Poll: Should The Buffalo Bills Extend Drayton Florence Now?

Why wouldn’t they be willing to do that or a little better for next season? It’s not as if the team has any other reliable CB’s where they’d be able to let him go. McKelvin is just untrustworthy and McGee can’t get or stay on the field. If the Bills don’t re-sign Florence, they are going to really be hurting heading into the offseason, meaning CB will once again have to be considered a priority…..

Let’s wait until the off-season

McKelvin and McGee issues raised by K
Other areas should be a priority for next year, don’t need another.
The Bills shouldn’t follow the Sabres ill fated strategy of not negotiating in-season (Coaches no, but players yes, if situation dictates)

Donte Whitner – Paul Posluszny – Drayton Florence. Those are the big three defensive priorities as free agents. I would imagine a lot will depend on whether or not there is a salary cap. If there is no cap I dont see a problem in resigning all three. But what if there is?

Donte Whitner, will be 26 , coming off a 5 year 29 million contract

Paul Posluszny will be 27, coming off a 4 year, 4.5 million contract

Drayton Florence will be 30, coming off a 2 year, 6.6 million contract.

Whitner will probably be the most expensive as he will want more than his last contract. Florence will be the oldest.

So reasoning out where I stand on Florence. For my money, considering price, youth, positional value, and intangible value Poz is my first signing. 2008 Bills Defensive MVP and subsequently a team captain at a position with the least amount of talent Im putting Poz as my first signing defensively – hes having his best year as a pro. Oh, and he publicly has said he wants to be in Buffalo. He is proud of playing for these fans and this organization and wants to bring a winner. That attitude is big around these parts.

Next, I probably start negotiating with Whitner trying to get a reasonable deal. I’d have to be fair to Donte here, the guy is having his best year as a pro – like Poz. He already has more tackles than his career high and hes really becoming our heavy hitter which shouldnt be downplayed. I think Donte has become an all around top 15 strong safety in the league – easily. He is a vocal leader and a captain on the defense. He is young. We are building for the future and I want guys like he and Poz to be veteran leaders when this team is ready to compete. If he is not asking for an exorbitant price I try to accommodate him without setting too high a bar. I think he wants to be here too. I like the idea of he and Byrd teaming up for a while.

I guess then I’d get to Florence. Questions abound. Will he take a shorter term deal? Probably not if his agent thinks he can get a 6 year deal somewhere else. I want him to stay but corners tend to decline after 30. He is crucial because we lack reliability on the field outside of McGee but McGee has become an injury concern – making him unreliable too. I still believe in McKelvin to be great so the issue becomes do I trust McGee to come back and stay healthy because personally – I still prefer a healthy McGee to a healthy Florence. McGee is the most underrated defender on the field when hes out there. But I love Florence. The guy is a gamer and hes tough. If he signs a 4 year deal Im game.

I dont want it to be a contract that he doesn’t deserve. I wouldnt be suprised if he’s leading the team in pass interference penaltie. The fumble return TD practically fell into his lap and the interception he got off of Favre also was a “right time right place” circumstance. I am not overly excited about his play right now.

only because NE doesn’t have overwhelming speed, but short screen type guys who you have to match wits with. Florence’s experience back there is necessary.

We arent that deep that CB… so we need to re-sign our best corner. McGee would be, and still can be… but he doesnt stay healthy anymore.

I actually feel like Florence has been one of our better defensive players this year… considering the fact that we need to upgrade in a lot of other areas (3 of 4 LB positions? 1 DL position at least…) on defense alone, let alone offensive upgrades, I’d like to see us reward good players within reason. Paying Florence $5m a year might get him back, I’m not sure teams around the league will be waiting for him to hit the open market…

The question I have is whether they could re-structure McGee’s deal… he’s been unhealthy a lot and while he’s still a talented CB, he’s not done much the last couple years (his best years were really 2005-2008) to earn his contract. If not, I’d rather us let him go and draft someone in round 2 or 3 that could work into the lineup behind Florence and maybe replace him or McKelvin… Corner is not the CB of the future, unless its in the slot. Youboty’s just never going to be the player he could’ve been… and Byrd needs to improve a bit, too — let’s not forget he could potentially be a slot CB too if he needs to be or gets replaced at FS.

should we extend Florence, it did NOT ask should we re-sign him.

Should Florence be extended? I voted no. I do believe he should be re-sign in the off-season. My reasoning is that I believe the CBA, along with any changes to the previous CBA, will go into effect early next year, before the 2011 draft. Since any changes are not known until then it makes good business sense for the Bills to see what the new rules are before committing to a player they may decide they do not want.

Unions and Mgmt typically posture and both sides ask for more than they want so that they end up about where they both expected. These agreements usually are signed in the “11th hour”, which in this case is late Feb-early Mar. That time frame gives the lawyers (bottom-feeders to some) the opportunity to close loop-holes, or find & keep loop-holes. Then teams, agents and players know how to play the game. I expect teams will then sign the players they want to keep.

Also, as someone else pointed out, Florence is getting up in age, CB-wise. The FO may decide to let him go with age as a contributing factor in that decision.

Where is the HELL YES option?

but he’s been playing well and Terrence McGee is perennially injured. He’s not going to demand top money either.

he’s a solid player and actually wants to be here. what else is there? resign him

DraytonFlorence

Want to finish my career in buffalo if everything works out as planned (gods plan)

http://twitter.com/DraytonFlorence

Just turn around once in awhile – this kid drives me crazy on those interference calls as he RARELY turns to look for the ball. He might have 6 picks by now if he did.

Stevie dropped a TD pass…

If something happens this weekend and Florence has a horrible play that costs the Bills the game I am definitely saying there is a BR curse!

He has played very well this season (interference calls aside) and seems to genuinely want to play in Buffalo. Add that to his experience and leadership and I think you get him locked up prior to FA. The deal must be relevant in relation to his age however. 3 years/13mil????