By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
Starting on March 11, the Buffalo Bills and rest of the NFL is allowed to reach out to potential free agents. It’s likely these chats have already begun and that will start to pick up at the NFL Combine.
Unless you believe these teams and agents totally play by the rules, then yes, March 11, ahead of the official opening of free agency on March 13.
Heading into 2019’s version of free agency, the Bills have the third-highest salary cap space. They’ve already started to cut into that by signing offensive lineman Spencer Long, but re-filled some space by cutting tight end Charles Clay.
While most observers of the Bills are looking ahead to what general manager Brandon Beane will do in this year’s free agency, here’a a re-grading of his signings from last March after their first season in Buffalo:
DT Kyle Williams
Mostly just because it’s Kyle, we’ll add him to the list first. Buffalo brought back their long-time veteran, who by all accounts provided some long-term results for the Bills by helping build a strong foundation to the starts of a few careers, such as linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and defensive tackle Harrison Phillips. Plus he’s not retiring on a down year, he was pretty good himself.
Despite a 6-10 final record, the season finale send-off for Williams was worth the singing in its own right. Awesome scene.
Grade: A
QB AJ McCarron
Bills signed McCarron to be their bridge quarterback. While free agency is before the NFL Draft and Josh Allen was yet to be on Buffalo’s roster, most knew the reality of the situation. What most didn’t realize was McCarron was going to simply be a bridge to a fifth-round pick at the 2019 draft, not a bridge for Allen. The rookie played most of the rookie season while McCarron didn’t play at all for the Bills. He was traded on Sept. 1, right before final roster cuts. A short time later, Nathan Peterman was named Buffalo’s starter.
Which also didn’t go according to plan.
While McCarron didn’t get a single snap with the Bills in, Beane did not break the bank for him. In fact, several other quarterbacks went off the free agency “board” for bigger money, such as Sam Bradford to the Cardinals. The Bills do take a $2 million dead cap hit last year and in 2019 for trading McCarron, they got a pick for a guy who was clearly the odd-man out after he played the team’s entire preseason finale, so there’s some positive from it.
Grade: C-
DE Trent Murphy
Murphy was a bit of a surprise signing by the Bills. He missed the entire 2017 season with Washington and still managed to land a $22.5 million contract with the Bills. Murphy, 28, wanted to prove he wasn’t injury prone after that ACL injury. He didn’t do that with the Bills, but he did flash early in the season. Murphy had three sacks in his first six games with the Bills but then fell off a cliff as he dealt with various injuries throughout the year. In 2019, if he can stay healthy and help improve a below-average sack team, he can improve this grade.
Grade: C
DT Star Lotulelei
Lotulelei nabbed a $50 million, five-year contract with the Bills. It was the team’s marquee signing since $25 million of that was guaranteed. It’s worth mentioning that yes, defensive tackles do a lot of dirty work that goes unnoticed in the trenches. Ask every player on the Bills’ roster if Lotulelei is worth the price of admission, they’ll all say yes. He takes up double teams, too. But still, the 29-year-old played in less than half of the team’s defensive snaps on the season (46.9 percent) and he appeared in all 16 games. In total, Lotulelei racked up 17 tackles and one pass defended on the year. No sacks.
Buffalo sports a big rotation along the defensive line, but if you’re dishing out massive money for a player that we all hear is so productive out there in an “under-the-radar” sense, can we just let him see the field more?
Grade: C-
RB Chris Ivory
Ivory, 31, is part of an aging Bills backfield with LeSean McCoy, who’s also 31. Ivory technically signed before free agency opened in early March, and he did his job well. As the No. 2 back, when called upon, his bruising style of running seemed to be a better fit for the Bills than McCoy. Buffalo’s offensive line was terrible at run blocking last season, in fact, Pro Football Focus ranked them the second-worst run blockers in the NFL. Ivory only averaged 3.3 yards per carry, but he also made some good contributions in he passing game as well.
Grade: B-
CB Vontae Davis
Davis signed an even earlier contract than Ivory, he joined the Bills in February last year. Then he decided to only suit up for two games after a tough start to the season, and for that, we’ll only allowing ourselves to write two sentences for his efforts.
Grade: F
C Russell Bodine
Bodine was an under-the-radar performer for the Bills in a serious sense. After Eric Wood retired, the Bills needed a center. Anybody. Most assumed a backup and Ryan Groy could start. Instead the Bills signed Bodine to a reasonable two-year deal worth $5 million. Those figures meant he’d get a look at starting.
Bodine, 26, did get his look at starting. He failed, losing the preseason battle with Groy. But then Groy fell off a cliff. Groy graded out as one of PFF’s worst centers last season, earning an overall grade of 46.7 with a run-blocking grade of 37.1. The eye test constantly said Groy was struggling in his two-game stint as starter. Bodine then took over the next 10 games and was fairly average. PFF graded him a 61.6 in 2018. While that’s not outstanding, the Bills could’ve been looking at a long year if Groy was pressed into duty for the long haul.
Grade: B
OT Marshall Newhouse
Like most of Beane’s signings, Newhouse signed with the Bills and there’s a connection to the Panthers. In Newhouse’s case though, it’s the other way around. Newhouse was brought in to compete with Jordan Mills in training camp for the team’s starting spot at right tackle and even their swing tackle spot. He didn’t really fair well at all in either case and he was eventually sent out for a seventh-round pick in 2021.
Grade: F
S Rafael Bush
With the limited cap space the Bills have had in recent memory, Bush was another low key signing that paid good dividends. Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer are your clear-cut top safeties. At 31, Bush wasn’t going to be competing for a starting spot anywhere. But the No. 3 role was there for the taking.
Plus, Bush was versatile as the Bills’ “big” nickel cornerback and filled in at nickel when Taron Johnson missed due to injury and he was a mainstay on special teams. Bush wasn’t blowing anyone away, but preformed well enough when called upon.
Grade: B-
LB Julian Stanford
Stanford, like Bush, was a solid depth addition for the Bills. His biggest role was on special teams, but he did fill-in well as Tremaine Edmunds’ backup, making one start in that role. If he had to play longer, we’d really see how good Stanford was defensively, but we can only grade him on what he was asked to do.
Stanford will likely get another look in that same role this upcoming training camp with new special teams coordinator Heath Farwell now in the fold.
Grade: B
CB Phillip Gaines
After Davis’s retirement, Gaines was the next man up for the Bills. By the end of the season, undrafted rookie Levi Wallace eventually saw seven-straight starts for the Bills and Gaines was a member of the Cleveland Browns. Buffalo let Gaines start six games before he was released in November after he was picked apart in Week 9 against the Chicago Bears.
Grade: D
RB Taiwan Jones, LB Ramon Humber
Both Jones and Humber were re-signed to the Bills roster last March and ended up holding down some spots as special teams contributors until their tenure on Buffalo’s roster last year came to a close. Humber got the better end of the deal, though. Jones saw his season end on injured reserve. Buffalo cut Humber in November and he signed with the Patriots a short time later, winning Super Bowl LIII.
Grade: Incomplete