BillsFanForever19

The "potential" that actually matters is Cole Bishop and Jordan Hancock. If there's injuries to the Safety room or that potential isn't there this year, you want a veteran that knows the Defense that you can plug and play. Anyone but Jordan Poyer or Darrick Forrest would require learning the Defense and the Playbook while real bullets are flying. While also being the type of talent that was just put out on the street. I think you're really overreacting here. Whatever "potential" you're getting from a Practice Squad Safety here is likely the same and potentially less than we'd get from Poyer, if we have to put him in. Especially when you consider the familiarity Poyer has with what McDermott wants.

I think the obvious answers right now are T.J. Sanders or Deone Walker. But I'll go with a Dark Horse and say Dorian Strong. With Maxwell Hairston out at least 4 games and likely more than that before they really get him going and with Tre's general shakiness when it comes to health and play - Dorian Strong could potentially be given a Christian Benford-esque unexpected opportunity. And if he seizes that opportunity, he could end up surprising everyone like Christian did. He was a mid round prospect that could have went as high as 3rd or 4th Round that fell to the top of the 6th, in large part bc of being a very good Zone CB but not doing much man to man. That fits in perfect with what we do here. And he flashed a bit in Training Camp while being given a lot more work than expected out of the gate. They only kept him and Ingram outside of Benford and Tre on the Boundary. And with Beane's presser today, there's no guarantee that White is ready Week 1. That shows a lot of faith in Strong. And in the last Preseason game, they started Dorian Strong and he was the first CB pulled. So my guess is he would start.

Helluva story to go from a camp body guy signed in the last 2 weeks of the Camp/Pre-Season to making the Practice Squad. But he's still got a long way to go before he 'wrecks dreams and crushes hopes". He's still got to earn the right to stay there and separate himself from the pack before we see him on the field on Sunday's regularly.

There weren't any cuts I didn't like or thought were surprising. It was pretty much as expected. What did surprise me a little bit is that not a single player from the veteran pool of QB Mike White, WR K.J. Hamler, WR Laviska Shenault, TE Zach Davidson, OT Richard Gouraige, LB Edefuan Olofoshio, or S Darrick Forrest were brought back on the Practice Squad. I thought there were multiple people from that list, if not most, would be back on the Squad. Not a single one was a bit of a shock.

While I do think ideally they don't have to play Poyer, I do believe that unlike Hyde - Poyer has the potential to play if there's injuries. Unlike Hyde, Poyer is here in the building before Week 1. If this were just a "potentially get him a ring" thing like Hyde - I think they would have waited until later like we did with Hyde. The main reason that Hyde didn't see the field, in my opinion, was his health. He was said to have had multiple recurring stingers in 2023 after returning from his Neck injury. I think he and the NFL as a whole realized his Neck wouldn't allow him to play after that. Poyer doesn't have health issues. Also, last year, we had multiple veteran Safety's on the Practice Squad in Kareem Jackson and Lewis Cine that they could play instead of Hyde. This Practice Squad, however, only has Poyer and Sam Franklin - who is much more of a Special Teams player than he is an NFL Safety. So again, I think ideally the Safety room stays healthy and they get production from the depth chart. But if there are injuries and we need to promote a Safety, unlike Hyde - I believe they wouldn't hesitate to call up Jordan Poyer.

We do have an extra spot on the PS that we didn't use, thanks to Clayton's IPP exempt status. That said, there's now been two players that have been said to be added. Either they changed their mind on one, or someone's exiting the Squad in quick fashion:

I would assume as long as he wants to stay here and doesn't want to try a change of scenery, he'll be back.

I don't think it would be Hamlin. I think he's the first guy up after Rapp and Bishop. His contract is also guaranteed wherein a cut would cost them 750k on the general Cap and result in 2m in Dead Cap. I don't think it would be Ingram. We only kept Benford, White, Strong, and Ingram - which is generally the minimum for the Boundary. On top of that, it hasn't been said with 100% certainty that White will play Week 1. If he doesn't, that would leave us with just Benford and Strong Week 1. My money is on Cam. Like I said, they have to like what they've seen from Jordan Hancock who positionally is a clone of what Cam's been. Hancock covers that spot, Franklin covers Lewis on Special Teams, and cutting Lewis saves 1.76m on the Salary Cap - which would cover the 1.3m due on Franklin and then a little more.

It's possible, but I wouldn't be too sure about that.

If it is a 53 man roster signing, i'd look at Cam Lewis as the guy out the door to make room. WR and Safety are the only spots where we're carrying more than the minimum. And if they feel good about Jordan Hancock stepping in right away and filling that backup Hybrid Safety/Nickel (which from what he's shown is likely) and Franklin taking his spot on Special Teams - cutting him would also save 1.76m on the Cap.

