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Buffalo Bills News & Rumors

Bills’ Richie Incognito Reworks Contract

March 15th, 2018 at 3:57pm CST by Sam Robinson

Richie Incognito has delivered three straight Pro Bowl seasons since landing in Buffalo following a controversial period. And he’s agreed to rework his contract to stay with the Bills.

The Bills and the four-time Pro Bowl guard have come to an agreement on an amended deal, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. Incognito is entering the final season of his second Bills contract.

This will be Incognito’s age-35 season and 12th NFL campaign. He was slated to earn $6.325MM in base salary this season and represent $7.575MM of the Bills’ cap. The Bills reside on the higher end of the cap-space hierarchy at present, and this figures to bolster the situation further.

Grading out as the No. 12 guard last season, per Pro Football Focus, Incognito anchored another Bills line. Buffalo will have new starters at center and left tackle after Eric Wood‘s retirement and the Cordy Glenn trade, but they won’t have to worry about replacing Incognito just yet.

Contract Details: McCarron, Green, Jones, Bushrod, Davis

March 15th, 2018 at 11:46am CST by Sam Robinson

Let’s take a look at the details from the latest contracts signed in the NFL, with all links going to Twitter unless otherwise noted:

  • A.J. McCarron, QB (Bills): Two years, $10MM. $3MM in 2018, $7MM in 2019. $1.1MM of ’19 salary guaranteed for injury. 2019 salary fully guaranteed on Day 5 of 2019 league year. Bills would incur $2MM dead-money charge by cutting McCarron after one season (via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com).
  • DaQuan Jones, DE (Titans): Three years, $21MM, $14MM fully guaranteed at signing. $6MM base salary for 2019 fully guaranteed (per Caplan).
  • Virgil Green, TE (Chargers): Three years, $8.6MM, $5.9MM fully guaranteed, which covers the first two years of this deal (per Adam Caplan of ESPN.com, on Twitter).
  • Cody Davis, S (Jaguars): Two years, $5MM, $2.5MM fully guaranteed. Deal contains option bonus due 22 days before the start of the 2019 league year (via Caplan).
  • Jermon Bushrod, OL (Saints): One-year deal (via Herbie Teope of NOLA.com)

Bills To Sign A.J. McCarron

March 14th, 2018 at 6:23pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bills have signed A.J. McCarron, per a team announcement. It’s a two-year deal for the former Bengals signal caller. ProFootballTalk.com reports (via Twitter) that it’s a two-year deal worth $10MM, with $6.5MM “upside based on playing time.”

McCarron, for now, projects as the Bills’ new starting quarterback following the trade of Tyrod Taylor to the Browns. The 27-year-old only started three career games playing behind Andy Dalton in Cincinnati, but the quarterback certainly looked capable during his time on the field.

In 11 career games, McCarron has completed 64.7-percent of his passes for 920 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions. During his brief starting stint in 2015, the quarterback also compiled 31 rushing yards on 14 carries. That season, McCarron started the Bengals’ playoff loss to the Steelers, throwing for 212 yards, one touchdown, and one pick.

Despite his starting inexperience, McCarron was still one of the top-ranked quarterbacks available in free agency. The Broncos and Cardinals had previously been connected to the former fifth-rounder, but both of those teams ultimately added other players at the position. McCarron was ranked 12th in our list of the top-50 free agents, and he was listed fourth in our positional rankings. Earlier today, Zach Links ranked him as the sixth-best remaining free agent.

The Bills presumably signed McCarron as their starting quarterback next season. Other than the free agent addition, Buffalo is rostering Nathan Peterman.

[RELATED: Bills Depth Chart]

Bills Sign LB Julian Stanford

March 14th, 2018 at 6:00pm CST by Ben Levine

The Bills have signed linebacker/special teamer Julian Stanford, the team announced today. The 27-year-old spent last season with the Jets. ESPN’s Rich Cimini reports that it’s a two-year deal worth $3MM ($550K guaranteed).

