1 – Chris,
I think we can still get players like Charles Woodson, etc . to further help this year if we can get them at the right price? Don’t get me wrong. I love what we have done so far this off season and draft.

CB: Sure you saw that Woodson returned to the Raiders where his career started on a one-year deal. I don’t know that he’s cornerback material anymore at his age. That being said I will say I’d feel better if the team added a veteran cornerback.

I think the team is well stocked with inside slot defenders, but outside where you need more size, Gilmore and McKelvin are the projected starters. Crezdon Butler (6’1”) and T.J. Heath (6’1”) both offer good size, but not much experience.

The free agent market at corner however, doesn’t offer much. There are a lot of vets that are past their prime. Still, a vet that could be plugged in should injury strike that can still get the job done even for a four to six game stretch could prove valuable.

2 - Hi Chris,

I enjoy your articles and videos every day during the off season!

Buddy before he stepped down said there will be more veteran players released from their teams to make more cap room, etc.

What are any of the dates between now and training camp when teams will have to make decisions on keeping or releasing players?

Please keep up the good work, 40 year Bill’s fans like me can’t get enough updates and info.

Thanks again!

Bob S

CB: The releases that Buddy was referring to were due strictly to cap room being hard to come by for some NFL clubs. It’s not really any roster reduction dates that will prompt that between now and the start of training camp.

Offseason rosters are now at 90 players, but only the top 51 count toward the salary cap. The first cutdown from 90 to 75 players happens the last week in August, with the cut to 53 just a few days later.

3 – Hi, Chris! As a former WNYer, and a long time Bills fan living afar off in NJ, in the midst of huge numbers of Giants, Jets, and Eagles fans, thanks for helping me stay abreast of all things Bills related.  I was excited to see the schedule come out and find that I will be in the New Orleans area while my favorite team is playing the Saints! What’s the best way to get tickets to that game where I will be sitting among fellow  WNYers?  Keep up the great work, my friend!

Michael C.
Edison, NJ

CB: I’d recommend getting in touch with the local Bills Backers chapter in New Orleans. They can probably tell you where to park to tailgate and might be able to help you with tickets at the Superdome. Here is their info from the Bills Backers page on Buffalobills.com.

Big Easy Bills Backers
The Bricks Courtyard Bar & Grill
735 St. Joseph St.
New Orleans, LA
504-525-2396

4 – Chris,

After years of being one of the oldest in age from top to bottom run nfl operations the bills have emerged with young executives and coaching staff to possibly being one of the youngest. Can you comment on this ? Also have you seen Bill Polian walking the halls at 1 Bills Drive? Just asking ! As always enjoy your work…….

Wally J.  in Fredericksburg, Va.

CB: Thanks to our crack research staff the Bills front office (Brandon, Marrone, Whaley) is the youngest in the league in terms of average age, which we blogged last week. And no, no Bill Polian sightings.

5 – Dear Chris:

Great draft coverage and congratulations on predicting EJ Manuel as the 1st pick.  Can we play “What if”?  What if the Jets used their 2nd pick on Manuel instead of their 3rd on Geno Smith?  What would the Bills have done with their pick at 16 overall?

Thanks,

Neil in Jamestown, NY

CB: I think there’s a strong chance they would’ve tried to move back again, and there were multiple suitors for their pick at 16.

In a one-on-one interview with Buffalobills.com, Nix said drafting Manuel made it easier to settle on the decision to step aside.

“I feel a lot better about it because of that,” said Nix in reference to the Manuel pick. ”We’ve got two good veterans here and another rookie that will make him have to earn it. When (he’ll start) I don’t know that’s up to the coaches. That’s up to coach Marrone. He’ll decide when the guy is ready to play, but I don’t have any doubts that he’ll be successful here and in this league.”

In a one-on-one interview with Buffalobills.com, Nix explained why he felt he positioned the team for success.

“Yeah, obviously you’d like to see the win-loss results, but somebody asked about what I think is going to be remembered about my legacy,” said Nix. ”It’s according to who is looking at it I guess, but I think it’s going to be determined in the next two or three years. I think the good times are coming and that’s not to put any pressure on the head coach now, he knows there’s pressure anyway in this
business. But I think our roster is good, I like the draft class and I like our rookies, so I think we’re fixing to have some exciting times.”

“Russ (Brandon) and I talk a lot,” said Nix. ”Our offices are right here together and Doug Marrone too, we talk about everything. We started after the draft. At the time we were so consumed with the draft going into it and even right after talking about the guys we got. Then after things kind of settled down and we tried to figure out the right timing and to me that’s the big issue here. This is the best time.”

As Nix explained it the scouting season for the 2014 class begins next week, so to step aside now would make for the cleanest break for a transition to a new GM.

