Buffalo Rumblings
Will it be a regular-season reunion... or are we looking at a practice-squad invitation?
The goal of any general manager is to raise the floor of the back end of the team’s roster. For the Buffalo Bills and general manager Brandon Beane, that often means signing back-end-of-the-roster types in free agency even before the NFL Draft occurs. That way, even if the team can’t quite address its needs the way it wants in the draft, there is a contingency plan in place.
The thing about contingency plans, though, is that they evolve over time. Just because a player signs in March doesn't mean that he has to be part of the team come September. Buffalo isn’t beholden to their signees. Training camp and the preseason serve as a battleground to allow the best players to rise to the top.
In today’s installment of our “90 players in 90 days” series, we discuss one of Buffalo’s high-floor free-agent additions this spring. He’s a player with whom we’re all quite familiar.
Name: Dane Jackson
Number: 23
Position: CB
Height/Weight: 5’11” 180 lbs.
Age: 28 (29 on 11/29/2025)
Experience/Draft: 6; selected by Buffalo in the seventh round (No. 239 overall) of the 2020 NFL Draft
College: Pitt
Acquired: Re-signed with Bills on 3/14/2025
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Jackson signed a one-year deal with Buffalo worth a total of $1,337,500 for the season. Of that total, $567,500 is guaranteed. If Jackson makes the 53-man roster, the total amount of his contract is also his cap hit, and if he’s released prior to Week 1, then the guaranteed money amount is what Buffalo will carry as a dead-cap charge for the season. As a vested veteran, his entire base salary ($1.17 million) becomes guaranteed if he is on Buffalo’s roster for Week 1.
2024 Recap: Jackson left Buffalo for Buffalo South last season, signing a one-year deal with the Carolina Panthers. He spent much of the year dealing with a lingering hamstring injury, something he suffered initially in August that caused him to begin the season on Injured Reserve.
He returned to play in Week 7, but missed the following game thanks to that same hamstring issue. After ramping up his snap count across the subsequent three weeks, Jackson was once again inactive in Week 13. The Panthers were cautious with him over the next three games, as Jackson played on just 29 total defensive snaps across those three weeks. Jackson started Carolina’s Week 17 loss before coming in as a sub-package player in the season finale for 30 defensive snaps.
Overall, he appeared in just nine games for Carolina, making three starts. He totaled 23 tackles, one tackle for loss, and two pass breakups on the year.
Positional outlook: Jackson is one of many corners on the current roster. Tre’Davious White, Maxwell Hairston, Christian Benford, Te’Cory Couch, Taron Johnson, Jordan Hancock, Ja’Marcus Ingram, Dorian Strong, and Daequan Hardy are the others. Daryl Porter, Wande Owens, and Cam Lewis are all listed at DB,...
