Tag: BUFFALO BILLS
Buccaneers sign RB LeSean McCoy
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have signed running back LeSean McCoy, the team announced on Tuesday.
According to his agent, it’s a one-year deal.
McCoy, 32, a six-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro, ranks in the top 30 in NFL history in rushing yards (22nd, 11,071), yards from scrimmage (27th, 14,868), and rushing touchdowns (28th, 73).
Over 160 career games, including 141 starts, he has totaled 11,071 rushing yards and 73 rushing touchdowns on 2,447 career carries (4.5 avg.).
The 12-year veteran has also been a factor in the passing game throughout his career, hauling in 503 receptions for 3,797 yards and 16 touchdowns. His 5.0 scrimmage yards per touch rank seventh in NFL history among players with at least 2,500 career touches.
Since entering the league in 2009, McCoy ranks second in both rushing yards and rushing touchdowns, trailing only Adrian Peterson. Among running backs during that span, McCoy ranks second in receptions, third in receiving yards and fourth in receiving touchdowns. He also leads the league in both scrimmage yards (14,868) and first downs (550) since his debut season, while ranking second in scrimmage touchdowns with 89.
McCoy won a Super Bowl title with the Kansas City Chiefs last season, contributing 465 rushing yards (4.6 yards per carry) and five total touchdowns for the Chiefs in 2019.
Bills’ McDermott on backup QB spot: ‘I’m very confident in Matt(Barkley)’
With the COVID-19 pandemic and the physicality of the NFL, teams in the league must have as much depth as possible.
In reality, at any point, and at any time, players could contract the virus.
So, when you look at the Buffalo Bills, they have their quarterback in Josh Allen, who led the team to 10 wins and a berth in the playoffs last season. At this point, if something were to happen to Allen, Buffalo’s backup QB would be Matt Barkley.
In two appearances last season, the eight-year veteran threw for 359 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions, so some believe Buffalo needs to upgrade the backup quarterback position. However, Bills head coach Sean McDermott has a lot of confidence in Barkley.
“Very confident. I’m very confident in Matt for a lot of reasons,” McDermott said last week. “All that being said, you know competition is good to have. A competition at that position and competition across our roster. And I think Brandon and his staff have done a good job of providing that. So we’ll just see how it plays out. Right. Obviously, you look at Josh and the growth that Josh and the time that he’s put in. The growth that he’s shown to this point and what we expect to get from him moving forward, and then you’ve got to have depth in this league; you guys know that depth is important. At every position. In this case, the quarterback position in particular.
“So, you know, I think the reality of this year in particular is what happens if said player comes down with the virus and so even more important that that you have depth and quality depth. In this case, as you mentioned at the quarterback position and any position for that matter, so it’s something that we take seriously, making sure that our depth is what we need it to be.”
Behind Allen and Barkley, is rookie Jake Fromm and third-year quarterback Davis Webb III. The 29-year-old Barkley is not a bad backup, and in 2018, he started one game for the Bills, which he performed well and led Buffalo to victory over the Jets. Could the Bills find a better backup? Probably, but Allen did play all 16 games last season, so maybe it won’t even be an issue.
If they decide to upgrade the backup QB position, Colin Kaepernick is out there, but he has not played in three seasons, so who knows what the 32-year-old Kaepernick would be, but if the Bills lose confidence in Barkley, Kaepernick might be worth a look.
Bills’ DC on Fromm: ‘I really believe our guys will give him the benefit of the doubt’
Bills rookie QB Jake Fromm is under fire after a text conversation from 2019 was released on Thursday. In the conversation, Fromm, who was talking to a friend, said the following when talking about guns:
“But no guns are good. They need to let me get suppressors,” before adding, “Just make them very expensive, so only elite white people can get them, haha.”
Fromm later apologized, and said in a statement that he did not consider himself an “elite white person.”
Here is Fromm’s statement:
— JakefromStateFromm (@FrommJake) June 4, 2020
On Thursday, Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier gave his thoughts on the situation.
“As I mentioned earlier, we’re still getting to know Jake as a teammate, none of us have been in the locker room together but based on what he said to the team today, I know, I really believe our guys will give him the benefit of the doubt,” Frazier said.
