Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘In the broadest sense, Beane had almost no leverage in his search for a taker of Taylor because teams knew he was probably going to cut the seven-year veteran, so why give up anything to get him? However, by honing in on the Browns — a team that has been as quarterback-challenged as the Bills the past two decades — Beane found precisely the right mark.’

‘This on the heels of Dorsey acquiring wide receiver Jarvis Landry from Miami a few hours earlier. Clearly, Dorsey – in his first year with the Browns – isn’t afraid to make any type of deal, not for a team that went 1-31 the last two years. And clearly, the Bills are serious about improving at quarterback.’

‘If the Bills want to make the big move up, they may need to get creative, which is what A.J. Smith did in 2004 as general manager of the Chargers. He owned the No. 1 overall pick and wanted to select Eli Manning, but Manning, and his father, Archie, made it very publicly known that Eli did not and would not want to play for San Diego. They advised Smith — the ex-Bills’ personnel chief who had become GM in San Diego after the death from cancer of ex-Bills GM John Butler — not to waste the pick.’

‘Ivory began his NFL career with the Saints in 2010 and gained 1,307 yards in three years with Sean Payton. He then was signed by Rex Ryan in 2013 to play for the Jets, where he enjoyed his most success. He gained 833, 821, and 1,070 yards in three years there, scoring 18 total touchdowns.’

‘I asked Beane point blank if it makes him cringe thinking about the draft picks he’d have to relinquish to make such a move and he smiled and said, “I do like my picks, you nailed that. It’s one of those things where if you’re gonna move up, especially in round one, it takes a lot. The higher you go, it exponentially increases. So, you have to feel good about what you’re doing. You can’t just go up there, hey, we need a quarterback, we’re going to mortgage everything to go up there. We’ve got to know that we feel this guy is the guy and is worth the ransom, or whatever you want to call it, that it would take to move wherever you have to move to get a guy you think fits your long-term plan.”’

‘“It does answer a lot of questions for us,” Beane continued, “and it helps us to decide, when they walk out of the room, how much is there left that we have to get answered about this player? It’s a big part of the process; you can get a lot done in those 15 minutes.”’

‘According to ProFootballReference.com, there have been 489 men in the history of the NFL who have been a head coach for at least one game. Reich becomes just the fifth man in that voluminous group who once played for the Bills. The others were Marty Schottenheimer (1965-68), Tom Flores (1967-69), Kay Stephenson (1968) and Jim Haslett (1979-85).’

‘“As far as the positional drills, not important; absolutely meaningless,” Polian said the other day during a break from his analyst work at ESPN. “What counts here are measurables; height, weight, speed, and the translatable drills, i.e. the triangle drill, short shuttle, vertical jump, broad jump. No one ever sits there on the first of April and says, ‘Let’s go back and look at his film from the combine workout’ to see if they want to pick him. No one does that.”’

‘“We’ve been in communication with him and his agent (David Dunn),” said Beane. “Hopefully we’ll get something done sooner rather than later. But it takes two. He’s got to do his due diligence; we do as well. So yeah, at some point there would be a we-need-to-know. I’m sure they’re feeling the same thing on their end.”’

‘Kelly was originally diagnosed in May 2013 with oral squamous-cell carcinoma in his upper jaw. The illness is known to affect approximately 30,000 Americans each year, or about 5 percent of cancer diagnoses, with a survival rate of just above 50 percent.’

‘Still, as it always is with the Bills, quarterback was a hot topic and both men did their best to answer in non-answers.’

‘Quarterback. Obviously. A couple months ago when Beane was asked whether he’d personally seen the top-rated college quarterbacks play last season, his reply was, “All the ones that matter.” That was an indication that he’s not fooling around and settling for someone who may be available when the Bills are scheduled to pick in the first round in the back-to-back 21st and 22nd spots, or perhaps waiting until the second round.’

‘His signing apparently means the Bills will not try to re-sign free agent cornerback E.J. Gaines, a player who is expected to draw some sizable offers when free agency begins March 14. However, it also means the Bills can probably scratch cornerback off their first-round draft needs list as Davis would be a solid complement to Tre’ Davious White.’

‘Or, they make the play for one of the top kids in the draft. And if that’s what they do, then Taylor is the best option as the bridge quarterback because believe it or not, his $18 million cap figure (after the bonus kicks in) isn’t out of line in this day and age of quarterback salaries for one with seven years in the league, three as a starter.’

‘If I was on the competition committee, there are several ideas I would suggest. Naturally, No. 1 on my list, and I’m sure everyone’s list, is blowing up the catch rule and starting from scratch. Fixing this atrocity must be the most pertinent goal of the owners this year.’