Tag: Taylor Rapp

One free agent each NFL team should re-sign in 2024 (including the Bills)

One free agent each NFL team should re-sign in 2024 (including the #Bills):

We’re just one week away from the start of NFL free agency, which begins at 4 p.m. ET on March 13. But the legal tampering window opens two days before that on March 11 at 12 p.m. ET, where teams will be able to negotiate with free agents before the official start of the new league year.

The 2024 salary cap has been set at an historic $255.4 million, and there are a number of teams who have some work to do when it comes to building their rosters. That includes potentially bringing back some impact players currently set to hit the open market.

After taking a look at the pending free agent fits around for each team, our NFL Wire editors identified one in-house free agent (at the time of publication) that each team should prioritize re-signing this offseason. 

Projecting market value for Bills pending free agents

Projecting market value for #Bills pending free agents:

The Buffalo Bills have several important players who are on the cusp of leaving via free agency. General manager Brandon Beane has some difficult decisions to make, as he needs to balance a challenging salary cap situation. At this time, Spotrac highlights the Bills are still $41 million over the cap.

The Bills still have some time to ink these players to extensions. However, several of these players are on the verge of a big payday.

The legal tampering period begins on March 11. Once this date hits, it’s a good chance that these players will be finding new homes for the 2024 season.

Here is a look at the projected market value for the Bills top pending free agents based off Spotrac’s projections:

5 pending free agents the Bills should consider re-signing in 2024

5 pending free agents the #Bills should consider re-signing in 2024:

The Buffalo Bills have plenty of free agents slated to hit the open market.

The Bills have time to still sign players to extensions, but it’s never so cut-and-dry. According to Over The Cap, Buffalo is estimated to be more than $40 million over the 2024 NFL salary cap.

Moves must be made to get there and general manager Brandon Beane will earn his salary with the decisions ahead.

But Beane’s work is not the type of operation that’s never been completed before. Teams and players can restructure contracts, move dollars and cents around, and create cap space.

Once that’s done, Beane will then consider who to bring in and who to re-sign. Here are five pending free agents the Bills should take a look into re-signing this offseason:

Former Saints draft pick, Alabama football star takes high-profile college coaching job

Former Saints draft pick and Alabama football star Vinnie Sunseri has taken a high-profile college coaching job at Washington:

Here’s some good news for a former New Orleans Saints draft pick: Vinnie Sunseri has taken a high-profile college coaching job as the Washington Huskies safeties coach, where he’ll be tasked with developing the next generation of defensive backs at a West Coast powerhouse with national championship ambitions.

Things have come full circle. Sunseri was a standout at Alabama during his own college playing career, and Alabama’s decision to hire Washington’s former head coach Kalen DeBoer led to a lot of turnover for the Huskies coaching staff.

Sunseri, 32, was picked by the Saints in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL draft. But he struggled to get on the field after dealing with a series of injuries. He finished his NFL playing career with the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers.

After hanging up his cleats, Sunseri began a coaching career at Alabama as a graduate assistant; he returned to the Patriots in 2020 to get more experience, where he first worked with the defense before moving to the offensive side of the ball for three years coaching running backs. Now he’s going back to his roots with much more responsibility under new Washington head coach Jedd Fisch.

The job comes with high expectations. Washington is fresh off a national title bid, and the school has sent many defensive backs to the NFL draft in recent years; Trent McDuffie and Kyler Gordon were both top-50 picks in 2022, while Elijah Molden was selected at No. 100 overall (followed by Keith Taylor in the fifth round) in 2021. Byron Murphy and Taylor Rapp were each second-round picks in 2019 with Jordan Miller also drafted in the fifth round. Sunseri will be charged with recruiting and developing players to follow in their footsteps. Good luck to him.

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Full list of Bills players who will be free agents this offseason

Full list of #Bills players who will be free agents this offseason:

As another season of NFL football has come to an end with the Chiefs topping the 49ers in Super Bowl 58, so does another series of contracts that have been signed.

Whether it be grizzled veterans or players seeing the end of their rookie contracts, there are plenty of faces who will no long be under contract with the Bills in March when free agency opens.

