Archives for February 2015

'Free agency offers few guaranteed fixes for any team in the market for a quarterback. Former Ryan pupils Mark Sanchez (Bills) and Michael Vick (Jets) are among the list of retreads available as unrestricted free agents.'

'If the Bills are successful in signing McCown, he would serve as the immediate competition for Manuel to be the starting quarterback of the franchise in 2015. Manuel was benched four games into his second year in favor of Kyle Orton, but new head coach Rex Ryan has repeatedly said that the young quarterback would have a chance to compete for the job.'

'Spiller had his best season under Gailey in 2012, rushing for 1,244 yards and six touchdowns while catching 43 passes for 459 yards and two touchdowns. That’s 28 receiving yards more than the entire Jets backfield produced last season, a number that ranked the running backs 29th in the league.'

'“We got the draft coming up, free agency is coming up,” Ryan told WGR Radio in Buffalo. “Are there trade possibilities? You look at every possible scenario there is. From Doug Whaley and our scouts, all of our position coaches, we’re looking at that.”'

'With Rex Ryan and his new staff on hand, along with the entire Bills personnel department, we’re likely to get somewhat of a preview from the Bills on their plans for free agency during the combine. That includes the Bills important free agents like Jerry Hughes, C.J. Spiller, Da'Norris Searcy, Brandon Spikes, and others. The Bills have had personnel meetings in Western New York for the last several weeks. Now, with agents for the affected players on site in Indianapolis, it’s likely Buffalo’s intentions will leak out or be directly confirmed by the Bills. Stay tuned.'

'“Unfortunately, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, and there seem to have been enough incidents that it would be unlikely to see a drastic change. But since the deal is done, it will serve us best to remain hopeful that this will be a good move.”'

'Given that Hughes will be a hot commodity in the open market, the best guess is that the Bills would have to pay him more than $8 million per season, with a guaranteed deal resulting in a commitment of roughly $20 million.'

'"What's sometimes hard for me is to see the joy my daughters have spending quality time with their mother," Kelly said. "I know I'm missing out on that from the father-and-son standpoint. I love my daughters to death, but not like having a son. You dream about what could have been. And then I realize, even through his suffering, he's made me the man I am today.'

'Beyond inviting scrutiny from anti-bullying activists and cynics around the league, the Bills didn’t go all that far out on a limb by signing Incognito, who started the final three games for them in 2009 before being allowed to sign with the Miami Dolphins as a free agent. For now, he’s only a member of their offseason roster.'

'Jim looks strong but tires easily. His busy schedule would tire any normally healthy person in their prime. He says he's putting the focus back on his family, full time. "I get tired — I love making a difference, a lot of people brighten my life up, they make me feel better — but only so many hours in a day. I have to spend as much time with my family as I can, and I have to start realizing that."'

'A decent case could be made that the Bills need to find an impactful third receiver. The free-agent market could include some higher-end talent (such as Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas, and Randall Cobb) that might be a tad pricey for a team with no franchise quarterback, but there are other interesting names they might be more inclined to consider (such as Jeremy Maclin, Michael Crabtree, Eddie Royal, and Torrey Smith).'

'"I have no complaints whatsoever. Yeah you can have health issues, we all do, but you don't complain about them, you just keep moving on and hope that tomorrow you wake up and you're not quite as sore as you were the day before."'

'Let’s start with the concerns. Jackson turns 34 on Feb. 20, and that raises questions about just how effective he’ll be through another season. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for the Bills to make a major investment to retain Spiller, whose durability is an issue. If he departs, the Bills would need to find a replacement in the open market, which includes some big-name pending free agents in DeMarco Murray, Frank Gore, Justin Forsett, and Knowshon Moreno, or the draft.'

'Ryan was trying to do a bit of damage control after signing Incognito — the infamous ringleader of the Dolphins’ 2013 bullying controversy — as his first major move following a debut press conference in which the former Jets coach said he wanted to “build a bully” with the Bills.'

'The storyline is hardly new. We're a society that embraces second chances, and that's especially true in sports. Incognito is simply the latest of a long line of athletes who have resurrected themselves and their careers after facing public contempt.'