By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun Senior Sports Columnist
The Bills filled their 16-player practice squad Wednesday afternoon and 15 of them are former Buffalo players, albeit one of those is a bit of a surprise and another came out of nowhere.
The surprise is safety Jordan Poyer who played seven seasons with the Bills. At age 34, 6-feet, 190 pounds he was a free agent after being cut by Miami.
Buffalo coach Sean McDermott signed Poyer away from Green Bay in 2017 and he paired with former Brown, Micah Hyde, to be one of the most formidable safety tandems in the NFL.
But Hyde retired a year ago and Poyer’s critics feel he should have as well.
However, the Bills have a bit of a mess in the secondary and, indeed, before filling the practice squad, Buffalo had only four safeties: Taylor Rapp, Cole Bishop, Damar Hamlin and fifth-round draft choice Jordan Hancock.
Thus the Bills signed Poyer and and former Carolina safety Sam Franklin (29, 6-foot-3, 210 pounds) who was cut by Denver earlier Wednesday.
What their addition seems to say is there’s desperation on the part of the coaching staff at safety.
It seems possible the Bills aren’t convinced Bishop is totally recovered from his quad problems … an injury that often lingers. Hamlin is a great story but a journeyman as a player at a high-demand position. Indeed it could be argued that Hancock, a rookie, is the second- or third-best player at that position.
OF COURSE, the jumble at cornerback remains.
First-round draft choice Maxwell Hairston is on injured reserve (knee) and will miss the first four weeks of the regular season at very least and while veteran corner Tre’ Davious White made the 53-man roster, the Bills have been disinclined to expand upon the extent of his knee injury.
Buffalo’s other corners are Christian Benford, Dorian Strong, Ja’Marcus Ingram, Taron Johnson, Cam Lewis and return specialist Brandon Codrington.
Thus, for desperation depth at corner, the Bills signed veteran Dane Jackson and Daequan Hardy to the practice squad.
The other dozen added to that unit: quarterback Shane Buechele, running back Frank Gore, wide receivers Stephen Gosnell and Kristian Wilkerson, linebackers Jimmy Ciarlo and Keonta Jenkins, offensive linemen Dan Feeney, Kendrick Green and Travis Clayton, defensive tackles Jordan Phillips and Zion Logue and tight end Keleki Latu.
Don’t expect that unit to look the same come the season opener.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
