Jacksonville's defense is getting even stronger.
The Buffalo Bills traded defensive tackle Marcell Dareus to the Jaguars on Friday. In exchange, the Bills are receiving a 2018 sixth-round pick.
"Jacksonville reached out to us today and we thought about it and talked it through as an organization and decided it was a good move for the Bills and a good move for Marcell," first-year general manager Brandon Beane said on a conference call with reporters.
The First Team All-Pro tackle's productivity this season didn't live up to the six-year, $96 million contract he signed with the Bills in 2015. In the first five games, he recorded just three tackles. Back in August, he was sent home from a preseason game for violating a team rule.
Buffalo talked to a couple of teams in the preseason about trading the 27-year-old but nothing came to fruition.
It was a make-or-break year for Bills who eventually decided to part ways.
"This bus is moving and at the end of this year, we're going to have a pretty good feel for who's on the bus and who's not, and everyone knows that, I would hope," head coach Sean McDermott said in September when asked about Dareus. "So, I would hope they've seen that from the moves we've made and the direction we're heading, the mindset we're embracing and the devoted mindset you need to have to win in this league."
Dareus is coming off his best game of the season where he had five tackles against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He joins a Jacksonville defense that had 10 sacks against the Colts in Week 7.
"Marcell Dareus is an experienced player who has been productive throughout his career," Jaguars Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin said in a statement Saturday. "He will be a good fit with our team and our defense. We expect him to be stout against the run and to be able to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. This was a great opportunity to acquire a proven player who can come in and help us immediately."
The Bills' decision to send Dareus to Jacksonville falls in line with Beane's continued reshaping of the Buffalo roster.
