buffalo bills free agency – Page 8

PFF calls Bills DT Jordan Phillips ‘overrated’ free agent

Pro Football Focus named Buffalo Bills DT Jordan Phillips the NFL’s most overrated defensive tackle free agent.

Based on their grades over the recent years, Pro Football Focus clearly hasn’t been a big fan of Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Jordan Phillips. Having said that, the defender took another shot from the football analytics outlet recently.

PFF tabbed one “overrated” and one “underrated” free agent at every positional group. Among defensive tackles, Phillips was called the negative of the two.

Here’s why PFF says Phillips is an overrated free agent target:

Some will point to Phillips’ 9.5 sacks as evidence of solid pass-rush skills for a man of his size (341 pounds), but those sacks represent 10 of just 25 total pressures over the season. And frankly, if you run through Buffalo’s tape and look at them, you will be far from impressed by those sacks. Phillips has never earned an overall PFF grade north of 60.0 for a season, and he has yet to clear 30 total pressures over 16 games.

Overall, PFF’s final 2019 grade on Phillips was very harsh. His 51.8 grade via the analytics outlet named him the 104th best defensive tackle in the league last year.

While PFF’s thoughts do sort of back the Bills’ decision to let Phillips test the open market, that grade does seem too low. Phillips’ game did struggle with consistencies at times, but you can’t take away his 9.5 sacks and other career-best numbers while working in a rotation, not a full-time starter role. He earned those and could be in line for a bigger payday than the Bills want to give him.

On the flip side though, PFF named the most underrated defensive tackle as DJ Reader. Maybe that’s a good sign for the Bills since they reportedly have interest in adding him this offseason.

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Bills 2020 free agent profile: DE Shaq Lawson

Buffalo Bills free agency profile for defensive end Shaq Lawson.

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).

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 defensive end Shaq Lawson:

Stats

2019: 15 games played, 32 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, 2 passes defended, 1 forced fumble
Bills: 50 games played, 108 tackles, 25 tackles for loss, 16.5 sacks, 10 passes defended, 5 forced fumbles
Career: 50 games played, 108 tackles, 25 tackles for loss, 16.5 sacks, 10 passes defended, 5 forced fumbles

How acquired

2016 NFL Draft, Round 1, pick 19

Previous contract

Four-year, $10.2 million rookie deal (current age: 25)

Breakdown

Shaq Lawson featured in the pretty deep rotation the Bills played in Sean McDermott’s defense last year along the defensive line. He had a strong year, the best in his career. Lawson saw a carer-high number of sacks (6.5), tackles for loss (13), and playing time with 483 total, but that’s just under half of the team’s defensive snaps played in 2019.

Lawson is a free agent because the Bills decided not to pick up the fifth-year option on his contract, thinking he’s not worth that heavy price tag. The 25-year-old said not getting his option picked up was a big motivating factor for him, but he’s not slighting Buffalo. He said he’d be open to returning at the team’s locker cleanout day after the season ended.

What are the Bills’ options?

Lawson and Jordan Phillips have very similar circumstances and you can put Lawson into the category of letting him hit the market. Although by comparison, one could think that there’s a better chance of the Bills trying to come to a deal with Lawson before free agency open, rather than Phillips, who’s definitely going to hit the market.

What should they do?

While the Bills could use their first-round pick on a pass rusher, consider this a post about the Bills retaining Lawson. At only 25, he’s entering the prime of his career and had a solid season. Jerry Hughes will be back, but he’s turning 32, so the Bills need to keep some youth around. Lawson’s 6.5 sacks isn’t overly impressive, but Lawson is trending in the right direction and has been known for his stout run defense. If the Bills do want room for a top pass rusher, pairing Lawson with a first rounder and cutting Trent Murphy to make room could be a better option.

Of course, this all comes down to dollars and cents. Spotrac projects Lawson’s next contract at a yearly salary of $7.6 million. That seems about right as Lawson’s rookie fifth-year option would’ve been around $9.1 million. If the Bills can keep it under $8 million, Lawson could me a profitable signing to keep around. But if it gets higher, that money could be put toward a free agent addition instead.

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Shaq Lawson says ‘opportunity’ not there with Bills last season

Buffalo Bills DE Shaq Lawson tells fan he didn’t get opportunities with Buffalo Bills in 2019.

Defensive end Shaq Lawson is among the Bills’ biggest free agent names. He’s slated to hit the open market on March 18, which seems more and more likely with each passing day.

On Monday evening, Lawson took to social media and made a bit of a damming statement about his 2019 season with the Bills. Responding to a fan, the 25-year-old said he “didn’t get the opportunity” to live up to the “hype” as the fan said, likely referencing Lawson’s status as a former first-round pick.

Here’s the exchange:

Lol didn’t get the opportunity lol I didn’t start one game last year. Only played 47% of the snaps. Still finish second in sacks and first for TFL https://t.co/O75JgTY3mb

— Shaq Lawson (@Shaq_Lawson90) March 9, 2020

This doesn’t mean that Lawson isn’t unhappy with the Bills. He did say at the end of the season at locker cleanout day that he would be open to returning to Buffalo. But Lawson does seem to want more snaps in his future. In terms of his snaps played, in 15 games, Lawson saw 47 percent of the Bills’ defensive snaps last season. None of those games were starts, something Lawson also points out.

Despite his lack of playing time, Lawson had a career-best year with 6.5 sacks, and 13 tackles for loss. Could those numbers be even better with more playing time?

Connecting the dots, it wouldn’t be surprising for Lawson to look into a one-year prove-it deal with a team that will want to give him more snaps. Lawson’s teammate and fellow free agent Jordan Phillips, did just that last year, and he’s in line for a big payday, too.