The Bills have plenty of time until then to sign players to extensions, but it’s never so cut-and-dry. According to Over The Cap, the team is estimated to be $49 million over the 2024 NFL salary cap.

Moves must be made and general manager Brandon Beane will earn his own salary with the decisions ahead.

But what you’re here for: The full list of Bills free agents following the 2023 season is below:

Full list of Bills players who will be free agents this offseason

Who will stay and who will go?

As another season of Buffalo Bills football has come to an end, so have another series of contracts that have been signed.

Whether it be grizzled veterans or players seeing the end of their rookie contracts, there are plenty of faces who will not long be under contract in Buffalo in March when free agency opens.

The Bills have plenty of time until then to sign players to extensions, but it’s never so cut-and-dry. According to Over The Cap, Buffalo is estimated to be $49 million over the 2024 NFL salary cap.

Moves must be made and general manager Brandon Beane will earn his own salary with the decisions ahead.

But what you’re here for: The full list of Bills free agents following the 2023 season is below:

PFF: 5 highest-graded Bills players on defense in Week 18

Good games for these #Bills defenders:

The Buffalo Bills won a tight 21-14 final in their Week 18 matchup against the Miami Dolphins.

The Bills (11-6) had a few players that stood out above the rest in this one. On defense, the Bills were led by cornerback Christian Benford and his takeaway.

In terms of the players who helped Douglas pull out the win, Buffalo will hope such efforts remain throughout the rest of the 2023 playoffs as they aim for the Super Bowl.

According to Pro Football Focus, they’ll need these players to continue to play at a high level.

Here are the five highest-graded Bills players on defense against the Dolphins (11-6) in Week 18:

What we learned from the Bills’ win over the Dolphins

What we learned from the #Bills’ win over the #Dolphins:

The Buffalo Bills (11-6) successfully ran the table into the end of the regular season to secure a playoff spot after a rough start that saw them at 6-6 and on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.

Five straight wins later, and they are the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs and once more winners of the AFC East.

Buffalo’s start against Miami in the final game of the regular season was another ugly one that saw several turnovers in the first half.

After that, the Bills’ defense and depth players at positions on both sides of the ball stepped up, including an acrobatic heads-up touchdown by WR Trent Sherfield, a franchise record-long 95-yard punt return, and score by WR and return man Deonte Harty, and a game-sealing interception by S Taylor Rapp.

With that, here are three things we learned from Sunday’s win over the Dolphins:

Report card: Bills top Dolphins, 21-14

Report card: #Bills top #Dolphins, 21-14:

The 2023 NFL regular season has concluded and the Bills completed an eventful five-game winning streak to enter the playoffs with a fourth straight AFC East crown and the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoff picture.

Here is the BillsWire’s Week 18 report card for the Buffalo Bills (11-6) following the team’s 21-14 win over the Miami Dolphins (11-6):

Bills Wire Week 18 Player of the Game: S Taylor Rapp

Bills Wire Week 18 Player of the Game: S Taylor Rapp:

The Buffalo Bills secured the AFC East division with a win against division challenging Miami Dolphins on Sunday night to extend their winning streak to 5 games and secure home field for the first game in the playoffs.

Buffalo (11-6) secured the game with an interception to seal the win, good for a 21-14 final. In a contest that saw them come from behind to take the lead with multiple touchdowns in the fourth quarter, they needed to prevent Miami from scoring in the final two minutes of the game.

With the Dolphins looking to respond to Buffalo’s comeback in their 2-minute drive with no timeouts, the Bills phenomenal defense secured their second turnover of the day by intercepting the ball to kneel and secure the win.

In this game, there are so many players on offense, defense, and special teams could have won this week’s Player of the Game, and they would be well deserved in an outing that many of the top Buffalo talent showed up and showed out in.

We are awarding the Player of the Game Award in Week 18 to safety Taylor Rapp, who secured the game winning interception:

Taylor Rapp signed this offseason with the Bills and had an incredible impact along with other offseason signings Deonty Harty and Trent Sherfield. Rapp’s interception was a perfect read on the Dolphins’ quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to end the game as Miami had no more time outs to get the ball back.

The Buffalo Bills will use the week to prepare Bills Stadium to host their AFC Wild-Card Round showdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday afternoon.

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