- The Bills have hosted Alabama edge rusher Tim Williams, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Williams, who posted 18.5 sacks during his final two years in Tuscaloosa, should probably be a first-round pick based on talent alone, but personnel man have off-field concerns. “We’re worried about [his] weight and love of the game,” one scout told Matt Miller of Bleacher Report earlier this year. Williams was also arrested on a gun charge in September.
Bills running back LeSean McCoy raised some eyebrows when he skipped the first day of the Bills’ offseason program. It’s still not clear why he wasn’t in the building, but his absence was not related to any kind of contract holdout, a source tells Mike Florio of PFT. 
This year, McCoy is slated to earn a base salary of $6MM plus nearly $3MM in prorated bonuses and workout incentives. However, his base salary is not guaranteed, so his absence from the team’s voluntary practice led to some speculation that he was pushing for a revised contract. McCoy might have been away from the team to celebrate his son’s fifth birthday or for some other reason, but he apparently wasn’t trying to drum up leverage for a new deal.
So far, new coach Sean McDermott has been publicly enthusiastic about working with Shady.
“LeSean is going to be with the Buffalo Bills moving forward,” McDermott said in early March. “He’s a great player. We worked together in Philadelphia and when you look at the skill set LeSean brings to the table, we’re excited to be working with him.”
McCoy is scheduled to be under contract with Buffalo through 2019.
The Bills are hosting free-agent cornerback B.W. Webb on a visit today, the team announced. Webb could provide depth in a cornerback group that sorely needs it. 
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If the season started today (fortunately for most of the NFL, it does not), the Bills’ starting corners would be Kevon Seymore and Ronald Darby. The Bills lost their ace corner when Stephon Gilmore signed with the Patriots and their decision to bounce slot cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman did not help matters.
Webb, 27 in May, could be called upon to provide support, even if he’s not used as a starter. Last season, he appeared in 14 games for the Saints and made seven starts, but he did not necessarily play like a first-stringer. Webb finished out the year as Pro Football Focus’ No. 76 cornerback in the NFL, placing him in the middle of the pack in a group of 111 qualified players at his position.
With many of the bigger names already off the board, Webb is our No. 8 ranked free agent cornerback.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes will have a private workout with the Bills next week, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. This is the latest in a long line of reported workouts for the Texas Tech product. 
[RELATED: Pegula Says Doug Whaley, Sean McDermott Work Well Together]
What makes this work out particularly interesting is the Bills’ long-term situation at quarterback. Rather than exercising Tyrod Taylor‘s hefty multi-year option this offseason, the two sides worked out a last-minute agreement to effectively keep Taylor in Buffalo through 2017. After that, the Bills will have a similar decision on their hands: they can keep Taylor for an additional season, but only $1MM of his $10MM salary for 2018 is guaranteed.
The Bills could give Taylor the peace of mind of being the team’s unquestioned top signal caller in 2017. Alternatively, they could look into taking a developmental quarterback right now, giving them a safety net in the event that Taylor falters. Right now, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether the Bills are serious about taking Mahomes as his stock continues to rise. It’s possible that they simply are doing due diligence on a top prospect, as most teams do during this time of year.
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- The idea that the Bills are preparing to part with general manager Doug Whaley is “erroneous,” owner Terry Pegula told reporters Wednesday (via Sal Maiorana of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle). Pegula also dismissed the notion that there’s discord between Whaley and rookie head coach Sean McDermott, pointing to their mutual decision to keep quarterback Tyrod Taylor as evidence that they’re in lockstep. “That was Doug and Sean working very diligently, digging up everything, directions we could go and what not and the decision was unanimous that we bring Tyrod back with the new contract and we’re all happy with that,” he said.
Days after claiming him from the Vikings, the Bills have waived defensive end Scott Crichton after he failed his physical, Buffalo announced today.
Crichton, 25, has never been able to get his career of the ground after being selected in the third round of the 2014 draft. He’s appeared in 21 games over three seasons, but ended the 2015 season on injured reserve and spent the entirety of the 2016 campaign on IR. As such, it’s perhaps unsurprising Crichton was unable to pass a physical once he arrived in Buffalo.
Crichton has one year left on his rookie contract worth $769K. Any club can now claim Crichton off waivers and assume that salary, but given his health status, Crichton will almost assuredly pass through waivers.
- New head coach Sean McDermott thinks the Bills‘ No. 2 wide receiver is already on the club’s roster, although he didn’t specify if he has a certain player in mind, tweets Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News. While the Bills have eight wideouts behind Sammy Watkins on the depth chart, none are all that uninspiring. Corey Brown, Andre Holmes, Dezmin Lewis, Jeremy Butler, and Brandon Tate are among the pass-catchers currently on Buffalo’s roster.
- The Bills have claimed defensive end Scott Crichton off waivers from the Vikings, tweets ESPN’s Field Yates. The Vikings used a third-round pick (No. 72) on Crichton in 2014, but he has failed to live up to that selection thus far. The 25-year-old spent 2016 on injured reserve after combining for five tackles in 21 appearances over his first two seasons.
- Even if Doug Whaley is forced out as the Bills‘ general manager, Panthers director of player personnel Don Gregory is not expected to be a candidate for the position in Buffalo, Vic Carrucci of the Buffalo News tweets. Last week, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com tossed out Gregory’s name in relation to a possible Bills vacancy, but the CBS scribe was likely speculating rather than reporting. On paper, Gregory could make sense for the Buffalo position given his ties to Bills head coach Sean McDermott, who was the Panthers’ defensive coordinator from 2011-16.
- The Bills have scheduled a private April workout with Pittsburgh quarterback Nathan Peterman, the player told Alex Marvez of SiriusXM NFL Radio (Twitter link). Earlier this year, one scout informed Matt Miller of Bleacher Report that Peterman has a chance to pull a Dak Prescott and go from a mid-round pick to a viable starter as a rookie.