Braydon Johnson

Minor NFL Transactions: 6/1/23

Here are Thursday’s minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Los Angeles Chargers

Seattle Seahawks

Shepherd has not played in an NFL game since 2020, when he finished a two-season stint with the Packers. Shepherd did go to training camp with the Broncos last year, and he spent time on Denver’s practice squad. This year, the North Dakota State product finished as a top-five receiver in the XFL. Playing for the St. Louis BattleHawks, Shepherd hauled in 48 passes for 519 yards and six touchdowns. Both the BattleHawks’ top two wideouts — Shepherd and Hakeem Butler — have received NFL opportunities. Only Butler’s eight receiving TDs topped Shepherd’s total. The Steelers added Butler last month.

Bills Sign 7-Man UDFA Class

With rookie minicamps underway, the remainder of the undrafted free agent classes are finding their way to the surface. Here is Buffalo’s seven-man class:

After drafting Florida’s Justin Shorter in the fifth round, the Bills stacked the wide receiver room with undrafted talent. All four bring an interesting element to a receiving corps led by Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis. Johnson is a smaller deep ball threat with return abilities. Shavers not only has elite size at 6-foot-6, 210 pounds, he also can contribute on special teams, as evidenced by the three blocked punt returns for touchdowns in his college career. Wayne was super productive in Mobile catching 111 passes for 1,446 yards and 11 touchdowns in his final two seasons at South Alabama.

Mims was also ultra productive in college. As a first-team All-Mountain West running back for Fresno State, the stout back had 1,372 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground as a fifth-year senior. Mims joins a crowded room that has some young talent and some veteran leadership but no bell-cow.

Dale didn’t light up the stat sheet as a defensive tackle, but he started 12 games as a senior for the Crimson Tide and had 5.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss over his career in Tuscaloosa. He’ll have to shine in order to break through a rotation that could include Ed Oliver, DaQuan Jones, Jordan Phillips, Tim Settle, Poona Ford, and Eli Ankou.

Gouraige joins his line-mate, Bills second-round guard O’Cyrus Torrence, and Shorter as the third rookie Gator at mini-camp. Gouraige started his last two seasons as Florida’s blindside tackle. He brings an impressive athleticism having played both offensive and defensive line, as well as basketball, in high school.