Should the Bills Make a run at Richard Sherman?
Amid all the unknowns about free-agent cornerback Richard Sherman at this stage in his decorated career is one certainty: He'll be the smartest man in the defensive back room for whatever team that eventually lands him.
In the Buffalo Bills' case, he'd also be the most accomplished.
So should they at least kick the tires on the troubled Stanford graduate who was arrested in July, following a scary incident in which authorities allege he crashed his car into a construction zone while driving drunk, then threatened to kill himself during a domestic dispute with his wife and father-in-law and resisted arrest?
Despite that, Sherman faces just five misdemeanor charges that likely won't be resolved until after the season. The NFL also has not announced any plans for discipline, though that can change at any time during the process.
Sherman has been selected to six Pro Bowls and twice was a first-team All-Pro in a 10-year career spent with the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers, who are thought to be one of the three Super Bowl contenders interested in signing him.
He has 36 career interceptions, 115 career pass breakups and a résumé he told USA Today's Doug Farrar "should stand more firmly than a momentary lapse in judgment."
Richard Sherman may look good in the red, white and blue of the Buffalo Bills.
Added the 33-year-old: "I’ve got a decade of character and tape to be judged off of. If you’re judging me off of a momentary lapse, I’m probably not the player for you either way.”
Sherman claims the incident was "an eye-opener" and led to him getting the psychological help that he needed to deal with a "crossroads" in his personal life.
Football is another story, he insists.
"When I get on the field, football is one of those things you can do in your sleep," he said. "I can wake up out of the bed and be ready to [play] football."
Sherman may be right about that. What's more, he may be a perfect fit for the zone coverage schemes coach Sean McDermott and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier routinely employ.
Perhaps no player understands zone concepts better than Sherman, who thrived in Seattle coach Pete Carroll's Cover 3 and has been a voracious student of the game throughout his career.
If the Bills are interested in Sherman, the question is what they would have to do to squeeze him onto their loaded roster, because it's doubtful they'd want to part ways with any of the five cornerbacks on the active roster now, and rookie wide receiver Marquez Stevenson will be eligible to come off the injured reserve list as early as next week.
Plus, the Bills seem to be happy with the play of Levi Wallace, the starter on the outside opposite two-time Pro Bowl selection Tre'Davious White. Opponents tend to target Wallace more, and he responded with his fifth career interception last Sunday in a 35-0 demolition of the Miami Dolphins.
So lots to ponder, but Sherman could be worth some consideration if only to keep other bona fide Super Bowl contenders like the 49ers and Tampa Bay Bucs from getting him.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
