Rasul Douglas, only player absent from Buffalo Bills OTAs

According to a tweet from Sal Capaccio, Buffalo Bills cornerback Rasul Douglas was the only player “unaccounted for” by media members in attendance at each of the last three Tuesday Organized Team Activities (OTA) sessions. .

Douglas, recall, arrived at One Bills Drive via a trade deadline deal that general manager Brandon Beane orchestrated with the Green Bay Packers last season.

It’s worth noting that Douglas, who is set to turn 30 at the end of August, is in the final year of his current contract – having failed to secure a contract extension with Buffalo so far for the offseason. It remains unclear whether Douglas was intentionally absent from OTAs, whether he has conflicting responsibilities and commitments, or otherwise.

It is important to note that OTAs are voluntary. But this East interesting to hear Capaccio state that Douglas was the only absence observed.

While it’s true that Rasul Douglas is in the final year of his three-year contract with the Packers, Tim Graham of Athleticism was recorded sharing an anonymous source who said the absence was not contract related.

A source who was informed of Douglas’ absence told The Athletic that it was not related to any contractual issues. The Bills are tight against the salary cap, but Douglas appears in line for a nice raise based on his game-breaking production. He is entering the final season of a three-year, $21 million contract that includes a $5.3 million signing bonus with the Green Bay Packers. His base salary will be $1.25 million.

This offseason, general manager Brandon Beane and the team restructured Rasul Douglas’ contract to open up cap space for the 2024 season. The move gave Douglas the majority of his salary up front in the form of a signing bonus, and added three void years to his contract.

The move freed up $2.625 million from Douglas’ contract, and they could have moved nearly $3 million more to reduce the cap — but chose not to. This move gives pause to the idea that the Bills will re-sign Douglas to a new contract that will keep him with Buffalo.

Douglas is certainly not the first player to be absent from these types of sessions. Perhaps the most notable absence in recent years was wide receiver Stefon Diggs last season. With Graham’s reporting, this seems to put to rest the idea that he is unhappy with the compensation or his current status with the Bills.

But should fans be worried about Douglas’ absence? Until we hear directly from the team or a reliable source about what’s behind this, all we can do is speculate as to why Douglas didn’t not presented.

Douglas made an immediate impact upon his mid-season arrival at One Bills Drive, showcasing his skills as an exhilarating and talented CB1 within head coach Sean McDermott’s zone defensive system. Late last season, Douglas won AFC Defensive Player of the Week after two interceptions, including a touchdown return against the New England Patriots in Week 17.

During the team’s Week 18 victory over the Miami Dolphins, Douglas suffered a knee injury, which sidelined him for the team’s Super Wild Card Weekend victory against the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers. He would return to uniform and start against the Kansas City Chiefs the following weekend, but the lingering effects of that knee injury were very apparent.

While we don’t know why Douglas missed OTAs, we understand the important role he plays for a secondary that dealt with significant injuries too often last season. Until Christian Benford showed otherwise, he proved injury prone. Third-year cornerback Kaiir Elam has been anything but consistent and reliable, while the player who is likely fourth on the depth chart at corner, Ja’Marcus Ingram, is not someone that the team necessarily wants to start important snaps and/or plays. .

The point here is that even at 30 years old, Douglas is arguably the team’s most important defensive back – someone they can’t afford to lose in any capacity.

It remains to be seen whether the Bills and general manager Brandon Beane will work to get Rasul Douglas to re-sign during the 2024 season. Failing that, the Bills will potentially have to consider a mountain of unproven options to try to replace him.

For now, we’ll have to cross our fingers that everything goes well with Rasul Douglas.