Buffalo’s roster squeeze is already taking shape before camp really gets rolling, and four names sit right in the middle of it: Frank Gore Jr., Mecole Hardman Jr., Javon Solomon and DeWayne Carter.
The Bills opened rookies at St. John Fisher University on July 21, with veterans set to join them on July 28.
From there, Buffalo has six weeks to sort out a 91-man offseason roster before it has to get down to 53 ahead of its regular-season opener against the Houston Texans on Sept. 13.
Most of the core is back, but new head coach Joe Brady and defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard have changed enough around the edges that a few familiar players are suddenly fighting uphill battles.
Gore is the clearest example. He has already spent two summers trying to win a spot on the 53-man roster and ended up on the practice squad both times.
He did finally get into an NFL game in January, when Ty Johnson’s ankle injury opened the door and Gore played four offensive snaps in the Bills’ Wild Card win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, catching a six-yard pass. But Buffalo now has five running backs on the roster - James Cook, Ray Davis, Ty Johnson, Desmond Reid and Gore - along with two fullbacks, and the room looks crowded enough to make another carry unlikely.
Cook is the lead back, Davis is a strong complementary piece, Johnson has settled in as one of the league’s better third-down backs, and Reid adds another young option. Gore’s two-year reserve/futures deal is worth $1.935 million and carries no guaranteed money, which means Buffalo would take no dead-cap hit if it moved on.
Unless an injury changes the picture or he has a big August, the practice squad or another team’s roster looks like the most realistic outcome again.
Hardman’s case is different, but the math is just as uncomfortable. He arrived in Buffalo last November after the receiver group took a hit, and the three-time Super Bowl champion gave the offense a spark in limited work, including a four-yard touchdown catch in the playoff loss to Denver.
Still, that late-season flash doesn’t make him safe. Buffalo Rumblings reporter Sean Murphy said the only true locks at receiver are Khalil Shakir, D.J.
Moore and rookie Skyler Bell, leaving veterans like Hardman to battle for the remaining spots. Heavy.com’s Nathan Dougherty went a step further and predicted Buffalo will release Hardman at final cuts, pointing to special-teams versatility as the edge in favor of veteran Trent Sherfield.
That’s only a projection, but it shows where the roster picture stands right now. Hardman still has camp to alter it.
On defense, the scheme change has created a tougher road for Javon Solomon. Sean McDermott’s 4-3 is gone, replaced by Jim Leonhard’s 3-4, and that shift changes the shape of the front seven.
Solomon is getting squeezed at outside linebacker, where Greg Rousseau and free-agent addition Bradley Chubb are expected to lead the rotation. Second-round rookie T.J.
Parker and returning edge rusher Michael Hoecht are also ahead of him, and the Bills added veteran Mike Danna as well. According to SI’s Buffalo Bills site, that pushes Solomon further down the depth chart.
The 2024 fifth-round pick is now in a camp that feels like a true proving ground.
DeWayne Carter faces a different kind of challenge. His 2025 season never got off the ground after he tore his Achilles tendon in training camp last summer, and now he’s back trying to carve out a role in Buffalo’s new 3-4.
The 2024 third-round pick was drafted as more of a gap-shooting penetrator, but under Leonhard he projects as a one-technique or nose tackle, a job that asks him to hold ground and occupy blockers. Carter has already adjusted his body for the switch, saying on the “Centered on Buffalo” podcast that he’s aiming to play somewhere between 320 and 330 pounds.
Even with that work, the competition is fierce. Buffalo’s interior line also includes Ed Oliver, Deone Walker, T.J.
Sanders, Phidarian Mathis and fifth-round rookie Zane Durant, and WGR Sports Radio Buffalo analyst Chris Brown said one of those spots will most likely go to Durant, whose size profile more closely resembles Oliver’s than Carter’s.
None of these four is locked into a departure by Week 1. Camp exists for a reason, and players can change their standing fast once the pads come on. But each one enters August with the same problem: Buffalo has built enough depth, and changed enough around them, that every rep matters.
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