Bills Mailbag: Why was Maxwell Hairston in the game so late against the Jets?
"We learned that the roster construction is too light on boundary cornerbacks," Jay Skurski says. "Having Tre’Davious White and Maxwell Hairston play as much as they did reinforced that."
The playoffs are here. No more of an introduction is needed. Let’s get right to your questions for the midweek mailbag …
Jeffrey asks: Did we really learn anything from this game against the Jets? When does Brandon Beane start talks with his upcoming free agents?
Jay: We learned that the Jets stink. Serious answer: We learned that the roster construction is too light on boundary cornerbacks. Having Tre’Davious White and Maxwell Hairston play as much as they did reinforced that. Hairston suffered an injury that is likely to cause him to miss the game against the Jaguars. Injuries elsewhere on the roster, including to linebacker Terrel Bernard, and the desire to rest defensive ends Joey Bosa and Greg Rousseau, led to the team promoting edge rusher Matthew Judon and linebacker Keonta Jenkins from the practice squad. Those promotions made sense, but the Bills really needed another cornerback for this game. Of course, they had one on the active roster, but lost Ja’Marcus Ingram to the Texans when they attempted to claim Darius Slay off waivers, only to have him not report to the team. Now, the Bills will go into the playoffs with Christian Benford and White as the starters. Dane Jackson will almost assuredly be promoted from the practice squad to be their backup.
Bills rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston was injured tackling Jets receiver Quentin Skinner during the fourth quarter Sunday.
Hairston is likely to miss Sunday's wild-card matchup with the Jaguars. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
As for when Beane will start talks with his impending unrestricted free agents, of which there are 23 on the roster, each situation is different. Center Connor McGovern told me recently that talks on a contract extension dated back to last summer, but were tabled once the season started. I’d imagine bringing McGovern back will be a top priority, along with left guard David Edwards. Talks on the players Beane really wants to bring back will begin shortly after the season ends, well before the start of unrestricted free agency in March. The Bills will want to get deals done before players hit the open market.
DavyBoy asks: I believe that Tyrell Shavers only played the first quarter of the game against the Jets. It seems like the coaching staff was resting him for the Jacksonville game. Do you think this is for his blocking skills, which I think are great, or will he be one of the starting wideouts for the playoff game? He had a couple really nice catches late in the season.
Jay: The snap counts at wide receiver were interesting in Week 18. Brandin Cooks was inactive, Khalil Shakir dressed but didn’t play and Shavers played just four snaps, which was 5% of the offensive total. Gabe Davis led the position with 70 snaps (93%), followed closely by Joshua Palmer (63 snaps, 84%) and Keon Coleman (61 snaps, 81%). Clearly, the coaching staff prioritized getting as much rest as possible for starters and meaningful contributors, so I would draw the same conclusion as you, Davy, that Shavers will factor heavily into the offensive game plan against the Jaguars. Whether that’s more as a receiver or for his blocking ability remains to be seen, but he’s going to play an important role. Beyond that, Shakir will have his usual role in the slot. My guess would be that Coleman will be inactive. It’s fairly clear at this point that he’s No. 6 on the depth chart. That’s, of course, a big disappointment given his draft status as the first pick of the second round in 2024.
Carmen asks: It’s generally agreed that a team with the best record should be rewarded in the NFL playoffs with advantages like home field or a bye week. But does it really make sense that the rest of the teams with the best records have to take a backseat to division leaders with inferior records?
Jay: Yes, it makes sense. There needs to be a reward for winning your division, and a home playoff game is a just reward. Now, my idea would be to reseed after the divisional round, based on regular-season record. Let’s say the Bills and Steelers win this weekend. As it is, if the seedings hold and the Patriots beat the No. 7 Chargers, Buffalo would go to Denver in the divisional round, while New England would host Pittsburgh. My suggestion would be for the teams to be reseeded based on regular-season record, so in this scenario it would be 1-Denver, 2-New England, 3-Buffalo, 4-Pittsburgh. That would be fair, especially since the Bills beat the Steelers in the regular season, not to mention had a better record by two games. If we went with my idea and the Chargers beat the Patriots, the Bills would actually host the Chargers in the divisional round, while the Steelers would go to Denver. I like this idea a lot, because it rewards both division winners and strong wild-card teams with the possibility of a home game. The one issue that I’ve run into with the idea is the pesky Monday night game, which requires the winner to play on Sunday of divisional weekend. Because the Monday night game this year is an AFC matchup, the winner of that would not be asked to play Saturday on divisional weekend. Denver, as the No. 1 seed, will host a divisional game, but in my scenario, if they were to draw Pittsburgh or Houston, well … that’s a problem I can’t quite figure out. Perhaps someone smarter has a solution beyond eliminating a Monday night playoff game, which was always an awful, money-hungry idea to begin with.
Anthony asks: With Mike White in Carolina and Shane Buechele in Kansas City, who is the Bills’ disaster quarterback?
Jay: Sean McDermott was asked this question last week, and played coy with his response, citing competitive reasons. I’m not sure how competitive the Bills would be if both Josh Allen and Mitch Trubisky were hurt in the same game, but I digress. On the current roster, my guess would be that tight end Dawson Knox would take over. He’s got experience as a quarterback in high school and should be able to hand off to James Cook. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Bills decided to add a quarterback to the practice squad, if only to run the scout team. In fact, I’m a bit surprised that hasn’t happened yet.
Sam Ruggiero asks: Kevin Stefanski was fired by the trainwreck that is the Cleveland Browns. Will he be considered for a head coaching position, or would he rather be an offensive coordinator somewhere? Would the Bills consider interviewing him for offensive coordinator and get his brilliant offensive mind working with Josh Allen? That would be a football match made in heaven. Thoughts?
Jay: Stefanski reportedly has his eyes on other head-coaching opportunities. Fired by the Browns on Monday, it took just hours for the Giants, Falcons and Titans all to express interest in interviewing Stefanski for their respective openings at head coach. Whether that reflects a dearth of quality candidates this hiring cycle or another boneheaded move by the Browns to let Stefanski go in the first place is up for interpretation, but either way, it seems unlikely that he’ll have to go back to being an offensive coordinator. We should point out that, you know, the Bills don’t have an opening at offensive coordinator at the moment. That’s a fairly important factor to consider. Whether they will eventually depends on McDermott’s thinking, but he’s been consistent in his support of Joe Brady. If the Bills make an early playoff exit and the offense is largely to blame, we’ll see if that changes.
Ed asks: It’s understandable that the Bills’ press box remains professional during games. That’s always been the standard. But what was the atmosphere like amongst fellow media members in the game’s waning moments? Has it sunk in yet that, most likely, that was the last time you’ll ever work there? Or might that be when the stadium is imploded?
Jay: The moment it really hit me is when the game ended. Nobody left. It was cold. The score was lopsided … but it felt like nobody wanted it to end. Seeing some of the players stay on the field as the Jumbotron played highlights from the stadium’s history while “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls played was a moment I’ll remember for a long time. I’d say that was the moment I realized I won’t be back in the building, either for work, or when I’m done with this job, as a fan. I’m excited for the stadium and glad that a lot of the traditions surrounding game days, mainly the tailgates, will remain largely unchanged. But a piece of me will, of course, miss the current stadium, both personally and professionally.