|
PAGES
BSD FAVS
|
You are currently browsing all posts tagged with 'Buffalo Bills'
 (This was originally run on February 17. At the time we were profiling potential free agents that would fit in with the Buffalo Bills. With news that Jimmy Kennedy is visiting with the Bills today, we’re re-running his profile)
To conclude anything other than Jimmy Kennedy being a bust to this point would be kidding yourself. The defensive tackle who completely dominated at Penn State in college was the 12th overall draft pick of the St. Louis Rams in 2003. He came with a high pedigree, including being named the Big Ten defensive linemen of the year and an All-American as chosen by the Sporting News. Kennedy finished his Penn State career with 39 tackles for loss; good for a tie with LaVar Arrington for eighth place on the school’s all-time list.
Free Agent Files: Jimmy Kennedy – continue reading…
 According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter the Buffalo Bills have contacted free agent linebacker Joey Porter. But in the same report he implies if the Bills want to pursue him it they’ll have competition from at least one team.
The Arizona Cardinals are interested in him as well and according to Schefter, Porter is scheduled to visit with the team on Thursday.
No visit for Porter has been scheduled for Buffalo as of late Sunday night.
Porter was released by Miami last week, in part because of issues on the field and with head coach Tony Sparano.
Money was also a factor.
Bills contact Porter but face uphill battle landing him – continue reading…
 (Admitted hot head fan/blogger Joe Pinzone AKA “JoeFromNYC” has a blueprint to solve the Buffalo Bills woes. Many won’t agree with his views–and we probably won’t either. But they’re still interesting enough to publish. This is the second in a series of moves he would like to see the Bills make to return to respectability)
You can just cut the anticipation for my next move with a knife. Just to recap what I have done; I’ve traded Lee Evans to the Baltimore Ravens for their 1st and 3rd round picks. I will address my receiving core later, but in the mean time, I have to find a quarterback.
Playing Bills GM- Volume II – continue reading…
Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post cites a league source that says other than Derek Fine and Ashlee Palmer, the other five Buffalo players released yesterday was because they failed their physicals.
Defensive end Jermaine McGhee, defensive end Marcus Smith, defensive back John Wendling, wide receiver Justin Jenkins and center Marvin Philip were the other five Bills players released yesterday.
Wendling and Jenkins were regarded as the two best special teams performers on the roster. Their releases came as at least mild surprises, especially this early in the season with each making the league minimum salary. Now we have a better idea as to why.
 There’s still roughly two and a half weeks before the start of the free agency and the Buffalo Bills coaching staff, particularly on the defensive side is still getting acclimated to each other. We know new coordinator George Edwards will implement a 3-4 switch, but other than that nothing should be taken for granted.
With so much time in the coaching search lost, the Bills staff alongside Buddy Nix and Doug Whaley is working around the clock evaluating the current roster and combing the forthcoming free agent and trade markets for others. At this early stage it’s impossible to predict where they’ll lean come March 5.
One thing we know is certain is the roster and particularly on the defensive side will have turnover—Plenty of it.
Will the Bills be players for another Edwards? – continue reading…
 The Buffalo Bills undoubtedly are at least contemplating an upgrade at quarterback, and a significant signal caller may soon be hitting the open market. According to Howard Balzer of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, St. Louis Rams quarterback Marc Bulger has cleaned out his locker in anticipation of being released.
As Balzer points out, the rebuilding Rams owe Bulger $8.5 million in salary in 2010, making it nearly impossible to acquire anything for him via trade.
Should the Bills choose to roll the dice, Bulger could be a high risk, high reward acquisition. He’s been injured plenty in recent years and hasn’t made it through a full 16-game schedule since 2006. In fact it’s the only time in his eight years in the league he’s played a full slate of games uninterrupted.
Could Marc Bulger be the solution at quarterback? – continue reading…
 With the overage of reports that float around the internet daily, it’s natural to not put much, if any stock in what you hear and read these days. That holds particularly true when the source isn’t one of the industry big boys. Even as an editor for a website falling into that non big-boy category, I’m cynical of information from a Washington Redskins themed website titled “Hogs Haven” where the author insinuates hearing Buffalo Bills safety Donte Whitner will become a Redskin come March 5, when NFL teams can make trades.
I confess knowing entirely nothing about Hogs Haven or the story’s author (KevinE), and I’m not overly familiar with SB Nation, which runs the site and another for every team in the NFL. I can tell you with assurance the Bills site on SB Nation, Buffalo Rumblings is without question one of the best and anchored by a great writer (Brian Galliford). While I haven’t read enough Skins’ news on Haven to know the validity of what they write, if its anything like its Buffalo counterpart I’d take it a little more serious than other rumor mills.
