Owens shuffles off to Buffalo
In a piece done yesterday regarding the release of Terrell Owens from the Cowboys and his football future, I publically questioned agent Drew Rosenhaus' statement that there were teams interested in the mercurial, talented wide receiver, or if he was merely puffing up the already substantial ego of his client in an effort to placate him while scouring other options, such as the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League.
As luck would have it, as usually happens when a writer questions something, the other shoe quickly drops. So when it was announced that Owens had signed a one year deal worth $6.5 million with the Buffalo Bills, to say that myself, and most of the pro football audience, was caught rather unaware, would be a vast understatement. However, it was made official at a 6:15 ET press conference, that Owens was moving out of a big media spotlight to a team that is as small market as you can get.
It was a whirlwind of a signing, as team officials flew to Miami to meet with Owens Saturday morning, then flew back to Buffalo with him and Rosenhaus, and a deal was struck rather quickly according to both Rosenhaus and Bills COO/GM Russ Brandon. The deal will pay Owens a $4 million signing bonus, with the other $2.5 million being his base salary for the year. Rosenhaus was quick to point out that this deal would net him roughly $800,000 more than what he would have made had Jerry Jones and the Cowboys not released him earlier this week.
Now, much has been made of Owens' locker room presence, and the way he basically ran himself out of not one, not two, but three NFL cities. However, let's really look at it from the perspective of the Bills, as to why this signing won't necessarily kill them, and could propel them to the postseason:
For starters, Buffalo only tendered Owens a one year contract. He simply cannot afford to be a headache or a distraction, because if he is and he doesn't produce, not only do he and the Bills part ways at the end of the year, his value as a potential free agent in 2010 is diminished dramatically. A head case who puts up 1000 yards and double digit touchdowns is one thing, but one who only gets 650 yards and four or five scores is a completely different picture all together. On top of that, Owens usually is quiet his first season in a new city, as being new guy on the block, he doesn't have a ton of sway in the locker room.
Second, this deal can only help burner Lee Evans. Evans is a stellar receiver as well, who signed a 4 year, 37.25 million dollar deal during last season. Despite the inability for the Bills to move the ball in 2008, he still managed to grab a team leading 63 receptions for 1017 yards. With Owens on the other side, teams won't be able to double cover him and still have safety help over the top. This will become more pronounced when the Bills go to three or four receiver sets, as Roscoe Parrish and Josh Reed would check in during those situations. Fewer doubleteams means more opportunities to get open, stretch the field, and move the chains, instead of having to constantly check down to Marshawn Lynch or Fred Jackson out of the backfield.
Speaking of Lynch, adding Owens to the mix helps him as well. While the Bills were a more run oriented team, with Evans shut down, and the other receivers either unable to make key grabs (rookie James Hardy) or lacking the size to make catches in traffic (Parrish and Reed), defenses would load up eight, sometimes nine men in the box to stop the run and dare Buffalo to try and beat them. By adding a big, physically built receiver in Owens (who is 6'3 and 218 pounds), it can open up outside lanes for Lynch, as Owens would have a size advantage over most corners in the league.
The signing helps offensive coordinator Turk Schonert and his play calling. Schonert wanted to have a more dynamic passing offense last year, but with no one to help Evans, it turned into the plodding, dink and dunk offense that can have the ball for 12, 15, 18 plays and come up with nothing. Now, the ability to stretch the field and exploit blown or single coverages is readily available to help Trent Edwards and company put points on the board. After all, Owens has broken the 1000 yard barrier eight times in the past nine years, with the lone exception 2005, when he fractured a fibula seven games into the season. At that point, however, he was still averaging better than 100 receiving yards per contest. Besides, the offense has been in the bottom quarter of the league the last six seasons. Saying that the Buffalo offense was efficient the past few years is like putting a piece of shale in a series of Lortone rock tumblers: it doesn't matter how many ways or times you spin it, it still doesn't look good.
