Buffalo Bills: There are still some important decisions to be made in the season finale
WHAM-13’s Mike Catalana joins Sal Maiorana and Adam Benigni to discuss the Bills’ roster on the eve of the season finale.
ORCHARD PARK — Aside from season-ending day, which is never pleasant for the 31 teams that don’t win the Super Bowl, this last week of August is the least popular time of the year for NFL coaches and general managers.
Every team loves its players, so no one is looking forward to telling the 37 or so players who spent the summer on the 90-man training camp roster that they won’t make the initial 53-man roster – especially not the players who will receive the bad news.
“At the end of the day, our job is to do what’s best for the organization,” said defensive coordinator Bobby Babich, who will have more say in roster selection now that he’s been promoted to the position. “We take care of all these guys, but there’s a business side to it. I’ll be honest, it sucks. It sucks when you get to the moments in our calendar where you have to part ways with people. It’s never easy.”
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By 4pm on Tuesday, over a thousand players will be released or placed on some sort of reserve list, and while hundreds will either be signed elsewhere or return to the training squad, it is a difficult situation for everyone involved.
For a team like the Buffalo Bills, four-time defending AFC East champions and still a Super Bowl contender, most of the roster has long been set, but there are still some important decisions to be made, and Saturday’s final preseason game at Highmark Stadium against the Carolina Panthers is the last chance for players to make a good enough impression to tip the balance in their favor.
“The sad truth is that for some players around the league, this is the last game they’ll ever play and it’s not a fun Sunday or Monday,” said Josh Allen, who has never had to worry about such a fate. “It’s not fun, I feel for the guys. I love these guys and hope we can get a lot of them back.”
They will, but not all of them.
Here are the five most exciting position groups to watch on Saturday:
Quarterback: Who is number 2 on the squad?
Seriously, there will be an interesting contest in this game. While it’s extremely unlikely that Ben DiNucci or Anthony Brown will be Allen’s replacement, should Mitchell Trubisky end up on the injured list or simply be unavailable for the first few weeks due to being inactive on game days, one of them will likely be elevated to the practice squad and their performance against the Panthers could decide their fate.
I’d say the last position the Bills were worried about before training camp was quarterback. Allen is a superstar who never misses a game (at least since 2018), and they were happy – oddly enough in my opinion – to bring back Trubisky as their No. 2 pick after his two-year flop in Pittsburgh.
We don’t know the severity of his knee injury — he doesn’t appear to be having surgery but is currently wearing a brace — so it’s possible that Allen’s replacement, at least for the early part of the season, isn’t currently on the roster and that it could be a player who misses Tuesday.
Wide Receiver: Injuries could already be a deciding factor
The top four is locked in with Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel, Keon Coleman and Mack Hollins. Last year, the Bills had just five players on the roster, and because of his fully guaranteed contract, Marquez Valdes-Scantling is presumably the fifth man. Now he’s injured, as is Samuel, but coach Sean McDermott said Thursday that he believes both are in good position to return in Week 1.
If that happens, is that group done then, or will the Bills consider keeping six? Would it be Tyrell Shavers who makes the team? He’s done some good things in practice, but he hasn’t accomplished anything in the first two games, with the caveat that the situation at quarterback has been problematic to say the least, so it’s hard to judge.
What about Justin Shorter, a fifth-round pick in 2023 who has been pretty invisible in practice and games? And then there’s KJ Hamler and Andy Isabella, whose career best seemed to be as return players, but neither has impressed in that area.
Offensive Line: Lots of backup options to look through
The starting lineup is set, but there is quite a bit of confusion in the battle for reserves. If the Bills keep nine in total, you have Alec Anderson (central defender) and Ryan Van Demark (swing tackle) in seemingly strong positions, as both were on the 53-man roster for all of 2023 and line coach Aaron Kromer is confident in their potential.
If that’s true, that leaves two spots open, maybe three depending on the numbers elsewhere, to be decided between two experienced free agents, Will Clapp and Lael Collins, two draft picks, fifth-round picks Sedrick Van Pran-Granger and sixth-round pick Tylan Grable, and perhaps Richard Gouriage, who was on the practice squad last season.
Edge Rushers: Do they keep five or six?
This may be the hardest position to fill, as the Bills have several interesting options behind the top three of Greg Rousseau, AJ Epenesa and Von Miller, and it feels like the players they cut will be signed elsewhere.
Veteran Dawuane Smoot has certainly done enough to earn his spot in the game-day four-man rotation, and his ability to slide inside definitely strengthens his position, so I think he’s all but certain. If the Bills keep just five, 2024 fifth-round pick Javon Solomon, veteran free agent Casey Toohill, and Kingsley Jonathan and Kameron Cline, who will play for the Bills practice squad in 2023, will be battling for the final jersey.
I have to assume Solomon is the choice for obvious reasons; he’s a rookie draft pick, but beyond that he’s done some impressive things both as a runner, which is why he was drafted, and in the running game, something that wasn’t expected so early in his development.
I think Toohill is out because he just hasn’t been able to flash, in part because he missed a week with a groin injury, and Jonathan and Cline haven’t done enough to offset Solomon’s advantage in draft status. It’s possible they could get all three on the practice squad if they wanted to, but I think any or all three could be brought in.
Linebacker: Injuries complicate the process
In the past, the Bills have kept six despite only starting two, and that’s because of special teams. Linebackers are great athletes whose skills translate to special teams, and those skills will be even more coveted with the new kickoff design.
The injured Matt Milano will not be counted among the six if the Bills proceed as expected and place him on the injured list with the intention of re-introducing him using one of their eight IR designations later in the season.
Dorian Williams will start alongside Terrel Bernard in Milano’s place, but there’s a lot to figure out behind them, and the never-ending injury status of Nicholas Morrow and Baylon Spector makes it even more complicated. I think veteran Deion Jones, who was signed in the offseason and has stayed healthy, should make it because he can play both inside and outside. And rookie Edefuan Ulofoshio, drafted in the fifth round, has the advantage of having been drafted, like Seymour.
So where does that leave Buffalo native Joe Andreessen, who was one of the breakout players of the summer? It all depends on the injury situation of Morrow and Spector, but if Andreessen puts in another good performance on Saturday, I think he’ll make it, because the only thing I’ve seen from Spector since he joined the team in 2022 is injury rehab.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades, including 35 years as a full-time reporter for D&C, and has written numerous books on the team’s history. You can reach him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
