Team-released preseason depth charts are mostly nonsense.
The teams wouldn’t release them if the league didn’t make them, and what they say is utilized more as PR and internal player motivation that it is anything else. If you really want to know in the preseason how a team views a player, you have to start with the WAWW Factor.
When and with whom (WAWW) a player plays in the preseason is far more indicative of their stance on the roster than how a player plays. If a depth cornerback absolutely crushes in in the last quarter of the final preseason game alongside a bunch of players who won’t make the team, his fate is probably already sealed. The fact that he’s playing great is wonderful; the fact that he’s playing in the last quarter of the final preseason game in tandem with other players who likely won’t make the team means he also won’t likely make the team.
So what can the WAWW Factor from the preseason game versus the Carolina Panthers tell us about where certain players are located on the Buffalo Bills depth chart, especially at roster battle positions?
Ben VanSumeran v Jackson Acker (fullback)
As of this writing, the Bills have just released Jackson Acker, meaning if they elect to keep a fullback on the 53 man roster, VanSumeran is the guy. This was clearly reflected in the WAWW Factor for the Bills/Panthers game, with VanSumeran getting every single rep with the starting offensive unit and the first reps with the second offensive unit.
Kani Walker v Toriano Pride Jr. (outside CB4)
Toriano Pride’s first snap from scrimmage came with 3:15 left in the second quarter.
Kani Walker’s first snap from scrimmage came with 1:22 left in the third quarter.
Also, Pride played special teams in the first quarter and Walker didn’t play any snaps of teams. Is this because Walker didn’t practice all week? If so, we’ll see a shift in Walker’s usage next preseason game. Knowing that the Walker injury was likely a significant factor in the WAWW Factor we saw in this game, it’d be unwise to draw any firm conclusions. However, if we don’t see a shift in Walker usage when the Bills suit up against the Browns (no teams snaps for Walker, comes in much later in the game compared to Pride Jr.), then it’ll appear that the seventh-round pick has a leg up on the training camp darling.
Keon Coleman and Joshua Palmer (WR3)
Coleman and Palmer both came in and ran routes with the Bills first team offense, and both of them took their final snap at the beginning of the second quarter. The Bills aren’t currently showing their hand regarding who may actually be WR3 for the team. We’ll keep an eye on it moving forward.
Kaleb Elarms-Orr and Dorian Williams (LB2)
Kalen Elarms-Orr (KEO) was listed as LB3 on the Bills publicly-released depth chart, and that’s exactly how it played out against the Panthers. Terrel Bernard and Dorian Williams got the first snaps from scrimmage on defense and neither one played in the second half. KEO’s first snap from scrimmage came late in the first quarter and he played into the third quarter. Whether that playing time location changes or not moving forward in the preseason will tell us whether there’s a change KEO takes a starting role as a rookie out of the gate from an veteran or not.
Alec Anderson and Austin Corbett (LG)
We have an actual competition on our hands, folks. Both Anderson and Corbett got reps with Josh Allen and the other starting offensive linemen. Both played into the second quarter. Neither played in the second half. I would expect Corbett to get the first snaps with the starters when the Bills play the Cleveland Browns next (Anderson got the first ones against Carolina), but even if he doesn’t, the Bills are clearly letting a competition play out based on the WAWW Factor.
Sedrick Van-Pran Granger and Lloyd Cushenberry (backup center)
Right now, the Bills aren’t behaving like this is a competition. Cushenberry got every snap with Josh Allen in the absence of starter Connor McGovern, and Van-Pran Granger got his first snap with Kyle Allen and continued to play the remainder of the game.
Trent Sherfield, Mecole Hardman, and Stephen Gosnell (WR6)
We don’t know for sure the Bills will actually keep six wide receivers, but if they do, they didn’t tell us much from the usage against the Panthers. Sherfield played the earliest snaps because he was on the first unit special teams, and all three of them saw their scrimmage usage beginning sometime between the end of the first and the beginning of the second quarter. Ray Davis, not Hardman, was the first player for the team to return a punt. If you made me guess now, I’d take Sherfield in that spot based on teams usage, but nothing about this usage would clearly tip off the team’s current plans.
Maxwell Hairston didn’t play, so the “Hairston v IGB” perception of a competition cannot be gauged, though Hairston has gotten far more reps with the starting defense per camp reports. We’ll see if we observe a platoon at CB2 once Hairston is healthy.
Ultimately, the line matters more than the dot. These are simply one set of data points that can be used to gauge how the team actually feels about players in competition with each other. The next set of data points will be acquired after the Buffalo Bills play the Cleveland Browns, and we’ll see if anything changes worth noting at that time.
…and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m Bruce Nolan with Buffalo Rumblings. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @BruceExclusive and look for new episodes of “The Bruce Exclusive” every Thursday on the Rumblings Cast Network — see more in my LinkTree!