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Buffalo Bills News & Rumors

Bills Sign FB/RB Mike Tolbert

March 8th, 2017 at 4:36pm CST by Zachary Links

The human bowling ball is now rolling up to Buffalo. The Bills have announced the signing of running back/fullback Mike Tolbert to a one-year, $1MM deal.Mike Tolbert (Vertical)

The news is a bit surprising since the Bills stuck agreement with fellow fullback Patrick DiMarco just a couple of hours ago. It’s likely that DiMarco will be tasked more with a run blocking role and Tolbert will be used more as a traditional running back. Tolbert did amass roughly 1,600 all-purpose yards in his first four years with the Panthers before taking a backseat in the offense last year.

I had Tolbert ranked seventh amongst free agent fullbacks due to his age and diminished blocking skills. He’ll turn 32 in November. In 2016, he had 35 carries for 114 yards and just ten catches for 72 yards.

Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com first reported the agreeement. Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer had the details. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bills Interested In Brandon LaFell

March 8th, 2017 at 2:47pm CST by Ben Levine

With Tyrod Taylor seemingly returning to the Bills, the team is now looking to provide the quarterback with some weapons. According to Jim Owczarski of Cincinnati.com (via Twitter), the Bills have shown interest in free agent wideout Brandon LaFell. The writer notes that the veteran is a priority of the Bengals, and he adds that the Bears have also expressed interest.

Brandon LaFell (vertical)The 30-year-old had one of the most productive seasons of his career in 2016. The wideout hauled in 64 catches for 862 yards and six touchdowns. LaFell hasn’t collected less than 500 yards since his rookie campaign. The veteran joined the Bengals last offseason following two years with the Patriots.

The Bills depth chart at wideout is currently looking a bit depleted behind Sammy Watkins. The team’s current depth consists of Dezmin Lewis, Walt Powell, Kolby Listenbee, and Marcus Easley.

LaFell was mentioned as an honorable mention in our rankings of the best free agent wideouts.

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/8/17

March 8th, 2017 at 2:44pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves:

  • Shiloh Keo will re-sign with a team for the second straight offseason. This year, the Saints made a move to re-up the safety, Nick Underhill of The Advocate tweets. A former Texans draft pick, Keo caught on with the eventual 2015 Super Bowl champion Broncos late that season and re-signed in Denver in the subsequent offseason. The Broncos cut Keo while he was serving a two-game suspension for a personal conduct violation, leading to the Saints adding him. The 29-year-old defender played in 10 games for the Broncos and Saints in 2016 and recovered three fumbles while failing to record a tackle.
  • The Patriots are planning to re-sign tight end Michael Williams, Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald tweets. Williams saw action for the 2015 Patriots but missed their latest Super Bowl season because of a torn ACL.
  • The Bills did not offer an RFA tender to punter Colton Schmidt but instead reached an agreement to re-sign him, Mike Rodak of ESPN.com reports. Rodak estimates Schmidt will be brought back at a lower cost instead of at the RFA low-round tender rate of nearly $2MM. A fourth-year player, Schmidt made $600K last season.
  • Another Bills transaction involves the team parting ways with a long-tenured wide receiver. Buffalo cut Marcus Easley, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report tweets. Affiliated with the Bills since they drafted him in the fourth round in 2010, Easley missed the entire 2016 season after suffering a severe knee injury late in the 2015 campaign. He spent several seasons as one of Buffalo’s top special-teamers. Buffalo announced the move as a post-June 1 release.
  • The Chargers have agreed to a four-year, $4.41MM extension with long snapper Mike Windt, tweets Michael Gehlken. Windt, who has appeared in 100 games with the Chargers, received a $600K signing bonus.

Bills To Sign FB Patrick DiMarco

March 8th, 2017 at 2:12pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bills are signing fullback Patrick DiMarco, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). He’ll get a four-year deal worth $8.5MM. The pact will contain $4MM guaranteed.

