Indianapolis, Ind. (WGR 550) - My 2024 "State of the Bills" positional series continues with a look at the defensive ends/edge rushers:
Under contract:
- Von Miller
- Greg Rousseau
- Kingsley Jonathan
- Kameron Cline
Pending free agents:
- Leonard Floyd
- A.J. Epenesa
- Shaq Lawson
State of the position:
There are some big question marks with this group this offseason, and they mostly start with Miller.
After missing the first four games of 2024 while recovering from a torn ACL in November of the previous season, Miller was barely - if at all - effective. He was even a healthy scratch for the team’s Week 17 game at home against the New England Patriots.
The soon-to-be 35-year-old veteran finished the season with just three total tackles and no sacks.
Miller is scheduled to count for $23.78 million on the Bills' salary cap in 2024, and releasing him would only increase that number. It’s a tough situation for the Bills that can only get better if he does, via both health and production.
In the meantime, general manager Brandon Beane will have to make calculated guesses on Miller, because it will impact his decision-making about the position for next season.
If Miller is able to get back to even close to his standard and form, there’s going to be less of a need for another premier pass rusher like Floyd, or someone just like him. But that’s a big "IF", and odds are heavily against it.
Floyd was one of the best acquisitions the Bills made all last offseason. He made an immediate impactful, and finished the 2023 season posting 10.5 sacks.
Beane signed Floyd to a one-year deal that only cost $2.62 million on the salary cap, but in order to keep that number low, they added a void year to spread the $5.84 million signing bonus out. Now that money is due, and Floyd will be on the Bills' cap for $4.38 million in 2024, even if he’s not on the team.
Keeping him around seems pretty unlikely, given what he signed for last year, his production, and the Bills' cap constraints.
It’s going to be interesting to see what the free agent market holds for Epenesa. While never putting up top numbers, he’s gotten better each year of his four-year career, posting 6.5 sacks in each of the last two seasons. He has also been a solid rotational piece who’s made some big plays.
At only 26-years-old next season, another team will most likely see an ascending player who still has plenty of room to grow. That would make it challenging for the Bills to match a contract to keep him around, although they would, at least, want to keep that door open if it’s something they can afford.
The Bills have a different kind of decision to make on Rousseau this offseason.
Heading into his fourth year with the Bills, the team will have to decide by May 2 whether or not to pick up his fifth-year option for 2025. That would come at price tag of $13.387 million for that season.
By doing so, they’d not only know they have Rousseau locked up for two more seasons, they’d also be buying time to eventually sign him to an extension, and even reduce that cap hit.
In the meantime, Rousseau will count $3.693 million against the cap in 2024. He posted five sacks and 42 total tackles last season.
Once again last season, Lawson was a solid rotational end and contributor. And once again this offseason he will be a free agent.
Lawson has been the perfect type of one-year veteran minimum signing the team likes, and needs to have. It would be surprising if he was able to get anything more anywhere else, so another return to Buffalo on another one-year deal sounds very doable, if both sides want to keep it going.
The Bills are very high on both Jonathan and Cline, evident in Jonathan’s case that he made the team out of training camp last year, and stayed on the 53-man roster all season long.
The 2022 undrafted free agent out of Syracuse played 13 games, mainly on special teams. He may be in line for an even bigger role in 2024, but even if he remains a depth player who only suits up in case of injury to others, his $986,756 cap hit is a good situation for the team.
If it wasn’t for the names and amount of people in front of Cline on the roster, he may have played in regular season games. He did log five games with the Indianapolis Colts over the previous three seasons before signing with the Bills and eventually joining their practice squad. The Bills really like his athleticism and versatility.
He signed a Reserve/Future deal to return in 2024.
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