Archives for April 2011

‘Ponder makes a lot of sense, assuming he’s still there at No. 34. First the Bills have talked about adding another quarterback to study under Ryan Fitzpatrick. Ponder has a history with head coach Chan Gailey and the Bills brought him to Buffalo for a workout.’

‘”Probably one of the most enjoyable things I get to tell people is, ‘Show me your friend, and I’ll show you your future,'” he said. “I try to stress to the young kids that you are who you hang with. If you hang with bad people, that’s who you’re going to be. I tell them that when they’re growing up, there’s going to be so many influences in your life and if you have the good Lord behind you, you’re on your way to a good life."’

‘”Certainly we’ve had our misses up at the top … we’ve missed some that are regrettable, but we’ve tried to make up for it in some of our other areas. We’ve done pretty well in the middle and at the end, the non-glamour kind of picks.”‘

‘The Bills haven’t hidden their admiration for Newton, whom they have researched exhaustively and believe could flourish under an offensive-minded head coach such as Chan Gailey. But Nix and Tom Modrak, vice president of college scouting, gushed over Gabbert as well during a recent meeting with the media.’

‘The Bills, notorious for keeping their spending to the salary cap and not going over it, are going to have to swallow very hard when it comes to negotiating with the No. 3 overall pick in the draft. Due to the gross inflation of salaries for first-round picks over the past decade, that player is due to sign the richest contract in Bills history unless owners and players sign a new collective bargaining agreement soon and agree to a rookie wage scale.’

‘This could prove to be a banner season for defensive ends drafted in the first round, Modrak said. How many could go? "I really don’t know the answer to that," he said. Modrak said it’s not just depth that makes one position strong but it’s lack of depth at other positions. "Truthfully, it’s not just the depth at that position but it’s the lack of players at other positions sometimes, which will drive that train," he said. "Let’s say there are holes in three or four other positions. … It starts a run that goes fast."’

‘Kevin S. Sapp, 36, formerly of Seneca Street, pleaded guilty to the theft of a briefcase containing the memorabilia that the sports legend left in his unlocked car two years ago.’

‘I agree that Newton and probably Gabbert would back up veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick for the entire 2011 season.’

‘It’s possible Buffalo may wait until later on to take a quarterback, however, and instead focus on repairing the deficiencies that exist on a defense that was the NFL’s worst against the run in 2010.’

‘Let’s hope Buddy Nix, who I do think knows what he’s doing, will be closer to a Polian than he is to a Donahoe.’

‘With a good crop of quarterbacks available, the 4-12 Bills are expected to use their third overall pick on either Auburn’s Cam Newton or Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert. Though at least one will surely be available, Gailey wasn’t tipping his hand.’

‘”We’ve gone about the draft the same way,” said Nix. “We’re going to try and approach the draft the same way and take guys that we hope are the best and hopefully fill needs that we’ve got.”‘

‘"Come Thursday (April 28, when round one is conducted), we’ll have three guys (on our board) and that makes us sure that one of them will be there," Nix said.’

‘My worst-case NFL draft scenario for the Bills: Carolina takes Newton No. 1 and Denver takes Texas A&M outside linebacker Von Miller No. 2.’

‘The fact that the Bills are once again an after-thought on the schedule should not come as a surprise. They have failed to make the playoffs 11 years in a row and finished 2010 with a 4-12 record.’