Buffalo Bills Cut Veteran Running Back Heading Into Week 9
The Buffalo Bills are currently at the top of the AFC East through the first eight weeks of the 2024 NFL season. They moved to 6-2 with their third win in a row on Sunday, defeating the Seattle Seahawks 31-10 on the road.
A divisional matchup against the Miami Dolphins is on the schedule this week, and the Bills can create more distance between themselves and their AFC East counterparts with a fourth consecutive victory.
On Tuesday, the team decided to cut a veteran running back from the active roster.
The Bills have released running back Darrynton Evans in an effort to preserve his availability. Evans had returned from injured reserve on October 9, and his 21-day practice window was about to close this week.
Instead of forcing a healthy player to spend the rest of the season on injured reserve, the Bills simply elected to release him. If another team doesn't sign him, the Bills can add him back to the practice squad, where they can move him up to the active roster as they would with any other player.
Evans, who starred at Appalachian State in college, was a third-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. He spent the first two years of his career with the Tennessee Titans, and then joined the Chicago Bears in 2022.
CHICAGO, IL - AUGUST 21: A detail view of a Buffalo Bills helmet is seen on a cooler during a preseason game between the Chicago Bears and the Buffalo Bills on August 21, 2021 at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Last season, Evans spent time with the Bills, Bears and Dolphins. He signed a reserve contract with the Bills this offseason, and was placed on injured reserve shortly before the start of the regular season.
The Bills are looking to make it back to the postseason for the fifth year in a row, but this year's team looks different from some of the previous iterations. Quarterback Josh Allen remains the star of the show, but important contributors like Stefon Diggs, Tre'Davious White and Jordan Poyer are all on different teams.
The Bills will meet Poyer for the second time this season in their rematch with the Dolphins next Sunday. In their first meeting, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered the widely-discussed concussion that put him on injured reserve.
