WGR

‘Gaines projects to be Buffalo’s new nickel cornerback, behind starters Tre’Davious White and Vontae Davis.’

‘Clay was with the Bills to start last season after they acquired via trade with the Carolina Panthers in exchange for cornerback Kevon Seymour. He was released by the team on October 23. The Panthers claimed him off waivers the next day and brought hi back to Carolina, where he returned 17 punts for 147 yards, including a 60 yard touchdown in week 12 against the Jets. He also caught five passes for 57 yards in nine games for the Panthers.’

‘“As you know, earlier this week, we did a short-term, joint financing with the Bills to make some short-term improvements in that facility,” Goodell told reporters here at annual league meetings.’

‘“Well there’s a lot of areas,” he said while meeting with reporters here at the annual league meetings. “You know, there’s a lot of talk about our middle linebacker position and that’s a situation that we’re going to continue to evaluate moving forward. (General manager) Brandon Beane and his staff do a phenomenal job of knowing what’s out there and identifying opportunities for us to improve our roster.”’

‘”We are working towards a resolution. The players, the owners, coaching staff, our management, we all love our country and it’s a tough, tough situation. And we’re working towards a resolution, the league, hopefully soon.’

‘”I know everybody’s assuming we trade up,” Beane said. “We can always go the other way, too, if it made sense for us. We’re really just going to do what’s in the best interest of the Bills.”‘

‘“Or plan is for Zay to continue to be a Bill,” Beane said, while speaking to reporters here at the annual league meetings, saying there is no reason to question Jones’ status with the team.’

‘As the roster currently stands, Jones is expected to be the No. 2 wide receiver opposite No. 1 Kelvin Benjamin next season. Andre Holmes would be the third wideout on the depth chart. Then after that there are even more questions than answers, especially when it comes to having a player to get down the field and behind the defense, or at least the consistent threat to do so. Also, all three of those players are coming off an injury. Benjamin (knee) and Jones (labrum) each had offseason surgery, while Holmes finished the season on injured reserve with a neck injury.’

‘”He is very in-tune to the game. He’s a baller. He wants to study, he wants to know the defense, he wants to be able to read at a top level, and he delivered that throughout his four years. He just progressively got better. There are some deficiencies. He has struggled some with the intermediate passing game. His deep ball is unbelievable, but I think he’s worked on that. I’ve got to think the scouts and coaches that saw his workout last week in Stillwater have got to be walking away going, ‘Wow. That’s pretty impressive.'”‘

‘So where does that leave Bills general manager Brandon Beane and his war chest full of picks? And what are his options?’

‘All three signal-callers are expected to go early in the first round in next month’s draft. Many believe the Browns will select Darnold with the top-overall pick.’

‘Jones can be heard yelling “I’m going to fight for Jesus” in the video, before running away from him and then reportedly entering a public balcony area and smashing his foot through a window.’

‘Those dollar figures mean Humber will, once again, play for the veteran minimum, which means he will only count $690,000 against the team’s 2018 salary cap. The nine-year veteran had played for the one-year veteran minimum for each of the last two years, as well. Humber won the starting weakside linebacker position last year in training camp after primarily being only a special teams player in 2016. But he lost that starting role to rookie Matt Milano about midway through the season. After that, he only played about one-third of the snaps on defense and took on a bigger special teams role once again.’

‘Give the Jets credit – the Bills’ division rival hasn’t had a “franchise” quarterback since Joe Namath in the 1960’s, with all due respect to the likes of Chad Pennington, Ken O’Brien and Richard Todd. The move makes perfect sense for them. Even though the Jets have, over the years, confounded, angered and / or puzzled their fans when it comes to first round draft picks, there’s no way the Jets made this move to get Saquon Barkley, Bradley Chubb or anyone else who won’t be throwing the football for a living.’

‘I think fans are decidedly in favor of the Bills trading with the Giants for the second pick, and it doesn’t take long to find one who’ll say “no matter what it costs”.’