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Buffalo Bills News & Rumors

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/20/17

August 20th, 2017 at 6:30pm CST by Rory Parks

Today’s minor moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Minnesota Vikings

Seattle Seahawks

  • Signed: T Tyrus Thompson (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Bills Work Out TE Chase Ford

August 19th, 2017 at 11:39am CST by Ben Levine

The Bills are apparently in the market for a tight end. According to ESPN’s Adam Caplan (via Twitter), the team worked out veteran Chase Ford today.

Chase FordFord, 27, hasn’t played an NFL game since 2014, but he showed plenty of promise during his tenure with the Vikings. Between 2013 and 2014, the former undrafted free agent out of Miami hauled in 34 catches for 391 yards and one touchdown in 20 games (five starts). Since that time, the 27-year-old has spent time with the Ravens and Browns (he also had a stint with the Eagles to begin his professional career).

Despite underwhelming performance from the position in recent years, the Bills did little to improve their tight end corps this offseason. Charles Clay, who signed with the organization prior to the 2015 season, has averaged 54 receptions for 540 yards and three touchdowns during his two years in Buffalo. Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News previously lamented the team’s lack of tight end production, and he attributed Clay’s $9MM cap hit to the fact that the Bills didn’t add reinforcement this summer.

If Ford is ultimately signed, he’ll still have plenty of competition to overcome for a reserve role. Besides Clay, the Bills are currently rostering tight ends Nick O’Leary, Gerald Christian, and Logan Thomas.

Carucci: Glenn Injury Could Force Bills To Gauge Outside T Help

August 18th, 2017 at 9:37pm CST by Sam Robinson
  • Reggie Ragland has yet to assimilate well into Sean McDermott‘s scheme, and Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News expects the Bills to attempt to trade the ex-Alabama stalwart. Carucci notes a trade to a team that uses a 3-4 defense would make sense. Buffalo has shifted to a 4-3, and the 2016 second-round pick’s current status — stationed on the third team — is not exactly acceptable for such a big recent investment. PFR’s Dallas Robinson put Ragland on his list of trade candidates.
  • Should Cordy Glenn‘s foot trouble linger much longer, Carucci expects the Bills to target outside tackle help. Specifying the waiver wire as the player-procurement practice of choice to add a tackle, Carucci notes second-round rookie Dion Dawkins would be the top in-house option to start there if Glenn is unable to man his post. After Austin Pasztor‘s Falcons agreement, the tackle market looks thin. McDermott said (via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com) he’s not quite ready to relocate Dawkins from the right tackle competition, where he’s battling incumbent Jordan Mills. However, Dawkins took left-edge reps Friday in practice, while Seantrel Henderson — suspended for the season’s first five games — lined up at right tackle.

Bills Not Considering QB Change

August 18th, 2017 at 3:40pm CST by Zachary Links
  • Bills coach Sean McDermott says he is not considering a quarterback change, despite comments that made it seem as though he could move away from Tyrod Taylor (Twitter link via Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News). Taylor struggled against Jacksonville on Thursday night, leading some to speculate that rookie Nathan Peterman could step in as the starter. The Bills inked Taylor to a new two-year deal this past offseason, but they’re really only tied to him through 2017. Only $1MM of his $10MM salary in 2018 is guaranteed and he could theoretically be released before he can collect on his $6MM roster bonus early in the 2018 league year.

T.J. Yates' Roster Spot Could Be In Jeopardy

August 16th, 2017 at 7:34pm CST by Connor J. Byrne
  • Fifth-round rookie Nathan Peterman has passed T.J. Yates on the Bills’ depth chart at quarterback, leading Mike Rodak of ESPN.com to argue that the team should release the veteran. The Bills would only have the untested Peterman behind starter Tyrod Taylor at that point, but as Rodak writes, the loss of Taylor for an extended period would kill their already slim hopes of contending anyhow. Further, cutting Yates would allow Buffalo to keep another player at a position of need, and it’s possible the team would be able to re-sign him at a later date if an emergency were to arise under center. Yates nearly went without an employer last season until the Dolphins signed him in mid-December, after all, though he did suffer an ACL tear late in the previous year.

