Buffalo Bills: Why keeping Jake Fromm on the 53-man roster is a mistake
By Jason Mattis
The Buffalo Bills may have made a mistake keeping three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster and keeping fifth round draft pick Jake Fromm.
The Buffalo Bills have trimmed the roster down to 53 players and in doing so decided to keep three quarterbacks on the roster. Josh Allen and Matt Barkley were never in doubt, but the decision to keep Jake Fromm is a head-scratcher.
There have been some changes to the practice squad this year, including being able to protect players or call a player up twice over the course of a season without having them go through waivers when going back to the practice squad. There is a caveat with protecting players on the practice squad which is there is a window of about 24 hours during the week that teams can claim anyone.
While in a season where it might be prudent to keep three quarterbacks due to the possibility of a positive COVID-19 test keeping Fromm is a mistake.
Over the course of the season, the chances of needing to call up a quarterback more than twice, or seeing another team claim a quarterback, one of the positions with the greatest learning curve, are unlikely given the strict health measures the team has put in place to prevent the spread of the virus.
Additionally, the team had quarterback Davis Webb for the entire offseason and by all reports, there wasn’t anything substantial separating the performance of Webb and Fromm. However, it would make sense the team releases Webb thinking that Jake Fromm has a higher likelihood of being claimed at this point of the season.
Ultimately the question is whether keeping Fromm really worth not keeping another depth player at another position?
There were some surprising cuts on Saturday afternoon that likely could have contributed more during the course of a game and over the course of the season. The depth at cornerback is surprisingly thin so a player like Cam Lewis or Dane Jackson would make more sense. A player like Evan Boehm or Mike Love along the offensive or defensive line respectively could have helped as well.
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It feels like this roster has become too talented and deep in Brandon Beane’s fourth season to justify keeping three quarterbacks on the active roster. If the Buffalo Bills need Jake Fromm more than two times in the season then the season is probably a waste anyways and keeping a developmental piece is more worth it.