Bills lost 6 starters from last year's team. 4 aren't on an NFL roster and one is a projected backup

[CorkScrewHill]

Just looking at offense and defense ... Cole Beasley, Star Lotoulelai, Daryl Williams, and Emmanuel Sanders never signed with another team and while there was speculation Star and Sanders may be contemplating retirement, neither has as of yet.

 

That leaves Jerry Hughes starting for the Texans and Levi Wallace fighting for a starting job on the Steelers though there was speculation from Steelers media that Akhello Witherspoon was leading that competition (also referenced here https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/predicting-the-steelers-2-deep-depth-chart-of-the-week-1-defense/ss-AA11pjfF#image=8 )

 

Our depth players that played significant minutes Harrison Phillips will start in Minnesota and Jon Feliciano will start for the Giants and Mitch Trubisky who didn't play significant minutes thankfully is anticipated to start in Pittsburgh to begin the season. Cody Ford is a backup in Arizona, Efe Obada is 3rd string in Washington, while A.J. Klein and Justin Zimmer never found another team. 

 

For a team that is considered incredibly deep (which I agree they are) I find it surprising that only one of our 6 ex starters are expected to start on another team. Perhaps it is a situation where the collection of the parts elevates the individual. Would be interested in others thoughts on this.

 

[EmotionallyUnstable]

Jerry Hughes might be my favorite bill over the last 10 years. That being said…. 40>55. 
 

The roster didn’t see major overhauls, but did make improvements in certain particular areas (DE, OL, RB, QB, WR).

 

If you wanted to argue the other side of that, you could say that CB MIGHT be weaker than at the beginning of last year, mostly due to two rookies and an injured all-pro. 
 

QB….+
RB….+
FB….=
WR…+
TE….=
OL….+
 

DE….+
DT….+
LB….=

CB….-

S……=
 

Specials….=
 

[ganesh]

I think the Bills have absorbed the Team first concept with no player being bigger than the team including Josh Allen.  

 

To be fair,  Cole and Star are at the end of the road in their careers and won't sign until as an injury replacement; this allows them to not go through the NFL grind.  Also, those four guys were getting paid a lot by the Bills and weren't going to take NFL Minimum wages. 

 

The team is incredibly deep and it is visible in the construction of the rosters.   Last year we lost our best defensive player in week 10 and yet managed another 9 weeks without any problems. 

[Inigo Montoya]

Beasley, Sanders, Williams, and Star are vets on the downside of their career.  They helped stabilize the Bills' roster when Beane was tearing it down and building it back up and were solid free agent contributors.  In each case Beane found younger players to do the job for less at the same or close to the same level.  I think it's just the normal churn of an NFL roster in the salary cap era and nothing more.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by Inigo Montoya

[ganesh]

2 minutes ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

Jerry Hughes might be my favorite bill over the last 10 years. That being said…. 40>55. 
 

 

Not Kyle Williams?

[EmotionallyUnstable]

Just now, ganesh said:

Not Kyle Williams?

Definitely.

 

Having played the position myself, I’ve always been gravitated to edge rushers. 
 

KW gets a ton of love and rightfully so. I’ve always felt Jerry didn’t get as much as he deserved 

[Kirby Jackson]

I think that it is more of a function of age. All of those guys were well into the back nine. The Bills were hoping to squeeze the last bit of juice out of them. The same reason that they aren’t signed is why the Bills moved on. There just isn’t enough left in the tank. Darryl Williams is the only that’s a little surprising and I’d imagine that he’s being a little picky as to where he latches on next. I’d imagine that if a bad team, offered vet minimum, and a starting spot, he’d decline. The same for Beasley. Hughes TOOK the low salary on a bad team. Sanders and Star are going to retire unless they receive godfather offers. I wouldn’t read too much into this. It was an opportunity to replace well-compensated, aging vets, with younger, cheaper players with minimal (if any) drop off. 

[ganesh]

2 minutes ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

Definitely.

 

Having played the position myself, I’ve always been gravitated to edge rushers. 
 

KW gets a ton of love and rightfully so. I’ve always felt Jerry didn’t get as much as he deserved 

both Jerry and Kyle couldn't lift their game beyond a certain level at a consistency required for NFL champions.  They were the leaders.

[machine gun kelly]

18 minutes ago, CorkScrewHill said:

Just looking at offense and defense ... Cole Beasley, Star Lotoulelai, Daryl Williams, and Emmanuel Sanders never signed with another team and while there was speculation Star and Sanders may be contemplating retirement, neither has as of yet.

