It’s one of the hardest things to do for an NFL coach: letting a player know he’s not in the team’s future plans.
That happened across the NFL today as the league’s 32 teams trimmed their roster down to 53 players. It was more harrowing than usual this year as Saturday was the preseason’s only cutdown day. In previous years, rosters were whittled down to 53 multiple times over the course of the preseason.
The Buffalo Bills cut 34 players who had been on the team’s preseason roster on Saturday. A list that large will certainly include a few notable names. Among them were tight end Nick O’Leary, wide receiver Corey Coleman, linebacker Tanner Vallejo, and punter Jon Ryan.
.@buffalobills roster moves: pic.twitter.com/Df5boaUjeF
— Buffalo Bills PR (@BuffaloBillsPR) September 1, 2018
Nick O’Leary Among Buffalo Bills Final Roster Cuts
The Bills initially selected O’Leary in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. After seeing time on the practice squad for most of that year, Buffalo activated him in December. 2017 was his most prolific season as he finished with 22 receptions, 322 yards, and two touchdown grabs. In the Bills playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, its first postseason appearance since January 8, 2000, the Florida State product was targeted six times, catching two passes for 22 yards.
O’Leary is the grandson of legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus.
Coleman’s time with the club was a lot shorter than O’Leary’s. He came to the Bills in a preseason trade that saw the Bills ship a 2020 seventh-round pick to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for his services. It marked a precipitous decline in his value considering the Browns took him 15th overall in the 2016 draft. Buffalo releasing him before playing a single regular season game makes that notion even more glaringly evident.
Vallejo was a sixth-round selection for the Bills in last year’s draft. A bit undersized for an inside linebacker at 6’1″ and 228 pounds, the former Boise State Bronco saw action in 15 regular season games in 2017 but had a limited impact. As a late-round draft pick, Buffalo’s salary cap isn’t affected that much at all. They incur a dead money charge of $38,453 over the next three years, per Over the Cap.
Ryan came to the Bills in a preseason trade after a distinguished career with the Seattle Seahawks. He had been Seattle’s longest-tenured player before the team released him. His arrival in Buffalo came after Cory Carter, dueling with incumbent Colton Schmidt for the starting punter job, suffered a torn ACL against Cleveland. In the end, Schmidt will remain the go-to option in punting situations for the Bills in 2018.
The dream certainly isn’t over for a good portion of these players. Many will find their way onto practice squads and some will ostensibly get a spot on a roster as an injury replacement. But that doesn’t take away the fact that today is a rough day for many a prospective NFL player looking to embark on a pro career.
