Bills' GM Brandon Beane tries to explain away Darius Slay roster blunder

The Buffalo Bills waived versatile DB Ja'Marcus Ingram after claiming veteran CB Darius Slay in early December.

The fallout was a rare situation, where Slay refused to play for the Bills, and Ingram being subsequently claimed off waivers by the Houston Texans. The Bills lost out on both players.

During his end-of-season press conference, GM Brandon Beane addressed the roster blunder, explaining how that decision was made.

Always Looking for Depth

Beane explained, "Sean and I always talked about areas of concern...as the season goes on you obviously face injuries, and at that point in the season, Dorian Strong was out, Maxwell [Hairston] had come back, we were still kinda working him in there. If Tre [White] or CB [Christian Benford] goes down, the next guy is Ja'Marcus. We think with Darius Slay, his history, his pedigree, would be a good guy. We're trending towards the playoffs here. So we talked about it. Sean, his coaches watched him. We talked about the pros and cons to doing it, and we ultimately decided to do it."

Oct 14, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Buffalo Bills defensive back Ja'Marcus Ingram (46) reacts during the second half against the New York Jets | Lucas Boland-Imagn Images

Misunderstanding Slay

Somehow, Buffalo was unable to read between the lines of Slay's request to be released from the Steelers, with the belief among the media that he wanted to return to the Philadelphia Eagles.

MORE: Bills' Sean McDermott gets testy when asked about Darius Slay again

"When we claimed Darius Slay we had no idea that he had the intent to only play for one team. The way the rules work, I would’ve loved when I found that out, to push him back and say ‘Alright, we were not aware of that, give us Ja’Marcus back,’ so that we don’t lose both, but that’s not how the rules work," Beane explained.

Losing Ingram

"I always remind the coaches…hopefully we can get Ja’Marcus back on the practice squad, which we had hoped that we could. Any time you release a player, you have to assume one of 31 can claim him."

Beane invoked the fact that Ingram wasn't always active on gameday. "Ja’Marcus, we love him, and didn’t want him to go, but he had also been inactive for a number of games." Ingram was active for seven of the 12 games Buffalo had played to that point, but appeared in all 17 last season.

Darnell Savage

Beane described how the consequences were overblown. "Houston put a claim in, and we decided once we learned about what Darius’ situation was, to bring in Darnell Savage who was released a couple days later. And we ended up needing safety depth."

MORE: 4 recent signs Sean McDermott's job status was in jeopardy, and Josh Allen likely knew

The "need" was in the Divisional Round, when Cam Lewis (who was already starting in place of an injured Jordan Poyer), left due to cramping. Rather than play rookie Jordan Hancock, who had filled in for Poyer in the previous week against Jacksonville, Buffalo gave the former first round pick the chance. Shortly after, Savage gave up a 29 yard touchdown to Lil'Jordan Humphrey.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) gets past a tackle attempt by Green Bay Packers safety Darnell Savage (26) | Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Conclusion

Beane wrapped up his answer by recapping that this was not an impulse decision.

"You’re just trying to constantly, incrementally, look for pieces on your roster. A very weird thing that happened, but that was not done rogue let’s just say," said Beane.

Brandon Beane, general manager of then Buffalo Bills, heads off the field at St. John Fisher University in Pittsford on July 24, 2025. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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