DiMarco was one of the top fullbacks available this offseason. Now that he has gotten a sizable payday, the arrow will be pointing upwards for Ravens free agent fullback Kyle Juszczyk. The Bills were considered the favorites on Juszczyk earlier, and it’s possible they did not want to spend to match an asking price that’s expected to be the new fullback standard. This stands to leave the Browns, 49ers and Ravens in better position to land Juszczyk, who wants a hybrid-type role in addition to pure fullback duties.

The Falcons wanted to retain DiMarco — PFR’s No. 2 UFA fullback free agent behind Juszczyk — but could not keep him from making plans to move to Buffalo. DiMarco earned Pro Bowl acclaim in 2015 with the Falcons, his employer from 2013-16, and profiles as more of a straight-up blocking back than does Juszczyk. While the Ravens’ blocking back graded as Pro Football Focus’ top fullback, the Falcons’ lead blocker received the best run-blocking grade at the position.

Considering the Bills led the league in rushing last season and used a pure fullback in Jerome Felton, this addition — and the retention of Tyrod Taylor — may be a sign Buffalo wants to keep the offense on a similar track.

Latest On Stephon Gilmore

March 8th, 2017 at 1:43pm CST by Zachary Links

Cornerback Stephon Gilmore is using Janoris Jenkins‘ deal as a baseline to work from, Josina Anderson of ESPN.com hears (on Twitter). The Giants handed Jenkins a five-year, $62.5MM contract last offseason.

Stephon Gilmore (vertical)We learned yesterday that the Bears were making a strong push for Gilmore. The cornerback said in January that he’d like to stay with the Bills, but the team ultimately decided against slapping the player with the franchise tag.

The former first-rounder has started 66 games since entering the league in 2012. Despite finishing the 2016 season with a career-high five interceptions, Pro Football Focus ranked him only 61st among 112 qualifying corners.

Despite the apparent decline in performance, Gilmore still ranked as our third-best available free agent cornerback. Zach Links also predicted that Gilmore will receive the 10th-highest contract this offseason.

Free Agency Rumors: Vikings, Okung, Bills

March 8th, 2017 at 1:13pm CST by Zachary Links

Rounding up the latest free agency news:

  • The Vikings are expected to express interest in offensive tackle Russell Okung when free agency starts, Josina Anderson of ESPN.com tweets. This doesn’t come as a big surprise since Okung has been previously linked to Minnesota.
  • The Bills were in play for Brian Hoyer, but he will not be signing with Buffalo after the team retained Tyrod Taylor, sources tell ESPN.com’s Mike Rodak (Twitter link). The Jets and 49ers have strong interest in the veteran QB.
  • The 49ers are now among the teams in the mix for fullback Kyle Juszczyk, Tom Pelissero of USA Today tweets. The Ravens would like to keep him, but they are expecting to get outbid for the former fourth-round pick. The Bills are said to be in the lead for him and the Browns are also in pursuit.
  • The Raiders working hard today on bringing back right tackle Menelik Watson, Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. If he reaches the open market, however, the Broncos are among the teams that will pursue him, Mike Klis of 9NEWS tweets.
  • The Raiders are trying to get a new deal done with inside linebacker Perry Riley, Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets.

Bills Now Favorite To Land Kyle Juszczyk

March 8th, 2017 at 9:10am CST by Sam Robinson

Kyle Juszczyk has generated considerable interest venturing onto the free agent market for the first time, and a new suitor looks to have surged ahead for the fullback’s services. The Bills are now looking like the frontrunners to land the Ravens’ longtime blocking back, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter).

Juszczyk has drawn interest from the Browns as well, and the Ravens are attempting to work out a deal to retain him. He’s seeking a team that will allow him to play in some sort of hybrid role, with some tight end responsibilities tacked on to his fullback workload. Pro Football Focus graded Juszczyk as its No. 1 fullback in 2016, and he rates as PFR’s top available blocking back. It looks fairly secure Anthony Sherman‘s $2.1MM-AAV contract that tops all fullbacks will fall en route to Juszczyk becoming that position’s highest-paid performer.

