Bills release former Pro Bowler due to roster shortages

The countdown to cut day continues, as all 32 teams in the NFL must trim their rosters from 90 to 53 players by 4 p.m. Tuesday. On Sunday afternoon, the Buffalo Bills made some moves to get closer to that number. They sent two safeties – Terrell Burgess and Dee Delaney – to the injured list, while seven other hopeful players received the bad news that they will be released before the season. Those seven players include veteran wide receiver Damiere Byrd and former Pro Bowl linebacker Deion Jones, who Buffalo signed to a one-year contract in May.

“The #Bills have released former Pro Bowl LB Deion Jones,” tweeted Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team.

After a standout senior season at LSU in 2015, Deion Jones was selected in the 2nd round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons and made an immediate impact upon arriving in A-Town. In his rookie season, Jones led a Falcons team that went to the Super Bowl in tackles and led the entire league in interceptions returned for touchdowns with two. Jones was even better in his sophomore season, earning his only Pro Bowl nomination after finishing the season with the sixth-most solo tackles in the league, along with 3 interceptions and 10 tackles for loss.

Deion Jones spent the first six years of his NFL career in Atlanta, finishing five of those six seasons with at least 100 tackles. The only time Jones sat out was during the 2018 season, when he was limited to just six games due to a foot injury that landed Jones on the injured list early in the season. Jones spent the 2022 season with the Cleveland Browns, starting five games in 11 appearances, before spending the 2023 season playing sporadically for the Carolina Panthers.

Jones is only 29 years old, so it's possible he could be considered again, but given his inability to fit into a Bills roster that has already been decimated by injuries this summer, that doesn't look promising.

Sonny Giuliano is a veteran sportswriter for ClutchPoints who has covered NFL, NCAA Football, NBA and NCAA Basketball for over a decade. A native of Naples, Florida, he received his degree from Florida Gulf Coast University.