Indianapolis, Ind. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - With a brand new defense on the horizon for the Buffalo Bills, there’s still a lot of intrigue about what new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard’s scheme will look like, and what players will fit within it, and where.
General manager Brandon Beane even kept the door open for a possible position switch for nickel cornerback Taron Johnson.
"Nothing's off the table," Beane said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine when asked if it's possible Johnson could move to safety. "We’ll look at anything and everything as we make these decisions. He's a good football player, and so you never want to rule anything out if you think that's the best position for him after a couple weeks with Jim."
Johnson will be 30-years-old in July, and is scheduled to count for over $11 million against the salary cap this season. The Bills can save $8.6 million on this year’s salary cap by making Johnson a post-June 1 cut, but they wouldn’t get to use any of that money until that date.
They could save just under $2 million by releasing him before June 1, but then take on a dead cap hit of $9.5 million.
The Bills could still want Johnson to play nickel cornerback at his current salary, but Leonhard’s defense will most likely use a third linebacker much more often than Sean McDermott’s defense had before.
"We’re trying to figure every single piece out and the value," Beane said.
"Taron’s been great here. The guy's played nickel, but it's also basically been half of a Will linebacker. Just the way our defense was constructed. I can tell you a lot of love and respect for him, and we're still figuring all those pieces out. How they'll use them? How much will he be on the field in Jim's defense? We've played him damn near 90%, so those are the conversations. How much does Jim foresee him being on the field in his defense? Or is he going to have another linebacker in his place a little bit more, depending on what personnel is out there? There's multiple players like that that we kind of got to figure out, what is the fit going forward?"
