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[Buffalo Bills]

Tyrell Shavers highlights and analysis

There are always players without star power who generate buzz from fans who cheer on the underdog story. Buffalo Bills wide receiver Tyrell Shavers has been one of those underdog stories since joining the team as an undrafted free agent in 2023.

This preseason elevated his hype significantly (and there was already hype) thanks to a highlight-reel one-handed touchdown grab. I’m sure head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane considered more than one play in their decision, but Shavers has made the cut* this season, landing on the 53-man roster.

*So yeah, the entire article exists just so I could publicly make that pun. But maybe also so I can get more time in before the regular season with my new clip format.

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Long catch​

Hey look! I learned from the first crack at the Vimeo changeover. Now the captions are at the top so you can see the opening ones that the UI was naturally covering. Anyway, besides how much nicer I believe things are going to be around here from now on…

I also wanted to point out that Shavers doesn’t catch this in stride because of perfect ball placement. He catches it in stride because he’s tracking the ball at full speed and adjusts perfectly. I’m not trying to knock the throw either. Most passes this distance are at risk for drifting.

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More repositioning​

Here’s another Shavers highlight from this preseason, but in this instance he’s hip to the dire situation his quarterback is in and buys a little time by moving around and resetting. Notice he resets in an advantageous spot to ensure the first down and increase his odds of being able to come back slightly for the ball.

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The Catch​

Confession time. When I first started doing GIFs, the videos were generally of lesser quality and the free software I use didn’t have the same degradation of quality as a result. Exacerbating the problem is that at least one major aggregator site that helps drive traffic to the articles forces a file size limit of 12Mb per GIF, a limit that hasn’t changed since I’ve been doing this.

What I’m getting at is that video technology has improved while the limits of what I can capture size-wise has been static. Over the years that’s forced me to make shorter GIFs, cropped GIFs, and lower framerate GIFs to stay under the file size limit.

Swapping to this format allows me to use MP4 file format. MP4s adore compression. Depending on a few factors I could typically fit 100 – 120 frames into a GIF to stay under the 12Mb file size. Each frame was 480×270 pixels. This MP4 is 436 frames and each frame is 853×480 pixels. Now to be fair, with Vimeo the aggregator doesn’t actually care about the file size, but this file came in at 3.6Mb.

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The Final Straw​

I figure it was safe to talk about the tech behind the new format because that catch needs no real explanation. I am super excited to be able to do cuts like this with multiple angles and more in a single clip. The slimmer file sizes make my computer happier and reduce time on uploads, etc. That means more time for the fun stuff, and hopefully a better experience for everyone this season.

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...114434/tyrell-shavers-highlights-and-analysis

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Buffalo Bills new stadium PSL sales jump significantly

Bills Mafia has shown up in a big way for the team’s future $2 billion home. With about a year to go before kickoff in the new stadium, the Buffalo Bills announced that they have already sold around 43,000 personal seat licenses (PSLs), roughly 80% of the nearly 55,000 available.

Premium club levels at new Bills stadium​

Not all PSLs are created equal. Some of the biggest price tags have come with the most exclusive experiences in the new stadium. The premium clubs are Founders Club, Field Club, and East Club.

Each of these club levels required a PSL investment between $8,000 (East Club) and $50,000 (Founders Club). Outside of a few East Club spots, they’re all gone, a clear sign that demand was higher than many expected.

What’s driving Bills new stadium ticket sales uptick?​

One of the biggest factors has been the drop in PSL prices. When sales first opened in 2024, fans were stunned by the PSL prices they saw, which ranged from $8,000 to $50,000 for club seats and $5,000 to $10,000 for prime lower-bowl locations. Understandably, sticker shock set in for many.

But as sales moved into the upper decks, things changed quickly. PSLs in the 400-level end zones dropped as low as $750, the most affordable price point of the entire rollout.

In fact, the Bills sold more than 14,500 PSLs in the second quarter, followed by another 9,000 since July 1! Those numbers crushed earlier sales and put the team on track to sell out all PSLs by the end of the year.

Pete Guelli, Bills chief executive officer and executive vice president, summed it up best: “Sales have definitely ramped up quicker than expected, to the point that this process is likely to close out earlier than we all thought.”

What ticket sales mean for Bills Mafia​

The team has fewer than 1,000 of its approximately 18,000 current season ticket holders to bring through the New Stadium Experience. Once that is complete the Bills’ organization has decided to give one more opportunity to current season ticket holders who passed the first time around, giving them until September 19 to make a move.

After that, fans on the 20,000-person waiting list will start getting their calls.

A look inside the Bills’ new stadium​

• Total seats: 60,108
• Club seats: 6,162
• Suites: 1,755
• Total Seats requiring PSLs: About 54,628
• Length: 30 years (PSLs grant ownership of your seat for that entire term)

Once the PSL process wraps up, the number of single-game tickets available will be very limited. Between the NFL’s mandatory reserved seats for visiting teams and families, plus sponsor allocations, only a small number of seats are expected to be available every week.

Bills fans are proving once again that this fan base is as diehard as they come. Despite the early pushback on the PSLs, the team’s strategy has worked and, in the end… demand may still far exceed supply.

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...ills-new-stadium-psl-sales-jump-significantly

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Buffalo Bills NFL Rivals uniforms revealed

The Buffalo Bills revealed their latest alternate uniforms on Thursday, August 28, to much fanfare. The Bills are one of eight teams that will wear brand-new threads beginning in 2025, joining their AFC East rivals and the entirety of the NFC West.

Prepare yourself for a cold front hitting the field at Highmark Stadium in Week 5. When the Bills host the Patriots for Sunday Night Football on NBC, they’ll premiere the team’s brand-new uniform combo in front of a national audience as part of the new Nike/NFL Rivalries campaign.

