By Mark Gaughan
The Buffalo Bills announced the signing of second-round draft pick Robert Woods, leaving quarterback EJ Manuel as the only unsigned draft pick for the team.
Woods was the first of Buffalo's two second-round picks, taken at No. 41 overall. His four-year deal is believed to be worth about $4.8 million.
Linebacker Kiko Alonso was the Bills' second second-round draft pick, taken at No. 46 overall. Manuel was the 16th overall selection.
Continue reading "Woods deal leaves Bills with just one unsigned draft pick" »
By Mark Gaughan
The Buffalo Bills announced the signing of second-round draft pick Kiko Alonso, the linebacker from the University of Oregon.
Terms were not disclosed, but it's expected Alonso's deal will be worth about $1.1 million a year over four years. The total value should be worth about $4.4 million. Alonso becomes the sixth of the Bills' eighth draft picks to sign.
The remaining unsigned picks are first-rounder EJ Manuel and Robert Woods, who was taken in the second round five picks ahead of Alonso.
Alonso, 6-foot-3 and 238 pounds, has a chance to start right away in the Bills' defense. In the 3-4 front, Nigel Bradham is one starting inside linebacker. The other spot is open with this month's trade of Kelvin Sheppard to Indianapolis. Alonso started 17 of 36 games for Oregon. As a senior, he had 81 tackles in 12 starts.
By Mark Gaughan
The Buffalo Bills announced the signing of four more draft picks in advance of the start today of a three-day rookie minicamp.
Reaching deals with the team were third-round pick Marquise Goodwin, fourth-rounder Duke Williams, fifth-rounder Jonathan Meeks and sixth-rounder Dustin Hopkins. Goodwin is a receiver from the University of Texas, Williams a safety from the University of Nevada, Meeks a safety from Clemson University and Hopkins a kicker from Florida State. The Bills signed tight end Chris Gragg of Arkansas on Thursday.
Terms of the deals were not disclosed. However, it's expected Goodwin's deal, the largest of the group, will be worth about $2.7 million over four years.
Goodwin is a 5-foot-9, 183-pounder who participated in the long jump at the 2012 Olympic Games and ran a 40-yard dash time of 4.27 seconds, fastest of any player at the NFL Scouting Combine this season. Williams is 5-11, 203 pounds.
Meeks is 6-1, 209. Hopkins, 6-2, 193, was a four-year performer for the Seminoles who set the NCAA career scoring record.
By Mark Gaughan
The Buffalo Bills have signed seventh-round draft pick Chris Gragg, the tight end from the University of Arkansas, the team announced.
Gragg, 6-foot-3 and 244 pounds, is the first of the Bills' eight draft picks to reach a contract agreement. Gragg caught 22 passes for 289 yards and three touchdowns as a senior in 2012. As a junior in 2011, he had 41 catches for 518 yards.
Gragg showed his athleticism in pre-draft testing, running the 40-yard dash in 4.50 seconds, fastest among tight ends at the NFL Scouting Combine. He also had the best broad jump (10 feet, 5 inches) and the best vertical jump (37.5 inches) among tight ends in the draft.
By Tim Graham
The Buffalo Bills shouldn't have to worry about their place-kicking
duties for the next several years, former NFL kicker Michael Husted said.
The Bills used a sixth-round draft choice on Florida State kicker Dustin Hopkins. Husted, a
coach and consultant who specializes in grooming young kickers, shared his
thoughts on the move with the Press Coverage blog.
Husted liked the Hopkins
pick even though it clearly puts veteran Rian Lindell in the Turk's crosshairs.
Continue reading "Michael Husted breaks down new Bills kicker Dustin Hopkins" »
By Tim Graham
If history is an indicator, then EJ Manuel will have a
tough go in the NFL.
Top-notch quarterback metrician Scott Kacsmar has examined
what happens after the first one off the draft board is taken outside the top
10 picks -- in other words, the best quarterback of a weak class.
The Buffalo Bills traded back and, with every quarterback
available, selected Manuel 16th overall.
Kacsmar's research for BleacherReport.com shows that nine times since 1967 the first quarterback was drafted outside the top 10 but
still in the first round.
Continue reading "When first QB not drafted in top 10, success usually doesn't follow" »
By Tim Graham
What a novelty it was to see defensive tackle Kyle Williams play fullback in a few of the Buffalo Bills' goal-line situations last
year.
New head coach Doug Marrone intends to use his grunts down
there on the regular.
"You'll see it when you get down probably to the goal
line, short yardage or maybe bringing in a defensive tackle or an offensive
lineman or things like that going on," Marrone said at the Bills'
post-draft news conference Saturday.
"I look at it as you can only dress so many for that
game, how much are you going to get to use at this position or this player and
that. So you have to look for the versatility I believe."
Continue reading "All hands on deck for Bills' fullback duties; McIntyre gone" »
April 30, 2013 - 10:05 AM
By Tim Graham
The year 2014 takes place deeper into the future than 2013.
And that includes the extent of my analytics for today.
When the Buffalo Bills announced on Jan. 1 that Russ Brandon
was taking over as president, one of the highlights of his news conference was
his declaration the club would "create and establish a very robust
football analytics operation" to guide football operations.
Nearly four months later, Brandon revealed their analytics
department doesn't exist yet.
Continue reading "Proposed analytics department not part of Bills' equation yet" »
By Jay Skurski
For the past four seasons, Luke Tasker and J.C. Tretter have been roommates on the road with the Cornell football team.
They almost got a chance to do the same at the next level.
Tretter was drafted in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft on Saturday by the Green Bay Packers. Tasker went undrafted, but was close to signing as a free agent with the Packers before ultimately deciding to join the San Diego Chargers.
Continue reading "J.C. Tretter, Luke Tasker were almost roommates again" »
By Tim Graham
Some St. Francis High love is going down in San Diego.
Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco has signed fellow
Frannies grad Luke Tasker to a free-agent rookie contract.
Tasker is the son of Buffalo Bills special-teams trailblazer
Steve Tasker.
Luke Tasker had 75 catches for 1,207 yards and eight touchdowns last season at Cornell. He ranked fifth nationally in Division I-AA with an average of 120.7 receiving yards a game and ninth with 7.5 catches a game.
