Two Bills Drive

'Excluding quarterbacks, who will be analyzed in depth in Sunday’s Buffalo News, here are 10 prospects the Bills might consider, especially given their positional needs.'

'There's no need to re-sign Brown. A new coaching staff should build depth in the secondary their own way. The only mild case that could be built for Brown is his familiarity with special teams coordinator Danny Crossman, but that's not enough to keep him around.'

'“I think the wide receiver class is good,” said NFL Network’s top draft analyst, Mike Mayock, who listed three players as consensus first-round talents — Clemson’s Mike Williams, Washington’s John Ross, and Western Michigan’s Corey Davis.'

'For the season, Williams caught 98 passes for 1,361 yards and 11 TDs, the yardage total the third-best in school history behind only current NFL stars Sammy Watkins of the Bills (1,464) and DeAndre Hopkins of the Texans (1,405). It was an impressive showing because he missed all but 12 plays of the 2015 season after suffering a neck injury in the opening game.'

'“It was funny,” Gettleman said, “when Doug Whaley called me about Sean, we talked about all of these positives and he said ‘Well, what’s the negative?’ And I said ‘The same negative you and me had when we got our GM jobs. We don’t know what we don’t know.’ So Sean is ready. I think he’s going to be great for the city. He’s got the same mentality, you know, blue-collar, hard-working people. I was there for nine years. I loved it. Great folks, and good pizza and wings. Sean’s ready. He really is.”'

'Lawson's 'skills' on the diamond were lacking. Aaron Cheslock of FOX Carolina captured Lawson's first pitch which went far to the left of the plate, or as Bob Uecker's Harry Doyle character would say, "Just a bit outside."'

'According to Jason La Canfora of CBS, the Bills' front office prefers to move on from Taylor and pursue Tony Romo or Brian Hoyer. Buffalo's new coach staff, including Sean McDermott, are fine with rolling with Taylor as the starting quarterback in 2017 and paying him the contract he signed back in August. La Canfora notes that McDermott has quickly become close with Bills owner Terry Pegula.'

'"When they did that contract (last August) I think both parties would tell you they knew that this was a possibility because the number was so big," Caplan told the team website. "The thought around the league was the Bills would not roll over that option. They would look to renegotiate if Tyrod Taylor played well enough. And he did play well. I think the Bills also have to look at it and if it's not going to be Tyrod, who is it going to be?"'

'On Thursday, news came down that teams are concerned about Allen's arthritic shoulders. The Alabama defensive lineman had surgery on both shoulders on college, but Alabama's team doctor Lyle Cain told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network it didn't impact his play and shouldn't change how teams view him.'

'The Bills probably will choose not to pick up Taylor's option — the right move, without a doubt. What they shouldn't do, though, is close the door on Taylor's return. Sure, he may be miffed that they didn't pick up the option, but where is he going to find a better situation? Of the teams that need a quarterback, the best situation would be in Houston. But are the Texans willing to sign yet another quarterback whose former team felt wasn't worth the investment?'

'The front office still feels the current salary structure they negotiated themselves a year ago — instead of a more standard year-to-year, pay-as-you-go format — doesn’t make sense, thus their interest in veteran QB options like Tony Romo and Brian Hoyer. However, new coach Sean McDermott and Pegula have become close. McDermott and his staff are not convinced they will find an upgrade over Taylor and see no problem with paying Taylor $17M a year, the sources say.'

'Corey Graham is 31 and entering the final year of his contract. The team may want to get younger at the position. Graham’s cap hit is $5.65 million, but letting him go would save $4.05 million.'

'It's been clear for quite some time that Whaley if he had his way, would prefer to move on from that contract and start over at the quarterback position. It started the day they fired Rex Ryan and elected to not only bench Taylor for the final week of the season but to make him inactive as well — just in case there was any remote chance he could get injured and the contract extension would have guaranteed due to injury.'

'With that in mind — and with opinions all across the board on how to rank the top quarterbacks this year — here's a look at my initial projection of the top 5 quarterbacks…'.

'“There’s a lot of confidence in DeShaun,” said Clemson WR Artavis Scott. “In every situation he’s so calm. So that’s big for us to have a leader like that as your quarterback. Knowing that when things get tough he can manage it well so that gives us a lot of confidence.”'