Heading into the 2019 off-season, the Buffalo Bills have 17 pending free agents and five of those were starters on either offense or defense. The list consists of players who are Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA), Restricted Free Agents (RFA), and Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFA).
UFAs:
- LB Lorenzo Alexander (starter)
- C Ryan Groy (starter)
- OT Jordan Mills (starter)
- DT Jordan Phillips
- RB Taiwan Jones
- TE Logan Thomas
- OG Jeremiah Sirles
- WR Deonte Thompson
- OG John Miller (starter)
Alexander, Groy, Mills, and Miller were all starter for the Bills for the majority of the season. Alexander is the most vital of all the Bills free agents to bring back for 2019 while the others aren't sure what their future looks like with the team.
RFAs
- CB Lafayette Pitts
- P Matt Darr
Pitts is the fourth or fifth corner on the roster when everyone is healthy and if the Bills add more experienced depth at the position this offseason I can't see much of a roster spot available for him outside of his special teams contributions. As far as Darr goes, he most likely won't be the punter to start the 2019 season. The injury to Corey Bojorquez and the lack of punting ability of Colton Schmidt are the reason that Darr was signed in the first place and his trial run with the Bills for the last month of the season didn't go well.
Both Pitts and Darr were undrafted free agents, so if Buffalo tenders them at the original round figure of $2,035,000, they will get nothing in return if another team signs them.
ERFAs
- DE Eddie Yarbrough
- S Dean Marlowe
- WR Victor Bolden Jr.
- LS Reid Ferguson
- DE Mike Love
- WR Da’Mari Scott
For those who don't know, ERFAs are unlike RFAs and UFAs. ERFAs are players with only one or two accrued seasons in the NFL. Those under this tag (which is for an NFL minimum contract) cannot negotiate with any other team because their rights are exclusively owned by the tagging team. As for the Bills players under this tag, Ferguson is the most likely to remain with the team for next season. Yarbrough’s production and snaps went down from last year with the Bills adding Trent Murphy. For the rest of the guys, they were mostly brought in as placeholders for the holes Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane needed to fill. It wouldn’t be surprising if all of them receive the tag, though.