I do agree that it looks like he's going to the 53. However, we did play this game a couple days ago with Jordan Phillips. And like Phillips, Franklin is a vested veteran (I actually made the mistake of thinking he wasn't in another post) - that is not subjected to Waivers. So it could be a Practice Squad signing. If it is a 53 signing, I'd look at WR or Safety to make room for him. Those are the only spots on the roster where we're carrying more than the minimum. Cam Lewis could be the guy out if they feel good about Jordan Hancock stepping in right away and filling that backup Hybrid Safety/Nickel and Franklin taking his spot on Special Teams. Cutting him would also save 1.75m on the Cap.

This is going to come off a little hot and I'm not singling you out, as I saw many posters doing this with their 53 predictions. But if you're the type of person who is surprised that Codrington made it, you're also probably the type of person that completely ignores Special Teams when putting a Roster together amd focuses 100% on what a player brings in their positional grouping on Offense and Defense. Year in and year out, they've shown that is not how this regime operates. McDermott said on Hard Knocks and says every year "multiple players are going to make this team for Special Teams alone". It's not just lip service. On multiple roster projections, I saw people cut all of the Returners we used in Training Camp and the Pre-Season. When i'd ask who the Returner is, they'd say this person or that person can handle it. Basically with a "just put someone back there, it doesn't matter" sort of mentality. And again, that's just not how they do things. When no one impressed in last year's Return competition, they went out and trade for, and rostered Brandon Codrington for the job. And that was when the Return game was marginal at best. This year, there's actually going to be Returns and the Return game has added importance. There's no way they were just going to throw Ty Johnson back there and call it a day. A roster spot was going to be given to the winner of the competition between Codrington and Shenault - who handled pretty much all of the returns in Training Camp and the Pre-Season.

You're right, I apologize. I was under the impression that the rules for who isn't subject to waivers were longer than just 4 seasons.

I wouldn't expect that. Hollins started 15 games for us last season. Our "new Hollins" is Joshua Palmer. Is he WR5 or WR6? Because we're not going to dress 6 WR's on Game Day. I'm excited for the kid that the kid made it. But I don't see him getting many opportunities, unless there's injuries and probably multiple. The focus of the passing attack from the WR position is going to be Shakir, Palmer, and Coleman. Samuel, if he can stay healthy, will be our all over the field gadget player. Again, happy for Shavers. But if you're expecting he's going to be on the field a ton and going to be putting up big numbers - I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

This wasn't the finale. There's another episode next week. That's where you're going to see that stuff.

For there to be a "replacement for Forrest", Forrest would need to have had a spot on the 53 man roster to replace. On top of the 3 you mentioned, there's also Hamlin and Lewis (who is a Safety and a Nickel and a ST'er). We don't have a spot on the Roster for another Safety and he's not going to replace any of those guys. It honestly feels like now that Forrest hasn't replaced Hamlin, people are scrambling to find literally any other Safety out there that can be their new hope to see signed to replace him. It's time for those people to move on to the acceptance phase. That isn't going to happen. Especially not for a 33 year old Safety who's played a total of 5 starts in only 29 games over the past five seasons combined - that would have to learn the Defense and the Playbook while real bullets are flying.

Jakobi Meyers hasn't been waived by the Raiders...

Because he was always brought in knowing he was going to sign to the Practice Squad. Being a veteran, he doesn't go through Waivers. So they agreed to a PS spot deal before they could do it. In the meantime, they had open spots on the 90 man roster and while on the active roster, he could use the facilities and work with the team and coaches yesterday and today until he was released. Basically came in yesterday and started working and won't miss any time in the building while being moved from the 90 to the PS, where he always knew he was going to end up.

He's 33 years old and over the past 5 seasons has played a total of 29 games and had just 5 starts. "Miles ahead of Rapp" is just an insane take. The player of 2013-2018, sure. But this isn't that same player anymore. He hasn't been that guy since tearing his ACL in 2019. On top of that, he'd have to learn the Defense and Playbook on the fly. He'd have to be taught the Defense during the regular season, when they have a million other things going on. At this point, they're only going to do that with guys who have the potential to be big time impact players or if they're ravaged with injuries. They're going to go with the guys they've had working with the Playbook all off-season. There's absolutely no way they'd move even Hamlin off the roster for Jefferson. Maybe a Practice Squad spot, but even that is pretty unlikely, given his age and the learning curve he'd have here. They're not going to develop a 33 year old Safety into this squad.

First off, it's more than 7m. It's over 8.6m. And never sees the field? He missed a total of 3 games last season. 4 games over the last 3 years. He was used sparingly, as he battled turf toe to start the season - which like a hamstring is a kiss of death for WR efficiency. And do you think that KJ Hamler or Laviska Shenault would see the field more than Curtis Samuel? No, Hamler or Shenault would be most likely inactive unless there were an injury.

There's 2 huge differences there: 1.) He became a Cancer for the team where we were left with pretty much no choice to remove him from the environment. 2.) We were able to trade him for a 2nd Round Pick. If a team was willing to take on his contract and relieve us of over 7m in Cap Space, best believe we would have considered it. These two situations aren't remotely comparable.