Bills need to get to 81 players by start of TC

[YoloinOhio]

 

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by YoloinOhio

[atlbillsfan1975]

Is this first 3 weeks the conditioning period? Was that agreed upon? I remember the NFLPA wanted a 21 day ramping up for conditioning. If that’s the case, why not leave it at 88? 

Edited July 26, 2020 by atlbillsfan1975

[Doc]

Weren't they allowing 90 players (if they did something I can't remember)?

[YoloinOhio]

1 minute ago, atlbillsfan1975 said:

Is this first 3 weeks the conditioning period? Was that agreed upon? I remember the NFLPA wanted a 21 day ramping up for conditioning. If that’s the case, why not Lee it at 88? 

 

3 minutes ago, Doc said:

Weren't they allowing 90 players (if they did something I can't remember)?

They can only have 90 until 8/17. If they do, they have to practice in 2 separate groups. And cannot switch groups after placed in one.

[YoloinOhio]

 

[machine gun kelly]

No Doc, it’s 80 as of Friday right when the NFLPA and NFL agreed only 80 due to the numbers.  The Movin the Chain guys were interesting and have been right about almost everything a month before the agreement.  Kirwan suggested, and I think smart they shuffle the last 10 in and out and when not in the building to house them in a hotel expecting there will be players getting COVID.  They also said they keep them in virtual meetings so let’s say 10 are in a hotel M-W, and then another 10 who were in practice flip and go to the hotel TR, F.  It’s not a bad idea until they pair down to 53 and select who will be on the practice squad.

 

I believe they were increasing practice squads to 16, and the PA agreed no restrictions on who ca; go on the practice squads, even veterans.

[YoloinOhio]

 

[BornAgainBillsFan]

Hard choice. I'd like to see the whole team be able to practice together, but I also don't want to see any of our guys jettisoned before they get a chance to prove themselves.

 

I have faith in McBeane to do what needs to be done.

[TigerJ]

I wonder how this will affect Christian Wade.  The Bills have a roster exemption for him, meaning they could have gone into training camp with 91 players (They actually have only 88 on their roster if I counted right).  The new rule mandating a cutdown to 80 if they all practice together was enacted to make it easier to "social distance."  That could in theory supersede the roster exemption.

[Johnnycage46]

9 minutes ago, TigerJ said:

I wonder how this will affect Christian Wade.  The Bills have a roster exemption for him, meaning they could have gone into training camp with 91 players (They actually have only 88 on their roster if I counted right).  The new rule mandating a cutdown to 80 if they all practice together was enacted to make it easier to "social distance."  That could in theory supersede the roster exemption.

 

Probably not a big deal at all.  He would be very unlikely to make this current Bills roster anyway.  He is a project...with no real football experience...behind an up and coming RB talent in Singletary and a hopeful impact RB in Moss.

[Rico]

Nick Easley.

[The Dean]

Honestly,  I'd at least consider going to 90 players on a split squad. More difficult to manage and not ideal under normal circumstances.  But these are far from normal circumstances.  Splitting the squad gives some new players with real potential to make the team a better shot and provides a bit of protection should someone bring Covid into play.

 

Now I'm not saying I would choose the split squad, but I'd sure as hell consider it.

[nucci]

it's usually not too difficult to go from 90 to 70 during a normal camp. Cutting 7 shouldn't be hard

[NoSaint]

4 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

 

the 7 suggested are pretty solid candidates. I mean, do you really flip day to day operations upside down to get extra looks at ray ray or Bryan Cox jr? 

21 minutes ago, The Dean said:

Honestly,  I'd at least consider going to 90 players on a split squad. More difficult to manage and not ideal under normal circumstances.  But these are far from normal circumstances.  Splitting the squad gives some new players with real potential to make the team a better shot and provides a bit of protection should someone bring Covid into play.

 

Now I'm not saying I would choose the split squad, but I'd sure as hell consider it.

which the 10 is worth not being able to have Allen work with a potential standout wr or Fromm not be allowed to throw to the actual likely to be rostered guys ever? 

[Mat68]

I think the Bills are perfectly placed for this offseason.  Most returning player and coaches in the league.  The 7 to cut are pretty easy.  Probably a returning p.S or UDFA.  I think it also helps get some better quality punter into the building.  I wonder if team will keep an extra punter now that its 80?

[YoloinOhio]

Without the need to play preseason games, it is probably easier to have a smaller squad so I think they will go right to 80. 

[eball]

18 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Without the need to play preseason games, it is probably easier to have a smaller squad so I think they will go right to 80. 

 

I think this makes sense.  They need to get the guys ready for September.  Sucks for the players who hoped to shine in preseason but this is a sucky year.

[YoloinOhio]

3 minutes ago, eball said:

 

I think this makes sense.  They need to get the guys ready for September.  Sucks for the players who hoped to shine in preseason but this is a sucky year.

Understatement! 

