Archives for March 2, 2004

‘Southern Cal defensive end Kenechi Udeze or Ohio State defensive end Will Smith would be a solid pick. The Bills ranked ninth in the NFL in sacks a year ago, but they need a better pass-rushing defensive lineman to complement Aaron Schobel.’

‘The Bills will not re-sign any of their unrestricted free agents before Wednesday. Besides Winfield, that group includes fullback Sam Gash and running back and special teams captain Sammy Morris.’

The Bills choose to lock restricted free agent Marques Sullivan up long term by signing him to a multi-year deal and preventing any other team from even making an offer to him. Sullivan, who started all 16 games for the Bills at right guard in 2002, is expected to be in the mix to replace Ruben Brown at left guard. “Marques started here for a year and played pretty well two years ago,” Tom Donahoe said on Monday.

‘Personally, and just out of curiosity, I’ve checked game tapes a few times just to see what the fuss was about, and found #79 to be even better than I’d even thought. He’s always been a solid run blocker, but his pass protection has improved a great deal over time, as he’s even shed weight to help his quickness.’

‘”I plan to continue to raise my family in Orchard Park and continue the charitable activities of which I have made so many friends,” Brown said.’

‘Bills President and General Manger Tom Donahoe said Monday he is resigned to losing Winfield to another club.’

‘Ultimately, they cut him for a simple reason: They didn’t think he was good enough.’

‘The Buffalo Bills announced a list of important dates for their offseason camps.’

‘Brown’s status with the club has been up in the air since he was “excused” from playing the final game of the season at New England, with no reason being given by the team. Brown has said that he missed the game for disciplinary reasons after he had a disagreement over offensive philosophy with the team’s former coaching staff.’

‘Ultimately, though, Mularkey and new line coach Jim McNally made a determination that Brown’s play had slipped, and despite his leadership and team-record eight consecutive Pro Bowl trips, he did not fit into their plans.’

‘”I basically told him what our position would be, and if they are interested in our position, we can talk further, and if they’re not, maybe somebody will be interested in his position,” Donahoe said.’

‘”Here’s my feeling on it: When you approach somebody to talk with them about a contract and they have no interest, it’s usually a pretty good sign they want to go somewhere else.”‘

‘Ruben wasn’t eight Pro Bowls good; we all knew that. But he wasn’t as hapless as his worst critics suggested. He was flagged too often and the team surrendered way too many sacks, but it was no easy task pass protecting for the likes of Rob Johnson and Drew Bledsoe.’

‘”We saw the workout (in Houston). We had more people at the workout than anybody else in the league. We know what his abilities are. It appears there would be a lot of hoops you’d have to jump through to do the contract. Right now, from what we’ve heard, we wouldn’t be comfortable with it. I just had a talk (Monday) morning with Tom and told him what our position would be. If they’re interested in our position, we can talk further.”‘

‘Brown, who played in his eighth straight Pro Bowl last month, says he will continue to live and raise his family in Orchard Park. He thanked the fans for what he called “some of the happiest years of my life.”‘