Over the last few seasons, due to a lot of roster carryover from one year to the next, the Bills have encountered some difficulties with being unable to keep all of the younger players who flash potential during the summer. It’s led to several of their players that they wanted to find a way to keep being claimed when placed on waivers during final cuts. The numbers just worked against them, and those players found NFL homes elsewhere.
But the 2024 roster is a bit of a different story. The team having more turnover this offseason has created opportunities for young players. And through seven days of training camp at St. John Fisher University, it’s hard to find anyone that’s taken advantage of that more than second-year wide receiver Tyrell Shavers.
The Bills kept Shavers, who turns 25 in mid-August, on their practice squad all last season after signing him as an undrafted free agent out of San Diego State in April 2023. But even with that year in his pocket, he came into camp as somewhat of an afterthought to the 53-man roster.
That quickly changed a few days in, as Shavers went from working with the deep-into-the-preseason-games group to quickly getting a lot of time working with franchise quarterback Josh Allen during team drills. Shavers has lined up at all three receiver spots and has the type of special teams ability to be a central figure in that phase if kept on the team.
“Very impressed,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said this week about Shavers. “Even if you go back to his rookie season. He’s so consistent, even when he wasn’t playing, with his approach. One of the first players in the building. One of the last to leave. He knows what we’re doing, offensively, systematically.”
The Bills are extremely intentional with who gets team drill and throwing reps with Allen during practice, and Shavers has continued to work with Allen each day since his initial rise.
“He does the little things the right way. He’s always working,” Allen said Thursday. “He’s catching balls after practice on the jugs. He’s studying. He’s asking the right questions to the quarterbacks. And at the end of the day, he’s making plays on the football field, which you love to see from your guys.”
With the receiver position as wide open as it is this summer, Shavers has taken full advantage. If this trend continues, he might be more firmly on the 53-man roster than some other bigger names like Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Chase Claypool, KJ Hamler and 2023 fifth-round pick Justin Shorter.
“He’s made the most of his opportunity so far during camp,” Allen said about Shavers. “He’s one of those guys that you find yourself rooting for just because of how he approaches the game and how he approaches practice.”
Shavers has a few more weeks to go to keep his current standing, but he’s trending toward being on the right side of the bubble when cuts are due on Tuesday, August 27.
The Bills conducted one more practice in Pittsford before heading back to Buffalo for their annual practice inside Highmark Stadium.
Here’s what stood out from Day 7 of training camp.
Damar Hamlin’s big opportunity
As practice began on Thursday, the team announced that rookie safety Cole Bishop would be week-to-week with a shoulder injury. It’s a crushing blow to a Bills team that likely had high hopes for Bishop to potentially win the starting job outright to begin the year. One day before Bishop’s injury, McDermott had given some high praise for how the 2024 second-round pick performed. Now with Bishop and veteran Mike Edwards on the shelf until further notice, that leaves only one player getting all the reps next to starting safety Taylor Rapp on the first-team defense — Damar Hamlin. The Bills have mentioned early in camp how Hamlin looked hungry for the opportunity, and that was before the pair of injuries to his primary competitors. Hamlin has mixed in some pass breakups throughout camp, but most importantly, he has almost the entire space to himself to prove to the team that he should be the starter in 2024.But we also can’t forget a similar situation from just last year. The summer competition to be the starting middle linebacker went from Terrel Bernard and Tyrel Dodson to just Dodson as the Bills were wrapping up camp at St. John Fisher University. Bernard sustained a hamstring injury on Aug. 10, and given the usual return timetable for that injury, it gave a significant advantage to Dodson to win the job. But as the rest of the summer unfolded, the Bills quickly gave the job to the inexperienced Bernard upon his total return, even without much run-up time to the start of the regular season.
It’s a slightly different scenario this year, as Bernard at least had a baseline of a full season in the Bills defensive scheme before competing for a starting job, whereas Bishop and Edwards do not. But if we were to take anything from that last year, it’s that the Bills remain wide open to go with a player who hasn’t been practicing if the uninjured player didn’t earn the starting job outright. There also remains a looming threat of the team signing a veteran to start, whether it’s Micah Hyde or someone else. Either way, Hamlin will need to earn it over the next few weeks.
