Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘Allen said he and Diggs exchanged text messages after the trade. Allen’s thanked Diggs for “everything that he did for me.” “I’ll always have a spot in my heart for him,” Allen said. “I’ll always love that guys like a brother.”‘

‘“I’d pick Josh,” Brady said when asked on the Deepcut Podcast who will be the next first-time Super Bowl winning QB. “I like Josh as a guy, as a leader. But you know, he has to get by the (Kansas City) Chiefs, and that’s hard because Patrick (Mahomes) is incredible in the way he leads that team.”’

‘Here’s a look at some recent mock drafts and which players they see the Bills taking in the first round.’

‘On the afternoon of Saturday, June 4, 1994, my home phone rang and at the other end was O.J. Simpson. Finally. And, as it turned out, just in time.’

‘Within hours of the announcement, Simpson’s death and life story were trending across social media platforms.’

‘Collins spent the year on the physically unable to perform list after he tore his ACL and MCL in December 2022, during the first year of his five-year, $50 million contract with the Cincinnati Bengals, who released him. before last season. Collins also did not play in the 2020 Covid season because of hip surgery.’

‘If he makes the team, Collins will provide veteran depth behind starters Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown.’

‘We, meaning the media, the fans, and most importantly his teammates and coaches, put up with it because in his first three seasons with the Bills, he was a tremendous player, the kind of player of whom you wondered, “What would the Bills do without this guy?”’

‘It’s not exactly the type of return one would have expected, but that would seem to indicate that Diggs’ value wasn’t enormous on the trade market, and it also would hint that the Bills had come to the conclusion that the 30-year-old Diggs was no longer the player he had been, and the time was right to cut bait.’

‘Diggs will be 31 in November, it seems like he’s starting to go into gradual decline, and there’s a possibility the Bills could move on from him after the 2024 season, even though the dead cap hit would be steep. If not 2024, certainly after 2025. Hollins is on a one-year contract and he’s likely nothing more than a special teams contributor as opposed to a reliable offensive option.’

‘The Bills returned only 17 kickoffs for 349 yards, far and away the lowest totals in franchise history. They had 29 of Tyler Bass’ kickoffs returned for 649 yards and one touchdown.’

‘“I mean, you don’t replace people like that,” McDermott continued. “They were, call them the pillars of us getting this culture changed in the right direction and laying that foundation. When you go 17 years not making the playoffs, you bring in players and people like the ones you mentioned, and they made a huge impact on our organization on the field, but also off the field. Their leadership, I think, will be felt for years to come.”’

‘“It did surprise me. I think us and San Francisco, we got a raw deal,” Beane said, adding the 49ers received a lesser comp pick as well. “I don’t want to give a full thing, but we had separate Zooms with the league trying to go through how it was calculated because by even their accounts, as we were checking with them through the year, we clearly had a third-rounder. It was a major blow because we had planned for it and San Fran felt the same way.”’

‘One of the things that attracted Edwards to Buffalo was how coach Sean McDermott used his star tandem of safeties, Hyde and Jordan Poyer, for the seven years they were together.’

‘Toohill was a seventh-round pick of the Eagles in 2020 but while he made the team, he played in only one game before being waived and signed by the Commanders. With Washington, Toohill saw limited duty on a defensive line that included star edge rushers Chase Young and Montez Sweat, but he did get into 57 games and started 14.’