Archives for April 17, 2018

‘None of the Bills’ reported pre-draft visits have been with safeties, and that’s not a huge surprise. The position is set with Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer as starters, a duo that established itself as one of the best in the NFL in 2017. Additionally, the team added Rafael Bush in free agency, so he figures to be the top reserve. While there is a job opening for the fourth safety on the roster, the team could still re-sign Colt Anderson or Shamarko Thomas with an eye on special teams.’

‘”Yes,” he told reporters Monday without hesitation. “There’s a lot of good players in this draft and that was the big thing of moving from 21 to 12 (via last month’s trade with the Cincinnati Bengals). The natural assumption, I get it, is, ‘They’re moving up to get a quarterback … yada yada yada.’ We improved our draft position. That was a second-round value jump to go from 21 to 12. We’re excited about where that moves us on our draft board, the players that we see would be available there.”‘

‘”No one said this is going to be easy. Sometimes, the second year is harder than the first year because people are now going to try to put us up here,” McDermott said, raising his hand to his forehead. “We have so many warts, and the margin of winning is so tight. There’s so much work to be done.”‘

‘”I don’t think it’s really the time to get into it,” Beane said when asked about Incognito’s behavior on social media. “Let’s leave it as is. Sean and I would like to focus on any draft questions you’ve got, or players that are here on the 90-man.”‘

‘Yeah, I think really the biggest thing we tried to cover was, other than normal logistics and what-not the first day, was just really, the reality of our situation is such that eight of the twelve teams that made the playoffs in 2016 didn’t make the playoffs in 2017. We have to turn the page from what happened last year and understand that this is a new team; it’s a new year, new personalities, and so we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’ve got a long way to go; that really hasn’t changed. We’re excited about the guys that we’ve added to the roster and the work that, apparently, has been put in since the players have left us X amount of months ago. Really, we’ve got to earn the right, and that starts today.’

‘Allen becomes the fourth quarterback in the draft to reportedly visit One Bills Drive. The others are Josh Rosen (UCLA), Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma) and Mason Rudolph (Oklahoma State). On Friday, the Bills reportedly held a private workout in Los Angeles with USC quarterback Sam Darnold. Darnold is reportedly visiting the Giants on Monday and the Jets on Tuesday.’

‘Palepoi’s arrival reunites him with new Bills defensive tackle Star Lotulelei, his college teammate at Utah and at Snow College in Utah. Palepoi was a junior college All-American and team captain in 2011. He was second-team All-Pac 12 and team captain as a senior at Utah.’

‘Kerley has spent most of his career as a slot receiver. He has recorded 268 catches for 3,109 yards, an average of 11.6 yards per reception, with 13 touchdowns. His most productive season in terms of yardage was 2012 when he had 827 receiving yards on 56 receptions.’

‘Brown is set to receive a $2 million workout bonus for participating in the team’s offseason conditioning program, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. That is by far the highest in the league.’

‘According to a league source, former Bills running back Fred Jackson is coming to town Wednesday to sign a one-day contract and officially retire as a member of the team. Jackson, 37, spent nine seasons with the Bills, finishing third on the team’s all-time rushing list. He last played in 2015 with the Seattle Seahawks.’