Report: Bills sign former Pro Bowl LB Deion Jones

The former Atlanta Falcons Pro Bowler is coming to Orchard Park on a one-year deal.

Oct 29, 2023; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers linebacker Deion Jones (40) at Bank / Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The Buffalo Bills are set to sign linebacker Deion Jones to a one-year deal, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports.

Bills are signing former Panthers and Falcons free-agent linebacker Deion Jones to a one-year deal, per source.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 2, 2024

Jones entered the NFL as a second-round pick of the Atlanta Falcons in 2016, starting 13 games and notching 108 tackles, 11 pass deflections, and three interceptions in his rookie year, two of which he returned to the house for a touchdown.

The former LSU Tiger established himself as one of the NFL's more athletic, rangy, and—for lack of a better term—fun linebackers in his rookie year, almost serving as the prototype for a ‘modern’ NFL linebacker that was skewing smaller and more athletically gifted. He, for a time, was one of the league's best coverage linebackers, building on his strong rookie year with a 2017 campaign in which he started all 16 games and recorded another three picks. He earned a Pro Bowl nod for his excellence.

Related: Football Talk and Golf: How Bills WR Keon Coleman plans to build relationship with QB Josh Allen

Injuries and biology ultimately caught up to Jones, as he’s lost a step throughout the past several years. He’s shown flashes of the Jones of old in the recent past but has been unable to string together the big plays that propelled him to prominence; he was traded to the Cleveland Browns in 2022 and spent the 2023 season with the Carolina Panthers, failing to stick on in either place.

There was a time when Jones would have been a perfect fit in a Buffalo defense that deploys rangy, traditionally undersized linebackers with sideline-to-sideline ability, but 2024 may not be that time. He currently projects as depth defender; he’ll compete with the likes of Baylon Spector and Nicholas Morrow for a roster spot in training camp.