The Buffalo Bills have been busy on their coaching staff this offseason.
On Friday, they got a new contract signed to prevent one of their key contributors from reaching free agency.
The deal got done with Sam Franklin Jr. and was reported by [ESPN's Jeremy Fowler](https://x.com/JFowlerESPN/status/2027363671190462604?s=20).
It's a three-year deal worth $7.5 million, according to Fowler.
Franklin is a key special teams player for Buffalo and made 13 tackles in that role a season ago.
Franklin, 30, was an undrafted player out of Temple.
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He spent his first five NFL seasons with the Carolina Panthers, for whom he got occasional snaps at defensive back as well as his special teams role.
Franklin actually had a 99-yard interception return for a touchdown in 2023 for the Panthers.
The Bills brought Franklin aboard for the 2025 season on a one-year deal worth $1.17 million. Clearly, Franklin did what the Bills wanted him to do, because he earned himself a nice raise.
Buffalo has a lot of salary-cap figuring to do this offseason, and the Bills have two of their starting offensive linemen ticketed for free agency.
It's logical for them to get a signing like this one out of the way so they can focus on the bigger-money issues as the opening of free agency approaches in March.
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