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The Buffalo Bills have agreed to a deal with defensive end Mario Williams, a source told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen.

A source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter that Williams agreed to a six-year contract. Financial terms of the deal weren't immediately known.

The team has called a 1:30 p.m. ET news conference.

The Bills announced Wednesday evening that Williams, who has been in Buffalo since Tuesday evening after free agency began, had left their facility and would return Thursday morning.

The Bills flew him into town by private jet from his home in North Carolina shortly after the free-agency period opened at 4 p.m. ET Tuesday. Williams had informed the Bills on Tuesday night that he planned to visit other teams, two sources told ESPN.com's John Clayton.

After quarterback Peyton Manning, Mario Williams is regarded as one of the top free agents available. And that means the Bills would have to pay a hefty price if they intend to land the player selected first overall in the 2006 draft by Houston.

The Bills have identified improving their pass rush as a top offseason priority after managing just 29 sacks -- including 10 in one game -- last season.

Listed at 6-foot-6 and 285 pounds, Mario Williams is a two-time Pro Bowl starter, who had a Texans' franchise-best 53 career sacks, including a team single-season best 14 in 2007. Williams was limited to playing just five games last season as a result of a torn chest muscle. He also missed three games in 2010 after having surgery to repair a sports hernia.

Williams switched to linebacker for the Texans, who switched to a 3-4 defense, last season, but likely would play defensive end for the Bills, who are changing to a 4-3 defense from a 3-4 in 2012.

Kyle Williams, who attended a dinner with Williams on Tuesday, told a radio station that he told the former No. 1 overall pick that if he signs with Buffalo, he could make the Bills' defensive line, which also boasts 2011 first-round draft pick Marcell Dareus, the best in the league.

"I think he wants to go somewhere where he can get somebody over the hump and put a team on the next level," Kyle Williams told WGR 550 radio, according to the Bills' team website. "And I told him he could be that guy. I told him point blank, 'If you're here and everything goes right, we'll have the best D-line in the league.' I told him that because I honestly believe that."

The Bills are coming off a 6-10 season, and have missed the playoffs for 12 straight years -- the NFL's longest active drought.


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