The Bills parted ways with some veteran players on their roster Monday in Nickell Robey-Coleman, Dan Carpenter and long snapper Garrison Sanborn.
Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the details. Here is his report:
The difficult part of the offseason has arrived. It’s the time of year when NFL clubs like the Bills have to trim players from their roster to put themselves in a good fiscal position to upgrade their roster in the free agent market. On Monday Buffalo cut five players from their roster with that aim in mind. Chief among the player releases were kicker Dan Carpenter, CB Nickell Robey-Coleman and long snapper Garrison Sanborn.
Tight end Gerald Christian and S Phillip Thomas were also released from the roster.
Carpenter has been Buffalo’s place kicker for each of the last four seasons. His best year came in 2013 when he connected on a career high 92 percent of his field goal attempts. But the kicker’s numbers have been in decline in each of the past three seasons.
In 2015 he struggled mightily with the new distance of 33 yards for point after touchdown attempts missing six. He missed five more extra points last season along with six missed field goal attempts and had one of the lowest success rates in the league (76%).
Robey-Coleman had spent his entire NFL career with the Bills after signing as an undrafted rookie in 2013. He served primarily as the team’s nickel corner in the slot over his four seasons in Buffalo. At times his diminutive stature was exploited by opponents in the passing game, but Robey-Coleman was always a competitor. He had signed a contract extension in 2015, but was entering the last year of his deal this fall.
Sanborn was one of the team’s longest-tenured players having spent the last eight seasons on Buffalo’s roster as the team’s long snapper. Competition for Sanborn’s job was present in training camp in the form of undrafted rookie signing Reid Ferguson out of LSU.
Sanborn held onto his job for the 2016 season, but Ferguson was added to the team’s practice squad in the latter half of the season and was signed as a future free agent in Janaury. He’s the odds on favorite to be Sanborn’s replacement in 2017.
Christian spent a brief time on Buffalo’s roster last year. Christian appeared in three games last season as he moved back and forth between the practice squad and active roster in 2016.