Food for thought: the Bills have four specialists, four wide receivers and four quarterbacks. You might say three quarterbacks and five wide outs depending on your point of view.

Regardless, the Bills enter week one with a very interesting set up in terms of their 53-man roster. Tavaris Jackson, Tyler Thigpen and Brad Smith are all filling a role behind Ryan Fitzpatrick as Buffalo’s signal caller. Meanwhile, only Stevie Johnson, David Nelson, T.J Graham and Donald Jones are the wide outs for Buffalo’s typically spread open attack.

The choice to retain Thigpen was obvious. Jackson, while a fine option to fill the backup role behind Fitzpartick, hasn’t learned the offense yet and would leave the Bills crippled if Fitzpatrick was injured early in the year. In addition, Brad Smith has a wonky groin and seems better suited as a receiver than quarterback.Smith’s groin could potentially keep him out of, or limited, against the Jets. There is still five days until kickoff which allows for plenty of healing time. Regardless if Smith plays or not, there is a better chance he will be contributing as a receiver rather than at QB (outside of wildcat plays).

What might be the best option would be to cut ties with Smith. He hasn’t proven to be worth the investment they made, particularly with so few spots available for gimmick tools (see: kickoff specialist). It might just be in the best interest of the team to retain Thigpen as a third string passer, cut ties with Smith and fill the vacant spot with a proper receiver from a practice squad, waiver wire or free agency.

It seems safe to assume that the Bills will not attempt to go through the season with just four receivers while carrying an equal number of quarterbacks. At some point they will cut ties with a signal caller to free up a roster spot for either a playmaker or some other position of need. In the short term, however, they do have some options. Continue reading →