Bills Agree to Contract Extension with Defensive Captain
The Buffalo Bills are signing Terrel Bernard to a contract extension. Bernard is a 25-year-old linebacker who’s been a starter for the Bills since 2023. The four-year, $50 million deal is the second contract extension for the Bills in the past week and a half. After recently signing Khalil Shakir to an extension, Buffalo has most of their young stars locked up, but James Cook’s contract remains to be extended.
The Bills drafted the linebacker out of Baylor, selecting him with their third-round pick in 2022. In his rookie season, he rode the bench as Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano were healthy for a majority of the season. Both Edmunds and Milano had been selected to the Pro Bowl during their time in Buffalo, leading to a tough decision to let Edmunds leave in free agency, commanding a whopping $18 million per year in Chicago. This left Bernard in a difficult situation of not only replacing a Pro Bowl linebacker in Edmunds, but also replacing Milano as he sustained a season-ending MCL tear on October 8th, 2023. Despite all of this, Bernard has proven to be a great linebacker in the NFL.
In his first season as a starting linebacker, Bernard didn’t miss a beat. The La Porte, Texas native started all 17 games, securing 143 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, six and a half sacks, three interceptions and three fumble recoveries. Putting all doubters to rest, Bernard showed that sitting out his rookie year didn’t stunt his growth at all. Though his numbers dipped a little bit in 2024, he went through a myriad of injuries that caused him to miss four games. Not only did Bernard have a down year, but the whole defense did, falling from fourth in scoring defense and ninth in yards allowed to 11th in scoring and 17th in yards. Surely, the team will be looking to Bernard for some leadership going into 2025 as he and Josh Allen were the only two players named captain last season.
