The Buffalo Bills signed former Falcons DB Dee Alford to a 3-year, $21M deal after he posted career-highs in INTs and passes defensed in 2025 with Atlanta.
Getty
The Bills signed a defensive back fresh off a career year, posting career-highs in INTs and passes defensed.
NFL free agency is in full swing, and after the Buffalo Bills traded for DJ Moore and re-signed Connor McGovern earlier this week, they addressed the defensive side of the ball. Former Atlanta Falcons defensive back Dee Alford signed a three-year, $21 million deal after setting many career-highs in 2025, with excitement building around a secondary that needed this kind of addition.
Buffalo Bills Sign Free Agent Defensive Back Dee Alford
The Buffalo Bills are one of the Super Bowl favorites under first-year head coach Joe Brady and 2024 MVP quarterback Josh Allen. After a few days of uncertainty last week, the team has made several moves that should convince fans they’re going all-in to win a Super Bowl.
Jordan Schultz
Sources: The #Bills are signing former #Falcons CB Dee Alford to a 3-year, $21M deal with $10M guaranteed.
Alford comes career-highs in INTs (3) and passes defensed (13) for Atlanta — and now gets rewarded with a new deal.
Dee Alford is the Bills’ latest addition, and he’ll bring a much-needed presence to a Buffalo secondary that certainly needs his services.
The Buffalo Bills are paying Alford $10 million in guarantees, per NFL insider Jordan Schultz. It’s a significant payday for a player who made roughly $1.5 million on a one-year deal with the Falcons last season — and a clear sign Buffalo sees him as a long-term piece in their secondary.
Dee Alford’s Career Season in Atlanta
Alford posted a breakout 2025 campaign with the Falcons, tallying 67 combined tackles, 2.0 sacks, 3 interceptions, and 13 passes defensed across 16 games — all career-highs. The 28-year-old was one of Atlanta’s most reliable defenders on a team that struggled to find consistency, and his ball-hawking ability made him one of the more underrated free agents on the market.
Alford’s deal looks like a smart value play compared to the top-tier cornerback contracts flying around this week. He might not be a lockdown CB1, but he’s a versatile defensive back who can play inside and outside and contribute right away.
Alford’s Journey From Division II to the NFL
What makes this signing even more compelling is Alford’s path to get here. He played college football at Tusculum, a Division II school in Tennessee, before spending time in the CFL with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, where he won a Grey Cup. He signed with the Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2022 and has steadily climbed the depth chart every year since.
That kind of resilience is exactly what a championship-caliber locker room needs. Alford bet on himself and won. Now, the Bills are betting on him too.
What This Means for the Buffalo Bills in 2026
The Bills’ secondary was considered a weak spot by many heading into the offseason, and Taron Johnson’s trade to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday only added fuel to that fire. Buffalo needed to add a proven body to the cornerback room, and they did just that on Monday.
Between the DJ Moore trade, the McGovern extension, and now the Alford signing, GM Brandon Beane is building aggressively around Josh Allen. The Bills still have holes to address, but the secondary just got a whole lot more competitive.
It’s certainly possible the Bills aren’t done in free agency on Monday, but Alford’s addition definitely helps the Buffalo Bills inch closer to where they want to be.