Ahh, free agency! It can be exciting. It can be nerve-wracking. It can be something you ignore altogether. No longer! We're bringing you a look at each team's upcoming free agents and what we think. We're going alphanumericabetically by team mascot, in case you were wondering.
If you aren't a Bills fan, Buffalo outperformed expectations. After making the playoffs in 2017 because nobody else wanted in, Beane opted to jettison his quarterback (Tyrod Taylor) and his best offensive lineman (Cordy Glenn) in favor of Josh Allen. The defense was sound, very much so in fact, and kept Buffalo in a lot of games (it even won a few for 'em). Offense is the key focal point for improvement this spring and summer, but adding another playmaker on defense couldn't hurt either.
Luckily for Buffalo, a lot of their talent is not up for negotiation this year, but let's see who is.
Special Teams
- Matt Darr (P) - Darr was brought up to Buffalo midseason after an injury to rookie punter Corey Bojorquez. The injury to Bojorquez came under interesting circumstances. Bojorquez averaged 45.1 Y/P on 45 tries with a long of 60. Darr hung a 40.5 on 20 punts with a 55 max. He's not coming back. Bojorquez is Buffalo's Punter of the Future.
- Reid Ferguson (LS) - A snapper of snaps snapped much snappier and further than your standard snap, long snapper Snap Snapperson is only 24 years old and looks to be snapping longer-than-usual snaps for the Bills long into the future. He'll be back.
Defense
- Vontae Davis (CB) - Technically, Davis is a free agent. He retired at halftime of the Bills' week two match versus the Los Diego San Angeles Chargers. A veteran who spent time with Miami and Indianapolis, Davis ran into injury troubles late in his career and then opted to hang 'em up rather than play for the Bills. He's not welcome in Buffalo, but it would be entertaining to see him sign with a division rival and have to play a game in Buffalo next season. Fingers crossed!
- Lafayette Pitts (CB) - Pitts went to Pitt but sadly was not ever involved with the Steelers. The restricted free agent is a special teamer who doesn't hold much value on the defensive side. Due to the way RFAs are tendered, Buffalo would have to offer Pitts more than he's really worth. He'll probably not be back with the Bills in 2019.
- Lorenzo Alexander (LB) - The Ageless Wonder, Lorenzo has been flourishing in his mid-30s with Buffalo. He picked up 6.5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, 10 quarterback hits, and notched 2 interceptions for good measure. He plays on special teams too, though a little less often that the previous two years. He still appears to have something (a lot?) left in the tank, we think Buffalo would do well to bring him back on another one-year deal.
- Deon Lacy (LB) - Special teamer through-and-through, Lacy is an exclusive rights free agent. He was in on 8 tackles this year which is a solid number for a guy on the field about 20 snaps a game. We admit to not know what Buffalo management may be thinking here, but he seems likely to return.
- Eddie Yarbrough (DE) - Yarbrough is an undrafted free agent who will be entering his third NFL campaign in 2019. His playing time took a bit of a hit as he went from 464 defensive snaps in 2017 to 307 this year. He's an exclusive rights free agent, so the Bills would have to really hate him to not bring him in again. Not sure if he's guaranteed to stick through training camp and into the season though.
- Jordan Phillips (DT) - Miami waived Phillips and Buffalo pounced, bolstering their front rotation with Phillips behind Kyle Williams, Star Lotulelei, and Harrison Phillips. While Jordan didn't perform particularly well, he did manage to defend 4 passes and bring down three men for a loss in very limited snaps. There is reason to believe he could see a heavier workload next year if Buffalo believes in him.
- Kyle Williams (DT) - And now we'll get into why Jordan Phillips could be sticking and playing for the Bills in 2019. Kyle Williams, the lifetime Bill, announced his intention to retire following the final game of the 2018 season. Kyle is currently seventh all-time in games played for Buffalo (183) and fifth on the Bills' sack list despite playing tackle. He'll be missed up front.
Offense
- Taiwan Jones (RB) - This man has made a career out of doing virtually nothing on the field. He plays limited special teams snaps and rarely sees the ball on offense. He must be one hell of a teammate. We suspect he'll end up being a coach, perhaps of the positional variety, before too long. Buffalo could do better, and should.
- Deonte Thompson (WR) - We hated to start two consecutive blurbs with "This" so we started it with this sentence instead. This surprised us. Deonte Thompson has been in the league since 2012. Go figure. He also played for Baltimore, which is TK's team ["Never heard of him"]. Deonte split time between Buffalo and Dallas this year. Playing in five contests for the Bills, he logged 3 receptions on 10 targets. Buffalo can do better, and should.
- Logan Thomas (TE) - Buffalo has an interesting player here. Thomas was the quarterback at Virginia Tech for 3 seasons and came into the league as such. He tried to catch on as a clipboard holder in Arizona, Miami, and New York (Giants) before Detroit helped transition him to tight end. Standing 6'6" and nearly 250 lbs, Thomas makes a picture-perfect pass-catching blocker man. We'd like to see Buffalo, who are dreadfully deprived in the tight-end department, bring him back and also utilize his passing ability once or twice over the season.
- Jordan Mills (RT) - The Bills need to protect Josh Allen if they want to succeed. They also need to run the ball effectively. That starts and ends with the offensive line. Jordan Mills is part of the problem. He's never been great, he's barely good (by NFL standards, mind you), and he shouldn't be starting. Buffalo needs to move on from the human equivalent of the word "meh."
- John Miller (RG) - Surprisingly, there is only one "John Miller" in the league right now. There have been three others, plus two named "Johnny Miller." Anyway, we could copy+paste the same thing from Jordan Mills down here to John Miller. Instead, we'll just say that John is slightly less of a problem than Jordan, but the Bills should look elsewhere in 2019.
- Ryan Groy (C) - Somehow Sean McDermott felt Ryan Groy was worthy of a starting spot along the middle of the offensive line. It makes us seriously question his judgement. Not that Russell Bodine is a clear upgrade, but Groy lost the starting spot after just 2 games and Bodine kept hold until his broken fibula late in the season thrust Groy back into the fold. We hope Bodine comes back healthy, as he's serviceable if the guards and tackles are solid. It doesn't matter if Groy is back or not as long as he's a backup or the backup's backup.
- Jeremiah Sirles (LG) - Lastly is Sir Sirles of ... dang! Lakewood, Colorado. Sirles played all of 138 snaps on offense for Buffalo following a few seasons with Minnesota prior. Beane made waves by signing Sirles to a one-year extension just days ago on January 16th. This is not the kind of move we were hoping to see, but what do we know. This is the team that saw things in Ryan Groy.
Be sure to check out the other 31 teams as well!
