The Buffalo Bills are officially in camp, and the first roster puzzle of the summer is already on the table.
On Tuesday, the full 90-man group reported to St. John Fisher in Rochester.
Wednesday brings the first practice of training camp, with workouts open to fans and media and the preseason soon to follow. After that comes the part that matters most: September and the real thing.
Before any of the position battles play out, though, it’s worth taking a first crack at what Buffalo’s 53-man roster could look like. Here’s a pre-camp projection of how the Bills might trim things down.
At quarterback, the picture is clean. The projection keeps two on the active roster, with Shane Buechele slotted as the No. 3 on the practice squad.
The backfield is built around four names: James Cook, Ray Davis, Ty Johnson and Jackson Acker. Acker is penciled in to handle the part-fullback role Reggie Gilliam had filled for years.
Receiver is where the room starts to get crowded. This projection carries six: D.J.
Moore, Keon Coleman, Khalil Shakir, Joshua Palmer, Trent Sherfield and Skyler Bell. The Bills tend to keep five receivers more often than not, and Sherfield could wind up being more of a special teams piece than a pure wideout.
Tight end looks like a familiar setup. Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox and Jackson Hawes are all included, with the expectation that Buffalo runs it back with the same three.
Up front, the offensive line projection includes Dion Dawkins, Connor McGovern, Austin Corbett, O’Cyrus Torrence, Spencer Brown, Alec Anderson, Chase Lundt, Lloyd Cushenberry and Jude Bowry. Bowry, a fourth-round rookie, appears set up for swing tackle work. Corbett and Anderson are projected to battle for the starting left guard job.
On the defensive line, the move to a 3-4 under new coordinator Jim Leonhard changes the math. The projection keeps six big bodies: Ed Oliver, Deone Walker, T.J. Sanders, Phidarian Mathis, DeWayne Carter and Zane Durant.
Edge defender is another spot where versatility could shape the final cut. The source doesn’t list the full group by name here, but notes that Parker looks like the top rotational option as Buffalo’s first drafted rookie in 2026.
At linebacker, the projection includes Terrel Bernard, Dorian Williams, Kaleb Elarms-Orr and Joe Andreesen. Elarms-Orr and Andreesen have drawn positive reviews this spring as backups, and Elarms-Orr could even push Williams for a starting role.
Cornerback is projected to include Christian Benford, Davison Igbinosun, Maxwell Hairston and Dee Alford. Versatility matters there too, and Igbinosun was another rookie who had a strong spring and may challenge for a starting spot.
Safety is where Buffalo’s flexibility really shows. The projection keeps Cole Bishop, C.J.
Gardner-Johnson, Jordan Hancock, Geno Stone, Sam Franklin Jr. and Jalon Kilgore. Several of those players can also handle nickel cornerback duties, giving the Bills multiple ways to mix and match in the secondary.
In Other News...
Dion Dawkins Just Gave Bills Fans Another Reason To Be Proud
Dion Dawkins has long been one of the Bills most visible off-field presences in Buffalo, and his latest gesture fit right into that pattern. At a Black Achievers Inc. ceremony, the left tackle helped celebrate 10 Buffalo high school graduates by stepping in to boost their scholarship awards, adding his own money to make sure the students left with a bigger head start.
The move underscored how much Dawkins has become part of the citys fabric beyond football, balancing his NFL career with steady community involvement. And in a nice twist for the students, another donor later added even more to the awards, turning a generous moment into an even bigger one for the next wave of Buffalo graduates. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Latest WR Move Says A Lot About Their Bigger Problem
The Bills kept sorting through their receiver depth during training camp, and the latest move was a familiar kind of camp shuffle. Buffalo designated Jalen Virgil as waived/NFI to clear a spot and then signed Dante Pettis, a former second-round pick who has bounced around the league since entering it in 2018, with stops in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and New Orleans.
It came after the team held tryouts for multiple wideouts, which says plenty about where the position stands heading into the rest of camp. Pettis gives Buffalo another experienced body to evaluate, but the bigger issue is still the same one the Bills have been circling all summer: they keep looking for answers at receiver, and the search is not exactly settled yet. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Allen Just HintED At What Changed With DJ Moore
Training camp is giving the Bills their first real chance to see how Josh Allen and DJ Moore fit together, and the early signs are encouraging. Buffalo brought Moore in from Chicago to be a major part of the passing game, and the expectation around him is clear: he is supposed to step in as the teams top target and give Allen a dependable option on the outside.
Allen said the key has been simplifying his approach and trusting the throw instead of trying to make every pass perfect. Once he made that adjustment with Moore, the connection started to come together in workouts, which is exactly the kind of progress Buffalo wanted to see before the preseason ramps up. The trade that brought Moore to Orchard Park came with draft-pick movement attached, so the Bills have every reason to keep watching this pairing closely. [Read more 🡒]