Former NFL agent and CBSSports.com NFL analyst Joel Corry doesn’t see the Bills matching the offer sheet signed by Mike Gillislee Tuesday with New England.
Buffalo Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the details. Here is his report:
Here’s the Bills news of note for April 19.
1 – Corry weighs in on Gillislee offer sheet
On Tuesday afternoon the New England Patriots signed Bills RB Mike Gillislee to a two-year offer sheet worth a reported $6.4M with a $4M figure in the first year of the deal. It’s a deal former NFL agent and CBSSports.com NFL analyst Joel Corry doesn’t see Buffalo matching.
Corry, in an appearance on the John Murphy Show, said that the Patriots, like any other team, tried to make the deal cost prohibitive to match.
“You always do that,” said Corry. “That’s what the Bills did to get Charles Clay from Miami as a transition player. The Bills had a balloon payment in the second year so Miami couldn’t match. You do it by design where you front load them or put a lot of guaranteed money in there to discourage the team from matching the offer.”
When asked if he thought it would be wise for the Bills to match the Gillislee offer sheet, Corry doesn’t believe it makes sense.
“No, I think that ship has sailed,” said Corry.
The Bills would add a fifth-round pick to their current lot of six draft choices in the 2017 draft if they ultimately choose not to match. In a draft that is uncommonly deep, including the running back position, perhaps it was Buffalo’s intent to have another team try to sign Gillislee in the hopes of adding another draft choice.
It would give Buffalo three fifth-round picks next week.
2 – Jeremiah wouldn’t use a top 10 pick on a QB
It’s been difficult to find any kind of consensus on this year’s crop of quarterback prospects. Not only in terms of which QB is tops in the group, but on their value in this year’s draft pool. Some feel as many as two quarterback prospects could go in the top 10. Others wonder if two will go in the first round.
For NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah, he wouldn’t use a top 10 pick on a quarterback this year.
“When you look at what could be available, I think it’s going to be a much better group next year than we have this year,” Jeremiah said. “I don’t think it makes a whole lot of sense there (in the top 10). I have Watson 28, Trubisky 32, Kizer 33, just in terms of where they are on my top 50 list.
“I’m all for taking a quarterback if you think he’s the 12th best player and you end up taking him at six, for example. I can get on board with that. But, man, taking a guy who is kind of a borderline late one, early two, vaulting him all the way up into the top 10 in this year’s draft, I don’t think it’s smart business.”
Jeremiah believes if a team in the top 10 is sold on one of the top quarterback prospects they should look to trade down to get a better value.
“If you’re set on one of those guys, I would be more inclined to trade back and if one of them falls in your lap, you take him,” he said. “If not, there will still be other options available. I would not take a quarterback at the top of this group. In terms of stacking them up, I’ve gone back and forth on these guys so much because they have their different strengths and weaknesses. Finally I said Watson, Trubisky, Kizer.”
Jeremiah said he gave the edge to Watson because of the qualities he knows he possesses.
“Poise, toughness, intelligence, leadership, and physically he can make every throw,” said Jeremiah of Watson. “So those are the things I put in the plus column with I am had. That kind of ended up leading me to take him over Trubisky. Things he needs to work on going forward, adjustment post-snap that has got him in some trouble with turnovers, and deep ball accuracy.”
3 – Bills QB Yates excited for Trubisky
There’s a good reason why Bills QB T.J. Yates is excited to see all the buzz around 2017 NFL draft prospect Mitchell Trubisky. Much like Trubisky, Yates is a former North Carolina Tar Heel.
Yates was a fifth-round pick of the Houston Texans, back in the 2011 draft. He’s the highest drafted quarterback prospect in school history. Chris Kupec was the only other UNC quarterback drafted in the modern era when he went in the 15th round of the 1975 draft to the Bills.
Knowing Trubisky a lock to come off the board a lot earlier, Yates is happy to see a Tar Heel signal caller getting major buzz heading into the 2017 draft.
“I think it’s great for the University of North Carolina,” Yates said. “It’s tremendous for Mitchell, to see him – how much success he’s had and how much success he’s going to have. It’s very good for the University for recruiting. Probably, hopefully, get some more big-name quarterbacks in there and continue to grow that program under [UNC Head Coach Larry Fedora]. I hope the best for Mitchell and he’s one heck of an athlete, one heck of a player and he’s going to make some team really happy.”