Archives for March 20, 2018

‘The team agreed to contracts with former Bengals center Russell Bodine and former Raiders right tackle Marshall Newhouse. Bodine, 25, got a two-year contract, while the 29-year-old Newhouse signed on for one year.’

‘You have to go back to Bodine’s final season at North Carolina to find a game in which he did not start. Bodine started all 64 games of his NFL career with the Cincinnati Bengals. He played in all 13 games as a junior at North Carolina, moving to various spots on the offensive line as needed. He started all 12 games as a sophomore for the Tar Heels. How rare is Bodine’s durability in starting every game of his first four NFL seasons. Only 22 offensive linemen have done it since 2000.’

‘The Raiders signed him to a two-year, $3.5 million deal before last season. He was released one year and one day later in advance of the start of the 2018 league year. The moved saved the Raiders $2.25 million in cap space. Newhouse started 14 games in 2017 but struggled at times.’

‘Minter missed four games for the Bengals last season because of an elbow injury, then was placed on injured reserve in December because of a hamstring injury. The Bills added Julian Stanford in free agency, but could still use more depth at linebacker with Brown gone and Ramon Humber not re-signed.’

‘Even if Gaines and Matthews sign elsewhere, the Bills would be even in terms of free agents lost and gained. The only other player among the team’s unrestricted free agents to have gotten interest on the open market is receiver Deonte Thompson, who is reportedly “mulling a few offers,” according to the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.’

‘There are still 38 days to go until the draft, though, which is plenty of time for Bills General Manager Brandon Beane to canvass teams in the top five about their willingness to move down. The expectation remains that the Bills will be interested in moving up from their current spots at No. 12 and No. 22 in the first round to position themselves for a possible franchise quarterback – even if Beane tried to pour ice water on that theory last week.’

‘One other interesting Bills-related note from King’s Monday Morning Quarterback column: The team was reportedly “seriously interested” in Jets quarterback Josh McCown before he opted to re-sign in New York. That left the Bills with AJ McCarron. Here’s what Beane told King about that signing: “We did due diligence there. Every dollar we spend there is a dollar less we can spend somewhere else. We didn’t want to get into chase mode. We had different guys we thought would fit, AJ being one of them. One word we heard over and over from people who had coached him or known him, like Hue Jackson: competitor. That was music to my ears. He’ll fit here.”‘

‘ Sunday was the fifth day of the league year and terms often are written into contracts based on that benchmark.’

‘The place was basically a baseball stadium converted to a football field. One player quoted in the book said the Bills ran patterns that had other teams’ defensive players back-pedaling – and often stumbling – over a pitcher’s mound. Talk about a home-field advantage.’