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Bills QB
Drew Bledsoe
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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — By any measure, it had already been a remarkable offseason
for the Bills.
Fresh from a 3-13 disaster, they had lost Pro Bowl LB Sam Cowart to the Jets via free
agency, and injury-plagued QB Rob Johnson was exposed in Houston’s expansion draft
and then waived for salary-cap reasons.
But before Bills’ fans could slip into depression, team president/general manager
Tom Donahoe delivered a megadose of hope.
First, he signed eight modestly priced, but decidedly valuable veterans for
considerably less than what Buffalo would have had to have paid to keep Cowart and
Johnson.
Those additions — LBs London Fletcher (St. Louis) and Eddie Robinson (Tennessee),
OTs Trey Teague (Denver) and Marcus Price (New Orleans), TEs Dave Moore (Tampa Bay) and
Brady McDonnell (N.Y. Giants), SS Billy Jenkins (Denver/Green Bay) and PK Mike Hollis
(Jacksonville) — were followed by a solid draft.
On the first day, Buffalo grabbed Texas OT Mike Williams in the opening round, LSU WR
Josh Reed and Brigham Young DE Ryan Denney in the second and Stanford S Coy Wire in the
third.
But the best was yet to come.
In addition to drafting six more players on Day Two, the Bills pulled the trigger on a
trade that had been speculated about for a month. They sent their first-round draft choice
in 2003 to New England for QB Drew Bledsoe.
The Patriots had won Super Bowl XXXVI behind young Tom Brady after Bledsoe had suffered
a severe chest injury in Week Two of the regular season. New England played so well behind
Brady that head coach Bill Belichick opted to stay with him even after Bledsoe was
healthy.
But unlike the Doug Flutie-Johnson soap opera in Buffalo, Bledsoe kept quiet, worked
with Brady and played only out of necessity — he relieved Brady in the AFC
championship game and led the Pats past the Steelers.
After Brady beat the Rams with a two-minute drill in the Super Bowl, it was clear he
was New England’s quarterback of the future. Bledsoe was not only way too expensive
to keep as a backup, but he also had earned the right to be traded.
But to Buffalo?
Ralph Wilson, who has owned the Bills for their 42-year existence, was incredulous.
"When (Tom) Donahoe told me we might be able to get Drew Bledsoe, I was
flabbergasted," Wilson said. "To me, he was one of the five best quarterbacks in
the league."
And many found the deal hard to believe, especially for such a modest price.
Said former Bills head coach and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Marv Levy:
"I’m a little surprised New England made the trade for a variety of reasons.
"I think a guy with (Bledsoe’s) stature is worth more than next year’s
first-rounder. (And), it’s within the division. I’m surprised (the Patriots)
couldn’t get more value elsewhere."
Jim Kelly, Buffalo’s most famous quarterback, agreed.
"There’s no doubt Drew can play," he said. "It kind of surprised me
New England would let him go to an AFC East team.
"If I’m a general manager, unless there was no other way out, I would never
trade a great player like him to my own division, where I know I’m going to face him
twice every year."
But there was no other way out for the Patriots, and Donahoe knew it.
Because of the cap ramifications, there were no other suitors for Bledsoe, despite the
fact he’s thrown for nearly 30,000 yards, has appeared in three Pro Bowls and is 30
years old.
The miracle is that the Bills, who were in what Donahoe called "salary-cap
jail" a winter ago, had $5 million worth of room for Bledsoe’s contract.
What’s more impressive is that the trade wasn’t conditional. Had this deal
followed the norm, the Patriots would be better compensated if Bledsoe has success in
Buffalo. However, in this case, the more success he has — and the more the Bills win
— the later New England’s first-round draft pick becomes.
The effect in Buffalo was immediate.
During the first few days after the trade, more than 1,500 season tickets were sold,
and the community was overcome with excitement.
The team was no different.
WR Eric Moulds was enthused: "I’m excited like everybody else. I think all of
Western New York is excited … especially the players and myself because we have a
great, quality quarterback.
"I feel like we’re a legit contender, not a contender just to win the
division. We’re looking to bigger things right now, like the playoffs and the Super
Bowl."
Bledsoe, the consummate, media-savvy politician, said all the right things.
Conscious of Buffalo’s post-Kelly QB woes, he admitted, "They didn’t
bring me here strictly to throw passes. They brought me here to bring some leadership and
some experience.
"I’ve been with some good teams and some bad teams. I can give a list of
things that are different, and they’re very apparent. I’ll share those things
with these guys. … I’ve got to be a leader for this team."
The message got out quickly.
Said Moulds, after one minicamp session: "At one point I thought Jim Kelly was in
there. Jim used to take control of the huddle the same way. Drew told the guys to do this
and do that. We haven’t had that type of person here in a while."
Best of all for Bledsoe, he’s inherited an offensive coordinator who’s
adaptable to his skills.
Mike Sheppard and his West Coast offense were fired after last season and replaced by
Kevin Gilbride, who brings head-coaching experience (San Diego) and flexibility to the
position, something Bledsoe is looking forward to.
"I think that the offense we’re running with Kevin is probably about as good
as it gets for me," Bledsoe said after minicamp. "He likes to work the ball
downfield with a vertical passing game, he’ll allow me a certain degree of freedom to
change things up and make adjustments, and he doesn’t have a lot of ego wrapped up in
him being the genius. I think working with him is going to be a good fit.
"Hopefully, we’ll bring the Bills back to the great success they enjoyed in
the early ’90s. Maybe we’ll take it all the way, and when I leave here, that
will be my legacy."
Chuck Pollock covers the Bills for the Olean (N.Y.) Times-Herald. |