The new uniforms feature a fresh take on Buffalo’s iconic look, most noticeably the charging logo. This is also the first uniform to have the charging bison logo on the sleeve. Pay close attention to the inside collar of the jersey, which says “BILLS MAFIA” — players will now carry the fan base on their backs.

The look is a proud nod to Western New York’s unique embrace of lake-effect winters, and the feet of snow that often accompany a Bills season at Highmark Stadium. You love it; you want it! Where do you get your own Rivals jersey? You’ll have to wait until September 9, when the jerseys will be released for public sale. Fair warning: the Nike NFL Rivals replica jerseys are expected to cost $190 USD.

View Link

Today's Forcast: COLD FRONT. #BillsMafia | #GoBills pic.twitter.com/9Sl2Hg8329

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) August 28, 2025

Ice in the air. Grit in the soul. A city that thrives in the cold.

More details: https://t.co/4gD3C89GcW pic.twitter.com/PoTGrVjyEx

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) August 28, 2025

First look at the NFL and Nike's new "Rivalries" uniforms for the AFC East (Bills, Dolphins, Jets and Patriots) and NFC West (Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks and 49ers), which will be officially unveiled at 10 am: pic.twitter.com/m5BrFBgSnC

— Andrew Lind (@AndrewMLind) August 28, 2025

Here is the @Nike Rivalry uniform schedule for the NFL this year. Only one team (the one on the right in these graphics) wears it when these games are played, not both. (h/t @lifewithmikey52 for finding it) pic.twitter.com/KHj4jbddHI

— Sal Capaccio (@SalSports) August 28, 2025

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...3/buffalo-bills-reveal-new-nfl-rivals-uniform

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Bills Reacts Survey: How confident are you in the Bills’ 2025 roster?

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Bills fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Okay Rumblers, it’s time to let us know how you’re feeling about the Buffalo Bills now that the initial 53-man roster is set for the 2025 NFL season. There weren’t any real surprises out of One Bills Drive on cutdown day. The best news may be that cornerback Tre’Davious White was not sent to the Injured Reserve (IR)/return list, meaning that his timetable to recovery from a lower leg injury sounds as if it will take less time to heal. We still don’t know exactly what’s bothering White, nor if he’ll be ready to face the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1.

Buffalo didn’t show well in its first two preseason games, but rebounded well to close out exhibition season with a more refined performance out of the team’s roster depth. The Bills have yet to reveal much of their offense for the coming season, and quarterback Josh Allen has yet to take a snap against unfriendly fire outside of a joint practice with the Chicago Bears.

Will we continue to see offensive coordinator Joe Brady evolve as a play caller? Will wide receiver Khalil Shakir be ready to go out of the gate? Will Keon Coleman become a more complete receiver in year two? As for rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston: What’s the plan for him now that he begins the season on IR? Can Cole Bishop lock down a starting role at safety? What about the defense as a whole? Will we see a better counter to opponents’ rushing attacks, and can the defense find the luck it needs to maintain a greater bit of health in 2025?

There are so many questions to answer, and we’ve only touched the surface here. Thinking through the above and your other questions ahead of Week 1, how are you feeling about the Bills’? Vote below!

How confident are you in the 2025 Bills now compared to earlier in the offseason?

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...w-confident-are-you-in-buffalo-and-its-roster

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Buffalo Bills shakeup practice squad roster

The Buffalo Bills announced their first practice squad of the 2025 NFL season on Wednesday, August 27. While the team signed 17 players to that roster, the understanding is that it can change at any time — similar to the 53-man active roster in ways. That leaves a lot of uncertainty for practice-squad players on a day to day basis.

Just two days after filling out the practice-squad roster, Buffalo reportedly made some changes. Defensive end Andre Jones Jr. was officially added to the practice squad after initial reports claimed his signing was imminent. The Bills also signed cornerback Jalen Kimber to the practice squad, and parted ways with cornerback Daequan Hardy.

Hardy landed with Buffalo as a sixth-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. After spending the 2024 season on the Bills’ practice squad, Hardy signed a reserve/future contract in January 2025. Hardy played collegiately at Penn State.

Jones entered the NFL in 2023 as a seventh-round pick with the Washington Commanders. After making the team’s roster, he started two games of 14 played as a rookie, making four tackles (one solo) and three pass defenses. Jones was released and then signed to the Commanders’ practice squad for the 2024 NFL season. He played in two games last season Washington, recording one solo tackle.

Kimber entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent following the 2025 NFL Draft. He joined the Tennessee Titans and spent the offseason and summer as part of the team’s 90-man roster. Kimber was released during final cuts before being signed to the Titans’ practice squad. He was released a few days later, at which point One Bills Drive promptly signed him to their practice roster.

Bills announce they’ve signed CB Jalen Kimber and DE Andre Jones Jr. to the practice squad and released CB Daequan Hardy from the practice squad.

— Sal Capaccio (@SalSports) August 28, 2025

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...6/buffalo-bills-shakeup-practice-squad-roster

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Buffalo Bills work out 3 kickers, per reports

According to a report by Jordan Schultz, the Buffalo Bills brought in three veteran kickers for a workout on Thursday, August 28. The Bills reportedly worked out Eddy Piñeiro Jr., Zane Gonzalez, and Greg Joseph.

Piñeiro, 29, originally entered the NFL as an undrafted free-agent signing of the Las Vegas Raiders following the 2018 NFL Draft. He never kicked in an official game for the Raiders, as they traded him to the Chicago Bears in 2019. Piñeiro has also spent time with the Indianapolis Colts, Washington Commanders, New York Jets, and Carolina Panthers in his career. He’s made 88% of his field goals (111-for-126), including an impressive 11-for-14 mark from 50 yards or longer. He’s also hit 92% of his extra-point attempts, going 116-for-126 in his career.