He has 97 career receptions for 769 yards and five touchdowns. The former fourth-round pick started three seasons for the Ravens and earned his first Pro Bowl nod in 2016. The Bills led the league in rushing in 2016 at 164.4 yards per game but overhauled their coaching staff this offseason, potentially paving a path to the team altering its backfield equation. Jerome Felton is a UFA after leading the way for LeSean McCoy the past two seasons.

RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/7/17

March 7th, 2017 at 7:04pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Unrestricted free agent news will obviously dominate the day, but several clubs also had to make decisions on whether to offer tenders to restricted and exclusive rights free agents. All RFA tenders listed are original round/right of first refusal (worth $1.797MM), and all links go to Twitter:

RFAs:

Tendered:

Non-Tendered:

ERFAs:

Tendered:

Non-Tendered:

Bills Tender RFA RB Mike Gillislee

March 6th, 2017 at 8:54pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Bills have assigned restricted free agent running back Mike Gillislee the original round/right of first refusal tender, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. As such, Gillislee is now slated to earn $1.797MM for the 2017 campaign, but Buffalo will attempt to hammer out an extension with its backup runner, per Rapoport.Mike Gillislee (Vertical)

[RELATED: Bills Interested In Kamar Aiken]

Typically, PFR won’t devote a full post to restricted free agents that aren’t tendered at the first- or second-round level. But Gillislee is an intriguing case, especially given that he could interest another team given the slight draft pick compensation attached to him. While the Bills reportedly don’t want to lose Gillislee, they haven’t placed much of a barrier between him and an offer sheet.

Because Gillislee was drafted in the fifth round, a rival club would only have to sacrifice a fifth-rounder in order to sign away the 26-year-old back. Buffalo would have the option of matching any contract offered by another team, but for another $1MM or so, the Bills could have placed the second-round tender on Gillislee and likely warded off any potential suitors. Gillislee, who appeared in 15 games last season, averaged an NFL-best 5.7 yards per carry on 101 attempts behind LeSean McCoy.

Of course, that extra $1MM could be important for the Bills this offseason, as the club only has about $22.5MM in cap space and several free agents — including Stephon Gilmore and Robert Woods — it could consider re-signing.

Bills Cut K Dan Carpenter, Others

March 6th, 2017 at 2:04pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bills announced that they have parted ways with a number of players, including kicker Dan Carpenter. Cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman, long snapper Garrison Sanborn, tight end Gerald Christian, and safety Phillip Thomas were also shown the door.

Buffalo’s kicker from 2013-16, Carpenter was slated to carry a $2.937MM cap number for 2017. In his first year with Buffalo, he nailed 92% of his field goal attempts. However, his numbers have been slipping in recent years. In 2015, he missed six of the recently-elongated extra points and bricked five more in 2016. Last year, Carpenter made only 76% of his field goal tries, so his release doesn’t come as a huge shock.

Collectively, these cuts will create $6.1MM in additional cap space for the Bills, inflating their total past $24MM.

Robey-Coleman served as a sporadic starter in Buffalo, breaking with the Bills’ first unit 15 times during his four seasons with the team. The 25-year-old former UDFA signed a two-year deal to stay in Buffalo in 2015, and this release could create a bit of a market for his services. He was set to make $2.1MM this season. Buffalo will save $1.65MM as a result of this release.

While profiling as a lower-tier player than Stephon Gilmore or Ronald Darby, Robey-Coleman graded out as the Bills’ best cornerback, per Pro Football Focus, in 2016. In 573 snaps, PFF slotted Buffalo’s slot man as its No. 33 overall corner. A former USC standout, Robey-Coleman intercepted two passes last season, forced a fumble and scored a defensive touchdown. As a result of this release, the Bills could well be without their Nos. 1 and 3 corners from 2016. Gilmore is expected to move on in free agency.

Sanborn spent eight seasons in Buffalo and was one of the team’s longest-tenured performers. The 31-year-old played his entire career up to this point with the Bills. Buffalo signed Reid Ferguson to a reserve/futures contract after the season, and it appears the team will go with a younger cog as its long snapper. He played in 128 straight games for the Bills dating back to the 2009 season.

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