Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers storylines for Week 13 on Monday Night Football.
It’s Wednesday so the Buffalo Bills are now turning their attention to their next opponent. After a post-bye week win against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Bills will head to another team’s home away from home where the San Francisco 49ers (5-6) await them.
With that, here are eight storylines to follow as the Bills are set to face the Niners in Week 13:
Buffalo Bills’ Leslie Frazier on Trent Murphy, AJ Epenesa.
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It’s a pretty simple reason why defensive end Trent Murphy was a healthy scratch for the Buffalo Bills in their 27-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
The long and short answer: AJ Epenesa, and to a tad lesser extend, Darryl Johnson. On Monday following the win, Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier discussed the lineup decision made by the Bills, saying the youth seemed more promising ahead of this matchup.
“Trent’s been a very productive player for us in Buffalo,” Frazier said. “But just being able to see AJ’s development and how he’s been able to come along did play into Trent not being available.”
Murphy, 29, was viewed by many observers of the Bills as a potential salary cap casualty coming into the 2020 season. Instead, he made the team, as did both Epenesa and Johnson. That left the Bills with a stacked defensive end room.
For most of this season, the Bills have rolled with Murphy. In most cases, he’s in a No. 3 role on the edge behind Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison. But this isn’t the first time the Bills have done move with their defensive front.
Early this year against the Chiefs, Murphy was a surprise healthy scratch along with defensive tackle Harrison Phillips. Following that game, Murphy jumped back into the lineup while Phillips was continued to be a consistent health scratch.
But it appears that now the youth is emerging more than ever considering both Epenesa (31) and Johnson (24) played a season-high total number of snaps, respectively, against the Chargers. The eye test told a similar thing as Epenesa, who had a tackle for loss, did standout.
Any of those observing that about Epenesa through their television also has some backing in that same idea from the Bills coaching staff.
“Eric Washington, our D-line coach, we were talking about this earlier today when we were having our D-line meeting, just the fact that he and Darryl Johnson just both did a really good job and increased our confidence in two young players,” Frazier said via video conference. “AJ made it, convincingly, that we need to get him more snaps and get him out there more.
“(Epenesa) showed splashes of a guy who could be an impact player,” Frazier added.
One early storyline to keep an eye on this week for the Bills ahead of their Monday Night Football meeting against the San Francisco 49ers is whether or not Murphy’s in the lineup or the youthful approach is taken again.
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Buffalo Bills 2021 NFL mock draft during their 2020 bye week.
The Buffalo Bills are looking forward to their next six games as they sit on their hands during the bye week.
Much, much beyond that the Bills will have the 2021 NFL Draft to look forward to. Of course, we’re very far away from that… the sun hasn’t even set on the regular season yet.
But again, it’s the bye week… so let’s have some fun. Our friends at Draft Wire recently released their latest three-round mock draft… and in this upcoming rookie extravaganza, Buffalo does have a first-round pick as well, unlike 2020.
So what do the Bills do in this recent mock? Address a couple of playmaker spots on both sides of the ball. Here’s who D/W’s Luke Easterling pegs for the Bills:
28. Jaycee Horn | CB | South Carolina
59. Chris Olave | WR | Ohio State
91. Victor Dimukeje | EDGE | Duke
In Horn, the Bills would add a big-framed defensive back at 6-foot-1 that has experience playing in a zone scheme like Buffalo runs. Olave has decent size for the wideout position at 6-foot, but he has a highly-praised route tree. Dimukeje had 8.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss in 2019.
Positionally, all three prospects are very interesting picks for the Bills. It can be argued at all three positions on the Bills’ current roster are deep… but a case can be made for each.
At cornerback, Levi Wallace, Cam Lewis and Josh Norman will add be free agents after the 2020 season. While Wallace has been a solid performer in his career, the Bills have continually brought in competition for him, perhaps indicating they want a longer-term solution at the No. 2 cornerback spot across from Tre’Davious White.
In the wide receiver room, the only pending free agents are Isaiah McKenzie and Andre Roberts, who’s mostly a kick returner. But if Buffalo did move on from the pair, that’d open up roster spot for a guy like Isaiah Hodgins, a current rookie who has been injury all season, and perhaps another fresh face like Olave.
Looking even further in the future, John Brown will be a free after the 2021 season while Cole Beasley sees his dead cap hit drop to $1.5 million. If the Bills wanted to get younger at the position at that time, they’d have the option to do so. Although, these two do clearly have plenty left in the tank at this time.
