The Buffalo Bills have been one of the busiest teams in the NFL with signing free agent after free agent, so let’s go ahead and grade each addition.
The free agency period has slowed down as the NFL begins the transition into draft season. The Buffalo Bills did some solid work signing free agents and staying within their salary cap situation. While they prepare for the draft, BuffaLowDown will go through and grade each free agent addition so far this offseason.
As of right now, the list contains 13 players — that’s not including the 6 players that were re-signed, which we will get to last. All of that brings the Bills’ roster total to 61 players currently. Unless the team trades for more draft picks, Buffalo will have 23 spots to fill on their 90-man roster with undrafted free agents and veteran free agents.
The top-51 contracts — which count towards the salary cap — give the team slightly over $11 million left to spend. Reserving most of that for drafted rookies, the Buffalo Bills don’t have a ton of room to work with. The team is still expected to gain roughly $4 million since Aaron Williams was designated a post-June 1 cut.
Enough number talk, let’s get a look at these new additions. In each slide, I will preview one of the new additions, give the Buffalo Bills a grade for the signing and give an early projection as to where they will fit on the team’s roster — if they even make it past the final cuts.
For the grades, I will follow a simple key:
A – Excellent signing, will have strong impact in some way.
B – Good signing, mostly for depth.
C – We’ll see how it turns out, likely fighting for roster spot.
We’ll start with my favorite signing of them all.
WR Andre Holmes
6’4”, 210 pounds
College: Hillsdale (UFA with Minnesota Vikings)
28 years old, 6th season
2016 stats (OAK): 16 games, 14 receptions, 25 targets, 126 yards, 9.0 avg, 3 touchdowns, 9 first downs
2015 stats (OAK): 16 games, 14 receptions, 33 targets, 201 yards, 14.4 avg, 4 touchdowns, 9 first downs
WR Corey Washington
6’4”, 214 pounds
College: Newberry (UFA with Arizona Cardinals)
25 years old, 3rd season
2014 stats (NYG): 14 games, 5 catches, 52 yards, 10.4 avg, one touchdown
Spent time on practice squads with Washington, Detroit and Atlanta.
WR Corey Brown
5’1”, 190 pounds
College: Ohio State (UFA with Carolina Panthers)
25 years old, 4th season
2016 stats: 16 games, 27 receptions, 53 targets, 276 yards, 10.2 avg, one touchdown, 16 first downs
2015 stats: 14 games, 31 receptions, 55 targets, 447 yards, 14.4 avg, 4 touchdowns, 24 first downs
WR Jeremy Butler
6’2”, 213 pounds
College: Tennesee-Martin (UFA with Baltimore Ravens)
25 years old, 4th season
2016 stats (Chargers): 4 games, 2 receptions, 11 yards, 5.5 avg
2015 stats (Ravens): 8 games, 31 receptions, 363 yards, 11.7 avg
DE Ryan Davis
6’2”, 275 pounds
College: Bethune-Cookman (UFA with Jacksonville Jaguars)
28 years old, 5th season
2016 stats (DAL): 9 games, 4 tackles, one fumble recovery, one stuff
2013-2015 stats (JAX): 37 games, 34 tackles, 11 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, one interception, 3 passes defensed, 2 stuffs
CB Leonard Johnson
5’10”, 200 pounds
College: Iowa State (UFA with Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
27 years old, 6th season
2016 stats (CAR): 10 games, 30 tackles, one sack, one pass defensed
2015 stats (NE): 4 games, 11 tackles, 3 passes defensed
2012-2014 (TAM): 48 games, 148 tackles, 20 passes defensed, 5 interceptions, 2 touchdowns, 5 forced fumbles
RB Joe Banyard
5’10”, 223 pounds
College: UTEP (UFA with Jacksonville Jaguars)
28 years old, 4th season
2016 stats: one game, 2 attempts, 7 yards, 3.5 avg
2014 stats (MIN): 15 games, 21 attempts, 88 yards, 4.2 avg, 4 first downs
OG Vladimir Ducasse
6’5”, 325 pounds
College: Massachusetts (2nd round, 61st overall by New York Giants in 2010)
29 years old, 8th season
2016 stats (BAL): 10 games played, 8 games started
Career stats: 89 games played, 30 games started (NYJ, MIN, CHI, BAL)
K Stephen Hauschka
6’4”, 210 pounds
College: NC State (UFA with Minnesota Vikings)
31 years old, 10th season
2016 stats: 16 games, 33-37 field goals, 89.2 field goal percentage, 29-35 extra points
Career stats: 117 games, 191-219 field goals, 87.2 percentage, 58 longest field goal, 271-284 extra points
S Jordan Poyer
6’0”, 191 pounds
College: Oregon State (7th round, 218th overall by Philadelphia Eagles in 2013)
25 years old, 5th season
2016 stats (CLE): 6 games, 39 tackles, 2 passes defensed
Career stats: 48 games, 124 tackles, one sack, 2 forced fumbles, fumble recovery, 2 interceptions, 6 passes defensed, one stuff
S Micah Hyde
6’0”, 197 pounds
College: Iowa (5th round, 159th overall by Green Bay Packers in 2013)
26 years old, 5th season
2016 stats (GB): 16 games, 58 tackles, one sack, 3 interceptions, 9 passes defensed, 2 stuffs
Career stats: 63 games, 227 tackles, 4 sacks, one forced fumble, 2 fumble recoveries, 8 interceptions, 24 passes defensed, 6 stuffs
RB/FB Mike Tolbert
5’9”, 250 pounds
College: Coastal Carolina (UFA with San Diego Chargers)
31 years old, 10th season
2016 stats: 16 games, 35 attempts, 114 yards, 3.3 avg, 5 first downs
Career stats: 131 games, 630 attempts, 2,402 yards, 3.8 avg, 33 touchdowns, 163 first downs
FB Patrick DiMarco
6’1”, 234 pounds
College: South Carolina (UFA with San Diego Chargers)
27 years old, 6th season
2016 stats: 16 games, 7 receptions, 10 targets, 52 yards, 7.4 avg, one touchdown
Career stats: 67 games, 37 receptions, 51 targets, 273 yards, 7.4 avg, 4 touchdowns
The Buffalo Bills have re-signed 6 players so far this offseason and will hopefully see a few more happen as well.
Next: Analyzing the Relationship Between Whaley and McDermott
Which free agent signing has been your favorite so far this offseason? Leave your thoughts below!