The Buffalo Bills and safety Geno Stone agreed to terms on a one-year deal, a source confirmed to ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg on Friday.
The move further bolsters the Bills’ secondary after Buffalo signed veteran safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson on Thursday to a one-year deal worth up to $6 million, his agents told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Bills have not re-signed any of their free agent safeties — Jordan Poyer, Damar Hamlin and Darnell Savage. Taylor Rapp, who was the Week 1 starter last season, was cut in a cap-saving move ahead of the new league year.
Stone, 26, entered free agency after a two-year stint with the Cincinnati Bengals. He had a career-high 104 tackles, which was third on the team, last season.
Stone initially signed a two-year deal worth $7 million annually. However, he and the team reworked the contract to reduce his salary by $1.5 million.
Stone had an up-and-down season for a Bengals defense that struggled again. Through the first nine weeks of the season, the Bengals ranked last in the NFL in Defensive Expected Points Added on rushing plays, per ESPN Research. But in the final eight games, he helped Cincinnati climb to 14th in the same category.
Stone, who was selected in the seventh round of the 2020 draft by the Baltimore Ravens, has 312 tackles and 14 interceptions in six NFL seasons.
NFL journalist Jordan Schultz was first to report Stone’s agreement with the Bills.
ESPN’s Ben Baby contributed to this report.
