Inside The Bills

Bills haven’t had contact w/Schobel

With reports circulating that a couple of NFL teams have contacted Aaron Schobel to see if he would be interested in coming out of retirement to play, Bills GM Buddy Nix was quick to assure that Buffalo isn’t one of those teams.

Nix when asked about Schobel at the press conference introducing newly signed DE Mark Anderson responded as follows.

“Absolutely not,” said Nix. ”Playing with us? No. Aaron Schobel was in the past with us from that first camp that I was here (2009). He’s a good guy. I like talking to him, but no.”

Despite the fact that he’s set to turn 35 before the 2012 season, there could very well be a couple of teams. I don’t know that these two teams are interested, but if someone asked me to play a hunch, one would be Jacksonville knowing new head coach Mike Mularkey saw Schobel at his best when he was head coach in Buffalo (2004, 2005).

The other guess would be New England. Partly because I personally witnessed Patriots owner Bob Kraft stop and shake Schobel’s hand in the bowels of Gillette Stadium after the 2009 Monday night season opener, when Schobel leapt up to bat down a Tom Brady pass and snared the thing for an interception and then returned it about 40 yards for a touchdown.

Kraft told him he was a heck of a player and that he respected his game. Schobel also is a very smart and crafty player. Bill Belichick likes those kinds of vets. It’ll be interesting to see if Belichick and the Pats are one of the teams interested.

What is the Anderson role?

Free agent DE Mark Anderson, who is visiting with the Bills at One Bills Drive here on Wednesday, was a part time player for the Patriots last season before fellow DE Andre Carter suffered a season-ending knee injury late in the year. The question is what do NFL clubs see him doing for them? Do they want him as a starter or a pass rush specialist?

Anderson was only on the field for 47% of the team’s defensive snaps according to ESPNBoston.com’s Mike Reiss. To put that into numbers Anderson played 640 of the club’s 1361 defensive plays from scrimmage in 2011. Almost two-thirds of those plays were pass rush situations (419). The pass rusher however, was pretty darn productive in his limited time on the field.

He had 10 sacks, which tied for the team lead and 36 QB pressures, which was also a team high. In addition according to ProFootballFocus’ ratings he graded out as the second best defensive player for the Patriots in the 2011 season tied with LB Rob Ninkovich. Only Andre Carter graded higher.

One final note from PFF. Though he was credited with 10 sacks on the season, the film reviewers at Pro Football Focus felt he should’ve been credited for being in on 15.

With all this in mind some of the teams that Anderson has already visited have likely offered him a full time role believing more snaps will lead to even more production from Anderson. However, Anderson’s two best seasons in terms of sacks came in his rookie season and last year when he had a rotational role.

It bears watching to see where Anderson ultimately lands knowing the chance to start is what presumably would be most attractive to him. It gives him more opportunities to make plays and would also land him a bigger pay day. Miami, Baltimore, Tennessee and Jacksonville are among the other clubs interested. New England would also be interested in re-signing him, but at their price.

Anderson at 1 Bills Drive

Free agent DE Mark Anderson has begun his visit at One Bills Drive.

Anderson arrived in town last night and had dinner with members of the defensive staff. He’s meeting with Buddy Nix now that he’s completed the routine physical off site this morning.

Stay tuned to Buffalobills.com for updates.

More player recruiting?

Knowing free agent visitor Mark Anderson is spending the night in Buffalo in anticipation of a scheduled Wednesday visit, one wonders if there is more recruiting by Bills players knowing there’s a former teammate of his on Buffalo’s roster.

Anderson played with recently signed DE Mario Williams in 2010 when both were members of the Houston Texans. Wonder if Williams has been on the phone with Anderson at all.

Anderson is also part of the 2006 draft class much like Mario Williams and Kyle Williams. In fact Kyle and Mark Anderson were taken 25 picks away from one another in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL draft

Anderson’s arrival

Here is free agent DE Mark Anderson arriving in Buffalo this evening (Tuesday) as he meets defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt with assistant defensive line coach William Inge right behind. His free agent visit is scheduled to carry into Wednesday.

Bell visits with NFC club

Free agent OT Demetrius Bell is visiting his second NFL club.

Reports out of Arizona and Washington D.C say Bell was hosted by the Washington Redskins Friday. He left the Redskins facility without a contract as it appears to be exploratory interest at this time.

Bell visited the Cardinals earlier in the week, but Arizona signed free agent Adam Snyder and re-signed Levi Brown instead.

