This NFL offseason has been strange for a few reasons. Perhaps the chief of all is the fact that several players have agreed to contracts with a certain team, only to go back on that deal and sign with another club.
One of those players is Commanders running back J.D. McKissic, who agreed to a two-year, $7 million deal with the Buffalo Bills this past Tuesday. Almost exactly 24 hours later, McKissic ‘changed his mind’ and decided to return to Washington for the same money.
Friday, Bills’ general manager Brandon Beane spoke to the media about his disdain for the McKissic ordeal, and for the way the Commanders’ front office handled the situation.
“That was tough. Obviously, he was a guy we targeted,” Beane said. “There were some things that went down with the other organization which was painful, but they chose to do what they did, and I couldn’t stop them.”
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Washington didn’t originally offer McKissic a new contract, at which point the running back explored his options and agreed to a deal with Buffalo. At that point, the Commanders agreed to match the terms of the deal, which ultimately motivated McKissic to re-sign in Washington.
“Once you have an agreement, the agent is supposed to say, ‘It’s over.’ And this agent did that, and this agent told the other club, ‘It’s over.’ But the other club didn't back off,” Beane said.
The Bills-McKissic debacle isn’t the only time this offseason the Commanders have disputed with another party on the contract status of a player. Defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis, who Washington released on Wednesday after six years with the club, was at the center of a similar debate.
Per Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press, Ioannidis’ agent had said the Commanders informed him earlier this month that the club had no plans to release the 28-year-old, before eventually doing just that. Washington had no comment on agent Alan Herman’s allegation, per Whyno.
Regardless of what happened between the two parties, Ioannidis is now a Panther and McKissic will return to the Commanders on a two-year deal. McKissic, 28, will hope to continue the torrid streak he’s enjoyed over the last two seasons. In 2021, the RB was the team’s second-leading receiver behind only Terry McLaurin. Having a dual-threat backfield component like that could make Carson Wentz’s transition to D.C. a bit easier and more explosive.