Making a 53-man roster out of active ex-Buffalo Bills
The NFL is a league with plenty of turnover among players and staff. Every offseason, all 32 teams churn their roster through trades and drops, leading to recycling of personnel through free agency.
When Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott mentioned in his end-of-season presser to ‘not expect wholesale changes‘, it got us thinking: What if the entire roster was changed?
Well, as it turns out, we could.
Here are the ground rules we set for this exercise:
All players/coaches had to have been on a 90-man roster or practice squad at some point during the 2023 season (dating back to March 15, 2023) with one exception (below).
Players who weren’t in the NFL in 2023 were still considered if they were active in another league (CFL, XFL, etc.) this past season.
Players/coaches had to have been on the Bills’ 90-man roster, 53-man roster, or practice squad for at least one day at some point in their careers.
Construction of the 53-man had to be realistic and balanced in terms of numbers at each position (ie. we don’t have 1 running back and 15 wide receivers).
Players had to be listed at a position they’ve taken snaps in (ie. couldn’t put a TE along the OL, etc.).
This is what we came up with…
Quarterback (4)
Tyrod Taylor
Case Keenum
Nathan Peterman
Taylor is a serviceable quarterback, but all three quarterbacks clearly do not have a ceiling as high as current Bills quarterback Josh Allen. The practice squad quarterback would be Jake Fromm in this scenario.
Running backs (4)
Zack Moss
Matt Breida
Devin Singletary
Raheem Blackshear
Moss went to the Colts in a trade prior to the start of the season and would be in a running-back-by-committee with Brieda and Singletary in this scenario. We’d probably see a lot more runs outside the guards or passes caught out in the flats between Singletary and Moss, with Brieda as the bruising back inside.
Wide receivers (6)
Robert Woods
Cole Beasley
Jamison Crowder
Isaiah Hodgins
Zay Jones
Ray-Ray McCloud
This wide receiver group would be extremely fun to watch for its verticality, route running, and speed but the production overall would be limited without a true No. 1 receiver as the Bills currently have with Stefon Diggs. None of these receivers broke 500 yards this season, and Cole Beasley was unable to make the New York Giants’ 53-man squad this year so hasn’t been around a gameday squad recently… but technically he says he requested his release from the Giants and hasn’t yet retired.
Tight ends (4)
Logan Thomas
Tommy Sweeney
Tyler Kroft
Tyree Jackson
This tight end group is deep, but fans have thoroughly enjoyed Kincaid’s rookie year. Its doubtful that many would take this crop over the current ones. Special shoutout to Tyree Jackson here, who is a Giants tight end. Jackson played quarterback in a Bills preseason game in 2019. Thomas went on to be the most successfully of the bunch with the Washington Commanders.
Offensive line (11)
Luke Tenuta
Ike Boettger
Jon Feliciano
Wyatt Teller
David Quessenberry
Greg van Roten
Rodger Saffold
Cody Ford
Bobby Hart
Justin Murray
Ty Nsekhe
The offensive line has some key strengths with Quessenberry and Teller, and Feliciano is versatile enough along with some of the backups to play in different positions across the offensive line. The starting unit could give the quarterback enough time in the pocket for passing plays to develop, although the run game might get stymied when designed in between the tackles. Regardless, as many are in the NFL, this offseason line would not be considered a deep one.
Defensive line (7)
Jerry Hughes
Efe Obada
Quinton Jefferson
Brandin Bryant
Harrison Phillips
Vernon Butler
Darryl Johnson
Neatly fitting into the current Bills 4-3 defensive formation, this defensive line may not be as productive as the current roster, but if Jefferson and Phillips produced like they did this year it could cause problems for opponents’ offense.
Linebackers (6)
Tremaine Edmunds
Preston Brown
Vosean Joseph
Andre Smith
Tanner Vallejo
Joe Giles-Harris
Edmunds is a fantastic linebacker but the rest of the linebacker core may not live up to the current linebacker unit. Our first CFL player in this article appears through Joseph. Brown has been out of the NFL since 2019–a bit surprising considering he co-led the NFL in tackles during his final season in Buffalo just two years prior.
Defensive backs (8)
Levi Wallace
Stephon Gilmore
Nick McCloud
EJ Gaines
Ronald Darby
Rachad Wildgoose
Dean Marlowe
Jaquan Johnson
Safeties were the thinnest unit among former active Bills players. Gilmore and Wallace covering opposing receivers isn’t the worst idea but someone might have to help out more at safety. Potentially Gaines could help there? He opted out of playing with the Bills due to COVID-19 in 2020 and never returned to the NFL. His career was injury-riddled.
Special teams (3)
Garrison Sanborn
Dustin Hopkins
Matt Haack
Sanborn is the caveat in this entire roster as the long snapper was on the Jacksonville Jaguars offseason roster in 2022. Hopkins, who was selected by the Bills in the sixth-round of the 2013 NFL draft, would be welcomed home after a difficult start to his career where he was placed on injured reserve in his only year at Buffalo.
Front office and coaching staff
General Manager: Joe Schoen
Head Coach: Brian Daboll
Offensive Coordinator: Nathaniel Hackett
Quarterbacks coach: Todd Downing
Running backs coach: Anthony Lynn
Wide receivers coach: Sanjay Lal
Tight ends coach: Tony Sparano
Offensive line coach: Juan Castillo
Defensive Coordinator: Jim Schwartz
Linebackers coach: Ted Cottrell
Defensive line coach: Jason Rebrovich
Defensive backs coach: Pete Carroll
Special Teams Coordinator: Heath Farwell
Yes, we could field an entire coaching staff with former Bills coaches that are still coaching in the NFL. It’s doubtful doubt Pete Carroll would leave his current role as the Seattle Seahawks vice president of football operations & advisor to do defensive backs coach duties for the Bills, it is really amazing to see how extensive the coaching talent is across all the positional groups in Buffalo Bills coaching history.
A couple special mentions should be given here to Matt Sheldon (Bills LB coach, 06-09) who is now the Las Vegas Raiders director of football research and strategy, Davis Webb (Bills QB 19-21) who is the current Broncos QB coach, and Colt Anderson (Bills S 16-17) who is the assistant special teams coach for the Cincinnati Bengals.