Matt Milano has been a regular participant in training camp and looks well on his way to recovering from a serious leg injury. (Shawn Dowd / USA Today)
Matt Milano getting ever closer to pre-injury form
Over the first seven days of training camp, star linebacker Matt Milano has been mostly a full participant. Even working back from a season-ending injury, Milano took only one vet rest day on July 29 while practicing in the other six sessions. And each day, you spot the ways that Milano makes the Bills defense a better unit more frequently. Although it will take some time for the speed to get all the way back, Milano’s instincts and ability to sniff out plays continue to put him in positions to stop the offense dead in its tracks even when some of his teammates get fooled.On one misdirection play in team drills on Thursday, Milano sniffed out the long-developing play to meet the pass catcher in the backfield with no one else around. It resulted in a five-yard loss on a 1st-and-10, which was the table setter for a quick three-and-out for the first-team offense. Not much gets by Milano, and if he pairs that with pre-injury athleticism, there’s every reason to believe he can become the same impact player he has been in the Bills’ defense.
Chase Claypool remains sidelined while WRs jockey for position
With Shavers making a name for himself in camp, the door is wide open for all other entrants in the race for the fifth and sixth wide receiver spots. After getting pushed to the second-team offense a few practices ago, Valdes-Scantling started to work a bit more with Allen and the first-team offense over the last two days. Hamler also worked backup for a handful of team drill reps with Allen. Though all of this is without Chase Claypool, who missed a third straight practice with a toe injury. Claypool had been working in with Allen at a pretty consistent clip, though any advantage he might have had to secure a spot weakens each day he’s not on the field. At this point, the top five receivers look like Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Curtis Samuel, Mack Hollins and Shavers, with the Claypool, Valdes-Scantling, Hamler and Shorter cluster all vying for one spot. Things could always change with Shavers if he fades during the preseason, but if his high standing remains, this will likely be one of the most interesting roster battles of the summer should it be those four players for one spot.Daequan Hardy versatility?
In order for a young player without a high investment level to make the team outright, even if they’re a late-round draft pick, that player usually needs to show multi-job functionality. And as camp has progressed, the Bills are certainly trying to see if 2024 sixth-round pick Daequan Hardy can give them multiple roles to justify his roster spot. Hardy has primarily worked as a nickel corner throughout camp, but on Thursday, he had a different role. The team lined him up as a second-unit boundary cornerback, just to see what he could do. At only 5-foot-9, 179 pounds and with a shorter, 30-inch arm length, he’s not a prototypical fit for that spot, but the more the team knows he can do, the better off he’ll be. His switch to the boundary coincided with Ja’Marcus Ingram sliding into nickel corner for the session, something he’s done frequently in his Bills practice career. If Hardy can show good ability at both corner spots, and continue to be in the mix for the main returner job on special teams, that might be all they need to break the tie and keep Hardy on the 53-man roster.Alec Anderson returns, but not in full capacity
Following a scary moment after practice on Tuesday that saw backup offensive lineman Alec Anderson be whisked away in an ambulance to a local hospital for a heat-related illness, the team got positive news very quickly. Anderson improved rapidly, was in good spirits, and in communication with the team. He was released from the hospital the same day and was back to campus in time for a late-day walk-through. Even more impressive, Anderson was back on the practice field Thursday in full pads in the first opportunity to do so since that incident. He took part in some positional drills, though the team chose to keep Anderson limited. He did not participate in team drills throughout the day, as the team is likely taking it slow following the ordeal. His absence gave opportunities to a pair of younger players to work with the second-team offense. Fifth-round rookie Sedrick Van Pran-Granger took a handful of team drill reps with backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, while sixth-round rookie Tylan Grable was a mainstay of the second unit, working at one of tackle or guard, depending on the series. The opportunities for both young players may continue even if Anderson returns in full Friday night, as veteran backup lineman La’El Collins left practice with about 25 minutes to go with an undisclosed injury.Day 7 injury report
S Mike Edwards (hamstring) — Week-to-week, has not practiced since July 28.WR Chase Claypool (toe) — Day-to-day, has not practiced since July 28.
RB Ty Johnson (hamstring) — Has not practiced since July 29. He worked off to the side on Thursday.
OL Travis Clayton (undisclosed) — Day-to-day, has not practiced since July 29. He worked off to the side on Thursday.
S Cole Bishop (shoulder) — Week-to-week, has not practiced since July 30.
OL La’El Collins (undisclosed) — Left practice early on August 1.
OL Mike Edwards (concussion protocol) — Returned to practice in full Thursday and participated in team drills, which likely removes him from the injury report moving forward.