Buffalo Bills Offseason Grades: Linebackers

The Buffalo Bills linebackers were expected to be a key part of this defense, however they turned out to be another weakness on an underachieving defense. The Bills started the season with Manny Lawson, Preston Brown, and Nigel Bradham at linebacker after trading away Kiko Alonso in the offseason.

Preston Brown was supposed to be the leader of the defense, calling the plays and playing the most important position on defense. As a rookie last season, Brown was impressive filling in for Alonso who missed the entire year with a torn ACL. Brown had 109 tackles as a rookie, which was made even more impressive because no too many plays got past the Bills defensive line last year.

Though Brown finished with better stats this season, 120 tackles and 4 INTs, he was a much worse player. Brown had countless plays to make when running backs slipped through a weak defensive line, and he couldn’t make the play. Brown was also a liability in pass coverage, which is huge in Rex Ryan’s defense.

Pro Football Focus had Brown ranked at or near the bottom of the league among middle linebackers, citing his terrible pass rush performance. Rushing the passer was a problem for every Bills linebacker.

Another problem, though certainly not Brown’s fault was the communication between the coaches and Brown, the defensive play caller. Numerous times Brown claimed the plays came in late, which led to chaos on defense, his quotes can be found here.

The Bills will likely be sticking with Brown for next season, perhaps buying the idea that he simply had trouble adjusting to the new scheme. Which, I’m sure was hard for a middle linebacker to learn two new NFL defenses in his first two seasons. Buffalo better hope Brown has a better season next year in order for this defense to show any improvement.

Nigel Bradham also struggled this season after a great 2014 season, another player who was not happy with the new defensive scheme. Though Bradham only played in 11 games this season, his numbers were way down compared to last season. He had 109 tackles last season compared to just 59 this season, quite a drop off for a player who should be improving.

Bradham seemingly was lost in the new scheme this season. He was poor in run defense, and as bad when asked to rush the passer. Nigel Bradham is a free agent this offseason and will likely be playing somewhere else next season, meaning the Bills have another hole to fill on defense.

The lone bright spot of this unit was Manny Lawson, who is the most versatile of the bunch, perhaps explaining why he was the only one able to adapt to the new defense. Lawson was seldom used in 2014, but proved valuable in 2015.

Lawson was the 29th ranked linebacker by Pro Football Focus, way higher than any other Bills linebacker this season. Lawson was arguably the most underrated player on this team, and will look to continue his steady play next season. Though he wasn’t great by any means, he was the best linebacker the Bills had.

Overall this unit will need to make huge improvements next season in order for the defense to make improvements. The linebackers will especially have to step up in defending the run, an area will the Bills were in the bottom half of the league this year.

Preston Brown and Manny Lawson will likely be the two returning starters, with Bradham leaving in free agency. The best case scenario is that Brown buys in to the system, adapts to it and becomes a solid middle linebacker, worst case, he plays as bad as this season.

The Bills should look to add to the linebacking group in free agency, or the draft, because they desperately need help. If the defense is going to be a strength next season, this unit most improve.