In addition to the 30 roster moves made by the Buffalo Bills to get within league requirements, the team also made a trade to boost the wide receiver group on the roster — all the while giving up on another draft pick by former general manager Doug Whaley.
The Bills acquired wide receiver Kaelin Clay and a seventh-round selection in the 2019 NFL Draft from the Carolina Panthers. In return, the Bills sent the cornerback Kevon Seymour to Carolina.
With the acquisition in a one-for-one player trade, the Bills will not have to make any additional trades to stay within league limitations on 53-man rosters.
Seymour was a sixth-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
Joe B’s Take
Many fans that see the news that Kevon Seymour had been traded, and will wonder, “What happened?”
After all, it’s true: the second-year player showed some promise and potential as a rookie in training camp and the preseason with Rex Ryan as head coach. However, what a difference a year makes for the former sixth-round pick.
The first indication that Seymour could be in trouble was in the preseason finale when the second-year player was seen on a kickoff coverage unit in the second half. Those duties are usually reserved for players that are not solidly on the team and are trying to prove their worth in other areas on the field.
You then add that up with a slew of other factors: not being a good fit for the Sean McDermott zone-based defense, missing a lot of time during the summer with injuries, and failing to impress when he was healthy. In a man-to-man defense like the one Rex Ryan used to employ in Buffalo, Seymour seemed at home. In McDermott’s zone defense, Seymour seemed a little foreign to its concepts.
The current Bills weren’t sure what Seymour was — whether that be an outside cornerback, or someone more appropriately used as a nickel corner. But that ‘home’ position just never was realized, and in the meantime, veteran Leonard Johnson locked up the starting nickel corner position.
In return, the Bills bring in Kaelin Clay — a player that hasn’t caught a pass, but offers an element that the Bills simply do not have amongst their wide receiver group: raw speed, and the ability to blow the top off the defense — one of the best throwing skills Taylor has in his arsenal.
Clay will also battle Brandon Tate to be the main return man for the Bills as he gets more comfortable in Buffalo. It could make either Tate expendable, or even someone like veteran wide receiver Philly Brown could be in jeopardy of making it through the weekend on the 53-man roster with waivers coming through over the next 20 hours.
The Bills clearly didn’t have Seymour in the plans, so they picked up value where they could, and hoped to add an element to their offense that they did not possess when they day started. The vision of what this team will be from the viewpoint of Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane is very clear, and if they have players that don’t fit that vision, they’ll be jettisoned just like Seymour was on Saturday.
