With the amount of talent the Bills had during the preseason, we knew good players were not going to make this 53-man roster and the possibility that other teams might be interested in some of those guys.
That was the case on Monday as the Bills traded defensive end Darryl Johnson to the Panthers for a 2022 sixth-round pick which is a great move for Buffalo to get something for a player like that rather than just cutting him.
This is also not a surprise for two other reasons, the first being this defensive end room was especially loaded with talent. That’s probably still going to be the position toughest for the Bills to make cuts at. For any player bubble player, they were in a room with veterans like Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison not to mention the rookies who flashed like Greg Rousseau and Boogie Basham. And that’s only naming four players.
The other reason this isn’t a surprise is because general manager Brandon Beane said he’s gotten calls on their defensive line with the focus on their defensive ends. Beane told Steve Tasker and Andrew Catalon that during the broadcast of Saturday’s preseason finale against the Packers.
“That’s probably the position we’ve had the most calls is our defensive line and especially the defensive ends,”Beane said during the interview.
“I imagine we’ll get some calls. We just have to decide again there how many we want to keep and who we’d be willing to part with and if the value made sense for us.”
We could see more moves like this before cut down day. Either way they have to get the roster down to 53 by the NFL’s 4 p.m. deadline on Tuesday.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].