Buffalo Bills News & Rumors

Wednesday NFL Transactions: AFC East

Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These Bills, Dolphins, Jets and Patriots moves are noted below.

Buffalo Bills

Signed:

Claimed:

Signed to practice squad:

Miami Dolphins

Released:

Claimed:

Signed to practice squad:

New England Patriots

Signed:

Claimed:

Released:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

New York Jets

Signed:

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

2024 NFL Waiver Order

Waiver claims can begin coming in at 11am CT. While the waiver order will depend on 2024 records in several weeks, teams’ 2023 finishes currently determine it. Here is how the waiver priority list stacks up heading into today’s round of claims:

  1. Carolina Panthers
  2. Washington Commanders
  3. New England Patriots
  4. Arizona Cardinals
  5. Los Angeles Chargers
  6. New York Giants
  7. Tennessee Titans
  8. Atlanta Falcons
  9. Chicago Bears
  10. New York Jets
  11. Minnesota Vikings
  12. Denver Broncos
  13. Las Vegas Raiders
  14. New Orleans Saints
  15. Indianapolis Colts
  16. Seattle Seahawks
  17. Jacksonville Jaguars
  18. Cincinnati Bengals
  19. Los Angeles Rams
  20. Pittsburgh Steelers
  21. Miami Dolphins
  22. Philadelphia Eagles
  23. Cleveland Browns
  24. Dallas Cowboys
  25. Green Bay Packers
  26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
  27. Houston Texans
  28. Buffalo Bills
  29. Detroit Lions
  30. Baltimore Ravens
  31. San Francisco 49ers
  32. Kansas City Chiefs

Bills To Add Mike White To Practice Squad

Mike White is working his way toward an AFC East cycle. The former Jets backup/occasional starter, released by the Dolphins this week, will catch on with the Bills after visiting.

The Bills are carrying Mitchell Trubisky behind Josh Allen; White will join the Buffalo practice squad, per NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero. This gives the four-time reigning AFC East champions an experienced option behind the former first-round picks.

Spending last year as Tua Tagovailoa‘s top backup, White lost the job to Skylar Thompson after Miami’s preseason slate. The Dolphins had given White a two-year, $10MM deal in 2023. He will settle for far less as a P-squad option.

Teams no longer have unlimited elevations for quarterbacks, thanks to the NFLPA nixing the would-be rule change. But Buffalo has not seen Allen miss any starts due to injury since his rookie season. That would make this one of the more likely teams to go with a two-QB setup.

White’s most notable NFL work came in New York. He became quite popular among Jets fans during Zach Wilson‘s tenure, replacing the struggling No. 2 overall pick due to injury and then for performance reasons. White helped the Jets to an upset win over the Bengals in 2021, becoming the first Jet QB to surpass 400 passing yards in a game since Vinny Testaverde. White, 29, is 2-5 as a starter and carries a 62.6% completion rate to Buffalo.

Teams are allotted six spots on their P-squads for vested veterans. With Trubisky not playing well in Pittsburgh — or for most of his pro career — the Bills have a potential QB2 option set to join their 16-man taxi squad.

Bills Pare Roster To 53; LB Matt Milano Receives IR-Return Designation

Here is how the Bills dropped their roster to the 53-man limit:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

  • T Travis Clayton

Placed on IR (return designation)

Milano suffered a biceps tear and will aim to return late in the season, though the All-Pro linebacker’s injury trouble is obviously a big-picture concern at this point. The Bills are also using one of their eight IR activations, mandated for teams who take advantage of the new rule to designate IR-return players today, on a backup running back. That is a rather interesting decision, as Evans has totaled just 62 carries since being drafted in the 2020 third round.

Residing on the Bills’ roster bubble going into camp, Damar Hamlin made the team. Ditto Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who joined Hamlin on the bubble. The bubble burst — for the time being, at least — on Collins and Clapp, who were vying for swing spots. Collins had been shuttled to guard — where he had not played since 2016 — in recent practices. Jackson joined the Bills after they ran into some injury trouble at safety early in camp.

Steveson, who has an Olympic wrestling gold medal, could be a practice squad candidate. The Eagles carried Olympian hurdler Devon Allen on their P-squad for two years, though the latter has far more football seasoning compared to Steveson. Attempting to follow in his father’s footsteps by securing a Bills gig, Gore is a P-squad candidate, per the Buffalo News’ Ryan O’Halloran. He will need to clear waivers first.

