NFL Week 10 Practice Squad Power Rankings: Finding the culprit of the Bills’ recent struggles

The Bills want extra kick of their sauce. Nothing towards the unique, however it is time for Buffalo to improve to Frank’s Hot. 

The perennially highly spiced Bills have had their ultimate six video games move as follows: win-loss-win-loss-win-loss, making it the first 3-3 stretch all the way through the common season for Sean McDermott’s squad since an an identical lull befell at virtually precisely the identical portion of the season in 2021. 

There’s been a bizarre and in many ways entertaining debate on the NFL interwebs this week sparked by way of Buffalo’s Expected Points Added (EPA). The TLDR; model of this argument is that Buffalo’s offensive EPA remains to be very excessive, so needn’t concern, Bills Mafia. While I am keen on EPA and am the reverse of an analytics hater, somebody who is watched each and every Bills snap since the calendars flipped to October — when Buffalo traveled to London to stand the Jaguars — can it appears that evidently see issues have most commonly long gone off target and lately stay off target on offense and protection. 

Now, have the Bills been an absolute abomination? As the 3-3 file in that period of time would obviously point out — no. While the 3 losses have no longer been equivalent of their ugliness, the ones Buffalo defeats have come by way of a grand general of 15 issues and two of the losses have been at the arms of golf equipment that complex no less than past the first spherical of the playoffs a yr in the past (Jaguars and Bengals). So, as EPA is suggesting, Bills fanatics in every single place should not be in the-sky-is-falling mode. 

Having mentioned all that, the Bills need to make common alterations or that sky will drop. Buffalonians can care for snow descending from the sky in December and January. The sky figuratively falling on any other Bills season could be a lot tougher to abdomen. 

Which unit is guilty for Buffalo’s recent stagnancy, the offense or the protection? 

This interesting nugget came upon by way of Mike Sando of The Athletic sums it up regardless of my acknowledgement that the Bills offense has to get out of the gates sooner than it has lately:

“Even counting Allen’s implosion game against the New York Jets in Week 1, Buffalo ranks second in offensive EPA per play during defeats this season.” 

Context is at all times important in any research, however that is about as loud of a one-sentence mic drop as you’ll learn in a case like this.

Now, I can say — Buffalo’s protection is lately as patchwork as that duvet strewn over your grandma’s front room sofa with Tre’Davious White, Matt Milano, Daquan Jones out and Greg Rousseau, Ed Oliver, Shaq Lawson lacking a while whilst others were dinged in-game and been unavailable for second-half motion of overdue.  

So, as the GM of the Practice Squad Power Rankings, if I had to select which of the Bills devices was once in additional want of a spice up, it might be the protection. Which is why I’m calling on cornerback Kyron Brown, who is been with the workforce since coaching camp, to get increased sooner than Buffalo’s Week 10 prime-time time out towards the Broncos. 

Starting cornerback Christian Benford injured his hamstring towards the Bengals, and veteran Josh Norman has already been known as up two times — after 3 elevations, the fourth should coincide with him being signed to the energetic roster. Buffalo must be good managing its practice-squad call-ups. And Brown can ball. Plus, at 6-foot-1 with just about 32-inch palms and a 39-inch vertical, the former University of Akron famous person has the vintage boundary cornerback body and athleticism the Bills like.  

Along with my push for the Bills to lift Brown, we should pay homage to Practice Squad Power Ranking alums like Saints TE Juwan Johnson, 49ers wideout Jauan Jennings, Ravens cornerback/protection Ar’Darius Washington, Buccaneers wideout Deven Thompkins, Seahawks guard Phil Haynes, Cardinals middle Hjalte Froholdt, and Giants receiver Isaiah Hodgins (amongst many others) who’ve all graduated to turn out to be essential mainstays on their golf equipment’ respective 53-man rosters and give a contribution in their very own tactics every weekend.

We did not see a unmarried name up in Week 9, the CUT (Call-Up Tracker) stays at 8 on the season. Instead of adjusting on the fly, I’m status company this week. You would possibly not see any adjustments from ultimate week’s PSPR — but even so the addition of Brown. 

The expanded, 16-man prepare squads are about the most effective excellent factor to return out of the pandemic, and they are right here to stick in the NFL. Because of this, I run the Practice Squad Power Rankings parallel to the league and write about 16 people each and every Friday, 10 formally in the scores and 6 honorable mentions.

Further: To get again to the true origins of the PSPR, which have been to spotlight younger gamers, I would possibly not be that includes “veterans” this season. Selecting any person like Phillip Dorsett — lately on the Broncos prepare squad —  would no longer embrace the elementary goal of The PSPR.

So for the sake of the Practice Squad Power Rankings’ dignity, I’ll most effective be together with practice-squaders who’re newbies, second-year gamers, third-year gamers, or fourth-year professionals. Players drafted from 2020 on. That’s it.  

What I’m asking of you as a devoted PSPR patron — alert me on X/Twitter @ChrisTrapasso if you happen to see a tweet a couple of PSPR getting The Call so I will upload to The CUT. 

McCormick was once THAT DUDE on some super-fun UTSA groups over the previous few seasons, and whilst he did not check specifically nicely at the mix, at 5-foot-9 and over 200 kilos, he is cannon-ball of a again with scat-back agility to depart defenders whiffing at air in house. He’s the precise sort of spark plug the Raiders floor recreation may use when giving Jacobs a breather. 

9. Kyron Brown, CB, Bills 

Brown was once a overdue upload to the Bills roster all the way through coaching camp and — poof! — he began making performs in prepare immediately. Then, in the preseason, the former Akron Zip made his presence felt on the 53 exhibition snaps he performed. He had 5 tackles and a move breakup whilst most effective permitting 14 yards on 3 receptions in his protection house. 