A report floating around says Whitner will be traded to Skins – continue reading…
 We’ve talked at length over the past week or so about the fact that the Buffalo Bills have a ton of work to do as they switch to a 3-4 defensive alignment under new defensive coordinator George Edwards. The team needs a nose tackle. They need better 5-technique fits at defensive end. They need more pass rushers. Unfortunately, they’re also lacking depth at linebacker.
Don’t get me wrong. As far as needs go in Buffalo’s front seven, inside linebacker probably ranks last, because the team does have two veteran players that they can pencil in as 2010 starters without having to worry too much. That doesn’t mean it’s a position that doesn’t need to be addressed heavily, however; Buffalo’s contenders at this position were brought in because of their schematic fit for Perry Fewell’s zone-based, speed-oriented scheme, and their skill sets, by and large, don’t translate to the scheme that Edwards will likely run.
Bills Roster Review: Inside Linebacker – continue reading…
 It remains to be seen if the Buffalo Bills will soon be more competitive or descend even further into oblivion, but one thing about this team is certain; the roster turnover is going to be extreme.
There’s a slew of pending free agents, led by Terrell Owens and a cluster of mid tier to lower tier players the club won’t bring back.
Some players will get cut simply because they either don’t fit or underachieved. John McCargo, Nic Harris, Chris Ellis and Roscoe Parrish are among those prime candidates.
The following are six players that could be dealt this offseason. All contain a reasonable amount of value to other teams; even if they’re no longer needed here.
Six players the Bills could trade – continue reading…
 For the past few weeks, our talented colleague Brian Galliford over at Buffalo Rumblings has been generously providing our readers with a Buffalo Bills’ roster breakdown by position. I encourage all fans to check out his brilliant breakdowns by position (as well as visit Rumblings for all Bills related news and views—simply put it’s the best Bills fan site on the web).
Anyway, with the NFL season officially over and the new Bills staff seemingly in place, it’s time to (happily) start looking forward to 2010. New head coach Chan Gailey and General Manager Buddy Nix among other decision makers have hoards of key personnel moves to ponder.
Players will be cut and/or traded in the coming month and released players from other organizations are will be brought in during the time leading to free agency. With a new staff and front office, there’s going to be turnover—probably more so than any recent year.
Buffalo Bills Free Agents: Who Stays… And Goes? – continue reading…
 Lynn Swann. Steve Largent. Art Monk. Michael Irvin. All NFL wide receivers with their very own shrines on the hallowed walls of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Sport’s most distinguished fraternity has been very selective in opening their gates to wide receivers. Only 20 pass-catchers are immortalized in Canton, the smallest number of any offensive position not counting tight ends.
Some classes are remembered for same team composition. Others are remembered for honoring bitter rivals. With Jerry Rice, Cris Carter, Tim Brown and Andre Reed on the ballot for the 2010 class, a wide out breakthrough may finally be upon us.
Will Andre Reed get the call from the ‘Hall’? – continue reading…
 Adam Schefter at ESPN is reporting that Buffalo Bills head coach Chan Gailey has tabbed George Edwards as his defensive coordinator.
Roughly a month ago, on January 8, Edwards was named a co-defensive coordinator at the University of Florida after a five-year stint as a linebackers coach with the Miami Dolphins. Less than four weeks later, Edwards will return to the NFL.
Edwards, 43, has coached in the NFL since 1998 with four different teams. Prior to his stay in Miami, Edwards was an assistant defensive coordinator and linebackers coach with Washington before getting promoted to defensive coordinator. He then spent a year as the defensive coordinator in Cleveland before heading to Miami. Edwards got his first NFL job from none other than Chan Gailey, who hired him as his linebackers coach in 1998. Edwards spent four seasons in that post.
Prior to his NFL experience, Edwards was the defensive line coach at the University of Georgia, where he coached current Bills defensive tackle Marcus Stroud. In all, Edwards has 19 years of coaching experience.
According to a report from NFL.com insider Jason LaCanfora, the Buffalo Bills have offered their assistant general manager job to Pittsburgh Steelers pro personnel coordinator Doug Whaley. LaCanfora said members of the Pittsburgh front office would not be surprised if Whaley takes the position.
Whaley has been with in the Steelers organization for 12 years and would join Tom Donahoe and Tom Modrak as former Pittsburgh front office administrators to join the Bills. He was speculated to be a dark horse candidate for the GM job that eventually went to Buddy Nix.
Whaley is just 37-years old and would likely be groomed under the 70-year old Nix to eventually take over as general manager.
Nix himself served as a pro personnel coordinator and Assistant GM under both the late John Butler and A.J. Smith in San Diego before finally getting a chance to become GM in Buffalo. If Whaley comes on board, it would seem Nix has that in mind for Whaley in Buffalo.
