ORCHARD PARK - Outside of the day the season ends, which for the 31 teams who don’t win the Super Bowl is never pleasant, this last week in August is the least favorite time of the year for NFL coaches and general managers.

Every team loves its players, so telling around 37 or so who have spent their summer sweating on the 90-man training camp roster that they aren’t making the initial 53-man roster is not something anyone looks forward to, especially the players who are receiving the bad news.

“In the end our job is to do what’s best for the organization,” said defensive coordinator Bobby Babich, who will have a greater say in the roster selection now that he has been promoted to that position. “We care for all these guys but there’s a business side to things. I’ll be honest it sucks. It sucks when you get to those moments in our calendar where you have to part with people. It’s never easy.”

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There will be more than a thousand players released or placed on some type of reserve list by 4 p.m. Tuesday, and while hundreds will either get signed elsewhere or return to the practice squad, it’s a difficult situation for everyone involved.

For a team like the Buffalo Bills, four-time defending AFC East champions and still considered a Super Bowl contender, the bulk of the roster has long been set in stone, but there are still some important decisions yet to be made and Saturday’s preseason finale at Highmark Stadium against the Carolina Panthers is the last chance for players to make an impression good enough to tip the scales in their favor.

“The sad truth is, throughout the entire league, this is the last game that some guys will ever play, and it’s not a fun Sunday, Monday,” said Josh Allen, who has never had to worry about such a fate. “It’s not fun, I feel for the guys. I love these guys, and hopefully we can get a lot of them back.”

They will, but not all.

Here are the five most intriguing position groups to watch Saturday:

Quarterback: Who is the No. 2 man on the roster?

Seriously, there is an interesting competition that will be happening in this game. While it’s enormously unlikely that Ben DiNucci or Anthony Brown is going to become Allen’s backup should Mitchell Trubisky land on injured reserve or simply be unavailable for the first few weeks as a game day inactive, one of them will probably be signed to the practice squad and their performance against the Panthers could decide their fate.

I would say the last position the Bills were concerned about going into training camp was quarterback. Allen is a superstar who never misses a game (he hasn’t since 2018, at least) and they were happy — curiously so in my opinion — that they brought back Trubisky to be the No. 2 after his two-year flop in Pittsburgh.

We don’t know how severe his knee injury is — apparently he’s not having surgery, but he’s wearing a brace right now so it’s possible that Allen’s backup, at least for the early part of the season, may not be on the roster at this moment and it could be a player who gets cut on Tuesday.

Wide receiver: If injuries pan out, this might already be decided

The top four are set with Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel, Keon Coleman and Mack Hollins. Last year the Bills rostered only five, and based on his fully guaranteed contract, Marquez Valdes-Scantling presumably is the fifth man. Now he’s hurt, as is Samuel, but coach Sean McDermott said Thursday that he believes both are in a good spot to return for Week 1.

If that happens, is that group done, or will the Bills consider keeping six. Would it be Tyrell Shavers who makes the team? He has done some nice things in practice but he’s done nothing in the first two games, with the caveat that the QB situation has been, to put it mildly, troublesome so it’s tough to evaluate.

What about 2023 fifth-round pick Justin Shorter who has been pretty invisible in practice and the games? And then there’s KJ Hamler and Andy Isabella, whose best path seemed to be as a return man but neither has impressed in that area.

Offensive line: Lots of backup options to sort through

The starting five is locked in, but there’s quite a jumble in the reserve battle. If the Bills keep nine in total, you have Alec Anderson (interior) and Ryan Van Demark (swing tackle) in seemingly strong positions as both were on the 53-man roster all of 2023 and line coach Aaron Kromer likes their potential.

If that’s true, there are two spots available, maybe three depending on numbers elsewhere, to be decided between two veteran free agents signees, Will Clapp and Lael Collins, two draft picks in fifth-rounder Sedrick Van Pran-Granger and sixth-rounder Tylan Grable, and perhaps Richard Gouriage who was on the practice squad last season.

Edge rusher: Do they keep five or six?

This may be the most difficult position to figure out because the Bills have several intriguing options behind the top three of Greg Rousseau, AJ Epenesa, and Von Miller, and it feels like whoever they cut will get signed elsewhere.

Veteran Dawuane Smoot has certainly done enough to earn his spot in the four-man game day rotation, and his ability to slide inside definitely strengthens his case so I think he’s pretty much a given. If the Bills keep only five, they have 2024 fifth-round pick Javon Solomon, veteran free agent signee Casey Toohill, and 2023 Bills practice squaders Kingsley Jonathan and Kameron Cline battling for that final jersey.

I have to believe Solomon is the choice for obvious reasons; he’s a rookie draft pick, but beyond that, he has done some impressive things both as a rusher, which is why he was drafted, but also in the run game, something that wasn’t expected this early in his development.

I think Toohill is out because he simply hasn’t flashed, partly because he missed a week with a groin injury, and Jonathan and Cline haven’t done enough to overcome Solomon’s draft status advantage. It’s possible they could get all three on the practice squad if they wanted, but I think any or all three could get scooped up.

Linebacker: Injuries complicating the process

In the past the Bills have kept six, even though they start only two and that’s because of special teams. Linebackers are great athletes whose skills translate to special teams, and those skills will be even more coveted with the new kickoff design.

Injured Matt Milano won’t count against the six if the Bills do the expected and place him on injured reserve with the intention of using one of their eight IR designations to return later in the season.

Dorian Williams will start in Milano’s place next to Terrel Bernard, but behind them there’s plenty to figure out and the never-ending injury status of Nicholas Morrow and Baylon Spector makes it even more complicated. I think veteran Deion Jones, who was signed in the offseason and has stayed healthy, should make it because he can play both inside and outside. And rookie fifth-round pick Edefuan Ulofoshio, like Seymour, has the advantage of being drafted.

So where does that leave Buffalo native Joe Andreessen who has been one of the breakout players of the summer? It all comes down to Morrow and Spector’s injury situation, but if Andreessen has another good performance Saturday, I think he makes it because the only thing I’ve ever seen from Spector since he joined the team in 2022 is rehabbing from injuries.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills vs Carolina Panthers game to settle roster cuts