In case you decided not to read my article that is currently posted on the BZ front page--which was written two weeks ago now--because it was too long, I made the following prediction in the article with regard to players, like Bennie Anderson, who were choosing to skip the OTAs:
"....After seeing the changes that Levy has already made to the Bills’ roster and the general tone of the new regime at One Bills Drive, it was rather surprising to see that so many of the Bills’ veteran players chose to skip Coach Jauron’s second mini-camp. But, after last season, perhaps it is not entirely unexpected that some in the Bills locker room might feel that they could show such disrespect to their new coach and GM. Yes, the OTAs are voluntary for the veterans, but, with the coaching staff trying to install a new offense and a totally different defense, the Bills and their fans might well expect that the team’s “core veterans” and many of the team “leaders” would go out of their way to make their presence known and not skip what is just the second of the OTAs. While the fact that they did not do so cannot, by contract, be held against them, it is certainly not a positive sign of their willingness to make sacrifices for the team or buy into what the new GM and head coach have in mind. No doubt this has been noticed and it is likely that there will be more familiar faces leaving Buffalo before and after this season...."
Of the veteran players who have missed two or more weeks of OTAs, Bennie Anderson was the most expendable and the first to go (two others, Fletcher and Vincent are already unlikely to be with the team next season as well), perhaps as a message to the others (Schobel, McGahee, Villarial and Clements--Clements and Villarial may go after the season also) that their absences have been noted by the coaches and management. Looking at it from this perspective, the cutting of Bennie Anderson and its timing is not nearly as surprising as it may have appeared to some when it happened. I am curious to see how Schobel and the others respond.
(BTW: ICE, you see, I didn't entirely disagree with you about what should/would happen to guys who skip the OTAs, I just see the Bills being more subtle about it, for various reasons (not the least of which is the fact that Vincent is the President of the NFLPA), than the Bears were in handling their players.)