91 Buffalo Bills players in 91 days: LB Baylon Spector

The Buffalo Bills suffered a rash of injuries at the linebacker position last season. It was so difficult that the team literally had to call a guy who wasn’t in the NFL and was planning an RV trip with his family (AJ Klein) to start a playoff game.

However, the only reason Klein had to start a playoff game was because, in the Wild Card round against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo lost another linebacker to injury. In this game, they weren’t starting a guy they picked off the street, but rather a player who had never started before in his brief NFL career.

Such was the Bills 2023 linebacker group, a group that had plenty of talent at the top, but after losing that top end and almost all depth to injuries at one point, it became a favored position this offseason. On the one hand, some of these depth pieces gained valuable experience last season. However, it’s clear that general manager Brandon Beane wants to enter the 2024 NFL season with an overall better and more experienced group.

On today’s edition of “91 Players in 91 Days,” we discuss one of those depth pieces, a young player entering the penultimate year of his rookie contract.

Name: Baylon Spector

Number: 54

Position: kg

Size weight: 6′, 233 pounds

Age: 25 (26 on 10/20/2024)

Experience/Project: 3; selected in the seventh round (231st overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft

College: Clemson

Acquired: Seventh round draft pick

Financial situation (by Spotrac): Spector is entering the third year of his four-year, $3,763,724 rookie contract. For the 2024 season, he has a cap hit of $1,010,931 if he makes the 53-man roster. If Buffalo released him, Spector would count $51,862 against the Bills’ 2024 salary cap.

2023 summary: Spector didn’t appear in a Bills game until Week 6, and he only played six total defensive snaps in Buffalo’s first 16 games. He was thrust into action for the Bills’ final regular season game against the Miami Dolphins, and he acquitted himself quite well. On 19 defensive snaps, he made four total tackles.

Since Tyrel Dodson, who was starting in place of Matt Milano, was unable to play the following week in the playoffs against the Steelers, that meant Spector earned his first NFL start – and it happened during a playoff game. He made one tackle before being injured recovering a fumble in the second quarter. That fumble recovery was of no use, as he was ruled out of bounds, but it was the last play Spector would appear on for the season. He totaled six tackles in the regular season in nine games and one tackle in his only playoff game.

Positioning prospects: Spector is one of eight off-ball linebackers on the roster (Von Miller is still listed as a linebacker, but in Buffalo’s system he is a defensive end). Matt Milano, Terrel Bernard and Dorian Williams are the players returning with Spector from last year’s club. Deion Jones and Nicholas Morrow are veteran players who signed via free agency, while the team added two rookie linebackers through different means, signing Joe Andreesen as a UDFA and drafting Edefuan Ulofoshio in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

2024 offseason: Spector is healthy and has participated in OTAs.

Outlook for the 2024 season: Unless something strange happens, Spector should once again be a part of the Bills this season. Bernard and Milano are the top dogs, and I think Spector and Dorian Williams are both safe at reserve level. Certainly, there’s some potential for Ulofoshio to force his way past these players, especially as a special teams ace — but I don’t see the team moving on from young players on rookie contracts at a position where they need athletic depth. It’s more likely that Ulofoshio faces one of the veterans (Morrow and Jones) in a three-way fight for a sixth linebacker spot.

Regardless, I feel pretty good about integrating Spector as a younger, cheaper Tyler Matakevich on special teams. The difference for Buffalo is that Spector has the upside to replace the defense in a pinch. Hopefully the team can avoid that happening again this season; however, if necessary, they know what they have in Spector. He’s likely on the team as an active special teams player starting in Week 1.