Press Coverage

By Tim Graham

The Buffalo Bills lost another free agent.

Kyle Moore, a surprise performer last year on a disappointing defensive front, signed a one-year contract Monday with the Chicago Bears.

Moore, despite being inactive the first four games, started seven straight games in November and December. Moore made 24 tackles, three for losses. He notched the first three sacks of his career.

Analytics website ProFootballFocus.com rated Moore 25th in pass-rushing among all 4-3 defensive ends who played at least 25 percent of their teams' snaps. The site tallied 23 quarterback hurries for Moore, tying him for 30th in the NFL.

Moore had arthroscopic knee surgery in January, but a source informed The Buffalo News the Bills wanted to re-sign him. But last month's acquisition of linebacker Manny Lawson might have made Moore expendable.

Moore was a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fourth-round draft choice in 2009 and eventually landed on the Detroit Lions' practice squad, from where the Bills plucked him in November 2011.

An update accounting of the comings and goings on Buffalo's roster in free agency:

Players who have re-signed

• • Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson
• • Running back Tashard Choice
• • Tight end Dorin Dickerson
• • Colin Brown
• • Linebacker Bryan Scott
• • Cornerback Leodis McKelvin

Players whose rights have been retained

• • Tight end Mike Caussin
• • Safety Jairus Byrd

Players who have joined

• • Quarterback Kevin Kolb
• • Defensive tackle Alan Branch
• • Linebacker Manny Lawson

Players who have departed

• • Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (Tennessee Titans)
• • Wide receiver Donald Jones (New England Patriots)
• • Wide receiver David Nelson (Cleveland Browns)
• • Guard Andy Levitre (Tennessee Titans)
• • Guard Chad Rinehart (San Diego Chargers)
• • Defensive end Chris Kelsay (retired)
• • Defensive end Shawne Merriman (retired)
• • Defensive end Kyle Moore (Chicago Bears)
• • Linebacker Nick Barnett
• • Cornerback Terrence McGee
• • Safety George Wilson (Tennessee Titans)

By Tim Graham

How Fred Jackson is like most Buffalo Bills fans: He wants them to sign some players, too.

How Jackson is unlike most Bills fans: He's not frustrated by the team's lack of recent activity.

Jackson is aware there are holes all over the Bills' roster, but he's willing to let the front office apply the spackle without criticism from him.

Continue reading "Fred Jackson eager for Bills signings, yet willing to be patient" »

By Tim Graham

I've wondered out loud how a team can miss 13 straight postseasons and claim to rebuild through the draft yet fail to re-sign the players who develop just as they hoped they would when drafting them.

I asked Andrew Brandt, an ESPN business analyst who handled player contracts and the salary cap for the Green Bay Packers, how the moribund Bills could connect on a second-round draft pick such as left guard Andy Levitre and not be able to re-sign him.

The problem, Brandt explained, is that the Bills should have addressed Levitre's future a long time ago.

Continue reading "Is Buffalo's front office allowing itself to get out-leveraged?" »

By Tim Graham

I'm still trying to figure out how an organization can avoid 13 straight postseasons and declare for the past few years that it's building through the draft yet not be able to retain a homegrown talent such as Andy Levitre.

That puzzlement was at the forefront of my brain once again while reading comments from Tennessee Titans coach Mike Munchak, a Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive lineman, about Levitre.

The Titans signed Levitre, the Bills' left guard and 2009 second-round draft pick, as a free agent last week. His deal is for six years and worth as much as $46.8 million.

Continue reading "Andy Levitre: Cultivated here, harvested by Nashville" »

By Tim Graham

The Tennessee Titans apparently believe the secret to winning the Lombardi Trophy is to sign as many former Buffalo Bills as they can.

Tennessee has added to its roster a third of Buffalo's six 2012 captains, reportedly signing quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick today to a two-year contract.

The Titans previously signed defensive captain and safety George Wilson. Two of the Bills' other captains, fullback Corey McIntyre and punter Brian Moorman, are out there if the Titans want to keep stockpiling. They also signed former Bills left guard Andy Levitre (not a captain).

Continue reading "Titans continue to gather Bills, sign Ryan Fitzpatrick as backup" »

By Tim Graham

And on the seventh day of free agency, the Press Coverage blog reviewed the Buffalo Bills' offseason personnel moves to date ...

Players who have re-signed

• • Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson
• • Linebacker Bryan Scott
• • Cornerback Leodis McKelvin

Players whose rights were retained

• • Tight end Mike Caussin
• • Tight end Dorin Dickerson
• • Safety Jairus Byrd

Players who have joined

• • Linebacker Manny Lawson

Players who have departed

• • Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (Tennessee Titans)
• • Wide receiver Donald Jones (New England Patriots)
• • Wide receiver David Nelson
• • Guard Andy Levitre (Tennessee Titans)
• • Guard Chad Rinehart (San Diego Chargers)
• • Defensive end Chris Kelsay (retired)
• • Defensive end Shawne Merriman (retired)
• • Linebacker Nick Barnett
• • Cornerback Terrence McGee
• • Safety George Wilson (Tennessee Titans)

By Tim Graham

Last year at this time, we were in some sort of bizarro world.

The Buffalo Bills had convinced one of the NFL's most coveted free agents to sign. They gave Mario Williams the NFL's richest contract for a defensive player.

The Miami Dolphins, meanwhile, couldn't convince anyone to sign.

The Dolphins, despite their glamorous locale and free-spending billionaire owner, endured a series of stiff-arms from coach Jeff Fisher (after getting rejected by Jim Harbaugh a year earlier) and quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Matt Flynn.

Twenty-seven hours into free agency this year, fortunes of the rival franchises appear to be back in alignment.

Continue reading "Buffalo's inactivity 180 degrees from what's happening in Miami" »

By Jay Skurski

One of the Buffalo Bills' most reliable players over the past four years is now a former member of the team.

Just minutes after the start of free agency this afternoon, multiple media outlets, including Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, reported guard Andy Levitre has signed a free-agent deal with the Tennessee Titans.

The deal, according to Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean, is for six years and worth up to $46.8 million. That yearly average of $7.8 million makes Levitre the fourth-highest paid guard in the NFL.

Continue reading "Bills lose Andy Levitre to Titans" »

By Tim Graham

My main mission was not to break anything in the WGRZ Channel 2 studio when Adam Benigni invited me to drop by and give an overview of Buffalo Bills free agency.

We discussed who the Bills should be looking for, how they should approach their own free agents and what they should do with quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, whose status doesn't match his contract anymore. We also touched on possible Bills quarterbacks in the draft.

Benigni had to streamline my windbaggery for Sunday night's 11 o'clock newscast, but he has posted the entire interview at WGRZ.com.