Buffalo Bills add depth with Niles Scott and Akeem King signings

The Buffalo Bills announced Sunday they added two new players who provide depth at defensive tackle and cornerback.

Over the past week, the Buffalo Bills had two players opt out of the upcoming season. The team announced starting defensive tackle Star Lotulelei last week and general manager Brandon Beane announcing Sunday morning that E.J. Gaines had also elected to opt out.

The news of Gaines opting out now provides a little more clarity to Tom Pelissero’s tweet from Friday that the team had free agent cornerback Akeem King and defensive tackle Niles Scott in for a physical. The physicals appear to have gone well as the team announced they agreed to terms with both players on Sunday.

Akeem King spent the past two years with the Seattle Seahawks, playing in 29 games and four starts at the position. He finished 38 total tackles and two passes defended during that stretch. While he is a big cornerback, and potentially could compete for the “big nickel” role in this defense, he also has experience on special teams. He played 29% of the special teams snaps in 2018 and 36% last year.

As for Niles Scott, he was an undrafted free agent signing by the San Francisco 49ers but didn’t make their final roster. He ended up on the Denver Broncos practice squad before being signed by the Cincinnati Bengals later that year. He would go on to play in six games for the Bengals and finished with four total tackles.

However, an injury during Bengals training camp last year landed him on injured reserve and he didn’t play a regular season snap last year.

Scott is a big defensive tackle at 6’3″ and 320 pounds that could potentially compete for Star Lotulelei but is likely more to be a backup for this team. Of the two additions, King probably has the better chance to make the final regular season roster because of the lack of depth at cornerback, in comparison to defensive tackle, and his ability to contribute on special teams.