Stanford entered the season as a 2012 undrafted free agent out of Wagner. He spent the past three seasons in New York, including a 2017 campaign that saw him appear in 16 games for the second time in his career. Stanford finished the season with 19 tackles. The special teamer has 59 career games under his belt.

Bills Release WR Anquan Boldin

March 14th, 2018 at 5:30pm CST by Zachary Links

Here’s an interesting one – the Bills have released Anquan Boldin from the reserve/retired list, as Mike Rodak of ESPN.com writes. The move allows him to sign with another team, if he wants to continue playing.

A quick refresher on the Boldin saga: the veteran wide receiver signed with the Bills during training camp, but retired less than two weeks later. During the season, Boldin’s agent requested his release, but he was denied by GM Brandon Beane. At one point in time, the rival Patriots had interest in signing him.

“We made a commitment to Anquan, and he made a commitment to us back in [training] camp,” Beane said in November. “He left for the reasons he mentioned back in August. We invested in him — invested time and committed to him — and we wouldn’t want to just put him out on the market to see him go sign with the Patriots or the Dolphins or anybody that can get in our way or work against us.”

Boldin, 38 in November, is free to do as he pleases. But, given his age and his remarkably low 8.7 yards per reception in 2016, it’s not clear what he has left to offer.

Bills Intend To Keep Jerry Hughes

March 14th, 2018 at 2:57pm CST by Sam Robinson

Despite Jerry Hughes being set to take up $10.4MM of the Bills’ 2018 cap and the team having agreed to terms with Trent Murphy, it doesn’t look like Hughes is going anywhere.

Buffalo will not be cutting or trading Hughes, Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News tweets.

Despite the Doug Whaley regime green-lighting Hughes’ five-year deal in 2015, the team wants to keep as much defensive end depth as it can. Shaq Lawson isn’t in danger of being moved, either, per Carucci (on Twitter), despite also arriving under Whaley.

The Bills have traded a few Whaley-era standouts recently, but Hughes and Lawson are in line to work alongside Murphy as the team’s defensive ends next season. Hughes will turn 30 during training camp and has not matched the back-to-back 10-sack seasons that occurred prior to his re-signing. But he still enjoyed a strong season, grading as a top-10 run defender (among edge players) last season, in Pro Football Focus’ view.

Bills To Sign LB Trent Murphy

March 14th, 2018 at 1:43pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Bills will sign free agent edge rusher Trent Murphy, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). It’s a three-year, $21MM deal, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, while the total value can rise to $30MM, per Rapoport (Twitter link).

Murphy, who spent the first four seasons of his career with the Redskins, drew plenty of free agent interest despite missing the entire 2017 campaign with a torn ACL and MCL. Both the Patriots and Buccaneers were reportedly in on Murphy, while Washington had offered him a contract to return to the nation’s capital.

The Bills plan to use Murphy at defensive end, not linebacker, as Joe Buscaglia of WKBW tweets. Buffalo already has two starting defensive ends in Jerry Hughes and Shaq Lawson, but Murphy will offer depth allow the Bills to play their edge rushers in a rotational capacity.

A former second-round pick, Murphy’s best season came in 2016 when he posted nine sacks. That potential was enough to get him a multi-year deal this year, but the 27-year-old certainly comes with risk attached. Not only can a dual ACL/MCL injury be tough to recover from, but Murphy was also suspended four games last season for performance-enhancing drug usage.

The Bills have been active this offseason, not only in trading away offensive starters such as Tyrod Taylor and Cordy Glenn, but in adding defensive talent such as Star Lotulelei and Rafael Bush.

Bills Trade Cordy Glenn To Bengals

March 14th, 2018 at 11:10am CST by Zachary Links

The Bengals are trading for Bills left tackle Cordy Glenn, according to Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The deal will see the Bills move up in the first round, according to Peter Schrager of NFL.com (on Twitter).

The Bills will acquire the No. 12 pick in the draft, while the Bengals will go down to No. 21 overall. The two teams will also swap fifth- and sixth-round picks. Precisely, the Bills will trade picks 21 and 158 for picks 12 and 187, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweets.

