Marcell Dareus Suspension Adds To Frustrating Offseason For Buffalo

Marcell Dareus was suspended today for the first four games of the season

Rex Ryan came to Buffalo with extremely high expectations. He inherited a top 10 defense, had some playmakers on offense and promised to make the playoffs. He was able to bring in such stars as Percy Harvin and LeSean McCoy to round out the offense. The season did not go as planned as a number of injuries happened and the team fell short of the playoffs. The offense improved, but the defense took a step back. Because of that, big changes happened this offseason as they got rid of a number of players including star defensive end Mario Williams.

During the NFL Draft, the Bills were able to retool the defense and get two outstanding players in Shaq Lawson and Reggie Ragland. The team and fans were riding high at that point and were looking forward to the upcoming season. That seems like a long time ago. Since the draft there has been nothing but bad news for the Bills, starting with Karlos Williams gaining weight. The stories about the Bills have been well documented. Each time they lost a player due to injury or suspension, we worried for a moment but then it was next man up. The team has a good amount of depth at most positions, but there are only so many losses a team can take.

With Percy Harvin now retired, Karlos Williams out for the first 4 games and Sammy Watkins and LeSean McCoy coming off of injuries last year, the Bills offense may get off to a slow start. The team added veteran running back Reggie Bush for depth to an already crowded backfield. They also re-signed starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Along with Taylor, the team drafted former Ohio State QB Cardale Jones, who could be their QB of the future. That is where the good news ends.

Rookie Reggie Ragland is out for the season. Fellow rookie Shaq Lawson is out at least 6-8 weeks. Manny Lawson has been out most of the preseason due to injury and he will be suspended for 1 game to start the season. Linebacker IK Enemkpali is also out for the season with a torn ACL. Today All-Pro defensive tackle Marcell Dareus is now suspended for the first four games of the season due to a substance-abuse violation. Dareus was already suspended last year for one game for a similar infraction. He just signed a massive contract last year to stay with the Bills and the team is beyond upset at this point.

It will be hard to replace an All-Pro player like Dareus. The Bills have some depth and players they can plug-in, but it won’t be the same without Marcell. The team may need to look for outside help to fill the void.

Let’s hope we can go another day without a suspension or injury for the team.

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Is this defense down one player too many? What do you think Bills fans?