With Bills roster decisions looming, Cole Bishop gets wake-up call, WR room draws focus
Plus, there's a possibility Josh Allen won't play in the preseason for the first time in his career.
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Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott didn’t hold back.
He gave a candid news conference Tuesday, addressing several topics that could directly impact the team’s decisions for cutdown day. Teams must be at or under 53 players on their active roster by Aug. 26 at 4 p.m. ET.
After hearing what McDermott said and taking in what is likely to be their two most intense practices of the week, along with other news and notes, several things stand out from this week.
Was McDermott issuing a warning to Bishop?
One position that seemed to draw a massive reaction in the game against the Chicago Bears was the Bills’ safeties — in particular, Cole Bishop, the team’s second-round pick in 2024, who was with the first-team defense when healthy. Bishop was seen on the broadcast being a bit late on one catch over the middle to Bears tight end Colston Loveland, then getting beaten by wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus for a 36-yard touchdown. It was Bishop’s first preseason game of the year after he sat out the New York Giants game recovering from a quad injury — another source of frustration, since it’s the second straight summer in which Bishop’s availability has been impacted by injury.McDermott had some direct words when asked about the state of his safety position.
“I think we’re looking for that other safety to play alongside of (Taylor Rapp),” McDermott said. “There’s been really good moments for all those guys back there — young and some of the more veteran guys that are back there — to play for us. But I think we’re still looking to find, who is it going to be? And how consistent can they become and how quickly can they grow if they’re a younger player?”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/65...-sean-mcdermott-tries-to-rally-sluggish-team/
Specifically about Bishop, McDermott was careful to uplift the young safety but also provided a wake-up call, of sorts.
“I really feel like Cole, from the time he’s come back, it’s just been a short runway to this point. He continues to improve,” McDermott said. “He has shown to this point that the ability, the skill level can be there. We’re just not there yet. And so his refining process, if you will, goes one day at a time, one rep at a time. We’re just kind of getting started because of what wasn’t with his availability, again, it affects that.”
Context might be needed with the in-game performance and some of McDermott’s previous comments. On the Loveland catch, the Bills would likely want him to see the play developing and reacting a bit quicker, though that comes with the time on task that McDermott preaches about. There also needs to be some accountability on the linebackers. The Zaccheaus touchdown was a bit of a head-scratcher because the defensive call put Bishop in a situation the Bills would mostly try to avoid in the regular season.
The Bills dropped into a Cover 1 look with safety Damar Hamlin perched up high and linebacker Joe Andreessen serving as support in the middle of the field. Perhaps the Bills were trying to disguise their man coverage by showing zone pre-snap and wanted to see what Bishop could do in that situation. But it yielded a man-to-man coverage of Bishop on Zaccheaus, with boundary cornerback Dorian Strong against Loveland. It also yielded smaller nickel Brandon Codrington on the 6-foot-3 Rome Odunze, which was another potential mismatch. The far more ideal matchup in that man coverage scenario is for Bishop to go up against a tight end like Loveland.
With plenty of time ahead of the snap, putting Bishop one-on-one against a shifty slot wideout like Zaccheaus was not realistically setting him up for success. Most safeties would struggle in that matchup, just as they do in one-on-ones against wide receivers during training camp, because a different skill set and athleticism are required at safety than at cornerback. On the rep, Bishop surrendered inside leverage to Zaccheaus with a bit too much of a reaction to the route, which is probably what caused some of McDermott’s reaction. Bishop may have been expecting some help on the inside from Andreessen, and certainly some help from Hamlin, to make the stop from the deep middle. However, it’s still a matchup they’ll try to avoid for Bishop in many cases. The replay wasn’t as bad as the broadcast with all the added context from the film.
As for McDermott’s warning, there have been several instances over his first eight seasons in which he has spoken candidly with reporters about a specific young player and their situation. It doesn’t happen often, so when it does, there is usually intent in his words. He has long been a coach who preaches players earning opportunities, and after essentially handing Bishop the starting job in the offseason, perhaps McDermott’s words were a not-so-subtle reminder that Bishop isn’t guaranteed anything and that urgency is immediately needed. It wouldn’t be shocking to see Bishop play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a means for him to earn the job, even if the contest remains heavily weighted toward him.
