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Ryan Van Demark

La’el Collins, Deion Jones Facing Uphill Battles To Make Bills’ 53-Man Roster?

July 5th, 2024 at 5:14pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Bills’ wide receiver situation brings considerable uncertainty, and a host of veterans will vie for roster spots in training camp. Buffalo added several low-cost vets at other positions as well, setting up interesting competitions.

Two of these are present at linebacker, where Nicholas Morrow joins Deion Jones to supply depth for a team that was down to third-stringers by the time it ran into the Chiefs in the divisional round. Buffalo enjoyed better health along its offensive line, but the team still signed La’el Collins — after his year off — to compete for a swing role. Despite the profiles Collins and Jones carry, they are not locks to make the four-time reigning AFC East champions’ roster.

[RELATED: Bills S Damar Hamlin On Roster Bubble]

Collins, who signed a one-year deal worth $1.75MM, met with Bills brass late last season but eventually circled back to the Cowboys for what turned out to be a non-playing role. Most recently in place as the Bengals’ starting right tackle, Collins’ career turned when he suffered ACL and MCL tears in Week 16 of the 2022 season. The Bengals released him from their reserve/PUP list last September.

While Jones and Morrow bring similar experience, Collins will battle an unseasoned pro for Buffalo’s swing tackle job. As of now, the Buffalo News’ Ryan O’Halloran notes Ryan Van Demark is the early frontrunner to land that gig. Van Demark, who beat out David Quessenberry for the OT3 role last year, entered the league as a Colts UDFA in 2022 before spending that season on the Bills’ practice squad. Van Demark played 47 offensive snaps as a backup last season, as the Bills kept their starters on the field.

Collins’ roster spot may come down to how starting right tackle Spencer Brown looks following offseason shoulder surgery. Van Demark took the first-string RT reps during Buffalo’s offseason program. Labeling The Bills are likely to carry only one pure backup tackle. Collins, 30, brings guard experience but that occurred during his first two NFL seasons (2015-16). The Bengals did not consider sliding Collins to guard after the Orlando Brown Jr. signing.

A practice squad spot could await Collins in the event he cannot unseat Van Demark when the pads come on, though that would probably depend on another team’s willingness to dangle a roster spot. It would cost the Bills $1.5MM in dead money to release Collins, whereas dropping Jones would not bring any cap penalties due to the veteran linebacker not receiving any guaranteed money.

The Bills plan to use the recovering Matt Milano and third-year cog Terrel Bernard as their three-down linebackers, per O’Halloran, with 2023 third-rounder Dorian Williams assured of a spot as well. Tyrel Dodson signed with the Seahawks this offseason. Buffalo, which needed to use old friend A.J. Klein in an emergency circumstance in the playoffs, added Morrow and Jones this offseason. Morrow, who signed for $1.5MM ($750K guaranteed) in March, started 12 Eagles games last season but once again did not command a notable market. Nevertheless, O’Halloran expects the ex-Raiders and Bears starter to have an early leg up on Jones to be the team’s veteran backup presence at linebacker.

Jones, 29, made three starts for the Panthers last season but has seen his playing time reduced significantly since his Falcons days. Atlanta traded the former Pro Bowler to Cleveland during the 2022 season, and although he landed a 2024 gig in May after not joining the Panthers until August last year, the presences of Morrow (29 starts since 2022), fifth-round pick Edefuan Ulofoshio and third-year backup Baylon Spector complicate the former Falcons extension recipient’s path to the Bills’ final 53.

With the NFL loosening restrictions on vested veterans’ practice squad eligibility, it is not difficult to envision Collins and Jones sticking around as experienced options in the event more injury trouble occurs. Both have work to do to avoid the P-squad coming into play.

Latest On Bills’ Offensive Line

August 25th, 2023 at 5:07pm CST by Sam Robinson

Dion Dawkins, Spencer Brown and Mitch Morse are locked into Week 1 starting roles for the Bills, but uncertainty clouds the guard spots. And recent developments have Buffalo’s swing tackle role in flux.

