Twice this season, Buffalo Bills defensive end Mario Williams has publicly criticized the defensive scheme of head coach Rex Ryan, and specifically his role in it. Last season, Williams picked up 14.5 sacks and a first team All-Pro spot under former coordinator Jim Schwartz. This year, he has four sacks and doesn't seem to fit what Ryan and his coaches are trying to accomplish.
The Bills can save $12.9 million against the salary cap if they release the 30-year-old Williams this offseason. Williams is unhappy. As a result, with three games left in the regular season, reports that Williams' time in Buffalo may be coming to a close are starting to pop up more frequently.
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com had one this morning, in which he says that Williams is the epicenter of unhappiness felt throughout the entirety of Buffalo's star-studded defensive line. He also reports that Schwartz, the coordinator who helped guide the Bills to a Top 5 finish defensively last year and had his players stuffing stat lines across the board, and that Schwartz is missed by several Bills defenders.
Then there's this little gem from ESPN's Adam Schefter:
Mario Williams missed team meeting this past week, per source. Williams told Bills he was sick, not everyone there believed it.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 20, 2015
(Williams is expected to play today, by the way.)
It's going to be an interesting offseason in Buffalo, to say the least, and not just because the Bills might be parting ways with one of their most productive pass rushers in franchise history.