that needed to be returned. on the question of the larger claim that trusty was making, that as president, donald trump had, quote, unfettered authority, the point of the very law he s talking about, the presidential records act, is about setting hard, defined rules about the handling of these documents. to quote the national archives, the pra, the presidential records act, changed legal ownership of the official records of the president from private to public, and it established a new statutory structure under which presidents and subsequently nara must manage the records of their administration. in fact, if you read the law, this is the section, 2203. it has all the rules about how records are supposed to be handled. and the very real limits on what the president can and cannot do. trusty went on to say this last night. and so, if he wants to declassify them, if he wants to personalize them under the presidential record act, that is his right.
The Bills signed defensive end Mario Addison to a three-year, $30 million deal last offseason, and defensive tackles Quinton Jefferson and Vernon Butler to two-year deals worth $13.5 million and $15 million, respectively. They also drafted defensive end AJ Epenesa in the second round and hired defensive line coaches Jacques Cesaire and Eric Washington.
Toward the latter part of the season, the defensive line s level of play rose with Buffalo s entire defense. However, with several additions and defensive tackle Star Lotulelei opting out, there was no avoiding its lull at the beginning of the season. I don t think as a group they were in sync early; no preseason [because of the coronavirus pandemic] probably didn t help that group with all the changes including both coaches there, Bills general manager Brandon Beane said. Eric did a great job, and Leslie Frazier, too, of figuring out what these guys do well. We were a little smaller up front this year, just the way it worked out.
Backup quarterback, that is.
Since arriving in Buffalo as a free agent in October 2018, veteran Matt Barkley has served as Josh Allen s backup. In those three seasons, Barkley has completed 53 of 97 passes for 788 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions, making one spot start in 2018. He is a free agent once again in 2021, and the decision to bring him back is complicated, thanks to the presence of 2020 fifth-round pick Jake Fromm.
The Georgia product, like every other rookie in last year s class, did not have a normal offseason because of the coronavirus pandemic. Fromm s year was even more unique, considering he dealt with an offseason controversy and the Bills made him the team s emergency quarterback, which involved him practicing separately from the rest of the team throughout the week and remaining socially distant inside the Bills facility.
We just never really got that position, Beane said. At the end of the year, I thought we did a little bit, Dawson started to get his groove. But it was never where the opposing defense was like, man, we ve got to stop their tight ends from going off. So we ll into look to that group. At the end of the day, we d love to have a guy like what we just faced in Kansas City they don t come very often. But that s what we want. We ve got some guys here we want to continue to develop and see what happens. Obviously, if there s ways to add competition, whether that s in free agency or the draft, we would do that, as well.
The NFL s salary cap for the 2021 season, once believed to reach as high as $215 million, is now expected to drop to about $180 million according to ESPN s Adam Schefter. That s a tough break for the Bills, who will need to clear significant space in order to afford Milano and fellow free agent Jon Feliciano, a guard.
Per Spotrac, Milano s market value is $13.8 million per year. While it s unclear whether the Bills are willing to pay that figure, the team is absolutely willing to let him chase it. We d love to be able to get Matt back. He knows that, Bills general manager Brandon Beane said. I shared that with him and I m sure [coach] Sean [McDermott] has as well. The business side matters. He s earned the right to go to free agency and see what his market bears.