Written by James Brady at SB Nation.com
The NFL free agency period is far from being officially over. There are still some big-name players who will find teams between now and the 2016 NFL Draft. Then, once teams get a look at their post-draft rosters, there will be another rush of signings.
But for now, enough players have signed with new teams that we should have a good idea who might be able to rebound from a down season. At this point, it’s impossible to know for sure if a player is just on the decline or if he has enough left in his game that all he needed to recover was a change of scenery.
Still, there are a few players who definitely needed to land with a new team after their 2015 campaigns. Whether the scheme was all wrong, they were being underutilized or they simply needed a fresh start, here are five players who can benefit most from their new situations.
Mario Williams, Miami Dolphins (formerly Buffalo Bills)
Of all the players on this list, Williams is the biggest no-brainer. He went from one of the most dominant and productive pass rushers in the league to being an afterthought in a disappointing, complicated defense that was rarely effective last season. Williams looked like he never had a grasp on Rex Ryan’s defense and, accordingly, never agreed with his new head coach.
The Bills as a team went from 54 sacks in 2014 to 21 sacks under Ryan in his first year in Buffalo. Williams had three consecutive double-digit sack seasons, but only brought down the quarterback five times in 2015. Now Williams has joined the Dolphins, a team that recently let go of Olivier Vernon, so Williams will slot into an end spot next to Ndamukong Suh. They’re both big, powerful players and should play off each other well. Williams could be back to his old self again with the Dolphins.
