Archives for March 2012

WR Stevie Johnson…Odds of re-signing: 6 to 1.’

‘But then, the Bills do what they always do – they played the tease.’

‘It’s all sitting right there for Nix and the Bills. And for Johnson. In two strokes of the pen, the organization can show the rest of the league, and particularly other future free agents, that Buffalo is desirable. Young, talented players not only want to be IN Buffalo, but actually like it so much they want to stay here, too.’

‘”They’ve got a lot of things coming as far as free agency approaching and guys in the last year of their contracts (and about to be free agents on March 13),” he said. “I had a good talk with Buddy (Nix, general manager) and he said they’ve got some things to take care of and we’ll approach (Jackson’s contract) sometime this offseason before camp. We’ll see what happens, but I have faith in them.”‘

‘Conventional wisdom ranks Martin as the third-best tackle in the draft. Southern California’s Matt Kalil is the consensus choice as the No. 1 left tackle. Iowa’s Riley Reiff may be No. 2, ahead of Martin. Ohio State’s Mike Adams could move up into the top 15 of the draft, as well. At least one and maybe two of the top nine teams in the draft are expected to take a left tackle.’

‘”We cannot make it happen if it’s not there, and that’s the thing you’ve got to keep in mind,” Nix said when speaking about the idea of taking a defensive end early. “If we go in and say ‘We’ve got to have a pass rusher,’ and we reach down and get one at the tenth pick that we’ve got graded in the third round, then we’re setting ourselves back three or four years.”‘

‘”We need pass rushers, a guy who can set the edge as a defensive end,” Nix said. “(But) I want to make this clear – we can’t reach for a defensive end because we need him.”‘

‘The Bills haven’t ruled out using the franchise tag on Johnson – March 5 is the deadline – but assistant general manager Doug Whaley said on buffalobills.com during a chat with fans that would be a short-term fix and the team is more interested in a long-term contract with Johnson.’

‘”A lot of instances it’s going to be the same guys maybe playing a little different position,” Wannstedt said. “There will be a little bit of a learning curve. The OTAs and the extra days that we can get just to walk through and talk with the players in the offseason are going to be very, very important to us. I’d like to think that not just from a rookie standpoint, but with five rookies playing last year on defense, we are counting on those guys making significant steps upward this year. The offseason is a time where we can make up a lot of ground.”‘

‘”It is absolute. It’s a no,” said Nix. “You’ve got to give up the farm. We’re not in that business.”‘

‘”I’m up there four or five days a week and he would come in and knew who I was and that I played defensive tackle,” Williams told Buffalobills.com. “When you get out there and start working out with those guys and run with the team you form a friendship and you talk and help them with whatever you can or what they have questions about. He’s been there for three years and I’ve known him for that long.”‘

‘If I were running the Bills, I’d offer St. Louis a package including first-round picks and second-round picks in both the 2012 and 2013 drafts.’

‘Jackson is going into the final year of his contract and although talks with the Bills haven’t started he told Stu he remains confident the deal will get done. “Not yet they still have some stuff that they have to take care of so hopefully after they get all that squared away we’ll start talking.I’m optimistic I mean its like I’ve been saying the whole time I got faith in Buddy and I had a good conversation with him so we’ll see what happens.”‘