Two Bills Drive

‘Two more key offensive assistants have jumped from Texas A&M to the NFL, leaving Aggies head coach R.C. Slocum with a gaping hole in his staff for the 2001 season. Offensive coordinator Steve Kragthorpe is going to the Buffalo Bills as quarterbacks coach, and assistant head coach and wide receivers coach Larry Kirksey is headed to the Detroit Lions as receivers coach.’

‘Since the trading period in the NFL doesn’t open until March 2, which is also the start of free agency, the Bills can’t deal a player without accounting for his contract on their salary cap. The deadline for hitting the $67.4 million cap is March 1 and the Bills are millions over.’

‘John Fina agreed to reduce his base salary for 2001 from $2 million to the new NFL minimum of $484,000. The balance, $1.516 million, is guaranteed in the form of a signing bonus… Ruben Brown, has also agreed to reduce his base salary from $3.5 million for 2001 to the same minimum and taking the balance in a signing bonus. That deal should save the Bills about $2.4 million in cap value.’

‘The team’s highest-priced players going into next season include both quarterbacks, defensive linemen Washington and Phil Hansen, linebackers Sam Rogers and John Holecek, defensive backs Henry Jones and Ken Irvin, and offensive linemen Jerry Ostroski and Joe Panos.’

‘Police booked a second man Friday in the Jan. 22 robbery and carjacking of Buffalo Bills defensive back Raion Hill.’

‘[Requires Free Registration] Harris was most recently the offensive backfield coach for the Buffalo Bills in 1998 and 1999, when he was on the same staff with the Jets’ new defensive coordinator, Ted Cottrell. Harris was out of football last season, after being fired by the Bills at the end of the 1999 season, apparently over philosophical differences with the former coach Wade Phillips and the offensive coordinator Joe Pendry.’

‘I was looking around and i found a site that has the info on the 46 Defense.’ [This isn’t really a news piece, but it does provide technical details surrounding the infamous defensive scheme.]

‘Williams said when he was hired he wanted a staff well-schooled in teaching fundamentals and Graves seems to fit that mold. Bills president Tom Donahoe echoed those sentiments and he also noted this week the club would not be hesitant to hire college coaches to attract the caliber of staffers it wanted.’

‘"Nobody’s going to give up something to absorb a burden on their cap. If I’m the new coach, I’ll stay with the 27-year-old with upside and two years of contract left and hope he becomes a leader and gets better. I don’t care how good Flutie is right now at his age."’

‘Smith, who has joined Butler in San Diego as assistant general manager, said owner Ralph Wilson "dictated" what took place in Buffalo. "John has taken unwarranted hits on all those things concerning Buffalo’s salary cap," Smith said. "Just ask Mr. Wilson. He was the one involved with that."’

‘Graves, a Ute assistant coach since 1982, will work under new Bills Coach Gregg Williams, who played for Graves at Northeast Missouri 25 years ago, and offensive coordinator Mike Sheppard, a former New Mexico coach and Brigham Young graduate assistant.’

‘Dr. Z looks at Ravens’ D compared to great defenses of years past. Bills’ note is that the mid ’60s unit is used as one of the comparison teams (and is the only AFL team mentioned) Congrats, Old Rockpile.’

‘Like the controversial show on MTV, Jackass, it was almost (but not quite) amusing when it first happened. Running a parallel of the Presidential election, major sporting news sources stated that there was an equally important campaign going on in Buffalo Rob Johnson or Doug Flutie?’

‘Fred Graves, who has coached Utah wide receivers for 19 seasons, is the leading candidate to become receivers coach for the Buffalo Bills, a hiring that could become official today.’

‘Graves, 50, has 26 years experience at the college level, including the last 19 at Utah. Since 1998 he has been assistant head coach in charge of receivers for Utah. He also coached running backs and served as offensive coordinator.’