The other Mario recruiters

There were a slew of people from the Bills family that participated in the recruitment of Mario Williams and his fiance’ Erin this week along with the likes of Jim Kelly.

Bills VP of Community Relations Gretchen Geitter and Brad Smith’s wife Rosalynn spent time with Mario’s fiance’ to bring her up to speed on the finer points of the Buffalo region to reassure her that an enjoyable lifestyle exists in Western New York. Williams’ fiance’ has spent her entire life in Houston, so delivering on that front was important in getting the Williams deal done as well.

Manning won’t play in AFC East

A day after landing prized free agent Mario Williams, the Bills got more good news as Peyton Manning will not be playing in the AFC East in 2012.

NFL.com is reporting that Manning has informed the Miami Dolphins that they’re out of the running for his services. That leaves Denver and Tennessee as the two options remaining. If Manning chooses the Titans the Bills would still face the perennial Pro Bowl quarterback in Buffalo. The Bills are scheduled to host Tennessee in the 2012 regular season.

Bills ace in the hole

The Bills did their due diligence on Mario Williams, just like they do on every prospective free agent player. They accurately calculated their odds to land the big fish in free agency, but also had an ace in the hole to help them communicate to Williams the answers he wanted.

Appearing on Bills flagship station WGR Sportsradio 550, Bills GM Buddy Nix explained the inside connection they had for additional information on Williams through one of their scouts.

“The biggest part of the process is to find out what he liked and the things he was looking for and we were fortunate in that we had some inside information,” said Nix. ”There’s a guy that is (Mario’s) confidante or his mentor that’s like a brother to him that played for Darrell Moody our National scout and he played at North Carolina State for Darrell.

“This mentor is the player development guy at N.C. State. So we got information on the things that were important to (Mario), so we made sure we let him know what we had in those areas here. So when we got back on the plane with him to fly back to Buffalo with Dave Wannstedt, Giff Smith and myself… by the time we got back here he felt pretty good about the football part.”

As far the answers Williams was seeking were where he would be lining up, but there was a specific answer he wanted to hear.

“We knew that he liked to play on the left side,” said Nix. ”He was used on both sides at Houston, but he was a left defensive end at N.C. State so that was important to him. It is important to him that he is a pass rusher, not an outside backer that’s going to drop two out of every five or six plays. We made it clear to him that wasn’t what we were interested in having him do. We want him with his hair swooped back and in a three-point stance and chasing the quarterback. That was important.

“Another thing was our inside players. He felt if he could have some quality defensive tackles in there that could push the pocket and rush the passer from inside it would give him a lot better chance. And there’s no doubt it does. Marcell Dareus and Kyle Williams did a good job selling him on that and that was important to him.”

Clearly Buffalo took advantage of every possible edge they could give themselves in the Williams recruiting process.

Mario didn’t mind flying private

The Bills pulled out all the stops to get Mario Williams signature on a contract with the club and succeeded. The private plane they used to pick him up in his native North Carolina didn’t hurt.

In a one-on-one interview with Williams, the six-year vet told Buffalobills.com his initial reaction when informed that the Bills were flying down to pick him up and take him back to Buffalo.

“It was huge. I had no idea,” he said. ”I thought I had to get on Continental or something and get my own flights out to places. When I heard they were coming I was ecstatic. I was really excited and then on the plane I was like, ‘What am I going to sit here and say.’ It felt like I was back in college or high school and being recruited, but it felt great to have them there when I got to the airport.”

GM Buddy Nix, Dave Wannstedt and defensive line coach Giff Smith all made the trip.

Manningham not on radar

Despite a report indicating an expression of interest, free agent WR Mario Manningham is not on Buffalo’s target list.

“We have made no contact,” Bills GM Buddy Nix told Buffalobills.com.

Nix later reiterated that stance on Bills flagship station WGR Sportsradio 550 when asked if there would be any plans to pursue another free agent receiver after being inable to land Robert Meachem earlier in the week.

“We’ve got good receivers,” Nix told Schopp and the Bulldog on WGR. ”Once we signed Stevie Johnson we felt like we could go play and that was important to us. Now had we not been able to sign Stevie obviously a receiver would’ve been high on the list, but right now we’re not targeting another receiver and we have not contacted Mario Manningham.”

