After a disappointing showing by the Buffalo Bills defense in 2015, Rex Ryan, Doug Whaley and company doubled-down on Ryan’s system, drafting and signing multiple players who fit the kind of player Rex wanted on the defensive side of the ball. Of the team’s seven draft picks, four were spent on defensive players. Two of those players (first round pick Shaq Lawson and second rounder Reggie Ragland) were expected to be immediate contributors to the 2016 team.
That was the plan, anyhow.
After offseason shoulder surgery caused Lawson to miss the first six games of his rookie season and Ragland tore his ACL in training camp, that plan has mostly gone for naught.