Tag: devin singletary

T.J. Yeldon’s roster spot with Bills could be in jeopardy

Former Alabama RB TJ Yeldon made the 53-man roster for the Buffalo Bills, but that could be in jeopardy if they decide to add Lamar Miller.

Former Alabama running back T.J. Yeldon has not had the easiest time in the NFL. After being a star at Alabama, and being selected No. 36 overall in 2015 by the Jacksonville Jaguars, he has been forced into the role of ‘next man up.’ Now, there is a risk Yeldon could enter the 2020 season without a team.

The former Crimson Tide running back made the 53-man roster for the Buffalo Bills, and currently sits as the third-string running back in a positional group of four on the recently released depth chart.

He is listed behind the starter, Devin Singletary, entering his sophomore season with the team after a strong collegiate career under Lane Kiffin at FAU, and 2020 third-round selection Zack Moss.

The only running back below Yeldon is veteran Taiwan Jones.

While these are the current depth chart standings, changes could be made due to cuts and new additions to the team, like a late signing before the season gets under way.

ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter reported that veteran running back Lamar Miller, who played at the University of Miami and has bounced around three different teams during his seven-year career, will be visiting and working out with the Buffalo Bills.

The report was confirmed by the Bills’ general manager, who claims the team has invited Miller to work out, but has not yet met with him.

“We have not visited with Lamar, but he is coming to town at some point. We’ll get him in here, we’ll talk to him, and if there’s a fit, we’ll see where it goes,” Beane said. “Long way to go before we know if we’ll add him to our roster.”

Miller, who missed all of 2019 with a torn ACL, is looking for a chance to revitalize his career. A veteran with plenty of experience as the lead back could be beneficial to the development of Singletary’s young career.

If the Bills like what they see, they could bring him on board, but would likely have to let go of a running back on the roster.

When looking at the contracts, Jones is owed almost $400,000 more than Yeldon in 2020. Both contracts expire at the end of this season.

Production wise, both backs haven’t seen the field much. however, Yeldon has seen more carries in recent years, but in a role that doesn’t rely on him too heavily.

At the end of the day, it would come down to who they feel would bring the most amount of value to the team on, and off the field.

Yeldon hasn’t been given too many opportunities with Buffalo in his one season with the franchise. In 2019, the 26-year old saw 17 carries and 13 receptions for a total of 187 yards from scrimmage and zero total touchdowns.

As of right now, Yeldon holds a spot on the Buffalo Bills roster, but that could all change with the work out of Lamar Miller and the way the coaching staff views the running back room.

Roll Tide Wire will keep you updated on Yeldon as he looks to begin season No. 6 in the NFL.

LOOK: Josh Allen’s custom t-shirt for Devin Singletary’s birthday

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen makes t-shirt for Devin Singletary’s birthday.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen spoke to reporters on Thursday as the team continues to put their final touches on 2020’s training camp. As is everything this year, it’s different than usual.

Allen spoke via video conference instead of just talking in a group of people answering questions. But before doing so, the quarterback had a special shoutout to give to a guy from his backfield.

It’s Devin Singletary’s birthday, so Allen was wearing a custom made t-shirt for his running back. He showed it off before fielding questions and it was an awesome one. The picture of Singletary certainly has to be from a long while ago.

Check out these photos of Allen’s Singletary shirt here, via the team and WIVB-TV’s Heather Prusak, respectively:

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Final Bills 53-man roster projection for 2020

Final 2020 Buffalo Bills roster projection heading into regular season cut-down day.

The Buffalo Bills are a mere hours away from trimming down their roster to 53 players. On Saturday, NFL teams, including the Bills, must have their team down to that number by 4 p.m. Teams entered this year’s training camp with 80 players as opposed to the traditional 90 due to COVID-19.

There were several storylines to come out of this year’s training camp. While some were the types we’re used to, others were new, such as the grapple the team had on reports coming out of training camp. While eyeballs on camp were held back from reporting things over the past few weeks, we haven’t heard much. But media outlets are no longer watching practice, and since they’re not, we’ve started to really see the dust settle a bit on where the team’s final roster could sit.

