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Bills' biggest mistake on 53-man roster cutdown day ahead of 2026 NFL season
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- Bills' biggest mistake on 53-man roster cutdown day ahead of 2026 NFL season
Bills' biggest mistake on 53-man roster cutdown day ahead of 2026 NFL season appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The Buffalo Bills cut 21 players, put a few more on different inactive lists, and created their initial 2026 53-man roster on Sunday. Around 45 of those roster spots were pretty much a lock, so there weren't a ton of surprises here. Still, that means there were seven or eight spots where Brandon Beane and Joe Brady had to make some tough decisions. Most of those decisions make perfect sense, but there was one glaring mistake: releasing rookie cornerback Toriano Pride .
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Of the players who were cut from the Bills' 53-man roster, most of the toughest decisions ended up back on the practice squad . That includes quarterback Shane Buechele , running back Frank Gore , wide receivers Trent Sherfield and Ja'Mori Maclin, linebacker Keonta Jenkins, and safety Geno Stone , among others.
Breakout preseason RB Ian Wheeler and fullback Ben VanSumeren were two of the biggest names not on the practice squad, with VanSumeren signing with the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad and Wheeler yet to be picked up after the Bills reportedly did not offer him a practice squad spot.
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Pride is a slightly different story. The seventh-round pick out of Missouri was immediately claimed on waivers up by the Cleveland Browns and added to their 53-man roster. This came after the Bills and Browns participated in a joint preseason practice, and the Browns' coaching staff came away impressed with the rookie .
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Why cutting CB Toriano Pride was a mistake
There are two main reasons that leaving Toriano Pride off the final Bills' 53-man roster—and eventually losing him—was a mistake.
The first reason is that the Bills used draft capital on him this season. Beane is a general manager who loves to move around the draft board and find "value" in moving up a few picks. He just did it most recently while trading backup center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger and a seventh-round pick to the Indianapolis Colts for a sixth-round pick.
Leaving aside the fact that SVPG was a fifth-rounder just two years ago, and the Bills failed to develop him into anything more than a depreciated trade asset, all the Bills got in return for the center was a slight move-up in the 2027 NFL Draft. The smartest GMs in the NFL tend to get more picks in trade returns, which gives them more bites at the apple, but I digress.
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The point is, to take a drafted player and expose them to waivers before they ever play a down for you is a mistake. That didn't happen to any other drafted Bills rookie this season, including the two players picked after Pride, punter Tommy Doman Jr. and guard Ar'maj Reed-Adams.
The other reason this is a mistake is that the Bills are already short at cornerback, which again makes you seriously question Beane's competence.
Going back again to the 2026 NFL Draft. Beane shockingly took CB Davison Igbinosun in Round 2 after selecting CB Maxwell Hairston in Round 1 the year prior. He said this is because corner depth is of the utmost importance and that Buffalo was lacking in that department.
OK, fine.
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But now, the Bills have ended up keeping only five CBs on the roster ( Christian Benford , Hairston, Igbinosun, Dee Alford , and Jordan Hancock ), and only three of those (Benford, Hairston, and Igbinosun) are true outside boundary corners.
Beane did end up with three CBs on the practice squad (Kani Walker, Anthony Kendall , and Te'Cory Couch), but all three of those players are undrafted projects.
Cutting Toriano Pride was a mistake, and the Browns helped prove that by scooping him up immediately. He is a depth corner, though, so it's hard to say right now how much this mistake will hurt the Bills in the long run. Hopefully, the DBs will stay mostly healthy this season, and the team won't feel this mistake in 2027 at least.
That said, if Buffalo once again struggles with DB health late in the campaign and it again costs the team as it did in the Denver Broncos playoff loss last season, this mistake will be glaring.
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