Robert Royal is Movin’ on Up, and Other Camp Notes

Fresh off of his 2-TD performance last Thursday, Robert Royal’s stock is rising, but this time it is the result of an injury to Derek Schouman, the man who has been seeing virtually all of the first team reps at tight end.  Schouman injured his knee during Thursday night’s game against Pittsburgh, and is out indefinitely.  Robert Royal is unquestionably the beneficiary of #80’s misfortune, and the starting job now appears to be his to lose.  What is telling about this injury, is the lack of confidence Buffalo are showing in free agent acquisition Courtney Anderson, who is still losing reps to Royal, and rookie Derek Fine.  Could Anderson miss the team altogether? 

In other news, tackle Patrick Estes was back in practice last night, alleviating some of the strain placed on the rest of the offensive line, who have been filling in at this position.  Josh Reed too was back on the field for last night’s session.  Both should be able to play in the team’s 3rd pre-season game this Sunday against Indianapolis. 

While a couple of players returned to work, a couple more were back on the sidelines, as rookies James Hardy and Kennard Cox sat out last night’s workout with hamstring and ankle injuries respectively.  Despite the injuries Buffalo have incurred, thus far none have been of the devastating variety.  Of course, anyone reading this should knock on wood!

The first cuts are just around the corner, as teams will have to cut their rosters down to 75 players by August 26th.  For the Bills, this will mean releasing 6 players to be in compliance.  I won’t even begin to make predictions, but I don’t anticipate any surprises.  This Sunday’s game may be the last chance for many of these players to turn some heads, which should make the 3rd and 4th quarters fun to watch.

We are now halfway through the pre-season, and with the aforementioned 1st cuts coming, the light is now at the end of the tunnel.  We are less than 3 weeks away from opening day, but in that time, there will assuredly be some big news, making the wait all that more interesting.  In the meantime…

Go Bills!

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