Kansas City Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill on Buffalo Bills DT Justin Zimmer.
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Justin Zimmer came out of nowhere in 2020 for the Bills and became a solid rotational piece along their defensive line. In fact, Zimmer impressed so much that he was brought up during Super Bowl media week.
However, he was not brought up by name.
In the AFC Championship game, the Chiefs topped the Bills, 38-24, for a chance to defend their title against the Bucs in Super Bowl LV on Sunday. In that game, Tyreek Hill had a huge outing.
The highlight reel play for the Chiefs wide receiver was a 71-yard catch and run. It came in typically Hill fashion as his speed did the talking.
So how does Zimmer factor in here?
On that play, Zimmer was hustling. And even though he ended up not catching Hill, the wideout who is nicknamed “cheetah” because of his quickness, gave Zimmer a shoutout this week… but Hill forgot his name.
“No. 61 was actually about to clean my clock,” Hill said referencing playing the Bills. “I probably wouldn’t have played football no more.”
“For him to just do that, 61, I don’t know his name, I wish I knew his name, but for him to do that? To run all the way down the field? He’s great,” Hill added.
Still a sweet shoutout though for Zimmer:
For an (unfortunate) reminder of the play, here it is. As Hill would say, keep an eye out for No. 61 on the Bills:
Zimmer, a 6-foot-3, 292-pound guy was…certainly hauling. The play started on the Chiefs’ 25 yard-line and ended another 70 yards down the field.
The scenic route certainly applies to Zimmer’s NFL career. After going undrafted in 2016, he originally signed with the Bills, was cut, and jumped around to the Saints, CFL, Falcons and then back with the Bills.
It remains to be seen Zimmer’s future holds.
In `12 games with the Bills, Zimmer had one sack, three tackles for loss, and 21 tackles. His biggest play of the season was, without a doubt, his forced fumble on Cam Newton vs. the Patriots to secure a win late.
After that contest, he did get high praise from teammates and coaches alike. Defensive end Jerry Hughes called him the Bills’ “silent assassin” and head coach Sean McDermott was also impressed.
“Awesome to see it. Two guys who have overcome a lot of adversity in their careers,” McDermott said, also referring to safety Dean Marlowe who recovered the fumble.
What the Bills’ decision on Zimmer might come down to his the finances. First, he’s slated for a 2021 cap hit of $920K. Not a large one, but depending on where the salary cap lands in the NFL, it could reportedly be between $175 million and $186M area, due to COVID-19 causing financial difficulties. The Bills are approximately $6M over that $175M right now.
Zimmer has no dead cap hit on his deal, so if the Bills were to cut him, they’d get his entire cap hit off their books for a guy who only played in 26 percent of defensive snaps this season.
But again, that’s not a large hit and much larger ones can be found on the defensive line by general manager Brandon Beane. Perhaps most telling about Zimmer’s value comes via Pro Football Focus as the football analytics outlet graded him the 31st best defensive tackle in the league this season. For that cap hit? The Bills might be foolish to move on from him… and Hill would probably agree.
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