If healthy, Connor McGovern is in place as the Bills’ starting left guard. The Bills gave the former Cowboys starter a three-year, $22.35MM deal early in free agency. The fifth-year blocker, however, suffered a knee injury this week. No return timetable has emerged for the team’s top guard investment, ESPN.com’s Alaina Getzenberg notes. Considering the team has already held a long-running right guard battle, McGovern’s availability adds to the confusion here. For what it’s worth, McGovern does not believe this is a serious injury, per the Buffalo News’ Ryan O’Halloran.

Ryan Bates and second-round rookie O’Cyrus Torrence have competed for the RG role. Although the Bills matched a Bears RFA offer sheet (four years, $17MM) for Bates last year, Torrence may be close to overtaking him for the starting gig. The Bills have given Torrence two preseason starts and used him throughout Josh Allen‘s cameo in the second exhibition game. This usage points to a starting assignment coming soon, The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia writes (subscription required).

Pro Football Focus graded Bates as a mid-pack guard last season, ranking him 41st at the position. The team chose Torrence 59th overall — the earliest O-line investment for the Bills since the Cody Ford pick (39th) in 2019 — and ESPN’s Scouts Inc. graded the Florida product as the draft’s best pure guard prospect. Torrence made 34 straight starts to close his college career, and Buscaglia adds the Bills have been pleased with his development.

McGovern being unavailable for Week 1 would open the door to Bates (19 career starts) keeping a starting role, though the team also has UFA addition David Edwards as an option. A three-year Rams starter, Edwards signed a low-end Bills deal (one year, $1.77MM) this offseason. A concussion limited Edwards to four starts last season, but the former Super Bowl starter has made 45 first-string appearances. Edwards’ arrival also complicates matters for longtime Bills blocker Ike Boettger, who worked with the third-team O-line during the first two preseason tilts. Boettger (17 career starts) sticking around for a sixth Bills season may hinge on his performance against the Bears tonight, Buscaglia adds.

The Bills have run into hurdles to fill the swing post behind Dawkins and Brown. Brandon Shell retired midway through training camp, and Tommy Doyle suffered a season-ending injury. David Quessenberry, a former Titans starter who filled this role last year, has not impressed this summer, and Buscaglia notes rookie UDFA Ryan Van Demark is battling the veteran for the job. Quessenberry, who turned 33 this week, has 26 career starts.

It would be interesting to see if the Bills will look outside to address this swing issue. Jason Peters, who began his career with the team, said recently he is looking to play a 19th season. Peters, 41, may be a name to watch, per Buscaglia. Peters caught on late with the Cowboys last year, signing on Sept. 5, and played both tackle and guard as the team dealt with injuries.

AFC Rumors: Quessenberry, Jones, Meyers, Anudike-Uzomah

August 19th, 2023 at 2:10pm CST by Ely Allen

The Bills seemingly signed veteran offensive tackle Brandon Shell with the intention that he would plug in as a full-time starter, much like he had done in Miami, Seattle, and New York over his career. Shell’s sudden retirement decision days ago threw a bit of a wrench in those plans.

At left tackle, Dion Dawkins slots in as the obvious left tackle starter, as he has since his rookie year. The starter across from him, for right now, is currently Spencer Brown. Brown has started 24 games over his first two years in the league, but the ability of the former third-round pick to start long term has yet to be proven.

If Brown struggles or if he or Dawkins go down with injury, Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic reports that David Quessenberry is expected to slot into the primary backup, swing tackle role. Buffalo doesn’t have a ton of depth beyond Quessenberry, and this late in the season, that’s not too likely to change.

Tommy Doyle and Ryan Van Demark both sit on the depth chart behind Quessenberry and should make a push for the initial 53-man roster, if not solely due to the lack of depth. But Quessenberry should be the first name off the bench in the case that Brown or Dawkins aren’t there for any reason.