Dimukeje might actually be the most interesting selection considering Buffalo’s second-round investment in AJ Epenesa in 2020, however, Trent Murphy will be a free agent after 2020.
Regardless, this is all an exercise in fun for now and food for thought. Plenty of dust needs to settle before any of these guys can be pegged for Buffalo.
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Who is a 2021 free agent for the Buffalo Bills?
The Bills have, at least, six games remaining in the 2020 NFL season after their bye week. Most expect the year will extend longer than that. Exactly how long remains to be seen.
But after that slate, however far it extends, some guys could be playing their final games of their career with the Bills. It is what it is… there’s the business side to things, right? Contracts come to an end and people move on each year.
So let’s take a look at which Bills players fall into this category. Here’s the full list of upcoming 2021 free agents for the Bills via Spotrac:
The New Orleans Saints are rapidly approaching the 2020 NFL trade deadline having made one big move, but there is still room for more.
Could the New Orleans Saints make another move before the NFL trade deadline? They already acquired San Francisco 49ers linebacker Kwon Alexander, but a bigger shakeup doesn’t feel likely.
One popular target has been New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore, and while he would add a lot to the Saints secondary, they may not be willing to pay the reported asking price of a first-round pick and player in exchange for him.
So here are four more realistic options to keep an eye out for in the hours ahead. They may not move the needle as strongly, but these are the sort of band-aids that could help the Saints sustain success by fixing a number of smaller problems.
Bleacher Report says the Buffalo Bills should trade defensive end Trent Murphy. Should they?
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The Buffalo Bills are in the driver’s seat of the AFC East after six games. That’s right, folks. The world is actually not ending after two losses for the team.
Because of this and the time of the year we’re in, we’re going to start hearing more and more about how Buffalo could be buyers at the upcoming NFL trade deadline on Oct. 29. That’s how it typically goes with teams on top of their division.
But in order to buy, could the Bills sell, too? Bleacher Report acknowledged the idea that the Bills could be more inclined to add than subtract at the trade deadline, but in an effort to name one player each team in the NFL could ship out of town at the deadline, defensive end Trent Murphy was the selection.
Here’s part of the breakdown:
There was more than a little speculation before the season that defensive end Trent Murphy wouldn’t even make the Bills’ 53-man roster. The 29-year-old not only made the cut, but he also remains Buffalo’s starter at strong-side defensive end.
Murphy is a pro’s pro and a very good player. More than a few NFL teams with depth or injury issues up front would be interested in bringing him in. His nine tackles and one sack this year aren’t gaudy numbers, but they also don’t tell the whole story of his impact on the field.
Murphy is also set to hit the open market in 2021, and after the Bills drafted Iowa’s A.J. Epenesa in 2020, it’s highly unlikely the veteran will be back in Western New York next year.
In Epenesa, Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison, the Bills have the depth at defensive end to absorb the hit.
There’s certainly reason to move Murphy, but in doing so, the Bills would have to swallow a massive pill. This front office led by general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott don’t exactly like to do that. Think most notably quarterback Nathan Peterman. Perhaps more recently, Cody Ford on the offensive line. Ford’s had his fare share of struggles and as a second-round pick, the Bills have moved him around to at least three different positions in the trenches to find a fit.
But if there’s a late-round pick in store for the Bills? Maybe Beane would covet adding another one of those for Murphy. The only way that could happen is if there’s some huge belief in depth guys such as Epenesa, Bryan Cox Jr., and Darryl Johnson Jr.
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Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott on healthy scratches for Trent Murphy, Harrison Phillips vs. Chiefs.
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Prior to kicking off against the Chiefs at all, the Bills made some surprising news. Defensive end Trent Murphy and defensive tackle Harrison Phillips would be watch this one from the sideline … or where ever healthy scratches do so during a COVID-19 NFL season.
Both veterans were exactly that, healthy scratches, in Week 6’s 26-17 loss for Buffalo. In turn, the Bills elevated defensive end Bryan Cox Jr. and defensive tackle Justin Zimmer to the active roster from the practice squad just before kickoff.
But the question still remained… why?
Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott explained just that following the game via video conference:
“Just, those two are good players, just wanted to get some looks at other guys who’ve practiced well and see if we can change things up a little bit. We may come back to those guys next week, we’ll see what the week holds here.”
