Archives for May 13, 2017

'"He's on track," McDermott said. "He's doing a nice job, and I like the look in his eye. And again a credit to Cyrus and our medical team. He's rehabbing similar to (wide receiver) Kolby (Listenbee) and doing a nice job with it."'

'Robinette expected to be drafted, but the Department of Defense altered its position to require service academy graduates to serve at least two years on active duty before pursuing professional sports full-time. The previous rule, in effect for just one year, had allowed athletes to immediately apply to serve on reserve status and play right away.'

'"I would bounce ideas of him of where we could get players. We were always talking about how to make our defense better," Beane said. "And now, instead of just talking about the defense with him, I'm going to talk about the whole team with him."'

'"We feel his vast understanding and experience in many facets of football operations will be invaluable to our club moving forward. We also believe his vision for the Buffalo Bills, combined with his detailed approach, will help build a foundation for sustained success."'

'"I went through the interview process with the Pegulas and I had never met them, and so that’s the first thing you do – you’re trying to figure out, alright, who’s the owners, who’s leading this ship? And I was blown away. You go into something, you’re kind of like, eh, I don’t know what it’s going to be like. When I left the interview, I wanted to be a Buffalo Bill. So when I got the call for the second interview, Hayley and I had already talked about it and it was just a dream come true and they (Terry and Kim) undoubtedly are going to do anything they can to help me and Sean and the rest of this team build a winner to what this team used to have back in the ‘90s."'

'Of the 58 players on the rookie camp roster, chances are slim – at best – most of them will get that far. But that’s why they’re here. For that one shot. And they’ll all have three days to prove to the coaching staff they deserve to stick around.'

'"I thought the drafted players were solid for the first day and that's what I was looking for," McDermott said. "You watched some competition out there with Zay (Jones) and Tre'Davious (White) out there and that was good to see."'

'Granted, it was only the first day of the on-the-field learning for a player taking snaps at the most complex position in sports, but fifth-round quarterback Nathan Peterman didn't wow the reporters on hand by any means. '

'This is how the Green Bay Packers run their operation with GM Ted Thompson, and they've had sustained success for a long, long time. Consider me a fan of this way of thinking from the Bills new GM.'

'“You’re not going to see big splashes of free agency. Free agency sets you up for your draft. You don’t want to go into the draft needing a cornerback – needing an offensive tackle. If me and my staff do our job, we’ll look at where we have some holes after the season, we’ll plug a few holes, and then we’ll be able to draft for need when April comes.”'

'“I’m going to ask these players to battle every day,” said head coach Sean McDermott. “They’re coming in to earn the right to be on this football team and this roster and we’ll see where it goes from there. When you look at the players with Tre’ (Tre’Davious White) and Zay, they have that type of DNA over the course of their careers in college where they’ve earned everything that they’ve gotten.”'

'Mike Reiss, New England Patriots reporter: I particularly liked the Bills’ approach as they laid the foundation for longer-term sustainability (e.g., trading down and picking up a first-round pick in 2018) and establishing the type of culture coach Sean McDermott believes in with the type of hard-nosed, no-frills players they are targeting. It seems they have a defined plan, and that stood out as something different from the norm.'