Bills To Acquire CB Brandon Codrington From Jets

Tuesday has seen an intra-AFC East trade take place between the Bills and Jets. Buffalo is acquiring cornerback Brandon Codrington from New York, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports. Day 3 picks will be swapped in 2026 as part of the agreement.

Codrington established himself as a strong option in the return game during his college career. He spent four seasons and five years at North Carolina Central, sitting out the pandemic-affected 2020 campaign. The 5-9, 185-pounder served as a punt and kick returner during his time there, earning All-MEAC honors multiple times. In 2021, his success as a punt returner landed him a spot on the HBCU All-American team.

Codrington joined the Jets as an undrafted free agent this offseason. That move allowed him to showcase his third phase abilities at the NFL level, but the presence of Xavier Gipson hurt his chances of landing on New York’s 53-man roster. Instead of being waived, he will now head to Buffalo while the Jets receive draft compensation in return.

The Bills intended to use Nyheim Hines as their top returner last year, but a jet ski accident resulted in a torn ACL and sidelined him for the entire season. Ty Johnson led the team with eight kick returns in 2023, and he is still in the fold. Buffalo’s top punt returner (Deonte Harty) departed in free agency, however, so Codrington could aim to fill that vacancy with his new team while also providing depth in the secondary.

Codrington is owed a base salary of $795K in 2024, and the Bills comfortably have enough cap space to absorb that figure. No guarantees are present in the pact, meanwhile, so the Jets will not take on a dead money charge as a result of the trade.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/25/24

With roster cutdowns beginning around the league, Sunday saw a number of moves take place:

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

Buffalo’s decision to cut Jones marks a blow to his efforts in finding a roster spot on a new team. Considering the latest report on his status, however, it does not come as a surprise. The Bills dealt with a number of injuries at the linebacker spot last season and Matt Milano will miss extended time in 2024 due to a biceps tear. In spite of that, the team will look elsewhere for depth options unless Jones is retained via the practice squad later this week.

Panthers Shopping WR Terrace Marshall

The Panthers are shopping wide receiver Terrace Marshall, according to Joseph Person of The Athletic (subscription required). Marshall received permission to seek a trade in advance of last year’s deadline, but Carolina found no takers.

Marshall, 24, has not made the type of impact the club expected when it made him a second-round pick in 2021. Now that he is in the last year of his rookie contract, the Panthers will renew their attempt to extract some trade compensation for their former Day 2 investment.

Marshall entered the league with high expectations after he played a role in LSU’s explosive passing game alongside Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. After a rookie campaign in which he caught just 17 balls for 138 yards, Marshall took a notable step forward under then-OC Ben McAdoo in 2022, recording 28 catches for 490 yards – good for a whopping 17.5 yards-per-reception rate – and a score.

That performance seemingly set Marshall up nicely for at least a role as a legitimate big-play threat in 2023, but he operated in a reduced capacity under HC Frank Reich and OC Thomas Brown to begin the year. That precipitated the above-referenced trade request, which did not lead to a desired change of scenery. Marshall was inactive for Weeks 11 through 17 of the 2023 campaign, and he finished the year with 19 catches for 139 yards.

It was reported back in May that Marshall was on the roster bubble, though Carolina hopes that he has shown enough in the preseason to curry some trade interest. Marshall caught five passes for 53 yards and a TD over the three-game exhibition slate, including a 3/39/1 performance in yesterday’s contest against Buffalo. According to Person, Marshall has also flashed in practice.

Although Carolina could certainly find room for Marshall as an ancillary weapon, it appears the club is prepared to move on and offer him a chance at a quality platform season elsewhere. Person names the Bills, who saw Marshall’s best preseason performance firsthand and who have taken a look at other veteran wideouts this offseason, as a team to monitor (Buffalo also employs Joe Brady as its offensive coordinator, and Brady was with LSU during Marshall’s time there and was Carolina’s OC when Marshall was drafted).

The Panthers’ willingness to trade Marshall could be impacted by the health of fellow wideout Ihmir Smith-Marsette, who sustained an ankle injury in the Buffalo contest.

Offseason In Review: Buffalo Bills

The Chiefs once again flipped a regular-season loss to the Bills into a playoff win, continuing a series that keeps seeing Buffalo’s Super Bowl path blocked despite the AFC East champions holding their own in the matchup. After an injury-battered Bills defense came up short in Round 2 last year, the team set about a retooling effort that featured more notable changes on the other side of the ball. Josh Allen has a new-look receiving corps. For the first time since his ascent to superstardom, the do-it-all QB will not be targeting Stefon Diggs.

