The Buffalo Bills announced Tuesday afternoon that they have cut tight end Jim Dray, replacing him from the practice squad with Gerald Christian. This is one sign of the influence that Anthony Lynn is now carrying on the roster since he became offensive coordinator.
#Bills cut TE Jim Dray,promote TE Gerald Christian from PS & sign WR Corey Washington to PS. Also release WR Matt Hazel from PS.
— Vic Carucci (@viccarucci) October 4, 2016
During Buffalo’s first two games, Jim Dray had 21 snaps, and the other tight end on the roster, Nick O’Leary, had six. Since Lynn’s promotion, Dray has only been on the field for 9 offensive snaps against O’Leary’s 41. The young Florida State product has incrementally rounded into form each week of the season, and his upside in the passing game turned out to be more valuable to this team than the blocking specialist Dray.
(As an aside, one other player has seen an uptick on offensive responsibilities in the last two weeks. That’s right, it truly is #TheAutumnOfWalterPowell. With the injuries to Sammy Watkins and Greg Salas, Powell has taken on the role of #3 receiver for the past two weeks, holding up the workload that was split between Salas and Marquise Goodwin in the first two games.)
Dray is replaced by Gerald Christian, a 6’3” 244 pound h-back who has spent the last month on Buffalo’s practice squad. Christian transferred to Louisville after two seasons as a blocking tight end at Florida. In his final two college seasons, Christian collected 64 catches for 882 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The team made one more set of roster moves at the same time, cutting Matt Hazel and replacing him with receiver Corey Washington. Washington is an intriguing 6’3” 215 pounder who played for Division II Newberry College before joining the pros. He had a brief stint with the Giants in 2014, and has bounced around practice squads ever since.