Inside The Bills

Brohm to participate this weekend

Bills quarterback Brian Brohm will be participating in the team’s weekend rookie minicamp starting on Friday.

Head coach Chan Gailey is permitted to invite all first and second year players to attend the club’s rookie minicamp this weekend on a voluntary basis. Brohm, being a second-year player was eligible to attend and is excited about getting started.

“Its definitely a fresh start for everyone on the roster,” Brohm told Buffalobills.com. ”Some guys have struggled in the past, but are going to get more opportunities coming up this year to show what they have to the new coaching staff. Everyone is starting on an even foot and these coaches will develop new opinions of you and they won’t be tainted by what’s happened in the past. I think it’s a great opportunity.”

For more on Brohm’s thoughts about this weekend check out our exclusive one-on-one interview with Brohm in the media lounge and get his take on getting a head start in the quarterback competition on the home page.

Looking like no tryout players

The Bills draft class and 15 undrafted free agent signees are all expected to be on hand for this weekend’s rookie minicamp. Tryout players however, are not expected to be part of the player pool.

The past couple of years the Bills brought in a group of tryout players to give some long shots a look and to have enough players to execute the team portions of practice.

Under head coach Chan Gailey however, there will be a larger group of college free agent signings (15) and all first and second-year players will be permitted to participate in the weekend practices on a voluntary basis.

About a dozen to 15 first and second year players are expected to participate including a handful from last year’s practice squad. We’ll get you the full list on Friday as part of our comprehensive coverage of rookie minicamp on Buffalobills.com.

FS Johnson the last undrafted to sign

With FS  Brett Johnson the newest college free agent to sign, it appears he’s also the last for the Bills.

The Bills front office confirmed that Johnson is the last of the undrafted free agents signings. Buffalo has now signed 15 college free agents, a high number by most accounts.

Rookie minicamp for the Bills begins on Friday with a pair of practices, followed by two more on Saturday and a final practice Sunday morning.

Buffalobills.com will provide full coverage of the weekend’s developments and highlights from the action on the field.

Johnson by the way will wear jersey number 46.

Thurman talks to Spiller

Earlier in the day on his twitter account Bills Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas encouraged Bills top pick C.J. Spiller to get in touch with him by phone. Apparently Spiller did.

After his conversation with Spiller, Thomas is about as excited as he can get over a Bills rookie. Here’s his latest twitter post.

thurmanthomas    Just talked to @Lightning28, OMG, I hope he breaks all the Bills rushing records. Great Kid that will lead them back to the promise land….

Most people that have met Spiller wind up saying a lot of the same things Thomas expressed in his tweet in terms of the type of person Spiller is. After one phone conversation with Spiller, Thurman is totally fine with this rookie breaking all his team rushing records. That speaks volumes.

Add in the fact that he’s an intense competitor and there should be some good stuff from him on the field this weekend at Bills Rookie camp.

Howard’s jersey number

Buffalo’s newest offensive lineman Codaro Howard is an undrafted rookie free agent out of Georgia Tech.

His jersey number will be 68, and he’s expected to line up at guard come this weekend at Bills rookie minicamp.

Booker on the radio

Buffalo’s newest Wall of Fame member Booker Edgerson appeared on the Shredd and Ragan show on 103.3 FM.

Here’s the interview with Edgerson providing an interesting look back at the AFL days. He actually wasn’t happy that the AFL-NFL merger happened. The interview actually gets going about 1:40 in.

Edgerson even said he thought the Bills could’ve beat the Browns in 1964.

Jersey numbers for new Bills

Buffalo’s signing of three more undrafteds means three more jersey assignments and Buffalobills.com has them for you.

C/G Sean Allen will wear jersey #75.
WR Donald Jones will wear #19.
C/G Kyle Mutcher will wear #72.

Edgerson to be honored Wk 4

The Bills newest addition to the Wall of Fame, Booker Edgerson, will be honored Week 4 this season.

Edgerson will officially go on the Bills Wall of Fame on Oct. 3, at halftime of the home game against the Jets.

New Wall of Famer named

The Wall of  Fame voting committee has just named the 26th member of the Bills Wall of  Fame.

CB Booker Edgerson (1962-1969) will go up on the wall this fall. He’s the first Bills AFL player to be named to the Wall since his former teammate George Saimes went on the Wall in 2000.

Fred a tackle breaker

Most Bills fans already knew that Fred Jackson was adept at breaking tackles and eluding would-be tacklers. But Football Outsiders proves it through diligent film review from 2009.

Credited in Peter King’s Monday Morning QB column on SI.com, Jackson ranked 9th in the league in broken tackles, which also factorsin faking defenders out of their shoes. Though that second bit of criteria is a bit subjective it’s hard to disagree when a defender is left behind like a house on the side of the road.

In any event here’s the rundown of the top 10.

1. Chris Johnson, Tennessee, 61
2. Ray Rice, Baltimore, 57
3. Adrian Peterson, Minnesota, 56.
4. Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville, 52
5. Steven Jackson, St. Louis, 50
6. Jonathan Stewart, Carolina, 46
7. DeAngelo Williams, Carolina, 40
7. Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh, 40
9. Fred Jackson, Buffalo, 35
10. Knowshon Moreno, Denver, 33

It’s also encouraging that Percy Harvin ranks high on this list, in light of the fact that Bills head coach Chan Gailey and GM Buddy Nix envision top pick C.J. Spiller being just as elusive.

Draft day tales

Buffalo drafted a pair of linebackers in the sixth round on day 3 of the 2010 NFL draft. Both Arthur Moats and Danny Batten shared some of their draft day experiences in journal entries.

Appearing on NFL.com both Moats and Batten shared some interesting developments. Come round six a few teams were hot on the trail of Moats in addition to the Bills.

For Batten he’s just glad he’s got an NFL destination.

Roosevelt knows Bills facilities well

UB receiver Naaman Roosevelt actually had his pro day in the Bills Fieldhouse. The Bulls frequently practice there during the season when the weather forces them inside. Never however, during his pro day did he think that he would be on the Bills roster less than a month later.

“It’s just amazing how stuff works out, being there all the time and working out there for my pro day I never really thought about being with Buffalo and it happening,” said Roosevelt. ”But it’s definitely a dream come true.”

As a high school QB at St. Joe’s Roosevelt also played in Ralph Wilson Stadium, even throwing a touchdown pass during a playoff game.

Roosevelt has already received plenty of well wishes from UB fans, Bills fans and people in his neighborhood. Some are even telling him to remember him when it comes to getting them tickets.

“I definitely get that around talking about season tickets and stuff like that,” said Roosevelt laughing. ”I haven’t even stepped on the field yet. It’s definitely funny to hear stuff like that but it definitely motivates me to work hard.”

It’s clear Roosevelt appreciates the support he gets from the Buffalo community, which is why he’s said he doesn’t want to disappoint anyone.

Levitre appears on ‘Next Question’

Bills guard Andy Levitre took a turn being interviewed on TSN’s ‘Next Question’ earlier this week.

Levitre talked about playing against Trent Edwards in high school (it didn’t go well for Andy’s team), the best dressed player on the team and some of his more interesting classes at Oregon State.