Raiders Sign CB Shareece Wright
The Raiders have signed Shareece Wright to a one-year deal. The cornerback personally announced the news on his Instagram account and the deal has been confirmed by Michael Gehlken of the Review Journal (on Twitter). 
Wright will serve as cornerback depth in Oakland. There, he’ll reunite with safety Marcus Gilchrist, who signed with the Raiders this week. Both players were in the same Chargers draft class in 2011 and spent four years together.
Wright appeared in 12 games for the Bills last season and started in five of those contests. He finished out with 42 tackles, one interception, and five passes defensed.
Bengals Sign LB Preston Brown
The Bengals have signed linebacker Preston Brown, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). It’s a one-year deal for the Cincinnati native. 
Brown was hoping to re-sign with the Bills on a multi-year deal, Jim Owczarski of the Enquirer writes, but that never materialized. Earlier this month, we heard that the Patriots had interest in Brown, but it’s not clear if that ever came close to happening.
Brown, 26 in October, led the league in tackles in 2017 while playing the third-most defensive snaps (1,180) of any linebacker in the NFL. The former third-round pick has started nearly every possible game (62 of 64) during his four-year career and has never missed a contest due to injury. I had Brown ranked as one of the 50 best free agents available heading into this week.
Brown projects to start at middle linebacker, which will allow Vontaze Burfict to remain at outside linebacker.
The Bengals haven’t had the flashiest offseason in the NFL, but they’ve made some moves of note. This week, they traded for Bills left tackle Cordy Glenn and re-signed tight end Tyler Eifert.
[RELATED: Bengals Depth Chart]
Bills Re-Sign Taiwan Jones, Travaris Cadet
The Bills announced that they have re-signed a pair of running backs. Taiwan Jones and Travaris Cadet are both ticketed to return for 2018. 
With both players back in the fold, the Bills currently have six running backs under contract. Needless to say, not all of them will be on the team in September. They will, however, duke it out between now and final cuts.
LeSean McCoy, coming off of his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl appearance, will be the primary ball carrier for his fourth season in Buffalo. As of this writing, new free agent pickup Chris Ivory figures to serve as his primary backup, as shown on Roster Resource. Marcus Murphy and Aaron Green are also in the mix and the Bills could still look to add to the RB group in April’s draft.
In other Bills news, offensive lineman Richie Incognito reworked his contract on Thursday, allowing him to stay with the team.
Contract Details: Lotulelei, Bradham, Lewis
Let’s take a look at the details from the latest contracts signed in the NFL:
- Star Lotulelei, DT (Bills): Five years, $50MM. $18.5MM guaranteed. $33.5MM over first three seasons (Twitter links via Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo of NFL.com).
- Nigel Bradham, LB (Eagles): Five years, $40MM. $14MM guaranteed. $5MM signing bonus. Eagles have team options for 2020-22 seasons (Twitter link via Sheil Kapadia of the Athletic).
- Dion Lewis, RB (Titans): Four years, $19.8MM. $4.25MM guaranteed. $2.25MM signing bonus. Max value of $22.3MM (Twitter link via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe).
- Kareem Martin, LB (Giants): Three years, $15MM. $7.25MM guaranteed. $3MM signing bonus (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle).
- Patrick Omameh, G (Giants): Three years, $15MM. $5MM guaranteed (Twitter link via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com).
- Keith Tandy, S (Buccaneers): Two years, $2.74MM. $600K guaranteed (Twitter link via Howard Balzer).
- Kenny Wiggins, OL (Lions): Two years, $5MM. $750K guaranteed. $750K signing bonus (story via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press).
- Kevin Huber, P (Bengals): Three years, $7.95MM. $1.55MM guaranteed (Twitter link via Wilson).
Bills’ Richie Incognito Reworks Contract
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
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
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
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
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
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.