Buffalo Bills key free agent additions on pace for career years
By Randy Gurzi
The Buffalo Bills added John Brown and Cole Beasley this offseason and both wide receivers are on pace for the best seasons of their respective careers
The old cliche is that championship teams are built through the draft. Well, that’s partially true. NFL teams do have to hit on enough of their draft picks to build their roster up but there are also plenty of times where they have to make smart moves in free agency.
For the Buffalo Bills, they seem to have hit on some key positions in the draft with Josh Allen, Tre’Davious White, and Ed Oliver all looking like stars in this league. They also have made some savvy moves in free agency, including landing two wide receivers this offseason who have more than met the expectations they came in with.
Buffalo was in need of pass catchers to work with Allen and that led to them signing John Brown to a three-year $27 million deal and Cole Beasley to a four-year $29 million contract.
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Brown was originally a third-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals and played for the Baltimore Ravens in 2018. Beasley was an undrafted free agent that joined the Dallas Cowboys in 2012 and left this past offseason to join Buffalo.
And so far, both are on the way to the best season of their respective careers.
For Brown, his best season to date came in 2015 when he was in just his second year in the league. As a member of the Cardinals, he had 65 receptions for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns. With four games remaining this season, he’s already pulled in 61 passes for 882 yards and five touchdowns.
Beasley’s best campaign was in 2016 when he led the Cowboys with 75 receptions for 833 yards and five touchdowns. He wasn’t able to match that production with them and ended up voicing his frustration that he wasn’t being targeted enough.
That hasn’t been the case in Western New York as he already has 55 catches for 635 yards and has already matched his career-high of five touchdowns.
He’s also been on a roll the past two weeks after gaining 76 yards and a touchdown against Denver and then blasting his former team in Dallas to the tune of 110 yards and another score on Thanksgiving Day.
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Not every free agency move works out as there is some risk that the player’s skill won’t translate to an entirely new scheme. That hasn’t been the case with these two and the results are easy to see.