By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott was asked whether or not he would keep four quarterbacks on his roster on Monday. Those four options are rookie Josh Allen, Matt Barkley, Derek Anderson and Nathan Peterman.
Barkley played well against the New York Jets in a 41-10 win on Sunday. Allen appears to be trending in the right direction health wise as he recovers from an elbow sprain. Anderson is still in the concussion protocol, but McDermott constantly praises him for his veteran knowledge.
And then there were three.
McDermott responded to that prior-referenced question by saying: “We’ll see.”
Apparently he’s seen enough just six hours later.
The Bills announced on Monday evening that they’ve released Peterman. The announcement comes after Week 10, which is the same week the team named him as their surprising starting QB against the Los Angeles Chargers in 2017, where Peterman was picked off five times in one half.
Peterman’s first tenure on Buffalo’s 53-man roster was nothing short of a roller coaster which had more downs than ups. After his brutal showing against the Chargers, Peterman made a late playoff game appearance last season against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was picked off.
This offseason, Peterman out-right won the team’s starting job heading into the season over Allen and AJ McCarron, who was later traded. Peterman looked the part in the preseason, too. Unfortunately that didn’t last. He was benched on opening day against the Baltimore Ravens and the team turned things over to Allen.
Still, Peterman found his way into the lineup and eventually tossed a game-losing, pick-six interception against the Houston Texans this season. That was followed up by a three-interception outing against the Chicago Bears two weeks ago.
After Barkley’s strong game on Sunday and with Allen’s health improving, Buffalo decided to move on from Peterman on Monday. McDermott said on Monday if health, Allen will start of the bye week. That should be further expected with the decision to release Peterman.
For his career, Peterman has a 52.3 completion percentage with three touchdowns and 12 interceptions. His career ends with an interception percentage of 9.2 percent. Many of Peterman’s shortcoming surrounded his inability to toss strong passes toward his targets, allowing defenders to steal the ball.
Just six hours prior to releasing Peterman, McDermott spoke for the first and only time this week. The coach won’t speak to the media for another week as Buffalo enters their bye week.
There, McDermott was asked about Peterman and he still expressed positives about the quarterback.
“I’m still confident in Nate,” McDermott said. “I thought, just like the question with Josh in a separate way, also an important way, that Nate had a front row seat to watch Matt come in and handle the offense and do what he did.”
Because of this, it would not be a shock to see Peterman land on Buffalo’s practice squad if he clears waivers.