Buffalo Bills make smart decision releasing Mario Williams
The Buffalo Bills are cleaning house this offseason as they made a smart decision by releasing defensive end Mario Williams who wasn’t a fit under their new defensive scheming.
For the past four seasons, Williams has done his best to make a name for himself on the Bills. The moment he was with the Bills back in 2012, he made an immediate impact and remained consistent for the most part over the next four seasons.
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Williams was always a force to be reckoned with throughout his career. In 2012 for the Bills, he totaled 10.5 sacks, then 13.0 in 2013, 14.5 in 2014 and saw a steep decline last season at 5.0. Mind you, he played in 15 games but looked lost, confused and was completely ineffective under the new defense installed by first-year head coach Rex Ryan.
Whether it’s the new system or the fact that perhaps Williams is on the decline after a decade in the NFL remains to be seen. Regardless, Williams had a salary cap hit this year of a whopping $19.9M which made it a no-brainer for the Bills to release him since he didn’t play well enough to earn such a hefty number.
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Due to releasing Williams, the Bills saved about $12.9M against their salary cap and will continue to work hard to ensure they can have a shot at acquiring a quality player or two once the free agency market hits.
The Bills’ defense seemed to regress under Ryan last season as before he arrived, they had one of the top defenses of the NFL back in 2014. They were wreaking havoc against opposing teams as it was their main strength of the team. Williams thrived within this version of defense as it utilized his strengths effectively but last year since everything was new and vastly different requiring him to go into pass coverage, it was too much to handle.
Regardless, the Bills made a smart decision releasing him not only because of his hefty price tag but mainly because he simply doesn’t fit the kind of defense they envision of launching. It’ll take time for Ryan’s defensive schemes to make sense and be executed as intended, but make no mistake about it, once the players get it, it will be one of the top defenses of the NFL.
Of course it’s two different things from having players understand it and another to have ones that fit the mold of what needs to happen for it all to come together. Williams shouldn’t have any problems finding teams interested in his services but unfortunately, it won’t be with the Bills who have already moved on from him.
Since the Bills didn’t have that stout defense as they wanted last year, expect them to continue having a drastic makeover across the unit to turn things around next season. If it’s one thing Ryan knows how to do is create a defense that is capable of making opposing teams think twice about trying to crack it.
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Only issue is the overall patience that the higher-ups of the Bills have as it is wearing thin. The Bills for years now have been very inconsistent and unable to reach that next level status of being a contending team that is close or even actually in the NFL Playoffs. They’re making the right moves now on the defensive side of the football as hopefully come next season, all these cuts and future acquisitions will make the collective unit achieve better results in 2016 and beyond.