It's been nearly three months since Rex Ryan was named head coach of the Bills in mid-January. He and his coaching staff have been hard at work, but they've also been waiting to get in the classroom with their players to implement their new schemes with the roster they inherit here in Buffalo. That opportunity begins this morning as players report for the club's voluntary offseason conditioning program.
The Bills have been active around the free agency window in 2015, securing players by extension, new contract or trade.
The Bills addressed the contract situations of three exclusive rights free agents on March 5. Buffalo tendered DT Corbin Bryant, WR Justin Brown and WR Chris Hogan.
It went right up to the 11th hour, but a day before the free agent market opened free agent DE Jerry Hughes re-signed with the Bills agreeing to a new multi-year contract. The pass rusher flew to Buffalo on Sunday after contract negotiations made significant progress between the two sides over the weekend.
Buffalo signed kickoff specialist Jordan Gay to a multi-year extension on March 9. Last season, Gay's first with the Bills, he finished ninth in the league in touchback percentage with a success rate of 60.5 percent, improving the team's touchback rate almost 20 percent from 2013 (41.5%) when Buffalo ranked 24th in the league.
The Bills announced on March 10 that Cassel and an undisclosed draft choice had been acquired from the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for undisclosed draft choices. Cassel comes to Buffalo after spending the past two seasons in Minnesota, playing in 12 games for the Vikings while completing 194-of-325 pass attempts for 2,232 yards, 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
Buffalo finalized a player-for-player trade that landed McCoy in Buffalo and sent LB Kiko Alonso to the Eagles on March 10. "I think for every athlete, getting traded comes with a feeling of anger," McCoy said. "I was definitely angry about the trade. I was there for six years. But then to see how much the Bills showed that they wanted me with the contract extending me here. You want to play for a franchise like that."
A power running game needs a fullback so Buffalo didn't waste any time bringing Minnesota free agent Jerome Felton into the fold. "It was first class all the way and they let me know their intentions from the get-go," said Felton. "There was a lot of excitement around it and I know I'm wanted here and I feel good about it and I'm just ready to be a Buffalo Bill."
The Bills made no secret that they would have to add two quarterbacks to the roster. Just three days into free agency Buffalo completed the mission. After acquiring veteran Matt Cassel in a trade with Minnesota, the Bills signed free agent QB Tyrod Taylor on March 12.
Buffalo formally announced that they have signed veteran defensive tackle Kyle Williams to a contract extension on March 13. The 31-year old is coming off his fourth Pro Bowl season in which he racked up 41 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 15 quarterback hits and eight tackles for loss. Williams has tallied 34.5 sacks in his career—the most by any defensive tackle in Bills team history.
A special teams coverage ace for the Bills the past two seasons, led the Bills in special teams tackles in 2013 and 2014.
Wynn, 27, who was originally signed as a free agent by the Bills last April, re-signed in Buffalo on March 14. He appeared in 11 games for Buffalo in 2014 logging 18 tackles, 2.5 sacks and five quarterback hits.
It's been a very busy first week of free agency for the Bills, but the pace has not slowed at all. Buffalo added another free agent for their offense in the second week signing WR Percy Harvin.
Clay has started 47-of-58 games that he has played in his four-year career for the Dolphins, catching 161 passes for 1,809 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Ryan is confident the players will very quickly realize that the staff is eager to get to work with them.
"They're going to recognize immediately how excited we are to be here and what our expectations are with this football team," Ryan told buffalobills.com. "They're going to realize how high we set the bar. The reason for the optimism is because of the players that we have. We feel very good about the players that were here and the guys that we've added to the team. We feel we have a very talented roster. Then they're going to realize the talent that we put together on our coaching staff. I think we have an all-star coaching staff."
The Bills coaching staff is largely new with a handful of holdovers from the previous staff with special teams coordinator Danny Crossman and secondary coach Donnie Henderson being the most notable names. The offense and defense have new coordinators, but both have prior working experience with Ryan. So although the schemes will lead to a measure of change, the dialogue among the staff will be seamless.
"I think it'll just happen naturally," said offensive coordinator Greg Roman. "I think we have a very common vision for what we want to become and I think it's just going to be a natural thing. Rex is very effective communicator, which is great. So I think it'll be pretty organic. It's just going to happen as we go."
Ryan, who is known as a very popular coach with his players, is keenly interested in getting a feel for the personalities in Buffalo's locker room.
"I think that's one of best parts about coming in fresh and brand new is trying to cultivate those relationships and getting to know the guys," said Ryan. "That's something you cherish as a coach, but it's not something you do overnight. It'll play out as the year goes on and things. I'm probably more excited about that than anything else, just getting to know these guys. I know them as players, but the other part in terms of what makes them tick. Who they are off the field as well is important.
"They're going to know with us all the coaches that we brought in every one of them is the same type of guy. Number one they're great teachers. Number two they care about their players and that's going to be obvious."
For the players on defense it sounds as if the staff will be weaving together a healthy mix of what the players have run each of the last two seasons. Buffalo's 2013 defense is a virtual replica of the kind of defense Ryan and Dennis Thurman previously ran in New York, but Thurman was so impressed with the execution of the defense last season that he intends to make use of elements from both schemes.
"We definitely took a look at what they did in 2013 when Mike (Pettine) came in and installed the system," said defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman. "We looked at how the guys performed within it. Looking at that along with 2014 tape and how well they played you have to look at everything as a whole. We did that and we're going to incorporate some of the things they did in 2014 as well because they played very sound fundamental defense."
The heaviest lift this offseason will be on the shoulders of Roman. Not only does he need to determine with coach Ryan who their starting quarterback will be in 2015, but he'll also be implementing an offensive scheme that is in stark contrast to what Buffalo has run on that side of the ball the last few years. Roman however, is undaunted.
"It's very exciting," said Roman. "That's what you want. I think it'll work to our favor because it'll be totally different, and sometimes new is good. I think it will be here. Working against our defense and Dennis (Thurman) I think that's going to be very helpful for us too because they present so many different learning opportunities with what they do on defense. I think it'll help accelerate our preparation.
"It'll evolve and adapt to the players that we have. I think these guys have done an amazing job of going out and being aggressive to get some guys in free agency. I think it'll be a completely different look for the fans when they come and watch us."
At this point Bills fans are still almost four months away from seeing the team up close at training camp. So for now the focus will be laying a foundation for the players within their new systems.
"It's about getting those fundamentals taught," said Ryan. "On defense how we get off blocks, some base calls and some base principles. Same thing on offense, here's our steps, here's how we're going to line up and attack blocking patterns, how we recognize defensive fronts and things like that. It's all going to be taught. When it comes together it's a thing of beauty. There are going to be some growing pains. We're not going to be ready to play the Patriots in a week, but we will be ready to play them in the regular season."
