After being released by the Buffalo Bills on Wednesday, defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson spoke his mind.
He sounds like he’s taking things in stride.
Josina Anderson, a former ESPN analyst and current podcast host (Undefined with Josina Anderson), sent a message out on her Twitter account indicating that she had spoken to Jefferson, post-cut. In the message, Jefferson refers to the business side of things, but doesn’t sound upset at the team:
Just got off the phone with #Bills DL Quinton Jefferson on his impending release from the team: "It's still fresh, but it's okay. It is a business. Right now, I'm just trying to spend time with the family and figure out what's next."
— IG: JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) March 10, 2021
In releasing Jefferson, the Bills save approximately $6.5 million against the cap. The NFL announced the long-awaited 2021 salary cap a few hours prior to Jefferson being released. That was set at $182.5M, meaning the Bills only had approximately $3M to work with.
It’s currently unknown if Jefferson was asked to restructure his contract with the team, as fellow defensive lineman Vernon Butler did. Regardless, both players signed with Buffalo last offseason via two-year deals, however, the way they were structured, the contracts were only for one year because they could easily be released to save cap space this offseason.
In his lone season with the Bills, Jefferson notched 23 tackles, three for loss, a forced fumble and three sacks. The 27-year-old only had a 59.1 overall grade in 2020 from Pro Football Focus. That ranked him their 87th best defensive tackle in the league.
Along with Jefferson, wide receiver John Brown was also released by the team.
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