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Bleacher Report brought up a blast from the past and connected this person to the Buffalo Bills.
In February, the Carolina Panthers cut defensive tackle Kawann Short. A former second-round pick in 2013, Short spent his entire NFL career with the Panthers.
Almost instantly, many connected the Bills as a team that could be interested in his services because of their need for improving their defensive line at the time. Buffalo decided to take alternative routes, but here’s where B/R comes back into the picture.
The outlet named free agents it “couldn’t believe” were still on the market while naming a couple of potential fits. Short to the Bills was among them:
Remember Kawann Short?
A staple of the Carolina Panthers’ Super Bowl run in 2015, Short was mentioned alongside stars like Geno Atkins and Aaron Donald. The interior pass-rusher has 32.5 sacks over 99 games and received a five-year extension worth $80.5 million from Carolina in 2017 for good reason.
Recent years haven’t been kind to Short, as injuries have limited him to five games over the last two seasons. But ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported in July that Short has been cleared after shoulder surgery and has spoken with multiple teams.
If Short is healthy, he can be a force, even at age 32. In his last major stint of playing time in 2018, he appeared in 14 games and generated an 83.7 PFF grade with three sacks.
While Short is a risk, he’s the type of low-cost, big-upside player a contender like Buffalo could sign to make the pass rush more dynamic, especially since top-10 pick Ed Oliver is sitting on just eight sacks over two seasons.
Best Fit: Buffalo Bills
While the Bills might have been one of the “multiple teams” interested in him when ESPN reported Short was healthy, it seems unlikely he would be signed now. In the middle of their defensive line, the Bills return Star Lotulelei after he opted out last season and he’ll line up next to Oliver.
In terms of depth, Harrison Phillips and Vernon Butler will be the main contributors next season in those roles.
As roster cutdown day came and went, the Bills had many tough decisions to make along their defensive line. So much so that edge defender Darryl Johnson was traded to… the Panthers.
Considering Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott and general Brandon Beane’s connections to Carolina, they’ll know Short. But at this time, he’s more likely to be a guy that the team keeps in mind in case of an injury crisis.
Had Buffalo thought well enough of Short to sign him to compete for playing time in the defensive trenches… it would’ve happened already.
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