The Buffalo Bills have signed former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Chris Ivory to a two-year contract, the team announced Tuesday morning. While the team didn’t released terms, Ian Rapoport says the deal is worth $5.5 million, with $3.25M guaranteed in the first year. Incentives would maximize the contract at $6 million.
Buffalo is one of a handful of teams Ivory visited at the end of last month after being dumped by Jacksonville.
Moran-Alytics Take: I like this move for Buffalo. I said it before the team signed Vontae Davis (as did many others of course) and I’ll say it again with Ivory — it’s no coincidence Buffalo has now filled two holes with free agents that because they were guys cut will not count against the 2019 NFL draft compensatory pick formula.
More importantly for 2018, in my opinion Ivory is a good compliment for Lesean McCoy, at least if he’s the same Ivory that was very good for three years with the Jets. I don’t much care for the Jacksonville version of Ivory, who fumbled seven times over the past two years. At worse he’s an upgrade over Mike Tolbert. The Bills enjoyed having arguably the best backup RB in the league with Mike Gillislee but the position was a complete disaster last season.
It’s worth noting that not everyone is singing the praises of this deal.
Chris Ivory has been one of the worst running backs in football over the last two years, averaging 3.6 yards per carry while producing more fumbles (seven) than touchdowns (five). It's no surprise he was cut by the Jaguars, but it's more difficult to… https://t.co/spHJajuYBL
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) March 6, 2018
Fair points, Bill, but I won’t be talked down from this. The McCoy/Ivory combination isn’t long for this franchise but let’s worry about drafting a running back high in a year or two. I’m perfectly happy to get this hole filled now and turn the page towards filling several others badly in need of filling.