Buffalo Bills Rumors & News - Pro Football Rumors

Marcell Dareus Sent Away From Bills Game

August 26th, 2017 at 8:48pm CST by Sam Robinson

Marcell Dareus‘ standing with the new Bills regime took a hit Saturday night when the team sent the cornerstone defensive tackle home from its preseason game against the Ravens for violating a team rule. The nature of the violation isn’t known, but first-year GM Brandon Beane addressed the matter pregame.

Shortly after the Bills sent Dareus home, they lost their quarterback to a concussion. Tyrod Taylor left the game because of a head injury, the team announced. He is in the concussion protocol. A third-down sack led to Taylor’s removal from the game. Nathan Peterman replaced the starter.

Fallout From Julian Edelman Injury

August 26th, 2017 at 6:02pm CST by Sam Robinson

Tom Brady offered hopes Julian Edelman could come back this season after the Patriots‘ third preseason game Friday night, but after the team confirmed earlier today the ninth-year wideout tore his right ACL, the Pats will have to adjust again. The team’s primary slot receiver post-Wes Welker, Edelman recorded a career-high 1,106 receiving yards last season and played in 16 games. Edelman missed nearly half the season in 2015, and Brady’s production dipped without his top volume target. The iconic quarterback’s completion rate plummeted from 68 percent in nine Edelman games to 60 percent in seven contests without him. But the Patriots, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes, are deeper now and are expected to use a group effort to replace the 31-year-old receiver.

New England now employs Brandin Cooks and Chris Hogan, along with second-year player Malcolm Mitchell and a slew of viable receiving backs. Danny Amendola served as Edelman’s primary replacement in 2015, and the veteran figures to be part of the solution two years later. Florio uses New England’s 2016 Super Bowl run as an example of the resourceful team winning without a key pass-catcher. While the Pats won Super Bowl LI without Rob Gronkowski‘s services down the stretch, it’s hard to bank on the all-world tight end being available throughout this now-Edelman-less season. That said, Gronkowski did play in 15 games in both 2014 and ’15. Brady’s only played one game without Gronk or Edelman — 2015 loss to the Eagles — since the pair became the Patriots’ top chain-movers four years ago.

Here’s the latest fallout from the injury situation.

AFC execs and coaches concur with Florio’s assessment, to some degree. “They’ll find another way to do it. So initially, [it’ll hurt them] some, but in the end not much at all,” an AFC coach texted Albert Breer of SI.com. Another added: “Amendola will have to stay healthy and pick up the slack. It won’t be easy, but they’ll make it work.” The 31-year-old Amendola reworked his contract again this offseason to stay with the Pats in what is the final year of his deal. Amendola amassed 243 air yards last season. “Health of others is key,” an AFC exec said, via Breer. “Amendola and [Gronkowski] need to stay healthy, but their offense is diverse enough to pick it up.”
Edelman will still make nearly $7MM this season, with Ben Volin of the Boston Globe (Twitter link) relaying that in addition to his $3MM base salary, the slot bastion collected $3.5MM of his signing bonus and $250K workout bonus. Edelman, though, will miss out on $750K in per-game roster bonuses and a possible $500K in incentives, via Volin (on Twitter).
Anquan Boldin retired from the Bills last weekend and would be an intriguing fit if the 36-year-old pass-catcher could be convinced to delay his busy-looking post-career endeavors, but Volin tweets Buffalo placed Boldin on its reserve/retired list. The Bills hold his rights and would have to relinquish them to green-light a Boldin/Patriots future. Boldin also said a day after his retirement intentions surfaced he won’t make a late-season return, insisting he’s done with the game.
Edelman will stick around Foxborough to do his rehab, Volin tweets, likely offering help to his replacements as they attempt to fill the void created by the absence of one of the game’s top slot targets.

Bills Sign Eric Wood To Extension

August 26th, 2017 at 5:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Bills plan to keep Eric Wood around through the remainder of the 2010s, signing the veteran center to a two-year extension, the team announced.

