The Buffalo Bills finally pulled the trigger, releasing Mario Williams after a season full of turmoil. The Bills did not perform too badly as a unit, but Williams, on several occasions, looked lost with this defensive unit. He will now become a free agent and will likely have a long list of suitors. Williams criticized Rex Ryan and his defensive scheme publicly several times over the course of the season, which led to some bad feelings on both sides, creating a significant rift. The Buffalo Bills will now save $12.9 million against the cap and finally create some breathing room for them to operate in free agency. The Bills had quite possibly the worst cap situation imaginable prior to this release, so now they will be able to offer free agents such as Richie Incognito a little bit more money to stay in Buffalo. Williams was an All-Pro during the 2014 season, however, in 2015 he only recorded 5 sacks and created a ton of locker room problems.
The Bills used the franchise tag on their star left tackle Cordy Glenn, so now the Bills will really only be faced with the issue of how to replace Williams, who stated before his release he would be willing to take a pay cut in order stay in Buffalo, however, the Bills have apparently had enough of the once productive pass rusher. The Bills offered Williams such a ridiculous contract to begin with because he had 38 sacks in his first three years as a Buffalo Bill. It could have either been injury or the scheme Ryan brought to Buffalo that made the star pass rusher ineffective, but Williams should see plenty of interest on the open market.
The Bills also managed to release offensive lineman Kraig Urbik, which will clear $1.775 million in cap space. The Bills have no found more urgency to draft a defensive lineman, which was already one of their primary concerns heading into the 2016 season. The Bills will also attempt to fill up other roster holes at linebacker, kicker, wide receiver and right tackle. Rex Ryan loves to draw up blitz packages for his defense, so expect the Bills to invest heavily in their defense in the 2016 NFL Draft.
