Buffalo Bills Brandon Spikes Going Forward
By Dennis Amo
The Buffalo Bills and Brandon Spikes made news during last years off-season with the former New England Patriot jumping ship and heading over to the AFC East rival, Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo Bills were in need of a big run stopping middle linebacker and Brandon Spikes fit the bill for them.
With the loss of Kiko Alonso early in the off-season last year, bringing in Brandon Spikes and Keith Rivers were stop gaps to provide the Bills with depth and experience at the linebacker position.
With Kiko Alonso set to return to his role at linebacker for the Bills this year and with rookie Preston Brown tallying 109 tackles this past season and having been the player with the most snaps on the defensive side of the ball, there might not be a spot for Brandon Spikes on the field as much as he wants to be. Spikes feels that he is an every down backer, or at most 3 downs. With Alonso, Brown and Nigel Bradham heading the way as the youth organization at linebacker and possibly Mario Williams moving back to an outside spot, there is limited reps available for Spikes.
Doug Whaley and the Bills are looking at Spikes to be a 1 to 2 down backer. Whaley has given Spikes the option to seek out other options throughout the league as he is an unrestricted free agent.
"“So that one’s going to be more of, ‘Hey, do you want to come back and be a one-, two-down player, or do you want to try to go out there and see if you can [be] an every-down player?” Whaley said of Spikes."
Whaley did say that Brandon Spikes is one of his favorite players which looks to say that Spikes might have a job here in Buffalo, if he chooses to reduce his role.
In 16 games for the Buffalo Bills this past year, Brandon Spikes started in 10 of them. He compiled 59 tackles and was on the field for a total of 519 snaps, 249 of which were run plays, his specialty due to his physical nature.
There was a definite improvement in the run defense and it can be partially contributed to Spikes’ play, but you also have to see the potential in Preston Brown and Nigel Bradham and the potential that this young linebacking corps has in the years to come. They have some talent there and it is nice to have the flexibility to not be forced to keep a player that might not fit into their current system.