The Buffalo Bills on Monday officially confirmed cornerback Stanford Routt's visit to One Bills Drive. The former Raiders star is the first marquee free agent of 2012 since being released over the weekend, and his first visit was with Buffalo.

After spending seven seasons with Oakland - a span of time in which the team never earned a winning record - he is understandably looking for a team that can compete.

"Obviously I want to go to a team that I can help win," Routt told reporters late Monday afternoon. "I haven’t won much in my seven years in the NFL. I just want to be on a team that I can help win and has some stability."

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NFL teams - even the ones generally viewed as among the league's poorest at the craft - are extremely thorough scouting college players. Hours upon hours of game footage are reviewed by scouts and coaches alike, players are interviewed, and scouts spend time on campus talking to coaches and trainers trying to gather as much information as possible on prospects.

It's still intriguing to us, however, that the Buffalo Bills saw fit to have scouts present at four Arizona State football games this past fall. That's according to Chris Steuber.

The Sun Devils have a half-dozen prospects that will likely merit serious draft-day consideration, but two in particular - quarterback Brock Osweiler and linebacker Vontaze Burfict - could very well be gone by the end of day two. Burfict is a mortal lock as a first-round pick with a prototypical size-speed ratio; he's a 6'4", 250-pound junior entrant coming off a 69-tackle, five-sack season. Osweiler, meanwhile, is a one-year starter and early entrant that completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 4,036 yards, 26 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 2011.

We've yet to really sink our teeth into draft prospect research here at Buffalo Rumblings, so this is for couch scouts everywhere: how interested are you in Osweiler and Burfict as potential Bills?

Free agent CB Routt visiting with Bills - BuffaloBills.com
"They started off the season 5-2 and beat the New England Patriots, the team that represented the AFC in the Super Bowl," he said. "I don’t see that as anything you can look down upon. Obviously everybody can be better except for the one team that went to the Super Bowl. But the sky is the limit because you can clearly see that there are the right pieces here in place."

Clowney hoping to be speed Bills need - BuffaloBills.com
"That’s one thing I’ve been known for since day one coming out of college is being a speed guy," said Clowney. "The one thing that I have improved on in my five years though is being a route runner and better using my speed to my advantage."

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The 2012 NFL free agent signing period begins exactly one month from today - on the afternoon of March 13 - and for Buffalo Bills fans, all of the team's bounty of concerns largely remain secondary to the status of wide receiver Stevie Johnson.

Not many 25-year-old receivers coming off of back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons hit the open market, and most Bills fans are hoping that the team is able to prevent that from happening in four weeks. Johnson became the first receiver in franchise history to pull off that feat this past season, and as he's just entering his prime, most believe that consistently excellent football lies in his future.

There are a lot of factors at play in this process, and the fact that Johnson is the team's most marketable personality since Terrell Owens - in some ways, he may even come out ahead on that front - heightens the scale of the issue. The Bills really do need to re-sign Johnson, not just because he's a good football player, but because of the backlash they'd get if they fail to do so. But none of that concerns Johnson himself, who should have ample reason to desire to remain in Buffalo, as well.

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In putting together our State of the Buffalo Bills Roster series, we asked the Buffalo Rumblings community to vote for the biggest offensive and defensive needs the team has entering the 2012 off-season. Now it's time to continue voting to merge those two lists into one community-developed needs list. To this point, our list looks like this:

1. 4-3 defensive end
2. 4-3 outside linebacker
3. Wide Receiver

Today's poll, which will determine the fourth spot out of our Top 5, will come down to either offensive tackle or cornerback.

At tackle, the Bills have a serviceable right tackle (Erik Pears) and a young guy they like (Chris Hairston), but also have an impending free agent (Demetrius Bell) - and there are question marks about all three players. Depth is a concern, as is health viability. Meanwhile, at cornerback, the team is hosting free agent Stanford Routt today - a clear indication that the team is not happy with its overall depth, nor with the bang-for-the-buck they're getting out of a trio of veterans (Terrence McGee and Leodis McKelvin specifically).

So which is it, Bills fans? Tackle or cornerback? Let us know with a vote and a comment!

The Buffalo Bills had $20.9 million in free salary cap space in 2011, according to Pro Football Talk. The same report claims that a change to the league's collective bargaining agreement could keep that money useable in the future for the Bills and other teams with cap to burn. Mike Florio explains:

Under Article 13, Section 6(b)(v) of the CBA, each team may carry over any remaining cap room from one year to the next by submitting written notice, signed by the owner of the team, to the league office no later than 14 days before the start of the next league year. The written notice must indicate the maximum amount of cap room that the team wishes to shift from one cap year to the next.

As Florio asks in this article, why wouldn't a team that wishes to be competitive carry that money over? The only answer is budgetary.

Clearly, this is a question that Bills fans will be asking clear through the end of February. Buffalo had the sixth-most free cap space in 2011. In the team's cash-to-cap philosophy, this cap space could add another free agent contract to the mix. With an extra $21 million to spend, Buffalo could add two or three years to a new Stevie Johnson deal, or perhaps cover bringing back Scott Chandler.

Teams must submit their letters by February 28. It remains to be seen if the Bills, or any team for that matter, will carry over their salary cap excess from 2011.

Bills need talent transfusion for switch in scheme - The Buffalo News
"It's a lot more about the 'who' than the 'how' when it comes to the Buffalo Bills' switch to a 4-3 defense this season. Who they can add to the defense will be far more important in determining their success than how they line up."

For one night amidst war, Whitney Houston made nation cry - Sporting News
Super Bowl XXV was such a unique moment that people feel compelled to discuss it following Whitney Houston's death.

Explaining the Hall Voting - Peter King
"I'm still waiting for the Andre Reed fans from La Jolla and Albuquerque and Lubbock to harangue me about why he hasn't been elected. It's funny that all the critics so far seem to be from Western New York."

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Last night, word broke that music sensation Whitney Houston had passed away at the age of 48. We're a blog dedicated to the Buffalo Bills, and solely the Buffalo Bills, so it'd take something quite special to be mentioning her here at all, even despite the magnitude of the news.

That special something was her rendition of our national anthem prior to the Bills' Super Bowl XXV matchup against the New York Giants. That was an unforgettable night for any Bills fan that bore witness to it - though the conclusion of the game may cause some to want to forget - but the evening also got off to a memorable start thanks to a performance that most consider the best pre-game national anthem production ever put forth.

We've embedded the video of that performance below. This is not only how I remember one of the most talented voices ever, but also a big part of how I'll remember the Bills kicking off their run of four straight Super Bowl appearances.