Andy Levitre is waiting: Bills should 'at least throw me an offer'

[RS12]

The Buffalo Bills committed to safety Jairus Byrd's future today.

Left guard Andy Levitre, meanwhile, is waiting for a contract offer.

Eleven days away from the start of the free-agency period, Levitre is wondering whether the Bills want him back.

"I'm in limbo right now," Levitre told me this afternoon from his home in Northern California. "I don't know what their plan is.

"Now that Jairus got his franchise tag, there's a week and a half for them to work a deal out with me. But I haven't been offered anything yet. We're waiting around to see if something will pop up."

Levitre is Buffalo's most versatile and most durable offensive lineman. He has played every position and hasn't missed a start in his four years since being drafted 51st overall in 2009.

He and Byrd were the Bills' top two free agents. The Bills announced today they've used their franchise tag on Byrd. Teams can place a franchise tag on just one player.

Levitre can hit the open market with the Bills receiving no compensation in return. He'll certainly be considered among the best O-line options in the free-agent pool.

http://blogs.buffalonews.com/press-...-bills-should-at-least-throw-me-an-offer.html

 

[DFWJC]

I wonder if I'm the only one who gets 2009 draft flashbacks whenever I here Levitre's name.

He is the guy taken in our spot when we traded out of the 2nd round that year. He, LeSean MCoy, William Beaty, William Moore, Sebastian Vollmer, Sean Smith and a few other names always trigger that particular trade memory. Maybe because it's time for many of them to get a new contract, I just keep hearing those names. The exciting thing is we did take Jason Williams and passed on ALL of those guys with that trade. Sweet.

Flashbacks.

 

[arglebargle]

Yeah, when I went back and looked at that draft, seemed like a bunch of the next five or so picks ended up being quality players. And then the bottom dropped out. Still wish that, once they'd decided to trade, they didn't gather up some picks for future years. Building for the future.

 

[InmanRoshi]

Yeah, when I went back and looked at that draft, seemed like a bunch of the next five or so picks ended up being quality players. And then the bottom dropped out. Still wish that, once they'd decided to trade, they didn't gather up some picks for future years. Building for the future.

But supposedly the entire justification for trading back at the time was that it was a bad draft. That's why I never buy into the concept of bad drafts, especially with Top 2-3 round picks. The NCAA pumps out thousands upon thousands of draft eligible kids every year. Someone at pick 51 can help your football team.

 

[burmafrd]

But supposedly the entire justification for trading back at the time was that it was a bad draft. That's why I never buy into the concept of bad drafts, especially with Top 2-3 round picks. The NCAA pumps out thousands upon thousands of draft eligible kids every year. Someone at pick 51 can help your football team.

if we had stayed at our second round pick and done our homework right we would have come up with a good player. Which is more then we got from the rest of the draft.

 

[JakeCamp12]

But supposedly the entire justification for trading back at the time was that it was a bad draft. That's why I never buy into the concept of bad drafts, especially with Top 2-3 round picks. The NCAA pumps out thousands upon thousands of draft eligible kids every year. Someone at pick 51 can help your football team.

Agreed...our biggest issue is our poor drafting. We hit one or two drafts and have one or two drafts where we get zero players from. We will not contend for another Super Bowl until we can put 4 or 5 good drafts together. You need youth to win in this league, and in order to have a team full of players in their prime, you need consecutive drafts that get quality starters. Jerry has a terrible draft track record and though our last few have been ok, we need to get more starters from the draft. We need to figure out how to draft OL and DL and safety. We need to stop playing games by moving up and down the board and letting quality players slip past us in order to acquire more 6th and 7th round picks. Build and invest in your draft board, then follow the board. Trust the scouts that spend years helping you build it. Stop making rash decisions because you have a hunch.