Buffalo Bills

The Bills announced several roster moves on Saturday and they finished off the work of paring their roster to 53 players on Sunday.

Their moves included trading center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger to the Colts and moving two players to injured lists. Wide receiver Tyrell Shavers will move to the reserve/physically unable to perform list and defensive lineman Zane Durant has been placed on injured reserve.

Defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis was moved to the suspended list for the first three games of the season.

The Bills have also waived or released offensive linemen Nick Broeker, Chase Lundt, and Da’Metrius Weatherspoon; linebackers Jimmy Ciarlo, Keonta Jenkins, and Andre Jones; defensive backs Te’Cory Couch, Anthony Kendall, Toriano Pride, Geno Stone, and Kani Walker; wide receivers Stephen Gosnell, Ja’Mori Maclin, Trent Sherfield, and Max Tomczak; running backs Frank Gore Jr., Ben VanSumeren, and Ian Wheeler; quarterback Shane Buechele; defensive lineman Travis Clayton; and punter Mitch Wishnowsky.

The Bills will not be keeping three quarterbacks on the 53-player roster.

Buffalo is releasing third string quarterback Shane Buechele, according to Adam Schefter.

Buechele played the entire game in the preseason finale and turned in a solid outing, completing 26 of 38 passes for 196 yards in a 28-27 win. But the Bills are set with Josh Allen as their starter and Kyle Allen as the backup.

The Bills will likely bring Buechele back on their practice squad if no other team adds him to the active roster.

The Colts are adding an offensive lineman to the roster on Sunday.

Tom Pelissero of Netflix reports that the Bills have agreed to trade center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger to Indianapolis. The Bills will also trade a 2027 seventh-round pick with the Colts sending a 2027 sixth-rounder back to Buffalo.

Van Pran-Granger was a 2024 fifth-round pick by the Bills and he played in 31 regular season games for the team. He started two of those contests and also appeared in three playoff games.

Tanor Bortolini is the starting center for the Colts and Van-Pran Granger will likely be slotted into a backup role with his new team.

When the Bills played their first preseason game at their new stadium two weeks ago, a “massive clump” of sod went flying, “roots, dirt, and all.” One unnamed player even said, “The field is ass right now.”

So, basically, the grass is ass — and the Bills are getting out something more than a lawnmower.

Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News reports that the entire surface will be replaced before the Week 2 Thursday night home opener against the Lions.

It will be the first of three straight home games for the Bills.

The Bills aren’t conceding that the current field, which passed pregame inspection for Thursday night’s preseason finale against the Steelers, is enough of a problem to require replacement.

“You can be happy with the performance and playability and still make the change,” Bills chief operating officer Pete Guelli told Lysowski. “As an organization, we’re committed to having the absolute best possible playing surface for the players. If it’s even slightly better, we’re going to make the change and err on the side of performance.”

The issue was divots. The goal will be to reduce their frequency and size.

“It’s not a cure-all,” Bills senior director of grounds Aaron Ramella told Lysowski. “We’re still going to have divots. It’s a living grass field. We’ll be better than where we’re at now. There will be a random push or random divot. That’s football. We’re not playing on a rug anymore.”

That’s the best news. But one of the realities (and expenses) of a grass field is that it takes effort (and money) to make it high-quality. Although an overwhelming majority of players prefer grass to artificial turf, most would prefer a fake field to shoddy sod.

The Bills announced their first wave of cuts on Saturday afternoon.

The list includes the previous reported release of wide receiver Mecole Hardman, but not the release of punter Mitch Wishnowsky. The Bills have reportedly decided to go with rookie Tommy Doman over Wishnowsky.

Buffalo is also parting ways with linebacker Cade Denhoff, cornerback Jordan Dunbar, guard Bruno Fina, linebacker Theron Gaines, center Sincere Haynesworth, defensive lineman Zion Logue, cornerback D.J. Miller, safety Wande Owens, wide receiver Dante Pettis, linebacker Otis Reese, wide receiver Quentin Skinner, and tight end Shane Zylstra.

If Wishnowsky’s reported release is included, the Bills are left with 23 more moves to make to get to the 53-man limit on Sunday.

As the Bills pare down their roster from 90 to 53 players, they’re getting rid of a well-known veteran wide receiver and picking a winner in their punter competition.

Wide receiver Mecole Hardman is being released, according to Jeremy Fowler. Hardman, best known for scoring the game-winning touchdown for the Chiefs in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII, signed with the Bills late last season and caught a touchdown pass for them in their playoff loss to the Broncos. He will now be a free agent.

The Bills have also decided to cut veteran punter Mitch Wishnowsky, according to Tom Pelissero. Wishnowsky was in a training camp competition with seventh-round rookie Tommy Doman, and it appears that Doman has won.

The Bills and all other teams must be down to 53 players on the active roster by 6 p.m. ET tomorrow.

The Bills did not play most of their starters against the Steelers on Thursday night, but they did have Maxwell Hairston in the lineup at cornerback to open the game.

