The roster is set and has a lot of familiar names which is a good thing following last season’s success.
The Bills have 20 of 22 starters back from 2020.
General Manager Brandon Beane met with the media prior to Wednesday’s practice and called continuity a strength of the roster.
“Offensively I think we kind of built it similar to what we did last season. Defensively the biggest difference is up front, we really focused on retaining the back end, the back 7 and then strengthening the front four,” Beane said.
The Bills entered the offseason focused on adding pass rushers and put a premium on defensive lineman. That is clear when looking at the construction of the roster.
“We went with 11 d-lineman right now which is about as heavy as you can go,” Beane said about his decision to keep 6 defensive ends and 5 tackles.
Beane hopes sending a relentless barrage of pass rushers will produce more pressure.
“Being able to rush in waves, I think that’s what you’ll see if we have 8 or 9 up on game day. Eric Washington(defensive line coach) is going to be rotating those guys to where hopefully we’re able to get after this quarterback.”
This franchise is big on drafting and developing their draft picks so it wasn’t easy for Beane to release team 2 players from this year’s draft (Jack Anderson, Rachad Wildgoose) and 2 from last year’s draft class( Jake Fromm, Isaiah Hodgins).
“It’s hard. You sit there and go well this guy is going to get claimed,” Beane describing the discussions on the final roster spots. “Then you go okay if we keep him we can cut this guy…. shoot I can’t tell you he’s not going to get claimed so you still have to pick the right 53 for you the best you can.”
Beane was able to bring back all 4 draft picks to their practice squad.
How confident are the Bills in the 53-man roster? Brandon Beane says the team didn’t put a waiver claim in for any players who were released from other teams.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].