‘What the team decides to with Poyer will go a long way toward determining this answer. If he re-signs, which I still think is unlikely, safety becomes much less of a short-term need, but the long-term need at the position is still there. If Poyer leaves, given the uncertainty that you mentioned surrounding Hamlin’s future and Benford’s potential position switch, safety would be a big need. I’m all in on building up the offense, so I’d still put safety behind offensive line and wide receiver, but that’s just personal preference. Johnson is also an unrestricted free agent, as is Dean Marlowe. So at the moment, the Bills have just three true safeties signed for next year – Hyde, Hamlin and Jared Mayden, who was signed off the Jets’ practice squad after Hamlin was placed on injured reserve.’
Archives for February 12, 2023
Sean Kirst: ‘The joy on his face’: For Bills chaplain, one last and greatest season
‘They love the guy. “I remember when I used to lean on him for a soft warming heart, someone to talk to,” retired quarterback Jim Kelly wrote in an email describing his early years in Buffalo. At the start of the 1990s, when Kelly’s late mother Alice was struggling with emphysema, Weldgen would go to the Kelly home on Christmas Day to say Mass.’
Alan Pergament: You win, TV reporters. Wear your Bills gear and root, root, root for the home team
‘If there is one silver lining for journalism in the Bills losing to the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round of the playoffs and not advancing to the AFC title game or the Super Bowl, I suppose it is that journalism purists don’t have to endure the local stations trying to outdo each other even more in their support of the Bills.’
Erik Brady: Ron McDole played in the Super Bowl 50 years ago after the Bills deemed him done
‘It’s little wonder that McDole made mention of the AFL in the title: He was a Bills stalwart when they won American Football League championships in 1964 and 1965. Their defense held opponents without a rushing touchdown for 17 consecutive games, which remains the pro football record, and probably always will.’
Bills arranging for experts to advise Damar Hamlin on NFL future
‘“This is about a player and a patient and about getting the very best care,” Sills said. “And, again, I do want to protect the privacy of those involved. But what I would say is I know that the Buffalo Bills have already engaged a number of outside consultants and will continue to do so. And they’ll gather opinions and then, [with] all of those opinions, they’ll sit down with Mr. Hamlin, his family, his agents, all the people that love him and lay that out. And that’s what we do in medicine every day is say: ‘Here’s our understanding of risks. Here’s our understanding of the situation. Let us make sure that you have all the information and make a good decision.’”’
Former Eastern Washington RB Taiwan Jones keeps chugging along, hoping to help lead Buffalo back to the Super Bowl
‘“As a special teams player, you don’t really get into the limelight,” he said. “But to hear I still have fans that look for me on special teams plays makes me appreciate them and want to go out and represent those people.”’
Bills’ Stefon Diggs on playoff loss to Bengals: ‘We just didn’t look like a team’
‘”We just didn’t look like a team, we didn’t look like we had any juice. It just looked like a different team, and it just didn’t make any sense to me.”‘
Damar Hamlin updates: Bills gathering medical advice on safety’s future playing professional football
‘”This is about a player and a patient and about getting the very best care,” Sills told the Washington Post. “And, again, I do want to protect the privacy of those involved. But what I would say is I know that the Buffalo Bills have already engaged a number of outside consultants and will continue to do so. And they’ll gather opinions and then, [with] all of those opinions, they’ll sit down with Mr. Hamlin, his family, his agents, all the people that love him and lay that out. And that’s what we do in medicine every day is say, ‘Here’s our understanding of risks. Here’s our understanding of the situation. Let us make sure that you have all the information and make a good decision.’ And ultimately that is the decision.”‘
Bills Speaking With Outside Consultants About Damar Hamlin, per NFL’s Chief Medical Officer
‘Speaking with reporters during a videoconference ahead of Super Bowl LVII, Sills said he does not know at this point if Hamlin, 24, plans to seek a return to football after he went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated on the field during an early January game between the Bills and the Bengals.’