**UPDATE** Whaley has accepted the position.
 The Buffalo Bills had severe problems along their offensive line last season. Despite Fred Jackson’s excellent numbers at running back, Buffalo’s passing game – and, by extension, their offense in general – struggled mightily, and it wasn’t just because of the team’s poor play at quarterback. The injury-riddled offensive line needs fixing, too – which, of course, is a fact that no Bills fan really needs reminding of.
On the interior line, though, there may not be a lot of work to do. Buffalo had two offensive linemen start all 16 games in 2009, and both of them are interior linemen that will be returning to the team next season. On a team with a lengthy needs list at other positions, the middle three spots on Buffalo’s offensive line look relatively stable when compared to other positions (like offensive tackle, for instance). Work may get done in this spot, but the team, fortunately, won’t need to do as much to field a solid unit in 2010.
Bills Roster Review: Guards/Center – continue reading…
 If you believe Len Pasquarelli of ESPN, there’s a prevailing chance the Buffalo Bills will be trading for Michael Vick sometime before the NFL draft commences in April. Pasquarelli cited a team source saying head coach Chan Gailey is giving serious consideration to Vick and notes it would only cost the team a later round conditional draft pick. Credibility to the rumor was fueled yesterday when the Philadelphia Daily News reported the team told Vick he’d be traded before the draft.
Appearing on the Dan Patrick radio show Monday, Vick said he believes in his heart if given the chance to start he can return to the level of prominence he achieved before his life was turned upside down by legal troubles.
“Top 10, to be honest, I’m confident in my skills.” Vick told Patrick when asked where he ranks himself among quarterbacks. “I know I can play in this league. I know I have a lot of games left in me.”
Vick to Buffalo… Could it work? – continue reading…
 Over the past several days, we’ve embarked on the long process of breaking down the Buffalo Bills’ roster position-by-position. With our breakdown of the offensive skill positions out of the way, we’ll start talking about the Bills’ beleaguered and overwhelmed offensive line as our State of the Bills Roster series trucks on.
There are two offensive tackles on the field for your run-of-the-mill offensive play in the NFL. Buffalo played seven different players at their tackle positions last season, including left guard Andy Levitre. Of those seven players, four saw playing time at both left and right tackle. This position lacks top-level talent and significant depth, and aside from quarterback is quite easily the Bills’ most pressing need offensively. Should be a fun review, eh?
Bills Roster Review: Offensive Tackles – continue reading…
 After the Super Bowl this Sunday, is that IT? Is the NFL season over? For football fanatics, a stupid question. Sure, either the Saints or Colts will be crowned world champions, but as the champagne corks launch, so unofficially does the 2010 season.
Around the bend…the Scouting Combine in February. It gets some press. But it’s only a snack compared to the media feeding-frenzy that surrounds the biggest offseason spectacle in all of sports, the NFL Draft. For most fans it’s a time when excitement meets anticipation for the future.
For Bills fans in recent years, it’s been an annual rite of passage when confident front office decisions morph into agonizing blunders.
Bills need to avoid reaches come April – continue reading…
The Buffalo Bills have finally confirmed reports from over the weekend that the team has hired Bruce DeHaven as its special teams coordinator and George Cortez as its quarterbacks coach.
Bills also announced that Stan Hixon will be the team’s wide receivers coach and Adrian White would retain his defensive quality control assistant role.
Cortez comes to Buffalo via the CFL and the collegiate ranks, where he’s coached prominent names such as Kyle Boller, Aaron Rodgers and Jeff Garcia. DeHaven returns to Buffalo a decade following a 13-year stint with the club that ended following the “Music City Miracle” in Tennessee.
Bills formally announce DeHaven, Cortez, Hixon hires – continue reading…
 Names have floated around as potential defensive coordinator in Buffalo at the same rate as when the team had a head coaching vacancy last month. One of those names was former Baltimore Ravens linebacker coach Vic Fangio.
You can formally scratch his name off the Bills list. Fangio signed on over the weekend to become defensive coordinator at Stanford under head coach Jim Harbaugh, who apparently rejected a Buffalo offer to become head coach in mid January.
Fangio was speculated to be a candidate for the Bills defensive coordinator, though it’s not known if the organization actually contacted him.
Defensive Coordinator vacancy reaches another week – continue reading…
 There’s little question that this unit was disappointing in 2009; amidst enormous expectations, Buffalo’s entire passing offense fell flat on its face, busting out several teeth in the process. Did you know, however, that this group was more productive from a touchdown standpoint than any other combination of Bills receivers since 2004? Even the small numbers we saw this season were good by Bills standards.
