Even though the 2021 NFL Draft is over and the Buffalo Bills added eight new players to the roster, plus will be announcing the signing of several undrafted free agents, general manager Brandon Beane isn’t done looking to add more pieces.
“I’m in the shopping market,” Beane told "One Bills Live" hosts Chris Brown and Steve Tasker on Wednesday on WGR, also acknowledging that there isn’t much salary cap room two play with. “I’ve got a small bank account, though. I’m not at the Mercedes-Benz dealership.”
The Bills roster currently stands at 78 players. They are allowed to bring 91 to training camp, including the roster exemption for running back Christian Wade as part of the International Pathway Program. That leaves 13 open roster spots. There are already several undrafted free agents the team has reportedly agreed to deals with, but have yet to become official.
Buffalo won 15 total games last season and advanced to the AFC Championship Game. They are widely considered to still have one of the best rosters in the entire league. Beane wants to keep it that way by adding as much competition as possible.
“We’ll continue to look and see what’s out there, and we want competition at every position,” he said. “We think we added that prior to the draft, and obviously players we added this past weekend. We want to make it as hard as heck to be on that [53-man roster], and I’ve just found that successful teams I’ve been on, when you were struggling to pick that 53-man roster, that was usually a team that was tough for others to deal with.”
All of those drafted and undrafted players will be allowed to participate in their first NFL rookie minicamp next weekend. Right now, the Bills and every other team in the NFL are going through the early portion of their offseason workout program.
Players are allowed at team facilities, but many around the league have opted to stay remote. The Bills have had both, but Beane hopes that in time, he will see all of his players in-person.
“We’re still in Phase 1 and, I think most of our guys are choosing to work out, like a lot of the league last year, remotely,” Beane said. “Our guys have done a great job in the meeting rooms, and that’s still all voluntary and they’ve been working with [head strength and conditioning coach] Eric Ciano on the workout plan. We would love for them to be here. We do have guys here, and the guys that are here are getting great attention from our staff. They’re getting even more attention than they normally would, because you only have so few here. We’re hoping that when we get into Phase 2 that more will start to show up. The rules will change that you can start to get on the grass with them. It’s limited rules. We’d love to have everybody by Phase 3, because you can’t replace those reps, but it is voluntary in nature and there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s a CBA deal. We still don’t know who and how many are going to show up, but our doors are open and we’ll keep hoping that one by one they’ll trickle in here the rest of May, and hopefully by June.”
You can listen to the entire interview below:
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