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The defensive line rotation for the 2019 Buffalo Bills seems to be fairly straight-forward heading into the regular season. Perhaps all that’s left to decide is who will be the fourth defensive end, and whether the team will choose to keep four or five players at the position overall.
With much of the competition seemingly sewn up, the Bills have a slew of players who will be fighting for time elsewhere. Strong preseason performances can lead to job opportunities on other rosters. Preseason games, meaningless as they may be to the standings, are anything but that to these players trying to keep their NFL dreams alive.
In today’s installment of “90 players in 90 days,” we focus on a veteran edge player looking to stay in the league.
Name: Sam Acho
Number: 74
Position: DE
Height/Weight: 6’3” 259 lbs.
Age: 30 (31 on 9/6/19)
Experience/Draft: 10; selected in the fourth round (103 overall) of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals
College: Texas
Acquired: Signed with Bills on 8/11/19
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Acho’s contract details have yet to be revealed, but it’s probable that he was signed to a one-year deal at the veteran’s minimum. For someone with his level of service, that would mean Acho signed for $1,030,000, but thanks to the veteran’s minimum exception, his cap number will only be $645,000 plus any guarantees (if any) in the contract.
2018 Recap: Acho only managed to play in four games for the Chicago Bears last season before suffering a torn pectoral muscle that ended his season in October. In those four games, he made a lone tackle while playing on 27 defensive snaps.
Positional outlook: Acho is competing for the fourth defensive end spot on the roster, with the top three already occupied by Jerry Hughes, Trent Murphy, and Shaq Lawson. Mike Love, Eddie Yarbrough, and Darryl Johnson are the other three players competing for one, or perhaps two, spots on the 53-man roster.
2019 Offseason: Acho has participated in practices and preseason games with the Bills since he signed with the team. He had been without a team since the Bears released him in March.
2019 Season outlook: It’s unlikely that Acho jumps one of the Bills’ trio of promising young players to make the roster, as it’s already likely that one or two of those youngsters will have to be cut before the beginning of the season. Acho is probably auditioning for a role somewhere else in 2019.