Archives for March 2016

'Hogan has also spent three seasons with the Bills, appearing in 16 games with six starts and has 87 career catches for 959 yards and six touchdowns. The 6-1, 220-pounder entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie out of Monmouth in 2011 and signed with the San Francisco 49ers. He also spent time on the practice squads of the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins before hooking on with Buffalo.'

'Bryant has spent the past three seasons with the Bills, making his greatest impact in 2015 as he played in all 16 games, starting 10, and racking up 45 tackles (24 solo), six quarterback hits, two tackles for loss and one pass defensed. Bryant originally entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with Pittsburgh in 2011. The 6-4, 300-pound Northwestern product spent portions of the 2011 and 2012 seasons on the Steelers’ Practice Squad and 53-man roster.'

'The 6-4, 316-pounder has started 153 games over his ten year career, all with New Orleans. He missed five games last season and two games in 2014. He played – and started – all 16 games the eight other years of his career.'

'There are three degrees of restricted free agents, and with the Bills' salary cap restrictions, common sense would indicate that the Bills likely used the lowest of the three for all three players. The $1.671 million tender would give the Bills no draft pick compensation for any of the three players if they did not match an offer sheet.'

'Evans is a six-time Pro Bowl player, having spent his entire 10-year NFL career with the New Orleans Saints. He also was coached by current Buffalo Bills offensive line coach Aaron Kromer while in New Orleans.'

'The Bills retained the rights of three of their restricted free agents this offseason. Buffalo tendered qualifying contract offers to DT Corbin Bryant, WR Chris Hogan and OT Jordan Mills today prior to the league’s March 9 4 p.m. deadline.'

'The New Orleans Saints released Evans in a cost cutting move Feb. 8th. They had just restructured his contract last offseason. At the start of this offseason however, New Orleans was still about $10M over the projected cap for 2016 and released Evans along with two other players in early February.'

'"I played for Rob in New England so Rob will look at these guys up front and in the secondary and be very happy with what he has," said McGinest. “Rob will come in and he's very, very educated at using LBs and DEs in certain schemes and mixing and matching.”'

'Starting options: Derrick Johnson, Kansas City; Danny Trevathan, Denver; Jerrell Freeman, Indianapolis; Zach Brown, Tennessee; Rolando McClain, Dallas; Nigel Bradham, Buffalo; Demario Davis, New York Jets; James Laurinatis, L.A. Rams.'

'Here are the Bills pending unrestricted free agents, where I see them fitting or not fitting in with the team next season, and how their situation may play out…'.

'And it wasn’t so much Williams’ salary, but rather the way he quit on the season while being paid nearly $14 million.'

'On what makes Incognito different: “His attitude and intensity every day. Even early on, this early in the offseason, you can see him on the sled like ‘Hoo-ahh!’ That’s just him. When we go in the pool, some guys go through the motions. He brings intensity in every rep.'

'“Definitely going into Year 2,” Miller said this week, “I think it’s important for an offensive line to stay together and you should try to keep it together as long as you can. The more experience and more time you have to get close with one another and get that cohesiveness down, it makes for better schemes and helps us count on one another for sure.”'

'Incognito himself is grateful Buffalo was the team that extended a hand. But he read the passive-aggressive leak from One Bills Drive, the one that indicated Buffalo was “frustrated” he wouldn’t take a “hometown discount.”'

'If Incognito is unwilling to do that, it’s easy to see how this negotiation will be tricky for General Manager Doug Whaley and Co. Whaley does not have a history of paying big money to guards – especially ones who will be 33 at the start of the upcoming season.'