjamin, Marvin Jones and Anquan Bolden but the Bills, who are cutting players left and right to create cap space, most likely will not have the resources to sign one of those players. Someone like Mohamed Sanu may fit the mold however.
Sanu, who has played for the Bengals since being drafted in the 3rd round in 2012, has the size (6’2″, 210) that the Bills need in a target opposite of Sammy Watkins. Walter Football had this to say about him prior to the 2012 NFL Draft.
"“Sanu is a dynamic receiver who does everything well. He has big strong hands and is very reliable. Teams can know that Sanu will go across the middle of the field and make tough catches. He has fantastic body control, which allows him to make highlight-reel catches along the sideline.”"
Signing Sanu would be a bit of a leap of faith by the Bills as he has been buried on a Cincinnati depth chart that is rife with offensive weapons.In four years in the NFL, Sanu has totaled 1,793 yards on 52 catches for a respectable 11.8 yards per catch. There is no guarantee that Sanu will ever develop into a even solid number two wideout but his lack of output could work in the Bills’ favor.
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Buffalo, at the time of this writing, has just over $13 million in cap space and is expected to make a generous offer to their own free agent, guard Richie Ingognito. This will not leave them with very much room to improve their roster before the draft.
More popular names in free agency like the aforementioned Marvin Jones will have plenty of suitors and thus a higher price tag. Spotrac.com lists Jones’ expected market value at $5.5 million, comparing him to players like Golden Tate and Torrey Smith while Michael Renner at Pro Football Focus thinks Jones could actually receive a much larger contract:
"“Jones has been a solid No. 2 option to A.J. Green over his career, but outside of the 2013 season where he made a handful of circus catches, there is little reason to think Jones can be a No. 1 target. With a weak receiver draft class—and even weaker free-agent crop—don’t be surprised if someone gives Jones No. 1-receiver money, though.”"
Sanu, a player with even less actual production than Jones, is expected to receive a contract closer to $4.3 million and is compared to by Spotrac.com to a lower tier of receivers like Jeremy Kerley and Kenny Britt. At first glance $1.2 million may not seem like a large enough gap to be concerned with but a team like the Bills, who will be right against the cap in 2016, will most certainly take it into consideration.
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The Bills find themselves in the unenviable position of needing to add weapons to their offense, in order to help develop their young quarterback, without much wiggle room financially to do so. Sanu could be a player that adds an extra dimension to their offense at a price that won’t break the bank. It’s up to the Bills to decide though, if his limited production is worth the investment.