Bills trade Marcell Dareus, continue overhaul

Before you go burying the Buffalo Bills for trading Marcell Dareus to the Jacksonville Jaguars, consider a few things.

One, Buffalo just moved the worst contract in the NFL, with Dareus still getting another $16 million per year through the 2019 season with no reason chance of being cut. After that, Dareus gets $15.9 million in 2020 (Jacksonville can cut him for only $1 million in dead money). Two, Dareus has been a malcontent throughout much of his time with Buffalo, being suspended multiple times, including a four-game ban back in 2016.

The Bills have made it very clear that under the leadership of general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott, there will be no sacred cows. Buffalo traded corner Ronald Darby and wide receiver Sammy Watkins on the same day this summer, receiving draft picks, corner E.J. Gaines and receiver Jordan Matthews in return. Later, the Bills sent Reggie Ragland to the Kansas City Chiefs for a future fourth-round choice.

Now, Dareus goes to Jacksonville for the measly return of a 2018 sixth-round pick, even with the Bills eating a large portion of the contract moving forward.

So why do the move? To both get baggage unloaded from the roster, and to move on from a failed experiment. Nobody would argue that at his peak, Dareus is one of the best defensive tackles in the game, a force in the trenches. In his seven years with the Bills, Dareus racked up 35 sacks including a career-high 10 in 2014. However, since the start of the 2015 campaign, the former first-round selection has only 6.5 sacks in 28 games.

For Buffalo’s part, the front office seems happy to have moved on from Dareus, clearly feeling that diminishing returns could be had for a song. Per NFL.com:

“Jacksonville reached out to us today and we thought about it and talked it through as an organization and decided it was a good move for the Bills and a good move for Marcell,” first-year general manager Brandon Beane said on a conference call with reporters.

At 4-2, the Bills deserve the benefit of the doubt. Buffalo allowed ample talent to walk in the offseason, including corners Stephon Gilmore, Nickell Robey-Coleman and running back Mike Gillislee. All of that happened under the watch of former general manager Doug Whaley, who was fired the day after the NFL Draft concluded.

Beane’s culling of this roster is far from over. The Bills are anything but a finished product, but the culture is clearly beginning to change for a team that isn’t reached the playoffs since 1999, the longest active draught in the NFL.

Win or lose, the Bills have a real plan, something that hasn’t been true of the franchise in some time.