Bills Re-Sign OLB Jerry Hughes; Browns Will Have to Look Elsewhere

UPDATE: The Buffalo Bills have re-signed OLB Jerry Hughes. Here are the reported terms of the deal:

#Bills and Jerry Hughes have a 5-year deal worth at least $45M with $20M guaranteed to keep him in Buffalo.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 9, 2015

Vic Carucci reports that at least six other teams were interested in Hughes. I projected a 5-year, $55 million deal with $25 million guaranteed for Hughes when I wanted the Browns to sign him. Cleveland will have to look elsewhere now.

The original story from last night appears below.

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According to Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News (and formerly of Browns.com), the Bills are close to finalizing a deal to retain OLB Jerry Hughes:

The #Bills are close on finalizing a deal to re-sign DE Jerry Hughes, according to an NFL source.

— Vic Carucci (@viccarucci) March 9, 2015

The Bills have already made several big moves prior to free agency this offseason, and retaining Hughes would be the final trick they can pull off. Hughes is my top coveted free agent, due to his connection with Mike Pettine and being a complete player, but if the Bills are able to retain him before he hits the open market, there is nothing Cleveland can do about it...except go harder for Plan B -- Trent Cole of the Philadelphia Eagles. Cole still wants to meet with the Colts, but the Browns might make a bigger push to secure Cole before the madness begins on Tuesday:

Spending the day with Browns today and tommorrow.

— Trent Cole (@Pro_Hunt58) March 8, 2015