Bills Reportedly Shopping Roscoe Parrish In Trade Talks

(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

The addition of Terrell Owens to the Buffalo Bills made one of their wide receivers expendable. Thursday, Bills' fans learned that receiver is Roscoe Parrish.

Lee Evans and Owens clearly are the No. 1 and No. 2 receivers in Buffalo for the coming season, and Josh Reed looks to be the best option at No. 3. 

In 2008, Reed was a virtual first down machine. Of his 56 catches, 36 went for first downs, and he finished last season with 56 catches for 597 yards and one TD.

Parrish proved to be a liability at receiver last season. Poor route running and a failure to separate from defenders made him almost invisible in the Bills offense last season. 

Parrish caught only 24 passes and was routinely covered by opposing linebackers making it easier for teams to double cover Evans. 

The coaching staff hoped Parrish could give defenses fits when he got to the open field with the ball in his hands. 

Unfortunately, Parrish had trouble hanging on to deep passes which made him one dimensional as a receiver and took away his greatest strength, making defenders miss.

Despite his inconsistency at wide out, it is Parrish's ability as a return man that has endeared him to fans and earned him the reputation as one of the NFL's most exciting playmakers.

Parrish averages almost 14 yards per return and has a return touchdown each of the last three seasons. 

His ability to flip the field on opposing teams has helped the Bills top-ranked special teams unit turn any forced punt into a potential scoring opportunity to the offense.

To put his numbers in perspective, Parrish has averaged more yards on punt returns than any player in NFL history, and averages almost two yards more per return than the electric Devin Hester.

So why would the Bills, a team that prides themselves on having the best special teams unit in the league, want to trade their best special teams player?

Mostly the emergence of Fred Jackson and last year's first round pick Leodis McKelvin, who had a kickoff return for a touchdown in his rookie season. 

Add to that Terrence McGee, who has returned kicks for the Bills his entire career, and Parrish becomes expendable to the front office.

The Bills have an abundance of wide outs on the team and if Steve Johnson and James Hardy live up to expectations, Parrish could drop to sixth on the depth chart. 

Parrish is a freak of an athlete and clearly the best return man on the Bills or any team in the league for that matter. But the Bills also have three more great returners on the team.

Most teams would love to have a player of Parrish's talents on their team. The Bills, however, aren't that much worse off without him. 

If the price is right, they will most likely pull the trigger on a trade.  But if not, keeping one more playmaker on the team couldn't hurt either.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?