NFC West Notes: Rams, Watkins, Seahawks

August 16th, 2017 at 3:28pm CST by Zachary Links

Here’s a look at the NFC West:

  • The Rams started discussing a Sammy Watkins trade with the Bills in the spring when they declined to exercise his fifth-year option in the spring, L.A. GM Les Snead told SiriusXM (Twitter link). The Watkins deal came completely out of left field, so it’s impressive that the two sides were able to keep rumblings of the deal out of the media for four months. The Rams acquired Watkins and a 2018 sixth-round selection in exchange for for cornerback E.J. Gaines and a 2018 second-round pick. Los Angeles has already expressed interest in inking him to an extension.
  • Tramaine Brock‘s one-year deal with the Seahawks is for the minimum salary, Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times tweets. In the days leading up to his deal with Seattle, we heard that Brock had interest from as many as a dozen teams. Since Brock will only be making the minimum, it sounds either like the level of interest league-wide was overstated or Brock took less money from a quality team like the Seahawks in order to give himself a better platform for free agency next year.
  • 49ers GM John Lynch says he has spoken with Broncos GM John Elway about which players might be available in trades (Twitter link via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area). Lynch offered no specifics, so we don’t know which players were discussed or how close the two sides were/are to a deal.

Brandon Beane Disputes Bills Are Tanking

August 15th, 2017 at 9:49pm CST by Dallas Robinson
  • Bills general manager Brandon Beane said he was “annoyed” at accusations of tanking after Buffalo agreed to trade Sammy Watkins and Ronald Darby last week, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. Pointing to acquisitions of Anquan Boldin, Jordan Matthews, and E.J. Gaines, Beane disputed that the Bills aren’t attempting to win in 2017. However, each of those three players’ contracts will expire in 2018, and the driving force behind Buffalo’s two deals seemed to be the receipt of draft pick capital.

Minor Injury For Jordan Matthews

August 15th, 2017 at 4:03pm CST by Zachary Links
  • Bills wide receiver Jordan Matthews has what the team is calling “a chip fracture in his sternum” and is week to week, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. For now, it sounds like the newly-acquired receiver is not in danger of missing games, but it’s a situation to keep an eye on.

Jaguars Claim CB Charles James II

August 14th, 2017 at 4:56pm CST by Zachary Links

The Jaguars have claimed fourth-year cornerback Charles James II off waivers from the Bills. To make room on the roster, they waived rookie wide receiver Kenneth Walker. Charles James (vertical)

While with the Texans, James enjoyed some celebrity as the standout star of 2015’s “Hard Knocks.” His likability alone couldn’t keep him in Houston, however. The Texans cut him at the end of 2016, leading him to the rival Colts. When James was let go by Indy in order to help make room for undrafted free agents in May, he was claimed off waivers by the Bills. His stay in Buffalo now ends after four months, but he has landed on his feet – and in better weather.

James, a 5’9″ corner, took the field in 12 games for the Giants’ as a rookie in 2013. Then, in 2015 and 2016, he saw action in 21 games with the Texans.

Eagles Not Ruling Out Matthews UFA Return

August 13th, 2017 at 8:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although the Eagles dealt Jordan Matthews rather than make him part of their large recent group of extension signees, Howie Roseman said the trade wouldn’t preclude the team from re-signing Matthews as a free agent, Eliot Shorr-Parks tweets. Whether Matthews would consider a return to Philadelphia after this is another story. The Bills wideout is one of many notable receivers entering contract years. He joins fellow Friday traded pass-catcher Sammy Watkins, along with DeAndre Hopkins and fellow 2014 draftees Jarvis Landry, Davante Adams, Allen Robinson, Donte Moncrief as a prospective UFA.

The Bills have a revamped wide receiver corps, having traded Watkins and observed Robert Woods and Marquise Goodwin leave in free agency, so it would stand to reason they’d want to keep Matthews past 2017. But the acquisitions of Matthews and E.J. Gaines may have been secondary to the second- and third-round draft choices received, so Buffalo’s strategy with the newly acquired players will be interesting.

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