Bills have had roster overhaul you’d expect with fresh regime
Two seasons into having a new coach and general manager, the Buffalo Bills have overhauled the roster in a way you’d definitely expect.
In Sean McDermott’s first season as head coach, the Buffalo Bills ended a length playoff drought which dated back to the “Music City Miracle” game. Things didn’t go quite a well last season, with a 6-10 record and a rookie quarterback in Josh Allen.
But two seasons into a new regime, with Brandon Beane coming in as general manager shortly after McDermott became coach, the Bills’ roster has been almost completely turned over.
With the decision to release tight end Charles Clay last week, the Bills now have five players under contract who were in place before McDermott and Beane took over.
Two of those players, linebacker Lorenzo Alexander and long snapper Reid Ferguson, recently re-signed with the Bills. After that running back LeSean McCoy, defensive end Jerry Hughes and defensive end Shaq Lawson are entering the final year of their contracts, with a fifth-year option possible for Lawson as a former first-round pick.
Offensive lineman Ryan Groy, Jordan Mills and John Miller also preceded McDermott in Buffalo, but all three are headed for free agency with low odds of a return. There is some question about McCoy’s status, coming off the worst season of his career and now on the wrong side of 30. But the Bills don’t have to make that decision based on financials, as they sit with third-most cap space in the league ($79.39 million, via Over The Cap), and for what it’s worth Beane said McCoy would be back.
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The decision to bench Tyrod Taylor for Nathan Peterman during the 2017 season showed just how much McDermott wanted a reset at quarterback, and they traded up in the first round of the 2018 draft to get one with Allen. But an overhaul of the roster has been quickly engineered, and by roughly this time next year it’s easy see the entire set of players likely to make up the 53-man roster being with the Bills for three seasons or less.