The Buffalo Bills have loaded up camp with wideouts, and that makes the back end of the receiver room a real battle. There are 14 receivers on the roster right now, and Buffalo is likely to keep only six of them once final cuts arrive at the end of August. That number could change if the Bills add someone else before then, but the message is already clear: the top of the depth chart is about making plays in the passing game, while the fringe guys have to earn their keep in more than one way.
That’s the lane Trent Sherfield is trying to carve out.
Sherfield, number 81, is back in Buffalo on a one-year deal signed March 26, 2026. He’s listed at 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, and he’ll turn 31 on Feb.
26, 2027. A Vanderbilt product, he’s in his eighth NFL season and trying to stick with the Bills after previously spending time with the club in 2023.
The financial setup is straightforward. Sherfield signed for the veteran minimum, which comes out to $1.3 million for the season.
Because of the veteran’s salary benefit, his cap hit would be $1.075 million if he makes the team. If Buffalo moves on before Week 1, there’s no dead cap charge.
But if he’s on the roster for the first game, his $1.3 million base salary becomes fully guaranteed.
Sherfield’s 2025 season was a tour of special teams work and limited offensive snaps. He opened the year with the Denver Broncos after signing a two-year, $8 million deal last spring, with $1.5 million guaranteed.
Denver used him in 10 games and three starts, but the production never came: three catches, 21 yards, four targets. Before a Week Eleven matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs, the Broncos signed Lil’Jordan Humphrey to the active roster and released Sherfield.
From there, Sherfield landed on the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad on Nov. 19 and was elevated for two games. He drew one target in those appearances and mostly worked on special teams.
After Arizona’s season ended without a playoff berth, Sherfield did not receive a reserve/futures contract, or did not accept one if it was offered, and became a free agent. He then signed with the New England Patriots’ practice squad on Jan. 13 and, with the Patriots awaiting the winner of a Bills-Broncos Divisional Round game, he could have offered intel on both teams.
He was not elevated for New England’s AFC Championship Game win, was released from the practice squad on Jan. 24, then re-signed on Jan. 28 before not being elevated for the Super Bowl loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Now he’s back in a familiar type of fight. Sherfield is one of 14 wide receivers in Buffalo’s current group, alongside Khalil Shakir, DJ Moore, Keon Coleman, Joshua Palmer, Skyler Bell, Mac Dalena, Ja’Mori Maclin, Mecole Harman Jr., Stephen Gosnell, Jalen Virgil, Quentin Skinner, Tyrell Shavers, and Max Tomczak.
At this stage, Sherfield is healthy and working through offseason duties as both a receiver and a special teams gunner. That last part matters. For players on the bubble, special teams isn’t a bonus - it’s the ticket.
The Bills are not signing Sherfield to reshape the top of the receiver room. His career receiving line - 89 catches, 1,034 yards, six touchdowns - tells you exactly what kind of player he is.
The point is not to ask him to be something he’s not. It’s to fill a role.
That role looks a lot like the one Tyrell Shavers handled for Buffalo, with one twist: 2025 Tyrell Shavers was really doing the job 2023 Trent Sherfield once did. In other words, a receiver whose biggest value came on special teams, with some offensive snaps and a few targets sprinkled in as a complementary piece. Shavers, the source notes, showed a bit more as a receiver and a lot more as a blocker than Sherfield.
If Sherfield makes this roster, it will almost certainly be as the sixth receiver in a special teams-heavy spot. He’s competing with veterans Mecole Hardman Jr. and Jalen Virgil for that kind of job, and none of the three brings much as a pass-catcher.
There’s even a case that Sherfield is the best pure receiver of that group at this point in their careers. One of those three, depending on what the coaches value most, could wind up as the last man standing.
Sherfield has a real path to the 53-man roster. But to get there, he’ll need to attack his role and show enough versatility to make Buffalo keep him around.
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