Signed for one year 3 million. Good luck Branch!

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/4157/alan-branch

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Kinda sorry to see him go, but it looks like we have it covered with the FA signings, some young kids up and coming and the draft just around the corner.

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Would have liked to have seen us match that. Oh well, can't get them all.

$3M makes it seem worth keeping him, but at least he went to a team in the other conference.

Yeah, I echo this thought. It sucks, but doesn't sting.

The fact they didn't match leads me to believe maybe there's hopes for Howard. Pete "redshirted" Tate his rookie year too, pretty much. Maybe thats part of it? I know this regime thinks in advanced like that at times.

I guess I'm feeling ok with Branch leaving,...PC and JS could have signed him if they really wanted too and chose not to do so,...I'm good with their decision,...

Yes and not to the above. Sometimes players makes it personal. If they were offered $3million here and $3million with the Bills they may hold a grudge against an organization they played in for not valuing them higher etc

Not sure if that happened but I am also in the camp that are surprised that he didn't get signed for $3million especially when some of the talk is about drafting to help this position........

Agree with those who said perhaps he was willing to take less from another team because we wouldn't give him a multi year deal. He's a solid tackle, but I don't think he was in our long-term plans.

Well I guess he will just have to miss the party at the end of this season. I'm sure the Bills will have one too

I could see that if it wasn't Buffalo. Nobody goes to Buffalo if there's an option to not go to Buffalo.

I would think he'd have received more playing time here than with the Bills anyway. I thought the Bills already had a few decent run-stuffers, although I know Marcel Dareus has been a disappointment so far.

Dan Quinn must not have been a fan.

Branch was a good player for us and helped make our D one of the best in the NFL. He's still young and was good insurance for Red Bryant too. Wish he was coming back, but oh well.

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I don't get all the Branch love. He was an ok player. But for a guy who specializes in run-stopping, he wasn't much of a factor when the run defense went down the tube the 2nd half of the year. Add to that he's completely worthless in terms of pass rushing. We certainly needed to find an upgrade for his spot. So I'm not sorry to see him go.

That's a good point, maybe the FO discovered why exactly the run defense went down the tube and maybe Branch was a part of it.

Wish him luck in Buffalo, was a good role player for us.

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Nobody is saying he's some All-Pro or anything like that. He plays what appears to currently be our weakest position, and an "ok player" is much better than anything else that's out there right now, and most likely better (for next season anyway) than anything we could land in the mid-rounds of the draft.

Losing him is very unlikely to be the ultimate difference in how far this team goes next season, but with how our DT group currently looks, I think keeping him would have been much better than not.

I don't remember even noticing Branch until the Redskins? game. Maybe I'm not as perceptive as others but could his one strong game down the stretch be clouding everyone's judgment on the type of impact Branch had?

A player most of us would have liked to see retained for that price, but it also leads me to believe that with the FA moves on the DL made already that PC/JS have their eye on the draft to cover that spot at this point. With 10 or whatever picks, they'll probably draft a future pro-browler out of North West Oklahoma Pan Handle State University...

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Good luck to you Mr. Branch and thanks for the good times.

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“There’s no reason, with Mr. Allen and the fan base here and the stadium, that this can’t be a stable, long-term winning organization.” - John Schneider

I don't agree. you can find run stuffers in this year's draft. It's not exactly a rare skillset to find. I don't think his value to this team was equivalent to 3million + . Furthermore, looking ahead to this coming year, pass rushing will be more important than run stuffing, IMO . The reason I say this is, let's suppose that RW and the offense take a step forward from where it left off last year and hits the ground running to start the season.

Than there's a very good chance this defense will be playing with a lead in the majority of the games (as opposed to last year were most of the first 8 games where tight affairs.). Which in turn will force opponents to abandon (or severly limit) their running game to keep up. Therefore, we'll have more teams passing on us than ever before. So it behooves us to tool up for a robust pass rush, even if that means sacrificing a little against the run.

Couple of points here.

1) Branch had to fire his prior agent and sign an new one didn't he? Quite possibly his former agent was asking for considerably more from the Hawks and from everyone else and he just flat priced himself out of his market.
2) The Hawks moved on to what looks to be a combination of McDaniels/Bennett/Jaye Howard at the 3-tech position. Between those three we should be good. As noted above, I wouldn't sleep on Howard. Quinn had him at Florida and he may have been just "redshirting" last season as he built up strength and got familiar with the pro game.
3) Branch signing now for that price, looks to be a bit of desparation. His new agent probably told him he missed the market and now better get on board with someone.

Really, our weakest position on the D-Line, IMO, appears to be depth behind Mebane. I imagine McDonald will play that role, but I'd really like us to draft a young space eater DT to backup Mebane in the draft.

Moving On!