Pro Football Focus agrees with Jordan Poyer.
Poyer, 31, has been sitting out the Buffalo Bills’ voluntary workouts in recent weeks. It’s part of his desire for a new contract.
The safety hired a new agent and wants to stay in Buffalo. He just wants a payday and PFF called that “understandable” and “reasonable.”
The football analytics outlet went and addressed some contract situations from across the NFL. Poyer’s latest with the Bills came up and while PFF didn’t say Poyer should command top dollar, the outlet leveled with him and said he does deserve more.
Here’s what PPF wrote on Poyer:
Poyer is entering the final year of his three-year extension signed in 2020 that carries an average annual value of $9.75 million, with $6.7 million in cash owed in 2022. Over the first two years of the deal, Poyer’s 81.0 grade ranks sixth among starting safeties. While he is entering his age-31 season, a 32-year-old Harrison Smith signed a four-year, $64 million extension with the Minnesota Vikings last offseason.
While Poyer shouldn’t expect to sign a deal in the $16 million per year range like Smith, which frankly might be the best deal for a player in the NFL, it’s understandable he’s not willing to play for just $6.7 million.
The immense value of the Bills’ safety duo of Poyer and Micah Hyde was on full display down the stretch of the 2021 season, especially after top cornerback Tre’Davious White was lost to a torn ACL in Week 12. Over the final six weeks of the season with the AFC East title on the line, the Bills’ defense held opposing offenses to -.223 expected points added per dropback, the fourth-best mark in the NFL.
Poyer and Hyde are the perfect modern-day safety duo that can sit back in two-high shells as well as step up in the box and make plays against the run. It’s reasonable that Poyer wants one final payday to reflect his contributions over the past several years.
As of now, Poyer has only not shown up to voluntary OTA (organized team activity) workouts. No one is required to be there, but Poyer not attending is still noteworthy considering his known contract situation.
After OTAs comes mandatory minicamp next week. That’s when we’ll get a better feel for Poyer’s situation.
If the safety shows up it likely indicates that talks with the team are going well. On Tuesday, Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane said via video conference that he was unsure if Poyer would be in attendance, adding “I don’t have any indication that he won’t be here.”
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