Gonzalez, 30, was originally a seventh-round draft choice of the Cleveland Browns, which took him at No. 224 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft. He’s kicked for the Browns, the Arizona Cardinals, the Detroit Lions, the Panthers, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Commanders during his career. In the regular season, he’s made 80% of his field goal attempts (96-for-120), including an 11-for-19 marks from fifty yards or longer. He’s 146-for-153 on extra point attempts, good for a 95% make rate.

Joseph, 31, is the most well-traveled kicker of the group in more ways than one. The Johannesburg, South Africa native moved to the United States at seven years old, and he kicked at Florida Atlantic University before joining the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent following the 2018 NFL Draft. He’s also been with the Browns, Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, Lions, New York Giants, Commanders, Jets, and 49ers throughout his career. He’s made 82% of his career field goal attempts (116-of-141), including 17-of-30 attempts from 50 yards or more. Joseph has also made 91% of his extra point attempts (157-of-173).

While Piñeiro doesn’t have any playoff experience, both Joseph and Gonzalez do. Joseph has hit both of his postseason field goal attempts and all 12 of his extra-point tries. Gonzalez, meanwhile, is 7-of-8 in the playoffs, with his lone miss coming from 44 yards out against the Lions in last year’s NFC Divisional Round. He made all eight of his extra-point attempts.

Buffalo’s placekicker, Tyler Bass, dealt with pelvic-area soreness for much of the summer. He tried five field goals in the Bills’ preseason finale, making four of the five kicks. The one he missed was a 26-yard try late in the fourth quarter of the scrimmage.

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu.../buffalo-bills-work-out-3-kickers-per-reports

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Donate Blood with ConnectLife: Prove you bleed for the Bills

Buffalo Bills fans have made a name for themselves with countless donations to worthy causes. Do something great for the community like Josh Allen? Donate in your name to celebrate you. Trash-talk us on your radio show? Donate in your name to humble you. Injured rival? Donate in your name out of respect.

What if you could donate something more valuable than money? Well you, can! And if you read the headline this entire paragraph wasn’t necessary, but here we are.

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Bleed for Bills, bleed for the community​

The Bills and blood donations go back a long way. The Bills currently (and mostly silently) partner with ConnectLife to encourage local fans to give the gift of life. If you couldn’t tell, I’m trying to appeal to your desire to do good things on this planet and blood donations do a lot of good.

Lifesaving transfusions after accidents, during surgery, and more. Per their website, blood collected from ConnectLife accounts for over 75% of the local blood supply. Their site that I keep linking over and over has information about the blood donation process, uses and a whole lot more.

If appealing to your natural good instincts, which I’m sure you have because you’re an awesome person who can spare a little blood, didn’t work, then let’s circle back to that Bills partnership I hinted at. For Bills Mafia, there’s even more reason to donate blood with ConnectLife. At least THREE reasons in fact.

I’m sure ConnectLife won’t mind that I borrowed this image from the email they sent me to promote this campaign. Any donor giving blood in September and October will get the pictured Bills/ConnectLife branded phone wallet, which is pretty cool. As the graphic also notes, you’ll be entered into a raffle to win a pair of tickets to a Bills home game.

Still not enough reason? Here’s one more big reason to donate blood sooner rather than later. If you donate enough blood between now and the end of the year, you’re entered into another raffle for a suite for 16 people in the final regular-season home game at the current Highmark Stadium.

To be eligible for this, you’ll need to donate whole blood twice, one double red cell donation, or four plasma donations. Does that sound tough? It’s not. If you’re eligible to do a double red donation, one trip to a ConnectLife collection center and you’re in the raffle!

For whole blood and plasma donors, you still have time. Whole blood donations can be given every 56 days. That means if you donate at any time before November 5, you’ll be able to get a second donation in. For plasma, you can donate every 14 days. If my math is right, you have enough time to get in EIGHT plasma donations in that time span. Yes, I’m so excited about getting you to give blood that I’m doing math to help you out.

And I’m not just the Buffalo Rumblings Blood Donation Fan Club, I’m also a member. I admit I lapsed for a bit, but I’m back in the habit and donated double reds in August to get into that raffle for the suite. My next appointment is already booked. Maybe I’ll see you on a Saturday morning in November.

Be good, do good, God bless, go Bills!

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/me...ith-connectlife-prove-you-bleed-for-the-bills

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Buffalo Rumblings community chat: How far should the Buffalo Bills have gone for Micah Parsons?

This week, the Green Bay Packers completed a massive trade for Micah Parsons, one of the handful of NFL players who can claim to be the best in the league. The Dallas Cowboys were fleeced and should have extended him last offseason, then should have extended him this offseason, and now have shown their entire locker room that they are deeply unserious.

What would you have traded for Micah Parsons?​

But we are a Buffalo Bills site, so that isn’t the focus of this article. If I was Bills general manager Brandon Beane, I absolutely would have made a trade similar to this one. I don’t think Ed Oliver plus two firsts would have been enough, but even throwing in a player like A.J. Epenesa or another third-round pick or whatever would have made the compensation part worth it. Absolutely make the move.

Kenny Clark was the player the Packers sent to Dallas, and he’s a 30-year-old three-time Pro Bowler with three years left on his deal. Oliver is two years younger, but has never been named to the Pro Bowl, so I think it would have needed a sweetener for the Cowboys to save face. (It would have been interesting to add Joey Bosa as the extra player to open the rotation spot…)

Why didn’t the Bills trade for Micah Parsons?​

So here’s the thing, the Bills weren’t able to trade for Micah Parsons. As much as certain folks in the media want to claim the salary cap doesn’t exist, it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the cap.

The Packers started Thursday with $23 million in cap space, meaning they could trade for Parsons and his $22ish million salary. Easy peasy. They now have less than $4 million in available cap space until the Parsons extension becomes official, but they had to fit him on their current cap in order to complete that trade and subsequent extension.