All things considered, the signing was cheap for a receiver who can produce good numbers. T.J. Houshmandzadeh received a five year, $40 million deal from the Seahawks, who have a questionable run game, an quarterback coming back from a string of injuries, and no bona fide receiving threat healthy enough to be considered a 1 or 1A type guy. Laveranues Coles put up a reasonable facsimile to Owens as far as receptions went, but had fewer yards and touchdowns playing alongside Jerricho Cotchery and Brett Favre in New York. Yet, after visiting the Bills, he signed a four year, $28 million deal with the Cincinnati Bengals, a team that is pretty much a sure fire guarantee to go nowhere once again in 2009. After all, this is a team that franchised their kicker, when no one in their right mind would part with a pair of first round picks to sign him. It also was a reason that led to Houshmandzadeh's exodus. One has to wonder how long before Chad Johnson gets the same idea.
Finally, the deal will bring some media exposure to the Bills. Being a small market town, and having been a team that has struggled the past decade (not making the playoffs since the Music City Miracle of 1999), the Bills are not a team that most people talk about. It's your big city teams that garner the publicity and the press, while a team like Buffalo was pretty much forgotten about until the deal with Ted Rogers was struck that would have the Bills play five regular season and three preseason contests in Toronto over five seasons. Perhaps adding a player with the skill and flamboyance of Owens can add some media attention on the team, and propel them to the postseason.
If nothing else, this is the biggest move Buffalo has made in free agency or trade since acquiring then Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe in 2002. The fervor will be great, the feeding frenzy apparent in Buffalo, and in the national media surrounding this signing. Brandon says that the Bills are not finished in free agency, and that he fully expects to add more names to the mix for the 2009 season and that the team is also looking forward to the draft.
As much of a lightning rod for controversy as Owens is, the Bills could have done worse when it comes to making an acquisition for a playmaker. He may not be the best fit, but he has the skills and the talent to improve the stock of the Buffalo Bills.
At the end of the day, that is all you can ask for from an owner and a GM: to find talented players that can help you win, not to put together a compilation of cookie cutter players who are all around nice guys, but can't produce. Sometimes, you have to break the mold.
As luck would have it, as usually happens when a writer questions something, the other shoe quickly drops. So when it was announced that Owens had signed a one year deal worth $6.5 million with the Buffalo Bills, to say that myself, and most of the pro football audience, was caught rather unaware, would be a vast understatement. However, it was made official at a 6:15 ET press conference, that Owens was moving out of a big media spotlight to a team that is as small market as you can get.
It was a whirlwind of a signing, as team officials flew to Miami to meet with Owens Saturday morning, then flew back to Buffalo with him and Rosenhaus, and a deal was struck rather quickly according to both Rosenhaus and Bills COO/GM Russ Brandon. The deal will pay Owens a $4 million signing bonus, with the other $2.5 million being his base salary for the year. Rosenhaus was quick to point out that this deal would net him roughly $800,000 more than what he would have made had Jerry Jones and the Cowboys not released him earlier this week.
Now, much has been made of Owens' locker room presence, and the way he basically ran himself out of not one, not two, but three NFL cities. However, let's really look at it from the perspective of the Bills, as to why this signing won't necessarily kill them, and could propel them to the postseason:
For starters, Buffalo only tendered Owens a one year contract. He simply cannot afford to be a headache or a distraction, because if he is and he doesn't produce, not only do he and the Bills part ways at the end of the year, his value as a potential free agent in 2010 is diminished dramatically. A head case who puts up 1000 yards and double digit touchdowns is one thing, but one who only gets 650 yards and four or five scores is a completely different picture all together. On top of that, Owens usually is quiet his first season in a new city, as being new guy on the block, he doesn't have a ton of sway in the locker room.
Second, this deal can only help burner Lee Evans. Evans is a stellar receiver as well, who signed a 4 year, 37.25 million dollar deal during last season. Despite the inability for the Bills to move the ball in 2008, he still managed to grab a team leading 63 receptions for 1017 yards. With Owens on the other side, teams won't be able to double cover him and still have safety help over the top. This will become more pronounced when the Bills go to three or four receiver sets, as Roscoe Parrish and Josh Reed would check in during those situations. Fewer doubleteams means more opportunities to get open, stretch the field, and move the chains, instead of having to constantly check down to Marshawn Lynch or Fred Jackson out of the backfield.
