As the Buffalo Bills and NFL move towards free agency and the 2022 NFL Draft, my position-by-position "State of the Bills" offseason series continues with a look at the cornerbacks:
Under contract:
- Tre’Davious White
- Taron Johnson
- Dane Jackson
- Siran Neal
- Cam Lewis
- Nick McCloud
- Olaijah Griffin
- Tim Harris
Pending free agents:
- Levi Wallace (UFA)
State of the position:
The most pressing short-term issue at this position is what happens with Levi Wallace. The most important longer-term issue is the recovery of Tre’Davious White from his torn ACL, suffered in November.
White is one of the best cornerbacks in the game. But suffering the injury he did so late in the season, on Thanksgiving night, means he might not be ready to play by training camp, or even the regular season. Even if he is, how affective will he be? How quickly can he return to form?
There is always a different timeline and answer for everyone with these sorts of injuries.
From everything we’ve been told by the organization, White is rehabbing in Buffalo and on track to come back and play. However, the Bills still have to have it in their minds that they need to plan for him not being ready, or at the very least, as impactful and reliable right away. A lot of offseason decisions at the spot may depend on all of those variables.
Wallace is a pending unrestricted free agent, just as he was a year ago. At that time, he made it clear he wanted to stay in Buffalo and took a one-year, $1.15 million deal to make sure that happened. Now, after 52 career starts and becoming the teams’ de facto No. 1 cornerback after White went out, he very well may be looking at a much larger payday on the open market.
I don’t think there’s any doubt the Bills would love to have Wallace back once again. But how high are they willing to go to make that happen? The player and team will both have to make their own decisions on the value they placed on each other, and the situation they are both in.
After a very impressive rookie year in the very limited action he got, Jackson, once again, wasn’t relied on much for most of 2021. But all of that changed after White‘s injury when he stepped into a starting role, opposite Wallace.
Prior to that game, Jackson saw action in only six of 10 contests, and other than filling in for Wallace when he went down in Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins, the most amount of snaps he played in a single game was 14.
He started every game after White went out, and certainly did not look out of place or hurt the defense. He’s done a solid job when called upon, and that could happen right away again next season, depending on both White and Wallace’s individual situations.
Johnson has blossomed into one of the best nickel cornerbacks in the NFL. After some early-career injuries, he’s stayed healthy and settled perfectly into, what amounts to, a starting role on the Bills defense.
The Bills don’t play three linebackers, except in special circumstances. They play two linebackers and three cornerbacks, including a nickel, almost exclusively. That’s not only why it’s such an important spot for them, but also why they decided to give Johnson a nice contract extension last offseason, which will kick in this year.
Johnson is set to make $24 million over the next three seasons, but only count $4.5 million against the cap next season.
Speaking of three-year contract extensions, that’s exactly what the team gave Siran Neal just over a week ago.
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Neal was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent, but now won’t be hitting the market and will be back in Buffalo as the highest paid non-kicker or punter, mainly special teams player in the league at $9 million total He also has a chance to make up to $10.9 million with his contract.
That’s almost Neal’s exclusive role, and one that he’s very good at, becoming one of the top gunners in the league and playing on almost every special teams unit, logging over 66% of snaps last season.
The 27-year-old does play a little bit on defense in a pinch. He’s been used as a bigger nickel cornerback against bigger slot receivers or to help in run support, which is also probably a reason he received the extension he did. He saw action on defense in 10 games last year.
The Bills love his versatility and willingness to do whatever they ask.
Lewis just keeps fighting and fighting to stay on the roster in some capacity, and has done well when given opportunities. Those don’t come as often with Johnson in front of him.
The University at Buffalo product started the season on the practice squad last year, was elevated for one game, then signed a contract to join the active roster for the final nine games, where he was used sparingly as a backup on defense and saw some special teams action. He’s under contract for 2022 after signing a two-year deal last offseason.
Griffin was on the practice squad the entire 2021 season. McCloud and Harris were both with the Bills during training camp and waived before the regular season began. Both signed on with other clubs - McLoud with the Cincinnati Bengals and Harris with the Cleveland Browns.
Both were then re-signed by the Bills around the midway point of the season and stayed on the practice squad. None of the three saw any regular season action, but all signed Reserve/Future contracts to come back to the team and compete for jobs at training camp.
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