The Bills started Thursday $6 million over the cap, according to Spotrac. That is not possible under the CBA, so the Bills have made a move or two already to lower their cap number to be in compliance, we just don’t know about them. Here are some ways the Bills could have created enough cap space for Micah Parsons:

• Restructure Dion Dawkins (push $8.15 million in cap)
• Restructure Dawson Knox ($6.5 million)
• Restructure DaQuan Jones ($5.2 million)
• Restructure Connor McGovern ($3.3 million)
• Trade A.J. Epenesa ($6.1 million)

That would have created the $29 million in space the Bills needed to get Parsons under their 2025 cap.

The ripple effect would have obviously pushed the majority of those dead cap hits to the 2026 cap. Jones and McGovern are on expiring deals, and Knox has no more guaranteed money remaining and facing a release. That $15 million in dead cap would all hit in 2026, where Buffalo is currently projected to only have $8 million or so in cap space (without a Parsons extension, mind you).

The narrative around Brandon Beane and Micah Parsons​

The real reason I decided to make this the topic of this weekend’s comments post is the discourse I have been seeing on Twitter. Like Brandon Beane was a major loser for not getting the deal done. I interacted with this post yesterday, so I went back to check today. And boy…

It's almost as if teams can manipulate the Salary Cap when they really want a player https://t.co/K76zGeIOVh

— Mike Catalana (@MikeCatalana) August 28, 2025

I already showed you the Bills could have done it. That doesn’t mean they should have done it. And I’m sure Mike wouldn’t necessarily disagree with that, but some of the responses.

Sometimes I think the Bills don’t really want to win . They say they do but the actions don’t show it. Packers were working on Parsons and the Bills interviewed 3 kickers today

— Jeffrey Curtis (@JeffreyCurtis17) August 28, 2025

Silly.

It'salmost like there's some teams willing to do what's necessary to get to the next level, rather than trying to get a depth roster to win a championship by putting it on just one player.

— Michael (@Billsfan_83) August 28, 2025

The Bills signed James Cook, Christian Benford, Michael Hoecht, Josh Palmer, Greg Rousseau, and Terrel Bernard to multi-year contracts this offseason and extended Josh Allen, too. That doesn’t even add in the one-year deals for Tre’Davious White, Larry Ogunjobi, Joey Bosa and Elijah Moore. Is that “just one player” now?

It’s almost as if, to quote Dan, “The salary cap isn’t real.”

— bogey mcbirdie (@saviano_steve) August 29, 2025

Hang on, I know a guy who can explain this…. @danfetes

— Jake W (@jakewiz13) August 29, 2025

Catalana’s coworker is Dan Fetes, who is noted for his assurance that the salary cap is not real. Like I said earlier, you could have made the Parsons deal work. BUT. The salary cap is real in that there are consequences for those actions. There are players you can’t extend or sign in the future because you make the move.

The New Orleans Saints are going on their fifth straight season with absolutely no shot of making the playoffs after mortgaging for Drews Brees. Which, by the way, they went to one NFC Championship Game since their 2009 Super Bowl. One conference game appearance in 15 seasons despite having one of the best QBs ever is a teambuilding failure.

As the pushed cap hits from the last five years of Josh Allen contracts begins to snowball on their cap, there is nothing they can do to spread that out further. The bill comes due… always.

Would you have moved heaven and earth for Micah Parsons?​

All that being said, I really think I would have tried to be the team to trade for Parsons. He’s that talented of a player and a closer. I would have absolutely signed off on losing players like Connor McGover, O’Cyrus Torrence, Dawson Knox, Joey Bosa, Matt Milano, and probably some more cuts a year from now.

But I can totally understand Beane’s approach of taking more swings at staying consistently set up for a run rather than a one-year all-in push with Parsons and Allen in 2025. He’s been consistent that he thinks the more times you kick the door, the more likely it is to get knocked in (to borrow his terminology).

Let us know what you think about the Bills’ strategy in the comments, and let us know if you’d have made all the moves necessary. Head to the comments to share your thoughts. Sign up for your own account here to leave a comment.

Welcome to the weekend, Buffalo Bills fans. After a long week, it’s time to blow off a little steam. Use this thread to talk about… well, whatever it is you’d like to talk about. Maybe you’d like to share a cool story from your week.

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...the-buffalo-bills-have-gone-for-micah-parsons

 

[Buffalo Bills]

CFB thread: Week 1 offers up multiple game of the year contenders

It’s a full slate of college football for the first time in 2025 — a full weekend featuring the best of what the college landscape has to offer. Some teams choose to slow-roll their way to getting up and going for the season while others have certainly set themselves up with quite the challenge.

There are three matchups between top-10 teams on the docket. It’s a college football fan’s kickoff dream.

The biggest and best matchups get started on Saturday with No. 1 Texas traveling to No. 3 Ohio State for one of the best tilts to begin a season in recent memory. This is one to watch for NFL Draft fans and college football fanatics alike.

A primetime Saturday bout between the two Tiger schools who refer to their home turf as “Death Valley” are set to battle it out in No. 9 LSU and No. 4 Clemson. Both squads are loaded with talent and want their Death Valley bragging rights. LSU has struggled in recent years with season openers against big-time opponents while Clemson is coming off a season-opener beating against Georgia in 2024.

The Labor Day weekend allows us some Sunday college football as well. No. 6 Notre Dame goes down south to No. 10 Miami. It’s a matchup with plenty of history and will be a standalone to get eyes on with plenty of talent on the field.

The best of the best get it rolling for Week 1. There’s plenty to be mindful of with prospect matchups all over the place. Let us know who you’re watching in the comments below. Here are some player-on-player battles you need to be aware of heading into the weekend.