Buffalo might have to cough up the dollars and snaps if they want to retain Lawson.

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Report: Bills show interest in Texans free agent DT DJ Reader

Buffalo Bills reportedly are interested in Houston Texans pending free agent DJ Reader.

According to The Houston Chronicle, the Bills are one of three teams reportedly interested in D.J. Reader.

Reader is considered on of the better defensive tackles slated to hit the open market in the coming weeks, as the NFL’s free agency period opens on March 18. Per Spotrac‘s projection heading into free agency, Reader could land a deal with near $12 million per season.

The 25-year-old is looking to cash in as his rookie contract is expiring. He was the Texans’ fifth-round pick at the 2016 NFL Draft.

Reader has been incredibly health in his career, playing in at least 14 games in all four of his seasons. In 61 career games, he has 154 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, and 6.5 career stats. In 2019, he improved his pass-rushing skills, as he recorded 2.5 sacks and 13 QB hits. Prior to the season, he had 11 total career QB hits in his first three seasons combined.

Per Pro Football Focus, Reader was among the NFL’s best lineman last season. His overall grade of 85.5 was the seventh-best defensive tackle grade the analytics outlet handed out in 2019.

The Bills have already invested heavily in their defensive line, with Star Lotulelei previous signing a five-year, $50 million contract, along with investing a first-round pick in Ed Oliver at last year’s draft.

While the Bills do also have talent in Harrison Phillips in their rotation, the Bills may lose Jordan Phillips via free agency this offseason. With the rotation the Bills play along Sean McDermott’s defensive line, Reader would certainly have a place.

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Instant analysis: Bills reported add CB Josh Norman

Instant analysis for the Buffalo Bills’ reported signing of cornerback Josh Norman.

The Bills made their first move of free agency month in March before the free agency period even opens, adding corernback Josh Norman, reportedly on a near worth $8 million per season if incentives are reached.

The Bills are no strangers to adding players before the free agency period opens since Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane took over operations. The club has done so on numerous occasions, such as deals they struck with corner Vontae Davis and wideout Duke Williams in recent memory.

Beane first mentioned being interested in adding Norman at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine in the past few weeks. He confirmed interest but said things are in the early stages.

In Norman, the Bills are getting another player who thrived under McDermott’s watch while he was with the Carolina Panthers. Norman, now 32, had an All-Pro season in 2015 in McDermott’s defense.

But the Bills are still rolling the dice here a bit. Over the past few seasons, things haven’t gone well for Norman. After being franchise tagged and refusing to report to the Panthers after that 2015 season, Norman eventually signed with the Washington Redskins. There, he regressed mightily.

Just this past season alone, he ranked as Pro Football Focus’ 111th-best cornerback in the NFL. It hasn’t been just this season, either. Per PFF, in his first six seasons, Norman allowed 13 touchdowns. In 2019, he allowed seven and over the past two seasons combined, 16 total.

So the Bills are gambling that it wasn’t Norman struggling, it was his fit in the defense run by the Redskins. But as we’ve learned from McDermott, things are not just handed to players under any circumstances. The coach proved that to certainly be true several times, including last season, when he began starting defensive tackle Jordan Phillips over first-round pick Ed Oliver. Norman will have been told this, but he’ll certainly be interested in regaining some respect after his Redskins tenure.

The main competition for Norman in the Bills’ secondary will be Levi Wallace. While a pending free agent himself, he’s an exclusive-rights free agent. That means if the Bills want Wallace back, which, why wouldn’t they given needs for depth? The Bills basically get him for next to nothing. An EFRA, if offered a contract, a league-minimum one, by their team, they have to sign it or sit out an entire year.

But Wallace lost some playing time to Kevin Johnson last season, at times. Down the stretch, the two were splitting some playing time, although Wallace was seeing sightly more snaps per game over Wallace.

The Bills currently have $83 million in salary cap space, the fourth-most in the NFL prior to Norman’s signing. Bumping that down $6 million, his base salary, that’s still a lot, so maybe Johnson returns, but it seems unlikely.

Connecting some dots, Johnson had a solid season for the Bills and played 16 games. He came to Buffalo on a cheap deal because he had a slew of injury issues in his first few seasons with the Texans. Johnson was a first-round pick himself, so his talent levels, combined with the fact that he played 16 games last season for Buffalo, he’ll want to get paid. Did he price himself out of consideration for the Bills? It’s possible. But he’ll likely test the open market, and maybe then circle back to the Bills, but doubtful at this point since there’s even further competition for him to earn playing time via Norman.

Johnson earned a 71.9 overall playing grade last season via PFF’s grading system. That made him the 23rd best cornerback in the NFL per the analytics outlet’s numbers (although, he split playing time, he was not a full-time start seeing the high number of snaps others would). Wallace played well too though, landing at 44th (67.6). Not a big drop off, but again, Johnson will want to cash in on his numbers.

Substituting Norman out for Johnson is a certainly a bold move by the Bills. Johnson will get another contract somewhere and in due time, we’ll see the numbers for comparison’s sake. But bringing in a free agent veteran cornerback in the past has burned the Bills in Vontae Davis and even in EJ Gaines, who wasn’t what he used to be, either.

Norman’s 205 All-Pro year saw him notch 56 tackles, 18 passes defended, four interceptions and three fourced fumbles. In 111 career games, Norman has 14 interceptions, 12 forced fumbles and 79 passes defended.

One way or another we’ll find out if Norman’s talents will shine again in McDermott’s defense.

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