Buffalo Bills signing DaQuan Jones should help run defense

At times last year, the Buffalo Bills defense struggled to stop the run like when Jonathan Taylor had 185 rushing yards and four touchdowns against Buffalo or when the New England Patriots had 222 rushing yards on Monday Night Football.

General manager Brandon Beane certainly hasn’t forgotten that as two of the three reported deals by the Buffalo Bills on the first day of the legal tampering period have been at the defensive tackle position. The first was Tim Settle, who is someone who has limited opportunities with Washington but will see his role grow in Buffalo. He is a big defensive tackle that not only should improve the run defense but has shown some pass-rush ability.

Later on Monday, the Bills went back to the position and agreed to terms with defensive tackle DaQuan Jones according to ESPN’s Dianna Russini. He recently played for the Carolina Panthers but prior to that spent seven years with the Tennessee Titans after he was drafted in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Titans.

He would become a full-time starter on the Titans defense in 2015 and since then has shown to be a very durable and reliable defensive tackle. Jones has only missed four regular season games over the past seven seasons with all four missed games coming during the 2016 season.

This past season with the Carolina Panthers, DaQuan Jones had 38 total tackles and one sack. While Jones is not known for his pass-rushing ability, he had a career year in this department according to Pro Football Focus with a pass-rushing grade of 69.4.

The Buffalo Bills had three players set to be free agents at the position that was on the roster last year and there was a chance that this group could look very different which now looks to be a reality. The additions of Tim Settle and DaQuan Jones helps solidify this group, improve the run defense, and bring back depth that looked like it would be tough to replace this offseason.