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QBs with resume-building opportunities: Texas’s Arch Manning & LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier​

Two of the top quarterback prospects for the 2026 NFL Draft will have two massive opportunities for draft-stock purposes in their respective games. Manning is green when it comes to college starts. But the talent he shows is clearly special with everything you could ever want in a quarterback. His task won’t be easy against a Buckeyes defense that features star safety Caleb Downs and much more. This will be Manning’s toughest test in his third career start.

Nussmeier might be facing the best defense in the country on Saturday night with a very different looking offensive line in front of him in 2025. He’s one of the more calm, composed, and confident players in college football. He’s never seen a throwing window he can’t hit. He’s got a nice plethora of receiving weapons, but it won’t be smooth sledding against a Clemson defense that is stacked at all three levels. That starts with elite defensive tackle Peter Woods manning the middle of the defense and cornerback Avieon Terrell looking to compete to get the ball back for his offense.

ARCH MANNING’s FIRST TD of his #Texas career#ArchManning #TexasFootball #HookEm pic.twitter.com/pRfiJAcbF6

— Inside Texas (@InsideTexas) August 31, 2024

Trench Battle in Tallahassee: Alabama C Parker Brailsford vs. Florida State DT Darrell Jackson​

This will be quite a fascinating matchup from a size comparison standpoint. Brailsford stands approximately 6’2” and 290 pounds while Jackson is 6’5” and 337 pounds. Brailsford is a high-level athlete lacking those elite traits, but he works angles well and has excellent big man athleticism. Jackson is a towering man with next-level athleticism in his own right to couple with a massive frame and tree trunks for arms.

Brailsford’s draft stock will largely have to do with the limitations from a traits standpoint and how he withstands power. Jackson’s will have to do with how much he can maximize his ridiculous traits. If Jackson shows consistent blowback power on Brailsford to couple with his freaky traits, Jackson is going to be a household name in the scouting circles quickly.

Darrell Jackson is going to wreck havoc in opposing teams backfields this year. pic.twitter.com/kTZSslmdVU

— Just Means Less ACC (@JML_ACC) August 15, 2025

RB1 Showcase Spot: Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love vs. Miami Defense​

Perhaps the top projected offensive skill player (outside of quarterback) in the 2026 NFL Draft class is Irish star Jeremiyah Love. He’s got the complete package of what you want in a running back prospect while averaging 7 yards per carry on the season. He’s tracking as a potential top-10 pick at the position — following in the footsteps of Bijan Robinson and Ashton Jeanty.

The Miami defense has plenty of talent in their own right with perhaps the best of the crop being defensive lineman Rueben Bain. Linebacker Wesley Bissainthe is another name to know at linebacker for the ‘Canes. Although, a large reason Miami missed the College Football Playoff a season ago is because of the porous play of the defense.

Teams: We have a plan to stop Jeremiyah Love

The plan: pic.twitter.com/MhACIaxnyx

— Bruce Straughan (@bruce_straughan) August 27, 2025

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Game of the Week​

No. 1 Texas @ No. 3 Ohio State
Saturday, 12 p.m. EDT
FOX

You talk about potential previews of a national championship game in August — you’re getting it in this game. Two of the most talented teams in the country are clashing in Week 1 and it couldn’t be any more beautiful that it’s a noon kickoff time to get the Saturday started.

Ohio State — the defending national champions — have plenty of turnover starting with their quarterback as they transition to the Julian Sayin era. Life won’t be so bad with superstar sophomore receiver Jeremiah Smith and junior Carnell Tate on the outside making plays. But it’s a monster test for the first start of his career.

Texas has their own potential superstar brewing on the defensive side of the ball with edge rusher Colin Simmons with Anthony Hill leading an athletic linebacker corp. Cornerback Malik Muhammad will likely draw Jeremiah Smith for a major draft stock game for himself and Jaylon Guilbeau.

We talked about Arch Manning earlier, and we know this is a battle of two very young, green quarterbacks in this game. Arch has his own weapons. Sophomore Ryan Wingo looked like a future stud as a true freshman and Deandre Moore looks like a future NFL slot receiver. CJ Baxter is as talented as any back in the country with dual-threat ability as a pass catcher. Baxter missed all of 2024 with an injury, but he will likely put himself back on the scene in a hurry. Trevor Goosby at tackle and DJ Campbell at guard are two additional names to know on offense as they look to get after a completely new look Ohio State defensive line.

Ohio State is looking for a breakout on their defensive line, and that may be Kenyatta Jackson as the incumbent edge rusher. What the Buckeyes may lack on the defensive line, they’ll look to make up some of that with Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese at the linebacker spot. Davison Igbinosun was a big keep from entering the draft while Jermaine Mathews saw significant snaps on a loaded secondary in 2024.

The potential of home-field advantage and better seeding may be all that’s at stake in this one with both teams looking like high-probability squads to make the College Football Playoff as conference winners or high-seeded at-large bids. Regardless, this is going to be a fun battle between two teams with NFL Draft talent abound for now and in the future.

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...ffers-up-multiple-game-of-the-year-contenders

 

[Buffalo Bills]

90 Buffalo Bills players in 90 days: WR Joshua Palmer

The Buffalo Bills spent most of their big offseason resources doing one of two things. They either came to agreements on contract extensions with existing players, or they added pieces to improve their defense. That constituted the majority of Buffalo’s moves during the spring and summer months.

However, general manager Brandon Beane did add one big-ticket wide receiver to the fold. While quarterback and reigning NFL MVP Josh Allen will largely have the same group of pass-catchers to work with this year, Beane added one speedy wideout from an AFC foe to the Bills. This newcomer brings speed and a knack for separating at all levels of play.

