Buffalo Bills release Isaiah McKenzie after signing Deonte Harty

During Brandon Beane’s press conference on Thursday, he described what the role will be for Deonte Harty with the Buffalo Bills. How he described that role sounded awfully familiar to the role Isaiah McKenzie has played over the past few years.

The fact that the Bills have two wide receivers that essentially bring the same skill set to the offense, Brandon Beane indicated that the front office will have to make a decision on where over the next few days.

"“We love Isaiah and he’s been great for us but we we’re talking internally. You know making sure we don’t have too much duplicate but I think we’ll we’ll know here in the next couple days.”"

That decision occurred on Friday with news that the Bills were releasing Isaiah McKenzie. The reason that a decision occurred now is that McKenzie had a roster bonus due on March 19th according to Over the Cap. The Bills releasing Isaiah McKenzie generates $2.7 million in cap savings with dead cap of $300,000.

Isaiah McKenzie likely has played his final game with the Buffalo Bills

McKenzie joined the Buffalo Bills in 2018 after he was claimed off waivers after being released by the Denver Broncos during the season. He has been that gadget player for this offense until last season when he had the chance to step in as the starting slot receiver and replace Cole Beasley.

However, McKenzie didn’t have the impact many hoped and he saw his role shrink as the season went along. The Buffalo Bills even brought back Beasley toward the end of the year. In five seasons, McKenzie had 137 receptions, 1,316 receiving yards, and four touchdowns. He showed off that versatility as he also had four rushing touchdowns on 46 rushing attempts.

The reason that I write likely is that the Buffalo Bills have shown a history of bringing back former players if they believe they can help the team. Last offseason, the Bills signed Jordan Phillips and Shaq Lawson and then during the season brought back John Brown and Cole Beasley.

McKenzie likely will have a market for teams looking to sign him but if that doesn’t materialize, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him back with the team at some point.