Buffalo Bills: Takeaways from Brandon Beane’s press conference

These were the top takeaways from Buffalo Bills’ general manager Brandon Beane’s press conference on Sunday.

Buffalo Bills‘ general manager Brandon Beane spoke with the media Sunday morning and while a lot of it predictably focused on the COVID-19 situation he did reveal some noteworthy football related information. As we are all thirsty for football related material we will bypass the discussion around the pandemic and dig into the more football related topics.

At the beginning of the press conference Beane informed that cornerback E.J Gaines has opted out of playing this upcoming season. Previously on BuffaLowDown, Gaines had made the projected post training camp 53 man roster. If we re-examine that roster spot now we will still give it to the cornerback position, but it will go to a newly signed player.

The Bills signed Akeem King this weekend, who had previously been with the Seahawks. At 6’1″ and 215 pounds he is the biggest cornerback on the roster and would project nicely as the big nickel the Bills have long coveted.

On the front of replacing players, Beane brought up that no NFL team can bring in a player for a workout unless the roster is at a maximum of 79 players. If you recall, roster sizes are now capped at 80. The NFL is trying to limit player travel and the capacity inside the facilities so all clubs are restricted from bringing players in unless the roster is at 79.

This is important and impacts the recent injury to guard Jon Feliciano. In a normal NFL season the Bills would bring in a couple players to determine physical condition and team fit of a player. However, due to the NFL restraints the Bills are unable to do so given their current roster size. It’ll be interesting to see how the Bills navigate this going forward.

Expanding on that, NFL clubs are restricted to a five day acclimation period for all newly signed players. Meaning after a player is signed he can’t enter the facility for five days. Even if that player was testing negative by another NFL team. The player can participate via virtual meetings, but is held back for five days before getting on the field with players and coaches.

Beane mentioned this will impact in-season roster additions as now the player you sign on a Monday won’t have any practice time before a Sunday game. Beane mentioned at that point you have to weigh even signing the player.

Expanding on this even more the general manager explained to us that the practice squad, now at 16 players, has four players that can be deemed protected from other clubs. However, that period starts at 4p.m. ET on Tuesday. So that allows a 48 hour window after Sunday games where all 16 players can be claimed. Again, Beane mentioned the five day acclimation period and how that will impact any signings off teams’ practice squads. I would expect the Bills and almost every other NFL team to have a quarterback as one of the four protected players.

With no preseason games this season the Bills will have to get creative in creating game-like pressure situations for guys to compete for roster spots. Mentioned was the need to invent such situations and rewards to make up for the lack of preseason games. Rewards such as no pads tomorrow or 20 minute shorter meetings were mentioned as ideas to create pressure. Clearly this is something all teams will have to navigate as guys compete for roster spots.

With the news of Feliciano being out for the potential of a couple months, Beane mentioned who might be in line to fill the guard spot. Names of Spencer Long, Daryl Williams, Evan Boehm, Ike Boettger, Cody Ford, and Ty Nsekhe were mentioned. Nsekhe was mentioned since Ford was brought up twice, and the only player brought up twice, as stepping in at right tackle should Ford move to guard. Given Ford was mentioned twice that will be an interesting competition to keep an eye on as Ford was largely projected as a guard coming out of college.

Lastly, Beane mentioned the 2021-2022 salary cap floor being agreed upon by the league and players association to be at $175 million. The goal is still to sign and retain draft picks, but a reduced salary cap will make that difficult. For years the salary cap was increasing by roughly $10 million each year so no doubt this will throw a wrench in the plans for the general manager to navigate.