Using some of the additional info we’re now privy to, let’s put together a final guess at the squad. Here’s our last 53-man roster projection for the Bills as they head toward cut-down day on Saturday:

Bills quarterbacks Josh Allen (17) and Matt Barkley (Gannett photo).

QUARTERBACK (3)

Josh Allen, Matt Barkley, Jake Fromm

Cuts: Davis Webb

At this point of the offseason, we’ve seen two factions of reports out of Bills training camp. The first is Davis Webb out-playing rookie Jake Fromm. That could be true, but the Bills also made an investment in Fromm via a fifth-round pick. Albeit it’s a Day 3 pick, but we’ve already seen the lengths Sean McDermott will go to support a problematic Round 5 QB. Nathan Peterman was one, folks.

Because of that past, and the front office’s prior protections of from via his racially-charged text messages which surfaced this offseason… c’mon, the Bills are almost right to the finish line with Fromm so it’s hard to envision them letting him go. He’s not going to stick around on their practice squad, someone will claim him if he’s let go, so we’ll predict stays and Webb goes to the practice squad… perhaps even in a twisted way. Maybe just to protect Fromm, they keep him on the 53 and put Webb on the practice squad. Teams are much less likely to go after Webb. But if Allen gets hurt, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Webb called up from the practice squad to be QB2 behind Barkley.

And in the past the Bills have kept two quarterbacks, but with COVID-19, it’d be very silly to not do everything you can to keep all four guys around.

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Bills 53-man roster projection following 2nd week of training camp

Buffalo Bills 53-man roster projection for second time in 2020 training camp.

As far as onlookers are considered, Buffalo Bills training camp has come to a close. On Sunday, the team had their final offseason practice which allowed reporters to be in attendance. Now we’re back to regular season standards where there’s… pretty much next to nothing seen.

But behind closed doors for the next few days, the team will still hit the practice field. Many players who are on the roster bubble are still battling for those spots prior to Saturday’s 4 p.m. cut down deadline.

But as our eyes have now exited the Bills’ practice field before we see them slash players off their roster, let’s take another swing at the team’s final roster. Here’s a 53-man roster projection for the Bills after that first week of practice:

Bills quarterback Josh Allen. (James P. McCoy/Buffalo News via AP, Pool)

QUARTERBACK (3)

Josh Allen, Matt Barkley, Jake Fromm

Cuts: Davis Webb

Over the past few roster projections we’ve released… we haven’t seen much movement in the slightest at the quarterback position. Those circumstances will remain the same once again (sorry).

Under a normal offseason, this move could have gone very differently. Earlier this offseason the Bills were in a position to potentially keep two quarterbacks… and in two different scenarios. Davis Webb was probably always going to be cut. Then there’s two other situations where one can envision Matt Barkley being cut and the other where Jake Fromm is released.

In terms of Barkley, he’s no longer really a “veteran” mentor to Allen, games played wise. Allen has 27 starts to Barkley’s seven. Cutting Barkley could also save the Bills $1.5M against the salary cap. But with COVID-19’s entrance into the offseason, this idea exited. There’s no way the Bills could run with Fromm as their backup when there’s no preseason games under his belt… aka having a No. 2 without any experience, period. But coronavirus also should make the Bills think twice about a strategy they’ve done the past few seasons: Keeping only two quarterbacks.

The 2018 season was one which saw the Bills start four quarterbacks. That year also didn’t involve a pandemic. Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott should refrain from getting cute here and trying to sneak Fromm on their practice squad. Just keep three, Bills, especially since you stuck by Fromm after his racially-charged texts from his past surfaced.

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PFF examines Bills fantasy football situation

Pro Football Focus examines Buffalo Bills fantasy football situation via Josh Allen, Devin Singletary and Zack Moss.

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Devin Singletary enters this season at the top of the depth chart for Buffalo Bills running backs. The second-year player out of FAU earned more snaps as his rookie season progressed, ultimately leading the team in rushing with 775 yards on the ground in 12 games played.

On the field for the Bills, we’re all curious to see what that translates to in his second season in the pros. But what about fantasy football wise?

Singletary projects to be a strong flex play in fantasy football this year. He is coming off draft boards somewhere in the range of RB22-RB30 for backfield players, as highlighted in averages by Yahoo! Sports and ESPN.

