With the regular season looming, only a week and a half until their 2024 opener against the Arizona Cardinals, the Bills conducted their first practice with their reduced roster.
The Bills went through cutdown day Tuesday, and even after waivers and signings of vested veterans brought on another wave of cuts elsewhere, the team kept their initial 53-man roster intact. That meant all of the bubble players that made it through the deadline, like Buffalo native and linebacker Joe Andreessen, kept their spot as the team heads to the final weekend off before the first practice week begins after Labor Day.
As he does every year, general manager Brandon Beane answered questions about this year’s roster one day after he set the team. Here’s what we learned from the Bills GM Wednesday on some of their most pressing topics.
Bills aren’t panicking on Tyler Bass… yet
After last year’s playoff run ended with a thud when kicker Tyler Bass’ 44-yard attempt to tie up the Chiefs game with under two minutes to play went wide right, the struggles with inconsistency have followed Bass into 2024. Throughout camp, Bass had his fair share of misses, and last week, leading up to the team’s preseason finale, it hit a low point. Through two practices and the Panthers game, the kicker the team gave a lucrative second contract to wound up missing seven of his 12 field goal attempts from 40 yards and up. Bass missed a 51-yard kick during the game, which led head coach Sean McDermott to declare that the team needed to have that kick — the first sign of public tough love the Bills have issued to Bass since the end of last season.
It’s been a quickly building issue for the Bills this summer, to the point that a practice squad kicker seemed like a realistic possibility. Beane even admitted that it would have been in a slightly different case.
“Not at this point,” the GM said. “I get the question, I do. I understand. If he had a short history here, probably would have.”
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Bass has been the team’s kicker since 2020, and after his first three years in the league, the Bills were so confident they found their long-term kicker to deal with the elements in Buffalo that they gave him a sizable contract extension through 2027. The Bills still believe in Bass’ talent, though given the state of his contract, it forces their hand a bit. The team would have taken on a dead cap hit of $4.32 million to cut him this year and then another $3.06 million in 2025. The Bills want to see their investment work and likely don’t want to abandon Bass prematurely without seeing if he can work through his current struggles.
“I think we’ve just got to relax and give him a chance and remain confident in him,” Beane said.
But should the problems persist for Bass on kicks of 40 or more, they may have no choice but to add a practice squad kicker. Beane saying “not at this point” means they’d at least be open to the idea. But doing so right now might run the risk of completely zapping Bass of his confidence and ability to work through it. If they pull that tab, though, an in-season call-up or two cannot be ruled out if it gets to a point that Bass is costing the team games. They won’t remain patient forever. The first month of the season will be enormous for Bass.
Bills keeping options open on Milano but are non-committal
When final cuts came in for the Bills on Tuesday, the team made the expected move of placing star linebacker Matt Milano on injured reserve to clear out a roster spot. It came with the caveat that Milano, who tore his bicep ahead of the Steelers preseason game, was one of the two IR players on cutdown day deemed “eligible to return,” which sparked some early fan optimism of the star’s eventual return. Even though that was a perceived early good sign, Beane poured a bit of cold water on the idea that it’s a sure thing.
While Milano could return, Beane stressed that it’s extremely early in Milano’s rehab process and the medical team isn’t even putting their hands on the bicep yet as they allow the wound to heal first. “Ultimately, what we did is we didn’t close the door on the season,” Beane said, explaining why they used the eligible-to-return designation on the linebacker.
While it doesn’t necessarily rule out the team getting Milano back at some point, they also clearly didn’t rule out this injury being another season-ending one. They are instead playing the wait-and-see game with the injury, and if the medical team starts to believe Milano has a chance to return, the team will begin to plan for that, rather than planning for it now only with an uncertain return-to-play timeline. “Right now, we’re just going to let Matt do his thing,” Beane said.
