Buffalo pulls off big deals for future
The Buffalo Bills’ offseason overhaul isn’t over yet with receiver Sammy Watkins and cornerback Ronald Darby the latest players to be sent packing.
The Bills dealt both starters in separate blockbuster trades Friday as part of an effort to reshape the roster under new coach Sean McDermott.
Watkins was traded to the Los Angeles Rams, while Darby was sent to the Philadelphia Eagles. Buffalo addressed both positions by acquiring receiver Jordan Matthews from Philadelphia and cornerback E.J. Gaines from the Rams.
The Bills also continued looking to the future by further stockpiling 2018 draft selections. They acquired a secondround pick from Los Eagles, Angeleswhileand also a thirdsending rounder from the a sixth-round pick to the Rams.
Add in the acquisition of the Chiefs’ firstround pick in a trade completed in April, and the Bills now have two picks in each of the first three rounds next year.
The additional picks provide Bills new general manager Brandon Beane assets in a draft that looks like it will have several top-end quarterback prospects.
“This is not a throwin-the-towel thing at all,” Beane said.
Cowboys
The NFL suspended star running back Ezekiel Elliott for six games, concluding a yearlong investigation of the league’s leading rusher into whether he injured his former girlfriend in three separate incidents last summer. According to the letter Elliott received informing him of the suspension, the NFL believed he used “physical force” three times in a span of five days in a Columbus, Ohio, apartment in July 2016 resulting in injuries to Tiffany Thompson’s face, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, wrists, hips and knees. She was his girlfriend at the time. In announcing the suspension under the NFL’s personal conduct policy, the league said its investigation was based on photographs, text messages and other electronic evidence. Elliott, 22, has three days to appeal the ruling.
Packers
Coach Mike McCarthy said the team submitted videos to the NFL of hits by Eagles players that knocked out Green Bay’s Malachi Dupre and Damarious Randall on separate plays. McCarthy said he expected the league to evaluate the hits from a preseason game Thursday night from the perspective of player safety. McCarthy said Dupre and Randall were both in the concussion protocol.
Ravens
Quarterback Joe Flacco will soon return to practice, but he won’t play in a game before Baltimore opens the regular season at Cincinnati.
Broncos
A person with knowledge of the diagnosis said Denver nose tackle Billy Winn will miss the 2017 season with a right knee injury. Winn was caught under the pile on a Bears run in the teams’ game Thursday night .