Archives for May 2016

'Armed with a quarterback (Tyrod Taylor) who can throw deep and a wide receiver (Sammy Watkins) who draws double-teams, the Bills hope TCU's Kolby Listenbee provides what Graham and Goodwin could not.'

'"I'm playing football," he said. "I'm a football player that happened to be fast – happened to be blessed to be fast."'

'Oh yeah, for sure. I’m the fastest football player probably in the NFL so I bring speed, I got great hands. Right now, I got a chip on my shoulder because I got to go out there and show what I have and I mean, I just work hard. I just need an opportunity to go out there and make it happen.'

'The 6-foot, 185-pound Seymour had three career interceptions at USC, as well as seven kickoff returns for 92 yards.'

'Bills General Manager Doug Whaley has said he likes to take a cornerback every year, and he lived up to that with the selection of Seymour.'

'“He called and said he wanted me,” Gronkowski said at a post-draft party at Amherst Pizza & Ale House. “He made it very clear he wanted me. A couple of teams had called earlier than that. I sat down with my agent and my family and decided to go to Buffalo.”'

'Quarterback Joe Licata has accepted an invitation from the Buffalo Bills to participate in a tryout at the team’s upcoming rookie minicamp, while left tackle John Kling will sign as an undrafted free agent with the Chicago Bears.'

' We can never envision the board falling the way it did because of the draft but with the way we kind of look ahead, we kind of knew that if we had the cap restrictions with the guys, our guys that we re-signed, not being able to go out and fill through the free agent market, but we knew this was going to be a draft heavy in some of the spots that we might be losing the guys. So it correlated pretty well. Is that always going to happen? No, but it happened this year.'

'“This guy has stuff to work on, but he doesn’t have any muscle memory already ingrained in him that’s bad,” said Whaley. “We’ve got a piece of clay and we can mold him and we have some qualified guys to mold him. This guy’s a proven winner, he’s driven, he’s undefeated. We got a nice guy to work with, with a high upside.”'

'After a 2015 season where the defense underachieved tremendously and was probably the main reason why the Bills missed the playoffs for a 16th year in a row, the Bills attacked the first three rounds by picking three players who should be able to step right in and, if not start, certainly contribute to the front seven in Ryan’s scheme.'

'Jones, 6-foot-5, 253 pounds, led the Buckeyes to the national championship after the 2014 season. He began the campaign as the No. 3 QB, but injuries pushed him into the starting job during the playoffs during which he beat Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship Game, Alabama in the national semifinals and Oregon in the championship game … all in impressive fashion.'

'Cardale Jones has more upside than any quarterback left on the board. While he was benched during his final season at Ohio State, Jones has all of the physical ability to develop into a starting quarterback. During Ohio State's national championship run in 2014, Jones looked like a future star.'

'"He's going to come in and be a No. 3, be able to develop, be able to learn under some professionals that have been at their craft for a while with EJ (Manuel) and Tyrod (Taylor)," Whaley said. "We like his skill set. I mean, he's got the talent to possibly be a franchise guy."'

'Jones' inexperience makes him a mystery for NFL teams. At 6-feet-5-inches tall and 253 pounds, Jones has the prototypical build for the position. It doesn't hurt that he has arguably the strongest arm of any quarterback in the draft. He also failed to show the consistency NFL teams love to see from college prospects at the position.'

'This is the second draft in a row in which the Bills have drafted a running back in the fifth round after taking Karlos Williams from Florida State a year ago.'