Active in the pass rusher market this week, the Bills will need some early-season help. It will be a while before their full pass-rushing squad can operate together.
Both Larry Ogunjobi and Michael Hoecht are facing suspensions under the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy. Brandon Beane confirmed this Friday, indicating the Bills knew about Hoecht’s suspension (via BuffaloBills.com’s Maddy Glab) but were not aware of Ogunjobi’s when they signed him.
Ogunjobi is coming off a Steelers release, having signed with the Bills on a one-year, $8.3MM deal. The AFC North veteran would not have been able to command that for an 11-game season, naturally, and it will be interesting to see how the contract is structured. Ogunjobi and Hoecht will lose six game checks from their suspensions. How his base salary is structured will determine how much he loses. While we do not have the Ogunjobi details yet, Hoecht signed a three-year, $21MM deal that includes a $3MM 2025 base salary.
This is not the first time Ogunjobi agreed to a contract before a snag surfaced. The Bears had a three-year, $40.5MM deal agreed to with the free agent defensive tackle in 2022, but the team pulled it back due to an issue that cropped up on a physical. Ogunjobi had recently sustained a foot injury. That led him to Pittsburgh on a one-year agreement after Chicago pulled out of the deal.
Informing the Bills before their negotiations, Hoecht said (via ESPN.com’s Alaina Getzenberg) he found out about his ban three weeks into the offseason. Hoecht played out his rookie contract with the Rams. While players almost never confirm they knowingly took banned substances, Hoecht said (via Getzenberg) he trusted a trainer he should not have and wanted to inform teams ahead of his free agency. Ogunjobi’s timeline is less clear.
These two checked in as B-team acquisitions to the Joey Bosa headliner. While Beane said the team will have a plan to help the decorated acquisition have a better chance of staying healthy, he may need to play more earlier. Though, the Bills were not believed to have closed the door on re-signing Von Miller at a reduced rate. As of now, Buffalo has Bosa, Gregory Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa anchoring their edge rush. Inside, Ed Oliver and DaQuan Jones are in place as starters.
With Ogunjobi to miss time, the Bills may need to do more work to fortify their DT group. Third-round pick DeWayne Carter, however, is also a rotational option the team may need to lean on more while the ex-Browns, Bengals and Steelers DT sits.
The UFL is being sued
link to x.com
They should be able to void the ogunjobi deal. He negotiated in bad faith, withheld material info essential to assessing the true value of the asset. I didn’t like that signing to begin with.
Agreed (well, if Ogunjobi knew, which seems to be quite likely).
I will say, though, that I don’t quite get why teams sign players that they know will be suspended, especially depth players. This isn’t a shot at the Bills specifically, to be clear. I suppose Hoecht offered them a really good deal in light of his suspension, and Buffalo thought that it was worth the missed time? I obviously am no GM, and do not have a ton of good knowledge on the subject, but it always seemed to me that I’d sign someone else. But yes, Ogunjobi’s deal seems like it should be treated as a bad faith contract to me.
I’ve always thought that there was more to the Ogunjobi failed physical with the Bears than anybody ever told. The Bears knew he had a bad knee that was fixed so everyone was shocked when Poles voided the deal. Apparently we all know why now I’m betting.
Hopefully there’s an offset for the Ogunjobi cap hit if he and the Bills only found out after the signing. The NFL notification system seems to have some major flaws if that’s not disclosed to teams during the free agency period. Two players missing almost third of the season is a big hit (even if the one was known).
What?
Well you see, uh, there was this thing, uh, but I didn’t remember to tell, uh, the team. It’s no big deal, right?
I cant wait to suit up in November coach!
You mean September…
Right. Thats what I said.
You forgot to carry the one, Coach,
And, oh yeah, there’s another one…
Ogonjobi didn’t sign yet.
I feel like shame on the player – sure.
But shame on the NFL. This should be wrapped up before free agency. If a suspension is coming – that inflation should be available to teams making offers.
*information
I don’t know about that, the devil is in the details with the where and when the sample was taken… could be a dragged out appeals process to benefit the player. Who knows? We’ll find out I imagine. The BS part of this, so far as I can tell based on what we know, is that the player/agent certainly must have a duty to disclose their knowledge of an investigation… one would think. That sounds like serious malpractice to me if they didn’t. Also… maybe the bills would have signed him regardless. A lot of questions need answering…
The problem with that is Larry is claiming a “tainted supplement”.
So devil’s advocate – he could potentially be innocent. (Not saying I believe him – but it is possible)
NFL teams should not have to rely on the honesty of a player when making these decisions. That information should either be available to teams – or (my preference) have the drug testing phase buttoned up before start of free agency. Start it again just before OTAs or something.
Relying on the player to self disclose in negotiations for multi million dollar contracts seems wrong.
But my proposal isn’t perfect either – it essentially means a window is open where no testing happens.
Maybe this is a benefit? They should be fresh come the playoffs. Do we know if this helps the cap?
It doesn’t help the cap.
I think it means we draft two DTs.
It also means we are using a return from IR spot for him before the season.