Additional Bills moves centered on cap-based adjustments, with a few longtime starters — some longer in the tooth, others who had dealt with injuries — also out of the picture. As a result, curiosity surrounds Sean McDermott‘s team and perhaps the eighth-year HC’s status. But the Bills still have Allen and many key pieces from their early-2020s stay atop their division. While they should still remain a factor in the Super Bowl chase, plenty of eyes will be on this team as it reshapes its blueprint to reach its long-sought-after goal.

Trades:

As difficult as it appeared Diggs was for the Bills to manage at points, his 2020 arrival played a pivotal role in Allen catapulting toward his current place in the game. The 2018 first-round pick took a seminal step in Diggs’ debut, and the former Vikings draftee became one of the NFL’s most consistent pass catchers in Buffalo.

The Allen-Diggs tandem produced three straight 1,200-plus-yard seasons, with Year 1 doubling as Diggs’ lone first-team All-Pro showing. The elite route runner also displayed durability for a Bills team that shuffled through second bananas in the passing game, missing only one contest in four seasons. Though, last year brought some concerning signs.

Diggs, 30, struggled down the stretch, averaging only 41 yards per game and scoring just once over the Bills’ final 10 contests; Joe Brady‘s offense did not coax the nine-year veteran’s best work. Diggs’ 1,183-yard season brought speedbumps and produced a brutal final act — dropping a well-placed Allen deep ball late in another narrow January loss to the Chiefs.

Diggs’ sudden production decline came a year after he stormed out of Buffalo’s locker room following a one-sided loss to Cincinnati. During the 2023 offseason program, Diggs left the Bills’ facility unexpectedly — before McDermott called the confusing matter, which may or may not have stemmed from the wideout’s role in the offense, “very concerning.” A year later, Diggs will be asked to help the Texans develop C.J. Stroud.

A report pointed to the Texans including a 2025 second-rounder as changing Buffalo brass’ mind on retaining the WR. That said, this trade brought a non-QB record for single-player dead money ($31.1MM). That full amount is on the Bills’ 2024 cap sheet. Considering what it cost the Bills to trade their top target, it clearly did not take too much convincing on the Texans’ part. Indeed, an April report indicated Diggs’ antics had worn thin and Bills higher-ups were ready to move on. Ultimately, Diggs (zero TDs with Brady at the controls) expected to be traded for a second time.

The Texans had pursued Keenan Allen; they needed to give the Bills more than the Bears sent the Chargers. Houston curiously removed the final three seasons of Diggs’ Bills-constructed extension — four years, $96MM — in a reported effort to better motivate the veteran playmaker. That odd decision will put Diggs on track for free agency come March, barring an extension before that point. Diggs exiting western New York with four years remaining on his contract injects uncertainty into the Bills’ equation, as Allen’s age-28 season does not seem likely to include a true No. 1 receiver. Allen has obviously displayed tremendous growth since his rocky pre-Diggs years, but his team has an issue to sort out soon.

Playing on a Bears-designed contract for the past two seasons, Bates is now part of that team. The Bills matched the Bears’ RFA offer sheet during Ryan Poles‘ first offseason running the NFC North franchise, but after using Bates as a starter in 15 games in 2022, they demoted him upon adding guards Connor McGovern and O’Cyrus Torrence. Bates worked strictly as a backup last season; the 27-year-old blocker is vying for Chicago’s starting center role while giving the team an option at right guard.

Extensions and restructures:

More attention surrounded the players the Bills lost this offseason, but the team paid two core performers. Dawkins is the longest-tenured Bills left tackle since Jim Kelly– and Doug Flutie-era blindsider John Fina. Only Fina (131) and 1970s and ’80s LT bastion Ken Jones (130) have served longer in this role. Carrying 106 career starts, Dawkins will have a chance to top this list during the 2025 season. Cordy Glenn‘s LT successor has made the past three Pro Bowls, anchoring an O-line that has seen changes come to pass everywhere else during his eight-year tenure.

Pass block win rate placed Dawkins fourth overall among tackles last season, and Pro Football Focus has ranked him outside the top 25 among tackles only once (2018). Dawkins, 30, has also avoided injuries. A second-round pick during the draft McDermott and Doug Whaley shepherded (one that also produced Tre’Davious White and Matt Milano), Dawkins has been one of the team’s catalysts during this rise. This third contract should include more prime years for the Temple product, who is now the NFL’s sixth-highest-paid LT. Given Dawkins’ stability, the Bills having him at this rate represents good value.

