Nothing sells hope like wasted money.
NFL free agency looms, bringing optimism to fans around the league as to who their favorite team can sign to make them a contender or get over the hump. Typically, though, it’s just a time when teams overspend to bolster a potential championship roster or to supplement poor drafting on a bad roster.
Still, when the league implemented free agency in 1993, it brought eyeballs alongside. Free agency is also the first event of the new season, allowing bad teams to forget about last year and good teams to take the next step.
Teams are allowed to negotiate with players at noon Monday and they are officially allowed to make signings at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The cash-strapped Buffalo Bills are not expected to be big spenders, but have holes to fill.
The notion since free agency began 31 years ago has been that the Bills can’t afford to be big spenders. That simply isn’t true, even during the Ralph Wilson days.
Over the years, the Bills have made splash signings like Terrell Owens, Mario Williams, and, of course, Von Miller. Here is a list of some of the top free-agent signings in franchise history.
8. Takeo Spikes, 2003
A torn Achilles tendon prevented Spikes from being higher on this list and perhaps an all-time great career. Starting his career with the Bengals, Spikes became a restricted free agent after five seasons and wanted to sign with a playoff contender.
He was among the gems of the free agent class in 2003 and the Bills were looking to improve a defense that was 27th in points allowed the year before. Spikes signed a six-year, $32 million offer sheet that wasn’t matched by the Bengals and had two fantastic seasons.
Spikes made six tackles and had two interceptions as the Bills thumped the New England Patriots 31-0 in the 2003 opener and he made the Pro Bowl after tallying 126 tackles. Spikes made 98 tackles and intercepted five passes — returning two for touchdowns — to earn first-team All-Pro honors in 2004.
The Bills ranked second in total defense in both of those seasons, but failed to make the playoffs. Spikes tore his achilles three games into 2005 and was released after 2006. He played six more seasons, but never made the playoffs in his career.
7. Doug Flutie, 1998
After being a first-round pick of the Bears in 1986, Flutie started just 15 games with two teams in four years. He went to the Canadian Football League, was named most outstanding player six times and won three Grey Cups in eight seasons before signing a two-year, $625,000 contract with the Bills at 36 years old.
Flutie thought he was going to be the starter after Jim Kelly heir Todd Collins struggled in 1997 before being released. But the Bills traded a first-round pick for Jaguars backup Rob Johnson, who was named the starter going into 1998.
Quarterback controversy never left during Flutie’s three seasons. Johnson was injured in the season opener and the Bills started 0-3. Johnson was injured again in Week 6 and Flutie became the full-time starter, going 7-3, making the Pro Bowl and leading the Bills to the playoffs.
Flutie was given a four-year, $21.8 million contract in 1999, going 10-5. But with a playoff spot clinched, Johnson started the regular-season finale, going 24 of 32 for 287 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-6 drubbing of the Colts.
Wilson ordered coach Wade Phillips to make Johnson the starter for the playoffs — the Music City Miracle — and started a year-long quarterback controversy that led the Bills to release Flutie. Johnson went 3-13 in his lone season as the team’s starter in 2001, while Flutie went to San Diego and scored the game-winning touchdown against the Bills that season, but started just six games in four seasons after 2001.
Flutie threw for 7,582 yards and 47 touchdowns to lead the Bills to a 21-9 record between 1998-2000. Johnson threw for 4,798 yards and 27 touchdowns, going 9-17 as the starter.
6. Bryce Paup, 1995
After 32 ½ sacks in his first five seasons with the Packers, the Bills signed Paup for $7.6 million over three years. The outside linebacker was paired with Bruce Smith and Cornelius Bennett and the Bills led the league with 49 sacks, winning the AFC East for the sixth time in eight years.
Paup was named NFL defensive player of the year after recording 89 tackles and 17 ½ sacks. He was limited to six sacks in 12 games the following year and 9 ½ in 1997. But Paup once again jumped in free agency, signing a six-year, $22 million deal with the Jaguars.
He lasted just two seasons with Jacksonville and three seasons total after departing Buffalo, making 9 ½ sacks during that time before retiring at 32 years old.
5. Mario Williams, 2012
After being drafted No. 1 overall by Houston in 2006, Williams hit free agency as the top available player. The Bills were 30th in points allowed and 29th in sacks in 2011, so they paid Williams $100 million over six years, the largest contract awarded to a defensive player in NFL history at the time.
Williams recorded double-digit sacks in his first three seasons with the Bills, earning All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors in 2013 and 2014. The Bills ranked in the top-two in sacks those seasons — leading the league with a franchise-record 54 in 2014 — and Williams was in the top-five in sacks both seasons.
