Bills release seven, including Wendling, Fine

It’s nice to see the roster overhaul begin!

Agreed. These players provided no value to Offense or Defense. They have value on ST but as last year proved depth, especially on the D is needed. And our ST hasn’t been especially special.

i had the fanshot up first. and i was under the impression thats where this kind of story should go…..WEAK! my only chance at getting front page is dashed….

How did Hairstin, Gaddis, Manalac, and Mghee (to name a few) escape the chopping block. I have a sneaky suspicion more are to come…

Ugh. Yet another hole to fill. The timing is curious, to say the least. Aren’t teams allowed to carry something like 80 guys at this point in the offseason?

There are at least two plausible rationales for cutting Fine.:

1. Fine wasn’t cut because he disappointed as a blocker. He was easily the best blocking TE the Bills fielded. Fine, however, never produced in the pass game. Schouman wasn’t as good of a blocker but was the more productive receiving threat. Nelson, I thought, had some moments where he blocked well and clearly is more of a receiving threat than either Fine or Schouman. If Fine was cut because he wasn’t a pass catching TE then it could signal a shift in how Chan will use TEs in Buffalo—possibly even more of a security blanket for the QB than they were before. It could also mean that TE will be more of a priority in the draft. I’ll put it out there: Buffalo could trade down to, say, 24 (Eagles—if they wanted into the top 10) and take Gresham…assuming he is all the way back from his injury. Two TE/two WR sets with Gresham and Nelson would give the QB some high percentage mismatches to quickly exploit—quickly here having the meaning of ‘before the QB is plastered due to shoddy play by the LT that wasn’t meaningfully upgraded’.

2. Fine might have been cut because he has an injury history and hasn’t been available on too many Sundays. If that’s the case guys like Trent Edwards, Brad Butler, and Ashton Youboty should be nervous.

Seems to me, this is the first wave of "I don’t care what happened the past four years, I didn’t draft you, I didn’t pick you up off waivers, and since you have little NFL talent, you are out of here.

He was a good blocking TE. If anything this shows the new coaching staff’s confidence in Nelson and Schouman, which is fine with me too. (no pun intended).

The rest, good riddence. Otherwise from Wendling they weren’t doing much on special teams anyways.

Im alright with all of these… They havent done anything to help us win over the last few years… ship em out. Fine is the only questionable release… and he is very replacable.

Some surprising names…. mainly because why don’t you bring them in for training camp at least… Fine was a great guy at camp FWIW.

And to think I was this close to getting a Fine jersey…

I think this is the Gailey/Nix regime making a statment to the rest of the team. Gailey and his staff were all together last week evaluating thge 2009 season play by play. The rest of the team needs to take notice that Club Jauron is no longer the accpetable practice around here.

Thanks for the FanPost, Teaters33, and for the FanShot, silverstreak3k. It’s Lost night. Glad to know the blog doesn’t rest while I get entertainment elsewhere. :)

K’s right on, guys – we’re hurting for TE depth in a BIG way now.

The three note-worthy players (Fine, Wendling, Jenkins) did not contribute enough to deserve roster spots. I hope this is an indication that Nix doesn’t view the 53 man roster as a place to hold 8-9 players who are primarily connected to the kicking game. Three specialists and maybe an extra man who excels on Special Teams should suffice and the rest of the coverage guys should be talented backups who can double in the kicking game. Here’s hoping this putrid roster is gutted and fileted over the next 7 months and that this was only the beginning of a total dismantling.

And we also need a whole bunch of them for thge 3-4. What a novel idea! Have players that can contribute in more than one way.

oh well………fickle business this NFL is…………Im sure Wendling will find a spot on someones roster.

In an odd way, I’m almost happy that Fine is gone. If Buffalo is going to carry a pair of mediocre blockers in Nelson and Schouman and use a run heavy, Chan Gailey style attack, that 3rd TE better be a lot more reliable injury-wise than Fine is. He’d leave Buffalo in a whole heap of trouble if he was the 3rd TE and primary blocker this year, but missed half the season again. If Buffalo is only keeping one blocking TE, he better be a very reliable player. Still doesn’t make a ton of sense to cut him when you could bring him into camp as the 4th guy on the depth chart and keep him if one of the other TEs goes down. Or Nix has realized (or reads this blog and struggles to read sarcasm) that Stupar really is the next Jason Witten.

I’ll miss Wendling. I’ve always been a fan of keeping a couple stud special teamers. Not like Buffalo doesn’t still have a few on the roster though. With Wendling and Jenkins gone, it looks like Wilson is even more likely to be brought back.

One of the biggest concerns with the Jauron regime was their dedication to hanging onto players who were limited to special teams on a career basis.

Wendling is a prime example of that out. A great athlete who could play special teams but will never start in the league. That’s a roster spot that should be dedicated to developing a player. Wendling wasn’t developmental. He was better than the next guy they had and he could get down field and make a tackle. He stays!

To their credit, they nabbed all of these guys late in the draft or as UDFAs but these guys still spent a considerable amount of time on the active roster and that means reps.

If you ask me, there is a handful more they should add to this list of former Bills – assuming they had no trade value.

Well, it certainly shows that Chix has been looking at tape from last year.

Stupid question, but there’s no chance these cuts were for conditioning reasons like the trainers pulled into town and checked out the flexibility and strength of these guys and so they got the ax?

sounds like its more schematic. I guess I’m wondering in particular about Fine given all the discussion above. Basically, did the new S+C coaches decide that his injuries make him unable to continue playing in NFL?

Bills kept John Wehndling instead of Jim Leonhard – Well, Leonhard went to the Ravens and now is with the Jets, is a starter, and a playmaker – Why the Bills never gave this guy a chance when he was a standout at Wisconsin is another example of a clueless front office.

Glad to see these bums go – Wholesale changes are needed, considering the Bills should have had only 4 wins last year!

The new Sheriff Nix is not taking an prisoners, he is fast becoming the hanging Judge—-better known as Judge Roy Bean!!

Accountability is back at OBD, lack of production equals lack of a roster spot, lack of a coaching position and lack of a front office position. Would anyone be shocked if Wendling and Jenkins both ended up In Philly with Bobby April? Wendling is an excellent ST player and he will end up playing in the NFL.

Fine had his moments but constant injuries sealed his fate in B-Lo and with Stupar still on the roster Fine was expendable. The Biggest worry with Nelson is him having migraine problems that lay him up. If the Bills didn’t need so much help at LB, OL and QB who wouldn’t enjoy having Okie TE Jermaine Gresham on the team before his injury he was a top 10 draft prospect. If he is healthy some team is going to get a potential Pro Bowl TE in the mid to late 1st round…

Fine – I honestly think the reason he was let go was because of his injuries. it’s entirely possible that the staff thinks they need to get rid of injury prone players and ’im fine with that.

jenkins i think can easily be replaced.

again – not a big deal in any regards. none of these players have done anything that would make me feel like they should stay. run of the milll players that are easily replaceable.

to the point that they are run of the mill so why not use them in camp or 3rd/4th stringers – I think they are saying to the rest of the players that you are on notice. i’m sure they already get that – but those fringe players know they are literally 1 screw up away from being jettison from the team (are you listening marshawn?).

Gailey plans to use backup/in the wings 3-4 linebackers to play special teams.

the switch to a 3-4 makes wendling somewhat expendable.