NFL notebook: Bills sign first-round pick LB Edmunds

First-round draft pick Tremaine Edmunds signed with the Bills.
First-round draft pick Tremaine Edmunds signed with the Bills.
The Buffalo Bills signed linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, one of their first-round picks in the NFL Draft, the team announced Saturday. Edmunds, selected No. 16 overall by the Bills, signed a four-year deal. Buffalo traded up six spots to grab the 20-year-old Edmunds, who already has made an impression on quarterback Josh Allen, who was taken by the Bills at No. 7 overall. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Edmunds was the top-rated outside linebacker by NFLDraftScout.com after registering 213 tackles, including 33 for loss, and 10 sacks in his final two seasons at Virginia Tech. -- Andrew Luck is still not throwing, but first-year Indianapolis Colts coach Frank Reich is not concerned. Reich told the Indianapolis Star on Saturday that Luck is doing "exceptionally well" in his rehab from shoulder surgery that forced him to miss the 2017 season. Luck has not thrown a pass since the 2016 regular-season finale, and Colts general manager Chris Ballard said last month that he doesn't expect the quarterback to begin throwing until training camp. Luck, the overall No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, admitted he "pushed a little too hard" in his attempt to return to action after having surgery to repair a torn labrum Jan. 15, 2017. Recurring soreness in Luck's shoulder prompted the Colts to finally shut him down two weeks after he returned to practice in early October. He was placed on injured reserve Nov. 2. -- Detroit Lions rookie coach Matt Patricia received more support from his former team after the revelation of a sexual assault indictment against him from the 1990s. New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels cited the "high character" and "integrity" of Patricia, a longtime assistant with the club, the Boston Globe reported. Patricia, who was hired away as the defensive coordinator of the Patriots, claims he was falsely accused of the charges that led to an indictment on one count of aggravated sexual assault for an alleged incident involving a 21-year-old woman on South Padre Island (Texas) in 1996. -- Josh Rosen did not take long to make an impression with his new teammates -- even if there were a few wobbles along the way. Rosen saw his first action with the Arizona Cardinals on Friday on the first day of the team's rookie minicamp and provided reinforcement as to why he was taken with the 10th overall pick in last month's NFL Draft. "I think you can tell that he had some little jitters early on," first-year Cardinals coach Steve Wilks told reporters. "But he's so confident, and you can see that as he went on with practice. He settled down a little bit, settle in. Throws were on time. The accuracy was there. Everything that we know about him, you saw later on in practice." Rosen, who signed a four-year contract worth $17.84 million Thursday, initially was rated the No. 2 college quarterback by NFLDraftScout.com senior analyst Rob Rang. -- Safety Jessie Bates was among three draft picks signed by the Cincinnati Bengals, the team announced Saturday. Bates, Cincinnati's second-round selection out of Wake Forest, had six interceptions and nine pass breakups in two seasons with the Demon Deacons. He registered 179 tackles, including 9.5 for losses, and two forced fumbles. He also averaged 9.0 yards on 26 punt returns, bringing back one for a touchdown. The Bengals also signed their fourth- and fifth-round selections -- running back Mark Walton of Miami (Fla.) and cornerback Darius Phillips of Western Michigan. -- New York Giants coach Pat Shurmur wants safety Landon Collins to stop speaking publicly about teammate Ereck Flowers' situation with the team. Collins recently told WFAN that Flowers, a tackle, has avoided the Giants' offseason program because he is upset that the team signed free agent tackle Nate Solder. The move means that Flowers is being shifted from left tackle to right tackle. "That's not for Landon to talk about," Shurmur said, via the New York Daily News. "I don't think our players should be talking about another players' situation." -- The Arizona Cardinals signed three draft picks to contracts: fourth-round running back Chase Edmonds, sixth-round cornerback Chris Campbell and seventh-round offensive lineman Korey Cunningham. Edmonds was a three-time All-American at Fordham, starting all 44 games he played. He set school and Patriot League records in rushing yards (5,862), touchdowns (74), rushing touchdowns (67) and all-purpose yards (7,374). Campbell started all 13 games last season at Penn State. He had a career-high 45 tackles, one sack, one interception, two tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and a team-best 12 pass breakups in 2017. Cunningham started 24 straight games at tackle for Cincinnati. -- New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady hopes to reach a career milestone: 1,000 rushing yards. Brady posted a workout video on Instagram of himself running on a beach carrying a football with a resistance band around his waist being held back by another person. "OK, so the main reason I'm still playing is I haven't hit 1,000 career rushing yards yet. ... 32 to go!" he wrote. Brady has 968 career rushing yards on 557 carries -- a 1.7 yards average -- with 17 touchdowns. That is the most carries in NFL history for any player with less than 1,000 career rushing yards. In 2017, Brady ran for 28 yards on 25 rushes. -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed rookie offensive lineman Alex Cappa, the team announced Saturday. Cappa, Tampa Bay's third-round pick (No. 94 overall) in the NFL Draft, signed a four year contract. The 6-foot-6, 305-pounder is the first player drafted out of Humboldt State since 1992. He was named the top offensive lineman in the Greater Northwest Athletic Conference in each of his four seasons. -- Perhaps because he's aware of the future, Detroit Lions running back Ameer Abdullah is voicing discontent on how he has been utilized in the past. A combination of injuries and lack of productivity since Abdullah was selected in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Lions has left him discouraged and the team seeking other options to bolster its ground game. Abdullah rushed for 552 yards while starting 11 of 14 games last year but only had two games with at least 20 carries while he was limited to 11 or fewer attempts eight times. Detroit was last in the NFL in rushing in 2017 with an average of 76.3 yards per game and addressed the ground game in the offseason by signing free agent LeGarrette Blount and taking Auburn's Kerryon Johnson in the second round of the NFL Draft. -- Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Derek Barnett underwent surgery for a hernia after the end of last season, according to a published report. With an estimated six-week timetable for recovery, Barnett should be at or close to full health, PhillyVoice.com reported, citing a source. Barnett appeared in 15 regular-season games with the Eagles, who was selected with their first-round pick (No. 14 overall) in the 2017 NFL Draft. He registered five sacks despite not starting a game and also came up big during the team's Super Bowl run. -- The Seattle Seahawks thinned out the crop for their backup quarterback derby by waiving Stephen Morris, the team announced. Morris was released one month after he was signed by the Seahawks, leaving Austin Davis and rookie Alex McGough as the lone backups behind starter Russell Wilson. Morris, an undrafted free agent out of the University of Miami, has never played a down in the NFL. He has spent time on the roster of four teams since 2014.

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