Bills Named Landing Spot For Former No. 1 Pick
The Buffalo Bills likely won’t be too active in free agency as they deal with a brutal cap situation, but they could still make a few smaller moves as they look to keep their contending window open. Many outlets have shared their free agency suggestions, and many more will do so before the new league year begins in early March.
For the Bills in particular, Pro Football Focus naming 2014 No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney as a potential target stands out. “Clowney could be something of a Leonard Floyd replacement coming off one of the best seasons of his career, as a long, freakishly athletic edge who defends the run very well,” PFF wrote.
Clowney has been somewhat disappointing by the standards of a No. 1 overall pick, but he’s still a quality player in his own right. The 31-year-old proved he can still play at a high level this season with the Baltimore Ravens, as he finished with 9.5 sacks to match a career-high and posted an overall PFF grade of 85.7.
Through 10 seasons in the league, the former South Carolina star has racked up 363 total tackles, 99 tackles for loss and 52.5 sacks. He has also earned three Pro Bowl selections as well as a second-team All-Pro nod in 2016 with the Houston Texans.
With Floyd likely leaving in free agency and Von Miller on a steep decline, the Bills could certainly use some help on the edge. Clowney wouldn’t exactly be cheap, as Spotrac projects him to earn about $7.2 million on a one-year deal, but he could be one of the better-value free agents available this offseason.
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Bills Ex Files Sexual Assault Lawsuit Against Former Trainer
Former Buffalo Bills cornerback Shareece Wright is one of 12 plaintiffs accusing a former high school athletic trainer of sexual assault. Wright, 36, publicly announced his lawsuit against Tiffany Strauss-Gordon, a former Colton High School athletic trainer who had been originally accused by five other former players of sexual assault during their time at the Southern California high school before the number grew. The start of the abuse allegedly began in 2002 when Wright was 15 and a freshman at Colton. Strauss-Gordon was 21 at the time.
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The initial lawsuit was brought up in Sept. 2022. Now, Wright is making his voice be heard to help “stop it from happening to other kids.” “The less it’s kept a secret, the harder it is for it to continue to happen,” Wright told ESPN.
Strauss-Gordon is the daughter of the late Harold Strauss, who previously served as the Colton head football coach before his passing in 2019. Wright’s attorney, Morgan Stewart, told ESPN that this family connection combined with the school environment created a “perfect storm.” “You’ve got football, you’ve got the coach’s daughter, you’ve got a permissive school environment where it’s allowed to happen. I mean, you’ve got sort of a perfect storm of sexual abuse that could be covered up easily,” Stewart said. Wright was selected by the then-San Diego Chargers in the third round of the 2011 draft after a college career at USC. Incredibly, Colton High School led the country in NFL draft picks that year, as cornerback Jimmy Smith (first round, Ravens) and running back Allen Bradford (sixth round, Bucs) were Wright’s other two teammates that were selected.
Wright played with four teams during his eight-year NFL career. After four seasons in San Diego, he joined Baltimore in 2015 before arriving to Buffalo in 2017, where he played just one season. He finished his career with the Houston Texans in 2018. In 91 career games and 53 starts, Wright posted 305 total tackles, 13 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, 41 passes defended and two interceptions. One of those two career picks came with the Bills in 2017.
