Bills Starters’ Talks of Buffalo’s Latest Signing

The Buffalo Bills are putting in a lot of effort to rebuild their team before the 2024 NFL season. They had to release several key veteran players abruptly to meet the salary cap requirements, leaving many positions to be filled.

However, Buffalo managed to re-sign defensive tackle DaQuan Jones to a two-year, $16 million contract. According to The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia, Jones is considered the most important re-signing for the upcoming season, especially since the defensive tackles room lacked a starting option at one technique.

Despite two weeks passing in free agency without signing another defensive tackle, the Bills finally found a solution. On Saturday, March 23, Jones was the first to announce that Buffalo had secured his backup in Austin Johnson, formerly of the Los Angeles Chargers.

Jones’s post on X read, “!!!BREAKING NEWS!!! @BuffaloBills are Signing former Chargers DE @AJohn15 later on today ‘close sources say.'” Johnson replied, “😂😂😂 Alright Mr. Schefter lmao.”

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport confirmed about 20 minutes later, “Sources confirm: Austin Johnson is signing a 1-year deal with Buffalo to play alongside former teammate DaQuan Jones. The deal is worth up to $4M.”

Johnson and Jones were teammates at Penn State in 2013. Jones was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL draft, while the Titans drafted Johnson in the second round of the 2016 NFL draft. They were reunited as teammates until Johnson signed with the New York Giants in 2020. Two years later, Johnson signed a two-year, $14 million contract with the Chargers.

Shout-out to @RiDQulous_98 for his superior recruiting skills. #Bills pic.twitter.com/XMl8BXi3pa

— Bradley Gelber (@BradleyGelber) March 23, 2024

Johnson confirmed he was heading to Buffalo on his Instagram Stories and gave Jones a shout-out. He reposted the news announcement and wrote, “And yes @dqj_90 is the best recruiter out” with two laugh-cry emojis.