Joe Andreessen makes Bills 53 man roster

all right hello everyone welcome to believe in bills Adam banini Sal May Arana a morning recording which is where for us to sell I am uh I am already one coffee in so I won't be drinking my Dunkin Donuts coffee on screen today not that we're trying to recruit them as a sponsor Adam but no no you know but it is that's life that's life you're a Duncan guy that's I'm a Duncan guy absolutely so yeah got that in I'm ready to roll here this is the home brw oh nice it gets it done all right so uh hello everyone and we now have at least the initial 53 man roster for the uh Buffalo Bill so we're going to spend uh about 20 minutes breaking that down for you some early Impressions and we'll see how it evolves moving forward but uh so let's start with Joe andreen cell and this is a guy we've talked about you know Hometown product Buffalo Lancaster UB uh try out guy and and winds up on the 53 we suspected that he would there were plenty of indications of that most notably his play especially in that Pittsburgh game in the preseason and then some really good vibe from Sha mcder about what he was bringing to the table I think the thing that's I mean it's a feel-good story across the National Football League and justifiably so but this kid I think he really earned it which makes it even more special yeah he did Adam I mean look back in may they had 91 guys because they had the the kid from the international program Clayton I would have I would have ranked andrees as about the 90th guy to make to make the team there there was no way I saw a path for him to make the 53 man roster so good for him you know he showed enough in that tryy out camp during rookie mini camp weekend that they brought him back for the OTAs and that led to him signing you know a rookie entry level contract go to training camp see what you can do kid and guess what the kid played really well you know they had they had opportunity with Matt Milano missing not only practice time but then obviously couldn't play any games so there were some reps to get um you know and with the Milano injury they wanted to make sure they kept Terrell Terrell Bernard in bubble wrap so that gave him more opportunity and this is what you have to do Adam if you're going to make a 53 man roster you have got to show out and the kids showed out so for now he's on the team you know again we're not going to get overly excited here because you know by the time people are seeing this Adam later today he might already be gone and on the practice squad because there's going to be you know waiver claims and and whatever but right now let's celebrate Joe andreon making the team because it's a great story absolute great story and it also speaks to maybe to put it in a kind of a broader sense a trend in the National Football League as it relates to special teams right and the kickoff rule change and we had talked about how it would affect some roster decisions and I mean depth at linebacker with him is one thing and he's shown he can play the position but his contribution to special teams and what's required there now um is also a big part of the decision I think here yeah absolutely you've got to be a if you're a backup player really at just about any position you've got to have some value in special teams and we've talked about this before linebackers are particularly suited to play special teams because they're generally really good athletes now again Adam let's let's also tap the breaks too he you know I don't think if he is on the 53 man roster come week one I would still expect he's probably gonna be a game day in active so I don't think we're gonna be see just because he can play special teams I don't think we're going to see them on a weekly basis so we will tap the breaks but the key is that he's on the 53 man roster and if he remains there he's going to be able to practice and develop and if they have an injury or two then he'll get his opportunity to go up and play all right the other um really surprised andreen wasn't a surprise at least as far as the initial 53 was we had speculated about that however uh dayquon Hardy the return game I mean his decision making had been called into question and obviously those who make the decisions had the same questions that a lot of other people did I mean I expected him to be on the team but they go out and trade and try and upgrade in in the return game your reaction to that yeah I mean I was I was surprised because I thought the reason why I I thought Hardy was gonna make the team was that he was the guy who seemed to be the front runner to be the Return Man now I I thought all along before this trade happened that I think that Ty Johnson would probably be the kickoff for returner and then Hardy would be the punt returner and you know the way they were using him on defense Adam he played nickel cornerback at Penn State they had him playing on the boundary when he was in the I mean almost all of his snaps were on the boundary and it looked to me again we don't know what they know they watched the film closer but it looked like he was holding his own he made some plays he broke up a couple passes there was one against Carolina where he lost coverage but overall I thought you know what if that kid can play on the outside and be a backup in both spots out and in and be the punt returner that's a guy you keep on the team well clearly they must not have been impressed enough with the defensive part of it and then as you mentioned he did make some wonky decisions you know I think he fielded in the first two games I think it was three punts might have been four inside the five yard line right so I I get that the kids he's anxious he wants to field the ball and make a play but I think the bills might have looked at it and said hey what's with the decision making we can't have that so they make this trade for Brandon codrington who's another Jo andreon right I mean he was quite at a small school um he's a rookie tryy out guy he made it I had the tape of him or the the tweet that I saw of the one big return that he had against the Panthers he looked he looked pretty good on the kickoff