It is just about roster cutdown time, and with that come lots of questions from Buffalo Bills fans about who will make the 53-man roster. We dive into all of that in this week’s episode of Buffalo Rumblings Q&A.
Will the Bills keep five defensive ends with Mike Love and Darryl Johnson playing so well? Why shouldn’t Matt Barkley start over Josh Allen? What is Duke Williams’s roster position? What is happening at punter?
Question of the week
Where could the team look for waiver-wire help?
One question frequently asked of me this week is where could the Bills look for help outside of their own locker room as teams start releasing players? Last year, Buffalo cut down to 52 players instead of 53. Then added more over the next week. After the first round of cuts, there will be some more back-end roster juggling as other players become available.
There are two positions I see the Bills addressing on the waiver wire this weekend: punter and swing tackle. For punter, it’s a carbon copy of last year. Corey Bojorquez was brought in after Cory Carter’s injury and Colton Schmidt’s lousy preseason and Bojorquez played in the first game after being released by the New England Patriots. The man who beat him out last year, Ryan Allen, is now a free agent and could sign in Buffalo or anywhere else whenever he wants. I still think Buffalo takes a swing on a more consistent punter following this week’s game.
At swing tackle, Buffalo had planned on Dion Dawkins and Cody Ford with Ty Nsehke backing up and LaAdrian Waddle as depth, but Waddle is on injured reserve and Ford has underperformed at tackle. The Bills have already done some roster tinkering at the backup tackle position during the preseason and it still feels unsettled. It won’t be a guy who starts or even a guy we want to see on the field, but expect some churn at that fourth tackle spot.
Where else could they look for waiver-wire additions? Tight end is a possibility, but with Jason Croom and Dawson Knox healthy again and Tommy Sweeney playing well, they already have four TEs worth rostering with Lee Smith rounding out the group. Assuming Tyler Kroft is coming back at some point, that will be their late add at the position.
Another position some might look at is center, where Russell Bodine has been absolutely dreadful, but they’ve been cross-training Jon Feliciano and Spencer Long has center experience behind a close-to-return Mitch Morse, so there is depth there. I don’t expect anything there.
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