Speaking of Lynch, adding Owens to the mix helps him as well. While the Bills were a more run oriented team, with Evans shut down, and the other receivers either unable to make key grabs (rookie James Hardy) or lacking the size to make catches in traffic (Parrish and Reed), defenses would load up eight, sometimes nine men in the box to stop the run and dare Buffalo to try and beat them. By adding a big, physically built receiver in Owens (who is 6'3 and 218 pounds), it can open up outside lanes for Lynch, as Owens would have a size advantage over most corners in the league.
The signing helps offensive coordinator Turk Schonert and his play calling. Schonert wanted to have a more dynamic passing offense last year, but with no one to help Evans, it turned into the plodding, dink and dunk offense that can have the ball for 12, 15, 18 plays and come up with nothing. Now, the ability to stretch the field and exploit blown or single coverages is readily available to help Trent Edwards and company put points on the board. After all, Owens has broken the 1000 yard barrier eight times in the past nine years, with the lone exception 2005, when he fractured a fibula seven games into the season. At that point, however, he was still averaging better than 100 receiving yards per contest. Besides, the offense has been in the bottom quarter of the league the last six seasons. Saying that the Buffalo offense was efficient the past few years is like putting a piece of shale in a series of Lortone rock tumblers: it doesn't matter how many ways or times you spin it, it still doesn't look good.
All things considered, the signing was cheap for a receiver who can produce good numbers. T.J. Houshmandzadeh received a five year, $40 million deal from the Seahawks, who have a questionable run game, an quarterback coming back from a string of injuries, and no bona fide receiving threat healthy enough to be considered a 1 or 1A type guy. Laveranues Coles put up a reasonable facsimile to Owens as far as receptions went, but had fewer yards and touchdowns playing alongside Jerricho Cotchery and Brett Favre in New York. Yet, after visiting the Bills, he signed a four year, $28 million deal with the Cincinnati Bengals, a team that is pretty much a sure fire guarantee to go nowhere once again in 2009. After all, this is a team that franchised their kicker, when no one in their right mind would part with a pair of first round picks to sign him. It also was a reason that led to Houshmandzadeh's exodus. One has to wonder how long before Chad Johnson gets the same idea.
Finally, the deal will bring some media exposure to the Bills. Being a small market town, and having been a team that has struggled the past decade (not making the playoffs since the Music City Miracle of 1999), the Bills are not a team that most people talk about. It's your big city teams that garner the publicity and the press, while a team like Buffalo was pretty much forgotten about until the deal with Ted Rogers was struck that would have the Bills play five regular season and three preseason contests in Toronto over five seasons. Perhaps adding a player with the skill and flamboyance of Owens can add some media attention on the team, and propel them to the postseason.
If nothing else, this is the biggest move Buffalo has made in free agency or trade since acquiring then Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe in 2002. The fervor will be great, the feeding frenzy apparent in Buffalo, and in the national media surrounding this signing. Brandon says that the Bills are not finished in free agency, and that he fully expects to add more names to the mix for the 2009 season and that the team is also looking forward to the draft.
As much of a lightning rod for controversy as Owens is, the Bills could have done worse when it comes to making an acquisition for a playmaker. He may not be the best fit, but he has the skills and the talent to improve the stock of the Buffalo Bills.
At the end of the day, that is all you can ask for from an owner and a GM: to find talented players that can help you win, not to put together a compilation of cookie cutter players who are all around nice guys, but can't produce. Sometimes, you have to break the mold.
Well said. I too am cautiously optimistic. As much as I disliked TO - my first reaction was, "Well, what's the worst that can happen - they miss the playoffs?!!!" I just hope he keeps his stupid mouth shut AND performs. Here's hoping for a good year - CHEERS!
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Exactly.
It's a one year deal where if Owens screws up, it hurts HIM more than the team. They can dump him with no impact on their finances going forward, and he'll struggle to land the money he'd want in a future deal, if he could find one at all.
It can only help the Bills offensively, and realistically, he is a big threat in the red zone, a place that the offense broke down faster than a Gremlin last season. He could be the difference in a couple games in that alone.
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