return and he also did it in college you know Hardy only did it in college and I think it was only punts his last year at Penn State this kid was the punt returner and kick returner pretty much his whole career so he's got a lot of experience and hey he's basically de he's basically dcoin Hardy he's a backup DB rookie who's gonna return kicks all right but again the decision at that point to make that move to make that deal um just clearly showed you they weren't satisfied with what they had and that uh aside from the andrean story is is kind of what stood out the most to me uh let's talk about quarterback and how they're moving forward there yep um look we all knew that they were going to cut denucci and brown there was no doubt about it so the the decision was going to be or the determination I should say is how serious is Mitch tris's theee injury and when they cut denucci Adam I thought well maybe trabis is gonna be fine and he'll be the number two and then they'll just get denucci on the practice squad later on well when they when they cut him and then they signed Mike White last night to the practice squad that's the indication to me that trabis is not going to be ready for week one because Mike White will then be the elevated quarterback to back up Josh Allen they couldn't do that with tanucci there's no way they were going into a game as him as the backup Mike White can play he's not great but he's got a little bit of a track record played two games against the bills if you recall they lost both them Jets lost both but he did play he had that one game remember the game against the Bengals I wrote about he threw for like 400 yards and beat the Bengals who had Joe burrow healthy at the time so he's done a little bit in the league it looks to me like trabis is gonna be a game day in active maybe the first couple two or three weeks and Mike White will be the elevated quarterback to be the backup that's what it looks like at least but they it was that was just a situation where they had to do I mean they they they had to shore things up behind uh Josh Allen and you know we had and we had speculated about that Adam right we we knew once the cuts were made remember we talked about biley zappy he did get cut I thought he was going to be an ideal candidate for this um they decided to go white but we knew going into this um that they were gonna have to get a third quarterback because Ben denucci and Anthony Brown were little Band-Aids for the pre season but not for the regular season no it was pretty obvious I mean this is the progression that we had speculated about and it's exactly the one uh they followed with a guy uh who has some experience who can at least hold things down if they have to turn to him early on here and put him in there how about the receiver position you very wisely noted that in the past they had kept five receivers I because of the changes and moving on from Stefon Diggs I mean I thought they were going to go with six I thought that Shavers was going to be on the team that winds up uh not being the case yep I mean I it was impacted by numbers obviously at other positions it always is it's not just okay we only can keep five or six it's it whatever happens on the roster is dictating how many you keep at each position right it's pretty obvious but look they've only kept five four and and really I think the last time they kept six Adam Andre Roberts was the six guy and he wasn't a receiver he was just a return guy and he was a good return guy that's why you kept him in this case look this is why Adam I try to stay out of the judging practice routine that so many people you know dive in and you know make judgments off of practice because we again don't really know what's happening on a play right we never do so Tyro Shavers looked like he was doing some nice things in the OTAs which is touch football none of that means anything to me and then the training camp yeah he had some nice practices made a few plays at fiser but what did he do in the games Adam now obvious it wasn't much and obviously he was impacted by the quarterback play right he had shabisky who's terrible I still think he's terrible and then Ben denucci and Anthony Brown are throwing balls to him so he's not it wasn't much of an opportunity to really shine out but chavers didn't shine out when he was on the field so again he was the darling of camp but that doesn't mean anything to these Personnel directors and coaches and this is what we saw is he is he back on the practice squad yeah I think there'll be an opportunity I don't think that anybody else I be I'd be surprised if somebody else picked him up he probably will be back here on Wednesday but I wasn't all that surprised that he got cut so I mean I think we should spend just a little bit more time at the receiver position because it's been such a focus yeah right I mean now that they're at least initially you see the group that they have uh I that's one of the areas that I'm most anxious to see and I think a lot of people are um because it's got such a spotlight on it as they move on from Stefon Diggs I mean I like U the range of skill sets that they have there I don't want to like pour cold water on this and all in the kind of the direction they're going I I was in favor of moving on from Stefon bggs and I'm not going back on that at all I just need to see and get a sense of and I think you need to integrate the the tight end position into this conversation and Dalton concade in particular to really get a sense of what this passing game uh is going to look like that's my take on it as we as we now look toward week one of the regular season yeah I mean Adam I've been looking at this the same way right along dton con's a receiver I mean it says tight end on his designation but he is he's a receiver do Dawson Knox is the more prototypical tight end and what's funny about that is before Dalton concade came along Dawson Knox was more of a wide receiver than a tight end but he has shown Pro he's been pretty good as the years have gone on at doing more tight end normal things like being in line being able to block in the running game so I I now consider