Two Bills Drive

‘The Buffalo Bills have begun preliminary contract talks with free agent defensive end Chidi Ahanotu, who visited the team on Thursday. Ahanotu is a nine-year veteran, who was not re-signed by the St. Louis Rams after completing a one-year, $600,000 deal last season.’

‘"My father used to say, and this characterizes Tom Donahoe, (hard work) is 98 percent perspiration, and two percent inspiration," Wilson said on Thursday, after traveling from his Florida home to help take part in this weekend’s NFL draft.’

It appears that a deal to send Drew Bledsoe to the Bills will get done by Friday, sources close to the negotiations said.

Even bigger than the additional draft pick for the Patriots (or improved draft position) would be the enormous clearing of salary cap space.

‘Just how big would a Bledsoe acquisition be for the Bills? Just shy of the size of the splash made when Jim Kelly arrived back in 1986. Bledsoe, a former #1 pick like Kelly, would give the Bills instant credibility coming off their sorry 3-13 season.’

‘He will get the biggest rookie contract in Bills history..that’s a given, so it puts huge pressure on the selection. Whether it’s Mckinnie, Williams, Sims, Harrington, or someone else the Bills Brass deems worthy of that selection, they know whatever the name, he will need to be a household name in Buffalo for the next decade.’

The Bills officially announced the team has signed veteran place-kicker Mike Hollis. The immediate upgrade will translate to more points on the board for the Bills. Hollis comes to the Bills as the sixth most accurate kicker in NFL history.

“The Bills “really believe they’re going to get (Bledsoe) now” one league source told ESPN.com. [Donahoe’s] rationale has been that the Bills have had the best offer on the table, believed to be a third-rounder, and that the Patriots have no other serious bidders. Faced with the prospect that Bledsoe will not report to training camp, New England may now be prepared to reduce its demands.” (Aside: You have to think that this means the Bills will be grabbing an OT with the first overall pick if this goes down.)

@ As Wednesday dawned, the draft was barely three days away. That’s 72 hours, give or take, but do we really know any more about what the Bills might do with their first-round draft pick than we did 72 days ago?

‘"We have some young guys we like a lot, but we were almost in a situation last year where we had too many young guys.’

‘One thing we do know: If the Bills don’t trade down, or don’t include their first-round draft position in a potential deal for New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe, they are going to land a whale of a football player with that fourth overall selection.’

‘Despite a respectable 95 tackles, Foreman was not a playmaker or an impact player, and Williams clearly wanted to upgrade at the position.’

‘Rogers, whom the Texans acquired in the expansion draft, was expendable because the team also picked up Jermaine Lewis in the expansion draft.’

‘Williams was the defensive coordinator of the Titans for the 1997-2000 seasons and an assistant when the team was in Houston.’

‘Robinson expects to get more playing time in Buffalo, as the Bills will use him on third downs. He will replace Foreman as the starter at the weakside (away from the Tight End) position. He, London Fletcher and Keith Newman will be the team’s three starting ‘backers.’

‘You can see him Tom Donohoe working, slowly, methodically putting the pieces in place…re-building the Bills. You can see it today, even before the NFL Draft.’