BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills General Manager Brandon Beane would theoretically consider cutting an unvaccinated player if it meant the team being able to lift NFL COVID-19 protocols restricting in-person team meetings.

“Yeah, I would,” Beane told the team-sponsored ” One Bills Live” broadcast on Wednesday.

“You guys saw it in the fieldhouse, we had three and four meetings going on, and sometimes you’re talking over each other. But it was the only way to pull it off and be social distant,” he added, referring to NFL protocols limiting the number of players who could meet at one time. “So it would be an advantage to cut a player and fall under that umbrella.”

Beane’s response was to a question about potentially cutting a player at the lower end of Buffalo’s 53-man roster, and comes when the NFL is loosening its restrictions for teams whose staff and players have been fully vaccinated.

The Bills, for example, were one of numerous teams allowed to conduct the draft at their headquarters and without officials wearing face masks under the new vaccination rules.

The Bills did not make Beane available for comment.

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What’s unclear is whether and how the NFL will expand its policy once teams begin practicing in person.

Last year, teams were limited to hosting most meetings via Zoom, with restrictions placed on how many players and coaches could gather at one time. Team officials and players were also required to undergo daily COVID-19 testing and wear masks.

Beane expects those restrictions to be loosened, while noting the rules have yet to be determined.

“I think there’s going to be some incentives. If you have `X’ number of percent of your players and staff vaccinated, you can live normal, let’s call it – back to the the old days,” he said.

“If you don’t, it’s going to look more like last year. But I hope, if those are the rules, that we’ll be able to get enough people to be vaccinated and not have to deal with all the headaches.”

The topic of vaccinations has been a source of debate among the Bills.

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Last month, quarterback Josh Allen told The Ringer podcast the decision to get vaccinated is a personal choice, while adding he was still debating whether to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I think everybody should have a choice to do it and not to do it,” Allen said, speaking by video from his offseason home in California. “You get in this tricky situation now where if you do mandate that, that’s kind of going against what our Constitution says, and the freedom to kind of express yourself one way or the other.”

The NFL and NFL Players Association are encouraging but not mandating players to get vaccinated.

Starting safety Jordan Poyer’s wife, Rachel Bush, has actively protested mask wearing and mandatory vaccination on her Twitter account. Bush is an Instagram model who has nearly 91,000 followers.

On Wednesday, Bush deleted a post in which she noted numerous high-profile players are against receiving the vaccine.

In the deleted tweet, posted about an hour after Beane spoke, Bush wrote: “I wonder if Buffalo is aware of how many players are actually against being an experiment for the vaccine. I know some big names right off the bat. Can’t force anyone to do anything. ”

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Bush then questioned whether any push to have players vaccinated could be divisive.

“Have to keep the vibes we have had in the past if you expect success this year,” she wrote.

Poyer was a defensive team captain last season.

COWBOYS: The Dallas Cowboys released defensive tackle Antwaun Woods, less than a week after drafting two potential replacements for a starter from each of the past three seasons.

Woods had signed a nonguaranteed $2.1 million contract as a restricted free agent last month, so his release won’t cost anything against the salary cap.

After giving up a franchise-record 473 points and having the second-worst run defense in the NFL, the Cowboys used eight of their 11 draft picks on defensive players last week, the most since the draft was reduced to seven rounds in 1994.

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CARDINALS: The Arizona Cardinals have created the Adele Harris Scholarship to honor the 50th anniversary of Harris becoming the first Black female to work in the front office of an NFL franchise.

The $10,000 scholarship will be given each year to a graduating high school student in Arizona who is pursuing a career in sports.

JAGUARS: The Jacksonville Jaguars have fired four longtime scouting executives, including two who had been with the team more than two decades, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.

The person said the Jaguars parted with Chris Driggers, Andy Dengler, Mark Ellenz and Paul Roell following the NFL draft. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the moves were not publicly announced.

Driggers, Dengler, Ellenz and Roell had been with the Jags a combined 66 seasons. Each of them was either hired or promoted by former general manager Dave Caldwell, who was fired in November.

The team removed all four fired execs from its website.

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Driggers was the team’s director of pro personnel since 2015. He had been one of six staff members who joined the franchise in 1994, shortly after its inception.

Dengler was the team’s assistant director of player personnel since 2013. He first joined the Jags as a regional scout in 1998.

Ellenz was the team’s director of college scouting since 2016. He joined the Jaguars as a regional scout in 2013. He started his NFL career as an assistant training camp coordinator with New Orleans in 1998.

Roell was the team’s assistant director of college scouting since 2013. He joined the Jags that year after serving seven seasons as a regional scout with Minnesota. Roell started his NFL career as an area scout for Indianapolis in 1991.

The changes were somewhat expected under new coach Urban Meyer, who is revamping every aspect of the floundering franchise.

LIONS: The Detroit Lions signed tight end Darren Fells.

The 35-year-old Fells has 123 career catches with 1,483 yards receiving and 21 touchdowns. The previous two years in Houston, he had a combined 55 catches for 653 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Fells has started 76 games – including 13 with the Lions in 2017 – and played in 102 games with Arizona, Detroit, Cleveland and the Texans. He was a rebounding standout at UC Irvine and played basketball in Argentina, Mexico, Belgium, Finland and France before playing in the NFL.

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