Glenn was a durable player for the Bills prior to signing a massive extension with the Bills in 2016. Since then, he has been banged up and not quite worth the money for Buffalo. With a lofty $14.45MM cap number in 2018 and a $6.5MM roster bonus on the horizon, the Bills have decided to move on.

Glenn drew interest from teams at last year’s trade deadline, including the Seahawks, so the Bills knew there was at least some market for him, despite his health concerns and hefty contract. Glenn has three years and roughly $30MM remaining on his contract.

Glenn, 29 in September, appeared in just six games (275 snaps) for Buffalo last season before being placed on IR. He also missed five games of action in 2016. Before that, Glenn played a full 16-game slate in three consecutive seasons.

From 2013-2016, Glenn graded out as roughly a top-20 tackle, according to the advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus. He did not fare nearly as well in his limited and injury-plagued sample last season.

The Bengals, who saw longtime left tackle Andrew Whitworth defect to the Rams in free agency last March, badly needed to upgrade their offensive line. They have done just that by acquiring Glenn. If healthy, Glenn easily profiles as an above-average starter at left tackle. Given his injury history, the Bengals will want to shore up the bench in the even that he misses time.

The Bills, meanwhile, have greatly improved their standing in the draft. They also hold the No. 22 overall selection, thanks to last year’s Patrick Mahomes trade, and five of the draft’s first 65 choices. Buffalo now figures to let Dion Dawkins, who filled in for Glenn last season when he was ailing, move into the role of its full-time left tackle.

Considering their stock of early-round picks, you can only wonder if the Bills are preparing to make a run at one of the top quarterbacks in the draft. Buffalo may be emulating the strategy the Eagles took several years ago to select Carson Wentz, when Philly started with No. 13, moved up to No. 8, and ultimately traded for the second-overall pick. Of course, the Bills could also be eyeing free agent quarterbacks, as reports from earlier today indicated that they had interest in former Vikings signal-callers Sam Bradford and Case Keenum.

[RELATED: Bengals Depth Chart]

Texans To Sign OT Seantrel Henderson

March 13th, 2018 at 4:04pm CST by Zachary Links

The Texans are signing former Bills offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Henderson is expected to provide depth at the tackle position. His deal is for one year and worth up to $4MM, a league source tells Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle (on Twitter).

Henderson has had a strange tenure in the NFL thus far. A former first-stringer in Buffalo, Henderson was hit with a ten-game substance abuse policy suspension in 2017, his second ban after previously serving a four-game suspension. For his part, Henderson says he was only using marijuana to help treat symptoms of his Crohn’s disease.

In other Texans news, Houston has agreed to sign former Jacksonville corner Aaron Colvin. They remain interested in running back Dion Lewis, though Adrian Peterson is making his case to join the team.

Bills To Sign S Rafael Bush

March 13th, 2018 at 3:46pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bills are signing safety Rafael Bush to a two-year deal for $3.5 MM, ESPN’s Mike Rodak tweets. Bush was among the Saints’ free agents this offseason.

It includes $900,000 guaranteed and a $600,000 signing bonus, and base salaries of $1.3 MM in 2018, and $1.4 MM in 2019. He will also receive workout bonuses of $100,000 each year. Rodak also reports there are up to $500,000 in playing time incentives, which could propel the deal to a top value of $4.5 MM.

Bush was among the best safeties in last year’s free agent class, but we did not have him ranked in the top 15 in this go ’round. That’s partially due to the depth of this year’s safety market, but more so because Bush served strictly as a backup for New Orleans last year. He appeared in 14 games — with zero starts — and totaled 22 tackles with one sack.

A fixture as a Saints depth piece for much of this decade, Bush is going into his age-31 season. The former UDFA is likely to supplement Buffalo starters Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer. Hyde is signed to a five-year, $30MM deal and Poyer to a four-season contract worth $13MM. Those two each graded as top-15 safeties in the view of Pro Football Focus.

Bush has started 18 games in his seven-year career. He played 236 snaps for the Saints last season and now looks like Buffalo’s No. 3 safety for 2018. This is now a position the Bills don’t really need to worry about for a bit.

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