For a team like the Buffalo Bills, the preseason games are mostly a chance for head coach Sean McDermott and company to get a good look at the bottom of the depth chart. The players who showed out in the Bills preseason opener could become the third-stringer who makes a big play sometime during the season or even the playoffs to help the team win.
It was fun that Buffalo took home the win this weekend against the Indianapolis Colts27-24 on a last-minute field goal, but the real intrigue in the game came as players battled to make the Bills roster. There was a lot of good from players like Khalil Shakir, Boogie Basham, and Matt Araiza. But some players fighting to make the Bills roster struggled as well.
Here are three of those players who are battling for Bills roster spots who struggled in the preseason opener.
3 Bills players who struggled in preseason opener
With Mitchell Trubisky moving on to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the battle in the Bills preseason opener for the backup quarterback job was wide open.
The position of Josh Allen’s caddy will go to either Case Keenum or Matt Barkley. Keenum has more NFL experience (64 NFL starts), but Barkley (seven NFL starts) has been with the Bills since the team drafted Allen in 2018.
The Bills traded a seventh-round pick to the Cleveland Browns to acquire Keenum this offseason so he has the inside track to win the job. That’s why he started the Bills preseason opener against the Colts.
However, Keenum didn’t make the best of his opportunity. The veteran QB was 11-of-18 for 84 yards with two interceptions, a fumble, and no touchdowns. Barkley, on the other hand, was 18-of-24 for 224 yards with an INT and no TDs. Barkley did get the offense in position to kick the game-winning field goal as well.
Case Keenum is probably still the favorite to win the job because of his resume, but many more performances like this could change that quickly.
Jake Kumerow
The Bills roster is loaded with wide receiver talent, so making the team won’t come easy. That’s why wideout Jake Kumerow has to be kicking himself after his Bills preseason opening performance.
Kumerow finished with two catches for 20 yards. More importantly, though, he coughed up a big fumble in the first half.
The more worrisome thing for the chances of Kumerow making the Bills roster is that several young receivers played well during the Bills preseason opener when Kumerow didn’t.
Specifically, Bills fifth-round pick Khalil Shakir (five receptions, 92 yards) and sixth-round pick Isaiah Hodgins (nine receptions, 77 yards) looked good.
Stefon Diggs, Gabriel Davis, Isaiah McKenzie, and Jamison Crowder are all guaranteed to make the team. The Bills roster then has two or three WR spots left at most. To watch the Bills preseason opener against the Colts, Shakir and Hodgins looked like they moved closer to being locks as well, which is bad news for Kumerow.
Matt Haak
To say Matt Haak “struggled” in the same way Case Keenum or Jake Kumerow did in the Bills preseason opener isn’t quite right. Haak’s biggest issue is just that he is an average human and not the “Punt God.”
Haak had a fine 38-yard punt in the first quarter. However, rookie Matt Araiza booted a stunning 82-yard boot the next quarter. The young punter also held for all of kicker Tyler Bass’ field goals and extra points, including the (relatively) high-pressure game-winning kick.
This is where Haak’s day got really bad.
Araiza is a singular talent when it comes to putting his foot to the ball. Being an NFL punter involves more than just that, though. Holding on kicks is a key for the position these days, and Haak’s main hope of making the team was if Araiza couldn’t get that part down.
Now that he has, it looks like Haak’s days on the Bills roster are numbered.
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