 

That leaves Jerry Hughes starting for the Texans and Levi Wallace fighting for a starting job on the Steelers though there was speculation from Steelers media that Akhello Witherspoon was leading that competition (also referenced here https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/predicting-the-steelers-2-deep-depth-chart-of-the-week-1-defense/ss-AA11pjfF#image=8 )

 

Our depth players that played significant minutes Harrison Phillips will start in Minnesota and Jon Feliciano will start for the Giants and Mitch Trubisky who didn't play significant minutes thankfully is anticipated to start in Pittsburgh to begin the season. Cody Ford is a backup in Arizona, Efe Obada is 3rd string in Washington, while A.J. Klein and Justin Zimmer never found another team. 

 

For a team that is considered incredibly deep (which I agree they are) I find it surprising that only one of our 6 ex starters are expected to start on another team. Perhaps it is a situation where the collection of the parts elevates the individual. Would be interested in others thoughts on this.

 

From my POV, this is a very good thing and needed to happen.  We jettisoned people who needed to go.  Every year teams get younger, and bring in new talent or develop backups to starting roles.  It’s a positive thing as we’ve seen Bates, Boettger, Dane, and others develop over a couple of years.  We’re healthy and have very few soft tissue injuries which is a testament to our training staff.

[LeGOATski]

I'm surprised at Justin Zimmer. That kid is a beast. You'd think he'd at least be a backup somewhere.

[Solomon Grundy]

21 minutes ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

Jerry Hughes might be my favorite bill over the last 10 years. That being said…. 40>55. 

I'm with you. It would've been fun seeing both of them getting after opposing QBs

[hondo in seattle]

CSH, good post.  Roster turnover is inevitable.  When only one, maybe 2, of our six lost starters is still starting in the NFL, it doesn't sound like we got weaker.  Especially when one of the newly gained starters is a future HOFer.  

 

My only concern is that neither of our starting CBs from last season will be playing against Cooper Kupp and the Rams.  

[LeGOATski]

2 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

CSH, good post.  Roster turnover is inevitable.  When only one, maybe 2, of our six lost starters is still starting in the NFL, it doesn't sound like we got weaker.  Especially when one of the newly gained starters is a future HOFer.  

 

My only concern is that neither of our starting CBs from last season will be playing against Cooper Kupp and the Rams.  

It'll be up to the pass rush to disrupt Stafford. How that goes early in the game will indicate whether we're in for a shoot out or a blow out.

[CSBill]

Interesting post, thanks @CorkScrewHill I hope that tells us we're better this year. I think that is the case.

 

The one surprise to me is Zimmer. But he did have the knee injury.

 

He was a reliable role player for the Bills--I would judged him more productive for the Bills than Harrison Philips. . . . I always wanted the Bills to give him some snaps at TE or Fullback. He had great speed for a big guy. Would love to have seen what he could he do with the ball in his hands (like how the Ravens use Boyle)? Hopefully he fully recovers and catches on somewhere.

[Chandler#81]

Alas, Father Time is still undefeated. Harry was good -not great. The rest may have been here one season too many..

Onward and Upward!

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

1 minute ago, Chandler#81 said:

Alas, Father Time is still undefeated. Harry was good -not great. The rest may have been here one season too many..

Onward and Upward!

hes doing a bad job with a duche wearing 12 in Fla. 

[DasNootz]

Taking the tires off of a racecar midway through Daytona when you're in the hunt to win - you wouldn't expect them to be thrown on another car in the back of the pack and be valuable.  With the exception of Levi, the rest were high mileage guys replaced with fresher options.

Edited September 3, 2022 by DasNootz

[Kirby Jackson]

4 hours ago, CSBill said:

Interesting post, thanks @CorkScrewHill I hope that tells us we're better this year. I think that is the case.

 

The one surprise to me is Zimmer. But he did have the knee injury.

 

He was a reliable role player for the Bills--I would judged him more productive for the Bills than Harrison Philips. . . . I always wanted the Bills to give him some snaps at TE or Fullback. He had great speed for a big guy. Would love to have seen what he could he do with the ball in his hands (like how the Ravens use Boyle)? Hopefully he fully recovers and catches on somewhere.

One more thing that crossed my mind as we talk role players, teams generally prefer “their own role players.” Every year we worry about all of these guys that are going to get claimed if we cut them. About 30 guys, total, in the league get claimed. When it comes to the back of the roster, where you’d find a Zimmer/Blackshear/Hodgins/Kumerow/McCloud/Lewis, teams lean towards their own version of those guys. They’ve seen their own guys practice, study, learn the playbook, etc… It’s just easier to keep your own guy with no downside risk than to take on someone else of that caliber and HOPE that theirs an incremental improvement.

Edited September 3, 2022 by Kirby Jackson

[Matt_In_NH]

Beasley probably wants more than he has been offered.   Daryl Williams surprises me a little I guess that also may be a money thing.  I mean I get he may not have been that great but to not get offers after starting the whole year is surprising.   

[DJB]

Soooo…. we are doomed?!?!!?