The Buffalo Bills and free agent linebacker Julian Stanford have agreed to a two-year contract. Per ESPN’s Mike Rodak, the deal is worth $3 million total, with $550,000 of it being guaranteed.
Julian Stanford’s contract with bills: base salary $1.2M in 2018, $1.25M in 2019. Gets $350,000 signing bonus, $100,000 workout bonuses each year. $200,000 of his 2018 base salary is guaranteed. He gets up to $400,000 playing time escalator in 2019.
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) March 14, 2018
As opposed to most of the transactions involving the Bills for the past few days, there were no rumblings involving the deal for Stanford until the team officially announced it when free agency officially opened at 4 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Stanford, 27, is entering his sixth season in the NFL. He spent the last two seasons with the New York Jets. Stanford entered the league as a undrafted free agent out of Wagner in 2012, signing with the Jacksonville Jaguars that year. He was cut by the Jaguars the following year, but landed with the Detroit Lions and spent two seasons with them prior to arriving in New York.
With just 69 career tackles, Stanford would seemingly provide the Bills with depth at linebacker, as opposed to being someone expected to start, and he’ll contribute on special teams. The Jets mainly used him on special teams, where he played 82 percent of snaps for the team last year. The Bills may potentially lose fellow linebackers Preston Brown and Ramon Humber, who are now officially free agents, and while Stanford doesn’t have a history of starting, he gives the team some roster insurance to begin the league year.