The Buffalo Bills announced on Monday night that they had signed two players to bolster their defensive line, in Brandon Deaderick and Alameda Ta’amu. Two players were cut to make room for the signings, and one was something anyone could see coming after Saturday night’s game: receiver Leonard Hankerson.
Hankerson, who dropped three passes and only caught one of eight targets on Saturday, had been falling behind other receivers like Dezmin Lewis and Walter Powell through training camp. Rex Ryan didn’t sugar coat his opinion of Hankerson’s performance in the postgame press conference, saying the receiver had a “horrible” game and adding that “This is an NFL receiver. We expect more.”
The other cut was nose tackle TJ Barnes, who moonlighted at left tackle for a short portion of the offseason before returning to defense. A massive player, Barnes was simply unable to distinguish himself at the position..
Ta’amu comes in as the next attempt at the role Barnes was playing, backup nose tackle. The 6’3” 345 pounder was a former fourth round pick, but only has seven career tackles since joining the league in 2012.
Rather than add another receiver to replace Hankerson, the Bills instead signed more defensive line depth. Standing 6’4” 305, Deaderick is built similarly to Adolphus Washington. He has played in 60 career games, putting up the statistics of a rotational role player.
The signings also came on the same day that the team officially signed Kroy Biermann. To add Biermann to the roster, the team waived outside linebacker IK Enemkpali. For players with little NFL experience, if they are injured before the regular season, they must be waived before they can be added to the Injured Reserve list. Given Enemkpali’s torn ACL, expect him to clear waivers and be added to IR very soon.