Coming into the offseason, the slot cornerback market had stagnated. Neither Johnson nor Kenny Moore were able to score deals beyond where 2010s All-Decade slot Chris Harris went ($8.5MM AAV) during the 2014 season. Both current AFC slot staples finally elevated the market to eight-figure-per-year territory. Moore re-signed with the Colts at three years and $30MM; Johnson topped that days later to become the league’s highest-paid inside corner. The Bills CB’s guarantee at signing also narrowly topped Moore’s $16MM figure, which is impressive considering the latter hit free agency.

During Johnson’s second contract, the Bills have seen their outside corners struggle to either stay healthy (Tre’Davious White) or justify a first-round investment (Kaiir Elam). Johnson, meanwhile, has anchored Buffalo’s CB corps during the 2020s. PFF gave the 2018 fourth-rounder a career-best grade last season, ranking him 17th among all corners, and his 7.4 yards per target figure was his best mark since his rookie season. Johnson also forced three fumbles in 2023. As the Bills transition from White, they will need Johnson (28) to keep delivering top-shelf work inside.

Miller’s status loomed as tenuous during a season in which he was clearly hampered by a second ACL tear. The year ended with the future Hall of Famer being arrested on a third-degree felony charge of assaulting a pregnant person. Both Miller and the alleged victim, his girlfriend, denied a crime occurred. An NFL suspension would void Miller’s remaining guarantees — $8.5MM for 2024. After this year, no guaranteed money remains on a deal that has not worked out the way the Bills hoped. Nothing has come out in 2024 regarding any potential punishment for the 35-year-old edge rusher, and the Bills restructuring the deal firmly keeps Miller in their plans.

The former Broncos and Rams superstar said he is 100% healthy; he is now nearly 21 months removed from the knee injury that ended his 2022 season — a promising campaign that featured eight sacks in 11 games — and sidetracked his 2023 slate. Miller played in 12 games, starting none, last season and did not resemble the dominant sack artist the Bills signed for $20MM per. The team will hope the 14th-year vet has another rebound season in him, as it lost Leonard Floyd in free agency. Due to this restructure, the Bills would take on $15.4MM in dead money if they released Miller next year.

Allen denied he is unhappy with his contract, but the Bills have an incredible bargain atop their payroll. Their $43MM-per-year Allen accord has aged remarkably well, as the perennial MVP candidate — after Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love joined the $50MM-AAV club — is the NFL’s 13th-highest-paid QB. The Bills could move money around the way the Chiefs did to accommodate Patrick Mahomes‘ deal.

Thus far, Allen is the only QB who has emulated Mahomes by signing an extension longer than five years. The six-year pact Allen signed runs through 2028, and like Mahomes’ deal, Allen’s has extended space for base-to-bonus restructures. The Bills took advantage of that flexibility in March.

The Bills will need to address this matter in the not-too-distant future. With five more seasons on the contract, the team can sit tight for now. As is the case with Mahomes and the Chiefs, however, the QB carries significant leverage due simply to his franchise-elevating skillset. It will be interesting to see if the seventh-year passer uses it soon, especially when factoring in the run-game role the former No. 7 overall pick has taken on — only two QBs (Lamar Jackson and Cam Newton) have logged more carries through six seasons — thus far in his career.

Free agency additions:

Buffalo began to reassemble its wide receiver pieces in March, though Samuel and Hollins joined the team when Diggs was still expected to be the WR1. This equation soon involved Valdes-Scantling, Byrd, Hamler and Chase Claypool. The twice-traded WR, however, is out of the picture via an injury settlement. Holdover Khalil Shakir and second-round pick Keon Coleman figure to lead the way for the Bills, with a heavy assist from TEs Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox, but the team will need auxiliary help at least from free agents.