“They’re looking forward to communicating with him and encouraging him. And it definitely sounds like he’s learned from this mistake. One of the things we talked about, and I mentioned it earlier, was the fact that love has to overcome hate. It’s easy to just continue down that hate hate hate road, but that’s not where we want to be. If we want to change this, there has to be a reciprocal effort on both sides. And we have enough guys on our team that want to see change for the better. I know those guys are going to give Jake every chance to prove that those words that were echoed, I don’t know how long ago it was, that was a teachable moment for Jake, and that he’s learned from it and he’s drawn from that moment. So I know our players are going to reach out to him, in the next 24 to 48 hours as well.”
What Fromm said was wrong, but it appears he may have been joking. In reality, if everybody’s private text conversations were made public, a lot of people would come under fire.
Therefore, we should give Fromm the benefit of the doubt.
Bills’ GM on Fromm: ‘I just felt like he was too good to value to pass up’
Not many people expected Georgia QB Jake Fromm to be available in the 5th round of the NFL draft, including the Buffalo Bills, but he was there, and the Bills made a move.
Buffalo selected Fromm with 167th overall pick in the draft on Saturday. Fromm, who skipped his senior season at Georgia to enter the NFL draft, threw for 2860 yards with 24 touchdown passes in only five interceptions last season.
According to Bills GM Brandon Beane, Fromm was not on his radar entering Saturday.
“I wouldn’t have told you going into today that he was on our radar, but we had him in a spot that you just can’t ignore, and we gave him his due,” Bills GM Brandon Beane said via a conference call on Saturday. “This guy, he’s a winner at the highest level of college. You look at all the guys that come out of the SEC…this guy came in. He’s got all the intangibles. He’s smart. When I went down to that school to watch him practice, at that point, they didn’t know if he would come out. They said he loves being the guy at Georgia, and he loves just being there. They said this guy would be there 11, 12 at night with the coaches walking out the door at the same times the offensive coaches are. Just a guy who loves everything about the game, the full process, the preparation, and that matters.
“Listen, if he had a big-time cannon arm, or he was 6-5, those types of things, he would have gone day one. He’s got all the other things. Fair question, I’ll go ahead and jump to it. He’ll have to earn a spot here, but just too good to pass up. He’ll come in; obviously, Josh [Allen] is our starter. Matt [Barkley] has been an excellent backup for us. I don’t know if he’ll be able to knock Matt off. We’ll see about that. But we could definitely go with two quarterbacks, we could go with three quarterbacks. Davis Webb has not got a real chance to show us what he can do. He’s still in the mix right now. Again, anytime you can add a good football player…. quarterbacks a premium position. I just felt like he was too good to value to pass up.”
The Bills do have Matt Barkley under contract for the 2020 season, but it seems logical, if Fromm is ready, that he could assume that backup spot to Josh Allen in the near future for the Bills.
Bills’ GM on Diggs: ‘It’s my job, and my personnel staff’s job to add weapons’
Last season, the Buffalo Bills did what many thought they could do, and that is make it to the postseason. Buffalo finished 10-6 and made the playoffs in 2019. Unfortunately, the Bills would fall to the Texans 22-19 in OT in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
In 2019, the Bills had a very good defense, which finished third in total defense and second in points allowed. However, at times on offense, it was a struggle for Buffalo. The Bills finished 24th in total offense and were 23rd in points scored, so with those numbers; Buffalo needed help on offense, which they may have found in WR Stefon Diggs.
Buffalo sent a first-round pick, fifth-round pick, and sixth-round pick in the 2020 draft and a fourth-round pick in the 2021 draft for Diggs and a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft.
Diggs, 26, had 63 catches for 1130 yards and six touchdowns last season in Minnesota.
Today, Bills GM Brandon Beane, via a conference call, discussed the acquisition of Diggs.
Q: I know there’s been some reporting and sourcing on how exactly the Stefon Diggs trade came about. Can you just kind of give us in your own way a timeline of how things unfolded for you?
Beane: “Yeah, so it was that Monday, the negotiating period started around noon, so you know late afternoon, I don’t know exactly the time. Four or 4:30, somewhere in there. We reached out and just kind of, as we do, you know all the time we hear rumors on, some of the same rumors we heard at the trade deadline last season on guys. I think it was pretty open that we were, we were snooping around midseason to make a trade for another receiver, and we just couldn’t find a deal that worked for us. And you know, Stefon was one that we had looked into at that point, along with some other guys. And, you know, Minnesota was not willing to part with him at that point, but we checked back in, and it didn’t seem like a definitive 100% no. They just said, ‘Listen we’re not shopping him. We just agreed to a contract a little over a year ago.’ So talked to them, and they just said, ‘Listen, we’ll listen, but it’s got to be something, because you know we got to replace this guy, and he’s our number one receiver.’ And so did that. Then you know we were talking to other receivers agents, working through seeing what was available, what our options were. And then at the end of the night, I told Minnesota, ‘Hey, we’ll circle back.’ And they, they were starting to get a little antsy because they were getting pressure, you know, there were some other teams involved. And so, we worked on it probably around 9:45 or so, and I think 20 to 30 minutes later, we got it knocked out.”
