Predictions For The Bills Surprise Cuts/Trades of The 2018 Preseason

[BuffaloRush]

Back in May 2017, who would have guessed that by Week 1, the Bills would part with Sammy Watkins, Ron Darby, Reggie Ragland, and Johnathan Williams(who was penciled in at RB2), among other players that we figured had a roster spot?

 

One thing is for sure - the Beane-McDermott admininstration is not afraid to make a tough and unpopular decisions with the fan base.

 

So make your predictions here.  Who in this roster do you feel might be a candidate for a surprise cut or a surprise trade.  Here are a few thoughts:

 

Shaq Lawson - This is a huge year for Shaq.  After signing Trent Murphy to a pretty big deal, Shaq is going to have to perform well to get regular snaps at DE.  While he is expected to be part of the Bills D-line rotation, it's clear that McDermott has some questions as to whether he can be a starting DE.  I do feel that this coaching staff will give Shaq every chance to succeed, but this a huge year for him.  He's in the 3rd year of a rookie deal, and just like Reggie Ragland, if he gets buried on the depth chart I can see the Bills moving on his for a mid-round draft pick.   He'll be competing with Eddie Yarborough and Tenny Palepoi for spots, so nothing is a given.  

 

Ryan Groy - He is in the final year of a 2 year $5,000,000 deal.  The Bills have him listed at guard and I know some are penciling him in at a starting guard spot.  However the coaching staff seemed very reluctant to use Groy at Guard when Richie Incognito was injured.  Is this a telling sign that they don't want him playing guard?  Or that they prefer him at Center?  Either way, with Wyatt Teller, Vlad Ducasse, and Jon Miller, there is definitely competition at that position.  The team also signed Russell Bodine for essentially the same money as Groy.  The difference is more money is guaranteed for Bodine, essentially making Groy more of a candidate for release. 

 

Jon Miller - in a situation similar to both Groy and Lawson.  There's a lot of competition at guard and Mller easily could find himself as the odd man out.  Like Shaq, I think coaches will give him every chance to succeed under a new offensive system.  But if he's 3rd on the depth chart, I see the Bills looking to trade him for a very low round draft pick.  Did I mention he was a Doug Whaley draft pick?  Not many of Whaley's guys are left around.

 

Adolphus Washington - Another Doug Whaley guy who will be competing for time on the defensive.  Like Lawson and Miller, I think there's a good chance he could be gone his falls too far on the depth chart.  I don't feel that the trade market will be as strong for Washington so perhaps that one reason why he could stay.  

 

Andre Holmes- Holmes made some modest contributions on offense and special teams last year, which makes him a valuable member of a very thin WR class.  But you'll notice that the Bills WR Roster is pretty stacked in terms of numbers.  For Holmes to get a roster spot he will have to contend with vets like Jeremy Kerley and Rod Streeter, as well as younger players like Kaelin Clay, Brandon Reilly, and rookies Austin Proehl and Ray Ray Morton.  Special teams ability should be an advantage for Davis, but is that enough for him to stay?  It should be interesting.

 

Other potential candidates, though I feel these are less likely:

 

Jordan Mills (Does Connor McDermott make him expendable?) 

Tavares Cadet (Watch for Marcus Murphy and Taiwan Jones)

Ramon Humber (Can Tanner Valejo Step up?)

Patrick DiMarco (Will Daboll utilize the FB in his offense?)

Vlad Duccasse (Lots of compeition at OG)

Logan Thomas (Huge year for Logan)

 

So who are your top choices?

[Misterbluesky]

Not a chance Groy gets the axe....no way,no how. Bodine is the one that might be gone by September...picking him up a few months ago was a depth concern early.Not sure what happened with Miller last year...he was the starter until the middle of the rain filled Bengals game...then POOF...he never dressed again.

[BuffaloRush]

2 minutes ago, Misterbluesky said:

Not a chance Groy gets the axe....no way,no how. Bodine is the one that might be gone by September...picking him up a few months ago was a depth concern early.Not sure what happened with Miller last year...he was the starter until the middle of the rain filled Bengals game...then POOF...he never dressed again.

 

I would have thought so too - but check this out:

 

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2018/3/23/17157166/russell-bodine-buffalo-bills-contract-details-show-hes-essentially-a-roster-lock-2018

[Dadonkadonk]

1. Lorenzo Alexander - I don't think he will make it out of camp.  If he does he will be just a special teams player. I still believe they will add a veteran OLB prior to the start of the season.