Buffalo has moved on from veteran Frank Gore as the complement in the backfield. That duty falls to third-round pick Zack Moss. The Utah product projects to be the downhill, power back for Buffalo this season. The question that many will consider with this due: How will the Bills divvy up touches between the duo? Pro Football Focus gives us a glimpse into how the Bills could divide the backfield duties this fall.

PFF highlights, “Singletary emerged as a reliable three-down back as a rookie and played at least 65% of the offense’s snaps in every game in which he wasn’t either injured or just returning from a layoff.” Singletary was reliable and healthy as a rookie. The three-down back idea is important, as Singletary is viewed as a player who can get the ball in all situations.

Last year, he carried the ball 151 times, as compared to Gore’s 166. However, the balance shifted toward the midpoint of the season. Singletary was ranked 18th among running backs in PPR leagues from Weeks 7-16, per PFF.

Among backfield carries, Singletary is expected to see an uptick in his workload. The PFF analyst projects a 60-40 split in snap rate between Singletary and Moss, with Singletary garnering the larger workload.

There is an X-factor in this whole rushing discussion, and it’s quarterback Josh Allen. Last year, Buffalo had three players carry the ball over 100 times: Gore (166), Singletary (151), and Allen (109). Allen also led the team in rushing touchdowns, adding nine to his career ledger last year. Allen was labeled as a “vulture” for the rushing attack because of the work he does himself.

In the end, Allen limits the value of both Singletary and Moss. The outlet highlights that both running backs will see about “10-15 opportunities per game that don’t figure to be of the fantasy-friendly variety.”

Even if Singletary is limited with respect to touches, his ability to break off a massive run should make fantasy owners interested in selecting him as an RB2 for 12-team leagues and a Flex for 10-team leagues. Moss, for his part, could steal carries late in the game as he fits the need for a downhill, grind-it-out runner to seal games for Buffalo. Moss is a nice late-round addition to the bench of your roster.

No matter what, both players are in line to get a decent amount of touches to make something happen for your fantasy team.

 

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Bills players, coaches reflect on Jacob Blake shooting

Buffalo Bills players and coaches reflect on shooting of Jacob Blake recently.

The shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wis., became another terrible chapter in the history of racial and social injustices in the United States. The viral video that surfaced of the incident sent shockwaves across the country.

On Thursday, the Buffalo Bills still decided to go ahead and hold their scrimmage practice, despite other teams in the NFL canceling theirs and other sports leagues also postponing their events, even in the midst of their regular season or postseason.

Since that practice, members of the Bills have reflected on the shooting. Among those are defensive end Jerry Hughes, running back Devin Singletary and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. All three spoke via video conferences between Thursday and Friday. In an effort to give the full feeling behind their messages, we’ve decided against quoting their thoughts and instead will post their individual messages, in full, via various local television outlets:

DE Jerry Hughes

RB Devin Singletary

DC Leslie Frazier

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Bills 53-man roster projection following first week of training camp

A Buffalo Bills 53-man roster projection with seven days of training camp practices in 2020 in the books.

We’re a little off on the days, but hang with us.

The Bills have taken time off, so it’s been a little over a week now, technically. Well, actually, the start of training camp was weeks ago with a bit of an extended walk-through start to it.

But the total number of training camp practices the team has had so far with pads? Monday marked the seventh. So there’s our week.

To celebrate the first week of camp actually happening with the ups and down the COVID-19 pandemic have caused the team this offseason, here’s a 53-man roster projection for the Bills after those first seven practices:

Bills quarterback Josh Allen. (James P. McCoy/The Buffalo News via AP, Pool)

QUARTERBACK (3)

Josh Allen, Matt Barkley, Jake Fromm

Cuts: Davis Webb

Earlier this offseason the Bills were in a position to potentially keep two quarterbacks and cut Matt Barkley. He’s no longer really a “veteran” mentor to Allen, games played wise. Allen has 27 starts to Barkley’s seven. Cutting Barkley could also save the Bills $1.5M against the salary cap.

