Buffalo Bills Rumors & News - Pro Football Rumors

Bills To Re-Sign Jordan Mills

March 11th, 2017 at 3:54pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Bills have agreed to re-sign offensive tackle Jordan Mills to a two-year, $4MM contract, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.

Serving as Buffalo’s full-time right tackle in 2016, Mills started all 16 games and graded as the league’s No. 64 offensive tackle among 78 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus. The Bills originally signed Mills off Detroit’s practice squad in October 2015, and he’s become a productive player in Buffalo. A former fifth-round pick, Mills has 50 career starts under his belt, all of those coming with the Bills and the Bears (with whom Mills began his NFL tenure).

The Bills’ offensive line, which paved the way for the league’s No. 1 DVOA-rated rushing attack, should return the same five members from left-to-right: Cordy Glenn, Richie Incognito, Eric Wood, John Miller, and Mills.

Bills To Re-Sign Lorenzo Alexander

March 11th, 2017 at 10:40am CST by Dallas Robinson

The Bills have agreed to re-sign linebacker Lorenzo Alexander, as Alexander himself posted on Twitter. He’ll sign a two-year, $9MM deal that includes $4.1MM guaranteed, reports Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

Alexander settled for a minimum salary benefit deal with the Bills in free agency last spring, when he was a special teams-first journeyman who had racked up only 9.5 sacks in his first nine NFL seasons. But Alexander broke out last season in Buffalo, where he accumulated 76 tackles, 12.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and an interception across 16 starts en route to second-team All-Pro honors and the only Pro Bowl berth of his career.

The first real defensive success of Alexander’s career came under the Bills’ previous head coach, Rex Ryan, whom they fired with a week left in the season. Buffalo has since replaced Ryan with another defensive-minded coach, Sean McDermott, but the team clearly regards Alexander as a player capable of thriving in its new system.

Heading into the free agent period, PFR ranked Alexander as the fifth-best pass rusher available.

OL Andre Smith To Visit Bills

March 11th, 2017 at 8:49am CST by Ben Levine

Free agent offensive tackle Andre Smith is set to visit the Bills, reports ESPN’s Jeff Darlington (via Twitter). The reporter also notes that Smith could wind up with his former team, the Bengals.

The former first-round spent the first seven seasons of his career in Cincinnati before signing a one-year, $3.5MM deal with the Vikings last offseason. Smith would ultimately play in four games (four starts) for Minnesota before going down for the year with a triceps injury.

The 30-year-old has 86 career games (77 starts) under his belt. He hasn’t played in all 16 games since 2013, and he’s missed 21 games over the past three seasons.

The Bills don’t have a lot of depth at offensive tackle. Behind Cordy Glenn and Cyrus Kouandjio, the team is only rostering Michael Ola.

Bills Designate Aaron Williams Post-June 1 Cut

March 10th, 2017 at 10:09pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Both linebacker DeAndre Levy (Lions) and safety Aaron Williams (Bills) were designated as post-June 1 releases, according to Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com and Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Those decisions will save Detroit and Buffalo some cap space the short term, but both teams will see dead money incur on their 2018 books.

AFC Contract Details: Gilmore, Kirkpatrick

March 10th, 2017 at 7:48pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The latest contract details from the AFC (all Twitter links):

Cornerback Stephon Gilmore‘s five-year, $65MM accord with the Patriots includes an $18MM signing bonus, reports Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. The arrangement comes with a fully guaranteed $31MM through 2018 and $9MM guaranteed for injury only in 2019. It contains up to $500K in per-game roster bonuses each year, as well (via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe).
Fellow corner Dre Kirkpatrick‘s Bengals deal, worth $52.5MM over a five years, includes $15MM in 2017, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today. The contract features another $2.5MM in incentives. It’s essentially a pay-as-you agreement after 2018, notes CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, who adds that Kirkpatrick got $7MM to sign, $12MM in guarantees, and will make $23.2MM during the first two years of the contract.
Guard Ronald Leary‘s pact with the Broncos is worth $36MM over four years and will receive $18.75MM guaranteed, writes Mike Klis of 9NEWS. Leary will collect a $3.5MM signing bonus.
Newly re-upped Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills landed a $7MM signing bonus, according to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald.
Fullback Patrick DiMarco‘s four-year deal with the Bills features $4.8MM in guarantees, more than the originally reported $4MM, per Wilson. It also comes with a $2MM bonus and an annual workout bonus worth $59K.
Safety Nate Allen‘s contract with the Dolphins is for one year and $3.4MM, relays Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald.
The Titans gave linebacker Nate Palmer $2.3MM over two years, writes Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com. He also received a signing bonus worth $850K.
Tight end David Johnson‘s agreement with the Steelers is worth $2.05MM over two years, per Wilson. It includes a $235K signing bonus and a $915K roster bonus.