2. Ducasse - I think Miller will win the RG spot back.  I would not be surprised to be 100% wrong here though.  Ducasse played better the final five games.  I just think Miller is a bigger, stronger, straight line blocker and will be more effective in a new scheme.  But Ducasse was awful the first half of the season and Miller still couldn't win the job.  

3. Peterman - The Bills will go with just two QBs and will hope they can sign Peterman to the practice squad

4. Kyle Williams - he wasn't that good last year.  He will be worse this year.  With Star occupying more blockers perhaps I will be wrong.  With limited snaps maybe he can be effective as an inside pass rusher.  He has never been great against the run.  I hope I am wrong, but I see a retirement announcement a week into camp

5. Trent Murphy - I think he will be boom or bust. He is a PED guy coming off injury.  If the Bills had added a DE in the second or third round I would say Murphy would be more than likely cut.  At this point it will probably be 50/50 as the DE depth is terrible.

 

***Wildcard***

Zay Jones.  All things being equal it is less than 1% chance a second year second round draft pick WR gets cut. Then again what are the odds you find yourself naked yelling at your brother who is stopping you from finding Jesus on the 30th floor?  And what is the chance Zay dropped more passes than his brother's apartment building has floors???

 

[NickelCity]

Trent Murphy, cut?? Man. I think he's going to be a stud.

[KollegeStudnet]

I say Groy is the stalwart center in 2018

[Richard Noggin]

1 hour ago, Dadonkadonk said:

1. Lorenzo Alexander - I don't think he will make it out of camp.  If he does he will be just a special teams player. I still believe they will add a veteran OLB prior to the start of the season.

2. Ducasse - I think Miller will win the RG spot back.  I would not be surprised to be 100% wrong here though.  Ducasse played better the final five games.  I just think Miller is a bigger, stronger, straight line blocker and will be more effective in a new scheme.  But Ducasse was awful the first half of the season and Miller still couldn't win the job.  

3. Peterman - The Bills will go with just two QBs and will hope they can sign Peterman to the practice squad

4. Kyle Williams - he wasn't that good last year.  He will be worse this year.  With Star occupying more blockers perhaps I will be wrong.  With limited snaps maybe he can be effective as an inside pass rusher.  He has never been great against the run.  I hope I am wrong, but I see a retirement announcement a week into camp

5. Trent Murphy - I think he will be boom or bust. He is a PED guy coming off injury.  If the Bills had added a DE in the second or third round I would say Murphy would be more than likely cut.  At this point it will probably be 50/50 as the DE depth is terrible.

 

***Wildcard***

Zay Jones.  All things being equal it is less than 1% chance a second year second round draft pick WR gets cut. Then again what are the odds you find yourself naked yelling at your brother who is stopping you from finding Jesus on the 30th floor?  And what is the chance Zay dropped more passes than his brother's apartment building has floors???

 

I guess I can sum this up easily: I strongly disagree with your post. Every point of it.

 

Maybe Ducasse goes. Maybe. The rest seem like iron clad locks to me. 

[Aussie Joe]

Kyle W is going to be cut??

 

Cmon man...

 

[Frez]

McCoy gets traded or released. 

[jr1]

I could see them cutting Schmidt since I assume Cory Carter would be cheaper

[Zebrastripes]

4 hours ago, Dadonkadonk said:

5. Trent Murphy - I think he will be boom or bust. He is a PED guy coming off injury.  If the Bills had added a DE in the second or third round I would say Murphy would be more than likely cut.  At this point it will probably be 50/50 as the DE depth is terrible.

This dude is going to be a lock to make the roster.  Just looking at his contract alone says he is guaranteed a spot.

[Overdue Bill]

5 hours ago, Dadonkadonk said:

1. Lorenzo Alexander - I don't think he will make it out of camp.  If he does he will be just a special teams player. I still believe they will add a veteran OLB prior to the start of the season.

2. Ducasse - I think Miller will win the RG spot back.  I would not be surprised to be 100% wrong here though.  Ducasse played better the final five games.  I just think Miller is a bigger, stronger, straight line blocker and will be more effective in a new scheme.  But Ducasse was awful the first half of the season and Miller still couldn't win the job.  

