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Bills Sign Incognito; Quiet on Open Market
Bills Reportedly Fire DL Coach: Newsday writer Kimberly Jones reports that the Bills have fired defensive line coach Karl Dunbar. He has been with Rex Ryan since 2012 when they were in New York. Dunbar was with the coaching staff as the combine and the timing of the release is curious. Front Office Page.
Friday March 11, 2016
Bills Get Two Compensatory Picks: The NFL handed out the compensatory picks for this year's draft and the Bills picked up an extra 4th and 6th round picks for their net free agent losses last offseason that included Da'Norris Searcy, C.J. Spiller, and Lee Smith. Their only signing was Tyrod Taylor. The 4th rounder is the 139th overall pick while the 6th rounder is the 218th pick in the draft. The Bills are one of 13 teams awarded picks. There were 33 compensatory picks handed out by the league.
Bills Let Hogan Go: The Bills have decided not to match the offer sheet signed by Chris Hogan and he is now a member of the Patriots. The Bills had five days to decide but didn't waste anytime as they likely wanted to get the roughly $1.1 Million back on their salary cap leaving them with around $5.6 in cap space and a whole at the backup receiver position. Since he was tendered at the lowest amount and was an undrafted free agent out of college, the Bills get no compensation for the signing by New England.
Offer Sheet Details: Chris Hogan is preparing to sign a $12 Million offer sheet from the Patriots. The offer is for three years with a $5.5 Million cap hit which would be nearly impossible for the Bills to match. The Bills will get around $1.1 Million in cap space back when and if they decline to match it. They have five days to make a decision.
Pats Readying Offer Sheet: The NFL Network reports that the Patriots are readying an offer sheet for Chris Hogan after the visit yesterday went well. If the Patriots sign him to an offer sheet the Bills will have five days to match or lose him with no compensation since he was an undrafted free agent and tendered at the lowest value. Reports say it is an offer sheet that will be tough for the cap strapped Bills to match. If the Bills let him go they will add about $1.1M in cap space. His $1.671M tender would come off the books and the 52nd man on the roster would go on the books at about $500,000. The team has around $4.5M in cap space at this time. Hogan had an inconsistent year last year but the Bills would miss him since they lack quality depth at the wide receiver position. It is likely a high priority in the draft and they may look to bring in a 2nd tier free agent at the position if they lose him. In other free agent news, Stefan Charles has signed a one year deal with the Lions. He was not tendered by the Bills as a restricted free agent. Front Office Page.
Thursday March 10, 2016
Hogan Visiting Pats: Despite being tendered by the Bills Chris Hogan still has the right to shop his services to other teams. He is doing that with a reported visit to New England today. If the Patriots sign him to an offer sheet the Bills will have five days to match or lose him with no compensation since he was an undrafted free agent.
Three UFAs To Philly: Former defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz obviously wanted familiar faces with him in his new job with the Eagles. A day after signing Leodis McKelvin, Philadelphia inked deals with two more of the Bills unrestricted free agents. Nigel Bradham signed a two year deal and Ron Brooks agreed to a modest three year deal. Bradham had interest from at least two other teams and the Bills never made a serious offer. The Bills two priorities were obviously Richie Incognito and Cordy Glenn leaving Bradham as the odd man out. He also fit Schwartz's scheme better than the one run by the Ryan brothers.
Wednesday March 9, 2016
4 RFAs Not Tendered: The league year has begun and free agency is underway! The Bills officially declined to tender RFAs Bacarri Rambo, Ty Powell, Marquies Gray, and Stefan Charles along with EFA Cierre Wood which makes them all unrestricted free agents. The team can chose to re-sign any of them for longer term deals that are more cap friendly then the tender price. They already tendered Chris Hogan, Corbin Bryant, and Jordan Mills at $1.671M apiece as the team announced they have the lowest tender. The contract signed by Richie Incognito carries a cap figure of around $5.5M they have under $5M in cap space left to maybe sign a low level free agent or two.
League Year Begins: It's a new year in the NFL as the league year begins at 4pm today which is kicks off with the official start of free agency. Don't expect much news from the Bills who have already taken care of their main two goals of getting Cordy Glenn and Richie Incognito under contract. The Bills have very little cap space to do anything except maybe sign a lower tier free agent. The team can open up more cap space to sign players if they can get long term deals done with Glenn or Stephon Gilmore. They can also get space by restructuring Kyle Williams who has an $8M cap figure this year. The Bills still have four restricted free agents that they need to tender by 4pm. They already tendered Chris Hogan, Corbin Bryant, and Jordan Mills. If they don't tender Bacarri Rambo, Ty Powell, Marquies Gray, and Stefan Charles they will become unrestricted free agents. At this point they don't have the cap space to tender more than one or two of them. Gray has tweeted that he won't be tendered.
Tuesday March 8, 2016
New Homes For McKelvin, Mario: The Bills will be seeing Mario Williams twice a year for the next two years as he has agreed to a two year deal with the rival Dolphins. Reports say he will get around $8 Million a year. Leodis McKelvin also landed on his feet signing with the Eagles where he will be reunited with Jim Schwartz who is coaching the defense. Nigel Bradham also is reportedly joining interest from Philadelphia.
Incognito Signs: The Bills have signed Richie Incognito to a three year deal worth $15.75M. It is unknown how much his first year salary is or signing bonus at this time. That will determine how much cap space they have left for free agency but it isn't much. The two priorities they had are taken care of with the left side of the line locked up now. Incognito said they had to take a step back in negotiations last week when they hit a sticking point but he always wanted to stay in Buffalo. He felt he owed the team that took a chance on him and he definitely gave them a hometown discount. He said there were six or seven teams interested in him but the goal was to stay with the Bills. He said in a conference call they are building something special.
Monday March 7, 2016
Bills Tender Three: The Bills have tendered three of their six restricted free agents. Chris Hogan, Corbin Bryant, and Jordan Mills were tendered while Bacarri Rambo, Ty Powell, and Stefan Charles were not. The team does have until Wednesday at 4pm to tender the other three of they chose to. The tendered players are considered the priority RFAs but the type of tender has not been released although it is being reported that Hogan received the bottom priority tender. That means since he was an undrafted player they would receive no compensation if they chose not to match an offer from other teams. Reports say Hogan may get offers. It is also assumed the lowest tender of $1.671M was placed on Bryant and Mills. If true, the team will lose $5.013M on the salary cap, leaving them with around $7 Million in free cap space as free agency start.
Free Agent Visit: Former Saints All-Pro guard Jahri Evans is visiting the Bills as their first free agent visit. It is also the first free agent visit for Evans who is free to go on them after being released. Unrestricted free agents have to wait unitl Wednesday for official visits. He played under Bills OL coach Aaron Kromer in New Orleans and is the same age as the Bills free agent Richie Incognito. Evans is a six time Pro Bowler and four time first team All-Pro. This move could be a bit of a poker move by the Bills in an effort to get Incognito to agree to a more team friendly deal. Incognito's agent can start talking to other teams but he can't sign with anyone other than Buffalo until Wednesday at 4pm when free agency begins.
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