BillsDaily.com Follow the Bills all year long right here! Our 2012 front office page has launched! Your one stop shopping to all Bills transactions this off season!
Johnson Talks Update: The agent for Stevie Johnson continues to say the Bills have a chance to keep his client off of the free agent market. CJ Laboy told WKBW-TV through an email that Stevie's loyalites remains with the Bills and feels they are a playoff caliber team. He goes on to say that he loves his teammates and Coach Gailey and wants to stay in Buffalo. Laboy is optimistic that things will work out to keep him with the Bills but it is still to early to tell.
Metzelaars TE Coach? The Bills still need to hire a tight ends coach and all signs point to it being the best tight end in club history. Steve Tasker tweeted yesterday that a former roommate will be named the coach at the position. Pete Metzelaars roomed with Tasker for a time back in their playing days and he was recently released as the OL coach of the Colts. The Buffalo News reports a source tells them Metzelaars is the guy and that Gailey was convinced by Jim Kelly to hire his former receiving threat.
What 4-3 Means For Personnel: Now that the Bills officially are going to be a 4-3 defense what does it mean for the players? In reality it doesn't mean as much as it does on paper. The Bills barely played the 3-4 last year after injuries struck at a feverish pace. Chris Kelsay, Spencer Johnson, and Alex Carrington will all move back to defensive end after being listed as linebackers last year. Kelsay only played linebacker on just over 10 percent of the plays according to the Buffalo News. Marcell Dareus and Kyle Williams will man the defensive tackle positions. Kelvin Sheppard will start at middle linebacker, Chan Gailey confirmed yesterday. Nick Barnett will likely move to weakside linebacker where he may be less effective as he is used to a 3-4 defense. Shawne Merriman will likely get a shot to prove he's healthy at the strongside backer spot.
One Coaching Spot Available: With the hirings and re-assinging of coaches yesterday the Bills have one open spot on the coaching staff. The opening is at the tight end position and Chan Gailey said he has a lot of quality candidates for the job. He hopes to fill it soon. He said the quality of the prospective hires made the moving of Bob Bicknell to coach the wide receivers possible. Coaching Changes.
Bills Hire Two Coaches: Chan Gailey unveiled his new coaches at a press conference this afternoon. The team announced the hiring of two more coaches, Eric Thatcher as the Defensive quality control coach and Andrew Dees as the assistant offensive line coach. They also moved three coaches to new positions. Bob Sanders will now be in charge of all the linebackers instead of just the outside ones. This is possible as Gailey announced the team will use more four man fronts this year even though they will still use some hybrid looks. Kelvin Sheppard will be the middle linebacker in the 4-3 defense Gailey said today. Bob Bicknell moves from coaching the tight ends to working with the wide receivers. Adrian White now is the assistant defensive backs coach after being the defensive quality control coach for the past four seasons. Thatcher comes from Mercyhurst college where he was the assistant DB coach. Dees was the running backs coach/recruiting coordinator at UMass last year. Front Office Page.
Sanborn Deal: Long snapper Garrison Sanborn has agreed to a three year deal with the team. He was due to become a restricted free agent. He has been with the team for three years and has taken every kick and punt snap.
No Talks With Johnson: WGR is reporting that there have been no new contract talks between the Bills and Stevie Johnson. His agent, C.J. Laboy said there has been dialogue since Buddy Nix held his State of the Bills press conference but no contract talks. He said he's not ready to say that Johnson will wait for free agency which starts on March 13th. He knows the Bills can use the franchise tag and said Johnson's heart is in Buffalo so there is still time to get something done to keep Johnson off the market.
Super Bowl Matchup Set: There was two very exciting games on Championship Sunday and in the end it will be a rematch of Super Bowl XLVII when the Giants and Patriots meet in Indianapolis on February 5th. The Bills split two games with New England this year and lost a close matchup in the Meadowlands against the Giants. Former Bills interim head coach Perry Fewell has his New York defense playing very well. Let us know who you want to win by taking our poll on our homepage.
Bills Lose Assistant: Assistant Offensive Line coach Bobby Johnson has left the team to take the tight ends coaching job with the Jacksonville Jaguars. That opens up another hole on Chan Gailey's coaching staff. There are now two openings on the offensive staff as they need to fill the wide receiver's coaching spot and the assistant offensive line spot. They may also still need to add another linebacker coach that was vacated by Dave Wannstedt's promotion to defensive coordinator. They did add an assistant defensive line coach that wasn't on last year's staff. All the comings and goings are on our front office page.