Bills likely done in free agency

The Bills stated from the outset that they have three or four specific positional needs they’d like to address this offseason. They filled a big one with the signing of free agent Mario Williams, but it appears unlikely they’ll venture into the free agent market to land any other big fish.

When asked about the possibility of making other major free agent additions Nix said the following.

“I told you guys earlier this week that we may be out of the business by Friday,” said Nix. “Did you see (Mario’s) contract? We may be out of the business.”

If the Bills do anything at a perceived position of need like wide receiver at this stage it’s believed it would be with one of their own free agents, perhaps like a Derek Hagan who showed some flashes late in the season when he got some playing time and is a big target.

Bryan Scott and Demetrius Bell are two other Bills free agents to whom Buffalo made offers.

Mario back at facility

With the free agent visit of Mario Williams in Buffalo stretching into day 3, the prized pass rusher is back at One Bills Drive.

Williams arrived within the past half hour. What still needs to take place from this point forward is unclear, but one has to think that things will be coming to a conclusion at some point.

We’ll keep you posted here at Buffalobills.com.

Fans make Mario feelings known

Not that we thought fans felt any differently, but in case free agent Mario Williams was wondering what Bills fan think about his possible acquisition by their football team, one fan made it clear right at the entrance of One Bills Drive. See below.

Bills fans do their best

Bills fans that were also taking in Wednesday night’s Sabres game made their feelings known at the arena downtown during the game.

Hearing that free agent visitor Mario Williams might be in the building they started chanting, “We want Mario!”

Unfortunately it doesn’t appear as though Williams was in the building, but the effort was appreciated. Hard to top passion of Bills fans.

Report: Bills trying to close

NFL.com’s Jason LaCanfora is reporting that the Bills are still working to seal the deal with the free agent market’s top pass rusher.

LaCanfora tweeted the following.

Jason La Canfora ‏ @JasonLaCanfora Mario Williams remains in BUF. Bills still tryin to close. He has at least one meeting scheduled Thurs if no deal. Stay tuned #freeagency

Mario back on site

After being taken around town here in Western New York, Mario Williams and his fiance are back on site at One Bills Drive.

Williams picked up his fiance at the airport around lunch time and toured the Buffalo community. No word on how much longer the visit will last or if it could stretch into a second full day, but there were no imminent travel plans for Williams earlier in the day Wednesday.

We’ll keep you posted here on Buffalobills.com.

Some numbers on Manningham

With ESPN’s Adam Schefter reporting that the Bills have expressed interest in free agent WR Mario Manningham along with Miami and San Francisco, here are some numbers to take note of concerning the Giants free agent wideout.

Manningham is 5’11 7/8″ 183 pounds. His last timed 40 was a 4.48. A former third-round pick, he’s 25-years old (will turn 26 in May).

The Michigan product appeared in 12 games this past season, missing four games with a knee injury and logged 39 catches for 523 yards and four touchdowns. In the postseason he had 13 catches for 189 yards and three touchdowns, including a five-catch 73-yard effort in the Giants Super Bowl win over New England. He arguably had the catch of the game with a key conversion late in the contest to maintain possession for New York in the waning minutes.

His career best season was in 2010 when he appeared in all 16 games and posted 60 catches for 944 yards and nine touchdowns.

His career yards per catch average is 14.5.

Report: Bills after Manningham

After missing out on Robert Meachem, the Bills have turned their focus to Giants free agent WR Mario Manningham.

That according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who tweeted the following.

Adam Schefter ‏ @AdamSchefter Three teams having early conversations with Giants free-agent WR Mario Manningham: SF, MIA, BUF.

With Miami also reportedly in the mix there is some division competition there that makes the pursuit of Manningham interesting. Keep in mind that with the trade of Brandon Marshall, the Dolphins have the #1 WR role to offer Manningham, something he wouldn’t be offered here in Buffalo.

Bell has free agent visit elsewhere

Bills free agent OT Demetrius Bell has a visit with another NFL club.

Bell is visiting with the Arizona Cardinals today according to their team website.

GM Buddy Nix told Buffalobills.com Tuesday that he expected Bell would make it to the free agent market.

“We made him an offer. We didn’t get one back,” Nix said.

The Cardinals are looking to overhaul their offensive line after the release of OT Levi Brown for cap relief and fellow OTs Brandon Keith and D’Anthony Baptiste also free agents. Free agent guard Jake Scott (Titans) and free agent OT/G Adam Snyder (49ers) are also scheduled to visit the Cardinals per their team website report.