Buffalo Bills Will Host Free Agent CB Stanford Routt

I believe Routt could do some special things here. The penalties will, I believe, fade off a little this year as he gets used to not playing alongside another incredible CB. His stats and physical attributes are still fantastic. Buffalo would be in a good position moving forward if they got this guy under contract.

Definitely a player that could help the Bills secondary especailly if they get the penallties under control… Whoa 17 penalties in 16 games is out of control on any team. McGee with his injury problems would be the odd man out… The Titans are trying to have a plan in case Finnegan leaves (another possibility for the Bills)…

His age and dropoff in level of play are red flags to me.

Unfortunately, good corners get top dollar on the free agent market. Maybe his recent struggles will keep the price low, but if not, I don’t see him in Buffalo. We just don’t have a track record of paying for high priced free agents. I believe he’ll be the best available this off season.

I trully believe we have got to get a handle on the injury situation in Buffalo. The only way to do that is to quit signing and resigning injury prone players (Merriman, Bell), and cutting the ones that are currently on the team that we know are at risk (Roscoe, Merriman and McGee) when possible.

My problem here is if I am looking at this right McGee will only get 3.6M in actual money this year and though his cap hit is 6.5M the way his contract was structured cutting him will only cut 2.1M off of the 6.5M. So even if we cut him the bills will only save 3.6M actual money, and 2.1M cap hit. It just does not seem worth it to me. McKelvin is in much the same boat cap wise. His actual pay out is in the 2.6M range but if we cut him we would only save 353K towards the cap.

For these reasons I dont know why Florence could not be the odd man out. Sure he is not as injury prone as Mcgee and he is better than McKelvin, but Routt is better than he is and cutting Florence would save the team a little over 4M actual money and just under 3.6M towards the cap (most of his actual pay out). This also helps in the penalty concern area as if we were to sign Routt and keep Florence we would be a penalty machine, but by replacing Florence with Routt it would not be as bad. I would be fine with a Routt, Williams, McGee, McKelvin, Rogers depth chart with only a minimal increase in cap. Also if we could draft a CB in the top four rounds then we could let McGee walk also with his 2.1M cap savings and end up with a wash on the cap with a depth chart that looks like this. Routt, Williams, McKelvin, Rogers, 4th round pick or higer.

I think this looks like a good signing and gives the teams options moving forward.

It’s a positive that Buffalo recognizes the urgent need for turnover at the cornerback position. I’d like to see a veteran signed and one drafted in the first four rounds. I’d like at least two out of the three man quagmire released: McKelvin, McGee, Florence. I would pick McGee (can’t be counted on to play at this point) and McKelvin (unless they view him as kick returner who would never play corner unless it was an emergency, but to be honest, I think Rogers and Spiller could easily fill the kick returning duties going forward).

I don’t know anything about Routt and I won’t pretend I do. I don’t like that bio at all, but I wouldn’t dislike the pickup until I saw him screwing up in a Bills uniform. Hopefully- at the very least- this signals that Nix understands that McKelvin can’t play, McGee can’t be counted on, and Florence has regressed to the point that there’s just as good a chance that he’s washed up as there is that he can bounce back to his 2009 form. I view this news as mostly good.

I’d like to see us take a shot at him. He would be a starter here and that is what this team needs. Lets wait and see if we make a pitch to his agent after the meeting.

http://www.nfl.com/player/stanfordroutt/2506377/careerstats

Last year, Routt had 49 Tackles and 4 INT’s. I’d take that kind of production in the Bills backfield. If the Bills can generate a pass rush this season, I’m sure the secondary’s production will increase.

Plus, I’d rather the Bills address some key positions like CB & WR with proven veterans, that way the top 3 draft picks can be used on filling the holes on the defensive front 7.

I’m not an expert on his situation but it could be his penalties jumped up when too much was asked of him. Maybe as a second or third CB he could revert to his great 2010 season.

on one hand, this guy looked awesome 2 years ago…but that was with Asomugha on the other side of the field. I also didn’t realize he was 29— I thought he was a more in the 25-26 year range. But overall I would love to sign this guy for the right price. I can’t believe Oakland would cut him but I guess they are shaking things up over there.