There was nothing from the first two practices this week that indicated the Bills were intent to make a change this late. With practices ticking down, and without a safety on the roster who would be a potential improvement to Bishop, it’s far more likely the Bills will begin the year with him in the starting lineup. They still like Bishop’s potential and felt good about what he showed in the starting lineup late last season. Benching a player they’ve spent the offseason planning to be a starter after only 11 snaps in a preseason game, during which he was the only projected starter on the field, would be an incredibly impulsive decision from an organization whose top two decision-makers are generally averse to impulsive decisions. I’d chalk this up to the Bills trying to get more out of him with this message-through-the-media play.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6562753/2025/08/20/nfl-projection-model-afc-win-totals-2025/
With Samuel healthy, how are things trending at WR?
If there is one thing we know for sure about the Bills’ wide receivers room, it’s that they feel good about the top three. Khalil Shakir is a known commodity as the slot receiver, Keon Coleman has made some good progress throughout the summer and has started to perform more consistently, and Joshua Palmer has fit into what the Bills are doing. After that, it’s open for interpretation.“Once you get kind of after that third person there, it’s trying to figure out who the rest of them are and how they can help us,” McDermott said. “Not only on offense but on special teams and how we can ensure if we have someone — knock on wood — going down, that we have the right person, profile, size, speed, whatever it is to make sure we don’t drop too far with that next spot.”
This is undoubtedly a big week for Elijah Moore, Curtis Samuel, Tyrell Shavers, Kristian Wilkerson and Laviska Shenault Jr. There are a pair of spots, at least, for the taking among that group of players. There’s potentially a third spot for a player who helps their special teams picture. Should the Bills rest their starters once again this weekend, a massive opportunity is there for these five players, who are likely to get the bulk of the work early on.
Through Wednesday, it was abundantly clear based on their usage that the Bills are still trying to figure out which of them will stick around. At this point, Moore appears to be the safest. He has gotten a lot of work with Josh Allen because the Bills have been without Shakir since Aug. 1, and he gives them the best combination of availability and skill level. Samuel, for the first time since this summer, participated in team drills in full pads this week. His involvement Tuesday was a bit more limited, but they ramped him up a bit more Wednesday. It certainly looks like they’re giving him every opportunity to prove he should be one of the players they keep. He has made a couple of good plays on the ball, too, so perhaps he has done enough. It would make their lives easier, as his entire $6.91 million base salary is guaranteed in 2025. However, Samuel doesn’t offer much on special teams, which is one of the things the Bills would like from their depth receivers.
If there’s one thing I wouldn’t rule out, it’s the Bills finding a trade suitor for someone like Samuel ahead of cutdown day. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported that three teams, the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings, are monitoring the trade market for receivers. All three teams have the available cap space in 2025 to comfortably take on Samuel’s full base salary without having to restructure his deal. If the Bills could get a late-round pick for Samuel, or even a pick swap of some kind, that, plus the immediate $6 million of cap relief, could be enough for them to keep someone like Shavers, Wilkerson or Shenault instead.
Then there’s Gabe Davis. The familiarity is certainly there, as he spent his first four NFL seasons in Buffalo and remains close with Allen. Davis had an official visit with the Bills on Wednesday, which is eye-opening given the name and that there’s some internal dialogue about who will be on that team at wide receiver. However, it is important to remember that Davis suffered a torn meniscus in November, and that could be a significant reason he hasn’t signed anywhere. There might not be a path to the 53-man roster for him immediately, but he’s a name to remember during the season, whether it’s in an active roster role or on the practice squad.
The Bills have a difficult decision without a clear answer, and they’re quickly running out of time to make it. That’s why Saturday night could mean everything for the receiver group.
A subtle hint that Allen won’t play Saturday?
The Bills haven’t declared whether Allen will play against the Buccaneers on Saturday for the preseason finale, but it would be more of a surprise if he did, given the proximity to the season. Allen didn’t play against the Giants or the Bears in the first two weeks, and if a clue from Allen is to be believed, that could extend to the entire preseason.“Conditioning. We did some before this last game, and I’m sure we’ll do some in Tampa,” Allen said when asked what he does to prepare for a season with game reps. “Game reps, it’s a lot different. The amount of exhaustion that happens during a game, you can’t really rep it. So, just making sure that I’m as in control of that as possible, making sure I’m getting extra reps conditioning.”
Conceivably, Allen might have just been saying what they would do if he doesn’t play, but it did come across as matter-of-fact rather than up in the air. If Allen does not play, it would mark the first time he has not taken any game reps in the preseason during his career. He has played in only one of the Bills’ last three preseason finales, in 2023. If the Bills do play Allen, the “sit, sit, play” preseason approach was done only once before in 2021.