7 Worst Bills Free Agent Signings in Team History

When we dive into the offseason and evaluate NFL futures odds, free agency plays a massive role. This is a time when teams like the Buffalo Bills aim to overhaul their team and fill holes before the NFL Draft. 

Sadly, it doesn’t always pan out, though, and here, I’ll be looking at the seven worst Bills free agent signings in team history. 

Worst Buffalo Bills Free Agent Signings of All Time

7. Reggie Bush, Running Back

While Bush’s best days were certainly behind him at this point, and it was only a one-year, $1.5 million deal after he spent a year with the San Francisco 49ers, his final Bills stat line for the 2016-17 season was 12 carries for -3 yards and a touchdown. 

Thankfully, he caught seven passes for 90 yards, but yes, he ended his time with the Bills with negative rushing yards. 

6. Vontae Davis, Cornerback

Davis, like Bush, didn’t really break the bank at $5 million on a one-year deal coming over from the Indianapolis Colts, but this was one of the strangest sagas. He appeared in just one game after being a healthy scratch and quit the team at halftime in Week 2 of the 2018-19 season. 

5. Charles Clay, Tight End

While $38 million over five years is a drop in the bucket nowadays, in 2015, that was top-five tight end money, and the Bills gave it to Clay, who came over from the Miami Dolphins. While he produced some, it wasn’t anywhere near the level of his salary. 

Across four seasons as a Bill, he caught 178 passes for 1,822 yards and nine touchdowns. That’s an average of approximately 45 catches, 456 yards, and two touchdowns. 

4. Curtis Samuel, Wide Receiver

The Bills released Samuel in March 2026, but in March 2024, he signed a three-year, $24 million deal with more than $15 million in total guarantees. He spent the three seasons prior with Washington. 

In two seasons for Buffalo, he caught 38 passes for 334 yards and two touchdowns. In 2025-26, he caught a total of seven passes across six games. 

3. Langston Walker, Offensive Tackle

Turning back the clock, Walker signed a five-year deal with Buffalo in 2007 for $25 million, coming over from the then-Oakland Raiders. Again, that’s not a lot of money in today’s NFL, but back then, that was a sizable commitment. 

It simply didn’t work out. He allowed five sacks across two seasons, which is respectable, but he also gave up 63 pressures — an absolutely mind-boggling amount. 

2. Derrick Dockery, Guard

Another offensive lineman, Dockery, got his largest payday from the Bills, signing a seven-year, $49 million deal in 2007. As seen with Walker above, the Bills aimed to overhaul their offensive line by adding a former Washington lineman, but sadly, they whiffed on both. 

Dockery lasted just two seasons. He allowed eight sacks and 41 pressures as a guard. 

1. Von Miller, Edge Rusher

With the largest free-agent deal the Bills have ever given out, Miller was primed to be the missing piece of their defence for a Super Bowl run. 

Unfortunately, Miller, who was dominant with the Denver Broncos before coming to Buffalo, tore his ACL 11 games into his tenure with the Bills, and he struggled to return to form. 

It started well, as he had eight sacks in 11 games. However, over the next two seasons, across 25 games, he recorded only six sacks. 

Because of the money spent and the unfortunate timing of the injury, this is the worst signing in Bills history. What makes it sting even more is that Miller was seemingly on his way to earning every penny of the six-year, $120 million deal with more than $51 million in guarantees. 

What could have been.