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Buffalo Bills 53-man roster projection, post-2013 NFL Draft edition

It's way too early to be doing stuff like this? No. No, it is not. Here's what Buffalo's roster could look like come early September.

USA TODAY Sports

The 2013 NFL Draft is still squarely in our rearview mirror, and that is precisely when I like to make my first, off-the-cuff Buffalo Bills 53-man roster projection of the year. It's a time of the year when fans are focused on new faces and undrafted free agents; this is a great way not just to spark a little debate, but to re-focus on what the shape of the final roster may be.

Of course, it's absurdly early in the year to do this, as well. It's possible (heck, maybe even likely) that the Bills will continue to tweak the roster through the spring and summer months, particularly as a new coaching staff gets a longer look at some of the players inherited from Chan Gailey's teams. Yet it's not a completely useless exercise, either, for the reasons listed above. (On a side note: I went back and found this projection from last year, also written on April 30, and 44 of the 53 names ended up on the opening day roster. Boom.)

Not knowing exactly what the defense will look like or how Doug Marrone and his coaches will evaluate the talent on hand makes this kind of exercise far more difficult than it was last season. My projection is below; leave your issues with it (and your own projections, if you dare be so bold) in the comments section.

Pos. # Starter # Backup # Reserve
WR 11 T.J. Graham # Da'Rick Rogers*
TE 84 Scott Chandler 85 Lee Smith 89 Chris Gragg*
LT 77 Cordy Glenn 72 Zebrie Sanders
LG 74 Colin Brown 71 Sam Young
C 70 Eric Wood 61 David Snow
RG 60 Kraig Urbik
RT 75 Chris Hairston 79 Erik Pears
WR 10 Robert Woods* 88 Marquise Goodwin*
WR 13 Stevie Johnson 16 Brad Smith
QB 4 Kevin Kolb 3 E.J. Manuel* # Jeff Tuel*
RB 28 C.J. Spiller 22 Fred Jackson 20 Tashard Choice
NT 99 Marcell Dareus 90 Alan Branch 98 Torell Troup
DT 95 Kyle Williams 92 Alex Carrington 96 Jarron Gilbert
RE 94 Mario Williams 93 Mark Anderson
SLB 91 Manny Lawson # Jerry Hughes
MLB 50 Kiko Alonso* 51 Chris White 52 Arthur Moats
WLB 53 Nigel Bradham 43 Bryan Scott 54 Marcus Dowtin
RCB 24 Stephon Gilmore
FS 31 Jairus Byrd 27 Duke Williams*
SS 23 Aaron Williams 25 Da'Norris Searcy 36 Jonathan Meeks*
NCB 33 Ron Brooks 26 Justin Rogers
LCB 21 Leodis McKelvin 29 Crezdon Butler
K 5 Dustin Hopkins*
P 6 Shawn Powell
LS 65 Garrison Sanborn