Give Brandon Beane credit for this: He knows how to keep an audience captive.
The Buffalo Bills’ general manager had fans guessing Tuesday as the 4 p.m. deadline for NFL teams to set their initial 53-man rosters came and went. It wasn’t until nearly two hours later that the Bills announced the 23 roster moves that got them to the limit.
All that waiting produced … very little by way of surprises. Long snapper Reid Ferguson was the one name who jumped off the list of those cut as a move out of left field, but he’ll be back as soon as Wednesday when the team makes some other transactions, like placing a player on injured reserve.
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Otherwise, it was easy to imagine Beane agonizing over the final few moves – right up to the deadline. He has assembled a roster loaded with talent – one that is expected to make a deep playoff run. That comes with some difficult choices at this time of year.
For example, the Bills probably don’t love the idea of exposing quarterbacks Davis Webb and Jake Fromm to waivers, but Beane understandably didn’t want to lose a talented player at another position. The end result, at least for now, is a roster that is heavy on numbers at both wide receiver and defensive line – and light at quarterback.
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That has less to do with how Webb and Fromm performed in training camp and the preseason – both of them had their moments – and more to do with keeping other players. Going with three quarterbacks on the active roster – especially when one of them would be inactive on game day each week – might have come at the expense of a player Beane didn’t want to lose. Rookie wide receiver Marquez Stevenson immediately comes to mind in that regard.
Stevenson could be pressed into action as soon as Week 1 as the primary return man if Isaiah McKenzie isn’t ready to go because of a shoulder injury. That’s a good reason why the Bills would be worried about exposing him to waivers.
Now Beane will cross his fingers that Webb and Fromm clear and become free agents. The 31 other NFL teams have until 4 p.m. Wednesday to claim them (the order is the same as the draft, so Jacksonville has the first priority), meaning they inherit their contract and place them on their 53-man roster. If one or both of them do, they figure to re-sign to the Bills’ practice squad.
Keeping two quarterbacks on the 53 isn’t without some risk, but it is coach Sean McDermott’s preferred method of roster building. It’s what the team did in 2019, before last year’s roster was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. It helps when they are two of the best in their respective roles.
Allen finished second in the league’s MVP voting and was awarded with a contract extension worth potentially a quarter billion dollars. He has also been durable, starting all 36 games the past two seasons, including playoffs. Trubisky, meanwhile, might be the best backup in the league, lessening the need to keep another option on the roster. The Bills kept Fromm on the 53 last year, but he was largely isolated from the team as an emergency quarterback in the case of a Covid-19 outbreak.
The proposed stadium would have about 12,000 fewer seats than the existing Highmark Stadium and would be completed by 2027 a source told The Buffalo News, confirming details reported Tuesday afternoon by the AP.
This year, unvaccinated players are subject to daily testing and forced to go through a five-day reentry process if they are deemed to be close contacts of an individual who tests positive for Covid-19 – a situation that receivers Cole Beasley and Gabriel Davis and defensive tackles Star Lotulelei and Vernon Butler Jr. found themselves in last week.
The vaccination status of quarterbacks Josh Allen and Mitchell Trubisky is not known, but the evidence points to Allen being vaccinated. He hasn't been seen in a mask, and it says something that the Bills are comfortable with just the two of them on the active roster.
Under rules instituted last year as a means of dealing with the pandemic, practice squads have expanded to 16 players. If Webb and Fromm make it through, there could be room for both of them on the practice squad. With Trubisky signed only through the 2021 season and expected to look for a starting job elsewhere, the Bills will undoubtedly want options at the position to develop, with an eye toward being Allen’s backup in 2022.
A 2019 fifth-round draft pick, Fromm was inactive for every game as a rookie. He went 21 of 36 for 172 yards this preseason, leading a come-from-behind win over Detroit and scoring a 13-yard rushing touchdown against Green Bay.
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Webb, meanwhile, is looked at as an extension of the coaching staff. He’s a valuable resource in the film room for Allen and a favorite in the locker room. He also did well in the preseason, going 18 of 28 for 143 yards and one touchdown.
The Bills are Webb’s third team since entering the NFL as a third-round draft pick of the New York Giants in 2017. The assumption is it might be easier for him to clear waivers than Fromm, who was more recently picked.
The Bills will deal with looking ahead at the appropriate time. In the worst-case scenario of both Webb and Fromm being claimed, Beane will have to add a third quarterback to the practice squad from outside the organization.
Chances are, though, that either Fromm or Webb will be back. The depth chart will then be set and the Bills will go forward with a two-quarterback roster ready to make a run.
