Two Bills Drive

‘Two more Nevada football players have signed free-agent contracts with NFL teams. Linebacker Daryl Towns has signed with the Buffalo Bills and offensive guard Isaiah Ross has joined the San Diego Chargers.’

‘Williams, who started his college career at Texas Tech, finished his senior season at Alabama as the Southeastern Conference’s top rusher in 2003. He gained 1,367 yards and had 14 touchdowns, averaging 4.9 yards a carry. At Andrews, Williams was a four-time all-district selection and three-time district most valuable player.’

‘Bledsoe agreed to a three year deal to replace the ten year contract he signed with New England before his trade to Buffalo. The renegotiation provides Bledsoe with some security in Buffalo, gives the Bills some four million extra salary cap dollars to play with and frees both from Bledsoe’s seven million dollar bonus due in November.’

‘Republicans, meanwhile, had a momentary burst of excitement at the possibility that former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly might be coaxed to run. But that hope seemed to be dashed when Kelly’s company poured cold water on the idea. ”I don’t think he anticipates that he would be entertaining an idea of running for Congress,” said Kelly’s marketing manager Ann Broker.’

‘”I like the fact that people don’t like his personality,” said Donahoe of the Bills new quarterback of the future. “Because he’s a competitor and he’s going to try to stick it in your face and he’s going to try to stick it in everybody’s face. That’s what we like about him.”‘

Buffalo: A-. Sports commentators said J. P. Losman was the first first-round quarterback Buffalo has taken since Jim Kelly in 1983. But since that time, the Bills twice have traded No. 1 picks for quarterbacks: Rob Johnson and Drew Bledsoe. Thus, Losman really isn’t the franchise’s first first-round try since Kelly, though obviously anything that rubs a little “Jim Kelly” onto the gentleman is highly welcome.

‘Bledsoe, 32, said he agreed to rework his contract to give the team flexibility to sign other players and provide stability at quarterback for several years. “I decided that what was in the best interests of the organization and ballclub was also in my best interest,” Bledsoe said at the news conference. “At this stage in my life, let’s face it, having a little extra money isn’t going to make that big of a difference.”’

‘Bledsoe had seven years left on his previous contract and was due to earn a multi-million dollar bonus in November. He was scheduled to make a base salary of $5.9 million next year.’

‘Sports Network Draft Grade: C.’

‘It was probably initially started as much by Drew as it was by the organization. Drew had come to me on a couple of occasions and said that if there was ever anything he could do with his contract that would help the team, he would be interested in looking at it. We began to pursue it to see if there was a way to do it that made sense for both sides. We want to be fair to Drew. He is our starting quarterback. We recognize what he has done here and what he has done in his career. We need to be sensitive to that. We also recognize where his cap figure was headed. It makes it very difficult to give you, as a team, flexibility to do some other things. I have to applaud Drew for his efforts and his encouragement for us to try to do this. All you have to do is look around the league right now. Take a look in Pittsburgh and New York. See what’s going on with some veteran quarterbacks. It makes you appreciate what we have here in Buffalo and how much of a team player Drew Bledsoe is.’

‘Somewhere in Venice, California, Buffalo’s newest quarterback J.P. Losman is taking notes.’

It very quickly became apparent to me that the economic side was going to have to take a back seat to my desires to do whatever I had to do to help the team win.

‘In accordance with club policy, terms were not disclosed.’

‘Bledsoe was scheduled to get just over eight million dollars this season against the cap. His salary would’ve been 5.9-million dollars.’

‘Williams had a roller-coaster collegiate career that featured two different schools and total of five different head coaches.’