Bills Release Corey Graham

March 10th, 2017 at 3:29pm CST by Ben Levine

The Bills announced that they have released safety Corey Graham. Cutting the veteran defensive back will save them team $4.05MM against the cap, and they avoided a $500K roster bonus by cutting him prior to Monday’s deadline.

Graham originally joined the Bills on a four-year, $16MM deal in 2014, and he restrucutured that deal last offseason. The veteran didn’t miss a game during his three years in Buffalo, and he started 16 games in each of the past two seasons. 2016 was another solid season for the former Pro Bowler, compiling 62 tackles, one sack, and nine passes defended.

Following the move, the Bills have three safeties on their roster in Jordan Poyer, Colt Anderson, and Shamiel Gary.

Bills OL Ryan Groy Drawing Interest

March 10th, 2017 at 11:27am CST by Zachary Links

Bills restricted free agent Ryan Groy is drawing interest from at least four teams, sources tell ESPN.com’s Adam Caplan (on Twitter). A few of those teams, Caplan adds, believe that the guard/center could start for them.

Groy, 27 in September, wound up starting in the middle for Buffalo after Ryan Wood suffered a broken leg last season. All in all, he had an alright showing, placing as Pro Football Focus’ 23rd best center out of 38 qualified players. At minimum, Groy would make sense for teams as a sub who could play in three different spots on the offensive line.

Groy was undrafted, so under the terms of his “original round” tender, the Bills would not be entitled to any draft compensation from a club if they choose not to match an offer sheet.

Contract Details: Jackson, Whitworth, Hyde

March 9th, 2017 at 10:41pm CST by Ben Levine

Let’s take a look at details of some recent free agent contracts:

Wide receiver DeSean Jackson‘s deal with the Buccaneers is a three-year, $33.5MM pact that features $20MM in guarantees and $23.5MM over the first two seasons, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter link).
Safety D.J. Swearinger‘s new deal with the Redskins includes $9MM in guaranteed money, reports Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post (via Twitter). The journeyman will earn $3MM in 2018 and $4.25MM in 2019.
Tackle Andrew Whitworth‘s new deal with the Rams is worth $36MM with $15MM guaranteed, but a big chunk of that $15MM could be realized in 2017. As Jason La Canfora tweets, the lineman’s $12.5MM 2017 salary is guaranteed, and he’s owed another $2.5MM bonus. Therefore, the contract could be interpreted as a one-year deal worth $15MM.
Micah Hyde‘s new contract will count $4MM against the Bills salary cap next season, reports ESPN’s Mike Rodak. The safety’s 2017 salary is guaranteed, while the 2018 salary is guaranteed for injury (it becomes fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the 2018 league year).

Latest On LB Zach Brown

March 9th, 2017 at 8:14pm CST by Ben Levine

It sounds like Zach Brown‘s time with the Bills has come to an end. The linebacker indicated on Twitter tonight that he won’t be returning to Buffalo next season. Meanwhile, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets that the Dolphins are attempting to secure a meeting with the 27-year-old. The reporter notes that nothing is “set in stone,” but the organization is “hopeful.”

The former second-round pick joined the Bills last offseason following four seasons with the Titans. The linebacker ended up setting career-highs in tackles (149) and forced fumbles (two), and he added another four sacks and four passes defended. Pro Football Focus graded Brown as the 17th-best linebacker last season.

Thanks to his 2016 performance, PFR named Brown as the second-best free agent linebacker, while Zach Links predicted he’d earn the 25th-largest contract this offseason.

The Dolphins could use some depth at the position, as the team is currently rostering Koa Misi, Mike Hull, Neville Hewitt, and Trevor Reilly.

Bills Sign S Micah Hyde

March 9th, 2017 at 3:35pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bills have signed safety Micah Hyde, according to a team announcement. Within the release, they also announced the signing of fellow safety Jordan Poyer, formerly of Cleveland. Hyde will receive $30MM over a five-year term, with the chance to earn as much as $32.5MM, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. $14MM is guaranteed.

Hyde had spent his entire four-year career in Green Bay, though its interest in bringing him back for a fifth season never seemed all that high. The team may have not even made Hyde an offer. If the 26-year-old’s career with the Packers is over, it’ll end with 63 regular-season appearances out of a possible 64, 33 starts, eight interceptions, five forced fumbles and four sacks.

Hyde is coming off a 16-game, 11-start season, in which he tied a career high with three picks and ranked a decent 53rd among Pro Football Focus’ 112 qualified cornerbacks. Hyde also has experience at safety, so his track record of versatility, productivity and durability should enable him to land an appreciable raise over his $1.671MM base salary from 2016.

Hyde was among my Top 50 Free Agents, a list built on projected earning power.

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