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The Buffalo Bills could have a big makeover on their defensive line during the 2020 offseason. Much of that surrounds defensive tackle Jordan Phillips and defensive end Shaq Lawson.
Under the surface, edge defender Trent Murphy is in there as well. Slated to count $9.775 million against the Bills’ salary cap, cutting him would only cost the team a $1.750 dead cap hit. That’s a pretty much chunk of savings.
But it’s because of his play as well. NFL.com took all things into account, recently naming Murphy a “strong” cut candidate this offseason:
Trent Murphy, DE, Buffalo Bills: A rare misstep by GM Brandon Beane, the Bills can save over $8 million on the cap by releasing Murphy. The Bills don’t really need the money, but he’s underperformed.
If let loose, the Bills wouldn’t really lose much. In his first 28 games as a member of the Bills, Murphy only had seven sacks. In that 29th game in Buffalo’s season finale, he had two, bringing his total to nine. Even then, that’s not great. Phillips had 9.5 last season alone and his position isn’t supposed to get as many sacks.
Sure, Murphy had two sacks in Buffalo’s playoff loss to the Texans, but Beane called Murphy a roll of the dice, essentially, in signing him. In 2016, he had nine sacks with the Redskins then tore his ACL and sat out 2017. Could he get back to those heights? The Bills thought maybe, and unfortunately the answer was no. So life without Murphy could be inevitable.
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