“Starting next week, I already had a flight and was scheduled to go to St. Pete to start on the 2014 Draft. You sit there for 10 hours a day and listen to reports one right after the other on the 2014 draft prospects,” said Nix. ”To be honest with you, my energy level is as good as it has ever been, but I was not all excited about that trip.

“We have got some young scouts that are fired up about it and that is the way it should be. That is the way I was. The best time, and again for us, is before we start the process for next year.”

While at the NFL Combine Nix was asked about his own future with the Bills and while he said he still had the zest to do the job he also mentioned Whaley specifically.

“I think you’re maybe less than confident in what you do if you can’t put your replacement in place, and we did ours,” said Nix this past February. ”I was on the job three months when I hired Doug and nothing’s changed with him. My energy level or anything hasn’t changed. Look, I’m not going to do this until I’m 100, I promise you. I’d like to know I’ll be around until then, but I’ll decide that. I’ll sit-down with Russ and we’ll do what needs to be done, but to put a timetable on it, I started something and I’d like to see it through.”

Buffalo GM Buddy Nix tells Buffalobills.com in a the Bills Inside the Draft Room feature that the trade had been set in place two days prior to round one.

“I talked to them about two days before the draft, probably Tuesday and said this is what we’d do and we’ll see what the situation is. You can’t make those before pick time,” said Nix. ”Is their guy going to be there? Is the one we want still be there when we move down? We talked about it and laid the groundwork for it and said we’ll talk again at pick 6 or 7.”

Nix also said he knew that Tavon Austin was the impetus for the deal even though the Rams never told him that was their guy.

The draft pick value calculator weighs trades and produces a value on the deal. Buffalo’s trade with St. Louis gave the Bills a trade value of 118. Anything over 100 indicates better than even value on the deal. If the value on the trade is under 100, that team “lost” the trade.

“I think getting the two extra picks and being able to fill an extra couple of needs was huge,” said Bills GM Buddy Nix. “We didn’t have a seventh and we wind up with a tight end that we wanted to get and we would not have been able to do that. Obviously the extra second is almost like a first to us.”

Nix appearing on the John Murphy Show laid out the reasons why he felt Rogers saw Buffalo as a good spot for him.

“There were 14 teams after him after the draft and we were able to get him,” said Nix. “I think there were a lot of reasons (President and CEO) Russ (Brandon) and (Senior VP of Football Administration) Jim (Overdorf) have been pretty close with his agent. Plus his agent also represents Robert Woods and they had worked out together during the pre-draft process and knew each other.

“I think Da’Rick felt comfortable here. Plus he was one of our 30 (pre-draft) visits and he sat in my office and I told him how it would be here. He can either make a living playing football or get a job. I think he understands, plus he went to dinner with our coaches here and I think he liked it.”

Nix believes Rogers understands he’s got to make good on this opportunity.

“This guy is talented and he can play,” said Nix.

Bills General Manager Buddy Nix says the Bills roster is better now than it was back on New Year’s Eve, the day after last season ended.

‘Absolutely. We’re younger, we’re a young team,” Nix said. “We got speed and some versatility. We brought some toughness to this team. It’s not any reflection on the guys that were here, they did a good job for us. But we needed to get better in some areas and speed was one of them. Because of the way our defense is, we needed some guys who can play more than one spot. I think we were able to do that.”

Nix made the comments in an appearance on The John Murphy Show. The entire interview is available here

But Bills GM Buddy Nix says the team had a first-to-second round grade on Rogers, when it came to football ability. The Bills GM talked about Rogers on The John Murphy Show.

“Being from Tennessee, I’ve known his background,” Nix said. “He’s from Calhoun, Georgia, I knew him when he was playing in high school. The guy’s got tremendous talent. He’s made some bad decisions. It’s gotten him in trouble. Got him out of the University of Tennessee, from an All-SEC performance in his sophomore year, and he goes to Tennessee Tech where he has a so-so year. He played down to the level of competition, really. But this guy’s talented. He can play. The ball’s in his court. He goes by the rules, and does like he’s supposed to, or he goes somewhere else.”

Nix said the Bills had several meetings with Rogers prior to the draft, and he sat down with the talented receiver in Orchard Park when he made a visit to One Bills Drive. At that meeting, Nix spelled out for Rogers what the team expected from him.

“He was one of our thirty visits,” Nix said. “He sat in my office, and I told him how it would be here, and what we expected. He can either make a living playing football or get a job. I think he understands that.”

The Bills GM says Rogers experience of being bypassed in the draft despite having first round ability, may serve to motivate him moving forward.

“I think he’s humbled. I think he’s probably got a chip on his shoulder.”

