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Buffalo Bills 53-Man Roster Projection: Take Three

This is the third iteration of a Buffalo Bills 53-man roster projection that I've put together this summer, and sadly, things have not changed an awful lot from week to week. It'd be rather nice if some Bills reserves made me think about changing these projections up in a more significant manner.

You can find the latest projection after the jump, along with a review of changes from last week. The Bills will need to cut down to 80 players by a week from tomorrow, on August 30. They currently employ 85 players.

I've only got two new players on this list from last week. After giving Chad Rinehart the proverbial axe in the first two projections, it is now painfully obvious that he'll be on the team, if not starting at left guard. He takes the place of Mansfield Wrotto - a player I'd given the nod over Rinehart because of the two-year deal he signed this past March. Wrotto has been awful this pre-season.

The other change made was swapping in Kellen Heard for Lionel Dotson as the seventh defensive lineman. I still believe the team will keep seven big guys up front thanks to the Alex Carrington experiment at outside linebacker, and after closely watching both pre-season games to date, both Heard and Dotson have looked good on occasion. Heard has been getting reps earlier, however, and is a bigger, equally mobile version of Dotson. He'd be a huge upgrade over last year's weekly inactive lineman, John McCargo.

Pos. # Starter # Backup # Reserve
WR 19 Donald Jones 11 Roscoe Parrish 81 Marcus Easley
LT 77 Demetrius Bell 71 Ed Wang
LG 67 Andy Levitre 76 Chad Rinehart
C 70 Eric Wood 63 Geoff Hangartner
RG 60 Kraig Urbik

RT 79 Erik Pears 75 Chris Hairston*
TE 84 Scott Chandler 80 David Martin
WR 13 Stevie Johnson 86 David Nelson 18 Naaman Roosevelt
QB 14 Ryan Fitzpatrick 4 Tyler Thigpen 16 Brad Smith
RB 22 Fred Jackson 28 C.J. Spiller 35 Johnny White*
FB 38 Corey McIntyre
LE 99 Marcell Dareus* 92 Alex Carrington 72 Kellen Heard
NT 95 Kyle Williams 96 Torell Troup
RE 98 Dwan Edwards 91 Spencer Johnson
SLB 90 Chris Kelsay 57 Danny Batten
MLB 54 Andra Davis 55 Kelvin Sheppard* 94 Chris White*
WLB 50 Nick Barnett 53 Reggie Torbor 52 Arthur Moats
JLB 56 Shawne Merriman 59 Antonio Coleman
LCB 24 Terrence McGee 21 Leodis McKelvin
SS 37 George Wilson 43 Bryan Scott 25 Da'Norris Searcy*
FS 31 Jairus Byrd
RCB 29 Drayton Florence 23 Aaron Williams* 27 Reggie Corner
K 9 Rian Lindell
P 8 Brian Moorman
LS 65 Garrison Sanborn

Players cut (34): QB Levi Brown, RB Bruce Hall, RB Anthony Elzy, FB Jehuu Caulcrick, WR Buster Davis, WR Felton Huggins, WR Paul Hubbard, WR Kamar Aiken, TE Shawn Nelson, TE Mike Caussin, TE Zach Pianalto, OT Cordaro Howard, OT Jason Watkins, OG Mansfield Wrotto, OG Colin Brown, OG Isaiah Thompson, C Michael Switzer, DE Lionel Dotson, DE T.J. Langley, NT Michael Jasper, OLB Jammie Kirlew, OLB Robert Eddins, ILB Brad Jefferson, ILB Brandon Hicks, CB Justin Rogers, CB Loyce Means, CB Doyle Miller, S Jon Corto, S Rajric Coleman, S Sidney Glover, S Josh Nesbitt, P Reid Forrest, LS Danny Aiken.

Positional Breakdown

QB (3): Fitzpatrick, Thigpen, Smith
RB (3): Jackson, Spiller, White
FB (1): McIntyre
WR (6): Johnson, Jones, Parrish, Nelson, Roosevelt, Easley
TE (2): Chandler, Martin
OT (4): Bell, Pears, Wang, Hairston
OG (3): Levitre, Urbik, Rinehart
C (2): Wood, Hangartner
DE (5): Dareus, Edwards, Johnson, Carrington, Heard
NT (2): Williams, Troup
OLB (4): Merriman, Kelsay, Coleman, Batten
ILB (6): Barnett, Davis, Torbor, Sheppard, Moats, White
CB (5): Florence, McGee, McKelvin, Williams, Corner
S (4): Byrd, Wilson, Scott, Searcy
SP (3): Lindell, Moorman, Sanborn