5 free agents the Buffalo Bills were wise to avoid

Entering free agency, the Buffalo Bills are taking into account a number of factors when trying to determine a plan to build out the best roster they can under the salary cap. They have to decide which players from last year's team they want to bring back and who they will let walk.

One piece that goes into the first determination is what players could be available in free agency, and more importantly which ones they can afford. While the Bills had their wishlist, they also probably had a number of players they were probably not even going to consider because of the expected contract they would get.

These are five free agents that the Buffalo Bills were wise to avoid this offseason.

Xavier McKinney

The Buffalo Bills had a pretty big hole in their secondary with the release of Jordan Poyer and the future of Micah Hyde up in the air. They were able to bring back Taylor Rapp to be one of the two starting safeties but would still need to find a player to pair with him.

One of the top safeties in this year's free agency class was Xavier McKinney, who spent the first four years in the NFL with the New York Giants. The former second round pick started 46 games over four seasons and had 279 total tackles, nine interceptions, and 27 passes defended.

It was not surprising to see McKinney get the biggest contract among his position but it was good that the Bills were not the team to offer that. While McKinney has been good, he has never been named to a Pro Bowl or All-Pro team as well as injury concerns with less than 10 games played in two of his four seasons in the league.