Buffalo Bills add depth at linebacker with the signing of Joe Giles-Harris

The Buffalo Bills concluded their rookie mini-camp over the weekend and one of the players who were there on a tryout basis showed enough to earn himself a one-year deal with the team. The Bills announced on Sunday that they had signed linebacker Joe Giles-Harris.

Joe Giles-Harris has spent the past two seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars after signing as an undrafted free agent in 2019. He would appear in five games in 2019 and record three total tackles while playing only 4% of the defensive snaps.

This past season, Giles-Harris returned to the Jaguars and saw more playing time. He appeared in nine games but started three of them and played in 18% of the defensive snaps. Giles-Harris finished the season with 20 total tackles, one sack, and five QB hits.

The Buffalo Bills have pretty good depth at the linebacker position entering this coming season with the team re-signing Matt Milano and Andre Smith but also signing free agent Tyrell Adams and Marquel Lee.

However, Joe Giles-Harris is an interesting addition, and watching him in college at Duke, he looked like he was more than capable of being a linebacker who could contribute in the NFL. In three seasons at Duke he had 313 total tackles, 32.5 tackles for a loss, 8.5 sacks, and eight passes defended.

If Joe Giles-Harris were to make the Buffalo Bills 53-man roster it would have to be as a backup middle linebacker behind Tremaine Edmunds. However, he will need to beat out a number of players, including the free agents signed this offseason but has the upside that it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if he did.

The addition of Joe Giles-Harris is a high upside signing for the Buffalo Bills. He is a player to watch during training camp and preseason games this year and with a strong performance at the very least should be a candidate for their practice squad.