WGR

‘“In the time I’ve been in Buffalo and my family’d been in Buffalo, I didn’t realize how important it was when I was going through the interview process with the different teams to become a head coach. I am very grateful to have ended up in Buffalo with the Bills, because of the fit, because of the people, and because of the tradition. So, what more could you ask for from a city that football, to me, is important to the city of Buffalo. That’s not the case in every city. People want to pump palm trees and this and that, and weather and this and that, come to Buffalo where football is important to the people.”’

‘You can hear Rosenhaus say that he talked to the Bills, but wouldn’t even give them a number they’d be looking for on a contract. For a player that was looking to become the highest paid receiver in NFL history, you’d think they’d at least want to hear the Bills out.’

‘Well we’ve employed CAA ICON and Populous. They’re doing a market study. It will be done this summer. It’s pretty extensive the work they’re doing, and so I can’t comment on what their results are because I don’t know. We have dribs and drabs of what they’ve seen so far but you know we’re open to any option and we’ll see what the market study says.’

‘“I don’t think it was culture,” Pegula said. “It wasn’t just one thing, it was it was a lot of different things. Some of it was just based on whether it was work-related, whether it was just a restructuring, or you know, I’ve been talking to a lot of other clubs around the league, ‘how are you doing things?’ And so for me it was part of the learning process….and it’s just part of the whole progression of how we want things to be and how we want to make our own mark. So it wasn’t just one thing. It wasn’t a cultural thing. It was just having more knowledge and experience.”’

‘The Bills originally acquired Gaines in the Sammy Watkins trade with the Los Angeles Rams on August 11, 2017. In his one season with the Bills, Gaines started 11 games while picking up 59 combined tackles, nine passes defended, one interception and three forced fumbles.’

‘”You feel better that we answered some holes, but my nature is that I don’t rest easy. I’m still looking for ways for us to add more competition, however it be. This is a great spot for trades to happen; now, I’m not saying there’s anything happening here, because there’s not. If a GM approached us now with an offer for a player that we think is an upgrade or will add competition, we would still look to make that move. Overall, I feel better but I still think we have a ways to go.”‘

‘NFL Insider Ian Rapoport says that’s because teams are still concerned about the shoulder injury that sidelined him for nine games last season.’

‘Fisher is Buffalo’s third tight end on the roster, along with former Bengals teammate Tyler Kroft and Jason Croom.’

‘At 6′ 2″ and 220-pounds, Alexander has lined up at both free and strong safety. Counting his special teams work, he’s collected 118 total tackles, including five for loss, and two sacks in 50 games played. He’s also intercepted two passes, both in 2016.’

‘Spain has started 48 games at guard for the Tennessee Titans over the past four seasons, including at least 13 starts per season in the last three years. Thorpe was last with the Seattle Seahawks, playing a special teams role with Seattle. Thorpe has also played for the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs.’

‘”Ideally in free agency, you can knock out as many ‘needs’ that you have, which makes it easier to draft best player available. I know that’s always a big debate. Are teams really drafting best player available versus need and all that,” Beane said. “If you go in and you have a major hole, you don’t have a starting position somewhere, then you have to get that position somewhere fairly high in the draft. I feel that if we rolled the ball out now, we’ve got guys that can go in and play. Can we get better? Yes, and [just like in free agency] we hope to, in the draft, find some more talent to add competition to as many spots as we can.”‘

‘The Bills currently have a solid pair of safeties in Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer as starters. Behind them, Rafael Bush was a solid backup his first year in Buffalo. Rookie Siran Neal played mainly special teams and Dean Marlowe was active for two games as a reserve. The 28-year old Alexander would certainly offer competition for a backup and special teams role.’

‘The 10 offensive players is double what any other team in the league has signed so far, which gives you an idea of exactly how aggressive and focused they were on doing what Beane said they needed to and would.’

‘The 6-6, 315-pound Waddle has started 31 NFL games, including seven over the past two years with the Patriots. He can play both left and right tackle.’

‘”Draft is by drafting best player available, free agency is all about your needs to help you be able to go into the draft with very few so called ‘needs.’ We’re looking for good players and we put them into various tiers, from ‘Tier 1’ down to ‘Tier 4’ of how we see these guys. There are certain positions where we didn’t target a ‘Tier 1’ guy, we just felt like that’s not as big of a need, it’s not as wise a use of our money.”‘