A new starting linebacker? No. An additional wide receiver to pair with the trade acquisition of D.J. Moore? Also, no.
OK . . . so an EDGE or nose tackle? Think again.
Alright, how about a depth cornerback piece that could possibly slide into the hole left behind at nickel cornerback after the trade of Taron Johnson?
BINGO.
After a couple months of anticipation, the Buffalo Bills finally made their first dip into the free agency pool on Monday, reportedly signing former Atlanta Falcons’ veteran cornerback Dee (DeAundre) Alford to a three-year contract worth up to $21 million just hours after the NFL’s legal tampering window opened up on Monday afternoon. The deal has $10.12 million in guarantees, including a $4.5 million signing bonus.
And while the signing may not be what everyone anticipated or wanted, it certainly makes plenty of sense for Buffalo, especially considering how thin the team currently is at the cornerback position.
A former 22-year-old undrafted player out of little known Tusculum University, a Division II school located in Greeneville, Tennessee, Alford has spent the first four years of his NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons after starting his professional career in the Canadian Football League with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers from 2020 to 2021 before eventually garnering enough attention to sign a reserve/future contract with the Falcons in the 2022 offseason.
The 5-foot-11, 180-pound cornerback spent four years as a Pioneer at Tusculum from 2016 to 2019 where he played in 40 career games, totaling 140 tackles, 10 interceptions, and 40 pass breakups — a school record — before joining on with Winnipeg in February of 2020.
Alford did not get the chance to appear in any games in 2020, however, due to the CFL’s season being cancelled in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the versatile defensive back was forced to wait until 2021 to make his professional debut with the Blue Bombers.
In that season, the former Tusculum standout earned a starting position out of training camp and wound up helping the team win its second-straight Grey Cup title that year while starring on the league’s top-rated defense, tallying 48 tackles, four interceptions, and one forced fumble in 14 games played.
Since landing back in his home state with the Falcons, the Griffin, Georgia, native has done nothing but continually elevate his game, appearing in 64 games — including 23 starts in the last three seasons — while racking up 216 combined tackles, 37 pass deflections, 10 tackles for loss, five quarterback hits, four interceptions, three fumble recoveries, and two forced fumbles.
Although the soon-to-be 29-year-old was a part-time player during his stint in Atlanta, Alford will likely come and compete for the starting nickel cornerback position in new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard’s scheme that was left vacant following the trade of the aforementioned Johnson to the Las Vegas Raiders, which will yield the Bills a sixth-round selection in return for their longtime veteran and a seventh-round pick.
Buffalo’s newest defensive back has 1,711 snaps from the slot position while also having slid outside for 230 snaps in his career. He also has 277 career snaps on special teams.
During what was his final season with the Falcons, Alford tallied career-highs in pass deflections (13), tackles for loss (6), sacks (2), and interceptions (3) in 2025 while also tallying 67 combined tackles.
It should be noted that in Atlanta’s 24-14 win over Buffalo in Week 6 last season, Alford had one of his best games as a professional, intercepting a pass off quarterback Josh Allen, while also managing a sack and three pass deflections on top of collecting six total tackles.
Make sure to stay tuned to the Buffalo Fambase blog for all of your latest news regarding the Buffalo Bills this offseason.
Editor’s babble: Many thanks to John Green for his contributions to our blog. You can also find John on X @JGreen_PRsports.
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