PFF: Bills’ Tremaine Edmunds named 17th best free agent in 2023
While he wears 45 on the field, Tremaine Edmunds and the No. 17 looks good on him too.
Pro Football Focus ranked their top-101 pending free agents in the NFL. Edmunds clocks in at No. 17 overall in the league.
First, here’s how PFF came to that conclusion:
Edmunds made huge strides in coverage in 2022, a major weakness in his game through his first four seasons. He is a truly freakish athlete and will be 25 years old throughout his entire sixth NFL season in 2023 after being selected No. 16 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft as the second-youngest player in the overall class.
Edmunds’ 86.9 coverage grade in 2022 was the third-best mark among off-ball linebackers, and he forced an incompletion on 10.3% of targets into his coverage while allowing just four explosive receptions the entire season (0.9% of targets into his coverage, ninth among linebackers). Edmunds also missed just 6.5% of potential tackles, the lowest rate of his career and another huge sign of continued growth from a football intelligence and play recognition standpoint.
This is not the first time Edmunds has been linked to the No. 17.
ESPN did a similar ranking of upcoming free agents and Edmunds slotted in at the same spot.
Even without the football analytics PFF provides, many in Buffalo agree that Edmunds had his best season in 2023. He finally put it all together.
That comes with its problems for the Bills because of the salary cap. Buffalo is approximately $20 million over the projected salary cap for next year.
In order for the Bills to get Edmunds and other free agents re-signed, general manager Brandon Beane is going to have to find some cap space through cuts and contract restructures.
