Buffalo Bills sign veteran middle linebacker who could compete for starting role
The Buffalo Bills officially signed veteran linebacker Christian Kirksey to their practice squad Thursday, a move that certainly signals that they are uncertain about their middle linebacker situation, but when the Bills put out their initial list, Kirksey hadn't yet passed his physical.
“It’s a veteran guy, we got some guys on the team that know him,” general manager Brandon Beane said. “I feel like we’ve been after this guy a few times. He battled a hamstring in Houston this preseason and so they made the move to terminate him. With us terminating A.J. (Klein), we felt Christian getting in here, getting in our system … I don’t know exactly where he’s at, if he’s full strength or not. Hopefully, he passes the physical. And then kind of ramp him up in our system and we’ll see where it goes.”
More: Bills practice squad starts to take shape, WR Isabella set to return to Buffalo
Kirksey, who turned 31 Thursday, is nine-year NFL veteran who was a 2014 third-round pick of the Browns. He spent six seasons in Cleveland, one in Green Bay and the last two with Houston, totaling 778 tackles, 16.5 sacks, seven interceptions, four forced fumbles and six recoveries.
Sean McDermott said a couple times this summer that the competition between Klein, Tyrel Dodson, Terrel Bernard and Baylon Spector was not yielding the results he was hoping for, meaning none of those players stepped up and outright won the job.
More: Buffalo Bills' 53-man roster includes Damar Hamlin and former undrafted free agents
For now, it appears Dodson is the frontrunner because Klein was released Tuesday, and Bernard just returned to practice after missing nearly three weeks with a hamstring injury.
Kirksey will have about two weeks to get up to speed on the Bills’ defense, and that could be enough time to convince McDermott and the coaches that he can start against the Jets Sept. 11.
Kirksey - who was a college teammate of Bills safety Micah Hyde at Iowa and a Browns teammate of safety Jordan Porder - was a somewhat surprising cut by the Texans. He started all 17 games last year and was third on the team with 124 tackles, the third-best total of his career and highest since 2017 when he had 138 for the Browns.
However, Pro Football Focus wasn’t enamored with Kirksey last year. Among 53 linebackers who played at least 50% of snaps, his 15.7% missed tackle rate was third worst. And as a pass defender, which is the area Dodson struggles greatly with, Kirksey allowed a 76.1% completion percentage into his coverage area.
Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana and on Threads @salmaiorana1. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which will come out every Friday during training camp, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Christian Kirksey signed to Buffalo Bills practice squad
