Bills, Jerry Hughes in talks about a new deal

The Buffalo Bills don't want to let defensive end Jerry Hughes leave in free agency and the two sides are working together to make sure that doesn't happen. 

Bills general manager Doug Whaley indicated Thursday that communication has picked up in the last 24 hours. 

"We’ve sent a proposal over to his representatives. His representatives have sent a counterproposal. I just got off the phone with Jim Overdorf, who talked with their representatives at length last night," said Whaley. "There’s an open line of communication. I haven’t met with J.O. yet to see how close we are or if we’re close at all. I’ll meet with him soon."

Many have criticized the Bills about not having a legitimate starting quarterback, but Whaley believes that can help them spend on other positions. 

"We can afford to invest in that defensive line because we don’t have a large part of our salary cap eaten up by a marquee quarterback," said Whaley. "So that affords us the ability to be able to try to keep a Jerry Hughes and pay him what he’s worth. The way we have to play we’re going to have to have a strong defense and get after the quarterback and run the ball."

Hughes has certainly proven he can get after opposing quarterbacks, recording 10 sacks in each of the past two seasons.