NFL Rumors: Marcell Dareus facing four-game suspension
By John Buhler
The Buffalo Bills may have lost another key defensive player this NFL preseason, as star defensive tackle Marcell Dareus faces a four-game suspension.
When Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan said shortly after organized activities in May that his team had the best offseason of any team in the NFL, he absolutely spoke too soon. Buffalo has had a rough 2016 NFL preseason to say the very least with key players dropping like flies for various reasons before the second preseason game.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Bills star defensive tackle Marcell Dareus is facing a four-game suspension for violating NFL’s substance abuse policy. Schefter later added that while “Dareus still could appeal [his] four-game suspension, but [the] Bills are now in grave danger of losing yet another key defensive player.”
For Buffalo to have great on-field success in 2016, the Bills will have to rely on Ryan’s defensive tactics to get past juggernaut AFC East rival in the New England Patriots and an on-the-rise team in the New York Jets.
The Bills may have extended quarterback Tyrod Taylor prematurely, but so many tough blows to the Buffalo defensive personnel might ruin the Bills’ season before it even begins.
Buffalo let star defensive end Mario Williams walk in 2016 NFL free agency to AFC East rival Miami. The Bills will be without first-round pick defensive end Shaq Lawson for most of the season, as the former star pass rusher from Clemson is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. Buffalo’s second-round pick in inside linebacker Reggie Ragland is out for the year with a torn ACL.
Bills DT Marcel Dareus is facing a four-game suspension for another violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 16, 2016
Marcel Dareus still could appeal four-game suspension, but Bills now are in grave danger of losing yet another key defensive player.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 16, 2016
Dareus for a while now has been the most talented player on the defensive side of the ball for the Bills, but he still isn’t as buttoned-up off the field as the Pegula Family would like for their star interior defensive lineman.
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Ryan has the coaching chops to look for creative ways to rush the passer sans Lawson, Ragland, and now potentially Dareus for four games, but this is starting to look like another lost season for Western New York’s professional football team before it even starts.