Jonathan Williams released

[jcc6fd]

My theory is they cut him because if Shady goes down they want to tank harder.

I mean anything is possible but I can't wrap my head around that one. Tanking by cutting a seemingly average at-best backup RB? And suppose JWill actually played well, that just means they would be more likely to get something in a trade for him.

I can't wrap my mind around keeping Mike Tolbert as your main backup, where in no universe is he worth anything, when J Will played well all preseason and looked decent in last year. Maybe he wasn't liked by the coaching staff.

[Valhalla]

Also, no, it wasn't just "because McCoy is so elusive he boosted the yards before contact stat."
Gillislee got a lot of carries too, and ran for a higher ypc than McCoy (5.7 vs 5.4).

Think about this: The Bills led the league in yards before contact per attempt by a wide margin. Their bread and butter was up the middle, where they had a whopping 4.63 yards before contact! (If this source is accurate: https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/5 ... t_for_all/ )

Now, up the middle should be an area where Jonathan Williams does his best if I know the player...right? So how does this really good backup RB average 3.5 yards per attempt when the line, on average, is likely giving him at least that much? Was he rushing on only 3rd-4th and short sutuations? I'd hope not goal-line, as his one TD is not a good sign if the argument is that his ypc is low because he was often used in the red zone.

I haven't watched the kid play, and am speaking only from a "look at the numbers" perspective. But jeez...how does a rb run for an average of basically what the OL gives him untouched, and he's touted as a high-end backup?

Are you guys sure you didn't hold him in high regard simply because of his key situation? Now the value being cut right off your fantasy team is hard to accept, so you rationalize that his talent will do better elsewhere? Maybe I'm talking out of my bleep as it's from a pure numbers stance, and I actually like to have watched a player before giving a real judgement of him...but the numbers do not speak well of Williams.

[wingnutty]

They play week 1

I wonder if it ends 0-0

As a bills fan (one of a handful outside of NY) this comment is hilarious to me

[Dynasty DeLorean]

My theory is they cut him because if Shady goes down they want to tank harder.

I mean anything is possible but I can't wrap my head around that one. Tanking by cutting a seemingly average at-best backup RB? And suppose JWill actually played well, that just means they would be more likely to get something in a trade for him.

I can't wrap my mind around keeping Mike Tolbert as your main backup, where in no universe is he worth anything, when J Will played well all preseason and looked decent in last year. Maybe he wasn't liked by the coaching staff.

Same reason Vikings kept Asiata around. He's reliable. Probably better in pass pro and won't get the QB killed. Idk. Shouldn't be too hard to think of a few reasons why they'd go that route.

[DLF3000]

Same reason Vikings kept Asiata around. He's reliable. Probably better in pass pro and won't get the QB killed.

Reminds me of Brandon Bolden. Pedestrian, mostly unrosterable (fantasy) "talent" but was so damn reliable in every phase of the game (including ST) for years for the Pats.

NFL teams are ultra conservative by nature, especially as the season approaches. No surprise boring but reliable RBs like Asiata and Bolden hang around forever.

I'm wondering if teams going with more modern approaches (today's Browns and Niners) roll more dice going forward on the talent vs. boring scale, especially with tanking being more accepted and smarter than ever.

BOT, I though JW was an above average prospect out of college. Not awesome, but above average. With such a small sample size in the NFL, I'm still holding out some hope for opportunity somewhere. If not this year, then I'll likely move on.

[DLF3000]

They play week 1

I wonder if it ends 0-0

As a bills fan (one of a handful outside of NY) this comment is hilarious to me

Hah! One of those games they BOTH deserve to lose.

They should just stay home and both agree to take losses. Because really, that's what they want!

[Tsunami]

They will be drafting a rb next year with one of their 9 picks in the first three rounds. Maybe Barkley. Qb probably too since Tyrod is obviously not a favorite of theirs. Williams is definitely a surprise, but there has to be a decent reason behind it since money was not an issue with him right now.

the current idiots running the hapless bills should have the fans howling for rex and doug whaley back , it is starting to look like the bills aspire to be the 2008 lions . Why not trade shady and start tj yates at qb .
If I were a vet there I would mutiny my way the hell out of that insane asylum.

I think the Bills are doing great considering they have two 1sts, two 2nds, and two 3rds next year and still a good chance at a respectable showing, despite their killer schedule. Cleveland was terrible but at least they had three 1sts last year and two 1sts and three 2nds next year. The Jets on the other hand have embarrassed themselves for a 2018 2nd and a 5th and it's hard to imagine a quick recovery from this hole they are in.

[Valhalla]

They will be drafting a rb next year with one of their 9 picks in the first three rounds. Maybe Barkley. Qb probably too since Tyrod is obviously not a favorite of theirs. Williams is definitely a surprise, but there has to be a decent reason behind it since money was not an issue with him right now.

the current idiots running the hapless bills should have the fans howling for rex and doug whaley back , it is starting to look like the bills aspire to be the 2008 lions . Why not trade shady and start tj yates at qb .
If I were a vet there I would mutiny my way the hell out of that insane asylum.

I think the Bills are doing great considering they have two 1sts, two 2nds, and two 3rds next year and still a good chance at a respectable showing, despite their killer schedule. Cleveland was terrible but at least they had three 1sts last year and two 1sts and three 2nds next year. The Jets on the other hand have embarrassed themselves for a 2018 2nd and a 5th and it's hard to imagine a quick recovery from this hole they are in.

Yeah I don't get the Bills hate

[Jason]

https://twitter.com/JonScottTV/status/9 ... 4009167876

A clip of Sean Mcdermott on twitter saying it was something to do with special teams. Does that mean fatass Mike Tolbert is one of their key kick coverage guys or something?

[Friction]

Bills will actually have 3 thirds once they cut a couple guys from an uninspiring list. Need to do it before sometime in November I believe.

[GridironGuerilla]

I've got to think he gets picked up here soon...

[StableOfRBs]

worst thing that could've happened to him was failing to really impress anyone in a year where a lot of running back talent went during and after the draft, he's a replaceable talent who will either end up on a practice squad or hang around as an FA until someone gets injured

also, as Valhalla pointed out, he didn't get much production aside from what his OL gave him and since the Bills had a top 3 OL in terms of rushing last year it's pretty much a downgrade no matter where he goes

[dmac37]

Greg Cosell, who's opinion I really trust was extremely high on him coming into the NFL. He had him in the top tier with Elliott, this may be a little over zealous but I will keep Williams until we see what he does with a fair shot.
As a Williams owner I would like to see him on the Giants, really good chance to be #1 there.

[Cowboysfan33]

I've got to think he gets picked up here soon...

I think he will too. I've read on bleacher report and listened to several different hosts on Sirius that thought it was a terrible move to let Williams go and how he had a really good preseason, so I tend to trust those people, especially when I thought it was a dumb move, why not try harder to keep Gillislee in the offseason if they pretty much had to know that they weren't keeping Williams. The almighty Pats jumped right on Gillislee, so, it's just another head-scratching move by the Bills this off-season, maybe it will work out for them, we'll see.

[Tsunami]

He went unclaimed so maybe it wasn't as bad of a cut as some of you seem to think. I wonder what Karlos Williams is doing today?