Buffalo Bills News & Rumors

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/4/19

Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Dallas Cowboys

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: WR Codey McElroy

Houston Texans

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: LB B.J. Bello

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: TE Ben Johnson

Miami Dolphins

Bills To Meet With Laquon Treadwell

The Bills will meet with wide receiver Laquon Treadwell and outside linebacker Noah Spence on Tuesday, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). Given their draft pedigrees, both could be intriguing low-risk pickups for Buffalo.

Treadwell is a former first-round pick of the Vikings who entered the NFL with lots of fanfare. Unfortunately, he hasn’t done a whole lot at the NFL level.

Spence, meanwhile, washed out of Ohio State’s program in college before transferring over to Eastern Kentucky University. He did well for the Ohio Valley Conference school, and parlayed that success into a second-round selection from the Bucs. He racked up 5.5 sacks as a rookie, but his sophomore season was largely lost to injury and he didn’t really produce in 12 games last year.

In addition to Treadwell and Spence, here are the other players that Buffalo has recently worked out, a list that includes a number of safeties (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle):

NFL Workouts: 9/2/19

In the wake of all the cuts that have taken place over the past few days, there are a ton of players looking for new homes. Many teams are bringing guys in for tryouts, and we’ll keep track of all of today’s here, all courtesy of veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer (on Twitter).

There were a few notable names, including former-first round pick offensive guard Joshua Garnett, who worked out for the Seahawks. The 49ers drafted Garnett 28th overall in 2016, and he started 11 games as a rookie. He then missed the entire 2017 season with an injury, and didn’t make any starts last year. The 49ers were able to save $1.7MM by cutting him, and they jumped at the opportunity. Perhaps he’ll be able to revive his career with an NFC West rival.

The Dolphins are hosting offensive tackle J’Marcus Webb, who has plenty of starting experience. After trading away Laremy Tunsil, the Dolphins are understandably looking for tackle help. Webb started 16 games for the Raiders as recently as 2015, and one for the Colts last season before being placed on IR. He’s been around since 2010, and spent his first three seasons as a starter with the Bears. As Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald quipped in a tweet, it’s “not optimal” that the Dolphins are potentially looking for a starting tackle six days before the opener.

The Bills appear to be looking for a punter, as they worked out a group of them today.

Here’s the full list:

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

  • OT J’Marcus Webb

New Orleans Saints

Seattle Seahawks

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/2/19

We’ll keep track of Monday’s practice squad moves here:

Atlanta Falcons

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

  • Signed: WR Davion Davis

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Oakland Raiders

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers 

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Redskins

Bills To Meet With Josh Jones

The Bills will meet with safety Josh Jones on Monday, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). Jones skipped the Packers’ OTAs to force a trade and Green Bay more or less obliged by cutting him late last month.

The Packers selected Jones in the second round of the 2017 draft and started him 12 games over his first two years in the league. However, he took a step back last year. Jones finished out with 55 tackles, one sack, and two passes defensed in 13 games (five starts) in 2018. Pro Football Focus ended up ranking Jones 70th among 93 eligible safeties.

Jones washed out in Green Bay, but he profiles as a potential low-risk, high-reward pickup for the Bills.

Sunday NFL Transactions: AFC East

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four AFC East teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions for the Bills, Dolphins, Jets and Patriots are noted below.

Additionally, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads today. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.

Here are Sunday’s AFC East transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.

Buffalo Bills

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New York Jets 

* = International Pathway Program player

Bills To Re-Sign S Kurt Coleman

One Bills cutdown day casualty is about to find himself back with the team. Buffalo is going to re-sign safety Kurt Coleman, according to Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic (Twitter link).

To make room on the roster, the team will place tight end Jason Croom on inured reserve. The Bills signed Coleman back on July 19th in the wake of fellow safety Rafael Bush’s retirement. Coleman was one of the bigger names that got cut by the Bills yesterday, but his release was apparently only for roster maneuvering purposes. As a vested veteran Coleman wasn’t subjected to waivers, so the Bills could easily add him right back.

The deal Coleman originally signed was for one-year and a little over $1MM but could be worth up to $2MM, and it’s unclear if he’ll get those same terms now. Coleman spent a couple years playing under Bills head coach Sean McDermott when both of them were with the Panthers, so there’s familiarity here. He’ll likely serve as the team’s third safety behind Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer. In his nine-year career, Coleman has made 132 appearances and 83 starts.

Croom signed with the Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He didn’t make any appearances as a rookie, but played a real role last year. In 15 games and three starts, he finished with 22 catches for 259 yards and a touchdown.

Bills Reach 53-Man Max

The Bills dropped a host of players on Saturday to reach the 53-man limit, but they also carved out spots by other means. Fifth-round linebacker Vosean Joseph (shoulder) and running back Senorise Perry (quad) were placed on IR while undrafted linebacker Tyrell Dodson was placed on the Commissioner’s exempt list.

Here’s the full list of cut players in Buffalo:

DE Sam Acho
TE Nate Becker
WR Victor Bolden Jr.
TE Kyle Carter
S Kurt Coleman
WR Nick Easley
DE Jeff Holland
QB Tyree Jackson
OT Jarron Jones
LB Deon Lacey
CB Cam Lewis
CB Ryan Lewis
OL Eric Magnuson
WR Ray-Ray McCloud
RB LeSean McCoy
K Chase McLaughlin
CB Captain Munnerlyn
RB Marcus Murphy
DT Kyle Peko
WR Cam Phillips
CB Lafayette Pitts
OL Demetrius Rhaney
CB Denzel Rice
WR David Sills
TE Keith Towbridge
RB Christian Wade
S Abraham Wallace
DT L.T. Walton
WR Duke Williams
DE Eddie Yarbrough
DT Roderick Young

Chargers Slash Roster To 53

In addition to the Chargers’ Russell Okung announcement, they finalized their 53-man roster.

Cardale Jones did not make the team, with Los Angeles going with Tyrod Taylor and rookie Easton Stick behind Philip Rivers. The XFL has openly mentioned Jones on multiple occasions, so the former Bills and Ohio State passer could be a high-profile candidate for the upstart league.

Here are the Bolts’ Saturday cuts:

Reactions To Bills Cutting LeSean McCoy

On Saturday, the Bills released longtime starter LeSean McCoy. There have been rumblings about the running back’s job security for a while, but GM Brandon Beane says it wasn’t an easy call.

This allows Devin more opportunities to show what he can do for the team,” said Beane. “We believe in LeSean and still believe he can play, but you can’t look at every decision in a vaccum. After the draft Devin was a guy we were excited about, but some guys transition faster and some guys transition slower. That’s one of the decisions. Who is ready in that running back group to contribute right away? And we just felt right now that Devin would be able to help us along with the other guys that we’re keeping.”

Here’s more on Buffalo and Shady:

  • The Texans, Chargers, Cowboys, Chiefs, and Raiders are teams to watch in the McCoy chase, Mike Florio of PFT (on Twitter) opines. The Texans would make a ton of sense following Lamar Miller‘s injury, though they also have a capable back in Duke Johnson. The Chiefs, meanwhile, may or may not be all in with Damien Williams.
  • The Bills did not ask McCoy to take a pay cut before dropping him, Florio (on Twitter) hears.
  • Beane does not fault McCoy for his lack of production in 2018. “Last year, I don’t fault LeSean. Our offense didn’t get into a rhythm. You can put a lot of that on me,” Beane said.
  • Beane added that the team gauged the trade market on McCoy, but not until very late in the process. The GM also indicated that he was concerned about how McCoy would react to being used in an RB-by-committee backfield.