Wood was entering a contract year. The 31-year-old center has been Buffalo’s starting snapper since entering the league in 2009. This deal will take him through 2019.

The extension secures Wood $16MM in new money, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. It also adds $5.28MM to his 2017 wages. Wood counted for $7.58MM on Buffalo’s books this season. Rapoport adds (via Twitter) this deal comes with $14.2MM in guarantees. Factoring into these figures: Wood received a $6.5MM signing bonus and will collect a $1.75MM roster bonus next week.

This continues to fortify Buffalo’s interior line. The team matched a Rams offer sheet to retain backup center Ryan Groy earlier this year. Groy is signed through 2018.

It also answers the question about the Bills’ belief their second-longest-tenured player can bounce back from a broken leg sustained in November 2016. The team’s 2009 first-round pick, Wood will remain entrenched as Buffalo’s starter and one of the cornerstones of a rushing attack that led the league last season. The Bills paced the NFL by nearly 15 rushing yards per game in 2016, averaging 164.4 per contest.

Prior to the injury that limited Wood to nine games in 2016, the Louisville product played in at least 14 games in the previous four campaigns.

Bills Confirm They Won’t Trade McCoy

August 24th, 2017 at 5:19pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

After trading two players who were among the best on their roster in wide receiver Sammy Watkins and cornerback Ronald Darby earlier this month, the Bills look like a team in the midst of a rebuild. As such, speculation that the Bills could shop their top player, 29-year-old running back LeSean McCoy, has come to the fore recently. That reportedly isn’t going to happen, though, and McCoy said Thursday that general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott have told him as much.

“There’s no trade talks,” McCoy informed reporters, including Mike Rodak of ESPN.com. “I talked to my coaches. I talked to Sean and Brandon, the GM. I have a lot of respect for the guys. We had a great conversation. I’ll leave it at that. One thing about it is everybody can have their own opinions or make up things. Nowadays with social media, everything is blown out of proportion.”

The Bills have gone just 15-17 since acquiring McCoy from the Eagles in March 2015 and, thanks in part to their recent future-oriented trades and the abrupt retirement of Anquan Boldin, look like shoo-ins to miss the playoffs for an NFL-worst 18th straight year in 2017. But McCoy insisted Thursday that the team is aiming to contend this season, and that he’s content to remain in Buffalo.

“They’re all in to win,” he said. “We’re a team and that’s what we’re trying to do. I feel like I’m one of the key guys here. I don’t want to leave. Buffalo embraced me with open arms and they took me in.”

A four-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro in Philadelphia, McCoy has remained a premier weapon with the long-struggling Bills. He made his second Pro Bowl in as many years in Buffalo last season, when he ranked third in the NFL in yards per carry (5.4) and fourth in rushing touchdowns (13) during a 234-attempt, 1,267-yard campaign. He also amassed 50 receptions, giving him at least that many in a season for the fourth time in his nine-year career.

It’s apparent McCoy’s 10th season will be spent in Buffalo, which can control him through the 2019 campaign on the five-year, $40.05MM deal it awarded him in 2015. He had been the league’s highest-paid back on a multiyear deal until the Falcons’ Devonta Freeman inked a five-year, $41.25MM extension earlier this month.

Bills Notes: Watkins, Ragland

August 23rd, 2017 at 7:22pm CST by Zachary Links

Bills head coach Sean McDermott admitted it’s a “fair question” as to whether Buffalo would have traded Sammy Watkins had they known fellow wide receiver Anquan Boldin would soon retire, according to Mike Rodak of ESPN.com (multiple links). Although McDermott referred to the two transactions as “separate entities,” Boldin announced his retirement just four days after the Bills shipped Watkins to the Rams for cornerback E.J. Gaines and a second-round selection. Of course, Buffalo also acquired pass-catcher Jordan Matthews on the same day it traded Watkins, and the Bills are “always” examining upgrades at wide receiver, per McDermott.