Q: Why was this a move that you felt like your team needed to make at this particular time.
Beane: “Yeah, I mean, I said it at the end of season press conference. I blamed myself as much as anybody. It’s my job and my personnel staff’s job to add weapons to help run Brian Daboll and his staff, help our quarterback, help Sean. And so one of the things that I thought we still needed, hence I was referring to us snooping around at the trade deadline was finding somebody opposite John Brown to pair with Cole Beasley. And, again, the draft was is stacked with receivers as well. We’ve talked about that before. But I think it became ever-present with what’s going on around us, that we don’t know what kind of offseason we’ll have. And I just felt like it was going to be really hard, unless I trade it up really high to find a guy that I know could walk in, day one. Let’s just say it’s August before we get back to things. You know, I just felt a proven commodity was worth this. The trade value of this move probably moved us up three to four slots from 22, might of got us to 18 or 19, not as high as I thought we had to get to get one of those premier guys that I knew would walk in the door, even August 1, and be ready to roll.”
Q: Do you consider Stefon Diggs almost like your first-round draft pick? And how are you guys doing the draft preparation given everything going on in the world?
Beane: “It is one of those things where I view it that’s our first-round pick. The way I’m viewing it with the draft capital that we moved to acquire him is we moved up, let’s just say four spots. We traded up there, and we got him. And we know the player. It’s just a more proven thing right now. And again, what we’re dealing with. What did weigh into it is, I know this guy knows ball and we’ll be able to understand the verbiage of our system quicker than, a lot of this stuff in college is all signaled in. A lot of these guys aren’t in huddles, so the biggest transition for these receivers beyond the routes and the physical stuff is just hearing these long play calls in the huddle and processing in their head from as little as ‘Do I go left? Do I go right? Am I on the ball? Am I off the ball?’ Now I got to start reading what coverage they’re in to know what route they are in. You know all those things, the mental part is so hard, and that’s why I think so many receivers, we talk about all the time probably one of the higher bust rates across the league. I think it’s more mental than physical.”
Without Brady, HOF Andre Reed believes Buffalo is the best team in AFC East
In reality, when you talked about the AFC East, it was the Patriots and everybody else. New England has won the division 11 years in a row, including winning the division in 2019.
However, Tom Brady is now in Tampa, so that changes things in the AFC East, which means the Bills, Dolphins, and Jets now have a chance to win the division. The most logical choice to take over the AFC East would be the Buffalo Bills, who finished second in the division last season after going 10-6 and securing one of the wild card spots in the AFC.
According to Hall of Fame WR and Bills’ legend Andre Reed, Buffalo is the team to beat in the AFC East.
“Obviously, it opens up the door in the AFC East,” Reed told TMZ Sports about Brady leaving the AFC East. “What team now? Is it going to be the Jets with Sam Darnold. Is it going to be the Bills, who have taken that next step? I’m thinking it’s going to be the Bills to be the class of that division this year…
“You can never count nobody out, but it’s a big move for the AFC, for the league, but not for New England.”
Reed, who has watched his Bills and other teams suffer because of Brady, is happy to see Brady leave the AFC East.
“I’m sure Tom is going to be alright wherever he goes,” Reed said. “However, he finishes his career, whatever team he’s with. Just glad it’s not the AFC East anymore.”
For the first time, in a long time, what will happen in the AFC East is a mystery. If we were picking today, we would probably say the Bills. They have a solid quarterback in Josh Allen, they added Stefon Diggs, and Buffalo has a very good defense. A lot can and will happen in the next few months, but if I had a few dollars lying around, I probably would put it on the Buffalo Bills winning the AFC East in 2020.
McDermott on Allen: ‘Let’s recognize the work this young man has put in, and the growth that he has shown’
In the third quarter of the Bills’ 22-19 loss in OT to the Texans on Saturday, Buffalo was up 16-0, and at that point, many expected that the Bills would be moving onto the Divisional Round. However, mistakes happened, and Deshaun Watson started to make plays, including spinning away from a sack in overtime to set up the game-winning field goal.
