Justin Durant has not drawn much interest in advance of what would be his 11th NFL season, but the Bills are taking a look at the UFA linebacker. Durant visited the Bills today, Adam Caplan of ESPN.com tweets.
The 10-year veteran has played for four NFL teams, including two stints with the Cowboys, and served exclusively as a component on 4-3 defenses. The Bills planning to pivot back to a 4-3 scheme would seem to make Durant a potential option.
The 31-year-old ‘backer served as a backup on last season’s NFC East champion version of the Cowboys after previously working as a starter in Dallas from 2013-14. Durant has also spent time with the Jaguars, who made him a second-round pick in 2007, along with the Lions and Falcons. He made 37 tackles last season and recorded a sack.
Durant has 92 career starts to his name, the past 12 coming with the Falcons in 2015. Durant’s best season came in 2012 with Detroit, when he made 102 tackles in 16 games. He has not played a 16-game slate since.
Buffalo is thinner on its second level after losing Zach Brown to the Redskins via free agency defection. Currently, the team has Ramon Humber and recently re-signed Lorenzo Alexander slotted as its outside ‘backers. Reggie Ragland is also coming off a season-nullifying injury, so the Bills are in need of at least some depth at linebacker. The Bills did sign former Jaguars defensive end Ryan Davis, a player who converted to linebacker last season in a nomadic year. They previously visited with Brown and Keenan Robinson as UFAs, only to see both wind up in the NFC East.