Archives for April 2004

‘Sports Network Draft Grade: C.’

‘It was probably initially started as much by Drew as it was by the organization. Drew had come to me on a couple of occasions and said that if there was ever anything he could do with his contract that would help the team, he would be interested in looking at it. We began to pursue it to see if there was a way to do it that made sense for both sides. We want to be fair to Drew. He is our starting quarterback. We recognize what he has done here and what he has done in his career. We need to be sensitive to that. We also recognize where his cap figure was headed. It makes it very difficult to give you, as a team, flexibility to do some other things. I have to applaud Drew for his efforts and his encouragement for us to try to do this. All you have to do is look around the league right now. Take a look in Pittsburgh and New York. See what’s going on with some veteran quarterbacks. It makes you appreciate what we have here in Buffalo and how much of a team player Drew Bledsoe is.’

‘Somewhere in Venice, California, Buffalo’s newest quarterback J.P. Losman is taking notes.’

It very quickly became apparent to me that the economic side was going to have to take a back seat to my desires to do whatever I had to do to help the team win.

‘In accordance with club policy, terms were not disclosed.’

‘Bledsoe was scheduled to get just over eight million dollars this season against the cap. His salary would’ve been 5.9-million dollars.’

‘Williams had a roller-coaster collegiate career that featured two different schools and total of five different head coaches.’

‘Bledsoe’s had seven years left on his old deal, and was due a $7 million bonus had he still been on the Bills roster in November. He was scheduled to make a base salary of $5.9 million this season, a figure that would balloon to $12 million in 2008.’

‘Consider this, the only Buffalo Bills’ draftee on the roster picked before 2001 is 1996 first-rounder Eric Moulds.’

The Buffalo Bills have reached an agreement with QB Drew Bledsoe to restructure his contract, two league sources confirmed for ESPN.com on Tuesday. The new deal will preclude the Bills from having to pay Bledsoe, coming off one of the poorest seasons of his career, an exorbitant option bonus in November to retain him. More important, from a football standpoint, it will almost certainly keep the 11-year veteran in Buffalo beyond the coming season and eases the urgency for the Bills to prepare rookie Losman to be the starter in 2005.

‘One of them is safety Mark Graham, a second-team All-Mid-American Conference selection who led the University at Buffalo in tackles (84) and sacks (three) despite missing two games with injury.’

‘”I think we got a lot better last year and we still played with a lot of young guys,” Gray said Monday. “Those guys are going to be better with experience and the older guys will be more comfortable with another year in our system. We lost (cornerback) Antoine (Winfield) and picked up Troy Vincent, so we evened up there. To me, we’re in pretty good shape.”‘

‘Peters, 6-feet-4, 336 pounds, was among the top five tight ends after catching 21 passes for 218 yards and four touchdowns as a junior. But while he caught the ball well at the scouting combine, NFL scouts said his best upside was playing left tackle given his lack of decent speed and his struggles beating coverage.’

‘A defensive end, Spicer tackled more opponents behind the line of scrimmage (58) than anyone in WCU history. “Buffalo didn’t draft any defensive ends,” said Spicer, who leaves for mini-camp Thursday. “We feel like I’ve got a great chance to make the team.”‘

‘”I don’t know much, other than they didn’t draft any other offensive linemen,” McFarland said. “That’s a great deal for me. There is a huge opportunity there, and there is definitely a spot for me.”’