3. Peterman - The Bills will go with just two QBs and will hope they can sign Peterman to the practice squad

4. Kyle Williams - he wasn't that good last year.  He will be worse this year.  With Star occupying more blockers perhaps I will be wrong.  With limited snaps maybe he can be effective as an inside pass rusher.  He has never been great against the run.  I hope I am wrong, but I see a retirement announcement a week into camp

5. Trent Murphy - I think he will be boom or bust. He is a PED guy coming off injury.  If the Bills had added a DE in the second or third round I would say Murphy would be more than likely cut.  At this point it will probably be 50/50 as the DE depth is terrible.

 

***Wildcard***

Zay Jones.  All things being equal it is less than 1% chance a second year second round draft pick WR gets cut. Then again what are the odds you find yourself naked yelling at your brother who is stopping you from finding Jesus on the 30th floor?  And what is the chance Zay dropped more passes than his brother's apartment building has floors???

 

Kyle Williams? Are you kidding? No way that they cut him...on the other hand, I don't think that this regime is invested in Shaq Lawson.

[BuffaloRush]

4 hours ago, KollegeStudnet said:

I say Groy is the stalwart center in 2018

 

Not of Bodine can beat him out

[GreggTX]

Shaq traded for low pick or player.

[GunnerBill]

4 minutes ago, BuffaloRush said:

 

Not of Bodine can beat him out

 

I'd be surprised if that happened.... but then this is the surprise cut thread.....

[Royale with Cheese]

Trent Murphy huh?  We can keep him and pay him $4.4 million or we can cut him and have a $7.8 million dollar dead cap hit.  I wonder which makes more sense?

[PIZ]

I don't think there's much left to trade.  Maybe Shaq, but I thought he would have been traded during the draft.  I want them to keep him.  The dline right now is big like Jacksonville.  Could be dominant.

 

I think there'll be some waiver claims or FA pickups after the June 1 cuts.  I would look at the rosters of teams that have solid oline play and deep rosters.  Same with WRs.  

 

 

[CSBill]

50 minutes ago, jr1 said:

I could see them cutting Schmidt since I assume Cory Carter would be cheaper

 

Who was that rookie two-way punter/kicker last year? He was actually pretty good. If Schmidt goes, get him?

[Jpsredemption]

Jon Miller, Adolphus Washington, Shaq Lawson. 

 

This staff is obsessed with weeding out everything in the past even though they ridded several good football players. 

 

They better hope their "own guys" approach works or the end will be a lot sooner than they had hoped. 

[eball]

6 hours ago, Dadonkadonk said:

1. Lorenzo Alexander - I don't think he will make it out of camp.  If he does he will be just a special teams player. I still believe they will add a veteran OLB prior to the start of the season.

2. Ducasse - I think Miller will win the RG spot back.  I would not be surprised to be 100% wrong here though.  Ducasse played better the final five games.  I just think Miller is a bigger, stronger, straight line blocker and will be more effective in a new scheme.  But Ducasse was awful the first half of the season and Miller still couldn't win the job.  

3. Peterman - The Bills will go with just two QBs and will hope they can sign Peterman to the practice squad

4. Kyle Williams - he wasn't that good last year.  He will be worse this year.  With Star occupying more blockers perhaps I will be wrong.  With limited snaps maybe he can be effective as an inside pass rusher.  He has never been great against the run.  I hope I am wrong, but I see a retirement announcement a week into camp

5. Trent Murphy - I think he will be boom or bust. He is a PED guy coming off injury.  If the Bills had added a DE in the second or third round I would say Murphy would be more than likely cut.  At this point it will probably be 50/50 as the DE depth is terrible.

 

***Wildcard***

Zay Jones.  All things being equal it is less than 1% chance a second year second round draft pick WR gets cut. Then again what are the odds you find yourself naked yelling at your brother who is stopping you from finding Jesus on the 30th floor?  And what is the chance Zay dropped more passes than his brother's apartment building has floors???

 

 

This goes down as one of the few serious (non-trolling) posts I disagree with almost completely.  Wow.  It's like we are watching and analyzing two totally different organizations.

 

1.  No way.  Team captain, veteran leader, true believer in "the process."  His snaps will be reduced.

2.  They like Ducasse, and you even admit he played well late last season.  I don't know what Miller's deal is.

3.  No way the Bills go with a rookie and McCarron as their only two QBs.

4.  Come on (see #1).

5.  Geez.  The guy is a perfect fit for McD's scheme.

 

Wildcard -- this is a McD draft pick.  No way they cut ties before year 2.