Butler is that high-energy defensive lineman who can align any place and push the pocket. Is he going to be a 10-sack man? No, of route no longer. But his period and speed-to-power conversion are legitimately spectacular. He must be section of the Raiders rebuilding procedure up entrance on protection. 

7. Raymond Johnson III, EDGE, Lions

Of route, the PSPR have been born out of an innate need to spotlight underappreciated gamers, and it is onerous to get extra underappreciated than Johnson. A Georgia Southern alum, he is proper round 6-2 and 260 kilos and went undrafted in 2021. Since then, he is rocked in 3 consecutive preseasons with 8 pressures in every of them. In 2023, the wins have been outrageously excellent. The Bengals determined towards maintaining him and, astutely, the Lions jumped on the likelihood to procure his services and products. Johnson merely is aware of beat blockers with calculated pass-rush strikes and leveraged chronic. 

Carolina wishes all the receiving reinforcements it could get, particularly after the Laviska Shenault damage. Adam Thielen can not elevate the passing offense each and every week like he has for many of the season. Landers is a field-stretcher with sufficient chronic thru press protection to struggle physicality at the line. Call him up, Frank. Your offense wishes a spark. 

Smith suffered an damage in August of his rookie yr after being decided on in the 5th spherical by way of the Seahawks out of Ohio State. He’s a decently lengthy, chiseled complex rusher — like maximum are in this day and age from the Buckeyes program.

Problems with drops curtailed Smith’s likelihood to be triumphant with the workforce that drafted him, the Panthers. But he hardly ever has issues getting open as a result of of his flexibility and sharp change-of-direction abilities. He has moderately massive arms for his smaller body, which makes me consider drops could be concentration-related, which is fixable. Tennessee is truly hurting for any other receiver to step up past DeAndre Hopkins — Smith merits a chance. I’d love to peer him catch passes from Will Levis. 

Castro-Fields was once a key member on some Penn State defenses that featured the likes of Micah Parsons, Joey Porter Jr., Jaquan Brisker and lots of different NFLers. At over 6-foot and round 200 kilos with 4.38 velocity, Castro-Fields held his personal towards the likes of Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. His collegiate enjoy readied him for a chance in the NFL. 

Roche was once on the draft radar after his switch from Temple to Miami and next productive season with the Hurricanes in 2020, when he nonetheless generated 36 pressures on 323 pass-rush snaps towards increased pageant. While a smaller rusher and not using a flashy mix exercise to indicate to, Roche wins with a Pro Bowl quantity of pass-rush strikes and insane flexibility. He confused the quarterback 5 instances in 16 alternatives in his ultimate preseason appearing for the Steelers this summer time. 

Beyond the intimidating stature of Robinson, he had a memorably explosive professional day exercise with a 40-yard sprint and extensive bounce in the 81st and eightieth percentile respectively. His agility drills were not as spectacular, however that is an up-the-field outdoor rusher who seemed like an NFL defensive result in faculty. He was once credited with a force on 11 of his 91 pass-rush snaps this preseason with the Vikings. 

Honorable point out 

Seth Williams, WR, Jaguars 

Williams is a vintage, big-bodied, bodily boundary wideout who noticed a plethora of long term NFL cornerbacks in the SEC whilst at Auburn. While he did flame out at Denver — with brutal quarterback play there, I should upload — he had seven grabs for 109 yards in the preseason with Jacksonville this August and registered 10 catches for 104 yards with a rating with the Broncos in 3 exhibition video games a yr in the past. 

Michael Ojemudia, CB, Rams

I vividly recall scouting Ojemudia at Iowa, and he felt like the subsequent in a shockingly lengthy line of well-coached long term NFL starters from that program. While he by no means totally materialized into that during Denver, his rookie season wasn’t a complete waste — 62 tackles and 6 move breakups — he was once injured all ultimate season. In a zone-based function, Ojemudia can go back to his Hawkeye roots as a playmaker. At Iowa, he defended 15 passes and had six interceptions in his ultimate two seasons.

Jalen Cropper, WR, Cowboys 

Cropper was once a tiny, bouncy, big-play ready to occur at Fresno State in 2022. He had 80-plus grabs in every of his ultimate seasons for the Bulldogs and scored 16 touchdowns. Being that productive of a touchdown-creator at 5-foot-11 and 172 kilos signifies Cropper is a talented separator. That indication is right kind. He’s unexpected in any respect 3 ranges. 

Rayshad Nichols, DT, Ravens

Nichols is a wide-bodied drive on the internal. He simply seems like a Ravens defensive take on. He did leave out some tackles in the preseason, however I really like his skill to shed blocks and get upfield when wanted at 6-foot-3 and 305-310 kilos. 

DeWayne McBride, RB, Vikings

After the Cam Akers industry, I misplaced all hope for McBride being increased to the Vikings 53-man roster, which, to me, may nonetheless use a jolt of recent dashing ability. Now with Akers misplaced for the season, that might replace. McBride is not going to hit 90-yard touchdowns, however there are just a make a selection few authentic game-breakers at the operating again place in lately’s NFL. He’s naturally elusive with gentle ft and durable touch steadiness. 

Austin Watkins Jr., WR, Browns

Watkins led all gamers in receiving yards all the way through the common season, and I take into account him being a blast at UAB. Decently twitchy — regardless of a blah exercise — Watkins can sooner or later give a contribution for any person this season. He’s robust in contested-catch eventualities, too.