The roster is (mostly) set and the countdown to Week 1 is on for the Buffalo Bills and their fans.
Thanks to a flurry of moves to get the team down to a 53-man roster, we now know who the players are that will try and bring home a Lombardi Trophy to Western New York. After a perfect 3-0 preseason, general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Joe Brady had to do some methodical work to get the team down to the league requirement. That amount of work involved what had to be some incredibly difficult decisions to make.
When you have a roster as full of talent as the Bills do, the top of the depth chart is pretty much set as most positions but what about the backups? That’s where the decisions made in August will either pay off or hurt your team as the attrition that happens each season begins to take its toll.
So, did Buffalo make any surprising cuts? It can be argued that there weren’t any that would qualify as jaw dropping but there were a few that would make you go “oh, that’s interesting.” They also give a hint as to what the Bills could look like on the field as they embark on the Joe Brady era.
Before we get into them, one note: any of the below players could very well end up on Buffalo’s practice squad so they may still be part of the team after all.
3 moves Bills made that should have surprised fans
Releasing Trent Sherfield Sr.
Let’s hope he finds a way to get on the practice squad because this cut likely raised a ton of eyebrows.
Brady chose to keep only five receivers this season and went with rookie Skyler Bell over a veteran presence like Sherfield. They also kept a fourth tight end, which was interesting (more on that later).
The Bills’ receivers on the roster are all under 39 years old with D.J. Moore being the oldest at 29. Keon Coleman, 23, is actually younger than Bell who is 24. Moore won’t turn 30 until April of next year, so this will be an under-30 group for the entire season barring any unexpected acquisitions.
Sherfield is 30, and maybe it could have been a factor in Beane’s decision to cut him. The counterargument is that it may have been a good reason to keep him. Coleman’s maturity issues are well documented and while Sherfield is no superstar, he’s been around long enough that he could have been another steady had to guide him along with Moore.
Besides the locker room dynamic, Sherfield also played very well in the preseason. He caught five passes on five targets for 64 yards. Bell missed the first two preseason games with an injury but turned heads in the finale with 7 catches and an electric 28-yard run for a touchdown.
Clearly management saw enough and went with an extra tight end instead and are likely hoping they can get Sherfield on the practice squad.
For the sake of a young receiver crew, let’s hope that bet pays off.
Releasing Keonta Jenkins
Jenkins played well this preseason, racking up eight tackles and one sack, an impressively fast nine yard loss against the Steelers on Thursday.
The battle at inside linebacker was one of the toughest during training camp and the preseason, and Jenkins was on the losing end of it. It very well came down to him or Joe Andreessen and Buffalo is likely rolling the dice they can get Jenkins back on the practice squad.
Andreessen might be a great story being he’s a true Buffalo guy, but he didn’t have the impact on the field defensively during the preseason that Jenkins had (one solo tackle versus Jenkins’ eight).
Clearly Beane must like Andreessen as a special teams contributor and athlete more because Jenkins outperformed him statistically on defense this summer. That’s not to say he is the one that should have been cut instead of Jenkins, he’s got his role. It just proves how tough these calls can be for a GM.
Releasing Ben VanSumeren
As mentioned above, the Bills chose to go with four tight ends this year and that came at the expertise of not only Sherfield, but at Ben VanSumeren’s as well.
This might be a little controversial in terms of being a surprise because of his conversion from linebacker to fullback but his presence on the team indicated Brady would bring a little bit of power running to his offense this year and that he’d also be a solid blocker in both the run game and in pass protection.
The Bills really like what tight end Keleki Latu brings to the table in terms of blocking and versatility. Yes they can move him around but it would have been nice to have an extra big body in VanSumeren in the backfield. Buffalo is obviously more than fine at the running back position but bigger options in the run game can also help.
In the end, they chose a receiving threat over blocking and let’s hope that doesn’t come back to haunt them, though VanSumeren could also make it back on the practice squad.
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