HEADLINES

Buffalo Bills News & Rumors

James Cook Absent From Bills OTAs

May 27th, 2025 at 1:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

Agreeing to four extensions that produced team-friendly numbers this offseason, the Bills still have a James Cook issue to sort out. The Pro Bowl running back has angled for a second contract placing him near the top of the running back market, and Brandon Beane‘s comments on the situation did not exactly indicate a desire on the Bills’ part to placate him.

Beane pointed toward the possibility of Cook needing to prove himself once again in Buffalo’s offense. The former second-round pick is under contract for one more season, but he is stopping the Bills from reaching perfect attendance at OTAs. Cook is indeed absent to start the final round of voluntary work for the perennial AFC East champions, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero notes. Cook has skipped Bills offseason work thus far.

Given the developments that have shaped this stalemate, it would almost be surprising if Cook did show for OTAs. The two-year Buffalo starter floated a $15MM-per-year deal as a price point before the Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry extensions. The latter came in with a $15MM-AAV extension this month, and even though the Ravens standout’s deal became notable due to the likely Hall of Famer’s age (31), Cook matching Henry may be a tough ask for the Bills, who have not paid a running back in a bit.

Buffalo’s current regime has shown some reluctance to reward RBs. While previous Bills front offices passed on second contracts for Marshawn Lynch or C.J. Spiller, Fred Jackson and LeSean McCoy were ultimately rewarded. McCoy received an extension upon being traded to Buffalo in 2015, but that deal occurred on Doug Whaley‘s watch. McCoy’s Buffalo separation transpired early in the Beane-Sean McDermott era. The Bills released McCoy months after drafting Devin Singletary in the second round. Singletary then played out his rookie contract, doing so as the team traded Zack Moss midway through his. Cook had arrived as a potential starter just before the Moss trade, but the time is near for the Bills to decide on his future.

Beane has said he does not expect a holdout from Cook, who would face roughly $100K in fines by skipping minicamp next month. A true holdout would not begin until training camp, and the language in the CBA pertaining to holdouts makes them difficult to wage — especially for fourth-year players. While teams can waive fines levied upon players holding out on fifth-year options, a complication emerges for non-first-round holdouts. With Cook needing to report by early August to ensure he accrues a fourth season toward free agency, a holdout will indeed be unlikely (and is not anticipated). A hold-in, however, will be something to monitor if he and the Bills cannot come to terms by then.

Leading the NFL in rushing touchdowns (16) despite Josh Allen‘s imposing goal-line presence, Cook posted a second 1,000-yard season in 2024. He served as an integral part of the Bills’ success, as the team has leaned into its run game following Joe Brady‘s climb to OC. It would be interesting, then, for the team to play hardball with the 25-year-old back. But that is nonetheless transpiring, even after the Bills paid Khalil Shakir, Gregory Rousseau, Terrel Bernard and Christian Benford this offseason.

AFC Front Office Updates: Bengals, Bills, Jets, Dolphins

May 23rd, 2025 at 10:10pm CST by Ely Allen

Last week, we noted that former Patriots southeast area scout Josh Hinch would not be returning to New England in 2025. Now we know why as Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com reports that Hinch will be joining the Bengals in 2025.

It’s assumed that Hinch will be stepping into the role vacated when Christian Sarkisian departed to serve as the general manager at Northwestern University. Hinch spent some time with the XFL and AAF alternative football leagues before working with the Buccaneers in the NFL. He’s spent the last four years in New England’s scouting department.

Cincinnati will also add Tyler Ramsey as a scout, per Stratton. A Seattle native, Ramsey spent 12 seasons in the Seahawks’ scouting department, starting as a personnel intern and working his way through promotions to scouting assistant and area scout. He spent three years after with the Panthers, starting as a national scout before getting promoted to assistant director of pro personnel. Ramsey was let go by Carolina a little over a year ago.

Here are a few other front office updates, all coming out of the AFC East:

  • Stratton also noted that the Bills have hired Mk Collins as their new player personnel coordinator, citing the updated position on her LinkedIn page. After completing a training camp internship with the Rams in 2023, Collins served four months as the assistant director of recruiting and personnel at Cornell before joining North Carolina as a player personnel analyst and, eventually, a scouting assistant. Stratton tells us that the position was open because former player personnel coordinator Andrea Gosper has been promoted.
  • The Jets are bringing Bird Sherrill back to the NFL for a front office role, according to Graham Hall of 247Sports. Sherrill had previously spent six years with the Lions, starting as a scouting assistant before being promoted to a scout. Sherrill arrived in Gainesville alongside Billy Napier in 2022 and served as the Gators director of college personnel.
  • Lastly, the Dolphins have hired Rachael Kaplan as the team’s new football analytics staff assistant, per ESPN’s Seth Walder. Kaplan previously worked an internship with the Buccaneers. She entered a submission into this year’s NFL Big Data Bowl and earned an honorable mention in the competition.