Mike White a priority signing as Mitchell Trubisky’s immediate future is up in the air
When final roster cuts came through, the team went their usual route of only keeping two quarterbacks. But this year was different, given the knee injury to backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. The team seemed quite optimistic about many of their injured players, even thinking they could be ready for Week 1. But Trubisky’s injury has always seemed a little different. For one, he was moving around very gingerly the week leading up to the Panthers game. Then again during Wednesday’s practice, while Trubisky was doing more at practice than he had been the previous week, he was not dressed in full pads and still looked like he was favoring his injured knee. Beane said they want to give Trubisky every chance, but did not rule out the possibility of Trubisky heading to injured reserve.
“Nothing is off the table, but, we’re cautiously optimistic that we won’t need to do that,” Beane said. “But until he’s back out there and shows that he can do the job, protect himself, and play the position like he’s got to play it, it’s an unknown.”
Beane did mention that for new practice squad quarterback Mike White, they “recruited him hard,” which likely meant they threw the top available amount they could for the veteran signing. However, having a practice squad quarterback with starting experience was clearly a priority due to the Trubisky injury, which kept them in limbo. At the very least, they have a plausible solution for Week 1 should Trubisky not be ready to play — and a much better one than what they had on their roster a week ago.
Micah Hyde still hasn’t retired and the Bills are a little lean at safety. (Eric Hartline / USA Today)
Bills don’t shut down the Micah Hyde return talk
The last time Beane was asked about a potential reunion between the team and longtime starting safety Micah Hyde, he kept things wide open on a potential return. After a full month has passed since those late July comments, and with the team right on the doorstep of the regular season beginning, the Bills GM had every opportunity to sit there and say that they’re going to concentrate on the players they have in the building. But notably, he did no such thing.
“Love Micah. We have not closed the door on that. And as far as I understand, I don’t think Micah has either,” Beane said. “We’ll stay in touch.
Beane added that there has been “nothing recent” between the two sides and the team is just seeing where it goes, but Hyde’s presence still looms over the building as a signing that could realistically happen during the season. Hyde has been mulling retirement since the end of the Bills’ playoff run, but has yet to make a final decision. And the longer it goes without finality, the more the intrigue builds. The state of the free safety position certainly doesn’t help things, either. Mike Edwards and rookie Cole Bishop have had minimal practice time this summer due to injuries while in the first year in the Bills’ defensive scheme, and Damar Hamlin is just getting back from a hamstring injury. If the safety position becomes an issue early in the season, the Hyde chatter could grow louder.
Still searching for answers with their return specialist?
The team held a training camp-long battle between rookie Daequan Hardy, wide receiver KJ Hamler and some others to determine who the primary return specialist would be in 2024. And it certainly seemed as though Hardy had the best shot of the bunch. Ultimately, the Bills decided the answer was no one in-house when they cut Hardy and Hamler on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Beane even revealed that they had to make a late-day roster cut, letting veteran offensive lineman Will Clapp know they were releasing him to make room for their trade acquisition Brandon Codrington. That meant the Bills had planned on cutting Hardy and Hamler regardless of acquiring Codrington. The trade compensation to the Jets for Codrington was not that much, merely swapping a 2026 sixth for a 2026 seventh-round pick. It was a very slight bet to avoid waivers and see if Codrington could lock down that role on their team.
Even though the team traded for Codrington, that does not mean they are wholly committed to him staying on the 53-man roster if he struggles. The primary return job likely remains a very fluid situation. McDermott spent some of the early portion of practice during special teams with all of the returners. And Codrington’s first day brought on some adventurous moments. He let his first attempt go through his hands, he misjudged another attempt which led to him falling and pinned another on his shoulder pad. After practice, the undrafted rookie Codrington admitted he was nervous, while also saying the worst winds he dealt with might have been during Wednesday’s Bills practice.
With Hardy still in the building and former Broncos receiver Jalen Virgil reportedly joining Hardy on the practice squad, the Bills will have options should Codrington struggle during games. They’ll see what Codrington can do early on in the season to justify the minimal investment. However, the returner job has the potential to be a persisting topic in 2024.
(Top photo of Brandon Beane: Bryan M. Bennett / Getty Images)