Will that addition pay off immediately, or will chemistry take time to build between quarterback and receiver? In our latest edition of “90 players in 90 days,” we discuss that veteran newcomer at wide receiver.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Name: Joshua Palmer
Number: 5
Position: WR
Height/Weight: 6’1”, 210 pounds
Age: 25 (26 on 9/22/2025)
Experience/Draft: 5; selected by the Los Angeles Chargers in the third round (No. 77 overall) of the 2021 NFL Draft
College: Tennessee
Acquired: Signed with Buffalo on 3/13/2025

Financial situation (per Spotrac): Palmer signed a three-year contract worth $29 million overall. Of that total, $18 million is guaranteed. For the 2025 season, Palmer carries a cap hit of $4.31 million, and Buffalo would be on the hook for a dead-cap charge of $15.25 million if he were released.

2024 Recap: Palmer’s final season in LA was similar to most of his other seasons there, as people who were expecting it to be the year where he broke out as a legitimate top target were once again disappointed. After posting a 72/769/3 line on 107 targets in his second season, Palmer struggled to see that much usage again with the Chargers.

Last season, he played in 15 of Los Angeles’ 17 games, making seven starts. He saw 65 targets, catching 39 passes for 584 yards and a touchdown in a role that was mostly field-stretching in nature. He missed time due to elbow, foot, and calf injuries, including the Chargers’ 32-12 playoff loss to the Houston Texans.

Positional outlook: Palmer is likely to be one of Buffalo’s top three receivers this season, joining Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman on the field when all three are healthy. Curtis Samuel, Elijah Moore, and Tyrell Shavers are the other three wideouts, all of whom should push for snaps on offense throughout the season.

2025 Offseason: Palmer is healthy and ready to go for the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens on September 7. He had 23 receiving yards in two preseason games this summer.

2025 Season outlook: Palmer is more than just a deep threat, but even if that’s his main function in Buffalo’s offense, he will help to open up the short and intermediate levels of the field for the Bills’ other weapons. The team was missing a reliable field-stretcher last season, as Marques Valdez-Scantling didn’t pan out in that role and the offense struggled to replace his speed as the year progressed.

What will be interesting is seeing which receiver (or receivers) offensive coordinator Joe Brady chooses to take off the field when he uses heavier offensive packages. Palmer and Coleman are likely to be the main players on the outside, but I’d wager that Palmer is likely WR3 in reality behind both Coleman and Shakir, who is likely to see most of the slot snaps.

Using Palmer in conjunction with some of Buffalo’s other weapons — Shavers, in particular, seems like someone who could see time outside in certain situations — will be another interesting thing to watch throughout the year. While we’ll all say we won’t overreact to Week 1, we all know that the second something happens in the middle of that first real game, most of us are going to start in with the overdramatic opining about what kind of personnel groupings we’re seeing, what kind of performances the Bills are turning in early, and so on and so forth.

With that in mind, I’d almost expect Palmer to start slowly. Buffalo will likely try to dial up some sort of play-action deep shot for him early on in the first game, but it wouldn’t shock me to see that be his main use for a few weeks. Then, later in the year, Brady will unleash his full route tree, giving Allen and Palmer time to develop more chemistry in practice.

If you’re still clinging to the hope that Palmer can be a fantasy football darling, I think I’d let those dreams go. He’s not going to catch 75 passes here, nor is he likely to surpass 1,000 yards or score eight touchdowns. What he is likely to do is turn in a solid season in a receiver room full of multiple talented parts.

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/90...alo-bills-players-in-90-days-wr-joshua-palmer

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Bills DT DeWayne Carter suffered season-ending injury, per report

The Buffalo Bills were dealt another blow on the injury front, with news breaking late in the day on Sunday, August 31 that defensive tackle DeWayne Carter suffered a season-ending injury. Jordan Schultz reports that “Carter tore his Achilles and will miss the entire 2025 season.”

Carter, a third-round pick of Buffalo’s in the 2024 NFL Draft, was entering his second season and expected to play an important role as part of the team’s defensive line rotation. The Bills have a deep defensive tackle group, which will now have to step up to replace Carter’s intended contributions.

Sources: #Bills DT DeWayne Carter tore his Achilles and will miss the entire 2025 season.

The talented 2024 3rd-round pick was poised to be part of Buffalo’s defensive rotation this year. A tough blow. pic.twitter.com/J9fF1tz2vL

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) August 31, 2025

Initially, there was some confusion as to when Carter’s injury happened because the team hasn’t practiced since Thursday, August 28. Questions began to appear on social media, wondering if perhaps the Bills brought in veteran defensive tackle Jordan Phillips after Carter was injured. That idea was immediately refuted by Matthew Bové who noted Cater practicing during the first 30 minutes on Wednesday, August 27.

Nah I’m fairly certain DeWayne Carter was out there at practice on Wednesday. But that was the only day this week media was allowed to be there. Now that it is the regular season we do have to leave after first half an hour of practice though. https://t.co/g0SFZxqPUh

— Matthew Bové (@Matt_Bove) August 31, 2025

ESPN Bills beat reporter Alaina Getzenberg shared an important follow-up, clearing all doubt about when Carter tore his Achilles, noting that the “(i)njury took place during Wednesday’s practice.”

Bills second-year defensive tackle DeWayne Carter tore his Achilles and has been ruled out for the season, source confirms, as @Schultz_Report said.

Injury took place during Wednesday’s practice.

— Alaina Getzenberg (@agetzenberg) August 31, 2025

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...rter-suffered-season-ending-injury-per-report

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Buffalo Bills name 2 team captains in 2025

To mark Labor Day across the United States, the Buffalo Bills announced the team’s captains for the 2025 NFL season. It’s a familiar list, as the Bills are running it back this season with the same pair who led the charge in 2024.

The news should come as little surprise, given how successful the team was in 2024, coming within one game of Super Bowl LIX. The goal remains the same in 2025: to reach the league’s biggest game and bring home a Lombardi Trophy to Western New York.

