The Bills have agreed to a five-year deal with free agent defensive tackle Star Lotulelei, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Although he’s a former first-round pick, Lotulelei’s performance has slipped in every season since he entered the league in 2013. Last year, the 28-year-old appeared in all 16 games for the second consecutive season but managed only six tackles while grading as a bottom-15 interior defender, per Pro Football Focus.
Buffalo, meanwhile, clearly needs help on the interior of its defensive line after ranking just 21st in adjusted line yards a season ago. The Bills shipped malcontent defensive tackle Marcell Dareus to the Jaguars at midseason, while veteran Kyle Williams is now a free agent.
The Panthers, Lotulelei’s former squad, are already heavily invested at the defensive tackle position. Kawann Short is the NFL’s third-highest-paid defensive tackle with a $16.1MM annual salary, while the Panthers used a first-round pick on Vernon Butler in 2016. Veteran Kyle Loveis also under contract for the 2018 campaign.
Before signing with the Bills, Lotulelei also reportedly drew interest from the Chiefs and Texans. Lotulelei ranked as PFR’s No. 4 free agent interior defender.
Damn it. Come on carolina.
No cap space. And they can’t afford to commit too much money in one area when they have talented players elsewhere. Giants can get away with it (although not really) since they don’t have any linebackers. Eagles can get away with it since most of their linebackers/secondary are on rookie contracts or are good-but-not-great players. Texans are in the midst of deciding if they want to invest heavily into their D-line.
The Stars are aligning in Buffalo finally
And they still don’t have a QB. Or at least their current QB wasn’t all that impressive in his small sample.
Ehhh.. Just a name, not a game changer.
+1.. it’s amazing that he almost got as many years on his contract as he had tackles last season
Betting it has little guaranteed so there’s probably upside for Buffalo here
5 years?!? This contract better have very little guaranteed money because it doesn’t make sense