It's been an unusually loud month of May for the Buffalo Bills. Actual football news - rare for the month of May - has been rampant, from multiple legal issues to free agent visits to Terrell Owens' reality television show. Now, the Bills' Organized Team Activities are set to begin today - and yes, Buffalo's prize new wideout is expected to be in attendance.
With that in mind, it's always fun to make our first guesses at a 53-man roster before the first full-team activities of the year. At the very least, this exercise will open up some different discussion avenues than what we've had recently (with VH1, alcohol, and even alleged bizarre crimes making headlines). Clearly, this insanely early guess is probably destined to be severely wrong come fourth months from now - but hey, it's May.
Clearly, some things might change. Future free agent signings (Pisa Tinoisamoa, perhaps?) or trades (isn't Roscoe Parrish still on the block?) would alter this projection. If things don't change, however, here's my best guess at what the Bills' opening day roster would look like:
Quarterbacks (3)
STARTER: Trent Edwards
BACKUPS: Ryan Fitzpatrick, Gibran Hamdan
Running Backs (4)
STARTER: Marshawn Lynch
BACKUPS: Fred Jackson, Dominic Rhodes, Corey McIntyre
Tight Ends (3)
STARTER: Derek Fine
BACKUPS: Derek Schouman, Shawn Nelson*
Wide Receivers (6)
STARTERS: Lee Evans, Terrell Owens
BACKUPS: Josh Reed, Roscoe Parrish, Steve Johnson, James Hardy
Offensive Tackles (4)
STARTERS: Langston Walker, Brad Butler
BACKUPS: Kirk Chambers, Demetrius Bell
Guards/Centers (4)
STARTERS: Andy Levitre*, Geoff Hangartner, Eric Wood*
BACKUP: Seth McKinney
Defensive Ends (5)
STARTERS: Aaron Schobel, Chris Kelsay
BACKUPS: Ryan Denney, Aaron Maybin*, Chris Ellis
Defensive Tackles (4)
STARTERS: Marcus Stroud, Kyle Williams
BACKUPS: Spencer Johnson, John McCargo
Outside Linebackers (5)
STARTERS: Kawika Mitchell, Pat Thomas
BACKUPS: Keith Ellison, Nic Harris*, Alvin Bowen
Inside Linebackers (2)
STARTER: Paul Posluszny
BACKUP: John DiGiorgio
Cornerbacks (5)
STARTERS: Terrence McGee, Leodis McKelvin
BACKUPS: Drayton Florence, Ashton Youboty, Reggie Corner
Safeties (5)
STARTERS: Donte Whitner, Bryan Scott
BACKUPS: Jairus Byrd*, George Wilson, John Wendling
Specialists (3)
Rian Lindell, Brian Moorman, Ryan Neill
Practice Squad (8)
RB Xavier Omon, WR C.J. Hawthorne, TE Jonathan Stupar, OT Joel Bell, OG Brandon Rodd, DT Ventrell Jenkins*, CB Cary Harris*, CB Ellis Lankster*
Notable "Cuts"
WR Justin Jenkins, OT Jonathan Scott, DE Copeland Bryan, DT Corey Mace, LB Blake Costanzo, LB Jon Corto, CB Dustin Fox, FS Ko Simpson
I feel quite certain that if this projection is universally accepted, Earth will explode - or something like that. So if you've got a point of contention or would like to offer up an alternative look at things, the comments section is available. Go!