The Most Lucrative ILB Contract In Each Franchise’s History

May 21st, 2025 at 10:09pm CST by Sam Robinson

The 49ers have again made Fred Warner the NFL’s highest-paid off-ball linebacker. The franchise did this in 2021 as well. A team that has employed All-Pro NaVorro Bowman and Hall of Famer Patrick Willis over the past 15 years, the 49ers have spent on the high end to fortify this position. Other clubs, however, have been far more hesitant to unload significant cash to staff this job.

The $20MM-per-year linebacker club consists of only two players (Warner, Roquan Smith), but only four surpass $15MM per year presently. Last year saw the Jaguars and Jets (Foye Oluokun, C.J. Mosley) trim their priciest ILBs’ salaries in exchange for guarantees, and the Colts did not make it too far with Shaquille Leonard‘s big-ticket extension. Although some contracts handed out this offseason created optimism about this stubborn market, franchises’ pasts here do not depict a trend of paying second-level defenders.

Excluding rookie contracts and arranged by guaranteed money, here is (via OvertheCap) the richest contract each franchise has given to an off-ball ‘backer:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Milano’s first extension (in 2021) brought more in overall value and fully guaranteed money, but the 2023 pact provided more in total guarantees

Carolina Panthers

Shaq Thompson‘s 2019 extension brought a higher AAV ($13.54MM), but Kuechly’s included more in guarantees

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Dre Greenlaw‘s 2025 contract (three years, $31.5MM) brought a higher AAV but a lower guarantee

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Azeez Al-Shaair checks in atop franchise history in AAV ($11.33MM) but fell short of McKinney’s in guarantees

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Rolando McClain‘s 2010 rookie contract, agreed to in the final year before the rookie-scale system debuted, checked in higher in terms of guarantees ($22.83MM)

Los Angeles Chargers

Kenneth Murray‘s rookie contract (a fully guaranteed $12.97MM) narrowly eclipses this deal

Los Angeles Rams

Mark Barron‘s 2016 contract brought a higher AAV ($9MM) but a lower guarantee

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

  • Jerod Mayo; December 17, 2011: Five years, $48.5MM ($27MM guaranteed)

Robert Spillane‘s $11MM AAV leads the way at this position in New England, but the recently dismissed HC’s contract brought more guaranteed money

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Blake Martinez‘s free agency deal included a higher AAV ($10.25MM) but a lower guaranteee

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Warner secured more guaranteed money on this extension than he did on his five-year 2021 deal ($40.5MM guaranteed)

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Jamin Davis‘ fully guaranteed rookie contract brought a higher guarantee ($13.79MM)

NFL Minor Transactions: 5/20/25

May 20th, 2025 at 8:38pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Houston Texans

  • Signed: DB Keydrain Calligan

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Moose Muhammad III was a notable UDFA signing by the Panthers considering his connection to the organization. The wide receiver’s father is Muhsin Muhammad, who is in the franchise’s Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, the younger Muhammad suffered an undisclosed injury that cost him his roster spot, although he’ll likely pass through waivers and land on the team’s IR.

Buccaneers Make Changes In Front Office

May 18th, 2025 at 2:37pm CST by Ely Allen

The immediate few weeks following the NFL draft is usually an active time for staffing changes in the front offices of NFL organizations. The Buccaneers are the latest example of this as they announced some promotions and departures earlier this week.

The team already announced a new assistant general manager and director of football research in the days after the draft. The biggest changes we saw more recently involved the promotions of Mike Biehl, Shane Scannell, Tony Hardie, and Shelton Quarles.

Biehl was elevated from director to vice president of player personnel. He has been with Tampa Bay for 11 years after a 13-year stint in San Diego and three years with the Bills before that. Biehl has been a key figure in the team’s draft process for a decade now and will direct both of the college and pro personnel departments in his new role.

Scannell was promoted from director of pro scouting to director of player personnel. He started out as a scouting assistant in 2015, spent five years as a pro scout, two as assistant director of pro scouting, and two as director. Hardie has been with the Bucs for 14 years, starting as a combine scout for NFS and covering several different areas of the country for the team and company. He eventually became an area scout and a national scout before being promoted to his current role. Quarles joined the team’s front office after a decade of service as a linebacker for the team, eventually ascending up the pro scouting department to director. His focus has shifted a bit more to the ops side of things as he’s been named senior director of football operations.