This season, quarterback Josh Allen and linebacker Terrel Bernard reprise their roles leading the Bills’ roster everywhere from the gridiron, to the locker room, in the classroom, and elsewhere. For Allen, it marks the seventh season in a row being named captain, while Bernard earns the captain’s “C” for a second straight campaign.

It’s the second season One Bills Drive has chosen to roll out a pared-down captains group. Taking this same step in 2024, the team also named players to a leadership council — which further enhanced head coach Sean McDermott’s desire to manage the team utilizing “player-driven leadership.” News about the inclusion of a leadership council in 2025 has yet to be announced.

Certified C's. ️#GoBills | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/KNKtnW4rO0

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 1, 2025

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...72/buffalo-bills-name-2-team-captains-in-2025

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Bills MVP QB Josh Allen isn’t named best overall among NFL Top 100 Players of 2025

The countdown to naming the NFL Top 100 Players of 2025 concluded on Monday evening, with the top 10 players revealed on social media. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was a near-lock to land within the 10 best players, but just how high he’d rise was, well, up in the air. As it turns out, Allen wasn’t named the league’s best quarterback according to his peers.

After a successful NFL MVP campaign in 2024, Allen lands at three. Finishing ahead of Allen were quarterback Lamar Jackson at two, and running back Saquon Barkley at one. The annual list is voted on by players from across the NFL who compile their own lists between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

Allen shot up the ranks this season after finishing nine spots lower at 12 for 2024. Still, it’s perhaps a bit shocking to those outside the NFL that Allen didn’t finish at one, and wasn’t even voted as the best quarterback in the league. All lists are subjective, and the MVP award was the most hotly debated topic for much of last season, thanks to Allen and Jackson’s play — and even Barkley. But it’s fair to say that Allen lacks the same supporting cast for both Jackson and Barkley.

The Bills open up their 2025 season on Sunday, September 7, playing host to Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens under the spotlight that is Sunday Night Football on NBC. It’s a rematch of last season’s Divisional Round playoff game, which Buffalo won to advance to the AFC Championship Game. Now, two of the NFL’s top three players will meet again to get the season started in the most fitting way possible.

Other Bills joining Allen in 2025 are running back James Cook (who made his debut at 89), and left tackle Dion Dawkins (his second appearance on the annual list, slotting in at 42).

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Josh. Allen. @JoshAllenQB | #NFLTop100 pic.twitter.com/6ux0nhxeVz

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 2, 2025

.@BuffaloBills QB Josh Allen lands at No. 3 on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2025!@NFLFilms @JoshAllenQB pic.twitter.com/Cfh8JghHaK

— NFL (@NFL) September 2, 2025

“Josh Allen is an alien.” @JoshAllenQB | #NFLTop100 pic.twitter.com/KQt0LQUnaN

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 2, 2025

MVP takes spot No. @JoshAllenQB | #NFLTop100 pic.twitter.com/7GqS832QBQ

— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) September 2, 2025

Take a look at players 10-1 on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2025. (THREAD ) pic.twitter.com/NAtnl7TIS8

— NFL (@NFL) September 2, 2025

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...est-overall-among-nfl-top-100-players-of-2025

 

[Buffalo Bills]

NFL Top 100 a content filler, not a valuable data point

The National Football League wants to consume your every waking thought. It wants you to be invested in the largest professional American football league in the world every minute of every day or every year.

The second the regular season is over, they want you to focus on coaching and general manager changes. Then free agency shows up in March. The NFL Draft is in April just when free agency slows down. They’ll give you a couple weeks to ravenously consume all the post-draft reaction content you can muster and then they’ll release the schedule in May. Training camps will start in July and that will keep the constant content train a’movin’.

But what about June? Mandatory minicamps aren’t long enough to really hold people’s attention for a meaningful amount of time. How does the NFL keep people constantly engaged in their product?

They launch the NFL Top 100 Players, which is a ranking of the league’s best from the lens of the players themselves. Every week, there’ll be reactions on social media from all 32 fan bases and all associated analysts dissecting what the countdown says, who’s too high and who’s too low. They can milk this weekly drip-feed of information all through the dogs days of summer right up to the start of the NFL regular season, serving a dual purpose of filling a gap in the NFL annual schedule while simultaneously giving training camp and preseason a little extra boost of background content.

Players will be interviewed.
People will argue on the internet.
And all will be as intended.

When viewed through that lens, the annual NFL Top 100 Players list makes complete sense. It’s an entertainment product, its main function to drive engagement and discussion. But all too often, people use the NFL players’ accumulating opinions as some form of data point in favor of their own views on a player; whether that person is good or bad, better than another player, or worse than another player.

“The people who are actually in the league think Bob is better than Jim; you think you know more than they do?”

There are many things wrong about this approach, but at the forefront of all conversations about the NFL’s top 100 players, there must be this statement: The system is not designed for actual analysis.

The way the NFL Top 100 list works is as such: the players are sent forms to fill out around Thanksgiving of every regular season. These forms ask for the player respondent to identify their top 20 players in the NFL and rank them. These top-20 lists are then submitted, at which point these votes are tallied and extrapolated to 100 players.

