The Buffalo Bills kept busy on cutdown day, and one of the more notable twists came after they had already moved on from Geno Stone.
Stone is headed back to Buffalo, with NFL insider Jordan Schultz reporting that the veteran safety is signing to the Bills’ practice squad. Schultz also said the team expects Stone to be on the active roster on game day, even though he’ll officially be on the practice squad for now.
That turns Sunday’s release into a very short detour. Buffalo cut Stone as part of its final roster trim down to 53 players, then circled back after giving him a shot to gauge the market. The Bills originally brought him in on a one-year deal during NFL free agency.
Stone, a former seventh-round pick out of Iowa, carved out a reputation as a dependable safety beginning in 2021. He spent three seasons in Baltimore and missed only two games during that stretch before staying in the AFC North with Cincinnati for the last two seasons. In 2025, he was a key piece of the Bengals’ secondary, finishing with 104 total tackles, two sacks, two interceptions and four passes defensed.
Buffalo’s interest in getting him back onto the game-day roster makes the move easy to read: the Bills want more depth in the back end. Cole Bishop and Damar Hamlin are in line as the starting safeties, while C.J. Gardner-Johnson can also rotate in when he isn’t in the slot.
With expectations high for 2026, the Bills appear intent on covering every base. Adding Stone back into the mix gives the secondary another experienced body before what the team is treating as a “Super Bowl or bust” season.
Buffalo opens the regular season on the road against the Texans. The AFC matchup kicks off at 1PM ET from NRG Stadium in Houston.
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