‘Levy had a roster in his hands, and he said he counted only 21 players who were with the team when he last coached. Of course, the three most notable absences were Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed, all of whom were released in February. "I hated to see those last three remnants of all four Super Bowls go, but there are young players and things change," said Levy, a hint of sadness in his voice. "But I’ve said this before, when Babe Ruth left, Joe DiMaggio came, and when DiMaggio left, Mickey Mantle came. There is a changing of the guard. "When I came into my last camp, Jim Kelly (who retired following the 1996 season) wasn’t there. If you coach long enough, great stars are going to leave. There was quite a bit of sentiment when I heard they were releasing them. John had told me a couple days before, and he told me it was going to be one of the toughest things he’d have to do."’