Re-grading the Buffalo Bills top free agent signings from 2020

The 2020 free agent class for the Buffalo Bills was headlined by multiple former Carolina Panthers. In fact of the top seven free agent signings, five of them were on the Panthers the same time Sean McDermott was defensive coordinator or Brandon Beane was in the front office.

However, looking back at this free agent class there were plenty of missteps by the Buffalo Bills and certainly a few signings that they probably wish they didn’t make. When taking into account contract and production, these are the grades for the top free agent signings by the Buffalo Bills in 2020.

Re-grading the Buffalo Bills free agent signings from 2020

Free Agent Contract: 2 years, $15 million

There is no question that this was probably one of the worst free agent signings by the Buffalo Bills, if not the worst. Vernon Butler was a former first round pick by the Carolina Panthers in 2016 and didn’t make much of an impact his first three years with the Panthers.

However, that changed in 2019 as he had the best season of his career in Carolina with 32 total tackles and six sacks. the hope was that everything finally came together and he could be a disruptive force on the interior of the defensive line.

Unfortunately, with the Buffalo Bills he didn’t come close to having the same impact. In his two seasons with Buffalo, he had 29 total tackles and no sacks. It really wasn’t due to a lack of playing time either after starting nine games in 2020, he played 44% of the defensive snaps last year even with being a healthy scratch for seven games.

Looking back, this is a move that Brandon Beane likely would have liked back as Vernon Butler struggled to build off that career year the season prior to signing with Buffalo.