The Bills waited until late Tuesday afternoon to bring in a player who wasn’t previously employed at One Bills Drive, agreeing to terms with linebacker Nicholas Morrow, a 28-year-old veteran of six NFL seasons with the Raiders, Bears and Eagles.

Buffalo got an up close look at Morrow in each of the last two seasons. Last year he was in on 12 tackles in helping Philadelphia defeat the Bills 37-34 in overtime. In 2022, Morrow made a team-high eight tackles and intercepted Josh Allen during the Bears’ 35-13 loss to the Bills. He also played as a backup against the Bills as a member of the Raiders in 2020.

The 6-foot-, 216-pounder has played 4,339 snaps on defense and another 989 on special teams and has started started 58 of his 94 career games. He has three interceptions, seven sacks, three forced fumbles, three recoveries and 465 tackles.

Among 46 linebackers who played at least 300 run play snaps last season, Morrow was the 12th-highest graded player by Pro Football Focus. In coverage, Morrow actually had a higher grade than Buffalo’s Terrel Bernard and was just below former Bill Tremaine Edmunds.

As a pass rusher, Morrow had some success with the Eagles as he had three sacks and nine total pressures on the 45 snaps he was sent on a blitz.

On the surface, Morrow looks like a nice upgrade from Tyrel Dodson as a backup to Bernard and Matt Milano, and could lend a hand on special teams, something that will be needed, especially if the Bills don’t re-sign Tyler Matakevich, a linebacker who is a core member of the special teams.

Where did Nicholas Morrow play in college?

Morrow played his college football at tiny Greenville College and was not picked in the 2017 NFL Draft. He eventually signed with the Raiders and thus became his school’s first NFL player. He started 24 games in his first three seasons, then missed all of 2021 with an injury.

He signed with the Bears in 2022, then moved on to the Eagles in 2023.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out each Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Who is Nicholas Morrow? Buffalo Bills sign free agent linebacker