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Minor NFL Transactions: 8/22/24

Here are Thursday’s minor moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

  • Activated from active/PUP list: OL Yosh Nijman
  • Signed: LB Aaron Beasley

Chicago Bears

  • Signed: WR Peter LeBlanc, RB Jacob Saylors
  • Waived/injured: TE Giovanni Ricci
  • Reverted to IR: LB Brandon Bouyer-Randle

Dallas Cowboys

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: DE Shaka Toney

Green Bay Packers

  • Signed: DL Keonte Schad

Kansas City Chiefs

  • Reverted to IR: WR Jaaron Hayek

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Signed: TE Isaac Rex
  • Waived: DL Micheal Mason

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

  • Signed: RB Mohamed Ibrahim, OL Chuck Filiaga
  • Reverted to IR: OL Jeremy Flax, S Najee Thompson

New Orleans Saints

  • Reverted to IR: C Sincere Haynesworth

Washington Commanders

Nijman underwent surgery to address a leg injury, and despite Dave Canales indicating the free agency pickup was a ways away from returning, he is back at practice barely a week later. It remains to be seen if Nijman will be able to suit up in Week 1, but he has some time here. The Panthers signed the ex-Packer blocker to be their swing tackle.

Grant will be able to suit up later this season, depending on the terms of the injury settlement. This transaction moves Grant off the Falcons’ roster. The former All-Pro return man has not played since the 2021 season, stacking the odds against him. He is going into what would be an age-32 season.

Bills Shift La’el Collins To Guard; Latest On Team’s CB Situation

La’el Collins has worked exclusively at tackle since 2017. The Cowboys’ position change at the time stuck, with the former first-round guard prospect quickly establishing himself as a right tackle starter. Eight years after he last played guard in a game, the former Dallas and Cincinnati starter’s last shot with Buffalo appears to hinge on a move back.

The Bills are now viewing Collins as a guard-only option, according to The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia (subscription required). This has been an interesting transition for the veteran blocker, as the Bills had hoped he would become a swing backup. But Collins has struggled, putting his roster spot in jeopardy.

A pre-camp assessment of Collins’ likelihood for the 53-man roster pointed to a bubble scenario forming, but the Bills guaranteed the 86-game starter $1.5MM upon signing him in April. Collins had visited late last season but did not sign. The Bengals cut Collins from their reserve/PUP list last September, leading to a missed season. Collins had sustained ACL and MCL tears in Week 16 of the 2022 campaign, and the Bengals were generally unhappy with their three-year, $21MM free agency investment in the veteran tackle.

Cincinnati had shut the door on Collins potentially moving to guard to accommodate Orlando Brown Jr.‘s arrival last year, but it appears the Bills view him differently. Collins started 14 games at guard from 2015-16, but a foot injury ended his run as an inside presence. Dallas shifted the LSU product to tackle before the 2017 season and used him as its RT starter in four of the next five seasons. This transition scored Collins two Cowboys extensions. Now 31, he faces a challenge to reacclimate to guard.

Collins and Will Clapp have struggled during the run-up to cutdown day, Buscaglia adds, noting the Bills subbed out the veterans for younger players while the second-team offense was in the game against the Steelers. Clapp started 11 Chargers games last season, filling in for Corey Linsley after the latter’s move to the NFI list, and has made 21 career starts. Clapp, 28, and Collins represent the only veteran backup options for Buffalo up front, but the team is trying UDFA Richard Gouraige at both tackle and guard.

Gouraige, a 2023 signee, spent last season on Buffalo’s practice squad. The team has 2023 swing tackle Ryan Van Demark and rookie fifth-rounder Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, an All-American center at Georgia, locked into roster spots. Ditto Alec Anderson, a 2022 UDFA, Buscaglia adds. Anderson has yet to play a regular-season snap, but it appears the Bills trust him more than the newly acquired vets.

Collins and Clapp would provide experience, and while there might be room on the Bills’ roster for one of the two, the team may not want to carry both. Clapp signed a one-year, $1.29MM deal with $288K guaranteed.

Elsewhere on the Bills’ roster, it does not look like Kaiir Elam is expected to unseat Christian Benford at cornerback. The latter, a former sixth-round pick who quickly usurped the ex-first-rounder back in 2022, has a “vise grip” on the team’s boundary CB job opposite Rasul Douglas, the Buffalo News’ Mark Gaughan writes.

Elam has only started eight games since being the No. 23 overall pick in 2022. Benford, conversely, has made 19 starts — including 14 last season. Elam tore an ankle ligament before last season and landed on IR after attempting to play through the malady. While Gaughan indicates Elam has not accounted himself poorly, Benford has been better and appears in no danger of losing his starting job. Pro Football Focus ranked Benford as last year’s eighth-best corner.

The Bills benched Elam in November 2022 and have not relied on him as a regular starter since. Even with Tre’Davious White now in Los Angeles, Elam appears on track to enter the season as a backup.