Receiver isn’t a position being talked about as a big need area – we all know that quarterback, the offensive line and linebacker are the most frequent destinations for those discussions – but with two rather major unrestricted free agents on the list and a lot of unproven talent, the Bills might enter the ‘10 season quite thin at this position. It’ll need to be bolstered in some fashion, even if it’s just by adding some mid-to-low-range veteran free agents to compete with the young guys. Our analysis of Buffalo’s wide receiver position is after the jump.
Bills Roster Review: Wide Receivers – continue reading…
 The chances of Terrell Owens returning to the Buffalo Bills in 2010 are slim. The aging receiver had one of the worst years of his career in terms of production and though he behaved nobly during his one-year tenure, it’s not exactly government science that he’s expected to sign elsewhere come March.
By league rule there’s always the option of placing the franchise or transition tag on him, making it a near-lock he’d be back in the Bills’ fold. But we’re going to go on a limb and predict that’s not happening.
Mike Garafolo of the Newark Star-Ledger published Friday the price tags that will accompany franchise and transition players. Owens would cost Buffalo $9.521 million if franchised or $8.651 million to transition.
Neither is happening.
T.O’s return won’t be forced by Buffalo – continue reading…
 About two weeks back, I penned a piece in this space imploring Buffalo to re-discover the tight end position in its offense. That article was written shortly before Gailey was introduced as Buffalo’s head coach; needless to say, the fact that the Bills hired an offensive-minded head coach who professes to build schemes around the talents of his players brings a little optimism to the outlook of this position in Buffalo. That is, if Gailey can live up to his word. Oh, and find a quarterback. And an offensive line.
Buffalo does have some talent at this position, although what the new coaching staff expects in general out of the position could severely impact how it’s addressed this off-season. Regardless, things are looking up for one or two of Buffalo’s young tight ends, in particular a player entering his second season.
Bills Roster Review: Tight Ends – continue reading…
 Mark Gaughan of the Buffalo News is in Mobile, Alabama this week covering the Senior Bowl. Buddy Nix as expected is down south scouting the talent. Gaughan spoke with Nix yesterday for a piece that revolved around his scouting history, but inside the article a pair of underlying revelations came to surface.
First, it seems very likely Tom Modrak is going nowhere. Gaughan wrote that Modrak has sat next to Nix at every practice and while Nix wouldn’t comment on his status directly, he told Gaughan “There’s just nothing to say. We’re going on like we were.”
While many people debate the level of Modrak’s responsibility on the plethora of poor early round draft picks over the past decade, no one can dispute he’s been here through both the Tom Donahoe and Marv Levy eras and to some degree has had his fingerprints, at the very least on most of the selections.
Wilson’s words prove to be empty – continue reading…
 Gerald McCoy
6’4”, 294 lbs
(#2 Prospect,#2 Defensive Prospect,#2 Defensive Tackle
Positives:
McCoy has great size for the three technique position and demonstrates a great frame where he can really extend his arms with a lot of power and get into the offensive lineman first, thus controlling the battle.
McCoy is probably the most athletic defensive tackle in this class, possessing an amazingly quick first step that allows him to knife the gap and use his power to blow through and make a play in the backfield.
NFL Draft Prospect Profile: Gerald McCoy – continue reading…
 It took roughly a week, but the Buffalo Bills have officially announced the first five hires of Chan Gailey’s tenure as head coach. Two coaches that spent the 2009 season in Buffalo have also been retained.
Curtis Modkins is the new offensive coordinator and running backs coach. He comes to Buffalo via Arizona, where he spent the 2009 season working with Cardinals running backs. Modkins has coached with Gailey in three separate locations – Dallas, Georgia Tech and Kansas City. He replaces Alex Van Pelt and Eric Studesville.
Bob Bicknell is the new tight ends coach, coming over from Kansas City. He coached tight ends there this past season, and was the offensive line coach under Gailey and Herman Edwards in 2008. He replaces Charlie Coiner.
Joe D’Alessandris is the new offensive line coach. If you’re sensing a pattern here, D’Alessandris, too, comes over from Kansas City, where he was fired earlier in January. He, too worked with Gailey. He replaces Sean Kugler.
Kevin Patullo is the new offensive quality control coach. Yep – he worked with Kansas City, too, in the same capacity. He replaces Nathaniel Hackett.
Giff Smith has been hired as a defensive assistant. Note the lack of the words “outside,” “linebackers” and “coach” there. As we know from yesterday’s report, Smith worked with Gailey at Georgia Tech as a recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach.
George Catavolos has been retained as the team’s secondary coach, and Bob Sanders will stay on the staff as well as a defensive assistant, though it does not appear that he has been given an official title.
|
DAILY POLL
|
