State of the Bills: Defensive tackle

My State of the Bills series continues with a look at the defensive tackle position headed into the 2020 offseason:

Under contract:

• Star Lotulelei
• Ed Oliver
• Harrison Phillips
• Vincent Taylor

Pending Free Agents:

• Jordan Phillips
• Corey Liuget

 State of the Position:

Ever since he signed with the team as a free agent prior to 2017, a lot of Bills fans have lamented Lotulelei's $10 million average annual value contract. He doesn't sack the quarterback or even impact much in the passing game. He's also had his fewest amount of tackles in his career in each of his two seasons with the Bills, with 17 and 19, respectively. Prior to coming to Buffalo, Lotulelei never had less than 22 total tackles. His role, and impact, in any game or season will never be seen on the stat sheet. He's smart and disciplined, and can take on bigger offensive linemen as a space or block-eater. He's also unselfish and understands this role. With all that said, there's definitely a case to be made he's overpriced for all of that. Especially considering he plays a position this coaching staff likes to rotate players, and Lotulelei was losing more and more snaps to Harrison Phillips until Phillips was injured and they didn't have a suitable replacement. Lotulelei is still valuable to what the Bills do, but even if he's too expensive, the 2020 offseason isn't the time to move on. It would cost the team $7.8 million in dead cap space, while only saving $2.3 million.

Oliver had a slow start, but really came on in the second half of the season and started showing why he was the ninth overall pick in last year's draft. After recording only 20 tackles and one sack (on a wide receiver throwing the ball) over the first nine games, he recorded 27 tackles and four sacks over the next eight games, including the playoffs. It will be fun and interesting to see him build upon that strong finish after a full offseason of being in an NFL conditioning program and being acclimated to the defense and what's expected of him.

Harrison Phillips is a wild card for the team in 2020. He was off to a really strong start over the first few games, increasing his snap count each week until tearing his ACL on the final drive of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3. He was becoming a reliable run defender, who was clearly on an ascension in his second season. The good news is the injury happened in mid-September, giving him almost a full year to be ready for the 2020 regular season. But fully recovering from ACL injuries are never guaranteed, and what the medical and coaching staff feels about that recovery may have a huge impact on how the team proceeds this offseason as far as their overall thought on the position.

Taylor was active for three games last year and will fight for a roster spot this training camp. He showed plenty of upside with the Miami Dolphins in 2018 and at least could offer an option as a rotational player with experience.

I felt Liuget did a nice job for the Bills after signing with them in early November, including a terrific game in the regular season finale against the New York Jets, collecting six tackles, including two for loss, while playing over half of the defensive snaps. The 2011 first round pick was cut by the Oakland Raiders in October and was a free agent for a month before signing with the Bills. They should be able to re-sign him for the vet minimum, if they want to go to camp with another veteran, depth player.  

Jordan Phillips is one of the team's biggest pending free agents. After re-signing with the club on a one-year deal last offseason and betting on himself, he made it pay off. On top of the great energy and competitiveness he brought to the group, Phillips did everything that was asked of him and turned it all into a career year, collecting 9.5 sacks (second to only Aaron Donald for all NFL defensive tackles) and 31 total tackles. His previous highs were two sacks and 24 tackles. As a former second round pick and just 27-years-old, Phillips is hitting unrestricted free agency at the exact right time. Now the questions are how much he will command on the open market and if the Bills will be willing to pay that. Phillips made $4.5 million last season. If he's looking for top-10 type of defensive tackle money, which would be close to or more than doubling his salary and upwards of $8 million, I'm not sure he's going to get it from any team. But if he can, all the power to him. He's earned that right and opportunity. NFL teams get in trouble when they pay players based on past performance instead of future expectations. As good as Phillips' 2019 season was, there's no way anyone can expect him to put up those kinds of sack totals again, so I can't see the Bills going that high. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't make a competitive offer and give him a slight raise.    

How Jordan Phillips' situation plays out will give us a lot of insight as to where this team stands at the defensive tackle position. He's obviously not coming back on a super cheap deal. So if he's re-signed, that would tie up over $20 million in the interior defensive line position, counting Lotulelei's $10.1 million and Oliver's $4.4 million cap hits next year. That's a lot of money poured into a position the team uses to rotate players. They also just used a premium top-10 draft pick on a defensive tackle last draft. I expect them to make an offer to Phillips, but probably not be able to retain him, then try to fill his role with a cheaper free agent option, while also planning on Harrison Phillips to be able to come back and play a significant role. But they may want to look to the draft for a mid-to-late round player they can develop and add some more young depth to the spot, especially as insurance for Harrison Phillips and eventually give themselves more flexibility to move on from Lotulelei when the time comes, maybe in another year.