After recording 14 ½ sacks, the Bills hired Rex Ryan after Doug Marrone resigned and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz was retained. Williams did not connect with Ryan, making five sacks before being released after the 2015 season.
Williams registered 53 tackles for a loss and 43 sacks in four seasons, ranking in the top-10 in Buffalo history in both categories.
4. Ted Washington, 1995
Paup may have won defensive player of the year in 1995, but Washington was the team’s best free-agent signing that year. After four seasons between San Francisco and Denver, Washington signed a three-year contract worth $3.3 million with Buffalo.
The 375-pound nose tackle went on to clog the interior of the line for six years with the Bills, making three consecutive Pro Bowls from 1998-2000. The Bills ranked in the top-10 in total defense from 1996-2000, including the No. 1 overall defense in 1998.
Washington made 378 tackles and 19 ½ sacks during his run with the Bills. He was rewarded with a five-year, $27.3 million contract in 1998 that made him the highest paid player in franchise history at the time, but was released in a roster purge following the 2000 season.
He was a first-team All-Pro for the Bears in 2001 and made his fourth and final Pro Bowl.
3. Micah Hyde/Jordan Poyer, 2017
Hyde and Poyer are on this list together, because, well, as Sean McDermott says, “You can’t say one name without the other.” Neither were considered flashy signings during McDermott’s first year as coach in 2017, but they both went on to earn All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors over seven seasons together.
After four seasons as a jack-of-all-trades player in Green Bay, the Bills signed Hyde to a five-year, $30.5 million deal — considered too much at the time — to become a full-time safety. Poyer was given a four-year, $13 million deal after four average seasons in Philadelphia and Cleveland.
They started 92 games together, helping the Bills to six playoff appearances in seven years and four consecutive AFC East championships after the franchise went 17 years without a playoff appearance and 26 years without a division title before their arrival.
The duo combined for 38 interceptions as the Bills ranked in the top-10 in turnovers forced and interceptions during all seven of their seasons. Buffalo also ranked in the top-10 in passing touchdowns allowed six times, scoring defense five times and points and passing yards allowed four times.
2. Kent Hull, 1986
When Hull signed with the Bills in 1986, free agency didn’t exist. But Hull was never drafted by the NFL after leaving Mississippi State and spent three seasons with the New Jersey Generals before the USFL folded after 1985.
Hull went on to anchor Buffalo’s offensive line for 11 seasons, making three Pro Bowls and four All-Pro teams as the Bills went to four consecutive Super Bowls from 1990-1993. The Bills also won six AFC East championships during Hull’s career.
Known for challenging Kelly on some play calls in Buffalo’s no-huddle offense, Hull was Kelly’s center from the start when both players defected from the USFL. Hull made 121 consecutive starts from 1986-1993 and missed only two games during his entire career, with his 170 career games ranking 11th in franchise history.
1. Cookie Gilchrist, 1962
Free agency wasn’t even a thought when Gilchrist signed with the Bills. Gilchrist initially signed with the Cleveland Browns as a junior in high school, but it was against NFL rules and coach Paul Brown reneged on a promise that he would make the team.
Gilchrist swore never to play for Brown, and with his college eligibility erased, he spent eight seasons in Canada. He was considered a backup plan for Ernie Davis, the Heisman Trophy winner who was drafted by the Bills (AFL) and Browns (NFL) in 1962, choosing to play for Cleveland.
Gilchrist was the 1962 AFL MVP and was the league’s first 1,000-yard rusher, galloping to 1,096 yards and 13 touchdowns in 14 games. He ran for 12 touchdowns the following season and had 981 yards and six scores to help the Bills win the 1964 AFL championship.
John Madden once called Gilchrist “the best blocking running back that ever played the game,” and after knocking out New England defensive back Chuck Shonta in a 1964 game, Gilchrist went to the Patriots huddle and said, “Which one of you (expletives) is next?”
In his early years with the Bills, the 6-foot-3, 251-pound Gilchrist was considered the AFL’s answer to Browns great Jim Brown. He wanted to also play linebacker but coach Lou Saban wouldn’t allow it.
Gilchrist ran for 3,056 yards in three seasons and his 31 rushing touchdowns still ranks fourth in franchise history. He also joins Travis Henry and O.J. Simpson as the only players in franchise history to run for double-digit touchdowns in multiple seasons.
He led a boycott of the 1965 AFL All-Star game in 1965 due to segregation in New Orleans. An eccentric personality, Gilchrist was often at odds with team management and coaches at each stop and it led to the Bills trading him to the Broncos in 1965.