Inside The Bills

Loss of Byrd, McGee means fewer options

Posted by Chris Brown on December 23, 2009 – 11:45 am

When Jairus Byrd and Terrence McGee were still playing it afforded interim head coach Perry Fewell more options in terms of personnel groupings in his secondary. Those options are now gone.

Fewell often rotated Byrd with Donte Whitner at free safety, with Whitner playing in their base defenses and Byrd in the nickel and subpackages of late. Now with Byrd on I-R, Whitner is likely to man free safety full time.

That means Whitner as an option in the slot in the nickel package is less likely. With McGee on I-R too, Reggie Corner is expected to play LCB for Buffalo’s base defense and then shift inside to nickel to play the slot with Ashton Youboty coming on the field to play LCB.