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53-Man Roster Competition


JGMcD2

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Taking a look at our depth chart below, I have to say I am quite impressed with what Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott have put together thus far for the 2019 season. No one player stands out as a true superstar at this point in their career. Another poster mentioned on a different thread that we are sort of taking the "Whole is greater than the sum of its parts" approach - a lot of depth and competition for a spot on the 2019 Buffalo Bills.

 

As things stand right now, we have 69 players on the roster with 10 draft picks to boot (I'm not here to debate if we use all 10, although I find it highly unlikely). In years past, we've brought in roughly 20 UDFA to fill out our preseason 90-Man roster, this year I don't even know if we will have enough room to bring in 10 UDFA. Crazy considering two of our biggest surprises last year were Robert Foster and Levi Wallace - Beane even made a point of stating that UDFA would always get a fair shot to compete in Buffalo (or something to that effect). Not saying whoever we bring in won't, it's just nice to know that they will have to work extra hard this season. 

 

I'm really curious to see how the competition plays out during Training Camp and while I get jacked up for the draft every year, I can't help but be extra excited this year - we're going to add 1 to 2 more starting caliber players and a heck of a lot more depth to an already deep roster. It's crazy looking at the roster and seeing all of the names who played meaningful snaps last season and realizing a lot of them won't make the roster. What stands out to me is the depth in the secondary both S and CB. They might have the deepest unit in the NFL. 

 

Now that I am done gushing, because there is still work to be done, I want to pose a few questions: 

 

  1. Should we be targeting UDFA or players from the AAF this offseason to fill out our pre-season roster? 
  2. What advantages and disadvantages are there to targeting either crop of players? 
  3. If you've been following the AAF, what players should we be targeting? 

 

QB: Josh Allen, Matt Barkley, Derek Anderson

RB: LeSean McCoy, Frank Gore, Chris Ivory, Marcus Murphy, Keith Ford

FB: Patrick DiMarco

WR: John Brown, Cole Beasley, Robert Foster, Zay Jones, Andre Roberts, Isaiah McKenzie, Victor Bolden, Ray-Ray McCloud, Cam Phillips, Da'Mari Scott, Duke Williams

TE: Tyler Kroft, Jason Croom, Jake Fisher

T: Ty Nsekhe, LaAdrian Waddle, Dion Dawkins, Conor McDermott

G: Jon Feliciano, Vladimir Ducasse, Jeremiah Sirles, Wyatt Teller, Ike Boettger

OC: Mitch Morse, Spencer Long, Russell Bodine

 

DE: Jerry Hughes, Shaq Lawson, Eddie Yarbrough, Mike Love

DT: Star Lotuleilei, Jordan Phillips, Harrison Phillips, Robert Thomas, Kyle Peko

LB: Trent Murphy, Lorenzo Alexander, Tremaine Edmunds, Julian Stanford, Matt Milano, Deon Lacy, Corey Thompson

CB: Tre'Davious White, Kevin Johnson, Taron Johnson, Lafayette Pitts, Denzel Rice, Ryan Lewis, Levi Wallace, E.J. Gaines

S: Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Rafael Bush, Dean Marlowe, Siran Neal, Maurice Alexander

 

K: Steven Hauschka

P: Corey Bojorquez

LS: Reid Ferguson 

 

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Our median talent level is really going to be a serious step up. I'm really excited about it. Regarding your roster, I think Long will be an OG. If he is and we sign someone like Spain, I'll be pretty happy with competition across the board before(!) the draft, which is nuts. TE needs more, but it's a position for the draft, not FA. 

Edited by NickelCity
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Depth, depth, depth. It’s important to have top end talent, it’s almost as important to have depth. The Bills probably lose 1-3 guys per game to injury. It’s vitally important that you have a guy who is of at least average talent ready to step in and fill in. We have not had anything close to depth in recent years. It’s looking like that might happen this season. 

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13 minutes ago, NickelCity said:

Our median talent level is really going to be a serious step up. I'm really excited about it. Regarding your roster, I think Long will be an OG. If he is and we sign someone like Spain, I'll be pretty happy with competition across the board before(!) the draft, which is nuts. TE needs more, but it's a position for the draft, not FA. 

I agree. I meant to note that I pulled the positions off a Spotrac and that is where they have Long listed. 

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5 minutes ago, JGMcD2 said:

I agree. I meant to note that I pulled the positions off a Spotrac and that is where they have Long listed. 

They also have Murphy at linebacker. Seems they might be a bit off there. That final WR group is going to be interesting. I imagine Foster, Beasley, Brown, Williams and Zay should make the squad, but the addition of a WR, which I would expect, in the draft makes that very intriguing.

edit: Roberts is seemingly a shoo-in, but as a ST player pretty much exclusively 

Edited by MiltonWaddams
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Love the depth at corner, and along the oline.  Corner i think they noticed how hard it was to replace people when others went down with injuries.  A couple cheap contracts like johnson and gaines go a long way in fixing that depth.  Oline was a disaster but they have brought in a ton of competition with guys like feliciano and long.  I think the LBs could improve depth wise - not sure where alexander and bush both factor in.  

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34 minutes ago, billspro said:

This is going to be a tough roster to crack. I would love to see them package both 4ths and late pick to try and move up into the late 2nd or early third and try to get 4 starters from this draft.

Are we talking about the roster of one of last years SB contenders, or the 6-10 Bills?  A few F/A signings, and "this is going to be a tough roster to crack".  This is truly the year that we are "winning the off-season".

 

LOL

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13 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

Are we talking about the roster of one of last years SB contenders, or the 6-10 Bills?  A few F/A signings, and "this is going to be a tough roster to crack".  This is truly the year that we are "winning the off-season".

 

LOL

 

6-10 can turn to 11-5 really quick. If Allen develops this is a playoff team. Best Roster we have had since 2004.

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