Even with the defensive additions that the Buffalo Bills have made in free agency, they still face a need to fill out the linebacker room. They managed to bring in Bradley Chubb who will be lining up as an outside linebacker, which is a massive gain. However, with the Bills going to a 3-4 defense, they need to add more linebacker help on the inside of the linebacker room.
Buffalo’s two top inside linebackers who are currently on the roster are Terrel Bernard and Dorian Williams. Outside of them, the Bills don’t have a ton of depth and while Williams is a great run-stopper, the Bills need someone who can drop back into coverage in addition to stopping the run.
Even with the Bills going with a new scheme on defense, familiarity is never a bad thing. Last season, the Bills signed veteran linebacker Shaq Thompson right before training camp and little did fans know that he would eventually become Buffalo’s best linebacker at one point.
Thompson was solid whenever he was on the field for Buffalo. He not only had some impressive hard hits, but he also was solid in coverage in the middle of the field. He replaced Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard when they were dealing with injuries, and he never blinked.
With Thompson currently being a free agent and the Bills still needing to add to the inside linebacker room, the Bills might want to consider bringing Thompson back to the team.
Bringing Shaq Thompson back would be in Bills' best interest
Buffalo has $10.7 million in cap space per Spotrac, and Thompson’s market value being at just $2.4 million, it would make complete sense for the Bills to bring Thompson back. Then again, Thompson knew the defense he would be coming into last season because he was familiar with Sean McDermott's scheme.
Now that it's the Jim Leonhard show on defense, maybe that is a dealbreaker. However, it wouldn’t hurt the Bills to pursue Thompson and see if he would want to run it back with Buffalo for atleast one more season.
You could make an argument for Buffalo to go and pursue Thompson or Matt Milano, but Thompson was a better all-around linebacker and the defense played better when he was on the field. With his market value being cheaper too, he could be a much better option to add.
Now, if the Bills were to bring Thompson back, they should still look to add some young talent through the draft and learn from Thompson who has been a solid linebacker since entering the NFL.