BUFFALO, N.Y. — General manager Brandon Beane confirmed Saturday afternoon that the Buffalo Bills released running back LeSean McCoy before the cut-down deadline of 4 p.m.
The 31-year-old veteran running back had been with the team for four seasons.
"We made a tough decision today, and it went in through the night and on to this morning, and as difficult as it was, we always have to make what we think is the best decision for our football team, and we just felt it was the right time to make this move," Bills GM Brandon Beane said on a conference call with reporters Saturday afternoon.
"I've got nothing but great things to say about LeSean, and I appreciate his time here as a Buffalo Bill even before I got here. It was tough, but again, we wish LeSean the best. He obviously was frustrated, rightfully so. But again we made the decision that we made and we're going to move forward."
McCoy told reporters at training camp earlier in the month that he was still "the guy" in Buffalo's backfield; however, there was speculation he would be traded after Buffalo signed Frank Gore and T.J. Yeldon in free agency, and then it ramped up after Buffalo also used a third-round draft pick to select Devin Singletary.
Bills coach Sean McDermott said at the end of last season that McCoy is staying put. He said McCoy was in their plans for 2019, and Beane echoed those comments in his end-of-the-year news conference, and then again on the first day of training camp.
But after Gore and Singletary had impressive preseason performances, things changed. Beane explained how they got from publicly backing up McCoy and deeming him their starter to releasing him on cut-down day.
"We believe in LeSean and still believe he can play," Beane said. "After the draft you've got a guy like Devin Singletary, who we were excited about, but some guys transition faster, some guys transition slower, and that's one of the decisions. Who is ready in that running group to contribute right away? And we just felt right now that Devin would be able to help us along with the other guys that we're keeping, so that all went into this decision."
Former Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan traded linebacker Kiko Alonso to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for McCoy in the spring of 2015. This would have been McCoy's 11th NFL season.
McCoy topped 1,000 yards rushing six times and led the NFL in yards rushing in 2013, but his numbers plummeted last season. His 514 yards rushing and 752 combined yards from scrimmage were career lows, which Beane said he doesn't blame McCoy for.
The Bills got three draft picks for two players (Wyatt Teller and Russell Bodine) before cut-down day but they could not make a deal happen to get something back for McCoy. 2 On Your Side's Heather Prusak asked Beane how close they were to making a trade.
"Guys that have skins on the wall like him you definitely check around," he said. "We did our due diligence. I'm not going to go into where and how and all that, but just as we've looked around for players. So yes, we did look around to see if there was a right fit, but we did not find that, and that was in the very last, I'm going to call it the '23rd hour,' because this decision really came down all the way to this morning."
Beane said he wouldn't get into whether or not the Bills asked McCoy to take a pay cut.
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