The Buffalo Bills added two playmakers to their offense on Tuesday, signing both WR Jamison Crowder and RB Duke Johnson to one-year deals. According to Spotrac, Crowder’s deal is for one year with a base salary of $1,120,00 and Johnson’s deal is for one year with a base salary of $1,272,500.
Crowder (28 years old) comes over after four seasons with the Washington Commanders and three with the New York Jets where he posted at least 50 catches in six of seven seasons despite dealing with injuries and continuous questions at the quarterback position.
In his career, Crowder has averaged 11.3 yards per reception and 48 receiving yards per game. He has career totals of 4,607 receiving yards and 28 touchdowns, while the best quarterbacks he played alongside were Sam Darnold, Zach Wilson, Kirk Cousins and Alex Smith.
He presumably will replace Cole Beasley in the slot as a younger and cheaper option, as well as having more yards after the catch potential. Take this for example:
Duke Johnson will bring a pass-catching ability to the Bills backfield, something that they haven’t had since maybe LeSean McCoy. Although the Bills lost out on RB J.D. McKissic, Bills GM Brandon Beane quickly got over that, and signed a player who can do similar things at a much cheaper price.
Since coming into the league in 2015, Johnson has posted more receiving yards than rushing yards in 5 of his 7 seasons as a pro (in 2019 he posted exactly 410 rushing and receiving yards). Last year, he was signed late in the season by the Miami Dolphins, and in just five games, he posted 330 rushing yards and averaged 10.3 yards per reception, including two games where he topped 100 yards rushing. Here’s a cut up of his week 15 performance against the New York Jets, where he had 107 rushing yards and caught one pass for 20 yards:
