With this crazy week of free agency, it got me thinking: who has been the Buffalo Bills’ best free agent signing of all-time. Like any person who has a question and social media accounts, I shared a poll on both Twitter and Facebook, asking fans who they believe is the best free agent the Bills have ever signed.
The fans were given the options of James Lofton, Bryce Paup, Mario Williams, and “other” (prompting the fans to comment a fourth opinion). Some of the names that were brought up in the comments where pretty interesting. People commented Doug Flute, Ted Washington, Steve Christie, and Ryan Lindell. These names bring up some fun times and all have great memories.
With free agency this week, who is the best player the #Bills signed? Working on a article for @NFLFanBlitz
— KIETHDOMONII (@kieth_domon) March 11, 2019
All-in-all, James Lofton won the poll. He was a part of the Buffalo Bills in the early 1990s when they went to four consecutive Super Bowls. He signed with the Bills in the summer of 1989 coming off a two-year stint with the then-Los Angeles Raiders. In his four-year stint with the Bills, he was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1991.
Lofton was part of the K-Gun offense that took the league by storm and propelled the Bills to one of the top teams of the decade. He had 151 receptions, 2,736 yards, and 21 touchdowns in those years. In the playoffs, he had 33 receptions, 598 yards, and six touchdowns. When looking at these stats you have to remember that, back then, teams were running the ball at about 60 to 70 percent of the time.
Lofton was a reliable receiver who was able to haul in most of his targets. He was a great complement to Andre Reed.
What put him at the top of the all-time Bills’ free agents list is the Super Bowl run the team had, in addition to the fact that he is now a Hall of Famer.
