Archives for May 1, 2012

‘We gave the draft a B+ grade as we feel they hit their needs for the most part. It will be up to the coaching staff to teach Glenn to play left tackle at this level and to get Wright to play on the outside consistently. If that can happen the depth chart looks much better today than it did last week.’

‘”It’s always good to get a good player and all the players we selected were good, but we targeted Cordy and I watched a lot of tape on him and we reviewed him and went back and analyzed him again and then went and analyzed him some more,” said D’Alessandris. “To see us get that kind of caliber player at that time I was excited because I know he’s going to make our offensive line better.”‘

‘I came straight out and asked Kelsay if the last two years were miserable for him and he smiled and said, “It was tough, obviously it wasn’t a great situation or the optimum situation for myself, but I’m very blessed to be here for as long as I have been. Be with the same organization. I’ve seen a lot of coaching changes, there have been a lot of different guys, but I want to win. I’m at the point in my career where I don’t how many more years there’s going to be and I have yet to step onto the field in the post season so I’m super excited to get back to the 4-3 which is more comfortable to me, surrounding the team with great play makers and seeing what happens.”‘

‘The Bills were not named as one of the top five or six big winners of the draft by evaluators who ranked the league, but virtually all the national media outlets gave Buffalo a grade of B or better.’

‘Howell was a first-team All-Pac 12 Conference pick at strong safety in 2011 despite missing three games with a hand injury. He made seven interceptions and was a three-year starter for the Cardinal, starting 33 games overall. Howell, 5-foot-11 and 210 pounds, ran a 4.65-second time in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, but improved the time to about 4.55 seconds at Stanford’s pro day in March. He won the team’s the Jack Huston Award, given to the player who best exemplifies aggressiveness, exceptional performance and unheralded efforts. ESPN analyst Mel Kiper had Howell rated 11th among all safeties in the draft. “He plays faster than he times, and he has very good instincts,” Kiper said.’

‘Buttles appeared to be headed for his best season with UMaine last fall when he suffered a season-ending left knee injury Sept. 17 at Albany. He had surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and underwent rehabilitation.’

‘”Stevie had so many things going on — his shoulder, his groin — that he was playing through,” Fitzpatrick told QMI Agency. “To see (him) limping around and trying to get through practice even — that motivates me. And that motivates other guys to go out there and give it our best as well.”‘

‘The 6-4, 220-pound Beligian native had never played football before attending high school in Staten Island, N.Y. He was a two-time All-Ivy selection at Brown and finished 10th all-time in receptions (110) and 11th in receiving yards (1,381).’

‘#Douglas, undrafted in this past weekend’s NFL Draft, just finished his career at Missouri State, where he rushed for 1,887 yards and 18 touchdowns in his career. He ran for 559 yards and three scores as a senior, and also caught 11 passes for 62 yards and two TDs last season.’

‘Johnson announced the news himself on his Twitter account, noting he wants to be 100 percent healthy heading into the season. Upon arriving in Philadelphia on Sunday evening, Johnson then proceeded to post photos of his search to find the city’s best cheesesteak.’

‘Final grade: C.’

‘Corp began his college football career at USC but cracked his fibula in 2009. That allowed Matt Barkley to win the starting job with the Trojans. Corp was the backup for the remainder of that season.’

‘The Bills filled out their incoming class of nine draftees with 10 undrafted rookie free agents. Buffalo agreed to terms with a quarterback, running back, two offensive linemen, a linebacker, four defensive backs and a punter Monday. Here’s a thumbnail sketch of each of them courtesy of the Bills scouting department.’