No Reunion for Bills and franchise's fourth all-time sacks leader
It's still unknown whether or not the Buffalo Bills will use their remaining salary cap space to add an edge rusher, but it's clear that a reunion with Jerry Hughes is not in the cards.
Set to turn 36 years old on August 13, Hughes re-signed with the Houston Texans according to the NFL transactions wire. After nine seasons as a Bill, Hughes has spent back-to-back years in Houston.
In 144 career games (127 starts) for Buffalo, Hughes tallied 53.0 sacks — fourth-most in Bills' team history. The 2010 first-round draft pick was sent to the Bills by the Indianapolis Colts in a 2013 player swap for linebacker Kelvin Sheppard. Only Bruce Smith, Aaron Schobel and Phil Hansen recorded more sacks in a Buffalo uniform than Hughes.
The aging Hughes hasn't missed a game over two seasons with the Texans. After 9.0 sacks in 2022, he saw a bit of a reduced role last year. Playing 42 percent of defensive snaps, the grizzled veteran recorded 3.0 sacks.
The Bills will face their old friend Hughes during a Week 5 road trip to the Lone Star State in a battle of reigning division champs on October 6.
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Thus far, Buffalo brass appears content with its current defensive ends rotation that will heavily on Greg Rousseau, AJ Epenesa and a hopeful Von Miller. The Bills (54.0) ranked fourth amongst NFL team sacks leaders in 2023.
In addition to re-signing Epenesa, Buffalo took fliers on former Jacksonville third-round pick Dawuane Smoot and Philadelphia seventh-rounder Casey Toohill. The Bills also drafted Troy sacks king Javon Solomon in Round 5 this past April.
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RALPH VENTRE