The writing was on the wall for Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Star Lotulelei.
Asked Thursday what the future held for Lotulelei with the team after the addition of three defensive tackles in free agency, head coach Sean McDermott struck an ominous tone.
"Yeah, we’ll see," McDermott said. "We’ll just take it one step at a time."
The next step, it turns out, was Lotulelei's release, which came Friday afternoon. The move comes without a post-June 1 designation, according to a league source, which means the Bills will have to stomach a $7.7 million "dead money" charge on the cap this year for Lotulelei. The team does a little more than $1.5 million in cap space, although that number reduces to about $800,000 when you take into account the salary that slides into the top 51 -- which count against the cap during the offseason.
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Lotulelei, 32, spent the past four years with the Bills, playing three seasons. He opted out of the 2020 season over concerns related to the Covid-19 pandemic, which meant he had three years remaining on his contract when he returned in 2021. He became expendable when the Bills signed DaQuan Jones, Tim Settle and Jordan Phillips in the opening days of free agency. The Bills also lost Harrison Phillips in free agency to the Minnesota Vikings.
"We had open, honest conversation with his agent and ultimately just said 'let's see what it looks like in free agency. We got some guys that we're tracking.' If it makes sense for us we may pursue them, if we do where our money is, at that point we'd make a decision," General Manager Brandon Beane said Friday. "Starting last week, we had not made a firm decision on whether we were keeping Star or not. ... Ultimately, once we signed Jordan (after he) got released and became (available), if he's not released maybe we're not here. Appreciate Star. Bringing him here. I know people didn't always have a feel for what he brought to our team."
Lotulelei had a trying 2021 season. He missed the season opener against Pittsburgh because of a calf injury, but returned to play in the next seven games. He was on the field for between 40 to 60% of the defensive snaps in each of those games. Prior to the Week 10 win over the Jets, however, Lotulelei tested positive for Covid-19, and would miss the next three games. Upon his return, he wasn't the same player, Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said at his end-of-season news conference.
"When he got Covid, when he came back, it really affected him," Beane said. "Without getting too deep into the woods, I don’t think he returned to form, and I think he’d be the first to tell you that at what he was playing at earlier in the year. He got better and I thought it improved the two playoff games, but I still don’t think it was as consistent as he was the first part of the season."
Phillips took over as the starter in the second half of the regular season and playoffs, and Lotulelei's playing time was limited to about 30% of the snaps during that time.
Lotulelei also missed the Week 14 loss to Tampa Bay and the Week 16 win over New England for a personal reason, so availability proved to be an issue in what ultimately was his final season of the team.
"Last season, like I said, he really started and played really well for us for a guy coming off the opt-out year," Beane said. "After Covid, he never totally got back to the guy he could be. And we just thought it was time for a fresh start for all of us and ... we needed his money off the cap."
Lotulelei is a former first-round draft pick of the Panthers who has a long history with Beane and Bills coach Sean McDermott, both of whom were in Carolina when Lotulelei was selected. The Bills signed Lotulelei prior to the 2018 season, giving him a five-year deal worth up to $50 million to become the anchor of the defensive line. As McDermott frequently points out, the one-technique defensive tackle position in Buffalo's defense typically does not generate big stats. The job of the player in that position is primarily to occupy blockers so all those around him can get to the football.
In 43 career games in the regular season for the Bills, including 40 starts, Lotulelei made 53 tackles and had five sacks. The Bills could have chosen to release Lotulelei with a post-June 1 designation, which would have reduced the "dead money" for Lotulelei this year to $5.1 million, and created a $2.6 million charge in 2023. Doing so would have increased the cap savings this year to $4.126 million, but it would not have been accessible to the Bills until June 1.
