Here's the Bills news of note for May 24th.
1 - Why Poyer needed a fresh startIt took Jordan Poyer four NFL seasons to earn a starting job as a safety. Carrying that starting role at safety into the 2016 season in Cleveland, Poyer's season was cut short by a lacerated kidney, sustained on a brutal blind side hit on a punt return. And though Poyer feels blessed he could recover and continue his career, heading into this offseason he needed a change.
"It was a rough three years in Cleveland," said Poyer in an appearance on the John Murphy Show. "We didn't win a lot of football games, but met a lot of good friends who I'll have for the rest of my life. It's hard. You play this game to win. That's why you love the game. It's hard to win on Sundays and it's tough going into the locker room on Monday, loss after loss after loss and wondering when the switch is going to turn, or if it's going to turn. I learned a lot and to just keep working and keep pushing and keep getting better."
Poyer appeared in 36 games over three seasons for the Browns and went 10-26 over that span.
"I wasn't fortunate enough to win a game last year because I was out for the season by Week 6 before they finally won a game in Week 15," he said. "It's tough. You play this game to win because you love it and when things aren't going right that's when you find out who people are. I just kept my head down and tried to work as hard as I could to help the team win games.
"That was the big thing coming into this offseason. I wanted that change. I needed that change. I have a lot of good friends on that team in Cleveland. I hope they're able to do something different up there, but I needed a change for myself. With having a daughter, getting engaged, I needed a change."
Poyer got engaged this past December and has a five-month old daughter.
2 - Rule change rundownThere were a couple of anticipated rules changes that were approved by the NFL's ownership Tuesday at the league meetings in Chicago, and some that were unexpected. Here's a brief rundown.
A - The overtime period was reduced from 15 to 10 minutes of game clock.
B - Teams can now put up to two players on injured reserve, who can return to the active roster if healthy after six weeks. They can become active eight weeks from the time they're put on I-R.
C - The prohibitions were relaxed for celebrations after big plays. The ball can again be used as a prop, group celebrations are allowed as well as celebrations on the ground.
There are still celebrations that can be flagged that use weapon imagery, taunting are offensive or that are prolonged and delay the game.
D -One roster cut - the league did away with the roster cut down from 90 to 75. Now the only cut will be from 90 to 53 for the regular season, giving 15 players on each preseason roster a crack at a fourth preseason game.
3 - McDermott seen as single best offseason addESPN.com put together a list of the single best additions made by each NFL club this offseason. For the Bills the choice was pretty obvious.
Head coach Sean McDermott was tabbed as the best offseason add for the club. Here was their assessment as to why.
Buffalo Bills
Coach Sean McDermott
Time will tell if McDermott is the best pickup for the Bills this offseason, but there is no doubting he was the most important addition to the organization. Owners Terry and Kim Pegula have seemingly consolidated the power of their football operations under McDermott, whose strong standing within the organization was evident in the Pegulas' decision to fire general manager Doug Whaley after the draft. The Bills' marketing slogan for the 2017 season will be, "It starts with one," and they have made it clear that McDermott is that one leader.