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, nucci said:

it's usually not too difficult to go from 90 to 70 during a normal camp. Cutting 7 shouldn't be hard

 

 

Exactly.  This shouldn't take too much thought.  Get it down to 80 by Tuesday and get ready with the whole team together.

[maddenboy]

since the split squads have to stay split, the extra reps in split squads (the lower 45) would be reps of scrubs vs scrubs anyway.  Not a good gauge of who is NFL ready.  The lower 45 work would be pretty much like the 4th preseason game. 

 

I'd choose the 80.  Especially on this team which doesnt have many holes to fill.

[billsfan89]

They should allow 90, given how easily teams could lose players due to covid having some extra bodies would be better. 

[Rocky Landing]

They should put the 16 lowest bubble players on one end of the field, and line up nine Jugs machines pointed towards them, and fire them all off simultaneously. The seven who don't come away with a ball get cut.

[nucci]

1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

Without the need to play preseason games, it is probably easier to have a smaller squad so I think they will go right to 80. 

yep, 90 was to have enough players to play 4 games

[Big Turk]

This is kind of silly on the NFL's part. What do 10 players really mean in the grand scheme of things??

[Rocky Landing]

2 hours ago, The Dean said:

Honestly,  I'd at least consider going to 90 players on a split squad. More difficult to manage and not ideal under normal circumstances.  But these are far from normal circumstances.  Splitting the squad gives some new players with real potential to make the team a better shot and provides a bit of protection should someone bring Covid into play.

 

Now I'm not saying I would choose the split squad, but I'd sure as hell consider it.

Given how much continuity the Bills have going into this season, I would think that 80 would be the logical choice, perhaps with an emphasis on the thinner positions, like LB. There just aren't going to be as many roster spots to fill this year than there has been for quite some time.

[NoSaint]

35 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

This is kind of silly on the NFL's part. What do 10 players really mean in the grand scheme of things??

Seems the reasonable guess is with the square footage of some facilities there would be a disparity between teams that could and couldn’t socially distance 90 players. But just a guess.

[Big Turk]

27 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

Seems the reasonable guess is with the square footage of some facilities there would be a disparity between teams that could and couldn’t socially distance 90 players. But just a guess.

 

OK now that makes sense, but at the end of the day how can they really reconcile socially distancing on one hand with playing football where you are in close proximity to other players? 

 

It makes no sense to have rules requiring social distance 75% of the time that gets tossed out of the window when they practice.

[njbuff]

Can they cut Lee Smith 7 times?

[YoloinOhio]

10 minutes ago, njbuff said:

Can they cut Lee Smith 7 times?

I feel like he’s safe 

[njbuff]

1 minute ago, YoloinOhio said:

I feel like he’s safe 

 

Who's he got dirt on? ?

[Ethan in Cleveland]

I'm fairly certain they know 48 of the final 53 already. They need to make a decision on kicker, whether to keep 2 or 3 QBs, to keep Lee Smith, and the final DB and OL to carry. Maybe a backup LB spot is also up for grabs. After that the team is already set prior to any losses due to injury. 

[NoSaint]

1 hour ago, matter2003 said:

 

OK now that makes sense, but at the end of the day how can they really reconcile socially distancing on one hand with playing football where you are in close proximity to other players? 

 

It makes no sense to have rules requiring social distance 75% of the time that gets tossed out of the window when they practice.

if you knew a coworker may have it would you be more comfortable being fully distanced 95% of the day with a chance you could come into contact the other 5%?

 

seems easy to point out a steep reduction in risk even if not fully eliminating 

[Big Turk]

37 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

if you knew a coworker may have it would you be more comfortable being fully distanced 95% of the day with a chance you could come into contact the other 5%?

 

seems easy to point out a steep reduction in risk even if not fully eliminating 

 

They are testing daily aren't they for the first 2 weeks?

[Don Otreply]

Come on now, where’s all the Trent, Murphy haters?? ?

 

Bring our your dead, klank, bring out your dead, klank... listen carefully and you can hear Foster saying “ I’m feeling much better...

[Mrbojanglezs]

What's so magical about the 80 number vs 90, it's still a lot of people together 

[SoCal Deek]

The real question is whether to split up the starters and roster makers from the non roster makers so you attempt to isolate the guys who you know will be on your team. That’s probably not ideal for practice but it’d be preferred quarantine wise.

[YoloinOhio]

 

[TigerJ]

Assuming 8 cuts (I counted 88 on the official roster), here's my 8:

Cam Lewis (with apologies to UB fans)

Ray Ray McCloud

Del'Shawn Phillips

Victor Salako

Brandon Walton

Jonathon Woodard

Bryan Cox

Josh Thomas

 

I didn't want to cut a couple of those guys, but that's the way football works.  There are tough choices sometimes.

[YoloinOhio]

Who is next?

[YoloinOhio]

Sal just confirmed that Wade is an exemption so they can have 81. They are at 86 and need to cut 5 more by tomorrow