him if you want to call him the number one tight end and dton con kad's one of the three receivers who were gonna start so that also um dictates how many receivers You're Gonna Keep if you're if you're playing it that way with cancade um what was interesting as the day was going on yesterday so they cut Shavers so KJ hamler was still on the team and that was the case pretty much all day they they never there was never really a rumor or report from one of the Insiders that he was off until I think it was late in the day I was thinking man did KJ hamler actually steal the six spot because he can return kicks and he played running back the other day in the game did he really show enough to be the six guy and it turned out obviously he did so they're sticking with the five and I I think you're right the diversity of the group is one thing you could look at and say you know what because I even use this as one of my headlines Josh Allen is not devoid of Talent on this on this roster he's got people that he can work with in that passing game you integrate K Kade I think James Cook is gonna have a bigger role in the passing game this year too I mean they've gota they've got to adjust right they're no longer gonna be a downfield team with Diggs and Davis which was what they did they're gonna have to integrate other guys into this mix and as you said they've got a nice grouping of people that they can do different things with do does that aspect concern you the lack of a of a true stretch the field like downfield threat in this but I think Valdez scantling is that's that's the skill he brings right I mean I don't know how much he's gonna play I mean there they if they have five active typically I think they have four active don't they I think they usually have four so he might be you know it might come down to matchups during the week sure to use Valdez scantling he might be the guy who's inactive unless they find a matchup where you know what his speed we can really take advantage of this deep secondary let's get him in there but to your point that that's what he would bring would be a field stretching player because none of the other guys I mean the other guys Samuel Shakir Kean Coleman those guys are intermediate range receivers so that's what he'll be able to bring if he gets a jersey on game day all right let's talk about you mentioned the running back position and and look this is a place where I feel like we've talked a lot about the potential we weaknesses on this roster I mean I think they're in very good shape in the back field yeah I I think I think cook is fine I mean he I think he can build off last year which you know he had a very had a nice year I think he was fourth fourth or fifth overall in yards from scrimmage so that was a I think it was sixth actually pretty nice year for James Cook and as I said I think they're gonna get him a little bit more involved in the passing game there he's been very inconsistent he had some big drops last season but as they evolve as an off that's going to have to be part of it and then behind him look Ty Johnson I like the things that he can do I still believe that well kajri Jen probably will be the guy now but I thought Tai Johnson could contribute on kickoff return and then Ray Davis look he he looked good to me I mean yeah you know he's a rookie he's got a lot to learn but I think that kid's gonna be useful I mean he can play on third down I think so they're they're in a good spot there the interesting move Adam was this darington Evans thing really caught me by surprised I mean I had Frank Gore on the practice squad and Evans off the team completely they designate Evans after putting him on as one of the two guys Matt Milano was the other who they can put on IR now and still designate to return in the regular season Adam you only get eight guys designated to return right and two of them are these two count so they've only got six left now to use one on darington Evans was an eye opener but it makes me wonder okay what do they see in this guy I mean what's the plan because you're not gonna waste a designation on a guy you're not GNA use so I'll be interested to see how that plays out let's talk about Ray Davis and I know uh you have a a full like in-depth piece coming in the Rochester democrat and chronicle here when is that when is that coming out and kind of give us the highl it's going to be in print Sunday but it's should be online I think late in the week but um yeah it's it's it's one it's one that I enjoyed writing so thanks for the plug appreciate it all right all right so I know you had mentioned that we talked about it a couple of times and and since we were on the subject I thought I'd kind of work it in right there um look I mean that that kind of brings us unless there's some other take you wna I mean the rest of the decisions on this roster seem fairly obvious to me well you let's talk a little bit about defense let's give some people thoughts on the defense um look they've got question marks in the back seven this we know and safety is safety is a big one but ultimately when you look at the 53 man it's exactly what we thought it was going to be Adam it's the same Five Guys that we had pegged as making the team all along right tayor rap Mike Edwards Cole Bishop dear Hamlin and cam Wills so that's how it plays out they must feel that bishop and Edwards are going to be healthy enough and Ham too H's got the hamstring they must feel that by the time they play Arizona those guys are all going to be good to go the big decision will be who starts next to tayor R is it gonna be Mike Edwards is it gonna be Hamlin I don't think it'll be Cole Bishop so that played out the way we figured but there's still a lot of question mark because of the injuries they had and then the Hardy thing was surprising so they go with codrington they're going to have to if he's going to be the return guy Adam they got to carry him active every game so he's going to be one the backup cornerbacks probably the backup to teron Johnson and then the other spot that we talked about was the det tackle dline how that was gonna the math on that was going to be