Travis LaBoy

[soapman]

http://blogs.nfl.com/2009/04/28/cardinals-release-rb-james/

Cut today. He killed us last year. He would look good in our DE rotation.

[ServoBillieves]

In all honesty? I think the biggest cut of there's was Roderick Hood. The guy can straight up play, and I saw no great reason as to why he was cut. Edge is Edge, LaBoy is OK, but for Rod to get cut surprised me.

[TigerJ]

Buffalo has to decide who they're going to part with among their defensive ends before they worry too much about picking up more of them. They will carry 4 or 5 on the active roster, and they now have Aaron Schobel, Ryan Denney, Chris Kelsay, Chris Ellis, and Copeland Bryan from last year's roster. They drafted Aaron Maybin (who is going to play a pass rushing specialist/defensive end and not a linebacker) and several training camp scrubs. It's easy enough to part with a training camp scrub. Copeland Bryan is pretty much a non-factor, and an easy cut. The Bills are not going to cut Schobel, Ellis (unless he stinks in training camp), or Aaron Maybin. They are shopping both Denney and Kelsay, but had no takers before the draft. Do they feel strongly enough about dumping them that they would cut either one and eat the dead cap dollars while receiving no compensation for them in terms of draft picks? I don't know.

It's easy to say they can just add another defensive end without cutting a higher priced veteran, but we know that the NFL imposes a limit of 85 players on the roster when entering training camp. If you load up on one position, some other position has to be shortchanged. One more question; what kind os salary would these guys command to be signed? The Bills have a pretty fair chunk of their salary cap tied up in Schobel, Denney, and Kelsay. Maybin is going to add to that, more than cutting Denney or Kelsay will reduce that. How much more of their salary structure is Buffalo willing to commit to improving their pass rush from the defensive end position beyond the drafting of Maybin?

[Buddo]

In all honesty, I think that the Bills were shopping not so much 'both' Kelsay and Denney, but 'either or' Kelsay and Denney, to see if there was one of them another team preferred. I don't think they both would have been traded, similarly, I don't think both would be cut, but I can certainly see it happeneing to one of them.

[Canadian'eh!]

Bryan, Denney and Kelsey can all go IMO.

My guess is Kelsey will stay though. LaBoy would be a good cheap backup with better pass rush than Kelsey for a less money.

[Mahdi]

In all honesty? I think the biggest cut of there's was Roderick Hood. The guy can straight up play, and I saw no great reason as to why he was cut. Edge is Edge, LaBoy is OK, but for Rod to get cut surprised me.
They cut him because they signed Bryant McFadden from the Steelers. McFadden is a real good CB.

[elltrain22]

One thing I wanna know is, how much stock does our FO put into Chris Ellis.

[ddaryl]

One thing I wanna know is, how much stock does our FO put into Chris Ellis.

Ellis barely played last season. He didn't even play in 9 games last year, and was used real sparingly in the 7 he did play in.

Is this a case of the Bills philosophy of barely playing rookies, or was it that Ellis needed a year of getting himself acclimated to the NFL game ???

Ellis is a wildcard for us this year, because he is basically a rookie still, but with a years worth of understanding the pro game.

Hopefully a full year in an NFL strength and conditioning program and another offseason / training camp program he'll rise up for us and beat out Kelsay for playing time.

[bigbub2352]

Laboy would be an upgrade in depth and as a situational pass rusher, we need upgrades i would cut Bryan, Kelsay in a 2nd no problem

i do wanna see what marcus smith can do off our PS

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Buffalo has to decide who they're going to part with among their defensive ends before they worry too much about picking up more of them. They will carry 4 or 5 on the active roster, and they now have Aaron Schobel, Ryan Denney, Chris Kelsay, Chris Ellis, and Copeland Bryan from last year's roster. They drafted Aaron Maybin (who is going to play a pass rushing specialist/defensive end and not a linebacker) and several training camp scrubs. It's easy enough to part with a training camp scrub. Copeland Bryan is pretty much a non-factor, and an easy cut. The Bills are not going to cut Schobel, Ellis (unless he stinks in training camp), or Aaron Maybin. They are shopping both Denney and Kelsay, but had no takers before the draft. Do they feel strongly enough about dumping them that they would cut either one and eat the dead cap dollars while receiving no compensation for them in terms of draft picks? I don't know.

It's easy to say they can just add another defensive end without cutting a higher priced veteran, but we know that the NFL imposes a limit of 85 players on the roster when entering training camp. If you load up on one position, some other position has to be shortchanged. One more question; what kind os salary would these guys command to be signed? The Bills have a pretty fair chunk of their salary cap tied up in Schobel, Denney, and Kelsay. Maybin is going to add to that, more than cutting Denney or Kelsay will reduce that. How much more of their salary structure is Buffalo willing to commit to improving their pass rush from the defensive end position beyond the drafting of Maybin?

Since my PC rarely lets me see the "thanks" icon, let me simply say that this is a SUPERB post., TigerJ. Absolutely excellent!!!!


In all honesty? I think the biggest cut of there's was Roderick Hood. The guy can straight up play, and I saw no great reason as to why he was cut. Edge is Edge, LaBoy is OK, but for Rod to get cut surprised me.

I really like Hood, too.

I was surprised that he was cut because he played well last year. But, I also think I know why he was cut and why the Bills probably won't touch him, either: Hood makes plays, but he "free-lances" a lot to make the big play and if there is one thing that a lot of coaches don't like it is a guy who breaks his assignment to free-lance. That was one of the things that the Bills coaches didn't like about Angelo Crowell and a reason why, in addition to the issue of how he handled his injury, they weren't willing to give him a big contract extension last year. Considering how they felt about Crowell, who was a Bill from the beginning of his career, it is very doubtful that this coaching staff would be interested in bringing in Hood, even though I think that he could really help this defense a lot (McKelvin, McGee and Hood would match up well against 3 WR sets, with Florence, Corner, et al. in the dime and as depth).


Ellis barely played last season. He didn't even play in 9 games last year, and was used real sparingly in the 7 he did play in.

Is this a case of the Bills philosophy of barely playing rookies, or was it that Ellis needed a year of getting himself acclimated to the NFL game ???

Ellis is a wildcard for us this year, because he is basically a rookie still, but with a years worth of understanding the pro game.

Hopefully a full year in an NFL strength and conditioning program and another offseason / training camp program he'll rise up for us and beat out Kelsay for playing time.

Excellent observation!

With Maybin, the Bills have a player who can eventually replace Schobel at RDE. If he can do that, Ellis would not have to suddenly become a prolific pass rusher, just a solid, all-around DE capable of loggin 7-8 sacks a year, in order to be an adequate replacement for Denney and Kelsay at LDE. Can he do that?

Ellis showed some flashes of ability at times last season when he did play, but opposing teams were too easily able to negate him. Whether it was due to a lack of strength or sufficient moves to counter the blockers is hard to say, but Ellis obviously needed to get better in order to be able to contribute. If he has, he could really be a big plus for the Bills this season. If he hasn't, he may find himself with one foot out the door.

Because he could potentially be a big plus, Ellis, as ddaryl pointed out, is a major wildcard at this point. Like Bell and McCargo, he could be a big disappointment or be a possible difference-maker by becoming a significant contributor. But, only time will tell what kind of player he will end up being for the Bills this season.

I think that C.Bryan will probably be gone, with Maybin taking his roster spot. I think that the fact that the Bills are looking to unload Kelsay, a lockerroom leader, or Denney may indicate that they are expecting Ellis to step up and give them more than the two older vets this season. I hope that's the case. But, we'll see....