The Bills have signed 33-year old offensive tackle Cornell Green to a 3-year, $9 million dollar deal.  The 6′6″, 315 pound Green will likely be the starting right tackle for the Bills in 2010.  Green played in 12 games (all starts) for the Raiders last season.  He has now played in 89 games (46 starts) in his NFL career.  Green will be a improvement over Jonathan Scott who signed with the Steelers.

26-year old OT Brad Butler has shocked the Bills by announcing his retirement from the NFL yesterday.  He played in only 2 games (both starts) last season for the Bills missing most of the season due to injury.  Butler played in 33 games (31 starts) in his four years with the Bills.  The Bills will have to find a new starting right tackle for the 2010 season which is a hole they weren’t anticipating having.

The Buffalo Bills have lost 26-year old TE Derek Fine on waivers to the Rams.  Fine played in 8 games for the Bills last season and he caught 9 passes for 64 yards (7.1 avg).  He played in 18 games in his two years with the Bills and he finished up with 19 grabs for 158 yards (8.3 avg) with 1 TD grab in his time in Buffalo.  The Bills won’t miss Fine too much.

23-year old Marshawn Lynch had a lost 2009 season due to suspension for off field conduct.  Lynch then lost his starting RB job to Fred Jackson.  With that in mind the Bills will likely look to trade Lynch before the NFL Draft in April.  He played in 13 games for the Bills last season and he carried the ball 120 times for 450 yards (3.8 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  Lynch also caught 28 passes for 179 yards (6.4 avg) last season for the Bills.  I doubt the Bills would get much more than a third round pick for Lynch but I think they would take that for him.  Lynch has played in 41 games in his three years with the Bills and he has carried the ball 650 times for 2,601 yards (4.0 ypc) with 17 TD runs.  He has also caught 93 passes for 663 yards (7.1 avg) with 1 TD grab in his career.  Lynch appears to me like he is a overrated back and the Bills could use the draft pick to help the defense or draft a WR with it.

Usually a team that misses on their first round pick doesn’t have a great draft but the Bills did.  DE/OLB Aaron Maybin (1st round, #11 overall) out of Penn State did not have a good rookie year for the Bills.  He played in all 16 games for the Bills and he made 18 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss and he forced 1 fumble.  C/G Eric Wood was selected in the first round (#28 overall) out of Louisville.  He played in 10 games (all starts) before getting his leg broke which ended his season.  The best pick the Bills made was when they selected safety Jairus Byrd in the 2nd round (#42 overall) out of Oregon.  He played in 14 games for the Bills last season and he made 45 tackles, defensed 11 passes and he had 9 interceptions (118 return yards).  Byrd was picked to the Pro Bowl as a rookie and it won’t be his last one as long as he keeps playing like he did last season.  Guard Andy Levitre was also selected in the 2nd round (#51 overall) out of Oregon State.  He started every game at guard as a rookie last season for the Bills and he is a good one.  In the fourth round (#121 overall) the Bills took TE Shawn Nelson out of Southern Mississippi.  Nelson played in 13 games for the Bills last season and he caught 18 passes for 157 yards (8.7 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He has a nice little upside.  Safety Nic Harris (5th round, #147 overall) out of Oklahoma played in 15 games for the Bills last season and he made 30 tackles three of which went for a loss.  CB Cary Harris (6th round, #183 overall) out of USC played in only 4 games for the Bills in 2009 but he made an impact as he finished the year with 5 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 2 INTs.  CB/S Ellis Lankster (7th round, #220 overall) out of West Virginia played in 10 games for the Bills last season and he finished up with 5 tackles and 1 pass defensed.

GRADE FOR 2009:  A-

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  A