One Buffalo Bills player that the Patriots should target in NFL free agency
Over the last 12 seasons, Devin McCourty has been part of the Patriots secondary. The former first-round pick out of Rutgers hasn’t committed to playing in 2023. If McCourty retires, the Patriots will need to improve the team’s safety depth immediately.
The Patriots currently have Kyle Dugger, Adrian Phillips, Myles Bryant and Jonathan Jones. Jabrill Peppers was a big part of the team’s safety room last season, he is a free agent this spring.
Losing McCourty is big for the Patriots defense in the terms of leadership. Phillips and Dugger could begin to fill that role but New England will need to address the position in free agency.
Buffalo Bills safety Jordan Poyer will be a free agent and could be the talented player and leader that could fill the void left by McCourty.
Poyer would be a short-term fix, but is still talented enough to make an impact.
The Bills are in a weird spot heading into free agency. They’re approximately $20 million over the projected salary cap for next season. Buffalo has a bunch of young players they need to decide on bringing back like linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and running back Devin Singletary.
According to Pro Football Focus, they rank Poyer as the one free agent the Bills can’t afford to lose this offseason.
The Bills came up short once again in 2022 and have several tough decisions ahead of them. But, fortunately, they don’t have a ton of key free agents hitting the market. Poyer had been the consistent presence on the backend of this Bills defense prior to an injury-derailed 2022 campaign, logging 5,018 snaps from 2017-21 — fifth most among safeties — with a 93.9 coverage grade over the span that also ranked fifth.
Poyer was not himself to close out the 2022 campaign, battling through injury to be out there. Perhaps he can be convinced to return for one or two final runs at a price tag lower than the one he presumably wanted on an extension before the season began.
Poyer finished with 63 takes and four interceptions last season, he was also a first-time All-Pro, playing in 12 games. He also lined up at free safety for 515 snaps for the Bills secondary last season.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Poyer said to The Athletic. “I’m going to enjoy this free-agency process and see what options are out there and what’s best for my family and myself moving forward. If that’s Buffalo, great. If that’s somewhere else, that’s just the business.”
If the Patriots can lure one of the Bills core defensive players from Orchard Park to Foxboro, that would be a tremendous start in NFL free agency. The Patriots are expected to be aggressive this spring after finishing 8-9 and missing the playoffs.
There’s a chance McCourty could retire and if he does, replacing him with Bills safety Jordan Poyer would be a great start.
Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisHenrique
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