The Bucs also promoted Jeremiah Bogan and Korey Finnie to college scouts. Finnie had been serving in Hardie’s old combine/NFS scout job before the promotion, while Bogan had been a scouting assistant. To cover the NFS scout role, another scouting assistant, Jordan Morrow, has also been promoted.

Lastly, while one national scout, Hardie, was given a promotion, another national scout departed. According to Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com, Antwon Murray has made the decision to part ways with the team. Murray had been with Tampa Bay for nine years and will seek new opportunities in scouting.

Bills To Hold QB2 Competition Between Mitchell Trubisky, Mike White

May 17th, 2025 at 10:14am CST by Sam Robinson

The Bills have turned to Mitchell Trubisky as Josh Allen‘s backup in two nonconsecutive seasons, reacquiring the former No. 2 overall pick after he spent two years in Pittsburgh. Trubisky’s second Buffalo stint is set for a second season, but his grip on the team’s backup gig may not be as firm as what it was in 2024.

Mike White‘s move up from the practice squad in January came with a year added to his contract, carrying into 2025. The former Jets Zach Wilson replacement will be set to vie for the Allen backup role against Trubisky, according to The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia (subscription required).

A potential role reversal here would come in White’s second year with the organization, as the ex-Jets and Dolphins backup gained seasoning in Joe Brady‘s system by spending a full season in Buffalo. This is White’s first offseason in western New York, however.

The Bills added White to their practice squad shortly after the Dolphins jettisoned him last August. Although Miami had signed White to a two-year, $8MM deal, Skylar Thompson beat him out for the team’s QB2 post during training camp last year. The Dolphins grew to regret that Thompson decision and have since changed up again — by adding Wilson — this offseason.

Now 30, White raised his profile by posing an unexpected threat to Wilson in New York. As the Jets erred by not adding a bridge-level backup for the No. 2 overall pick in 2021, White showed himself to be more effective running Mike LaFleur‘s offense that year. The QB’s 405-yard passing performance in an upset win over the eventual AFC champion Bengals made him a popular presence in New York, and even though the ex-Cowboys draftee crashed back to earth in the weeks that followed, he eventually replaced Wilson as the BYU product fizzled by 2022. The Jets did not deem it a priority to have a veteran presence behind Aaron Rodgers in 2023, however, and White moved on.

Trubisky, 30, has been Allen’s backup in 2021 and ’24. He served as Kenny Pickett‘s bridge for the Steelers in 2023 and did not impress as an injury replacement in 2024. The Steelers, who had seen Mason Rudolph prove a better option late in the ’23 season, released Trubisky after having previously extended him. Trubisky entered the 2022 and ’23 seasons ahead of Rudolph on Pittsburgh’s depth chart, and after signing a two-year deal worth $5.25MM to return to Buffalo, the ex-Bears bust still likely will enter Bills training camp in front of White.

Though, it appears White is a bigger threat to Trubisky’s job now compared to 2024, per Buscaglia. A potential change would mostly need to emerge from practice work, as Trubisky only saw relevant game action in Week 18 last season. He went 15 of 21 for 101 yards and one touchdown in a loss to a Patriots team sitting Drake Maye last season.

Allen has not missed a start since his 2018 rookie season. While elbow and hand maladies have come up since, Allen has proven one of the NFL’s safest bets. Though, the superstar’s bruising style and high run-game usage rate does leave him vulnerable annually.

With Allen’s durability pointing to the Bills only carrying one active-roster backup, only one non-practice squad salary appears available for the two QB2 hopefuls. Both Trubisky or White could reach the practice squad without clearing waivers. This would be new territory for Trubisky, however, and the Bills would take a $1.75MM hit were they to cut the more seasoned QB. (No dead money would come from a White release.) That said, seeing if White can usurp the former top prospect will be a storyline to monitor in Buffalo this offseason.

Jordan Poyer Aims To Play In 2025; S Would Prefer Bills Reunion

May 15th, 2025 at 9:49am CST by Adam La Rose

In 2024, the Bills had neither Micah Hyde nor Jordan Poyer on the field at the safety position. The former spent the campaign on the practice squad and has since retired, while the latter played in Miami upon being released last March.

Poyer remains on the market well past the draft, and a second season with the Dolphins should not be expected. The 34-year-old knows his career is nearing an end, but he does not intend to join Hyde in retirement at this point. Poyer made it clear during an appearance on Good Morning Football he is looking to play in 2025.

“I’m in a place right now where I played 12 years, extremely thankful and blessed to have played the game for such a long time,” Poyer said (via NFL.com). “Would I like to play again? Absolutely. Whatever that looks like… It’d be dope, it’d be ideal to have a fantasy ending and be able to retire a Bill, but who knows? I’m just being an open book right now, really enjoying life for what it is.”

