The third team on Christian Kirksey‘s post-Browns-release itinerary has emerged. Kirksey is visiting the Bills on Friday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter).
This summit follows Kirksey meetings with the Raiders and Packers. It was reported shortly after the Browns cut Kirksey that the linebacker had scheduled three visits. Two of those are 2019 playoff teams, so it will be interesting to see where the formerly well-paid linebacker goes.
Free agency is still set for its soft opening Monday. That will open the market to linebackers coming off better seasons than Kirksey. The six-year veteran would like to make his decision “fairly soon,” Josina Anderson of ESPN.com tweets.
Buffalo houses extension candidate Matt Milano and the fast-emerging Tremaine Edmunds at off-ball linebacker; finding a Kirksey fit here is more difficult than it is for Las Vegas or Green Bay. Kirksey was a part of a once-formidable Cleveland linebacking corps, which housed Jamie Collins, Joe Schobert and, for a short time, Mychal Kendricks. With the Bills, he would help form one of the league’s top linebacker cadres.
The Bills, however, easily outflank the Packers and Raiders in cap space. Buffalo holds nearly $82MM — third-most in the league — and would certainly not have to pay Kirksey what the pre-John Dorsey Cleveland regime did. The Browns gave Kirksey a $9.5MM-AAV extension in 2017 but saw injuries limit him. But he is still just 27 and profiles as a player looking to revive his value after two lost seasons. Prior to the injury-marred 2018 and ’19 slates, Kirksey combined for 281 tackles between the 2016-17 campaigns.