But my guess its the end of florence

McGee is probably done regardless. Florence, I doubt, goes anywhere. Go to the Raiders message boards and folks there are talking about Routt’s season like some here talk about Florence’s. They make plays. They give up plays. That’s the CB position. The Deion Sanders’ of the world are rare. Most CB’s are going to get beat at some point every game. No reason for Florence to be let go.

He was one of the NFL’s most-penalized defenders in the league last year, tallying 17 penalties for a highly undisciplined Oakland team.

Pair him with Florence, call them the ‘Buffalo Penalty Brigade’.

Add him to the other free agents were gonna sign and our 2012 offseason FA class: Mario Williams, Vincent Jackson, Stanford Routt. We wouldn’t even need a draft!!! That was a joke. Both sentences….jokes.

Well @ least the Bills are making some noise….maybe they are trying to catch up to the conference!

but on NFL.com there’s a story on Nix wanting Freddy to finish his career in Buffalo. I like the sound of that.

The seems to be a consensus on the Raiders blog that Routt is a good #2 CB who was cut because he was paid like an elite #1. Many are hoping he is resigned at a lower cost.

Also read that one of his strengths is man-to-man coverage which is something we need more of.

Remembering that we are in the market for two new cornerbacks, I could see Routt being one of those two CB’s with one more to be signed when FA opens in March.

That Florence is even in the running for a starting positions a farce. Routt, Williams, mckelvin, Rodgers would be a compartment 4 some. Draft a young buck in the 3rd round and the secondary will be good to go

There all capeable corners, it’s with the hope that one will emerge as an allstar

Besides, as long as there competent Byrd, Wilson and searcy can make the plays

Bryant McFadden just got cut from the Steelers. More options.

We already have Florence on the roster who tends to draw the flag, do we really need another one like him? I say take a pass and look elsewhere.

I think if we signed him, he would pass DFlo on the depth chart. I already believe we have a good CB group. Williams and Routt on the outside, Dflo/Rogers in the nickel is pretty good. Add depth to a position that has hit by injury last year.

If McGee and Florence needed to be released to offset whatever Routt would get, I’d take him, assuming another young CB addition in the middle rounds this year. When Routt is playing well, he can cover any WR in the league. He’s big, fast, aggressive and has production to back it up. Depending on Aaron Williams’ development, I think Routt would very easily be our best CB. That may be good and bad, but I think he’s certainly a sizable upgrade over McGee and probably Florence.

I really don’t think he signs here, though, unless Nix blows him away with a contract offer.

and track the ball in the air. (sometimes I swear our corners aren’t aware that your allowed to look back for the ball.) Love to see him in a Bills uni.

Here is some history on the guy (source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-raiders-routt )

Routt got the big contract after grading out as one of the league’s top cover cornerbacks in 2010. The opposition’s 39.4 percent completion rate when throwing at him was the lowest of any player targeted at least 60 times that season, according to STATS LLC.

that was in 2010 opposite Asomugha. Later on though, they say this about his play last year:

While he once again held opponents to a low completion percentage (47.4 percent) and allowed less than 6 yards per pass attempt for the season, according to STATS, he was susceptible to penalties and touchdowns. He was credited with allowing eight touchdown passes—tied for the second-most in the NFL—and led the league with 17 penalties committed, according to STATS.

Personally, i don’t think he dropped off that much last year, the raiders used a different philosophy last year. First, the pass rush wasn’t nearly as good last year as it was the year before (39 sacks last year, compared to 47 the year before) and also partly due to scheme. The raiders played a very feast or famine defense last year, for the most part it was straight up man to man, which lends itself to penalties and TDs (unless you have a roster of Revis’s), while still having otherwise decent stats. I still believe he can play at a high level.

Overall, I like the pickup and it moves CB down the need list a little bit. Instead of a rd 1-3 pick, we could use a later pick on a developmental guy, since at this point our starters would more or less be set with people on the roster already.have a competition between Mckelvin, Florence, and McGee, and the odd man out gets cut, and if Williams earns the #2 spot, then I would likely cut ties with McGee, due to injury history.