McDermott never gives much away with his words, so regardless, we’ll let the actions speaking louder than words route here. The Bills clearly didn’t like what those two were providing them.
The idea could’ve been to get guys out on the field that were better against the pass. But unfortunately for the Bills, that didn’t pay dividends because Buffalo needed run stoppers, not pass rushers in this one.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was sacked once by Mario Addison, but KC put up 245 rushing yards on the Bills defense. Led by rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s 161 yards on the ground, it was the first time in Mahomes’ career that his team had more rushing yards than passing yards in a game… a very telling stat. The Bills need to focus on fixing this very leaky run defense and in a hurry.
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DE Bryan Cox Jr., DT Justin Zimmer elevated from Buffalo Bills practice squad ahead of Week 6 vs. Kansas City Chiefs.
The Bills have elevated defensive end Bryan Cox Kr. and defensive tackle Justin Zimmer from their practice squad ahead of Monday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs. The team announced the moves just over two hours prior to kickoff.
Zimmer was called up from the practice squad once already this season, ahead of Buffalo’s season opener against the Jets. He had four tackles. Cox makes his first appearance with the Bills.
Reported earlier in the day on Monday, the Bills are said be scratching defensive tackle Harrison Phillips and defensive end Trent Murphy for their meeting with the Chiefs. Calling up the two guys from the practice squad all but assures that will take place at 3:30 p.m. when the team announces their inactive list for Week 6.
Here’s that previous coverage:
Report: Trent Murphy, Harrison Phillips to be scratched vs. Chiefs
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Buffalo Bills DE Trent Murphy, DT Harrison Phillips, expected to be scratched vs. Kansas City Chiefs in Week 6.
The Buffalo Bills haven’t had a very good start to the season in the trenches on defense in 2020 … and the coaching staff is doing something big about it.
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, defensive end Trent Murphy and defensive tackle Harrison Phillips are expected to be healthy scratches against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday. Along the defensive line this year, the Bills haven’t gotten the production the team has been used to in recent memory. This offseason, the Bills let both Jordan Phillips and Shaq Lawson walk in free agency.
Against the Titans, Phillips had some strong play against the run, but both guys have struggled to generate much of any pass rush. Overall, Buffalo’s entire edge defending unit did a bad job against the Titans, both on pass and rushing plays, in Week 5.
Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill was not sacked one time in Buffalo’s last game, and by comparison, the Chiefs offense, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, will be throwing the ball much, much more in Week 6.
So far this season, the Bills average two sacks per game and 12 teams are averaging less than that per week. However, sacks isn’t just the overall number to consider. In terms of QB pressures, the Bills have 37 in 2020, which is sixth-worst in the NFL heading into Week 6.
What could be expected without Murphy is more Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison? Typically during Sean McDermott’s tenure as head coach, he runs a big rotation along the defensive line to keep guys fresh. But the Bills might try to loosen up on that and leave starters out there longer in an effort to generate a more consistent effort. In the middle of the defensive line, that could mean more Quinton Jefferson and Vernon Butler without Phillips. Ed Oliver typically plays next to Phillips, not in his one-tech spot, so his snaps might stay close to the same.
At about 3:30 p.m. we’ll know what holds true with this report as well. That’s approximately the time when the inactive lists for both the Bills and Chiefs will be released.
Check back at Bills Wire around then for the latest updates.
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Buffalo Bills release first depth chart ahead of 2020 regular season.
The Bills released their first unofficial depth chart on Wednesday ahead of their season opener. Despite that, Buffalo still managed to find a way to not give the Jets a single inch ahead of this AFC East clash.
The biggest question mark on the Bills depth chart sits along the offensive line. Who’s starting on the right side? We still don’t have a definitive answer on that.
The highlighted portion of Buffalo’s depth chart comes in that area, where there’s no first, second or third stringer named. Instead we see right tackle with a listing of “Cody Ford/ Ty Nsekhe/ Daryl Williams” while right guard has “Cody Ford/ Daryl Williams/ Brian Winters.”
For reference on the difference in that area, here’s the official depth chart the Bills drew up:
Clearly there’s something funny going on there. The Jets, who released their depth chart two days before the Bills did, had “little surprise” found in it via our friends at Jets Wire.
To each their own…?
Aside from the offensive line intrigue, here’s a quick rundown of other interesting nuggets in Buffalo’s first depth chart of the season:
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