But that was ages ago now and the world as we know it, is no longer the same. Part of that picture? No preseason games in the NFL. It still might’ve been a bit of a bold prediction, but could the Bills have entered the season with two quarterbacks? Namely Josh Allen and Jake Fromm? It was possible. Was. But with no exhibition games under his belt, there’s no way Buffalo will enter a season with that scenario now. Not only does that save a roster spot for Barkley, but through training camp practices, Barkley’s probably been the QB that’s stood out the most, Allen included. Of course, he does typically play against the second-string defense, but still nice to have confidence in a No. 2, which he certainly is. Davis Webb could be considered a fourth-string “quarantine quarterback” on the practice squad

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Bills’ Zack Moss can squat 600 pounds, but that’s not all

Buffalo Bills running back Zack Moss can squat 600 pounds and do even more in the team’s 2020 training camp.

Will the Bills make it a three-peat in the third round of the NFL Draft in 2021 by selecting another running back?

It seems unlikely but, at minimum, they’ve gone back-to-back in doing so over the last two years. After plucking Devin Singletary off the board in 2019, the recent draft saw Zack Moss fall into the team’s lap.

On paper, it looks like a perfect 1-2 combo. Singletary, the shifty, quick back… Moss, the bruising force out of Buffalo’s backfield. But throughout the early stages of his career, albeit just training camp practice, Moss has shown he’s much of what we thought he was… and then some.

Moss certainly has shown an ability to get between the tackles and follow blocks up the middle, the tape shows that. Moss actually did so well during camp practices this week that The Athletic noted a few runs Moss ripped off in practice over 10-plus yards, one of which went to the house during live, full hitting, 11-on-11 drills during practice. Moss, chatting via video conference on Thursday, cemented what we thought about him, too.

Following that practice, Moss revealed exactly what helps his prowess in between the tackles. There’s about 600 reasons why Moss is hard guy to bring down, because he said he can squat 600 pounds “a few times” in the gym. Wowza.

“I try to come out and I try to set the tone from the jump and things like that. I try to make it a hard tackle,” Moss said.

Again, that’s what the scouting reports told us already. Throughout the course of training camp thus far, we’ve seen a familiar story unfold in Buffalo’s backfield, one that’s good news. At 2019’s training camp, Singletary showed he’s more than just an agile guy that’s fast enough to get outside of the tackles but he’s quick enough to make it up the middle, too. In addition, he turned into a valuable pass-catching target out of the backfield. That’s the similarity right there.

Not only is Moss displaying he can churn out a few tough yards, his hands have been awfully impressive. During one of the earlier days of camp practices this week, Moss had an excellent grab down the sideline on a wheel route:

During his final season at Utah in 2019, Moss had 28 receptions for 388 yards. So while it might come as a surprise to Buffalo that Moss has some strong hands, it’s not one for him.

“I was able to do a lot of good things in college when it came to catching the ball out of the backfield and things like that. I’m definitely trying to continue to grow in that aspect of my game to be another weapon in the offense over the years and things like that. I think I do a pretty good job on catching the ball, but I want to continue to get better at that for sure,” Moss said.

Moss followed up his thoughts on his pass-catching ability by saying he’s not worried about those pre-draft scouting reports or anyone who says he’s just a one-trick pony in the NFL. Moss is just ready to contribute to the Bills offense.

“Everyone has their opinions,” Moss said. “Just trying to go out there and be the best I can be.”

Pointing out Moss and his other skills isn’t just an effort at a fluffy, nice kind of article about him. This is an important aspect for both of Buffalo’s backs. Singletary thrived as a rookie because he showed a versatile skill set. If the Bills have two guys like that? It could spell trouble for opposing defenses. Just compare that to last year’s Singletary-Frank Gore tandem. One of the NFL’s greats, Gore’s skills in Buffalo’s playbook became limited down the stretch. Opponents sat on his carries, knowing he couldn’t get to the outside like he was earlier in the season. It made him ineffective.

If both Singletary and Moss stay healthy, won’t be the case for the Bills in 2020.

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Frank Gore says he could have reached 1,000 yards if Bills used him more

Jets running back and former Buffalo Bills rusher Frank Gore says he could have reached 1,000 yards.

