The Bills have had quite an impressive offseason. Here’s a look at some of the moves they have made.
Signing DT Star Lotuleilei: B+
The Bills signed DT Star Lotuleilei to a five-year contract worth $50 million. Lotuleilei,who spent the previous five seasons with the Carolina Panthers, is the Bills most expensive free agent signing this offseason. He doesn’t light up the stat sheet, but he plays the role of a bull-rusher who can close holes in the offensive line so that running backs can’t gain any yards. His durability, and familiarity with former Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator and now Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott’s defensive scheme also played a role in Lotuleilei’s signing. Although it was an expensive signing, the Bills addressed one of their biggest needs by signing Lotuleilei.
Resigning Kyle Williams: A
Although Williams’ production has been trending downward over the past two years, his locker room presence, his community involvement, and popularity with Bills Mafia cannot go unnoticed. Kyle Williams currently ranks 11th in franchise history for number of games played (167), fifth in sacks (43.5), and according to pro-football-reference.com, is the only DT to have scored a rushing TD in Bills history. The Bills signed Williams to a one-year deal worth five million dollars, but it will be worth every penny
Trading Away QB Tyrod Taylor and LT Cordy Glenn: A
QB Tyrod Taylor was traded to the Cleveland Browns for their third round pick, which is the first in the third round. LT Cordy Glenn was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals. In addition to Glenn, the Bengals received the 21st overall pick and the Bills’ fifth round pick. The Bills came away with the 12th overall pick and the Bengals’ sixth round pick. Both of these trades created a lot of cap room and draft picks, which is like jet fuel for ‘The Process’ to work. At this point its assumed the Bills are trading up into the top 10 of this year’s draft, there’s a chance that they use picks acquired in these two trades to get into a prime spot to draft their franchise quarterback.
Signing QB AJ McCarron: C+
McCarron was signed to a two-year $10 million deal. McCarron started three games in four years as Andy Dalton’s backup on the Cincinnati Bengals. I’m giving the signing of AJ McCarron a C+ grade under the assumption that the Bills will trade up in the upcoming NFL Draft, to one of the top slots of the draft to pick one of the premier college quarterbacks coming out of college this year. But as of right now, the Bills have McCarron or Nathan ‘The-Guy-Who-Threw-Five-Picks-In-One-Half’ Peterman as QBs on the roster, so they’d better trade up in the draft. The aforementioned trades and practically everything done in preparation for this offseason will be pointless, if the Bills roll with McCarron as their starting QB for the 2018 season.
Photos by Keith Allison, Jeffery Beall, and coalman767 licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic.
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