The Buffalo Bills have 12 unrestricted free agents inching their way toward free agency which opens on March 18. On March 16, the Bills can start negotiating with other team’s players and then two days later, the club can officially ink players to deals (although, reports of signings will start on the 16).
On the flip, the Bills’ pending free agents can do the same and sign with another franchise. With the clock ticking, the Bills still have a chance to sign their own free agents to contracts, and might even do so after the market opens.
Bills Wire will do a 12-part rundown of each of Buffalo’s pending free agents leading up to the “tampering period.”
Here’s the free agent profile for Bills free agent offensive lineman LaAdrian Waddle:
Stats
2019: 0 games played
Bills: 0 games played
Career: 61 games played, 2018 PFF grade: 75th best tackle
How acquired
Signed via free agency March 2019
Previous contract
One-year, $2 million deal (current age: 28)
Breakdown
Not much to breakdown here, unfortunately. The Bills added and added and added to their offensive line last season, hoping to find the right mix. Early in training camp, Waddle was taking reps with the depth players. The two-time Super Bowl champion was brought in to potentially find a swing tackle role with the Bills. That came to an end in August when Waddle suffered a season-ending torn quadriceps injury in August.
What are the Bills’ options?
There’s no rush to re-sign Waddle. He might not even get a contract signed until later on this offseason. Unfortunately, that’s a serious injury for an offensive lineman to recover from.
What should they do?
Depending on how the Bills attack the 2020 NFL Draft with their nine picks, they should find a younger option for Waddle. Of course we’ll wish Waddle luck and a healthy recovery, but he wasn’t super high on their depth chart when injured so if he does suit up in the NFL again, it seems like it’d be elsewhere because he’ll want an opportunity for playing time himself. The Bills will be returning at least four of their starters and will probably want younger options to groom behind those fellas.
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