The legendary Frank Gore tour made a stop in Buffalo last season with the Bills. The 37-year-old running back doesn’t look back on his time with the Bills in any bad manner at all.

But Gore, who has since signed with the Jets this offseason following his one-year stint with the Bills, recently made a comment about perhaps wanting to get more touches last season. However, Gore’s been around the NFL for a long time now, and he understands why he didn’t.

Speaking from Jets training camp this week, Gore said he feels he had a 1,000-yard season in tank last season in Buffalo, but his touches starting going to then-rookie Devin Singletary more and more as the season progressed, so he didn’t reach that number.

“I feel if they would have let me play, I would have had over 1,000 (yards),” Gore said. “I jumped out there. I was having a great year.”

“Young Singletary, a young back, will be very talented,” Gore added. “He’ll do great things as long as he keeps working — and I know he will. I understand they drafted him and it’s a business. They had to get him ready. But I felt like the games I did play, I did some good things to show people I could play.”

Overall, Gore rushed for 599 rushing yards with the Bills and just 3.6 yards per carry. Those were career lows. According to Jets Wire, Gore went from carrying the ball 95 times in the first seven games to only 71 attempts in the final nine games. Buffalo handed the keys to Singletary, who rushed for 775 yards on 151 carries and scored two rushing touchdowns.

Most would see the Bills’ decision to do so much in the same light as Gore’s. Singletary seemed ready for more work and was excelling expectations. But, could Gore have hit over 1,000 yards if Buffalo played him more in 2019? Most via the eye test would say no.

Early in the 2019 season, Gore did receive more snaps than Singletary, but there’s also Singletary’s hamstring injury to consider. Had he played in 16 games instead of 12, Singletary himself was well on his way to a 1,000-yard season in his first year in the pros… and had Singletary appeared in those early season games he missed, Gore might have never gotten that stretch of carries over the first seven games.

Once things did start leaning Singletary’s way, Gore did get carries still. Many remember his rushing attempts being foiled easily at the time, and that actually might be more on the Bills than Gore.

In their playbook, the Bills never drew up anything different than runs right up the gut for Gore late in the season. Teams knew what was coming, and Gore, a pros pro, gave it his all for the coaches, even if he was often immediately stopped and probably saw it coming most times. The Bills should have given Gore some different looks to keep opponents on their toes at least a little, but of course, Buffalo will hope Gore doesn’t get any sort of good looks in 2020, at least when the Bills face the Jets.

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Eagles’ Miles Sanders makes a PFF ranking of the NFL’s top-25 running backs for 2020

Miles Sanders is No. 23 in a PFF ranking of the NFL’s top-25 RB’s

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The NFL is full of talented running backs and the Philadelphia Eagles just so happen to have one of the best young ball carriers on the planet sitting on their roster.

Pro Football Focus recently ranked the top-25 running backs in the NFL entering the 2020 NFL season and Sanders made the cut, landing at No. 23 on the list.

23. MILES SANDERS, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
Sanders did a lot of exciting things as a receiver out of the backfield in 2019, which was much-needed in an Eagles’ offense that lacked receiving threats toward the end of the season. He caught 50 passes and averaged 10.2 yards per reception, which ranked second among 19 running backs with at least 50 targets. That’s why he comes in on this list of the top 25 running backs in the NFL heading into next season.

However, the reason that he’s lower on this list than some may think he should be is that the rushing grade just wasn’t there this past season. Despite what his 4.6 yards per carry would suggest, Sanders earned just a 59.5 rushing grade on the season. It speaks to the idea that his success on the ground was more a product of the PFF’s highest-graded run-blocking offensive line in 2019 than it was his play as a runner. Sanders is a former five-star recruit — a natural athlete with the requisite burst, explosiveness and agility needed to be a high-level NFL runner. I’d expect the grade (and his ranking) to rise in 2020 with fewer fumbles as long as his vision continues to improve.

Playing behind Jordan Howard got Sanders off to a slow start as a rookie but once he was inserted into the lineup, Sanders took off, joining seven other running backs in history since 1965 to record 725 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards as a rookie.

Those numbers should rise as Sanders becomes the Eagles’ workhorse back, and his standing among the NFL’s elite ball carriers should rise as well.

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