Here are a few other rumors coming out of the AFC, starting with another team in the AFC East:

  • The Patriots have been operating the past two weeks without veteran starting cornerback Jonathan Jones. The long-time staple in New England’s secondary has been absent with an undisclosed injury. Luckily, whatever the ailment is, Karen Guregian of MassLive reports that Jones is expected to be back for the team’s regular season opener. The Patriots are reportedly being careful with him, but the plan is for him to be starting a couple Sundays from now.
  • Last month, the Raiders concluded a deal that would eventually help them bring in veteran cornerback Marcus Peters. According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the team converted $3.92MM of wide receiver Jakobi Meyers‘s base salary for 2023 into a signing bonus and added two voidable years. The move takes his base salary down from $5MM in 2023 to $1.08MM but freed up $3.14MM of cap space, helping Las Vegas to continue building their roster this offseason.
  • Staying in the AFC West, the rich got richer when the Super Bowl Champion Chiefs added Kansas State pass rusher Felix Anudike-Uzomah at the end of the first round this past April. Most of the team’s pass rushing comes from interior lineman Chris Jones, but with Frank Clark gone, a starting role was open across from George Karlaftis III. Kansas City signed Charles Omenihu to potentially fill that role, but he is set to serve a six-game suspension to start the season. Still, according to The Athletic contributor Nate Taylor’s recent update, the plan for Anudike-Uzomah appears to be for him to appear out of a rotation. The team may explore adding an additional veteran pass rusher to help holdover the role in Omenihu’s absence, but in the long run, they don’t want to rush Anudike-Uzomah out on the field until he’s ready.

NFL Reserve/Futures Deals: 1/23/23

January 23rd, 2023 at 6:30pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s reserve/futures deals, mostly featuring teams recently eliminated from the postseason:

Buffalo Bills

Dallas Cowboys

Jacksonville Jaguars

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/1/22

September 1st, 2022 at 6:49pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • Signed: TE Anthony Firkser, TE Tucker Fisk, CB Ka’Dar Hollman

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

  • Signed: WR Lynn Bowden Jr.

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Signed: LB Davion Taylor

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Colts Cut Roster Down To 53

August 30th, 2022 at 9:07pm CST by Ely Allen

Indianapolis has made a couple headline moves, but, most notably, succeeded in trimming their roster down to 53 players today. Here are the moves that helped them get down to the limit today:

Activated from active/physically unable to perform:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

The biggest stories of the day for the Colts come in the linebacking corps. In addition to adding star linebacker Leonard off the PUP, Indianapolis acquired second-year player Grant Stuard in a trade with Tampa Bay today. Stuard was primarily a special teamer with the Buccaneers last year, playing in every game as a rookie. He’ll go from one stacked linebacker room to another, likely backing up Leonard upon his arrival.

The Colts have quite an interesting rookie class. A sixth-round defensive tackle, Brooks is the only drafted rookie not to make the final roster besides sixth-round tight end Andrew Ogletree who will start his NFL career on injured reserve. None of this is spectacular, though. The interesting part is that Indianapolis will roster four undrafted rookies to start the 2022 NFL season.

Former SMU safety Trevor Denbow finds his way onto the initial 53 after leading the NFL this preseason with five special teams tackles. Cornerback Dallis Flowers can also thank his special teams value as his athleticism was supplemented by a 53-yard kickoff return to help him make the team out of Pitt State. Former Cornhusker JoJo Domann joins Leonard and Stuard in the linebackers room. And the French-Fries offensive line combination stays alive as Wesley French makes the final roster out of Western Michigan.

There were a number of other players who have special teams’ ability to thank for their roster spot in addition to Denbow and Flowers. Running back Deon Jackson played on all punt/kick return/coverage units for the Colts last year, earning him a tightly contested roster spot over Lindsay and Williams. Cornerback Tony Brown was the team’s highest-graded special teams player in the preseason, according to Pro Football Focus, and safety Rodney Thomas II played the third-most special teams snaps on the team.

Finally, the biggest performer of the Colts’ preseason was likely quarterback Sam Ehlinger whose stellar preseason led Indianapolis to roster three quarterbacks going into the season. The former-Longhorn’s impressive preseason play helped him earn a spot on the initial roster despite the Colts already rostering starter Matt Ryan and one of the league’s top backup quarterbacks in Nick Foles.

The Colts will have the opportunity tomorrow to announce any moves to form their 16-man practice squad. Players cut today who have not vested will have to clear waivers before returning to the team.