The entire interview with Bills GM Buddy Nix is available here

And while both the Bills and Colts are willing to part with young defensive talent, the trade seems to be more a product of finding a right fit for the defense. At least that’s what Bills GM Buddy Nix said, in an appearance on The John Murphy Show.

Nix was asked if Sheppard was not a good fit in the new defensive scheme being installed by Defensive Coordinator Mike Pettine.

“I think that’s part of it,” he said. “Kelvin is a true middle linebacker–a guy that’s going to play from C-gap to C-gap and he can do that downhill.”

“But Mike Pettine made this statement during the draft,” Nix told host John Murphy. “The days of the Mike linebacker and the strong safety have just about fallen by the wayside. Everything has moved over. You’ve taken the Mike now, and he’s moved over. You’ve moved Will to Mike. And now you walk up Bryan Scott as a nickel linebacker, and he’s now the Will. Those guys got to be able to run and cover.”

Nix says the Bills have stressed versatility in the linebacker moves they’ve made in recent months.

“We got Moats there in the middle-he can play two spots. We got Kiko Alonso in there–he can play two spots. Nigel Bradham can play Will or Mike. That is what we’re coming to.”

The entire interview with Bills GM Buddy Nix is available at Buffalobills.com\johnmurphyshow

Hughes had 4.65 speed coming out of TCU and without a lot of miles on his tires playing behind Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, Hughes figures to still be that fast. But his ability to play strong side LB and a rush end, including some subpackage rush looks is what made him the kind of versatile fit defensive coordinator Mike Pettine and head coach Doug Marrone are looking for.

“Versatility is something we’re looking for and we’d like our linebackers to at least be able to play both outside spots and we’d like our middle backer to have the ability to play WILL or MIKE so that was enticing about Jerry,” said Bills GM Buddy Nix.

After two days just three quarterbacks had come off the board in Buffalo’s own EJ Manuel, Geno Smith and Mike Glennon.

“Really at first it kind of shocked me a little bit, but when you think about it people were worried about this quarterback class,” said Nix. ”The hype or the lack of got people concerned and they went out and tried to give themselves some insurance bringing in a veteran quarterback and it kept it from being a priority in the firsts few picks. And once that got started and they started hanging on and staying out there people were worried about there being something that they didn’t know. I think those things happen. They slide a lot of times and you think, ‘Well if this guy is still there, then there’s something about them that I don’t know.’”

In total just 11 quarterbacks were drafted. It was the fourth-lowest total among position groups in this year’s draft to only center (5), fullbacks (3) and kickers (2) and punters (2).

Ironically, the Bills were strongly considering taking a second quarterback after Manuel had already been drafted.

“Very seriously we did (consider it),” said Nix.

“We’ll try to get another one in free agency,” said Nix.

With the 2013 NFL draft concluded, three quarterbacks that made pre-draft visits to Buffalo went undrafted. Arizona’s Matt Scott, Tennessee’s Tyler Bray and Washington State’s Jeff Tuel all visited One Bills Drive earlier this month.

Buffalo also put Bray through a private workout. Seeing the clear focus on adding team speed and versatility Scott might prove to be the more coveted quarterback prospect as he offers the most athleticism of the aforementioned signal callers. But there will also be stiff competition from the other 31 NFL clubs to land any one of them.

“It will be competitive, it always is,” said Bills President and CEO Russ Brandon, who takes part in the recruitment of undrafted rookie free agents. “If you look back historically some of the successes we’ve had with some of the undrafted free agents and it comes down to recruiting and situations within your roster structure and opportunity. We’ll be very competitive.

“If you look at the statistics even just last year, the percentage of undrafted rookies that make rosters and practice squads, it’s significant.”

Nix admitted that there were a couple of times on day two and three of the draft that they considered taking another quarterback.

“Very seriously,” said Nix.

“Obviously you want size in a quarterback, a guy that’s intelligent, got enough arm and accuracy,” said Nix. ”But the things about a quarterback are the intangibles that you have to try to find out and that’s leadership and how he does under pressure and how quick he can make decisions.”

Buffalo’s scouting staff has conducted their most extensive and exhaustive scouting of the QB prospects in recent memory to make sure they get this right.

“We would like to get six good players, and three starters in the first three picks,” said Nix. “That’s a goal that you set that might be a little unrealistic at times, but that’s what you shoot for.”

In an interview with Buffalobills.com Nix said trading back is attractive for a lot of teams because there’s some quality value between rounds two and four.

“I think that it’s the way they value the players that are there,” said Nix. ”I think everybody thinks the middle part of the draft is going to be deeper or deep enough to get a good player. So if you can get another pick it helps your team.”

Nix has made it clear that he’d love to acquire an additional pick if the offer is right and their destination on the board isn’t too far from their original pick at 8.