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Last week, following the conclusion of the 2013 Buffalo Bills season, we posted a look at the team's upcoming 2014 free agents with an eye toward the start of the new league year on March 11.
Since then, we have fielded several requests for a post detailing how the team's free agent classes break down not just in 2014, but for several seasons beyond. That led us here, to this post, where we group the 2013 team's 38 major contributors by the year that their contract expires. There are several caveats, all of which pertain to the team's last four first-round picks and are detailed after the chart. Here, without further ado, are the Bills' free agent classes by year, with the percentage of snaps they played on offense or defense last season for reference.
We'll be talking about several conclusions that can be drawn from this chart - like, say, how the 2014 season could be a curtain call for the team's dynamic running back tandem - over the next several months.
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
| FB Frank Summers (19.4%) | QB Thad Lewis (30.7%) | WR T.J. Graham (71.3%) | WR Robert Woods (78.4%) | (4) QB EJ Manuel (59.8%) | |
| TE Scott Chandler (79.1%) | RB Fred Jackson (57.1%) | OT Cordy Glenn (100.0%) | WR Stevie Johnson (60.4%) | C Eric Wood (100.0%) | |
| DL Alex Carrington (14.3%) | (1) RB C.J. Spiller (33.5%) | (2) DL Marcell Dareus (72.0%) | WR Marquise Goodwin (27.0%) | OLB Mario Williams (87.2%) | |
| LB Arthur Moats (25.6%) | WR Marcus Easley (ST) | LB Nigel Bradham (24.8%) | OG Kraig Urbik (98.4%) | ||
| S Jairus Byrd (55.5%) | TE Lee Smith (36.9%) | CB Nickell Robey (53.2%) | DL Kyle Williams (82.0%) | ||
| S Jim Leonhard (53.5%) | OT Erik Pears (100.0%) | DL Alan Branch (52.1%) | |||
| K Dan Carpenter (ST) | OG Doug Legursky (65.9%) | OLB Manny Lawson (61.7%) | |||
| P Brian Moorman (ST) | DL Corbin Bryant (28.7%) | LB Kiko Alonso (100.0%) | |||
| OLB Jerry Hughes (52.8%) | (3) CB Stephon Gilmore (56.6%) | ||||
| S Aaron Williams (80.9%) | CB Leodis McKelvin (81.0%) | ||||
| S Da'Norris Searcy (63.7%) | |||||
| LS Garrison Sanborn (ST) |
(1) - Signed through end of 2015 season; player can opt out of final year of deal
(2) - Signed through end of 2014 season; Bills can exercise fifth-year option by May 2014
(3) - Signed through end of 2015 season; Bills can exercise fifth-year option by May 2015
(4) - Signed through end of 2016 season; Bills can exercise fifth-year option by May 2016