The Bills have agreed to re-sign linebacker Lorenzo Alexander, as Alexander himself posted on Twitter. He’ll sign a two-year, $9MM deal that includes $4.1MM guaranteed, reports Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Alexander settled for a minimum salary benefit deal with the Bills in free agency last spring, when he was a special teams-first journeyman who had racked up only 9.5 sacks in his first nine NFL seasons. But Alexander broke out last season in Buffalo, where he accumulated 76 tackles, 12.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and an interception across 16 starts en route to second-team All-Pro honors and the only Pro Bowl berth of his career.
The first real defensive success of Alexander’s career came under the Bills’ previous head coach, Rex Ryan, whom they fired with a week left in the season. Buffalo has since replaced Ryan with another defensive-minded coach, Sean McDermott, but the team clearly regards Alexander as a player capable of thriving in its new system.
Heading into the free agent period, PFR ranked Alexander as the fifth-best pass rusher available.