If you are a former player who spent time with the Buffalo Bills between 2016-21, be sure to turn your ringtone volume up, because odds are greater than zero that Brandon Beane will be calling you.
The Bills have brought back several players that once called Buffalo home in 2025. Shaq Lawson is the latest former Bill to find his way back to Buffalo in some way, shape or form, as Buffalo's 2016 first-round pick was given a workout and is expected to be added to the practice squad. He joins Tre'Davious White, Jordan Poyer, Jordan Phillips, Dane Jackson, Baylon Spector, and Gabe Davis as guys who were brought back to Buffalo, most of whom were signed to the practice squad before going to the 53-man roster.
Poyer joined the practice squad at the tail end of the preseason and has played in six games. White has started 10 games after a very poor season with the Los Angeles Rams and Baltimore Ravens in 2024 in which he was a healthy scratch for several games.
These types of moves have brought tremendous frustration from the fan base. And while on the surface, practice squad signings are largely insignificant, it's the perceived arrogance and stubbornness that come with the signings that really drive home the irritation.
Both Beane and Sean McDermott harp on trying to win with "their guys" and "guys who know what we do" when it comes to the in-season additions. The way in which the scheme is talked about like it's an exclusive club for people with cigarettes on long sticks and big hand-held fans has garnered more eye rolls from fans than anything, especially when that complex scheme that apparently only those familiar can even hope to understand ranks 21st in defensive EPA per play and strolls a nickel look onto the field on 4th-and-1.
It's these moves, combined with the moves the Bills don't make that suck the air out of Bills Mafia. Brandon Beane didn't trade for Jaylen Waddle, but fear not, Bills fans - here comes Gabe Davis. They didn't make the trade for Micah Parsons, but here is big money for Greg Rousseau and cross-your-fingers-he-stays-healthy-over-the-hill Joey Bosa.
There is a level of pretentiousness with these signings that the Bills make. And when you combine those moves with the ones they don't make, it all gets tied back into the over-arching problem - the over-reliance on Josh Allen and James Cook to carry the weight of 51 other players.
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