Hairston has dealt with a groin injury in camp this summer and did not play in the team’s first two preseason games, which is why head coach Joe Brady decided to have him on the field along with second-round pick Davis Igbinosun.

“I thought it was important for Maxwell, he hasn’t had an opportunity,” Brady said, via the team’s website. “I thought it was just good for him to just be able to come out, go through it, get a feel for the environment and game, all of that. That was the biggest reason for it.”

Brady went on to say that Hairston will also be on the field at corner with Christian Benford when the Bills line up for their first defensive snap in Week 1.

“He’s our starting corner. Maxwell’s got exactly what we look for in a corner,” Brady said.

Hairston also missed time with injury as a rookie and Igbinosun got good reviews for his camp work, so the current plan may not prove to be the final word on how the Bills line up in the secondary this season.

Legendary play-by-play specialist Al Michaels returned to the booth on Thursday night for the Prime Video preseason game, between the Patriots and the Browns. And Michaels, who has been known to make a non-football topical reference or two, commented on one specific current event during the game.

“That is Lake Erie,” Michaels said while the screen displayed an overhead shot of the Browns’ stadium. “We think it is still called Lake Erie on the right. We’re not quite sure at this point. But we’ll be by Lake something like Ontario or whatever it’s going to be called by the time we get to Buffalo [for Week 2].

“Anyway, you know what I’m talking about, some of you do. Read the news.”

It was a reference to the recent decision by the Commander-in-Chief to unilaterally rebrand Lake Ontario as Lake America, given the latest iteration of the periodic squabbles with Canada.

Making the remark somewhat surprising is that Michaels, who doesn’t wear his politics on his sleeve, is widely believed to be far more aligned philosophically with the man who made the change that provided the basis for the joke. Which could make it a tangible example of the reality that even the most ardent supporters of 45/47 have become exasperated and exhausted by his objectively tired and predictable shtick.

It’s also a reflection of the fact that Michaels has been doing it long enough to say whatever he wants to say, whenever he wants to say it. With his former habit of making subtle (or otherwise) references to the betting line and over-unders in the days the NFL despised gambling now far less noteworthy given the normalization of all things betting, Michaels needs to find other ways to display some periodic cheekiness.

When it comes to the issue of grass vs. turf (as well as any other player-related questions), it’s important for the NFL’s best players to add their voice to the cause.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen, the NFL’s MVP in 2024, has done so.

“I think grass is healthier for our bodies,” Allen said. “I’m to a point in my career now that when we practice inside on the artificial [surface], I can feel it the next day, and when we go out there [on grass], I feel great. I think any guy that was honest would tell you that’s how they feel. So, one, I think it’s healthier [as to] injury prevention.

“I’ve gotten numerous, numerous burns on my legs from artificial turf, like, to the point where I can’t sleep at night because it’s bubbling over and, like, it’s very painful. So I’m excited to not have to deal with that at home at least. I know we still probably will play games on the road that are turf, but if I can snap my fingers and make every field grass, that’s what I would do, for sure.”

This year, Allen and the Bills will play on artificial turf in Week 1 (at Texans), Week 5 (at Rams), Week 9 (at Vikings), Week 10 (at Jets), and Week 13 (at Patriots).

The issue of getting rug burns on fake grass is a problem. Injuries like that won’t end up in the NFL’s calculation of injury rates between grass and turf. But it’s painful. And unsanitary, especially with the billions of toxic rubber pellets and all of the other stuff (spit, sweat, blood, vomit) that end up interspersed with the plastic.

From a 2022 article published by the National Institutes of Health: “Numerous studies have shown that chemicals identified in artificial turf, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are known carcinogens, neurotoxicants, mutagens, and endocrine disruptors. . . . [F]ew laboratory and epidemiology studies have been performed on the potential health impacts of artificial turf in athletes and communities, despite the abundance of evidence of carcinogens, neurotoxicants, mutagens, and endocrine disruptors in its components.”

In other words, it’s obviously not healthy for humans to be exposed to the various components of a turf field. The compounds get in player abrasions, in their mouths, in their noses, in their eyes.

It seems inevitable that, with further research, a study will emerge linking playing on artificial turf fields with one or more specific and serious long-term health risks.

Until then, many NFL teams will opt for the fake stuff, because it’s cheaper to install and maintain — and because it’s easier to have non-football events in stadiums that use it. And all of them will hide behind the inherently misleading notion that the injury rate is identical on grass and turf.

The Bills have made a pair of roster moves on Wednesday.

Buffalo announced the club has signed center Sincere Haynesworth and waived receiver Mac Dalena.

Haynesworth, 25, entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2024. He’s spent time with the Saints, Patriots, and Cardinals but has not appeared in a regular-season game.

He also played for the UFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks in 2026.

Buffalo has been dealing with injuries at center, so Haynesworth provides some depth at the position.

Dalena joined the team in June. He’s also spent time with the Seahawks.