Poyer began his Buffalo tenure in 2017, and he remained a full-time starter with the team for seven years. The tandem which was in place with Hyde was among the league’s best for a time, but Buffalo went in a different direction in 2024. Hyde was replaced in the starting lineup while Poyer was released. That led to an intra-AFC East deal, but it did not yield the desired result. The former seventh-rounder was held without an interception for the second straight year on a Dolphins team which fell short of the postseason.

Between that and his age, Poyer will be hard-pressed to generate a notable market for his services in 2025. Buffalo has veterans Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin still in place along with 2024 second-rounder Cole Bishop. The Bills’ most recent draft leaned heavily on defense, but it did not include any new safeties being brought in. A low-cost deal over one year would likely be sufficient to bring about a reunion in this case, but Buffalo sits second-last in the league with only $1.77MM in cap space at the moment.

Fellow veteran safeties Justin Simmons and Julian Blackmon are also on the market at this point. They may have new deals in place before Poyer does, whether that takes the form of another Bills pact or one sending him to another team during the waning stages of his career.

NFL Contract Details: Stafford, White, Moss

May 14th, 2025 at 10:04pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are recently released details on deals from around the NFL:

  • Matthew Stafford, QB (Rams): Two years, $84MM. This restructured deal was announced two weeks ago, but the details were just recently announced, including $40MM of guaranteed money. $4MM of the $84MM comes in the form of a roster bonus paid out in March, per Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. The remaining $80MM is split evenly over the next two seasons with $16MM base salaries and four $6MM bonuses ($24MM total) in each year. The bonus structure gives Los Angeles a bit of flexibility with the salary cap. The $40MM from 2025 is what makes up the guaranteed amount, and the 2026 $40MM fully guarantees on the fifth day of the new league year. On The Breer Report, Breer also mentioned that the new deal pays out $26MM more than Stafford was set to earn through 2026 and that Stafford essentially turned down what could’ve been deals from the Raiders and Giants for over $50MM per year in order to remain with the Rams in 2025.
  • Tre’Davious White, CB (Bills): One year, $3MM. The new deal for the veteran defender was reportedly worth up to $6.8MM. Now that we know the base value of the contract is only $3MM, we can see how much the incentives of the deal are worth, per Howard Balzer of CardsWire. White’s deal contains $2.2MM of guaranteed money, composed of his $1MM signing bonus and $1.2MM of his 2025 base salary (worth $1.56MM in total). White will have non-cumulative playing time-based incentives — $500K for 45% of defensive snaps, $750K for 55%, $1MM for 65%, $1.5MM for 75%, and $2.25MM for 90% — and non-cumulative interception-based incentives — $250K for two interceptions, $500K for three, $750K for four, and $1MM for five. Lastly, he’ll earn a per game active roster bonus of $20K for a potential season total of $340K.
  • Zack Moss, RB (Bengals): One year, $1.7MM. Like Stafford, Moss is another restructured deal. Previously set to earn $3.47MM for the 2025 season, Moss took a pay cut to hopefully avoid being a cap casualty and increase his guaranteed money for the year. The guaranteed money Moss added on the deal was a $375K signing bonus. He’ll also earn a $9K per game active roster bonus for a potential season total of $155K.

Bills Sign 12 Undrafted Free Agents

May 10th, 2025 at 11:46am CST by Nikhil Mehta

The Bills have signed the following 12 undrafted free agents to bring their rookie class to 21 players:

Bayer is an experienced center with 46 collegiate starts under his belt – 22 at Lamar and 24 at Arkansas State. He earned first-team All-SBC honors in 2023, but suffered a torn ACL in the spring of 2024. He made an extremely quick recovery, only missing the first game of the season and finishing the year with a second-team All-SBC nod. Bayer will push for a roster spot as a depth center behind Connor McGovern and Sedrick Van Pran-Granger.

Shand is a multi-sport athlete who played for Canada’s U16 National Team in 2017. He then began his football career at Arizona before transferring to LSU in 2023. He wasn’t especially productive in college, but he has the requisite size to play defensive end in Buffalo’s 4-3 scheme.

Jenkins played a hybrid safety role at Virginia Tech but will convert to linebacker in the NFL. He fits the Bills’ mold as a speedy, undersized linebacker who excels in coverage, the likes of whom have found success in Buffalo in recent years.

Porter is the son of former NFL defensive back Daryl Porter, who played for the Bills from 1998 to 2000. His son started 35 games across his collegiate career at West Virginia and Miami.

Load More Posts