Buffalo Bills release former Georgia Bulldogs quarterback
Like every NFL team, the Buffalo Bills were forced to make some tough decisions on Tuesday ahead of the NFL’s 4 p.m. deadline to set 53-man rosters — and among those released by Buffalo was former Georgia Bulldogs star Jake Fromm.
The 2020 fifth-round pick spent last season, his rookie year, as the Buffalo Bills’ emergency quarterback. In a season plagued by COVID-19 isolations and quarantines, Fromm was instructed to practice, watch film and work out alone — or, at least a distance away from other players — in the event that a member of the Bills quarterback room tested positive for COVID-19. If that happened, Fromm would be thrust into the starting role as an emergency option. He was behind both Josh Allen and Matt Barkley.
“It was definitely just a very interesting five to six months for me. I’ve never gone through anything like that,” Fromm said of his rookie season. “It was definitely very, very tough, and very, very lonely at times, but I kept going back to my faith and my family. And knowing I was gonna see them soon and knowing that hopefully, all this will pay off one day.
“I wanted to be ready and honestly I showed up to work every day and said, ‘Hey let’s go, be ready. This is where I’m at, this is where my feet are at, let’s go give it 100% and give it my all,'” he continued.
In three preseason games for the Bills this season, Fromm completed 58.3 percent of his passes — 21 of 36 total attempts — for 172 passing yards. He did not throw a touchdown or an interception and didn’t receive much help from his offensive line, as he was sacked five times. He did, however, lead a 74-yard scoring drive late in the Bills’ 16-15 preseason win over the Detroit Lions, which resulted in a Tyler Bass game-winning field goal. On that drive, he completed eight of 13 passes for 65 yards, and catalyzed the Bills’ drive with a 42-yard completion to rookie Marquez Stevenson on 4th-and-10.
Fromm, a native of Warner Robins, Georgia, was a five-star prospect entering college and ranked in the Class of 2017’s top-five quarterbacks. He had an extremely successful career with the Bulldogs and ended with 8,224 carer passing yards, good for fourth in Georgia program history; 78 career touchdowns, second-most in school history, and was a mainstay on the Davey O’Brien Award watchlist, making it to the list of 16 semifinalists in 2018 and the “Great 8” list in 2019.
Strangely, the news came just one day after general manager Brandon Beane commended Fromm for how he handled what he labeled “a weird year” that the Bills set up “unintentionally.”
“In the COVID world, he’s drafted, and Jake did a heck of a job to have to go through a season sitting away from all of his teammates and every meeting including the quarterback room,” Beane said. “In practice, he’s working out in the weight room by himself and coming back for the team periods. He’s literally going through his motions 30 yards away from what Josh and Barkley were doing. You know, what a tough deal for him but he handled it and matured.”