Newly signed Bills cornerback E.J. Gaines (pictured above) spent the 2018 season with the Cleveland Browns. Gaines signed a one-year deal (Courtesy of Creative Commons).
The new league year is underway, and the NFL is just under one month away from the draft, which begins April 25. For the Buffalo Bills, this means an end to the hectic first few weeks of free agency and the beginning of the pre-draft visitation period for players who have committed to the draft.
Buffalo’s free agency wound down with only a few more small signings, the most noteworthy being cornerback E.J. Gaines. Gaines played for the Bills in the 2017 season and he is now back with the club on a one-year $3.6 million-dollar deal.
The signing adds significant depth to an already deep defensive backfield for Buffalo. Gaines should come into training camp in the summer and compete for the second starting cornerback position alongside second-year cornerback Levi Wallace and newly signed cornerback Kevin Johnson.
Gaines found success as the Bills secondary during the 2017 season and was the 13th rated cornerback in the league that year. His career has been riddled with injuries, but it will be intriguing to see if Gaines can find his groove again as a member of the Bills.
Expect the Gaines signing to be the last significant one of the spring as draft preparation is now at full tilt. Buffalo has already begun to bring in prospects for private workouts.
Before the start of the NFL draft, teams are only allowed to bring in a total of 30 players for private workouts and expect Buffalo to utilize all of them. Teams use these visits to get better perspective on potential draft selections and sometimes even to trick teams into believing they have interest in a prospect when they actually do not.
Thus far, the Bills have hosted several prospects. Some of the most intriguing include defensive tackle Ed Oliver and running back Devin Singletary. It is impossible to know the team’s level of interest in any of these players, but it should be noted that each of these prospects play positions that have been pinpointed as places of need for Buffalo this offseason.
Oliver is considered one of the best defensive players in the draft and could be in play for the Bills at their number nine spot in the first round. Singletary is considered more of a mid-round prospect and could come off the board in the third or fourth round.
Many expect Buffalo to select a running back at some point in the draft because the Bills have the oldest running back tandem in the league with Lesean McCoy and Frank Gore.
Rumors begin to run rampant at this point in the NFL league year and teams are all attempting to disguise what it is that their true intentions are.
Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane will likely preach to the media that the team is open to any and all options with their number nine pick. This means all players are on the board and a trade up or down is not out of the realm of possibility—a trade down makes more sense than a trade up.
Buffalo is in a strong position this year and come draft day, do not be surprised by anything this team does.