interesting and it ends up they go with six Edge rushers four tackles so DeShawn Williams gets lopped off and quite frankly he really didn't do much um to make the team I guess the surprise to me was Casey tohill I was that's right where I was going to go I mean they invested they they signed him a one-year free agent deal so there's a little bit of an investment but Adam did you notice him once I well I take that back I noticed him in the Panthers game when he whiffed on a sack I mean he had a clear run at the quarterback and he whiffed so that's the only time I noticed Casey 2o since the moment he signed his contract yeah I agree with that I was going to ask you right about him I mean Solomon was a guy we projected was going to be there um and above that uh you know everything holds true to form but you know it's a numbers game and it's but it's down to what three or four players we've talked about here with maybe where you analyze where they go with this I mean they kind of know what they have and they and now the question is how does it translate to the regular season and as we wrap this up here I mean I I know we repeat a lot of the same questions I look I think it's a highly competitive team and Josh Allen gives you that yeah I just feel like that the roster is clearly not as good as it's been in the past I do think especially early on here I I think they're going to take some lumps here early in now how it translates to wins and losses I mean that's a brutal start to the schedule they've got to go on the road all of that thing but I think uh they're going to be tested early and look I mean I I still think this is a team that can very easily win the division given who's in it and they have the talent to do that but after years of and particularly you know within the Shawn mcdermit Brandon Bean era and how they've constructed things and around Josh Allen in the past I just feel like there's going to be an adjustment period I think that's realistic to expect as they transition this roster you you said it I wrote it this morning you don't lose the players they lost and I don't have to go through all the names DS Davis you know all the names you don't lose all those players by T mostly by your choice and expect to be better this year because they you know they replace those players but I think there are a couple areas where they're just not as good as they've been I would argue Adam and I made this point in my story this morning this might be talent-wise top to bottom the least roster they've had in the four years that they've won the AFC East right I mean you go back to 2019 that team had some holes it was still on the come and then they hit they hit it big and 20 and they kept going since then this roster to me is the lightest it's been since 2019 now they have the Superstar quarterback he wasn't a superstar in 2019 so that's a big difference and I think their offense is going to be able to score points I think they're going to be okay it's the defensive side which is Shawn mcder strong suit so we really shouldn't doubt them because they've always been good on defense that's the ISS there's the place where you've got some real question marks as we said they need more pass rush from the edges will they get um Dorian Williams holy smokes yeah he's got to replace Matt Milano and then the problems in the in in the safety position you're right they've got a tough start to the year Arizona won't be easy they should win but they gotta go to Miami then they've got Jacksonville here I think at Baltimore I think the Jets on the road are in there and there's one more the first six games don't be surprised Adam if they're two and four I mean three and three might be good three and three might be a reasonable result with that start to the season it's a tough tough schedule tough tough run for them and look we you know the questions on offense moving on from Diggs the receiver game I think I agree with you I think they're going to be productive there it's defensively the middle of the field that's where I'm most focused and I think uh opposing offensive coordinators are going to have that exact FOC I think they're very vulnerable right there especially early and then it comes down to a field goal and right what's gonna happen there's G to be close games here is Tyler bass gonna be able to come through when he needs to all right and that is a a very legitimate question as we now officially start looking toward Arizona uh and week one so Sal Mayana we are you are you back Friday I uh I might try to do one Friday since you're gonna be off on your vacation with your beautiful wife which I commend you for I wish I could have a vacation but I never get one Adam it's just go go go the May World well it's s never sleeps never between the Yankees and the Buffalo Bills um but hey uh this has been great and I've enjoyed this we've really kind of ramped this thing up uh during the course of the preseason worked out a few Kinks here and there uh but I'm anxious that we're going to be during the regular season uh basically evening of the game and then midweek Wednesday when you f get the first look at really the the injury report that sort of thing and then we'll have a ton of interesting guests as we look toward the opponent late in the week uh likely on Friday so I think this is going to be uh this isn't just a weekly show or sporadic this is a a believe in bills this is going to be something that we're kind of you know very consistent and up to dat through the course of each game week we will be because you and I are professionals we are the ultimate experienced kinly professionals that's right kudin you're going to get the real uh a very realistic um objective let's call it objective view yes on this because I I think there's going to be there always is Need for objectivity that's right when it comes to covering the national football all right s thanks very much um enjoy your uh Labor Day weekend to and we are back I'll be back with you next week as we really begin to hone in on the Arizona Cardinals and week one so for S Mayana in Rochester this is Adam bini in Buffalo thanks for being with us here on B