Marcus Easley: Chan Gailey's Plan to Sneak Him onto Buffalo's Roster

I was extremely disappointed on Friday when Chan Gailey announced his final cuts required to get Buffalo down to a 53-man roster.  One of the players that I have been rooting for over the past few years has been Marcus Easley. 

I hoped that with his 100-yard kick return and successful two-point conversion, he may have done enough to make the roster.  I felt that Gailey failed to give him enough opportunities in the preseason to show that he's capable of making plays.  Now that he's cut, I'm starting to think that Gailey was always planning on cutting Easley, and wanted to sneak him on to the practice squad. 

I know this claim sounds slightly conspiracy theory-ish, but I don't think it's far-fetched.  Remember, this is the same coach that admittedly played Mike Jasper as a defensive tackle during the preseason to sneak him onto the practice squad as a guard without another team snatching him up. 

Let's start out with Easley's back story.  I'm guessing most readers that click on this article are already aware that Easley was receiving great reviews as a deep threat in training camp his rookie season.  A knee injury during training camp ended up landing him on the injured reserve before getting a chance to compete in a preseason game. 

Last year, he started as the No. 2 receiver opposite Stevie Johnson in Week 3 of the preseason.  In that game, Marcus was Buffalo's go-to receiver.  He recorded 5 catches on 7 targets for 51 yards and a touchdown.  Although this is only a preseason stat line, it's worth noting that those stats were recorded primarily against Jacksonville's starting defense, not against third-stringers in the fourth quarter. Shortly after that performance, Easley was put on the IR due to an unfortunate heart condition. 

This year, reports out of training camp haven't been quite as encouraging.  He has also received extremely limited playing time during the preseason.  I was initially wondering how Easley had sunk so far down the depth chart, but I now think Gailey was limiting his reps at WR on purpose to prevent him from making plays that other teams would see. 

Against the Pittsburgh Steelers, I kept looking for No. 81 to be lined up at WR.  I didn't see it until the fourth quarter had almost ended.  David Clowney entered the game earlier than Easley and received more playing time.  However, shortly after the game, Clowney was cut.

How could Clowney have been cut when he was ahead on the depth chart of a receiver that didn't get cut?  Clowney had 1 catch on 2 targets for 9 yards against Pittsburgh.  Nothing impressive, but he didn't make any glaring errors that should have gotten him kicked off the team, either. 

The only explanation is that Clowney was already lower on the depth chart than Easley, and Gailey was intentionally limiting the number of reps Marcus was receiving. 

Since whittling his team down to a 53-man roster, Gailey has admitted that "you've been around Buddy and I long enough to know that nothing's ever set."

Clearly, the Bills don't plan on carrying four QBs on the roster all year.  It's also very rare for an NFL team to carry only four WRs on its roster, especially a team that uses four- and five-wide spread formations as often as Buffalo.  Although Buffalo has versatility in players like Fred Jackson, C.J. Spiller, Brad Smith and Dorin Dickerson that can line up at receiver, I still think that Chan would like to have one more WR at his disposal. 

At some point during the season, a WR on Buffalo's roster will be hurt, or a QB will be released to open up another roster spot.  At that point, Gailey will want to have a WR on his practice squad that can be promoted to the active roster.  I expect Easley to be that player, and I believe that Gailey has been planning on having that option since training camp started.