Now, the Bills go into the offseason knowing they had a very good shot at winning a playoff game. Fortunately, for the Bills, their quarterback Josh Allen is still young and getting better. Therefore, they seemed to be set at the quarterback position, but Allen, who threw for 264 yards and rushed 92 yards and caught a touchdown pass against Houston, still has some work to do in the offseason.
“He’s made a tremendous amount of progress,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said about Allen on Tuesday. “Let’s start there. Let’s recognize the work this young man has put in and the growth that he has shown. Is there still work to do? Yes, and he’d be the first to tell you that is, in fact, the case. The game did not end the way we wanted it to end, and the reason is because we didn’t play well enough in the second half in particular. We scored field goals; we needed touchdowns.
“You look back and say hey, we were up 13 I believe it was after the half there, we have a takeaway and we had the chance to go up 20 to nothing at that point. Maybe the game changes at that point, or maybe it doesn’t. There are so many things that he can do better, and there are certainly things that I can do better and our entire football team. I think if you take the right approach, that’s being accountable and taking ownership and I know Josh did that, that’s really where it starts. With that, he’ll put the work in, and you know he will be better next season. I think you’ll see another step this offseason into next season.”
At times on Saturday, Allen tried to do too much. Whether it’s taking a bad sack late in the fourth quarter or trying to lateral the football in the open field, the second-year quarterback was just doing too much, something McDermott acknowledged on Tuesday.
“I think it all comes back to, for Josh, just trying to do too much,” McDermott said. “That’s been something we’ve talked about, and that’s something he has to continue to handle as he moves forward and continues to grow in his career, and I’m confident that he will do that. I think that’s the next step for Josh, is that awareness, maturity; however, you want to phrase it.
“It’s the understanding that I don’t have to do it all myself. I’m a tremendous generator and playmaker, but I have pieces around me. As we continue in all honesty, to build the roster, that’s what we have to do. We have to continue to give him pieces that he trusts in addition to the ones he already has.”
Allen got his first taste of playoff action, which should help him moving forward. While he contributed to the lost, Allen had his moments against the Texans, and in 2019, Allen set career-highs in passing yards, touchdown passes, completion percentage, and passer rating, so to McDermott’s point, Allen has made progress in 2019.
Bills’ Allen: ‘I’ve got to lead this team’
The Buffalo Bills(10-6) are back in the playoffs, and the man that led the way is QB Josh Allen. The second-year quarterback and the Bills will travel to Houston on Saturday to face DeShaun Watson and the Texans(10-6).
The Bills are in the playoffs for the second time in three years, but for Allen, who led all quarterbacks with nine rushing touchdowns in 2019, this will be his first taste of playoff action.
“I think everybody knows what we’re playing for, both sides included, it’s win or go home,” Allen said on Tuesday. “It’s the playoffs, it’s what we wanted, what we worked for. Now we gotta go out there and play a game on Saturday.”
The last time Allen played the Texans in Houston, he left the game early with an elbow injury. Allen, who was a rookie at the time, felt that situation helped him grow as a player.
“Obviously going through that game there’s not great memories,” Allen explained. “No one likes getting hurt, but having the opportunity to have Derek [Anderson] and Matt [Barkley] come in, learning from those two guys, it was a blessing in disguise. But having that experience of playing there, seeing a familiar stadium — the crowd’s going to be hyped up a little more being a playoff game, but kind of having a feel for that is experience we can take into that game.”
Fortunately for Allen, he will be backed by an outstanding Bills’ defense. Buffalo ranked second in total defense and second in points allowed, so Allen does not have to do it all for the Bills to be successful against Houston. However, Allen, who set career-highs in passing yards(3089), touchdown passes(20), completion percentage(58.8), and passer rating(85.3) this season, believes he has to lead the way for the Bills.
“I don’t have to be the best quarterback out there, I have to be the best quarterback for this team to help us win a football game,” Allen said. “Regardless of the circumstances that may go on during the game, I’ve got to lead this team and be able to find a way.”
Allen believes the Bills, as a team, will do everything in their power to move onto the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
“I can tell you this, we have a bunch of guys that play for each other,” he said. “We want to win, we don’t want to go home, and we’ve got a bunch of guys that are willing to fight for each other. I love this team, I love this squad, and we’re going to try and do everything in our power to extend our season.”