Reporters peppered Bills linebacker Reggie Ragland with questions on Tuesday about whether he’s a trade candidate, according to Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News. As one would expect, Ragland suggested that he’s not worried about rumors and noted that he’s “got to keep getting better,” though it’s nonetheless an open question as to whether he’s a fit in the Bills’ defense. The Bills chose Ragland in the second round of the 2016 draft after a costly trade up, but he missed his rookie season with a torn ACL and is now under the thumb of a new administration in Buffalo. The Doug Whaley–Rex Ryan duo responsible for the Ragland pick is gone, as is the Bills’ previous 3-4 scheme. Ragland has languished in a third-team role in Buffalo’s 4-3 alignment this preseason under Ryan’s replacement, McDermott, leading Pro Football Rumors’ Dallas Robinson to observe last week that the ex-Alabama star could be in another uniform soon.

Bills Not Shopping LeSean McCoy

August 22nd, 2017 at 5:55pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Bills are not shopping running back LeSean McCoy and have no intention of doing so, sources tell Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

On its face, a McCoy trade could make sense for a Buffalo club that looks to be on the verge of a rebuild (if it isn’t already there). The Bills, of course, dealt wide receiver Sammy Watkins and cornerback Ronald Darby earlier this month, and while general manager Brandon Beane received veterans in those deals (Jordan Matthews and E.J. Gaines), the clear impetus behind the moves was draft capital. Buffalo picked up a 2018 second-round pick in the Watkins trade, and a 2018 third-rounder in the Darby swap.

McCoy, then, doesn’t particularly fit in with the Bills’ current direction, especially given his age (he turned 29 in July) and his salary. Signed through 2019, McCoy is currently the league’s second-highest-paid running back on a multi-year deal, trailing only Devonta Freeman. If McCoy was traded, Buffalo would pick up $6.25MM in 2017 cap space, with $2.625MM and $5.25MM in dead money accruing on the team’s salary cap in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Clearing cap space wouldn’t be the primary goal in a McCoy deal, however — instead, the Bills would be aiming to acquire some sort of draft pick compensation for a still-productive running back. Last season, McCoy appeared in 15 games and topped 1,000 rushing for the fifth time in his career while scoring 13 times on the ground. He also added 50 receptions (his highest total since 2013) for 356 yards and one more score.

The Bills don’t have an excessive amount of depth behind at running back behind McCoy, though, and 2016 fifth-round selection Jonathan Williams would likely become the primary beneficiary of a McCoy trade. Veterans Mike Tolbert, Joe Banyard, and Taiwan Jones are also on the Buffalo roster, but none have experience as a lead back.

Bills' McDermott Controlled Draft

August 22nd, 2017 at 1:27pm CST by Zachary Links

Although Doug Whaley was technically in charge for the Bills‘ draft this year, Breer hears that coach Sean McDermott was given carte blanche to pull players off of the board for character reasons. That could help to explain this month’s surprising move to jettison wide receiver Sammy Watkins and cornerback Ronald Darby via trade. Darby came into the league with some red flags and his performance has dipped since his strong rookie season in 2015. Watkins, meanwhile, didn’t have character issues, but his lingering injury problems could have posed a hurdle for the first-year head coach. Brandon Beane now holds the GM title, but McDermott may have been the real driving force behind the trades.

Bills' Matthews Says He'll Play Week 1

August 21st, 2017 at 3:59pm CST by Zachary Links

New Bills wide receiver Jordan Matthews has a chip fracture in his sternum, but he says he’ll be ready to go for the season opener (via The Associated Press). “I want to go out there and prove myself to my teammates. I want them to know that I’m tough, and I want them to know that I’m not the type of guy that wants to miss practice and just be there for games.” Matthews said. “I’m extremely confident I will be ready to play for Week 1.” Since being selected in the 2014 draft, Matthews led Philly receivers with a combined 225 catches, 2,873 yards and 19 touchdowns. He’ll be counted on for major production after the team jettisoned Sammy Watkins and saw Anquan Boldin retire over the weekend.

