The Buffalo Bills boast two of the league’s better young linebackers—true three-down talents who contribute in every facet of the game. Thanks to that, it was a bit surprising to see the Bills allocate fairly significant resources to a third linebacker last year. Given the amount of time the Bills spend in their nickel defense, it seemed as if the contract was one that was destined to be viewed as a mistake.
Then, both of those young linebackers were injured. They each recovered and returned to play but for a time, the top linebacker on Buffalo’s depth chart was that free-agent signee.