On Friday night, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter that the Buffalo Bills had traded defensive tackle Marcell Dareus to the Jacksonville Jaguars. In return, the Bills received a 2018 sixth-round pick that could turn into a fifth-round pick based on Dareus's performance with his new team. The trade is a win-win for both teams and comes before the NFL's trade deadline next Tuesday.
What do the Bills get out of the trade?
The Buffalo Bills drafted Marcell Dareus with the third pick in the 2011 draft out of Alabama. In his six-and-a-half seasons with the team, he was a two-time Pro Bowler and one-time First-Team All-Pro. In return for one of the anchors of their defense, they seemed to get back minimal compensation.
However, as ESPN's Buffalo Bills writer Mike Rodak pointed out the team will save $8.105 million off of their salary cap over the next two seasons. They also get the last three seasons of the six-year, up to $95.1 million dollar contract they gave him in 2015 wiped out.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane said during a conference call that “Jacksonville reached out to us today. And we thought about it and talked about it through as an organization and decided it was a good move for the Bills and a good move for Marcell.”
Dareus was sent home from a preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens for violating a team rule and head coach Doug McDermott has said he needed to see more consistent effort from the team's highest-paid player. Beane also hinted at issues with Dareus during the call saying, “Like I said, early on we probably had some struggles. But he's not a bad person. At the end of the day, I wish him the best.”
Jacksonville's defense gets even scarier
With the addition of Marcell Dareus to Jacksonville's defensive line, their defense gets even scarier then it already has been. The move to bring him in also reunited the defensive tackle with former head coach Doug Marrone, who coached the Buffalo Bills from 2013-14.
In Dareus, the Jaguars get a player who has played in 91 games and started 85 of them over his career. He has racked up 300 total tackles, 35 sacks, two forced fumbles and two recovered fumbles. Now he is joining a defense that has recorded a league-leading 33 sacks, nine more than the Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers.
Dareus will now rotate with a defensive line that includes Calais Campbell (10 sacks), Yannick Ngakiue (6.5), Dante Fowler (5.5), Malik Jackson (three), Abry Jones (one), and Sheldon Day (one). His addition into the rotation will now keep all of these guys fresher as Dareus gets plugged into the system.
Dareus will have a salary-cap hit of $5.73 million this season and $10.175 next season, of which $7.35 million is guaranteed. After 2018 none of his contract is guaranteed. His cap hit for 2019 and 2020 is $14.6 million, while it is $14.65 million in 2021.