The Washington Commanders re-signed running back J.D. McKissic. However, it was not without some drama. McKissic initially agreed on a two-year deal with the Buffalo Bills during NFL’s legal tampering period. But just as free agency officially started the next day, McKissic had changed his mind and agreed to come back to Washington.
Since the league’s legal tampering period began a few years back, there have been some changes from time to time. Randy Gregory did so just before McKissic, originally choosing to go back to the Dallas Cowboys before flipping and signing with the Denver Broncos for the same deal.
McKissic also signed with Washington on the same deal that he agreed with Buffalo — two years for $7 million with a max value of $8 million. So what happened? It’s unclear but Bills general manager Brandon Beane expressed his frustration with the whole ordeal.
Beane said the Bills had the agreement with McKissic, but there were “some things” that occurred with the Commanders that led to him to spurning Buffalo.
“Once you have an agreement, the gent is supposed to say, ‘It’s over.’ And this agent did that. And this agent told the other club it’s over. But the other club didn’t back off,” Beane told reporters Friday (h/t Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post).
When asked if this complicates his relationship with the Commanders, Beane responded “Yeah, it does.”
Coincidentally before becoming the Bills GM, Beane was a longtime Carolina Panthers exec. He worked with Ron Rivera and Marty Hurney during his time in Carolina. Rivera is currently head coach and Hurney is the executive vice president of football/player personnel with the Commanders.
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