Maybe-retired, maybe-not guard Richie Incognito would like to be released from his contract, but the Bills don’t seem to feel inclined to go along, or even really talk about him.
Bills General Manager Brandon Beane deferred when asked about Incognito’s request Monday.
“Um, you know, not going to really get into detail,” Beane said when asked about Incognito, via Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News. “Richie’s on the reserve/retired list, which is not a part of our 90-man roster. That’s really where we’re at. . . .
“I don’t think it’s really the time to get into it. Let’s leave it as is. Sean and I would like to focus on A. any draft questions you’ve got, or players that are here on the 90 man.”
Incognito has gone on a number of bizarre tweetstorms this spring, firing his agents via social media, declaring himself retired, then asking the Bills to cut him free and referring questions to the agents he fired in the first place.
At a practical level, the Bills have some major line issues to sort out, after trading left tackle Cordy Glenn, losing center Eric Wood to a career-ending neck injury and with whatever you call what’s happening with Incognito. But Beane didn’t allow that it would change their draft strategy. They have plenty of picks (two in each of the first three rounds), but plenty of needs including a quarterback.
“Not to our draft strategy, no,” Beane said. “There’s all sorts of surprises that happen. I can’t say that Sean [McDermott] or I had an idea that those three changes would all happen when we walked off the field in Jacksonville, but you’re constantly having to adapt and adjust.
“It’s like a guy going down for injury. What’s our next-best avenue? Who’s out there? . . . We’re always going to continue to try and fill those roles. We tried to do some things in (free agency). We brought in Marshall Newhouse and Russell Bodine, so we did fill a couple of those. And then we’ve got some guys on the roster that we’re happy with, and we’ve got the draft.”
The roster problems are real, but then again so is Incognito’s bind. He could be on the hook for paying back a portion of his signing bonus by retiring, and the Bills have shown after squatting on Anquan Boldin this year that they’re unwilling to turn guys loose for no benefit of their own.