Anquan Boldin Rules Out Late Season Return

August 21st, 2017 at 9:24am CST by Zachary Links

After less than two weeks in Buffalo, Anquan Boldin informed the team that he is retiring. The timing is unusual, but Boldin insists that he is not leaving the sport simply to get away from the Bills. He also insists that he is retired for good.

“I’m done with the sport of football,” Boldin said when asked about the possibility of hooking on with a contender late in the season (via Ross Tucker of SiriusXM on Twitter). “My passion is elsewhere.”

That passion, he says, is to help heal the great social and political divide in the United States. When asked about what changed his mind in recent weeks, he cited the events in Charlottesville and did not mention the team’s blockbuster trades.

“I’m uncomfortable with how divided we are as a country. This is not a fly by night decision. It’s something I want to dedicate my life to,” Boldin said.

After dedicating his life to the sport throughout his amateur days and 14 NFL seasons, one can hardly blame Boldin for switching gears. When he celebrates his 37th birthday in October, Boldin will be doing something other than playing football.

Anquan Boldin To Leave Bills, Retire

August 20th, 2017 at 7:08pm CST by Sam Robinson

Anquan Boldin signed with the Bills earlier this month in advance of a 15th NFL season, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to be in the cards for the veteran wideout any longer.

Boldin informed the Bills on Sunday he plans to retire instead of suiting up for them in the regular season, ESPN.com’s Jim Trotter reports (on Twitter).

The former first-round pick signed a one-year deal that was worth as much as $4MM and said he would have signed with the Bills with or without Sammy Watkins on the roster. GM Brandon Beane also used Boldin’s acquisition to illustrate how the franchise wasn’t rebuilding after dealing Watkins and Ronald Darby.

Beane confirmed Boldin is retiring, via Twitter. The wideout officially spent just less than two weeks with the Bills.

Boldin retires as one of the best receivers of his era. The former Cardinals, Ravens, 49ers and Lions cog has the ninth-most receptions in NFL history, with 1,076. Only two active players — ex-teammate Larry Fitzgerald and longtime Cowboys tight end Jason Witten — have more catches than Boldin. A potential Hall of Famer, Boldin is 14th in receiving yards (13,779) and 23rd in touchdown receptions (82).

“Football has afforded me a platform throughout my career to have a greater impact on my humanitarian work,” Boldin said in a statement, via Trotter (on Twitter). “At this time, I feel drawn to make the larger fight for human rights a priority. My life’s purpose is bigger than football.”

Set to turn 37 in October, Boldin operated as a starer during all 14 seasons of his career. The Florida State product finishes his run as a three-time Pro Bowler and having helped the 2012 Ravens to a Super Bowl title. He also teamed with Fitzgerald and Kurt Warner in elevating the Cardinals to their franchise peak, with an NFC title and narrow Super Bowl loss in 2008.

Boldin authored seven 1,000-yard seasons — for three different teams — and caught a career-high 11 touchdown passes during that ’08 season. He also recorded one of the best rookie seasons, with the ’03 Cards, by a receiver in NFL history, catching 101 passes for 1,377 yards and eight touchdowns.

Last year with the Lions, Boldin signed a one-year deal and started all 16 games. He served as a key security blanket for Matthew Stafford, catching 67 passes and scoring eight touchdowns.

Boldin was a free agent throughout the offseason and was connected to the Lions and Ravens. He ended up signing with the Bills and was expected to provide a veteran presence to a team that has revamped its receiving corps.

Gone are Watkins, Robert Woods and Marquise Goodwin. In their places are now Jordan Matthews, second-round rookie Zay Jones and former Raiders starters Andre Holmes and Rod Streater, the latter of whom is currently injured. Former Panthers wideout Philly Brown and Patriots special-teamer Brandon Tate are also on the roster. This move deprives the Bills of a proven pass-catcher and puts more pressure on Matthews, also currently sidelined with an injury, to fill the void this season.

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