Examining A Buffalo Bills Secondary With Stanford Routt

The Buffalo Bills hosted free agent cornerback Stanford Routt on Monday, and Jason La Canfora of NFL.com tweeted Tuesday that the team is still talking with the corner despite spending his second day visiting the Kansas City Chiefs. La Canfora also notes that Routt has a meeting with the Cincinnati Bengals scheduled for Friday.

If the Buffalo Bills were able to land Routt, it would almost certainly require a contract somewhere north of the three-year, $15 million contract Drayton Florence signed a year ago. As the only free agent out there right now, Routt may be able to use that leverage to get an even larger deal. For comparison's sake, Ike Taylor signed a four-year, $28 million contract a year ago. If Routt is able to land between Florence's $5 million average and Taylor's $7 million average, he would be looking at a contract in the neighborhood of four years for $24 million.

With the addition of Routt to the secondary, the Bills would almos certainly have to part ways with one of their cornerbacks. Terrence McGee will be 32 before the end of the 2012 season, and has missed 17 games over the last two seasons. He is scheduled to make $3.2 million in base salary in 2012, and is the prime candidate for replacement.

Routt turns 29 before the start of training camp, and had a rough year in 2011 as Oakland's top cornerback after a solid 2010 campaign. If he came to Buffalo and was put into a rotation with Florence and second-year corner Aaron Williams, would the additional signing bonus and salary be worth it to avoid another injury-plagued year from McGee? Is it a big enough upgrade for that much money, Bills fans?