The upcoming 2020 season is an important one for linebacker Matt Milano. It’s also a strange one.
Milano’s entering the final year of his rookie contract with Buffalo. The former 2017 fifth-round pick is in his fourth season and Buffalo has yet to lock him up beyond that.
But that’s where the strange part comes into play. Due to the ongoing coronavirus, the NFL salary cap is throwing a curve ball at Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane because the cap could take a dip heading into 2021. And the key word: Could. Beane and NFL front offices aren’t exactly sure what’s going to happen with the salary cap, making re-signing guys such as Milano even more difficult.
Regardless, there’s no debating Milano’s importance to the Bills defense. On Tuesday, his partner-in-crime, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, chatted with members of the media via video conference as the team gets their training camp underway. Edmunds is a promising young player for the Bills in his own right, but he explained how big of an impact Milano is.
“Yeah, Matt? That’s my guy, that’s my guy,” Edmunds said. “He’s just comfortable. I think he’s comfortable in the system, growing in the system. It’s [our] upcoming third year playing in the system together. The communication we have is second-to-none. It’s only going to get better. We talk about little small things here and there. Whatever comes up, I think we’re both comfortable with expressing that with each other. And not just with me, I think he’s comfortable expressing that to everyone else. I think that’s the biggest thing and that’s what you want, especially from a linebacker in the group.”
“Just seeing that leadership step up from him is a good thing too,” Edmunds added.
In Buffalo’s defensive system, both Edmunds and Milano are key. In a 4-3 defensive scheme, that three usually stands for three linebackers. However, Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott runs a modified 4-3 of sorts, which really calls for two linebackers. Those two are Edmunds and Milano. Pending injury, both guys will play every snap each game.
Since joining the Bills in 2017, Milano’s provided the presence of a modern-day linebacker. At around six-foot tall, Milano isn’t your classic beast of a human. The 6-foot-5 athletic freak that Edmunds is provides that. That’s not to take away from Milano at all. His shiftier size has allowed him to become a top-notch playmaker, especially when defending the pass.
Based on Edmunds’ comments, now entering the fourth-year of his career, Milano’s becoming a key cog in Buffalo’s defense. It doesn’t sound like Milano’s too shy to be that leader for his team despite how quiet he is to the media.
And we all know how much McDermott covets his leaders.
Hopefully for Beane, things begin to land into place in regard to the salary cap sooner rather than later so the GM can start to finalize some extensions for guys on expiring deals like Milano. But Beane’s also not rushing into doing so until he has a good feel on all things cap related, though.
“We still want to retain our guys and we’re going to do our best to retain as many as possible. But we do have to keep an eye on what that salary floor currently stands at and until they tell us any different, that’s what we have to operate with,” Beane said on Sunday.
Bills fans might have to patiently wait and trust a deal gets done here.
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