Right away we have identified a few massive problems in this data collection:

1. The season is still playing out when players are voting
   • A players’ opinion could vary drastically between Thanksgiving and the conference championship games, and they have no way of altering it once submitted. Players who submit their forms upon first receiving them are operating with a different data set than players who wait to submit their forms until later.
   • In addition, players do not analyze the remainder of the league during the season, if they do at all. A player on the Las Vegas Raiders has no reason to analyze the play of a player on the New England Patriots unless the Patriots are that week’s opponent. They might catch a Patriots game while they’re on the bye week if they’re not vacationing with their families, but the truth if that expecting NFL players to be well-informed on the entire league during the season is insanity and leads to further bad results.
2. The form only asks for your top 20
   • The fact that players must identify only their top 20 players, when taken out to its logical conclusion, means that the following players were all identified by at least one player as being top 20 players in the entire NFL, regardless of position, for 2025:
     • Jerry Jeudy
     • Kyren Williams
     • Bobby Wagner
     • Patrick Queen
     • Sam Darnold
     • Frankie Luvu
     • Joe Mixon
   • Each one of the above players was listed as being a top 20 overall player on a ballot. Because the players can only pick 20, the pressure to make sure you include your buddy whose locker is next to yours or your team’s quarterback is enhanced and skews rankings dramatically. This is how you end up with Mac Jones and Blake Bortles making appearances on the NFL Top 100 list historically. Let me reiterate multiple people put Blake Bortles and Mac Jones in their top 20 players in the entire league at one point in their careers.

Even if active players were set up for success through the logistics of the Top 100 voting process, it’s not as if NFL players, active or retired, have proven themselves to have opinions that are intrinsically better than an average football watcher. Networks may scoop up former NFL players for their charisma and ability to generate engagement, but there have been innumerable instances of current or former NFL players who have terrible football takes that make even the moderately informed fan cringe.

The truth is, the NFL Top 100 Players list isn’t even trying to be a valuable data point. It’s trying to be entertainment. It’s structured as such, it’s marketed as such, and it’s released as such. It simply needs to be consumed as such.

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…and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m Bruce Nolan with Buffalo Rumblings. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @BruceExclusive and look for new episodes of “The Bruce Exclusive” every Thursday on the Rumblings Cast Network — see more in my LinkTree!

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...00-a-content-filler-not-a-valuable-data-point

 

[Buffalo Bills]

90 Buffalo Bills players in 90 days: CB Maxwell Hairston

The Buffalo Bills needed to improve on defense after a season where they came up short yet again in the postseason. That seemed to be the prevailing theme of the team’s offseason moves, anyway, as the front office poured more resources into that side of the ball than they did the offensive play makers at quarterback Josh Allen’s disposal.

While plenty of attention was paid to the additions the team made along the defensive line, the Bills didn’t skimp on adding talent in the defensive secondary, either. Buffalo drafted three defensive backs in April, and they signed two more familiar faces as veteran reinforcements at corner.

In our latest edition of “90 players in 90 days,” we discuss Buffalo’s top draft choice in the 2025 NFL Draft.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Name: Maxwell Hairston
Number: 31
Position: CB
Height/Weight: 5’11”, 183 pounds
Age: 22 (23 on 8/6/2026)
Experience/Draft: R; selected by Buffalo in the first round (No. 30 overall) of the 2025 NFL Draft
College: Kentucky
Acquired: First-round draft choice

Financial situation (per Spotrac): Hairston signed his rookie contract this summer. It’s a four-year deal with a fifth-year option, just like all contracts for first-round draft picks. In total, Hairston’s deal is worth a fully guaranteed $15,257,982 without that fifth-year option. For the 2025 season, Hairston’s cap hit is $2,778.042.

2024 Recap: After a stellar sophomore season, Hairston’s junior year was less impressive overall. That was due in large part to a shoulder injury, which caused him to miss five of the Wildcats’ games. Overall, though, Hairston still showed himself to be an excellent cover corner. He had one interception, which he returned for a touchdown, and four pass breakups to go with 19 tackles, one tackle for loss, two forced fumbles, and one sack. He finished his UK career with six interceptions, three of which he returned for scores.

For his efforts, Hairston was invited to the Senior Bowl and named Second-Team All-SEC. At the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, Hairston showed off blazing speed, running a 4.28-second 40-yard dash. His 39.5” vertical and 10’9” broad jump showed off his explosive athleticism, as well.

Positional outlook: Hairston is likely to see time starting on the outside this season. Tre’Davious White, Christian Benford, Ja’Marcus Ingram, and Dorian Strong are the team’s other outside corners.

2025 Offseason: Hairston is on Injured Reserve (IR) thanks to a knee injury he suffered during training camp practice. He’ll miss at least the team’s first four games as a result. Hairston was also sued on July 1 in relation to an alleged sexual assault from his days at the University of Kentucky. Hairston maintains his innocence.

2025 Season outlook: When the Bills made Hairston the thirtieth pick in the draft, I expected that he would be the starting corner in Week 1. Now that he’s on IR, that obviously won’t be the case, and even if he returns to the team as early as he can, it’s likely that it will take time for him to grow into his role on a professional field.

The Bills planned for depth by signing a respected veteran in White, but let’s be honest: there is no world in which the Bills want the veteran starting against, say, the Kansas City Chiefs later this season. There’s a saying in coaching that I’ve heard general manager Brandon Beane say once or twice, and it’s that a team’s last game will tell them what they need to improve upon for the following season.

Buffalo’s last game last season showed that they desperately needed to add athleticism to the defensive secondary. They did that with Hairston, and it should come as zero surprise that they added a speedster who can stick with a certain speedy wideout who plays for the Chiefs, either.

The sky is not falling, however. Hairston should be able to make it back before the end of October, and while this LCL injury might delay his entry into the starting lineup, the Bills will likely be able to work him in slowly throughout the winter.

This is the third corner the Bills have selected in the first round during head coach Sean McDermott’s tenure. One of those players was a resounding success story, and while his career was derailed by injury, he was one of the league’s best when healthy. One of those players was also a total bust, and the Bills cut their losses and traded Kaiir Elam to the Dallas Cowboys earlier this offseason.

Hairston’s story is yet to be written, but his athletic profile suggests someone who should be able to step in and help the Bills almost immediately, especially in man coverage. If the Bills want to take the next step and win a Super Bowl this season, Hairston could be a tremendous factor in their ability to do so.

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/90...-bills-players-in-90-days-cb-maxwell-hairston