On locker clean out day the Bills made sure to keep a quartet of players under contract before they even left the building for the offseason. Buffalo signed CB Mario Butler, RB Mike Gillislee, WR Greg Salas and P Colton Schmidt to contract extensions Monday.
Schmidt completed his second season as the Bills punter and finished the year ranked third in the AFC and seventh in the league in net punting average (41.3). Schmidt also ranked 10th in gross punting average (46.3) and had 20 punts downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line this season.
Butler was on the 53-man roster all season and appeared in 13 games, making his first career start against Dallas in Week 16. He had 15 tackles on defense and his five pass breakups were good for fifth-best on the team.
Gillislee joined the team in early November and made the most of his opportunities in Buffalo's top ranked rushing attack. He finished the year with 267 yards on 47 carries with three touchdowns. Gillislee averaged 5.7 yards per carry in 2015.
Salas just signed with the club two weeks ago and appeared in the team's last two games of the season. He made three receptions for 41 yards in the team's season-ending win over the Jets.
Bills sign seven practice squad playersBuffalo also locked up seven of the nine players they had on their practice squad at season's end with reserve future contracts. They are as follows.
TE Blake Annen
S Jonathan Dowling
TE Jacob Maxwell
C Ronald Patrick
DE Cedric Reed
G Cyril Richardson
S Phillip Thomas
