The Bills are adding a former Pro Bowler to their defense. The team is signing linebacker Deion Jones, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. It will be a one-year deal for the 29-year-old defender.
Jones most recently got into 13 games (three starts) with the Panthers during the 2023 campaign. He finished the season with a career-low 35 tackles while appearing in fewer than half of his team’s defensive snaps. However, Pro Football Focus still believes he has something left in the tank, grading the veteran 42nd among 82 qualifying linebackers.
Jones struggled during his final few seasons in Atlanta and half-season showing in Cleveland, but he was once one of the Falcons’ most dependable defenders. The former second-round pick averaged more than 100 tackles per season between 2016 and 2021, and that includes a 2018 season in which he was limited to only six games and 53 stops. He earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2017 after finishing with 138 tackles and three interceptions.
With former linebackers coach Bobby Babich earning a promotion to defensive coordinator, Al Holcomb will take over the LB role. He’ll be eyeing a depth chart led by Terrel Bernard and Matt Milano, who was limited to five games last season thanks to a fractured leg. Milano’s fill-in, Tyrel Dodson, is gone, but backup Dorian Williams will still be around in 2024, and the Bills added fifth-round linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio last weekend. Jones will likely be competing with Williams and Ulofoshio for those backup reps.
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